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Nepo baby reckoning as Democratic dynasty is accused of muscling donors to back 52-year-old daughter over Marine veteran
Senator Jeanne Shaheen is facing accusations of using her political influence to boost her daughter Stefany’s campaign in a fiercely contested New Hampshire Democratic primary, ahead of Tuesday’s vote to choose a successor to Congressman Chris Pappas. According to Punchbowl News, Shaheen has pressed lobbyists and donors to back her daughter and personally lobbied the…
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‘It’s been wall-to-wall aggravation’: F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, 95, speaks out after being stopped for illegally carrying shotgun on his jet ‘to go clay-pigeon shooting’
Bernie Ecclestone, the 95-year-old Formula One supremo, was stopped at Tires Aerodrome near Cascais, Portugal, after landing his private jet from Switzerland with an undeclared shotgun that he says was intended for clay-pigeon shooting. He described the encounter with officials as “wall-to-wall aggravation”, saying he was held for hours after failing to produce the required…
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Government by-election reshuffle, murder arrests over baby’s death, China’s £40bn bank rescue
Polanski rules out moving to Holborn and St Pancras if he wins its by-election; four arrested after a baby died camping in Staffordshire; China pumps billions into state banks; Mathspace hack hits a million Australians; Raya, Swinney and the Emmys feature in sport and showbiz.
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Queen of the Civil Service: Andy Burnham ‘to give top official Antonia Romeo new powers to overrule Whitehall departments’
Andy Burnham is reportedly set to grant his Cabinet Secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo, expanded legal powers to direct permanent secretaries across Whitehall departments, according to a report in The Times. The move would mark a significant centralisation of authority in the civil service, addressing long-standing complaints from prime ministers about their limited ability to push…
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Festival Leaders Confront Growing Political Pressure at Lumiere Summit: ‘We Don’t Judge Artists by Their Passport’
Festival directors from around the world gathered at the Lumière Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, for a panel on Monday addressing mounting political pressure on their events. Séries Mania’s Laurence Herszberg led calls for programming independence, insisting that artists should be judged by their work rather than their nationality, while other leaders echoed concerns that festivals…
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The Last Bath review – self-mortifying nun struggles with profoundly uneasy sexual awakening
The Guardian reviews The Last Bath, a Portuguese drama making its belated UK debut on digital platforms, more than five years after it first screened at festivals in 2020. The film centres on a devout nun, Josefina, whose settled, self-denying existence is disrupted when she is called back to her childhood village to care for…
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TV has never been so nerve-jangling: 10 years of the agonising Motherland
The BBC sitcom Motherland is marking its 10th anniversary, prompting a retrospective on how the show reshaped depictions of motherhood on television. Created by Sharon Horgan, Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz and Graham Linehan, and joined by Barunka O’Shaughnessy from series two, the sitcom stood out by focusing not on children but on the fraught adult…
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Tom Rothman on Sony’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Blockbuster Success, Being Outbid for ‘Obsession’ and More
Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman celebrated the runaway success of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” during an appearance at the Lumière Summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, where he spoke with Variety about the film industry’s stronger-than-expected summer. The picture has become 2026’s highest-grossing release, a result Rothman attributed to its emotional, character-driven approach rather than spectacle alone,…
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Lumière Summit establishes shared cinema standards and Korea fund
The Lumière Summit, held on 7 September 2026 at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, concluded with countries and screen-industry bodies adopting five declarations covering artificial intelligence, piracy, gender equality, image education and environmental sustainability. Opened by President Emmanuel Macron, the gathering also launched the IRIS independent cinema initiative and announced a $1.16 billion France-Korea…
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Europe is losing battle to stop Putin’s ‘hybrid’ war, intelligence officials warn as Germany opens sabotage probe after another substation fire
Western intelligence officials have warned that Europe is failing to counter Vladimir Putin’s escalating “hybrid” war, as Germany opened a sabotage investigation after a fire damaged an electricity substation in Berlin. Defence sources quoted by the Financial Times said current measures deter conventional and nuclear threats but are inadequate against sub-Article 5 provocations, urging a…