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Cost-of-living relief plans, prisoner release row and White House shake-up dominate
The day’s political agenda combined consumer-policy announcements, a dispute over prison capacity and a senior White House personnel change. In the UK, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the government would bring forward measures intended to curb misleading “fake” discounts and make unwanted subscriptions easier to cancel. Supporters presented the plans as practical cost-of-living protection, while…
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Roleplay review – Fleabag producer scores again with one woman’s life as a ‘slutfluencer’
A review of Roleplay, a solo show by Australian writer-performer Hannah Reilly at Summerhall in Edinburgh, examines the commodification of female sexual empowerment through the story of a podcaster who rebrands herself as a “slutfluencer” to chase online attention. Produced by Francesca Moody, whose past hits include Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, the show has drawn…
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Final Fantasy’s Biggest Game Is Officially Free to Play
Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix’s long-running MMORPG, has launched on the Nintendo Switch 2, marking the first mainline Final Fantasy title (excluding the FFVII remake series) to appear on a Nintendo console since Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. The release fulfils a goal that director Naoki Yoshida had spoken about pursuing for both FFXIV…
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Watch Lucy Dacus perform ‘Bullseye’ with Julien Baker at Outside Lands 2026
Lucy Dacus brought out her Boygenius bandmate and partner Julien Baker to perform their duet ‘Bullseye’ at Outside Lands festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park over the weekend. Dacus introduced Baker as “my best friend” before the pair performed the track, from Dacus’s latest solo album ‘Forever Is A Feeling’, with Dacus accompanying on…
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Chris Wilder expects Gus Hamer to return to Coventry
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder said he expected Gustavo ‘Gus’ Hamer to return to Coventry City, describing the prospective move as effectively certain. Speaking after the Blades’ match at Mansfield Town, Wilder said Coventry were the only club to make an approach and acknowledged that United needed to prepare for life without the 29-year-old midfielder.…
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Why Each Octopus Arm Has a Mind of Its Own
Octopuses display remarkable intelligence, but much of it does not originate in their central brain. More than two-thirds of an octopus’s roughly 500 million neurons are located in its eight arms, giving rise to a form of distributed intelligence that is unique among cephalopods and largely unmatched elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Each arm can…
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Small boat record smashed again as 230 migrants smuggled into Britain on ‘mega dinghy’ – despite Labour claims its ‘smash the gangs’ policy is working
More than 230 migrants crossed the English Channel to Britain in a single “mega dinghy,” setting a new record for the largest number of people packed onto one boat, despite the Labour government’s repeated claims that its “smash the gangs” strategy is curbing small boat crossings. The incident underscores the continuing failure of UK and…
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Gothic 1 Remake devs hint at next game while announcing a photo mode, “Marvin mode” for cheaters, and some mysterious “alternative progression systems”
Alkimia Interactive, the studio behind THQ Nordic’s Gothic 1 Remake, has revealed a slate of upcoming additions during a THQ Nordic publisher showcase, including a photo mode, unspecified “alternative progression mechanics”, an official mod kit, and a developer-style “Marvin Mode”. The announcement matters for fans of the remake, which has been praised for preserving the…
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Convince an AI it’s not alive in psychological horror game Prove You’re Human
Sunset Visitor, the studio behind the Peabody award-winning 1000XResist, has released Prove You’re Human, a psychological horror game in which players must convince an artificial intelligence that it is not alive. Studio founder Remy Siu says the game continues the team’s habit of channelling real-world anxieties into its work, this time exploring questions of labour,…