Surging demand for looser styles with high necklines comes amid politicians’ criticism of burqa and the hijab
Fashion influenced by Islam and other religions is expected to become “mainstream” globally, in spite of politicians singling out the burqa and the hijab, as the rise of “modest fashion” is powered by influencers, luxury brands and big tech.
Oilers’ power play falters as Florida tighten grip
Brad Marchand is making more highlights for his new team, Sam Bennett is piling up the goals again and the Florida Panthers are on the verge of hoisting the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row.
Marchand scored twice, Bennett had his playoff-leading 15th goal and the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 5 of the final on Saturday night to take a 3-2 series lead.
Devastating attacks at M&S, the Co-op and Harrods highlight risks as lenders say cybersecurity is biggest expense
It is every bank boss’s worst nightmare: a panicked phone call informs them a cyber-attack has crippled the IT system, rapidly unleashing chaos across the entire UK financial industry.
As household names in other industries, including Marks & Spencer, grapple with the fallout from such hacks, banking executives will be acutely aware that, for them, the stakes are even higher.
The radicalisation of young men can seem inevitable, but we can shape their understanding of gender in healthy ways
Nick Hewlett is chief executive of the St Dunstan’s Education Group
If you were to watch Netflix’s Adolescence, or listen to Gareth Southgate’s recent Richard Dimbleby lecture, you could easily come away with a bleak picture of British masculinity – lost, insecure and at times toxic. Contemporary culture often portrays young boys as the victims of a new social order that gives them no blueprint for how to be a man in the 21st century. At worst, we see them as disciples of misogynists such as Andrew Tate, as perpetrators of violence, or as victims of divisive, rightwing ideologies.
It can seem as though young men are inevitably bound to be radicalised. More than half of gen-Z men in the US aged between 18 and 29 voted for Donald Trump. As Southgate put it in his lecture, more of our sons than we could possibly realise are beholden to “callous toxic influencers”, including Tate.In recent research we commissioned at St Dunstan’s Education Group, the group of private schools that I lead, we found that nearly half (49%) of 18 to 25-year-old men felt there were very few strong male role models in society, while 17% of young men said that credible accusations of sexual assault would not change their perception of someone they considered a role model. More than half (59%) of young men felt that feminism had gone too far.
Nick Hewlett is chief executive of the St Dunstan’s Education Group, a network of private schools in south-east London
The country star loves the loud guitars of Bob Seger and belts out some Dolly after a few drinks, but which song makes her feel as if she can do anything?
The first song I fell in love with
I remember my grandma playing (How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window by Patti Page when I was five years old in the back seat of the car. I could never tell if she was singing “doggie” or “dolly”, but I loved it either way.
The first record I bought
My grandma used to babysit [US country singer] Tim McGraw, 15 minutes down the road from where I lived in Louisiana, so I bought his album A Place in the Sun from Walmart and my sister and I made up a dance routine.
Pets have long been a source of comfort and companionship for humans. But are they really trying to console us when we’re distressed or do they just want their dinner?
I am lost in Morris’s eyes. They are brown, almond-shaped and fringed by impossibly long lashes. He looks back at me, softly blinking occasionally, and then reaches out his tongue and licks my cheek, just once.
I’ve been depressed lately, and while I’ve received compassion and support from many dear people, Morris, my 10-year-old terrier, has been one of the greatest sources of comfort. With that reassuring lick, that steady gaze, he’s conveying a message: “It’s OK. Everything will be all right.”
First league crown ends a drought of almost three decades that the Rec Ground faithful would have scarcely believed at the dawn of the professional era
At the 29th time of asking, Bath are champions of England once more. At five to five on a sunny afternoon here, Ben Spencer passed to Finn Russell – the married couple, as their coach, Johann van Graan, likes to call them – and Russell kicked it somewhere, anywhere but on the pitch to put an end to decades of pain out west.
In 1996, when titles were won the old-fashioned way, the notion it would take so long for Bath, who had just won their sixth in eight years – their 10th cup in 13, and their fourth double – to become champions of England again would have seemed absurd. Only a little more absurd than the notion they wouldwin it would have seemed three years ago, when they finished bottom of the table, spared the indignity of relegation only by the very different way English rugby is organised these days.
Guardian investigation finds almost 7,000 proven cases of cheating – and experts says these are tip of the iceberg
Thousands of university students in the UK have been caught misusing ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools in recent years, while traditional forms of plagiarism show a marked decline, a Guardian investigation can reveal.
A survey of academic integrity violations found almost 7,000 proven cases of cheating using AI tools in 2023-24, equivalent to 5.1 for every 1,000 students. That was up from 1.6 cases per 1,000 in 2022-23.
With World Test Championship win, the Proteas have made a strong case for Tests to gain greater prominence at home
South Africa lost their shot at winning this World Test Championship in 2022, when their board announced the team were going to play 28 games in the next four years. They lost it for a second time during the spring of last year, when they packed their reserve team off to play a series against New Zealand because their centrally contracted players had to stay back and play in a franchise tournament.
They lost it a third time when the team were bowled out for 138 on Thursday morning and they lost it a fourth when they let Australia’s tail put on 134 runs for the last four wickets, leaving them needing 282 to win. Finally, after they had just about run out of ways to lose, they won.
When Sirmione became jammed with visitors during a particularly busy May Day weekend, it proved a tipping point
In the era of overtourism, every popular holiday destination has its tipping point.
For Sirmione, a sliver of land lapped by the blue-green waters of Lake Garda, that watershed moment came during Italy’s long May Day holiday weekend, and has led the medieval Italian village to introduce “street tutors” to manage the visitor flow and ensure good behaviour.
The holidays I dreamt of as a child have had an upgrade. And who wants to cook or plan with a toddler in tow anyway?
Next week, I’m going on an all-inclusive holiday to Greece. All-inclusives have a famously bad rep for all-day boozing, and in certain quarters there is a sniffiness about their supposed chips with everything, Brits abroad vibe. For some people, the idea of being confined to a hotel, even one with a beautiful beach attached, sounds awful. But, like many parents, I’ve become a convert.
How did I get here? I think it was always on the cards. When I was small, holiday brochures were my bibles. I’d spend hours perusing them and comparing the hotels: their azure pools framed by water slides undulating in spaghetti-like nests, their private white-sand beaches with lines of striped parasols, and these things called “kids’ clubs”, which offered all kinds of fun activities and, most excitingly, a disco.
Downgrades by Treasury watchdog could force chancellor to raise taxes or cut spending at budget to meet fiscal rules
Rachel Reeves is braced for revised forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to blow a £20bn hole in her tax and spending plans before the autumn budget.
Even without changing the totals the chancellor set out in her spending review on Wednesday, a weaker forecast from the the Treasury’s independent watchdog could force her to find significantly more money at the budget to meet her “non-negotiable” fiscal rules.
The president seized on LA protests against immigration raids to deploy troops against civilians in the liberal bastion – a fight he had long been spoiling for
Hollywood. Silicon Valley. An agricultural sector that grows more than three-quarters of fruits and nuts in America. All contributed to April’s news that California had officially overtaken Japan to become the fourth biggest economy in the world, its GDP of $4.1tn trailing only the entirety of the US, China and Germany.
But two months later this superpower is locked in a bitter power struggle with Washington DC. Days of protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles prompted Donald Trump to deploy military forces against what he called “insurrectionists” despite strenuous objections from state and local leaders.
Bord na Móna, which was once a peat extraction company, has now committed to one of the largest peatland restoration projects ever undertaken, targeting 33,000 hectares in over 80 bogs with the hope of reducing carbon emissions and increasing biodiversity. But many households still continue to cut turf, relying on it for heating as have previous generations
With cooler air, fewer crowds and lower prices, the mountains make a great alternative to the coast
All Italians race to la spiaggia in summer, leaving the hinterland marvellously empty. Tuscany gets a lot of love, but travel one region over to Umbria and Monti Sibillini national park bewitches with views of the Apennines and eyrie-like, honey-coloured hill towns such as Castelluccio, soaring above a plateau of brightly coloured poppies, cornflowers and daisies. It’s a gorgeous spot for hiking, biking and tracking down a trattoria to dig into specialities such as wild boar with locally grown lentils. You’ll find some of Italy’s finest salami in butcher shops in Norcia, as well as black truffles on the menus of restaurants such as the Michelin-starred Vespasia, which is in a 16th-century palazzo. Alternatively, you could join a tartufaio and their dog to head into the woods on a truffle-hunting tour. How to do it Organic farm Agriturismo Casale nel Parco dei Monti Sibillini (doubles from £84 B&B) has truffles and wild herbs in its grounds, and a terrific restaurant serving up local and homegrown produce.
Picklum solidifies top-three standing in World Surf League with runner-up finish
Her 9.6 point wave at Lower Trestles is the highest women’s score all season
A near-perfect ride helped Molly Picklum shake a monkey from her back at the Trestles Pro in California, where a runner-up finish firmed her top-three standing.
The Australian’s 9.6 point wave – the highest women’s score all season – in her semi-final defeat of the defending world champion Caity Simmers ensured she finally got the better of the Californian in their seventh encounter.
Many survivors believe organisation’s request for forgiveness over abuse in Women’s Protection Board centres does not go far enough
As the members of the Catholic organisation wrapped up their speech with an appeal for forgiveness, the auditorium in Madrid exploded in rage. For decades, many in the audience had grappled with the scars left by their time in Catholic-run institutions; now they were on their feet chanting: “Truth, justice and reparations” and – laying bare their rejection of any apology – “Neither forget, nor forgive”.
It was an unprecedented response to an unprecedented moment in Spain, hinting at the deep fissures that linger over one of the longest-running and least-known institutions of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship: the Catholic-run centres that incarcerated thousands of women and girls as young as eight, subjecting them to barbaric punishments, forced labour and religious indoctrination.
Are boxers the new beach dress? Are bermudas really back? And is wearing shorts to the office ever OK? Here’s how to prepare yourself for the great unveiling
Happy shorts season. Not happy for everyone, though, is it? It’s probably not a stretch to say that for many of us, wearing shorts is up there with getting into a swimsuit or showing your feet for the first time that year. A watershed moment of dread that, unlike most scary things – eating out alone, caring what other people think – only gets worse as you get older.
But it’s also summer, and sometimes only shorts will do. Plus, this year, there really is something for every leg. Culottes are back, except they’re structured and called bermuda shorts – and you can even wear them to work. So are 1970s sports shorts, if your summer reference is more Ridgemont High. It’s not unseemly to wear boxer shorts, especially if you’re on the beach, just try them in seersucker – or if you prefer the freedom of a skirt, how about a skort? Hate all shorts? Try jean-shorts or “jorts” – they’re better than they sound. Here is a foolproof guide to getting over shorts fear.
From John Lennon’s takedown of Paul McCartney to the Libertines’ Can’t Stand Me Now, songs by straight men about falling out with their friends were strangely romantic to me
When I was a teenager, in the late 00s in central Scotland, being gay was something I experienced as painful made me feel overwrought. This didn’t match the depiction of gayness I encountered in mainstream culture at the time, which was mostly very cheerful. Almost all of the gay men on my radar were comedians – figures such as Graham Norton and Alan Carr, both of whom I found funny and still admire today, but who were too easy-going and unpretentious to satisfy my desire to see myself as a tortured poet.
When I got to university, I found the representation I was looking for – solemn and beautiful – in writers such as Edmund White and James Baldwin, but earlier in my teenage years I had to make do with what was available: romanticising being gay through songs about straight men falling out with their platonic friends.
In scenes that could have been set in Moscow, families queued to sit in helicopters, while tanks and robot dogs paraded Constitution Avenue
It may have been billed as a military parade to celebrate the American military’s history, but it said even more about the country’s present and future under Donald Trump.
Soldiers, tanks and even robot dogs paraded along Constitution Ave. on Saturday, as paratroopers swooped in from overhead and military aircraft buzzed past the Washington Monument for the first major military parade held in the US capital since the victory after the first Gulf War of 1991.
Dubbed ‘Britain’s meanest landlord’, Asif Aziz is fighting it out with a tiny cinema that counts Christopher Nolan, Paul Mescal and other Hollywood heroes as fans. How did the capital’s cultural landmarks end up under the thumb of the super-rich elite?
When London’s Prince Charles Cinema has something to say, it declares it with large black lettering across its marquee. Once, during a summer heatwave, it beckoned punters with a blunt: SOD THE SUNSHINE COME SIT IN THE DARK. When its doors were boarded up during the first Covid lockdown it went for a rousing: WE’LL BE BACK. And after the coronation of King Charles: NO, WE ARE NOT CHANGING OUR NAME.
As is clear from the repertory of films on show – David Lynch classics in 35mm, all-night Japanese horror marathons, Sing-a-long-a-Sound of Music and screenings of The Room (frequently with a live Q&A from director Tommy Wiseau) – the cult Leicester Square spot (Quentin Tarantino’s favourite UK cinema) has a unique place in London’s West End. When the cinema found itself facing an existential crisis following a prolonged period of fraught negotiations with its new landlord, passersby only needed to look up to learn that the venue had a fight on its hands. Just three words were pinned to the board: SAVE THE PCC.
Scores of people injured after strikes on Tel Aviv and Tamra; US president also claims ‘we can easily get a deal done’ to end conflict
Israeli forces have opened fire on people at several aid distribution sites in Gaza, killing at least five civilians, according to Palestinian media.
The news agency Wafa reports three people were killed and others injured at the former Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, according to medical sources and eyewitnesses.
After retriever Louie got spooked on a walk his owners have not stopped searching for him – and local walkers have stepped in too
Walking along Nevis Gorge, the rumble of Steall Falls can be heard long before you see it. Rocky terrain clears to expansive grassland, forest and shrubbery.
Among Glen Nevis’s lush greenery, flashes of bright red paper can be seen. It is not litter left by tourists who have trekked to this beauty spot, but missing posters handed out by the family of Louie, a two-year-old golden retriever who has been missing for a fortnight.
My mother-in-law is still driving. After a near miss a few months ago, we told her she was no longer to drive with our children in her car, and we were grateful that she immediately agreed – but also puzzled that she didn’t consider stopping altogether.
A year ago she developed cataracts and was told to stop driving. She coped well, using her free bus pass and walking, which she doesn’t mind doing and knows is good for her health. However, when the cataract had been treated, the doctor told her she could drive again.
Some of the most skilful cooking happening anywhere in Britain right now
Ragù is a cool, minimal, romantic ode to Italian cooking that’s housed in a repurposed shipping container on Wapping Wharf in waterside Bristol. No, come back, please – don’t be scared. There are tables, chairs, napkins, reservations and all the other accoutrements of a bricks-and-mortar restaurant, even if this metal box may at some point in its existence once have been used to ship things to China and back. To my mind, Wapping Wharf has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and no longer feels at all like one of those novelty “box parks” that have about them a heavy whiff of the edgy temporary fixture. Today’s Wapping Wharf is a true independent food destination in its own right, and with a bird’s-eye view from one of Ragù’s window seats, while eating venison rump with gorgonzola dolce and sipping a booze-free vermouth, you can watch the crowds head for the likes of the modern French Lapin, Tokyo diner Seven Lucky Gods, modern British Box-E, Gurt Wings and many more; by day, there’s also a bakery, a butcher, a fromagerie and so on.
Of course, anyone who calls their sophisticated modern Italian restaurant Ragù clearly didn’t live in the UK through the 1980s. For me, as for many others, ragu will always be sold in a glass jar and advertised via caterwauling operatic ditties during the breaks on ITV’s London’s Burning: “Ragu, it brings out the Italian in you,” etc. This was back in a time when Britain’s attitude to Italian cuisine stretched, broadly speaking, as far as spag bol, though many of us were at a loss to tackle the “bol” part of that equation without Unilever’s industrially squished sieved tomatoes at 79p a jar.
Those days are long gone, however, and the evidence is clear to see at Ragù, with its crisp, lightly battered artichoke fritters with a punchy aïoli, its Hereford onglet with cipollotti onion, and its cannoli with rhubarb curd and pistachio. Ragù caters to a young-ish, knowing audience who are well aware that Britain’s current Italian dining culture was shaped by the River Cafe, Angela Hartnett and Giorgio Locatelli. Owners Mark and Karen Chapman opened Cor on North Street, Bedminster, in 2022, where they serve clever, fancy yet erring-on-the-hearty Mediterranean plates – think Catalan sausage with clams and fino butter sauce followed by tonka bean creme caramel. At Ragù, meanwhile, their focus is wholly Italian and, to my mind, this could be some of the most skilful cooking anywhere in Britain right now. I recommend the place wholly, effusively and slightly enviously of anyone who gets to taste the heavenly tiramisu made with sumptuously soggy slices of panettone before I get the chance to return.
A largely incoherent Inter Miami was held to a scoreless draw by Al Ahly as the opening ceremony outshined the football on the pitch
Well, this was at least a first. Gianni was right on that front. On a clammy, boisterous, vaguely hallucinogenic night at the Hard Rock Stadium, the opening act of Fifa’s billion-dollar death star, the newly bulked and tanned Club World Cup, did produce something new. This was surely the first major sporting event where the opening ceremony was infinitely more entertaining, and indeed comprehensible as a basic human activity, than the sporting spectacle that followed.
By the end, the best team in Africa, Al Ahly, had drawn 0-0 with a largely incoherent Inter Miami, who looked in the first half like they had a dim idea what this sport is meant to look like, but who were also struggling through a terrible wall-eyed hangover to remember which way is forward.
Netanyahu has been systematically and successfully weakening his regional foes, now Tehran is in the crosshairs
Israel’s offensive against Iran is the latest link in a chain of events triggered by the attack launched by Hamas from Gaza into Israel on 7 October 2023. All have successively weakened Tehran and, militarily at least, empowered Israel. Without each, it is difficult to see how the new offensive it launched directly against Iran on Friday might be possible.
The first was the Israeli offensive in Gaza. This has now killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, but within weeks had militarily degraded Hamas sufficiently for the Islamist militant organisation to no longer pose a significant current threat to Israeli citizens.
Search under way for two Australian men after Melbourne man Zivan Radmanovic fatally shot and another man injured at Bali villa
Authorities are searching for two Australian men suspected of fatally shooting a Melbourne man and injuring another at a villa on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) confirmed a man died and another was injured.
The shooting, just after midnight on Friday at Villa Casa Santisya near Munggu Beach in the district of Badung, killed Zivan Radmanovic, 32, from Melbourne. The second victim, who is 34 and also from Melbourne, was beaten, Badung police chief, Arif Batubara, said.
“We cannot yet determine the motive,” Batubara said, adding that an investigation was under way.
President confirms Russia could continue negotiations with Kyiv after current prisoner swaps end; Zelenskyy warns oil price surge could help Russia’s war effort. What we know on day 1,208
Protesters demonstrate at about 2,000 sites nationwide on day US president holds military parade in Washington
As tanks and soldiers paraded through the streets of Washington on Saturday, several million people around the country turned out to protest against the excesses of Donald Trump’s administration.
The protests, dubbed “No Kings”, took place at about 2,100 sites nationwide, from big cities to small towns. A coalition of more than 100 groups joined together to plan the protests, which are committed to a principle of nonviolence.
The stage has been cleared from the field. The teams have walked out, but instead of the traditional single line, they’re staring at each other as if they’re about to play Red Rover.
Now they’re shaking hands.
The VAR crew are from Spain and Uruguay. The referee is Alireza Faghani, who has moved to and works in Australia but is from Iran. What must be going through his mind right now?
Nine-over Fitzpatrick lambasts course as Hatton gets to one over
Sam Burns still leads by one at four under, from Spaun and Scott
If a quiz question was to ask which English golfer a) lacerated the setup at the US Open, as another b) fired himself into contention before offering a much calmer assessment, the answers from the vast majority of observers would be obvious: a) Tyrrell Hatton, b) Matt Fitzpatrick. The reality at Oakmont was the complete opposite.
First to Fitzpatrick. The 2022 champion finds himself unimpressed by this golfing brute, as he was happy to declare after a third round of 72 left him nine over par. “I personally don’t think it’s fair,” said the Yorkshireman. “I think there’s hard that’s fair and there’s just straight unfair. And I just think that this falls into that [second] category, really. I just don’t think it necessarily rewards good shots and I think it penalises bad shots too harshly. You can be more penalised for hitting a shot one yard off the fairway, six inches off the fairway, than you can 40 yards off the fairway. And obviously, when you’ve got the greens as extreme as these, it amplifies any miss.
Police in Culpeper, Virginia, and San Francisco detain suspects and report non-life-threatening injuries
Protesters at “No Kings” events in Culpeper, Virginia, and San Francisco, California, have been struck by motorists, according to local news reports.
The protests are taking place at about 2,000 sites nationwide, from big cities to small towns. A coalition of more than 100 groups planned the protests, which are committed to a principle of nonviolence.
Caitlin Clark totaled 32 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in a spectacular return from a left quad injury on Saturday leading the Indiana Fever to a 102-88 victory over the New York Liberty, snapping their season-opening nine-game winning streak.
After missing five games, Clark scored 25 points in the first half to help Indiana (5-5) rally from an early 11-point deficit. Clark made 11-of-20 shots and tied a career high by hitting seven threees, including several from well beyond the arc.
Forward sent to sin bin after collision with Finn Russell
Ben Spencer believes ‘sky is the limit’ for Bath
Michael Cheika, the Leicester head coach, took issue with the officiating after his side’s playoff final defeat by Bath, describing the late yellow card shown to Dan Cole after an aerial collision with Finn Russell as “embarrassing for the game” and “hardly even a penalty”.
The Australian was also less than impressed with how the scrum was refereed. “I’ve never seen it before in my life, dominating like that and getting nothing, zero. In fact, getting penalised against.
Mercedes’s George Russell shares front row with Red Bull rival
‘It is really pissing me off,’ Verstappen says of media scrutiny
A furious Max Verstappen lashed out at criticism of his driving, saying it was “childish, annoying and pissing me off” after his nemesis George Russell beat him to pole position for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell snatched top spot with a brilliant final lap at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to leave Verstappen trailing by 0.160sec, with the McLaren pair Oscar Piastri third and Lando Norris a disappointing seventh. It means Mercedes’s Russell and defending champion Verstappen will line up on the front row together, a fortnight after their collision in Spain.
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries were left reeling as England’s hopes of retaining the World Cup of Darts were torn apart by Germany. The world’s top two players slipped to an 8-4 second round defeat at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, where Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko made the most of the backing of a partisan home crowd to seal a comprehensive victory.
Littler and Humphries, who both received MBEs in King Charles’s birthday honours, were made to pay for missed doubles, with the 18-year-old in particular turning in an off-colour display in a country where he has endured previous disappointments.
Henry Young is proud to have played on centre court during the Australian Open but does not want to be seen as remarkable just for playing at all
Henry Young doesn’t mind being asked about his secret to a long, active life – it comes with the territory when you’re a 101-year-old competitive tennis player. It has its perks, like getting to play on centre court during the Australian Open, but what he does mind is that it’s considered so remarkable that he is playing at all. That he is seen as extraordinary and there must be some magic trick that keeps him going.
“What bugs me is that people give up their tennis when they have some kind of injury,” Young says. “I’m a monument to the medical profession because I’ve had so many injuries and I just persevere, and then tennis repairs you.”
Comedians like the UK’s George Lewis, Farideh Olsen from Canada and Sean Szeps in Australia have huge audiences because ‘if we can’t laugh … we’re going to sob uncontrollably’
Many Instagram-frequenting parents of small children will have seen George Lewis’s sketch about two toddlers discussing their feelings of abandonment and relief wrapped in a game of peekaboo.
“It was a normal day, I was just playing with Dad. And then he put his hands in front of his face and he was just gone,” the British comedian and father says in the widely shared video. “He was behaving so erratically.”
From the first offer of breakfast mimosas, Jens Radda knew Lachie was a kindred spirit – but he was cautious. Then a mutual friend confirmed his feelings
During Melbourne’s sixth lockdown in 2021, I was bored out of my mind in my suburban sharehouse and craving connection. I’d been following an Instagram account for a drag performer called Iva Rosebud at the behest of a mutual friend who felt our work was similar.
I’d been watching them from a distance for some time when one Friday night a message arrived suggesting a collaboration. Obviously it piqued my interest; it’s not like I had anything else to do – who knew how long the lockdown would go on for?
Connexion
