While Copenhagen’s fortunes grow alongside rise in Swedish commuters over 16km bridge, benefits for Malmö are proving less obvious
After 19 years of commuting to Denmark from Sweden,Helen Sjögren is so used to crossing the bridge that she identifies as Scandinavian rather than Swedish. The researcher at a Danish pharmaceutical company lives in the Swedish university town of Lund with her three children but has become accustomed to Danish working practices, and the idea of working in Sweden is now difficult to imagine.
“Because I’m Swedish, colleagues would expect me to behave like a Swede,” she said, referring to their reputation for seeking consensus. “So I would be seen as rude – too direct to fit in Sweden.”
The new Brad Pitt F1 movie offers a glossy exhilarating ride but its 1960s predecessor Grand Prix goes beneath the bonnet
‘Let’s try to get the season off to a good start, shall we? Drive the car. Don’t try to stand it on its bloody ear.”
Have you watched the movie? It’s about a rule-breaking American Formula One driver, the kind who blows past blue flags and crashes into his own teammate. You must have heard of it. They shot it in real race cars, across some of the most prestigious circuits in the world. It even had contemporary world championship drivers making notable cameos on the track.
England, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands are the teams to beat but the tournament in Switzerland will be incredibly tight
You only have to wind the clock back two full major-tournament cycles, to Euro 2017, and there were no fully professional women’s leagues in Europe. Thanks to increased investment in the women’s game, there are now more than 3,000 full-time female players across the continent, and that professionalisation is why my overriding feeling about this summer’s Euros is that the quality is going to be so much higher than we have seen before. And it will be so tight.
In Spain, England and Germany there are three strong favourites who are all capable of going on to win it and I would add the Netherlands to the top four. I was so impressed when we [the United States] played the Dutch in December. They will need everybody fit but, on their day, they are a top side. Beyond that, this tournament is going to show the prowess of the Nations League, which was introduced since the most recent Euros, and the impact that tournament is having on equality.
Saucy Books in London has become the go-to destination for romance readers – but fans say misogyny is stopping the genre getting the recognition it deserves
Whether you want a brooding billionaire, a queer awakening, a dragon rider (yes, really) or an old-fashioned enemies-to-lovers tale, there’s a romance novel for everybody at Saucy Books.
England’s first romance-only bookshop opened last week in Notting Hill, west London, instantly becoming a go-to destination for readers and turning into a meeting spot for like-minded folk to share their love stories.
The world has been too optimistic about the risk to humanity and planet – but devastation can still be avoided, says Timothy Lenton
Timothy Lenton is a professor of climate change and Earth system science at the University of Exeter. He started working on tipping points in the 1990s, making him one of the first scientists in the world to study this form of planetary risk. In an upcoming book, Positive Tipping Points: How to Fix the Climate Crisis, he argues the Earth has entered an “unstable period” but humanity can still prevail if we can trigger positive social and economic tipping points to reverse the damage that has already been done. On 30 June, he will host a global conference on tipping points.
From Summoner’s Rift to Scotland’s other national drink, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
1 What is celebrated, mathematically, on 14 March and 22 July? 2 Which form of Chinese originated in Guangzhou? 3 Summoner’s Rift is the main battleground in what game? 4 What is advertised as “Scotland’s other national drink”? 5 Which archipelago is home to Norway’s polar bears? 6 Which activist was arrested in Rochester, NY, in 1872 for voting? 7 What was the first martial art to become an Olympic sport? 8 Which organ produces insulin? What links:
9 Dominic McLaughlin; Jamie Parker; Daniel Radcliffe? 10 Riviera’s second city; goddess of victory; Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight? 11 Star patterns; time travel in Hill Valley; piano; neo-Nazi code? 12 Lime Rickey; Arnold Palmer; Shirley Temple; Virgin Mary? 13 Political Wife (Sarah Vine); Politician (Rory Stewart) Professional Footballer (Paul Merson); Boy (Robert Webb)? 14 Ghost; Lordi; Pussy Riot; Sleep Token; Slipknot? 15 Ancelotti; Enrique; Guardiola; Happel; Heynckes; Hitzfeld; Mourinho?
Move over Julia Davies and Sharon Horgan – this devastating, ruthless sitcom is basically the British psyche on a screen. It’s just the medicine
I love watching real-life siblings on-screen. They bring a knotted history to every interaction, the way they look at one another, or don’t. They may love each other; they’re definitely stuck with each other. Daisy May and Charlie Cooper were the last to bottle such contradiction; I’m delighted we now have Such Brave Girls (BBC One, Wednesday 2 July, 11.40pm), returning for a second series, in which creator Kat Sadler stars alongside her sister Lizzie Davidson. Cattier than Longleat, it features some of the most savage writing on TV, and makes me yowl with pleasure.
It’s about traumatised women making terrible choices. Bear with. The ever-excellent Louise Brealey plays Deb, whose husband abandoned his family 10 years ago after popping to the shop for teabags. In financial trouble, she spends her time trying to lock down relations with drippy, slippery widower Dev, played by Paul Bazely, explicitly for his big house. Single-mindedness has made her grim, grasping and less maternal than a stressed hamster. Bad news for daughters Josie and Billie, who give off the stench of joint captivity, and have split into twin coping strategies: one depressed and passive, the other overconfident, bullish and equally lost.
As celebrations become more lavish, those invited face higher costs. Here’s how some people juggle spending and expectations
By the time Layla had paid for flights, booked a hotel, bought a dress and contributed to the honeymoon fund, her friend’s wedding had cost her more than £1,600 – and it is just one of three she is attending this summer.
With more couples planning bigger celebrations – often with multiple events, and with some away from home, guests are left footing ever bigger bills.
The vampire slayer’s tenacity and independence freed me from the judgment and violence of my conservative relatives – and now my mum appreciates me for who I am
I was 10, cross-legged on the floor of my parents’ living room in Newcastle, bathed in the blue light of a TV. The volume was set to near-silence – my dad, asleep in another room, had schizophrenia and frontal lobe syndrome, and I didn’t want to wake him. Then, like some divine interruption to the endless blur of news and repeats, I stumbled across Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show may have been barely audible, but it hit me like a lightning bolt.
Before Buffy, life was like a pressure cooker. I secretly yearned for a more alternative lifestyle, but even wearing jeans would have been a big deal in my family. I had an assisted place at a private school as my parents were quite poor. Mum would say: “If you don’t study, we’ll have to put you in the other school, and you’ll just get beaten up.” It sounds like fear-mongering, but she was right: the students in the local school were known to beat Pakistani people up every Shrove Tuesday. So I dedicated my life to working hard.
Music executives have condemned Irish rappers and Keir Starmer says appearance is not ‘appropriate’, but 100 musicians have signed letter in support
Kneecap will be taking to the Glastonbury stage on Saturday afternoon in front of a packed crowd eagerly anticipating what could be one of the most controversial sets in the festival’s history.
The Irish rap group are performing at 4pm on the West Holts stage, amid criticism from music industry executives and from the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who said it was not “appropriate” for the band to perform.
As white South Africans arrive in US to escape ‘unjust racial discrimination’, many progressives feel angry at Trump’s portrayal of them as victims
For some white Afrikaner South Africans, Donald Trump’s offer of refugee status in the US has been seen as a godsend. For others, it has provoked anger and frustration that they are being falsely portrayed as victims of a “white genocide”, 31 years after their community’s own oppressive minority rule ended.
In February, Trump signed an executive order claiming Afrikaners, who make up about 4% of South Africa’s population, or about 2.5 million people, were victims of “unjust racial discrimination”. The order cut aid to the country and established a refugee programme for white South Africans. The first group arrived in May.
Loyalists hope for boost after apparent victory, but political divisions and 7 October security failures still loom large
When Benjamin Netanyahu described the opportunities for peace that Israel’s successes in its brief war with Iran might bring, supporters took him at his word.
“This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm,” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said on Thursday in a pre-recorded statement.
Forever young Brad Pitt breaks all the motor racing rules, while the final series of the dystopian Korean thriller welcomes a mysterious new contestant. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
Understanding your brain on sale is the first step. Here are some practical measures to ensure you only buy things you need – or items that truly bring you joy in the long term
Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint
Whether the discount is offered on social media, via email or in a banner on your favourite website, if a business you’ve ever been a patron of is having a sale you can be sure they’ll find a way to tell you.
“Temporary sales events are aimed at leveraging FOMO,” says Jason Pallant, a senior lecturer in marketing at RMIT University. “The idea is to make consumers feel like they will miss out on a great bargain if they don’t buy something right away.”
Faith Kipyegon remains convinced that a woman will break the four-minute mile barrier within 10 years, despite falling more than six seconds short in her record attempt in Paris.
It was a disappointing result for Kipyegon and her sponsor Nike, who had hoped that aerodynamic skinsuits, lighter super spikes and a team of 13 pacers would help the 31-year-old Kenyan get within touching distance of the famous mark.
It started as a group of activists on a budget – now it could be banned under terrorism laws. But were lobbyists behind the proposed ban?
If this interview had taken place in a week’s time, Huda Ammori might have been arrested. If this interview had been published in a week’s time, the Guardian might also have been breaking the law.
Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, said she was finding it “very hard to absorb the reality of what’s happening here”. She said: “I don’t have a single conviction but if this goes through I would have co-founded what will be a terrorist organisation.”
This scandalous story gives lie to the claim that the biggest threat to country life comes from city dwellers
Power hides by setting us against each other. This is never more true than in the countryside, where the impacts of an extreme concentration of ownership and control are blamed on those who have nothing to do with it. Rural people are endlessly instructed that they’re oppressed not by the lords of the land, but by vicious and ignorant townies – the “urban jackboot” as the Countryside Alliance used to call it – stamping on their traditions.
Near Bridport in Dorset right now, an entire village is facing eviction, following the sale of the Bridehead Estate for about £30m. The official new owner, Bridehead Estate Ltd, is registered to the same address, with the same officers, as a company called Belport. The Telegraph reports that the estate “was bought by Belport, a private equity firm, on behalf of a wealthy client last autumn”, but no one knows who the client is. So far I’ve received no response to the questions I sent to Belport.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
On Tuesday 16 September, join George Monbiot, Mikaela Loach and other special guests discussing the forces driving climate denialism, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at Guardian.Live
Rice noodles topped with a rubble of tempeh and walnuts and tossed in garlic oil and a sweet, salty and tangy hot sauce
Up until now, I was sceptical about viral recipes. Is anyone still making the baked feta pasta from 2021? Has the “marry me chicken” resulted in an uptick in matrimonies? But the tossed noodles (guay tiew klook) currently doing the rounds on Thai social media platforms really whet my appetite. In short, they’re noodles tossed with mince, garlic oil and a dark, sweet, salty and tangy hot sauce, and they just make so much sense that they really couldn’t not be great. I love them, so I’m passing on the baton to you using a combination of crumbly tempeh and walnuts instead of the mince.
Next week, a UN summit in Seville will discuss the future of financing the world’s poorer nations. It should first concede that the old methods have failed
It is 2025, and the architecture of economic power remains grossly tilted against the nations of the global south. Nowhere is this imbalance more acute – and more enduring – than in the debilitating impact of sovereign debt.
From the vast countries of Africa to the scattered but strategically vital small island developing states (Sids) of the Caribbean and the Pacific, debt has become a modern form of bondage – the chains that restrict growth, sovereignty and the basic human dignity of nations struggling to define their own path to development.
I’m slightly alarmed that my wife, who is driving, has mistaken the mist on her glasses for actual mist
It is early in the morning, and my wife and I are setting off on a long car journey. My wife is driving; I am looking at my phone. It is my plan to look at my phone for at least the first hour, even though it is unlikely my wife will allow this.
Breasts have always been political – and right now they’re front and centre again. Is it yet another way in which Trump’s worldview is reshaping the culture?
It was, almost, a proud feminist moment. On inauguration day in January, the unthinkable happened. President Trump, the biggest ego on the planet, was upstaged by a woman in a white trouser suit – the proud uniform of Washington feminists, worn by Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in solidarity with the traditional colour of the suffragettes. In the event, the white trouser suit barely got a mention. The show was stolen by what was underneath: Lauren Sánchez’s cleavage, cantilevered under a wisp of white lace. The breasts of the soon-to-be Mrs Jeff Bezos were the ceremony’s breakout stars. The only talking point that came close was Mark Zuckerberg’s inability to keep his eyes off them.
Call it a curtain raiser for a year in which breasts have been – how to put this? – in your face. Sydney Sweeney’s pair have upstaged her acting career to the point that she wears a sweatshirt that says “Sorry for Having Great Tits and Correct Opinions”. Bullet bras are making a sudden comeback, in sugar-pink silk on Dua Lipa on the cover of British Vogue and nosing keen as shark fins under fine cashmere sweaters at the Miu Miu show at Paris fashion week. Perhaps most tellingly, Kim Kardashian, whose body is her business empire, has made a 180-degree pivot from monetising her famous backside to selling, in her Skims lingerie brand, push-up bras featuring a pert latex nipple – with or without a fake piercing – that make an unmissable point under your T-shirt. Not since Eva Herzigova was in her Wonderbra in 1994 – Hello Boys – have boobs been so, well, big.
Tope, 27, a doctor, meets Eden, 28, a software engineer
What were you hoping for?
A lot of good food and for the evening not to turn into an edition of Dining Across the Divide.
First impressions?
Blond! Blue eyes!
What did you talk about?
The Bible. Judith Butler. Susan Sontag. Patti LuPone. Poetry. Squash. Musicals. Deciding whether or not to name our Pokémon (I’m pro). The cookbook club I’m in. The scavenger hunt I went on before our date. The Manosphere.
Most awkward moment?
When we exchanged numbers, I glimpsed his contact list. The moniker that was above my name is not suitable for publication. (We laughed about it!)
Good table manners?
Faultless. We ordered lots and shared everything.
Best thing about Eden?
He has a poet’s soul.
Would you introduce Eden to your friends?
Happily.
Describe Eden in three words
Cool, calm and collected.
What do you think Eden made of you?
Probably that I’m excitable and garrulous. He said I was “erudite”.
Pyramid stage Perhaps joking, or perhaps not, Matty Healy pronounces himself ‘the greatest songwriter of my generation’ – and that’s only a slightly ridiculous statement
The 1975’s first Glastonbury headlining slot arrives preceded by some intriguing rumours about what’s going to happen. Some fairly eye-popping figures are being bandied about regarding the cost of their set’s staging – which allegedly vastly outweighs the fee the band are being paid – while one dubious online source insists Healy has shaved his head for the occasion. He hasn’t (he appears onstage tonsorially intact), but clearly large sums of money have been spent somewhere along the way.
What ensues isn’t quite as complex as their last tour, which featured lead singer Matty Healy eating raw steak, doing push ups, climbing through a television and Prince Andrew’s face appearing on a bank of television screens accompanied by the strains of Mahler’s 5th Symphony. Nevertheless, there are huge video screens everywhere: not just behind the band, but above them and at either side of the stage, and indeed below the actual video screens that Glastonbury traditionally provides. The treadmill that ran across the front of the stage during their 2018 tour – there for Healy to glide around on, something he does with admirable insouciance – makes a reappearance, while, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, the rear half of a car makes an appearance stage right at one point. Healy sings from within it.
The global order is being dismantled by a generation that will not live to see the wreckage they leave behind
Let’s attempt something delicate: talking about age without slipping into ageism. Never before in modern history have those with the fate of the world in their hands been so old. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are both 72. Narendra Modi is 74, Benjamin Netanyahu 75, Donald Trump 79, and Ali Khamenei is 86.
Thanks to advances in medical science, people are able to lead longer, more active lives – but we are now also witnessing a frightening number of political leaders tightening their grip on power as they get older, often at the expense of their younger colleagues.
David Van Reybrouck is philosopher laureate for the Netherlands and Flanders. His books include Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World and Congo: The Epic History of a People
Long-awaited ILC report examines what should happen to vulnerable countries as sea levels rise
States should be able to continue politically even if their land disappears underwater, legal experts have said.
The conclusions come from a long-awaited report by the International Law Commission that examined what existing law means for continued statehood and access to key resources if sea levels continue to rise due to climate breakdown.
Record numbers expected at march despite Hungary’s leader saying those attending will face ‘legal consequences’
Record numbers of people are expected to take part in Budapest Pride on Saturday, with Hungarians joining forces with campaigners and politicians from across Europe in a march that has become a potent symbol of pushback against the Hungarian government’s steady rollback of rights.
“This weekend, all eyes are on Budapest,” Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, told reporters in the Hungarian capital on Friday. “This is bigger than one Pride celebration, one Pride march. It is about the right to be who you are, to love who you want, whether it is in Budapest, in Brussels or anywhere else.”
Prosecutors allege more than a million Medicare recipients had their information stolen and used by the defendants for fraudulent claims
US federal prosecutors charged 11 people on Friday in a Russia-based scheme to bilk Medicare – the American health insurance program for the elderly and disabled – out of $10.6bn through fraudulent billing for expensive medical equipment.
The “transnational criminal organization” orchestrated a “multi-billion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme” that included purchasing dozens of medical equipment companies from prior legitimate owners to perpetrate the fraud, according to the indictment dated 18 June.
Ukrainian military claims strike on four Su-34 bombers at Marinovka base about 900km from border; Russian attack on Samar wounds 25. What we know on day 1,221
Ukraine’s military has said it struck four warplanes at an airbase in central Russia’s Volgograd region as part of a drive to hit Russian war assets. It said on Telegram it had hit four Su-34 aircraft at the Marinovka base outside the city of Volgograd, about 900km (550 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The post on Friday said the operation was conducted by the military’s special operations branch, together with the SBU security service and other services of the military. “According to preliminary information, four aircraft were hit, specifically SU-34 planes, as well as technical-operational facilities where different warplanes are serviced and repaired,” the statement said. There was no immediate comment from the Russian military.
Ukraine’s military said the damage to Marinovka was being assessed and described the Su-34 as Russia’s main aircraft used in bombing raids on Ukrainian territory. Volgograd governor Andrei Bocharov on Friday listed the region’s Kalanchyovsky district where Marinovka is located among three areas targeted by Ukrainian drones and said traffic on the bridge over the Don River in the district was temporarily restricted.
A Russian missile attack killed at least five people and wounded 25 in the industrial city of Samar in Ukraine’s south-east on Friday, officials said – the second strike on the city in three days. At least four of the wounded were in severe condition and taken to hospital, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram. Officials gave no immediate details on damage in the city, where an attack on an infrastructure facility on Tuesday killed two people.
Two people were killed and at least 14 wounded when a Russian drone smashed into a residential high-rise in Odesa, authorities said on Saturday. Three children were among the wounded in the overnight attack in the Ukrainian Black Sea city, with one in critical condition, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. Footage posted by the state emergency service showed firefighters battling a blaze and rushing residents down a dark stairwell in the 21-storey building.
In the Kherson region to the east, authorities urged residents on Friday to prepare for extended periods without power after a Russian attack hit a key energy facility. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said the attack caused power cuts in some settlements in the region, which is close to the front lines with Russian forces.
Russia said its troops had captured the village of Nova Kruhlyakivka in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region. The report on Friday from Russian state news agency Tass, citing the defence ministry, could not be independently verified.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said Russia and Ukraine’s demands for peace were “absolutely contradictory”, after two rounds of talks have failed to bring a ceasefire. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators exchanged memorandums on how to end the war at talks in Istanbul this month and the Russian president said in Minsk on Friday: “As for the memorandums, as expected, nothing surprising happened ... these are two absolutely contradictory memorandums.”
At the press conference in Minsk after a meeting with allies in Belarus, Putin also denounced what he called an “aggressive” pledge by Nato members to increase their defence spending to 5% of GDP. US president Donald Trump called Nato’s decision a “big win” for western civilisation. Putin also said on Friday that Russia was ready to hold a new round of peace talks with Ukraine, potentially in Istanbul, although the time and venue had yet to be agreed.
Punchy and tangy, this winter cocktail is a household favourite for bartender Cara Devine. She shares her recipes for a Lady Marmalade and a ‘slapdash’ jam
In our Melbourne garden, theonly fruit tree that produces with any regularityis a cumquat. Bitter little things, cumquats – spelled kumquats outside Australia – are not quite as versatile as most other citrus. So, I say “when life gives you cumquats, make marmalade!” – then use it in a punchy and tangy cocktail.
The Lady Marmalade is a late-night specialty in our household. You can make a non-alcoholic version by shaking up the marmalade with a tangy fruit juice. Grapefruit with a splash of lime works well; the marmalade adds texture and complexity that elevates the juice to mocktail status.
Suit filed in Los Angeles court accuses mogul, son and two other men of ‘brutal gang-rape’ in 2017
As closing arguments got under way in the federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs this week, the music mogul and his son Justin Combs were hit with a new lawsuit, accusing them of a “brutal gang-rape” in 2017.
In the suit filed in a Los Angeles court on Monday, a woman alleges that Justin Combs used his father’s celebrity status to “lure [the] plaintiff, a young female, from Louisiana to Los Angeles where she was literally held prisoner for a weekend and repeatedly raped” by the pair and two other masked men, according to the complaint.
Americans are showing renewed interest in moving to NZ. Those who have made the leap love its free healthcare and natural beauty, but warn fleeing is not a ‘golden parachute’
Californian Larry Keim has learned a thing or two in his 20 years living in New Zealand: good dill pickles are hard to come by, understanding kiwi slang will get you far, and if you think you’re going to get rich, forget it, “that ain’t gonna happen”.
“But [New Zealand] is rich in so many other things that, at the end of the day, matter more.”
Donald Trump, personally, will now have the presumptive power to persecute you, and nullify your rights in defiance of the constitution, at his discretion
Those of us who cover the US supreme court are faced, every June, with a peculiar challenge: whether to describe what the supreme court is doing, or what is claims that it is doing.
What the supreme court says it was doing in Friday’s 6-3 decision in Trump v Casa, Inc, the birthright citizenship case, is narrowing the power of federal district judges to issue nationwide injunctions, in deference to presidential authority. The case effectively ends the ability of federal judges on lower courts to issue nationwide stays of executive actions that violate the constitution, federal law, and the rights of citizens. And so what the court has actually done is dramatically expand the rights of the president – this president – to nullify constitutional provisions at will.
This was a night where you could almost sense the mood of all those associated with Leeds Rhinos shift from cautious optimism to genuine belief about what could lie ahead this summer.
After several years of malaise, disappointment is rare in this part of West Yorkshire these days but after an underwhelming defeat to St Helens last weekend, Brad Arthur had demanded his side show a response. How they did that here, and in some style on another impressive evening for Leeds.
Hugo Carvajal faces narco-terrorism and weapon charges amid accusations he helped lead a drug-trafficking group
A former top Venezuelan military intelligence chief has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to narco-terrorism conspiracy, drug-trafficking and weapons charges, piling further US pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, AKA “El Pollo” or “The Chicken”, was the director of Venezuela’s military intelligence under presidents Hugo Chávez and Maduro. On Wednesday, days before his trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty to four federal counts, related to accusations that he helped lead a drug-trafficking group within the Venezuelan government.
Pyramid stage The Canadian singer’s pared-down set showcases an undiminished vocal talent and life-affirming energy
Alanis Morissette has landed the coveted pre-headliner “sundowner slot” on the Pyramid stage on Friday, and without any significant clashes, setting her up for a healthy crowd. Just in case you’re not familiar with who she is, her set opens with a helpful explanatory video emphasising her cultural impact with testimonials from Kelly Clarkson, Halsey and (actual Glastonbury headliner) Olivia Rodrigo, as well as clips from interviews giving a brief overview on her views (anti-war; “naturearchy” over patriarchy).
This brazen American narration letting you know that you’re about to see a seven-time Grammy award-winner and a Very Influential Artist strikes a slightly odd note (or maybe just an un-English one). The spirit of Glastonbury, after all, is one where even the biggest star in the world must profess earnest and heartfelt gratitude for having been permitted to so much as cross the threshold of this holy ground; Morissette’s video intro, emphasising her importance – under-acknowledged as it may be – risks setting expectations unattainably high.
However, when Morissette takes the stage, she is very quick to show that she deserves them. After a little trill on her harmonica, she introduces One Hand in My Pocket, one of her best-known songs. It’s a smart move, not only inviting the audience to join in with its built-in choreography (one hand making a peace sign, one hand holding a cigarette – good luck hailing that taxi cab!) but also signalling that she’s setting out to play a crowd-pleasing set, and not planning to hold back on the hits.
For anyone who has cared to see beyond her reputation as the Canadian singer of Ironic and/or an angry man-hating feminist – as she was persistently dismissed, even at her career peak – Morissette has always been defined by her voice. It’s both incredibly powerful, capable of the octave-jumping acrobatics that define pop’s most lauded singers, but also – more unusually – idiosyncratic: you don’t have to be very familiar with her back catalogue to be able to do a quickly guessable impression.
Thirty years on from her album Jagged Little Pill, no one would fault Morissette if she wasn’t able to summon the raw power that made that album so enduring. It’s defined of course by You Oughta Know, a song that makes every other song subsequently described as having been “inspired by female rage” (and there have been many!) sound as if they were written by ChatGPT. But if there were any doubts about her voice among the crowd, Morissette dispels them instantly, really putting some welly into her trademark warble, even for One Hand in My Pocket – one of her lower-intensity hit songs.
“Got some pipes on her, eh,” my sister messages me from elsewhere in the field and I can only agree. The focus of this set is on Morissette as a singer, as much as a songwriter, and it’s refreshing – after a decade now of whisperpop, and even the angriest young feminists in pop seemingly struggling to actually raise their voices – to hear what a well-trained diaphragm is capable of.
Perhaps relatedly, Morissette keeps the chat between songs to a minimum, thanking the crowd with an ear-to-ear smile then launching into Right Through You. On the screen behind her, a series of stats scroll through highlighting the multi-faceted grim reality for women today, still – from higher rates of depression and anxiety than men, to a tiny share of the world’s total wealth, to dismal stats of partner violence. It makes explicit the sexism and disrespect that has dogged Morissette through her career and brings it into the anniversary set, concluding the song with the question: “Why are we afraid of the divine feminine?”
The tour starts when boots are on the ground in Australia and a line can be drawn under last week’s defeat against Argentina
The British & Irish Lions’ defeat by Argentina will have been shaken out of their system even before the jet lag. It is not difficult to draw a line under it. The tour starts when boots are on the ground in Australia and listening to the noises coming out of the camp, I’d be amazed if Andy Farrell is voicing the same frustrations after Saturday’s match against Western Force.
The handling errors against the Pumas stood out. I don’t mind so much those that were committed in aerial contests – though there were a lot in open play as well – but I think what really frustrated Farrell is that Argentina appeared to be playing with more urgency at the breakdown and when it came to feeding off the loose scraps.
Hazlewood picks up five wickets in 159-run victory in Bridgetown
It was an extraordinary final session to end the first Test in Barbados in the long shadows of the third evening. After two days of wobbles, a portion of Australia’s batting got its act together, with the lower-middle-order trio of Travis Head, Beau Webster, and Alex Carey making half centuries to lift Australia’s second innings to 310. That left West Indies needing 301 to win the first Test in Barbados, always unlikely on a Kensington Oval pitch that already had balls keeping low. Josh Hazlewood made sure of it with a withering burst of 4-4 in 16 balls, later upping that to 5-23, as West Indies crashed humiliatingly to 141 all out, losing by 159 runs.
Hazlewood has been the subject of some public attention of late, given his injury absences and how well Scott Boland has performed during each one. But the first-choice option has 288 Test wickets, took 35 of them at 13 last calendar year, and has nine at 18 in the two matches he has managed in 2025. His career against West Indies is worth 43 at 15, and over two tours to this part of the world he has 19 wickets at nine.
Connexion
