Are people applying layers of products, masks and tape to their faces at bedtime following a beneficial beauty trend, or is the practice problematic?

The women in the videos begin by liberally applying layers of skincare products. Then come the sheet masks: two under the eyes, one across the whole face, and perhaps another for the neck. A silk bonnet is placed over the hair, a chinstrap wraps the jaw and, as a final touch, a cartoonish, lip-shaped sticker is placed over the mouth, sealing it shut. And that’s the simplified version.

Welcome to the tyranny of #morningshed, the viral TikTok trend in which creators apply multiple, increasingly absurd layers of skincare products, masks and accessories before bed, hoping to uncover a flawless complexion when they peel them away the following morning. We aren’t talking about the (comparatively simple) serums and essences that made up the once-popular 12-step Korean-inspired routines. Now, it’s chinstraps to “lift” the jawline, hydrogel masks infused with “ultra-low molecular collagen” to smooth, and adhesive tape applied to the skin to restrict wrinkling. I was going to liken it to Patrick Bateman’s morning routine in American Psycho, but having rewatched that scene, his gel cleanser, exfoliating scrub and face mask ritual feels decidedly lower maintenance.

Pubs and shops witness surge in sales as global visitors join born and bred Mancunians to attend sold-out five night run

All around the world, you’ve gotta spread the word. And if the lyrics to the song are right, the word is well and truly out. Behind the bar at an Oasis-themed pub in Manchester’s buzzy Northern Quarter, fans from across the world have planted their flags in a giant map of the globe to show the extraordinary international appeal of the city’s most famous musical sons.

They stretch from New Zealand to Kazakhstan, Greenland to Sudan, with a deluge from the US, South America and China. Most have descended on the bar this week before the band’s first concert in the city in 16 years this Friday.

There have been modest redistributive reforms, but the party of the workers still daren’t admit that Britain’s rampant inequality needs to be addressed

After 125 years of practice, Labour ought to be good at saying why resources should be redistributed from the rich to everyone else. Its founding conference in 1900 passed a motion calling for “a distinct Labour group in Parliament”, to collaborate with any party “promoting legislation in the direct interests” of the working class. Creating a more egalitarian society and politics – which by definition means redistribution from the powerful – was Labour’s original purpose.

Britain was then, and remains, a highly unequal country: more unequal currently than neighbours such as Ireland, the Netherlands and France. This week the children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, said that some British children were living in “almost Dickensian levels of poverty”. But as any expensive but packed restaurant, pavement lined with new Range Rovers or row of smoothly renovated home exteriors will tell you, the rich have been enjoying a long boom in Britain, arguably ever since the Conservatives abolished the top 60% income tax rate 37 years ago.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Exclusive: Speciality Steel UK, which employs 1,450 people in South Yorkshire, could be supported if it enters administration

Ministers are considering options to step in to save another major steel plant if its parent company collapses into administration after a key court case next week.

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, is understood to be looking at what the government can do to support Speciality Steel UK (SSUK) – part of the Liberty Steel Group owned by Sanjeev Gupta – should it be faced with possible closure after Wednesday’s insolvency hearing.

Woodland Trust’s 10 nominees from across the country highlight how trees inspire creative minds

A cedar tree climbed by the Beatles, an oak that may have inspired Virginia Woolf and a lime representing peace in Northern Ireland are among those shortlisted for tree of the year 2025.

Voting opens on Friday for the Woodland Trust’s annual competition, which aims to celebrate and raise awareness of rare, ancient or at-risk trees across the UK.

Exclusive: Tom Dolphin says rise needed to redress real-terms earnings loss since 2008 and strikes could last years

Resident doctors’ 29% pay claim is non-negotiable, reasonable and easily affordable for the NHS, the new leader of the medical profession has said.

Strikes to ensure resident – formerly junior – doctors in England get the full 29% could drag on for years, according to Dr Tom Dolphin, the British Medical Association’s new council chair.

Said to be too fragile to move in 2018, tests including a dress rehearsal, and a renovation have led to a change of heart

When, in 2018, Emmanuel Macron proposed the loan of the Bayeux tapestry to Britain, an army of conservationists and experts rose up to explain why the almost-1,000 year old treasure was too fragile to be moved.

Antoine Verney, the chief curator of the Bayeux Museum, said the tapestry that depicted the Norman conquest of England in 1066 was in such a bad state he “couldn’t conceive” of it going anywhere.

Ahead of his UK tour, the former Monty Python star responds to questions from Catherine Zeta-Jones, David Mamet, Janet Suzman, Steve Coogan, Bill Oddie and others

When news broke in 2021 that Eric Idle had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, dismay was followed by relief when he survived to get the all-clear. Now 83, Idle is thriving and about to embark on his first UK tour since 1973.

Over haddock and chips in London last month, a gentle and friendly Idle answered questions submitted by readers and fellow writers, actors and comedians about his time as a Python, Broadway smash Spamalot – his musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail – as well as selfies, Peter Cook and why he feels sorry for the royals.

Colossal Bioscience is adding the extinct animal to its revival wishlist, joining the woolly mammoth, dodo and thylacine. But scepticism is growing

Standing more than three metres (10ft) high, the giant moa is the tallest bird known to have walked on Earth. For thousands of years, the wingless herbivore patrolled New Zealand, feasting on trees and shrubs, until the arrival of humans. Today, records of the enormous animal survive only in Māori oral histories, as well as thousands of discoveries of bone, mummified flesh and the odd feather.

But this week, the US start-up Colossal Biosciences has announced that the giant moa has joined the woolly mammoth, dodo and thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, on its list of animals that it is trying to bring back from the dead. The announcement has provoked public excitement – and deep scepticism from many experts about whether it is possible to resurrect the bird, which disappeared a century after the arrival of early Polynesian settlers in New Zealand about 600 years ago.

The drink is an SW19 stalwart, but tournament bartenders say gen Z is now courting spritzes with less punch

For 54 years, Pimm’s has been as much a part of the Wimbledon experience as strawberries and cream, with 300,000 glasses sold each fortnight.

And now Wimbledon has experimented with creating a mocktail in the style of the beloved fruity punch owing to the growing demand for alcohol-free options at the championships.

Davies is the fifth most common surname in the UK, with a huge concentration in Wales, so it’s a wonder it found me

I n August last year I received a message on Ancestry.com. A lady called Rhian, who shared my surname, had sent me a link to a recent BBC news story, which I read with mounting interest.

The head office of the Swansea Building Society, the story said, had recently received a postcard postmarked 1903 and originally sent to a girl called Lydia Davies, who had lived at the address. Having mysteriously received the postcard 121 years after it was posted, staff were hoping to trace one of her descendants.

New levies, apart from the 25% on auto parts and 50% on steel and aluminum, will come into effect on 1 August

Donald Trump has said the US will impose a 35% tariff on imports from Canada next month and threatened to impose blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most other trade partners.

In a letter released on his social media platform, Trump told Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, the new rate would go into effect on 1 August and would increase if Canada retaliated.

Questions over US commitment to the region coupled with Trump’s tariff polices could be a boon to China

Even as they face among the most punitive tariffs globally, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has sought to reassure southeast Asian nations of Washington’s commitment to the region, saying countries there may get “better” trade deals than the rest of the world.

In his first official visit to Asia, Rubio met foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Malaysia on Thursday, telling his counterparts the US has “no intention of abandoning” the region.

His visit came days after president Donald Trump renewed his threat to impose severe tariffs across many southeast Asian countries if they did not strike deals by 1 August.

Choi Min-kyung is seeking damages from the state represented by its leader and has also submitted a criminal complaint alleging crimes against humanity

A North Korean defector has filed a lawsuit against Kim Jong-un in a South Korean court, alleging torture and sexual violence in the regime’s detention facilities.

Choi Min-kyung, 53, is seeking 50m won (US$37,000) in damages from the North Korean state represented by its leader, Kim Jong-un, and six other officials. She also submitted a criminal complaint asking prosecutors to investigate crimes against humanity charges against Kim and five other officials.

A hole drilled 750ft deep to study museum’s geothermal potential yielded an unexpected surprise

A Denver museum known for its dinosaur displays has made a fossil bone discovery closer to home than anyone ever expected: under its own parking lot.

It came from a hole drilled more than 750 ft (230 meters) deep to study geothermal heating potential for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

United Nations’ special rapporteur for Palestinian territories stresses all eyes must remain on Gaza as she urges ‘let’s stand tall, together’

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, has responded to news that she will be sanctioned by the Trump administration with a post on X saying “the powerful punishing those who speak for the powerless, it is not a sign of strength, but of guilt”.

On Wednesday, as part of its effort to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza, the state department sanctioned Albanese, an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories.

Rubicon hip-hop gathering in Bratislava, due to be held on 20 July, says several performers and partners withdrew

The Slovakia festival due to welcome Kanye West next week has been called off after the uproar over the US rapper’s May release of a song glorifying the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Before the 20 July gig was cancelled, Bratislava’s Rubicon hip-hop festival was set to be West’s only confirmed live performance in Europe this year.

When it comes to the horrors of genocide we say these words with an ironic frequency. How do we short-circuit the re-run of this pitiful, shameful cycle?

Today will be a hard day for Sydneysider Mirela Muratovic, a survivor of the only recognised genocide in Europe since the end of the second world war: Srebrenica.

During the 1990s Bosnian war Srebrenica was designated a United Nations-protected “safe area” – a label that came to mean nothing.

Black people also less likely than white people to get social housing and can face ‘overt racism’ from private landlords

Black people in England are almost four times as likely to face homelessness as white people and substantially less likely to get social housing, according to the first major study into homelessness and racism in more than two decades.

A three-year research project by academics at Heriot-Watt University found that ethnicity affects a person’s risk of homelessness, even when controlling for factors such as geography, poverty and home ownership rates.

Committee finds firms’ business models endangered public and two-year-old Online Safety Act ‘not up to scratch’

Social media business models endangered the public by incentivising the spread of dangerous misinformation after the 2024 Southport murders, MPs have concluded, adding that current online safety laws have “major holes”.

The Commons science and technology select committee called for new multimillion-pound fines for platforms that do not set out how they will tackle the spread of harmful content through their recommendation systems.

• England international has already agreed five-year deal

• Chelsea must generate revenue after breaching FFP rules

Arsenal have reached an agreement to sign Noni Madueke from Chelsea for £52m.

The England winger has already agreed terms on a five-year deal and is likely to complete a move to the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal, who are also expected to ramp up their pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze, have been looking to add more depth on the flanks and have acted quickly after identifying Madueke as a key target.

US president is set to officially open a new golf course at his resort on the North Sea coast at Menie

Keir Starmer has accepted an invitation to visit US president Donald Trump during his expected trip to Scotland this month, according to a report.

The details of the visit, including the date, are still being finalised, Reuters reported. The White House has not commented on the report.

Several hundred bureaus will be merged or eliminated after supreme court sided with Trump administration

The US state department has announced that it plans to move forward with mass layoffs as part of the most significant restructuring of the country’s diplomatic corps in decades. Officials say the cuts will align their mission with Donald Trump’s vision of America first.

The layoffs, which are commonly called reductions in force (or RIFs), along with voluntary redundancies, will affect nearly 15% of the state department’s domestic staff. A senior state department official said that was close to 1,800 people. The restructuring will also see several hundred bureaus merged or eliminated entirely. The department advises the president and leads the US in foreign policy issues.

New manager faces tough questions before next season, with the biggest just how to find the right fit for superstar striker Kylian Mbappé

This is the end. For Real Madrid, the best thing that could be said about their last game of the 2024-2025 season was that it was their last game of the 2024-2025 season. So in the makeshift marquee set up by the MetLife Stadium, Xabi Alonso said exactly that, and repeatedly. He had watched his team, who aren’t entirely his team yet, be taken apart by Paris Saint-Germain; now he wanted to get home and “reset”, forget about it. Well, not forget exactly: the hurt might help, lessons learned. “I want this to have an impact but not drag us down,” he said. “In August we start 2025-26, which will be different.”

The way they fell was familiar, back to their recent past, their reality. “We suffered the way others have suffered against them,” Alonso said, and that was true, but it is not only PSG; it is Madrid too. This was their 68th game of the season and their 15th loss. They won only the Uefa Super Cup, a world away now, and the Intercontinental Cup against Pachuca in Qatar. In the league, Barcelona beat them twice, scoring four each time. In the cup, Barcelona put three past them; in the Super Cup, five. Arsenal scored three in the Champions League. PSG stopped at four because they didn’t need more.