The singer has brought her seven-year music hiatus to an end with a new album, West End Girl

When Lily Allen released her fifth album on Friday morning, there were as many headlines breaking down the contents of the record as there were actual reviews of the music.

West End Girl, surprise-announced on Monday, appears to concern the 40-year-old British pop star’s divorce from the US actor David Harbour, who stars in the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things. In interviews, Allen has been careful to liken the album to a work of autofiction, and to tell British Vogue that it references things she experienced in her marriage “but that’s not to say that it’s all gospel”. Given its highly detailed, eye-popping allegations about a husband breaking the agreed terms of an open relationship, his emotional manipulation and sex addiction, one would imagine that lawyers heavily advised her to add that caveat. (Harbour has not responded to the album’s contents.)

French investigators are analysing DNA samples and fingerprints on tools and other items found at the scene

French investigators are analysing more than 150 DNA samples, fingerprints and other traces from tools and safety gear left by the thieves who broke into the Louvre museum and escaped with crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m).

Five days after the brazen heist from the world’s most-visited museum, Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, said she had “a small hope” the jewels could still be recovered and was “optimistic” about the investigation’s outcome.

The experimental annex of Sweden’s national stage, Elverket, has fallen victim to severe government cuts. Its final play is a powerful protest against being forced to leave its home

Something is rotten in Swedish theatre. In front of Elverket – a former power station that for much of the last 30 years has been at the centre of Stockholm’s experimental dramatic output – posters proclaim that theatre is dead. Inside the former turbine hall, either side of a red chandelier-lit platform surrounded by contorted bodies, Hamlet and Ophelia, brilliantly played by Gustav Lindh and Gizem Erdogan, are furiously channelling the rage of a generation, loudly hitting the walls with bars. In the play’s final seconds, gravediggers give way to builders dressed in high-vis come in to cover the stage in tarpaulin and start work.

This adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, not so cryptically subtitled The Death of Theatre, is the venue’s last ever theatre production before it is shut down. Dramaten, the royal dramatic theatre that functions as Sweden’s national stage, has been forced to let go of the venue, which over three decades became a well-funded home for risk-taking performances and new writing. Among its greatest hits were Personkrets 3:1, a six and a half hour long play written and directed by the late Lars Norén about homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness; the Swedish premiere of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed; and Tusen år hos Gud (A thousand years with God), a sprawling dance-theatre-opera based on the writing of Stig Dagerman. In 2006, I saw a young Noomi Rapace star in Kane’s brutally violent play Blasted here.

Pete Hegseth claimed that six ‘narco-terrorists’ onboard craft were killed in night strike in international waters

The US has carried out another military strike against what it claimed was a vessel carrying illegal drugs in the Caribbean, killing six people onboard, the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, said.

In a social media post, Hegseth stated: “The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.”

Former Paralympics champion says inaccessible charging points show government ‘has forgotten about us’

Campaigners including Tanni Grey-Thompson have warned that disabled drivers are at risk of being locked out of the electric car transition because of inaccessible chargers.

The former Paralympics champion and the Electric Vehicle Association England are pushing for the government to introduce standards to ensure chargers are easy to reach.

His patience exhausted, the US president has taken action that could bite, but is unlikely to alter Moscow’s course in Ukraine

For once, a phone call with Vladimir Putin did not lead to a thaw.

By imposing sanctions on Russia this week, Donald Trump broke from his usual pattern of easing tensions with the Kremlin after conversations with the Russian leader, when threats of pressure often give way to talk of renewed dialogue.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Australia are dominant but Shaun Wane hopes some wise heads and exciting Mikey Lewis could cause an upset

It has been a long time between drinks – 22 years to be exact. The Ashes were last staged in 2003, meaning more than two decades have elapsed without international rugby league’s greatest rivalry, a wait which finally ends on Saturday at Wembley. For Shaun Wane, the wait must have felt like an eternity.

If you were fortunate enough to be there when Wane was appointed as England coach in February 2020, it is easy to remember that he could not hide his delight that his first assignment was an Ashes series that autumn. Of course, within weeks the world had ground to a halt thanks to Covid-19 and the chance of taking on Australia on home soil disappeared.

The singer learned early how to navigate pop feminism and the public’s insatiable appetites. Her new album bumps up against the limits of both

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. Though it probably wouldn’t have occurred to the 17th-century playwright who wrote those words, scorned women write absolute bangers, too.

We have been reminded as much this week by Lily Allen’s new album, West End Girl, an explicit dissection of the singer’s recent divorce from the actor David Harbour, amid already swirling rumours of his infidelity. Allen here is high priestess of W1, sucking on a Lost Mary vape as she weaves us a tragedy of loss, betrayal and butt plugs.

Playing Fox Mulder made him a global phenomenon … then he walked away to save himself. As he stars in killer-nanny thriller Malice, David Duchovny talks art, his beef with Gillian Anderson – and being murdered by Jack Whitehall

Halfway through our hour-long conversation, David Duchovny slumps in his seat a little then gently chastises me. “I got tired while you were talking,” he groans. In fairness, I had been talking a lot, but only because I was trying to list everything he’s managed to do in the past year.

There’s his podcast, Fail Better, in which he’s wrung incredibly candid interviews from notoriously reticent stars like Alec Baldwin and Robert Downey Jr, more on which later. There’s his book of poetry, About Time, which came out last month. There’s his History Channel show Secrets Declassified With David Duchovny. As we speak, he’s just finished an eight-date tour, where he performed songs from the three folk-rock albums he’s released over the last decade. We are ostensibly here to discuss Malice, his new Prime Video series. Had we spoken a couple of weeks later, God knows how many new projects he would have flung himself into. In other words, no wonder he’s tired.

The president’s purges and attacks on his enemies have developed into a system in which injustice is made routine

Donald Trump’s voracious desire for retribution has quickly evolved into a regular and predictable system. In the year since his election, the president’s rage and whims have assumed the form of policies in the same way that Joseph Stalin’s purges could be called policies. Figures within the federal system of justice who do not do his bidding are summarily fired and replaced by loyalists. Leaders who have called him to account or are in his way may face indictment, trial and punishment. Opponents have been designated under Presidential National Security Memorandum No 7 as “Antifa”: “anti-American”, “anti-Christian” and “anti-capitalist”, and threatened with prosecution as a “terrorist”. Meanwhile, many aligned with him escape justice, whether through the hand of the Department of Justice (DoJ) or the presidential pardon power. Now, he demands compensation for having been prosecuted to the tune of $230m from the DoJ budget.

Each of the cases involving prosecution of Trump’s enemies and, on the other hand, the leniency extended to his allies has its own peculiarities of outrage. But whatever their unique and arbitrary perversities, they are expressions of what has emerged as a technique. These episodes are not isolated or coincidental. Trump’s purge of DoJ prosecutors and FBI agents, accompanied by his installment of flunkies in senior positions, started in a rush and quickly assumed a pattern, but has now been molded into a regime. The justice department and the FBI have been remade into political agencies under Trump’s explicit command to carry out his wishes. Injustice is made routine. It is the retribution system.

Light, aromatic and endlessly sippable: the classic vesper with a Japanese twist

For something a little unexpected, try this elegant, martini-style cocktail. It’s light, aromatic and sippable, and pairs nicely with a few chunks of parmesan.

Flavio Carvalho, bar manager, Brasserie Max at Covent Garden Hotel, London WC2

A Star Wars film resurrecting young Kylo Ren was never a good idea, even if Steven Soderbergh was attached to direct

Disney gets a lot of stick when it comes to Star Wars. Ever since the Mouse House bought Lucasfilm for $4bn in 2012, there have been those who blame the studio for turning George Lucas’s mythic space opera into an endlessly respawning content farm.

But let’s give them credit where credit’s due: according to a new Associated Press interview with Adam Driver, Disney did at least have the presence of mind to politely decline a film whose entire premise would have been enough to make Darth Vader himself force-choke the pitch meeting from beyond the grave. Yes, it is (or would have been) Ben Solo: The Movie, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Driver as the resurrected Sith-Jedi protagonist of that oh-so-wonderful entry, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy set to press case for using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defences

A forthcoming trip by German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, to China has been cancelled amid growing fears that Beijing’s restriction on semiconductor and rare earth exports could paralyse the country’s car industry.

“We are postponing the journey to a later time,” the spokesperson told a regular press briefing on Friday.

“The Chinese side was ultimately able to confirm only the appointment with the Chinese foreign minister, and could not confirm any other additional appointments,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Baltimore county high schools have gun detection system that alerts police if it sees what it deems suspicious

An artificial intelligence system (AI) apparently mistook a high school student’s bag of Doritos for a firearm and called local police to tell them the pupil was armed.

Taki Allen was sitting with friends on Monday night outside Kenwood high school in Baltimore and eating a snack when police officers with guns approached him.

Statement from security adviser, viewed by then prime minister, did not describe China as enemy

Rishi Sunak was the only politician to see a witness statement by the deputy national security adviser at the centre of a controversy about the collapse of a case against two British men accused of spying for China.

According to letters sent to the joint committee on the national security strategy, the statement from Matthew Collins in December 2023, which was seen by the then prime minister and his advisers, did not describe China as an enemy, another key element of the case.

European Commission initial finding says Facebook and Instagram introduced unnecessary steps for users to submit reports

Instagram and Facebook have breached EU law by failing to provide users with simple ways to complain or flag illegal content, including child sexual abuse material and terrorist content, the European Commission has said.

In a preliminary finding on Friday, the EU’s executive body said Meta, the $1.8tn (£1.4tn) California company that runs Instagram and Facebook, had introduced unnecessary steps in processes for users to submit reports.

A rowdy debut departs from Singh’s American bolero work to revel in the chaos of atonal scrapes, cymbal splashes, wonky horns and raucous vocals

From Richmond, Virginia
Recommended if you like Cécile McLorin Salvant, Tomeka Reid, Ornette Coleman
Up next Debut album, Mean Reds, released 24 October

As the co-founder of American bolero group Miramar, vocalist Laura Ann Singh has spent the past five years minting a warm, nostalgic analogue sound, rich with Spanish-language harmonies. Her upcoming spiky solo debut, Mean Reds, disrupts that entirely. Supplanting the swaying Latin rhythms of bolero for a free jazz quartet, these eight tracks revel in atonal scrapes, cymbal splashes, keening horns and Singh’s lively vocals. Referencing avant garde pioneer Ornette Coleman’s free form improvisations as much as Joni Mitchell’s emotive lyricism, the result is a rowdy debut that launches Singh as one of the more distinctive new voices in jazz.

The healing power of gardens; celebrating an abolitionist; hope in the toughest times; a gladiator romantasy and more

The Butterfly House by Harry Woodgate, Andersen, £12.99
Miss Brown’s wild garden scares most people, but when Holly discovers her reclusive neighbour’s sadness, she decides to help turn the wilderness into a butterfly haven. A beautiful, moving picture book about the healing power of gardens and community.

The History of We by Nikkolas Smith, Rock the Boat, £8.99
Via rich, dynamic paintings and thoughtful pared-back text, Smith answers the question “What does the beginning look like?” with this powerful picture book, the shared story of humanity’s first ancestors in “the fertile cradle of Africa”.

Stephany Gauffeny lost her husband, Miguel García-Hernández, when he was shot at an ICE center and later died

• ‘He didn’t deserve that’: widow speaks out after husband’s violent death at Ice facility

The widow of one of the people killed when a gunman opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Texas last month has spoken out to question whether the political violence rising under the Trump administration played a role in her husband’s death.

Stephany Gauffeny lost her husband, Miguel García-Hernández, when he became the second of two men to die in the attack outside a detention center in Dallas, after succumbing to his gunshot wounds.

The character created by Helen Fielding and played by Zellweger in four films, is to be immortalised in bronze in Leicester Square where it will become a permanent fixture

Bridget Jones, the character created by Helen Fielding and played by Renée Zellweger in four films, is to be immortalised in bronze in central London.

The new statue will be unveiled on 17 November and joins a number of others portraying key icons of cinema in Leicester Square, home to four cinemas and numerous red carpet premieres.

With Hollywood favouring franchise fare, horror films have become the last bastion of inventive film-making, producing a new generation of auteurs in the process

• Fright club: eight film-makers who are redefining modern horror

Every week at my local multiplex, there is a new horror film. If it’s not a reboot (I Know What You Did Last Summer) or sequel (Final Destination Bloodlines), it’s a prequel (The First Omen; A Quiet Place: Day One), the return of a beloved gothic icon (Luc Besson’s Dracula: A Love Tale; Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein), or a slasher movie (Dangerous Animals) in which the psycho killer’s weapon of choice is not blades, but sharks. Or it’s a thrilling, deliriously inventive dispatch from one of a new wave of horror auteurs shaking up the cinematic zeitgeist: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, say, or Zach Cregger’s Weapons.

By playing with metaphor, imagery and narrative, horror has always addressed hard truths about death, decay and the human condition that mainstream productions tend to shy away from as too disgusting, embarrassing or distressing. In an era when thrillers, romcoms and action films are unwilling to rock the boat lest they upset risk-averse studios and streaming services, horror films are uniquely equipped to tackle the hot-button issues of our times: migration (His House); mental health (Smile 2); toxic masculinity (The Invisible Man); artificial intelligence (M3gan); cults (Midsommar); zealotry (Heretic); gender dysphoria (I Saw the TV Glow); conspiracy theories (Broadcast Signal Intrusion); Zoom meetings (Host); pandemics (The Sadness); ecology (In the Earth); politics (The Purge); dementia (Relic); pregnancy and motherhood (Huesera: The Bone Woman; Mother’s Baby) and – an ever-popular theme in the horrorsphere – bereavement (The Babadook; Hereditary; Talk to Me; Bring Her Back and so on).

A couple’s dream home on Scotland’s rocky west coast is an audacious, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired feat of architecture

Building a bold new contemporary home directly on the British coastline is a tall order. Aside from the logistics of designing a house that functions successfully in such an unforgiving setting, planning permission is likely to make it a nonstarter. But on the shore of Loch Long on the Rosneath peninsula, 40 miles north-west of Glasgow, John MacKinnon and his wife Laura found a way to make it work for their house, Rock Cove. While the area is wild and ruggedly beautiful, its history has long been intertwined with the military and was once a brownfield site, home to disused Ministry of Defence huts and garages, overgrown and strewn with rubble.

Back in 2008, MacKinnon had bought a property on the same site, a 1940s cottage that had been repurposed as a navy signalling station. MacKinnon has a deep-seated passion for design, and worked closely with architect Stuart Cameron of Cameron Webster to completely reimagine this humble property as a modernist beach house, Cape Cove. He then began contemplating what could be done with the scruffy space alongside his new home.

Muslim New Yorkers have steadily become a political force amid post-9/11 Islamophobic sentiment. Mamdani is their most accomplished expression

Life was never the same for New Yorkers after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, with every resident coping with the trauma and devastation of that day.

But for Muslim New Yorkers there was an added burden: the suspicion and sometimes physical harm now lurking around every corner.