The UK’s response to Covid was “too little, too late”, a damning official report on the handling of the pandemic has concluded, saying the introduction of a lockdown even a week earlier than happened could have saved more than 20,000 lives.
The document also has stinging criticism of a “toxic and chaotic” culture inside Boris Johnson’s Downing Street – which it said the then prime minister actively embraced.
Senior Security Service officers told Commons speaker in private meeting they can tackle espionage risks
MI5 officers told the House of Commons speaker at a private meeting that they can tackle the risks of a proposed Chinese super-embassy in London, opening the door to its approval.
The Guardian understands that in a meeting held with Lindsay Hoyle in the summer, senior figures from the Security Service indicated they were “very relaxed” about the prospect of a 20,000 sq metre embassy being constructed at Royal Mint Court near Tower Bridge.
Club chair Tom Wagner sees it as ‘beacon for excellence’
Birmingham City have unveiled designs of their striking new 62,000-capacity stadium, the Birmingham City Powerhouse, which the Championship club say will open for the 2030-31 season.
The stadium, which features 12 chimney-like towers inspired by the city’s industrial heritage, will dominate the Birmingham skyline and be visible up to 40 miles away. One tower will include a lift to Birmingham’s highest bar, offering city-wide views.
(Berliner Philharmoniker) Brahms’s Tragic Overture leaps to life while there is much interest in a careful reading of the composer’s First Symphony in this new recording from the Berlin Philharmonic with their chief conductor
The Berlin Philharmonic’s in-house label continues its mission to document chief conductor Kirill Petrenko’s considered interpretations of the classical canon. In this case, it’s Brahms’s First Symphony, captured live at the Philharmonie just two months ago, coupled with the Tragic Overture, recorded last year.
For this performance, Petrenko examined Meiningen Court Orchestra scores marked up with specific directions given by the composer himself. The results may strike some as interventionist, however there’s an organic momentum here that is hard to resist with a pronounced flexibility that, according to the excellent booklet essay, clarifies Brahms’s “furious struggle against the bar line”. Balance is impeccable, although solos seem over spotlighted at times by the recording engineers.
Ukrainian president’s office issues statement after other officials condemn ‘absurd’ plan to end conflict
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said he will negotiate with Donald Trump on a US-backed peace plan that called on Kyiv to make painful concessions in order to end the Kremlin’s invasion of his country.
Zelenskyy’s office on Thursday confirmed that he had received the draft peace plan, which was prepared by US and Russian officials, and that he would speak with Trump in the coming days about “existing diplomatic opportunities and the main points that are necessary for peace”.
Joe Biden and George W Bush attend Republican’s service, while Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are notable absentees
Donald Trump and JD Vance have been snubbed, by not being invited to former vice-president Dick Cheney’s funeral, taking place on Thursday, according to a White House official familiar with the matter.
Cheney, the former US vice-president to George W Bush and a Republican defense hawk who became a fierce critic of the current US president, died earlier this month at the age of 84.
Hunt backs Turning Point USA’s rival half-time show
Goodell stands firm despite Trump-driven backlash
Gracie Hunt, the daughter of Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, is throwing her support behind Turning Point USA’s plan to stage an alternative Super Bowl half-time show, a direct counter to the NFL’s decision to feature Bad Bunny at Super Bowl LX.
Hunt said in an appearance on Fox News Channel’s The Will Cain Show on Tuesday that she “most definitely” backs Turning Point’s counter-programming effort, spearheaded by Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk. The NFL’s choice of Bad Bunny for the half-time show has attracted strong pushback from many on the right, who object to his criticism of Donald Trump and US immigration enforcement.
Law enforcement agency raids two sites in West Yorkshire and London as it appeals for information
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has arrested two men as it launched an investigation into a suspected £20m cryptocurrency fraud.
The law enforcement agency raided two sites in West Yorkshire and London as it appealed for information about $28m (£21.4m) invested into a cryptocurrency scheme called Basis Markets.
You know that Erling Haaland is the top scorer in the Premier League and that David Raya is great at keeping them out at the other end of the pitch, but what about the quirkier metrics? Who covers the pitch but sees the penalty area as their kryptonite? Which defender loves one-v-one battles? Who prefers to shoot without taking a touch to settle themselves?
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has said that the next independent Department of Justice “should investigate” the private donations that have funded the construction of the new White House ballroom.
Warren – who is the top Democrat on the Senate banking committee – told the Guardian in a statement that the ballroom could be “a golden crime scene” and urged the next administration to “follow the money” to uncover “whether any crimes were committed” in its financing.
Álvaro García Ortiz, who had denied sharing businessman’s personal details with journalists about a tax case, has been banned from post for two years
Spain’s top prosecutor has been banned from his post for two years after being found guilty of leaking confidential information about a tax case involving a businessman who is the boyfriend of a prominent rightwing politician.
Álvaro García Ortiz, who has served as attorney general since 2022, was also fined €7,300 (£6,428), and ordered to pay €10,000 in damages to the businessman, Alberto González Amador.
Scourge of goldfish has become growing problem as fish are released by pet owners into increasingly warm waters
City officials in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, plan to cull thousands of feral goldfish from a stormwater pond, a decision that reflects the pervasive spread of the species throughout the region.
Earlier in the year, city staff removed 5,000 fish from the city’s Celebration Park. But as many as 1,000 more are believed to still be living in the water.
It isa little weird that beauty culture is convincing people to surgically saw off their facial skin and sew it back on tighter
Dear Ugly,
I’m 36 and I don’t need or want a facelift – but lately I feel like I’m being made to want a facelift. Is it weird that facelifts are becoming normalized for women my age, or am I being too judgmental?
Ismail Ali, who went missing in Bradford in 2020, is ‘safe and well’ after police said this week they thought he was dead
A shop worker who went missing five years ago has walked into a police station days after officers said they believed he was dead and arrested five people on suspicion of his murder.
West Yorkshire police said Ismail Ali turned up on Wednesday reporting to be “safe and well”.
An audience full of middle-aged and elderly men almost certainly preoccupied with what’s for lunch? Check. Constant reminders that football unites the world? Check. A charming hostess and former Miss Switzerland, Melanie Winiger? Check. Numerous ornate plinths bearing see-through bowls, a trophy or a football. Check. More montages from World Cups passim than were strictly necessary? Check. A dizzying array of acrylic multi-coloured draw balls? Check. “Fifa legends” Christian Karembeu, Marco Materazzi and Martin Dahlin? Checkity-check-check. A shiny floor? Check. Fifa competition manager Manolo Zubiria explaining protocol? Check. Self-important claptrap from an increasingly obsequious and craven “haunted cue-ball” Fifa president? Check.
I was 34, I’d spent nine years at Arsenal and there had been a fair amount of discussions with the club. I wanted to go back to France with my family. There were deteriorated relationships with people at the club, although not with Unai Emery” – Laurent Koscielny, now the sporting director at Lorient, talks to Raphaël Jucobin about his controversial exit from Arsenal and that Bordeaux announcement video.
I can claim a pathetically weak link to Scott McTominay (yesterday’s Football Daily). For one term he attended the same high school in Lancaster that I attended for seven years. During compulsory games, if it was football, the two best players picked their teams. Me and another lad were always last to be picked, usually being ‘full-backs’, ie standing around shivering and wondering what we were supposed to do when the opposing team came running past us. But I can claim to have pretended to play on a pitch on which Scott, of course, excelled” – Paul Henry.
Since Curaçao (population 155,826) is now the smallest nation to have qualified for the men’s World Cup instead of Iceland, may I take this chance to update my comparison (15 October letters) in that the former has a population smaller than the London borough of Hackney (population 266,758) and less than half the size of Croydon (population 397,741)” – Derrick Cameron.
The daughter of the British composer Samuel made controversial choices that took her on a different path to her father’s activism. Ahead of the premiere recording of her piano concerto, its soloist looks at a musician who learned the hard way about ‘belonging’
Avril Coleridge-Taylor always felt the weight of her father’s legacy. As the daughter of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, one of the most famous British composers of the early 20th century, Avril’s was a name enveloped in the long shadows of history.
Earlier this year, I sat with these shadows as I prepared to make the world premiere recording of Avril’s 1936 piano concerto with the BBC Philharmonic. With its impassioned harmonies, soulful lyricism and valiant rhythms, Avril’s work will grant new listeners fascinating insight into how she – a wartime composer, born in 1903 – conceived of her world as a woman of colour.
Ian Brown and Tim Burgess were among those to pay tribute to Mani, whose death was announced by his brother and nephew
Gary “Mani” Mounfield, best known as bassist of the Stone Roses and later a member of Primal Scream, has died aged 63. The cause of death has not been shared.
His brother Greg Mounfield posted the news on Facebook: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce the sad passing of my brother.” His nephew also shared the news.
A rescheduled date, after an accident earlier this year, sees the 77-year-old take on sparkling form, regaling fans with tales and fan favourite anthems
Stevie Nicks would like to get the matter of her possible near-death experience out of the way as soon as possible. A few months ago, the Fleetwood Mac singer and rock legend suffered an accident that forced her to postpone a string of tour dates, including this show in Brooklyn which was rescheduled from August to November. “I was airborne,” she recalls of the incident around five minutes after hitting the stage tonight. “I thought: ‘Is it over?’” A voice at the back of the arena lets out an animalistic yell. “No!!!!”
It’s a safe bet that everyone in the 17,000-capacity Barclays Center arena shares the sentiment. Tonight, a noticeably varied audience of fans has shown out for Nicks’s rescheduled date, ranging from witchcore-styled teens to longtime fans who retain a love for the 70s’ bohemian style as well as the decade’s social consciousness: the venue is sold out of veggie burgers.
From layers for your head to padded boots made in Yorkshire, our expert on keeping warm shares his hard-won expertise, learned from spending hours in the cold
As someone who works in frontline security, standing outside bars, shops and night spots for up to 12 hours at a time – occasionally watching clubbers turn blue while waiting for a cab – I am well versed in the need to dress weather appropriately.With temperatures hitting freezing across the UK this week, here are my tips, tricks and product recommendations to keep the frostbite at bay.
Scientists say plant’s resilience suggests it could help with oxygen generation or soil formation on space missions
Matt Damon grew potatoes for survival in The Martian, but researchers say mosses could one day help turn the dust and rocks of other planets into fertile soil.
Physcomitrella patens, or spreading earthmoss,is already known as a pioneering species – albeit for being an early plant on the scene in areas of barren mud. Now researchers have found that spores of the moss can survive for at least nine months stuck to the outside of the International Space Station (ISS) and still reproduce once back on Earth.
The story has sparked debates about cryogenics and fidelity. But it also tells us something deeper about our responses to loss
One of the last remaining fun things about the internet is getting to pass judgment on the goings-on in households that you would never hear about otherwise. On Reddit, for instance, there is a whole thriving sub for just this purpose called Am I the Asshole?, where people describe conflicts from their lives and ask strangers to adjudicate on them.
This week, a story on the BBC threw up a particularly juicy piece of other people’s businessthat has been sparking debates on Chinese social media. It starts in 2017, whenGui Junmin decided to cryogenically freeze his wife, Zhan Wenlian, after she died of lung cancer. She was the first Chinese person to undergo this procedure, which was paid for by a science research institute in Jinan, east China, that agreed with Gui to preserve his wife’s body for 30 years. Reports suggest Zhan herself consented to the process before she passed away.
As she releases music from her upcoming soundtrack to Wuthering Heights, we count down the best of her frank, futuristic tracks
Such was the extent of fan involvement in the How I’m Feeling Now album that the title of Claws was decided by online vote. The opposite of the album’s more fraught depictions of lockdown, it celebrates being trapped with someone you love, although the clanking rhythm track adds a vague sense of unease.
US network made largest bid at this week’s auction
Amazon Prime will have first pick of Tuesday matches
The US media and entertainment giant Paramount Skydance has won the auction for the rights to broadcast most Champions League matches in the UK from 2027 to 2031 in a major shake-up of the domestic rights market.
The Guardian has learned that Paramount, whose subsidiary company Paramount+ owns the rights for Champions League games in the US, made the largest bid in this week’s auction and an announcement is due. Amazon Prime is poised to land the first pick of Tuesday matches in major European markets in the new streaming deal sold by Uefa.
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