No, your communications don’t make me feel valued as an individual. A ‘Dear’ or ‘Sir’ wouldn’t hurt once in a while

How do you feel when big corporations address you directly? (In other words, when they use the second-person pronoun “you” in their communications.) Do you feel like you’re valued? That you’re being treated as an individual? Or does it make you want to grab their CEO by the scruff of the neck and tell them to shut up?

It’s impossible nowadays to buy food, walk down the street or even open your emails without businesses trying to chat you up. A carton of Alpro oat milk shouts “Hey you!” from the dairy aisle. A restaurant you visited once sends a circular with “We miss you!” in the subject line. You get a bill from Octopus Energy with 41 uses of this cursed pronoun, but it never once addresses you with “Dear”.

Max Fletcher is a London-based writer

On the heels of another sports year that was chock full of surprises, Guardian US contributors make their bold predictions for the months to come

Here are our bold predictions for 2025 in sports. Please note the bold (or should that be bold?) in bold predictions: these are mostly to be taken with a pinch of salt.

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Streaming’s algorithms make it easy to avoid whole discographies – so in the interest of deeper listening, our writers dedicate time to the ones who might have got away

The first time I heard Joni Mitchell, in 1997, she was looped across the chorus of Janet Jackson’s single Got ’Til It’s Gone. The song’s credits would educate me on the sample’s origins; I had previously assumed Big Yellow Taxi was an Amy Grant original. The second time I heard a Mitchell song was when Travis covered the beautiful River as a B-side.

About 100 people were injured in the bar early on Thursday morning, but police have ruled out an act of terrorism

Officials at the press conference are asking for “prudence” from those in the town, reminding them not to make unnecessary demands on hospitals, which are overwhelmed.

Please leave investigators to do their work, they say.

In a season defined by chaos and turnarounds, the award should go not to surprise, but to the coach who solved the hardest problems

The NFL’s Coach of the Year award is simple. It typically serves as a mea culpa. We’re sorry our preseason predictions about your team were wrong.

In theory, it’s a straight line: the coach who oversaw the biggest turnaround is handed the award. In practice, it’s a yearly argument about expectations and whether we’re rewarding actual coaching or just the greatest surprise.

For 10 years, the scientist and photographer Jeroen Hoekendijk has been observing pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses) on the fragile North Sea archipelago stretching along the Dutch, German and Danish coastline. A remainder of the now-drowned Doggerland, left behind after the ice age, the low-lying islands are an advance warning sign of the warming and rising seas of the climate crisis

• Photographs by Jeroen Hoekendijk, text by Philip Hoare

Today’s rumours are back and bleary-eyed, baby

• Men’s transfer window interactive: January 2026 edition

After the bongs and fireworks, 2026 has finally begun. Naturally, no one really cares about resolutions, the real interest is in whether your team will sign a new left-back. Tittle-tattle is back in the limelight and the Rumour Mill will be firing up the very best – and worst – of it over the coming month. It seems as if everyone in the Premier League needs to get the pen and chequebook out to solve their problems, making it an intriguing month ahead.

After missing out on Antoine Semenyo, Manchester United will need to look elsewhere for attacking reinforcements. One name that keeps cropping up is RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande and the German side want around £87m for the Ivorian teenager. Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are also keeping tabs on Diomande, which will make any purchase a touch trickier.

PM to highlight energy bill and interest rate cuts, plus end to two-child benefit cap, and to invite his MPs to Chequers

Keir Starmer will attempt to rescue his relationship with disillusioned voters and his own fractious MPs in a new year push to reduce the cost of living.

The prime minister will give a speech in the coming days focusing on how his government is bringing down living costs, highlighting recent cuts to energy bills and interest rates and the end of the two-child benefit cap.

• Holders come from two goals down to win 3-2

• Burkina Faso beat Sudan as both sides progress

Côte d’Ivoire came from two goals down to beat already eliminated Gabon 3-2 in Group F at the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday as the teenager Bazoumana Touré’s headed winner in added time in Marrakech handed them top spot. The Ivorians finished on seven points from their three games, ahead of Cameroon on goals scored after the latter beat third-placed Mozambique.

Gabon were ahead on 11 minutes when Guélor Kanga profited from a mistake from the goalkeeper Alban Lafont as he spilled a tame shot, allowing the forward to score from close range. It was 2-0 on 21 minutes and this time Lafont had no chance. Denis Bouanga curled a superb shot from the left-hand side of the box across the goal and into the far corner.

Set pieces on the rise, fans transformed to customers and conspiracies seen in every decision – is football losing its fun?

English football has always mirrored the passions, conflicts, identities and inequalities of the age. After the golden 1960s, the decay of the 1970s and ensuing disasters of the 1980s came the cap-sleeved, rebounding self-confidence of the 1990s. The 21st century so far has taken in globalisation and wanton commercialism. After that rabid, often reckless push for continued growth, society and the game alight on the uncertainties that encapsulated 2025.

To catch the 20 Premier League clubs in live action this season, and this writer completed the full set on Tuesday witnessing Arsenal’s second-half demolition of Aston Villa, has been a study in that uncertainty. From the grumbling of fans, to the ever-fragile egos of managers, to players slugging through the gristle of 90 minutes of hard-pressing slog, a leading question comes to mind: is anyone actually still enjoying this?

Sources say generators and tent poles restricted from humanitarian bodies but commercial shipments allowed in

Israel is running a parallel system of controls for shipments into Gaza, allowing commercial traders to bring goods into the territory that are barred for humanitarian organisations.

Basic life-saving supplies including generators and tent poles are on a long Israeli blacklist of “dual-use” items. The Israeli government says entry of these items must be severely restricted because they could be exploited by Hamas or other armed groups for military ends.

The twists and turns come thick and fast in this deeply pleasing Harlan Coben thriller, as a father goes in search of his missing daughter. Even a vegan restaurant owner gets in on the act

They come round sooner every time, do they not? I think we’re now the recipients of a new Harlan Coben adaptation every three weeks or so. Who knows what rate will be attained next year? We watch and wait, though possibly in neither case for long.

We are now about a dozen, rating-banking offerings into the bestselling thriller writer’s multi-book deals with Netflix and Amazon. They are generally solid, workmanlike fare that doubtless help fund many passion projects and pay many mortgages along the way. They are comfort TV not just for viewers, but, I suspect, everyone involved.

The new mayor embraces social justice, and rejects hate and nationalism. That’s why we’re so excited to see what he’ll do in office

On a cold Saturday morning, a little over a week before the New York City mayoral election in November, I was at a park in Queens to speak at a fundraiser for Asiyah Women’s Centre, the oldest and largest shelter providing support for American Muslim female victims of domestic violence. Vendors selling everything from chai to embroidered Palestinian handicrafts turned out to support the fundraiser; a DJ blasted music and artists painted children’s faces with the colours of Halloween.

I chose the vendor with the most protein on offer because I lift and squat more than my bodyweight and must meet a daily goal. “Our kebab is one of Zohran’s favourites,” the man at the King of Kebab stand told me, proudly and unprompted, as he piled my plate with meat.

Mona Eltahawy writes the FEMINIST GIANT newsletter. She is the author of The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls and Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution

Audrey thinks Noah doesn’t take bathing seriously enough. He says he’s a ‘quick-shower kind of guy’ but keeps himself clean. You decide whose argument scrubs up best
• Get a disagreement settled or become a YBTJ juror

Noah doesn’t wash himself thoroughly enough – he just rubs a bit of gel around his body

With an unusually high number of elite-level players out of contract in 2026 it promises to be an intriguing January

Transfer fees in women’s football have been rising at a rate of inflation that would cause anguish at the Bank of England. Last January alone, $5.8m (£4.3m) was spent in the women’s game globally and then a record $12.3m (£9.1m) was splashed in the 2025 summer transfer window, which was nearly twice as much as 12 months earlier and a four-fold increase on 2023. What can January 2026 possibly have in store?

The upcoming winter window – which opens for English women’s clubs on 2 January and closes on 3 February – has already got off to a blockbuster start even before officially opening. The Germany striker Lea Schüller and Norway’s attacking midfielder Signe Gaupset are among those to have already signed for Women’s Super League clubs, but this is set to be a unique window for a different reason than merely the usual clamour for reinforcements.

Police say explosion ripped through a bar called La Constellation in the luxury Alpine ski resort town

Several people have been killed and others injured when an explosion ripped through a bar in the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana, Swiss police said early on Thursday.

About 100 people were in the bar at the time of the blast, police said.

Kim praised his men fighting in an ‘alien land’, congratulating their ‘heroic’ defence of the nation’s honour and instructing them to ‘be brave’

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has praised his troops fighting abroad as forging an “invincible alliance” with Russia in a new year’s message, state media said on Thursday.

Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and western intelligence agencies.

‘Concerning’ disparities in access to continuous glucose monitors despite black and south Asian people being more likely to live with condition

People from ethnic minority backgrounds in England are less likely to have access to the latest diabetes technology, despite being more likely to live with the condition, according to analysis.

Devices such as a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) can help people check their blood glucose levels in order to better manage the disease.

From rock climbing in the Peak District to honing your creative writing skills in Crete, why not take a break with like minds and fellow learners this year?

Even complete beginners will soon be scaling sheltered Peak District crags on this two-day course with Pure Outdoor. Participants will master tying in, belaying and several climbing techniques, as well as abseiling down. With a maximum of six learners to one instructor, there is a lot individual attention and personalised targets. The course is suitable for anyone aged 13 and over, from first-time climbers to those with some indoor experience. It is non-residential, but Pure Outdoor has a list of recommended, affordable accommodation nearby, including campsites, hostels, B&Bs and pubs with rooms. The training centre is 10 minutes’ walk from Bamford railway station, which is on the Hope Valley line from Manchester to Sheffield.
£199 for two days, weekends from 7 March-8 November, plus weekday courses most months, pureoutdoor.co.uk

The continent’s problems are not caused by immigration or cultural politics but by economic and technological decline

Donald Trump’s new national security strategy offers a misguided assessment of Europe, long regarded as the US’s most reliable ally. Unrestrained immigration and other policies derided by administration officials as “woke”, it warns, could lead to “civilisational erasure” within a few decades.

That argument rests on a fundamental misreading of Europe’s current predicament. While the EU does face an existential threat, it has little to do with immigration or cultural politics. In fact, the share of foreign-born residents in the US is slightly higher than in Europe.

Her voice soundtracked the 60s and 70s, but the revolution silenced her. The legendary singer finally has her say in this uneven memoir

If you ask any Iranian to name the most important female pop star in our country’s history, they’ll say Googoosh. Nobody else comes close. Over six decades of revolution, suppression and exile, Googoosh has gone from singer to cultural icon, a symbol of a country’s grief for its murdered, imprisoned, and muzzled artists, and a living link between pre-revolutionary Iran and the diaspora.

Googoosh was just three years old when she started singing in small halls and cabaret venues where her father worked. By her teens she was a film actor and a fashion icon. In the 60s and 70s, when my mother was a teenager, Googoosh was everywhere: on television, in films, magazines, on the radio. She kept recreating herself – her style, her moves, her hair. (My mother and many of her university classmates copied Googosh’s famous wispy haircut.) For a while, this bold, creative young woman shaped how westerners saw Iran, and how a generation of Iranian women understood modernity, femininity and public life.

Ador terminated the Australian-born singer’s contract on Monday and is now suing her, a family member and the band’s former producer

The K-pop record label Ador is suing a former member of megaband NewJeans for millions in damages, it has announced, a day after removing her from the group following a year-long dispute that saw the band allege mistreatment and attempt to leave their contract.

The compensation suit against Danielle Marsh, a 20-year-old Australian-born singer, comes months after a Seoul district court ruled that NewJeans’ five members must honour their contracts with Ador, whose parent company Hybe is also behind the K-pop sensation BTS. The band’s contract runs until 2029.

Police show the Guardian around hotspots for a rural crime that has links to international gangs – and is on the rise

A cold, bright afternoon in the Vale of Pewsey and a couple of brown hares were nibbling away in a field of winter barley. It was a tranquil scene in this tucked-away corner of the English West Country but tyre tracks cutting through the crop were a sign of the violence that takes place when night falls.

This is one of the hotspots in Wiltshire for hare coursing, in which criminal gangs set dogs – usually greyhounds or lurchers – on the mammals.

A DNA test showed me that theoretically I have links to a long list of countries – and that the way we look at belonging makes little sense

While accepting that David Lammy, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary is, for many, the human embodiment of Marmite – loved or hated, with not much in between – one can still question whether, for all his faults, he should “go home to the Caribbean”. Whether you agree with him over this or that utterance or the broad sweep of government policy, he has, unquestionably made his contribution to Tottenham, in north London, whose people he has represented for a quarter of a century, to parliament, as a senior MP, as foreign secretary and now as an important figure with several key portfolios.

So when a lieutenant of Nigel Farage, admittedly no fan of Lammy’s, suggests, without notable contradiction or condemnation from Reform, that Lammy “should go home to the Caribbean”, one is tempted to look at that askance. But then, in the year just past, when bigotry in frontline politics took off its training wheels and othering became the sport that everyone can play, the notion that someone who clearly belongs here should not belong here ceased to shock.

Hugh Muir is executive editor, Opinion

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