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Sydney Sweeney says her silence over jeans advert backlash ‘widened the divide’

Actor speaks out over controversy around American Eagle advert in the summer that critics say flirted with eugenics

The actor Sydney Sweeney has said she should have addressed the controversy surrounding her American Eagle jeans advert, which was accused by critics of flirting with eugenics, saying not doing so “widened the divide” between people.

Sweeney, who made her name in HBO’s Euphoria and has since become a leading Hollywood star, told People magazine she regretted staying silent during the row, in which Donald Trump at one point intervened.

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© Photograph: Thenews2/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Thenews2/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Thenews2/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

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Musicians must embrace ‘unstoppable force’ of AI, Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart urges

Producer says creatives need to own their intellectual property so they can license it to generative AI platforms

The Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart has said artificial intelligence is an “unstoppable force”, and musicians and other artists should bow to the inevitable and license their music to generative AI platforms.

These platforms use artificial intelligence to analyse existing songs and tracks, using that knowledge to generate completely new ones as prompted by a user. For example, someone could ask the AI platform to generate a song about a boozy night out in the style of a Britpop band, and it would draw on songs with similar sounds and themes to create its own.

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© Photograph: Lawton Howell/Tyler Lee Aubrey

© Photograph: Lawton Howell/Tyler Lee Aubrey

© Photograph: Lawton Howell/Tyler Lee Aubrey

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Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale has become ‘more and more plausible’

Canadian author discusses US under Donald Trump and says setting of dystopian novel has ‘become much closer’

Margaret Atwood has said the plot of her book The Handmaid’s Tale, which tells a story of an authoritarian regime under which women are forced to reproduce, has become “more and more plausible” in recent years.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Atwood said she believed the plot was “bonkers” when she first developed the concept for the novel because the US was the “democratic ideal” at the time.

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© Photograph: Christopher Wahl/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Wahl/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christopher Wahl/The Guardian

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‘Witness (1 Hope) by Roots Manuva gives me some bad girl energy’: Eliza Rose’s honest playlist

The DJ, producer and singer likes the kind of dancehall her dad disapproves of, and her funk to be electronic. But whose songs make her feel bougie?

The first single I ever bought
Aaliyah, Rock the Boat. My nan sent me and my cousin to pick up some bits in Dalston and there was some change left over so I went into HMV and bought this CD for £1.99. I shouldn’t have been stealing my nan’s change but I felt so grownup. If my Jamaican dad had found out, he wouldn’t have been happy. I would have got a couple of licks.

The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
Mambo No 5 (A Little Bit of …) by Lou Bega. I was working on my album recently and realised I knew every word. I was so impressed because I barely remember my own lyrics.

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© Photograph: -

© Photograph: -

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I’m no hate-watcher. I really do love Meghan and her Christmas special | Polly Hudson

The Duchess of Sussex is back and suddenly her show makes sense. It is cringingly ultra-extra, of course, but isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

No matter the time of year, ’tis always open season on the Duchess of Sussex’s televisual offering, With Love, Meghan. Critics, professional and armchair, have rarely been so united as when gleefully ripping series one and two of the lifestyle show to shreds. The consensus was that there has never been a greater royal outrage than when she took some pretzels out of a labelled bag, put them in a different bag, then labelled it. And she didn’t even attempt to explain herself to Emily Maitlis afterwards.

Now, like a merry renegade master, she is back once again with a “Holiday Celebration” (aka a Christmas special). But this time, it’s different. There are still the usual elements we’ve come to expect – psychobabble word salads, extreme hosting – but in the context of a yuletide episode, suddenly it all makes sense. The pieces have fallen into place; it’s a perfect snow storm.

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© Photograph: Jake Rosenberg/Netflix/PA

© Photograph: Jake Rosenberg/Netflix/PA

© Photograph: Jake Rosenberg/Netflix/PA

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Trump hosts Kennedy Center honorees and teases hosting skills: ‘I’m sure they’ll give me great reviews’

George Strait, ‘Sly’ Stallone and Kiss accept medals from president, who says he was ‘98% involved’ in choosing them

Donald Trump on Saturday evening hosted the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees in the Oval Office for a medal-presentation ceremony, celebrating country music singer George Strait, actor-singer Michael Crawford, actor Sylvester “Sly” Stallone and the members of the rock band Kiss.

“This is a great evening, it’s a great honor,” Trump said. “And I’m delighted to welcome to the Oval Office – the world-famous, most famous office in the world, most powerful office in the world – our truly exceptional 2025 Kennedy Center honorees.”

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© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

© Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

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