Ozzy Osbourne made his final journey through his home city on Wednesday
Ozzy Osbourne may have swapped Birmingham’s streets for the bright lights of global fame but it felt like to fans that the Prince of Darkness never strayed from his roots.
Thousands of fans gathered on Wednesday in Birmingham to pay their respects at his funeral procession as his coffin took a final journey through the city.
As one of the city’s most iconic musicians, his legacy is both a badge of honour and a unique opportunity for Birmingham to remember one of their favourite sons – so how could Birmingham remember Ozzy?
Name the airport after him
Reuters
Could we soon be flying from the Ozzy Osbourne International Airport in Birmingham?
Liverpool John Lennon Airport, George Best Belfast City Airport, Louis Armstrong Airport and even JFK in New York, we are not short of airports being named after famous people.
Should Birmingham follow suit?
Well, more than 58,000 people have backed a petition calling for Birmingham Airport to be renamed as the “Ozzy Osbourne International”.
Dan Hudson, who started it, said the change would be a fitting tribute to his extraordinary career and contributions to the arts.
“If you look at other places around the world that have musical scenes that have started in those cities, like Nashville or Memphis or LA or Detroit or Chicago, they don’t shut up about the fact that those musical scenes have sprung out of those areas,” he told the BBC.
“We don’t do that here in Birmingham, and I don’t know why that is and I think that needs to change – a great way of doing that will be to rename the airport.”
While not ruled out by managers at the airport, the idea has not so far had a thumbs up from them – a spokesperson saying instead that the rock legend was “an inspiration to so many in our region”.
“In coming weeks, we will be looking at how we can celebrate his heritage and contribution to the region via terminal artwork, creating a greater sense of place for Birmingham and his fans,” they added.
A statue in his birthplace?
PA Media
From poster to statue?
The city has statues in honour of those born in Birmingham including comedian Tony Hancock and Industrial Revolution titans like Matthew Boulton – why not one for Ozzy?
Known to the world as the frontman of Black Sabbath, he was always the boy from Aston and super fan Jack Ryland-Smith, from Kidderminster, thinks it is only right to honour him in the area where he grew up.
“We don’t have to remember him in just one way but it would be fitting to have something in Aston, it has to be done.
“It would be iconic, a tourist attraction that would put Birmingham on the map.
“A plaque, above the gate or a statue outside Aston Villa football club.”
A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council referred the BBC to a statement their leader John Cotton made in July.
“Birmingham is a better place for the sheer brilliance he brought to the city and now we honour his life and legacy,” he said at the time.
The pub where it all began
Ross Halfin
The singer helped invent heavy metal
Back to the beginning?
Since Ozzy’s death, the calls to preserve the pub in Birmingham where Black Sabbath played their first gig and make it a heritage site have grown louder.
The pub was built in 1881 and shut in 2014, after it was bought by a Japanese development company.
Culture journalist Kirsty Bosley says it is time to reconsider the future of the iconic building.
“I feel really strongly that the best way that we can honour the memory of Ozzy Osbourne and what he did in the city, would be to get hold of the crown for this city again,” she said.
“To turn it into a place where people can visit all year round, regardless of some big gig or someone’s death, it would be a place where we go to remember Birmingham’s influence on global music.”
EPA
The Crown pub on Station Street is where Black Sabbath played its first gig
While Save Station Street campaigners said The Crown should be the site of “[un]holy pilgrimage”.
“The Crown especially should be the site of (un)holy pilgrimage for every Sabbath fan, metal head, ska revivalist, punk and folkie globally – showcasing the best Brum music, beer, food and creativity. “
Arts company Birmingham Open Media had plans to restore the pub, with the backing of Birmingham City Council – but it fell apart last year after the council retracted its offer of a loan.
Kirsty Bosley
Kirsty Bosley said the Crown Pub should be reopened
Minecraft is my life. I got into it around 2012, when I was 23, and I’ve been playing ever since. It’s a game of endless possibility. You can do anything in it. You can build your own houses, machines, businesses, and put your own personality on to it. It’s an easy escape and can become quite addictive. It’s just so much more colourful, fun and cosy than the real world.
But when you play this game for a decade you start to learn this incredible lesson about patience. It’s essentially a game where you build your world one block at a time. In the moment it’s this lovely dopamine-drip exercise, but recently it’s started to change my perspective on the world. You look back at what you’ve created and begin to appreciate all the work you’ve put in. I know that might sound silly. It’s just a game about blocks. But until you zoom out with time and perspective you don’t appreciate it for what it is.
Since January, I’ve changed my approach to the game. We’d just shot my sitcom, Transaction, in the winter and it was a wonderful experience. But then Trump’s inauguration happened halfway through and all this terrible messaging for transgender people came with it. It all got too much. Everything became about patching over that pain with personal achievement. And that’s what Minecraft is on one level. You build and you build and you don’t think about anything. But that’s not a sustainable way to live. To stop and take a break and celebrate the things you have achieved – rather than trying to escape your worry by achieving more – is something I started to adopt.
So I’ve basically been playing Minecraft but not really building anything for the last six months. I just walk around and look at the water and the fish and the trees in these beautiful worlds that I’ve built. It’s got this strange sense of hygge about it. It’s a game where you can go hell for leather, or you can relax and turn relaxation into a craft. It’s a cosy game and I didn’t notice that until I needed a cosy place to escape to. The little journeys you take can be amazing. You can walk past a tree and even though it essentially stays the same over the years, you remember how that tree felt five years ago. There was a wolf here back then. It’s a living memory palace that also happens to be beautifully rendered.
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The other day, I was sitting by a lake in Minecraft. There’s no opacity. No light bouncing off the water. You can just see through it and you know it’s water and you get that same refreshing feeling. There’s also a night and day cycle but it’s expedited. So every five minutes the moon comes up, the sun comes down. And at night-time things get quite scary in the game. You have to go inside or the monsters will get you. There’s a primeval connection – like a rewilding in a virtual world. I don’t know if it’s the healthiest way to live but it works for now.
When the world feels like it is moving incredibly fast, it’s so helpful to think that it’s all just a conglomeration of thousands and thousands of steps, thousands of tiny blocks being placed or moved. It’s easy to forget that and think we’ve hit some sort of singularity where things have changed incredibly fast. That’s not the case. It’s just a series of tiny steps that are still happening. Minecraft constantly reminds me that we’re in a state of movement. There’s no big decision to be made now. We can go back and change things. We can take it down. Put it back together again. Take those components and change it into something new.
Jordan’s show, Is That a C*ck in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Here to Kill Me?, is at Assembly Square George Garden, Edinburgh, to 24 August.
We’re in the thick of festival season in the UK, where every weekend seems to host a dizzying array of musical mega-events. The likes of Glastonbury, Download, TRNSMT, Wireless and others may already be in the rear-view, but there are still plenty more to come across all manner of genres: Camp Bestival (happening this very weekend), Creamfields, Green Man, All Points East, Reading and Leeds, End of the Road and so many others, across farms, city parks, country estates and the odd mid-Wales mountain range.
For the people who run these festivals, months or even a full years-worth of work will have gone into readying for a single, crucial long weekend. The stakes are high: whether things go off without a hitch or not will, in some cases, determine that festival’s future. And boy, are there a lot of potential hitches: electricity, sanitation, ticketing, food and drink, security, and the fragile egos of famous musicians, to name but a few. “The scary thing about festivals is, if you take away one small element, the whole thing collapses,” says promoter James Scarlett.
James should know. He books and organises not one but two annual festivals: 2000Trees, a 15,000-capacity alternative, punk and indie festival in Cheltenham, which last month completed its 17th edition with headline appearances from emo veterans Alexisonfire and Taking Back Sunday, along with Keir Starmer faves Kneecap; and ArcTangent, which specialises in metal, math rock, prog, post-rock and general experimental music, and later this month (13-16 Aug) will lure 5,000 punters to a farm near Bristol to hear bands as varied as post-rock titans Godspeed You! Black Emperor, prog-metallers Tesseract, lugubrious indie dance veterans Arab Strap and a duo called Clown Core who play avant garde jazz fusion from a portable loo.
In addition, James is also the co-host – along with Gavin McInally, who runs Manchester extreme metal festival Damnation – of 2 Promoters 1 Pod, a weekly, unvarnished, slightly sweary look at how a festival comes together from the booking of bands to the construction of the site. If you have even the most cursory interest in how festivals work, it’s a fascinating listen.
All of which makes James the person you’d call for in case of something going badly awry on site. So in this week’s Guide we’ve decided to test his firefighting skills, by asking him to solve a series of festival disasters, including some ripped from recent headlines. Read on for his thoughts on awol headliners, heatwaves and herds of marauding deer.
Hot and loving it … the crowd enjoy Leprous at Arctangent. Photograph: Joe Singh
Festival disaster #1 |Your headlining band are playing a mind-blowing set but are overrunning. You’ve already reached the curfew time your festival has agreed with the local council and the band still haven’t played their biggest song yet. What do you do?
“I have, occasionally in the past, let bands breach curfew. We got caught once doing it at ArcTangent. A council member was driving home from another event and just thought they’d stop outside the farm. He heard the music stop at 11pm … and then start again at three minutes past! We received a slap on the wrist that time, and have a good relationship with the council as our crowds are never any hassle – but you can lose your licence over breaking curfew, and then the whole festival is gone. So I think normally the answer is the curfew is the curfew. Still, If you’ve got a headliner who, say, have 45 minutes of technical difficulties, I think there might be an argument to let them break the licence just in order to keep the crowd happy, you don’t want an angry 15,000 people who didn’t get the headliner that they wanted. There’s a health and safety argument for breaking your curfew if that happens.”
Festival disaster #2 |A heatwave has descended on the festival site. You’ve not been told to shut it down, but temperatures are reaching the mid-to-high 30s. What do you do?
“This year we had 53 cases of heatstroke at 2000Trees on the Wednesday of the festival, when people had only just arrived. It’s pretty impressive that people have come straight in and gone: bang, heatstroke! You have to have a really good first aid tent. We cleaned the local depot out of saline drips for ours, because so many people were coming in extremely dehydrated. In fact one drummer from a band, Future of the Left, had to go to the tent for severe dehydration and heatstroke. He’s a very energetic drummer and in those tents the heat rises, you’re higher than the crowd, and you’re properly going for it – not really a working environment you want to be in! Still, we’ve clocked up mid-30s temperatures at 2000Trees at least twice and once at ArcTangent, and you can still run an event in that. It’s about communication with your audience: drink water, wear a hat, wear sunscreen, try to find some shade.”
Festival disaster #3 |An Icelandic volcanic ash cloud leaves the headliner you’ve booked stranded in mainland Europe with no way of making it to the festival in time. What do you do?
“If a headliner drops out, you’re in trouble. You’ve just got to be honest with your audience that the band aren’t gonna be there. And all you can really do is bump whoever was second from top up a slot, and everyone moves up. We go into each festival with a long backup list of bands that are either local or already on site as punters. So if we get a dropout, we can usually fill the gap at short notice. You can always guarantee that someone will miss a train, miss a flight, get stuck in traffic or just get confused about what day they’re playing … which is quite frustrating if you spend all year booking a lineup!”
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Controversial … Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury festival. Photograph: Jaimi Joy/Reuters
Festival disaster #4 |The prime minister has said it is not appropriate for a controversial act to headline your festival. What do you do?
“What the UK prime minister says about Kneecap is of little interest to me to be honest. I’m not being bullied. We were having ex-MPs and current MPs writing to 2000Trees, like they have a say in what we do. We’re a business, it’s not up to them. I think it was a help that a few other festivals have stuck to their guns on keeping Kneecap on the bill: Glastonbury and Green Man for example. It does give you a little bit of solidarity. If everyone had folded on it and we were the last ones, I guess I would have felt more pressure. I don’t think we would have caved until such time as it was a risk to the business over it. And in the end there was no risk. Kneecap were good as gold at 2000Trees – they did a brilliant, amazing headline set, one of the best we’ve ever had at the festival.”
Festival disaster #5 |A fire breaks out on site just days before the festival begins, destroying your main stage, Tomorrowland-style. What do you do?
“If you don’t have the main stage for your festival you’re probably going to have to cancel because there’s not enough space for everyone across the other stages. So you’d be on the phone to every stage and marquee company across the country trying to find a replacement. The problem is, with the massive explosion in the festival industry in recent times, stages and marquees are very hard to come by. It’s likely to be squeaky bum time. In the case of Tomorrowland, amazingly, they borrowed Metallica’s stage. Bands like ACDC and Metallica tend to tour with two rigs, so they’ll be playing one night on a stage with a lighting and sound rig. And ahead of them, in the next city, there’ll be another team building their stage for the next show. When that show’s finished, they tear that rig down and move on to the next place. Which is crackers really – it’s hard to imagine the scale of that.”
Festival disaster #6 |A herd of deer has descended on the festival, trampling over tents and chomping on the merch stall. What do you do?
“Well, we had pigs and swans invading our VIP campsite at 2000Trees this year! The pigs had broken out of a nearby farm. There’s no gentle way of getting a pig out of a campsite, really, you have to manhandle them. Our production team were chasing them around – it was quite a comic scene. For the swans we rang up the RSPB – 999 for birds – and they advised us to not do anything, and eventually they’d take off, which they did. Deer would be more difficult. You can’t go manhandling deer, particularly stags with their antlers. We have 140 pages of risk assessments, covering every risk you could ever imagine … but pigs in the camp was not on that list!”
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Sylvia and Will are old college friends, without benefits, who have reunited in their 40s. They’re very close without being romantically interested in each other, and she has a habit of meddling in his relationships. Hmmm. We’re accustomed to onscreen chemistry of the explosive kind, which is generally used to exploit a heteronormative set-up. We see a man and woman getting along, and can’t help but wonder when they will burst into flames.
Platonic (Apple TV+, from Wednesday), which stars Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne and returns for a second series, is flame-retardant. Will and the married Sylvia do not pine for or want to roll around on each other, but they do rely on, delight in, irritate and deeply understand each other. It’s a worthy addition to what we might call the Ephroniverse – the slim canon of stories about whether straight women and men can be friends. As their titles suggest, Platonic comes to a different conclusion than When Harry Met Sally. It’s the correct conclusion – so why is the question still interesting?
Platonic digs into situations we’re more used to seeing in WhatsApp group chats. Sylvia is horrified that Will’s male friendships are more ribald than theirs is. Will realises he has incompatible personalities when he’s with his fiancee and oldest friend, so tries to avoid socialising with them together. Can a man and woman stay friends if his fiancee does not like her? Where do his allegiances lie? While these dilemmas could arise within any friendship, the gendered aspect has a specific thorniness.
Despite the title, this is no philosophical treatise. It’s a comedy, occasionally a brilliant one. Rogen made his name in stoner-bro buddy-hang movies, but has elevated himself since. Watching him, I’m mostly wondering: which Muppet am I thinking of? Cookie Monster? Grover? Fozzie Bear? He’s actually a comic straight man, albeit one in whom silliness gleams. Take his pronunciation of Veuve Clicquot, which in Rogen’s mouth delightfully becomes “Voove.” (He’s trying to replace all the bubbly at his engagement party, after a friend of his misplaces an LSD-laced flute. “You’re saying this is a champagne problem?” smirks the shop assistant.)
Byrne has proved equally funny, usually playing against her Audrey Hepburn looks. She’s nimble, intelligent, good with detail, able to play big or bone dry as required. She’s at her best when squashing discomfort. In the first episode of the new series, the engaged Will admits he has a crush on a young sandwich-maker. It’s a typical Platonic scenario, pitting Sylvia’s friendship obligations against her feminine solidarity. Byrne squirms as a reluctant wingwoman, yet manages to steer Will wisely, without preaching. “The thing about that girl in there that you have to remember is … she has a Deadpool tattoo. It’s terrible.”
Platonic is a comforting watch – low-stakes but precisely observed and full of mischievous turns. The best of its cameos may be Saturday Night Live alumnus Beck Bennett as former party animal Wildcard, friend to both Sylvia and Will. (A laugh-out-loud scene in which he and Will discuss Sydney Sweeney has, against all odds, a kind of magical innocence.) Sylvia’s Jeopardy-loving husband and their sardonic children make welcome returns, alongside her acerbic mom-friend Katie, played by Carla Gallo.
The show’s writing is equally weighted to its male and female stars, and it soars on their shared scenes, their bickering zephyrs. When all is said and done, it is a love story. TV has, in the past, contributed to a culturally threadbare understanding of that word. We should welcome this widening lens, a better aspect ratio to understand ourselves.
If Platonic had solely been a Larry David-esque examination of friendship’s minutiae, it would have been perfect. There is a higher stakes romantic storyline running through that feels more generic, and may struggle to sustain 10 episodes of interest. Friendship, though, is something we can watch indefinitely, along with peppery dialogue, relatable dilemmas and absurd scenarios. It’s also a healthy reminder that chemistry doesn’t only mean combustible. More often, it’s about fizzing merrily along.
Sam Claflin and Jeremy Irons star in a new epic adaptation of the swashbuckling story by Alexandre Dumas. Edmond Dantès (Claflin) is a young sailor returning to Marseille to marry love of his life Mércèdes (Ana Girardot). But he has ruffled the feathers of two peers, who conspire to get him locked up in an island prison (“No one leaves there alive”). However, Edmond meets Abbé Faria (Irons) who will help him to escape 15 years later and claim his revenge. HR
Beethoven’s Fifth at the Proms
6.50pm, BBC Two
“Dah, dah, dah, dahhhh!” Those unmistakable notes open Beethoven’s Fifth in this Prom, which is performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev. Before that, though, French pianist Alexandre Kantorow – who played at the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony – delivers Saint-Saëns’ “Egyptian” piano concerto. HR
Billy Joel: And So It Goes
9pm, Sky Documentaries
The original Piano Man looks back on a rollercoaster life and career in this two-part profile, which has gained extra poignancy after the 76-year-old’s recent brain disorder diagnosis. As well as Joel himself, Springsteen, McCartney, Pink and Nas weigh in on his legacy. Concludes Sunday. Graeme Virtue
Annika
9.10pm, BBC One
On the case … Annika on BBC One. Photograph: PHOTOGRAPHER:/CREDIT LINE:BBC/UKTV/Jamie Simpson
Although this Glasgow-set series (first shown on U&Alibi) frequently teeters into cop show cliche, Nicola Walker’s socially awkward detective Annika Strandhed lends it a quirky edge. She’s got her work cut out for her as series two begins, with a gnarly drowning video and a victim who was last seen “pished and mouthy”. Hannah J Davies
Griff’s Great American South
9.10pm, Channel 4
Griff Rhys Jones travels from the Atlantic to the Gulf and takes in all the US deep south has to offer en route. First up, in Tennessee he learns how a dam created in the 30s helped to forge the atomic bomb. Then, in Nashville, it’s all about the music and dancing. HR
Suspicion
11.35pm, ITV1
Katherine begins doubting Martin – the one person she thought she could rely on, while Eddie claims he’s secretly working for her, in the penultimate episode. Meanwhile, there’s a tense showdown and a bombshell, before things get really messy. Ali Catterall
Film choice
The Thicket, 9.20am, 6.05pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
‘Formidable’ …. The Thicket on Sky cinema Premiere. Photograph: Samuel Goldwyn Films/Everett/Shutterstock
Peter Dinklage heads up this impressively bleak neo-western, as a bounty hunter on the trail of a kidnapped girl. Ostensibly in the same redemptive vein as The Searchers, it’s closer in flinty spirit to something like The Revenant. His high body count decorating the snowy wilderness, Dinklage is as formidable as usual – but almost outmatched by Juliette Lewis as Cut Throat Bill, the misleadingly named varmint he’s pursuing. Director Elliott Lester goes in hard on seedy saloon atmospherics and a Darwinian survivalist vibe. Phil Hoad
Live sport
International Rugby Union: Australia v British & Irish Lions, 9.30am, Sky Sports Main Event The final Test from Sydney, with Lions captain Maro Itoje (pictured above) aiming for a 3-0 series win.
Test Cricket: England v India, 10.15am, Sky Sports Cricket The third day of the fifth and final Test from the Oval in London.
Golf: Women’s Open, noon, Sky Sports Golf Day three of the major from Royal Porthcawl.
Cycling: Tour de France Femmes, 12.30pm, TNT Sports 1 Stage eight from Chambéry to Saint-François-Longchamp.
Racing: Glorious Goodwood, 1pm, ITV1 The final day, featuring the Stewards’ Cup at 3.05pm.
Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore and Dave Gahan, who both now live in the US, were photographed for BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room at Maida Vale Studios in 2023
Fans of one of the world’s biggest-selling bands have called for them to be officially recognised in their home town.
Depeche Mode started out as a four-piece in Basildon, Essex, in 1980 before achieving global fame with their trademark electronic sound and brooding lyrics.
Barclay Quarton, lead singer with tribute band The Devout, said: “In Basildon, there should be some sort of mural or something that draws in tourism from around the globe to say magic was created here.”
Basildon Council has not responded to a request for comment.
Getty Images
Andy Fletcher, who died in 2022, is pictured with bandmates Martin Gore and Dave Gahan in Basildon in 1980
Quarton said: “Magic started here in this little town in Essex and it means a lot to millions and millions of people.”
Calls for official recognition come as a BBC Radio 4 documentary Depeche Mode: Reach Out and Touch Faith speaks to commentators and guests about the group’s working class roots and remarkable journey as musicians.
Deb Danahay
Depeche Mode during a soundcheck in the Netherlands at their first overseas gig, supporting Tuxedo Moon on 25 July 1981
The band, originally called Composition of Sound, was formed by friends Andy Fletcher, Vince Clarke and Martin Gore before Dave Gahan was recruited later.
They performed for the first time as a four-piece at Nicholas School, now James Hornsby School in Laindon, Basildon, which Gore and the late Fletcher attended, with Clarke a former pupil at Laindon High Road School.
The band played children’s TV show Saturday Superstore in 1983
The band, however, mostly live in the United States now and have been critical of their hometown in interviews.
Gore was quoted as saying: “I really hated Basildon. I wanted to get out as quickly as I could… I hear it’s a pretty horrible place these days,” while Gahan was quoted as saying: “All I remember about Basildon was that it was awful.”
Deb Danahay family
Deb Danahay said she bonded with frontman Gahan over music and fashion while they were pupils at Barstable School in Basildon
Deb Danahay first became friends with Gahan at Barstable School, with Depeche Mode playing one of their first gigs at a party she co-hosted at Paddocks Community Hall, Laindon.
She used to help run the Depeche Mode Information Service in the band’s early days and was in a relationship for four years with Clarke, who left to launch Yazoo with fellow Basildon musician Alison Moyet and later Erasure with Andy Bell.
Deb Danahay
A group of Depeche Mode fans travelled from Argentina to visit the band’s birthplace, and took in the Towngate Theatre to see the portraits there
Ms Danahay now takes dedicated Depeche Mode fans – known as Devotees – on tours of Basildon, built to ease post-war overcrowding in London.
The majority of visitors were from Europe, particularly Germany, and South America, she said.
“Most of them think they’re going to come to the town centre and there’s going to be statues of the band – they’re really shocked [that there isn’t],” she said.
Deb Danahay
A plaque at the old Nicholas School is one of the few reminders that the band formed in the “new” town of Basildon
Ms Danahay, who lives in Canvey Island, said that while there was a plaque in James Hornsby School’s sports hall to commemorate Depeche Mode’s first gig, there was little else in the way of official recognition.
Deb Danahay
Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher; Perry Bamonte, of The Cure; Alison Moyet; and Bob the Builder creator Keith Chapman all attended the former Nicholas School, with Vince Clarke a pupil at Laindon High Road, which it later merged with
On tours, she is limited to taking fans to a board outside featuring photographs of Gore, Fletcher and Clarke along with former pupils Alison Moyet, The Cure’s Perry Bamonte, and Bob the Builder and Paw Patrol creator Keith Chapman.
Fans appreciated giant portraits of the band members in the Towngate Theatre too, she said.
The original Depeche Mode line-up on Top of the Pops in 1981
As pioneers of the electronic sound inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, Depeche Mode and their peers were shaped by growing up in a new town surrounded by young people, Ms Danahay said.
“My parents… came from Dagenham and lots of Dagenham and East End people moved there,” she said.
“They got a brand new house and the town centre wasn’t even built then – and it’s an analogy that I’ve heard, that it was because there were no old people… there wasn’t people saying you shouldn’t be doing this or that.
“We had so much freedom and didn’t appreciate it because we thought this was how everyone’s town was: the schools were brand new, everything was completely brand new.
“It was just brilliant.”
Depeche Mode photographed backstage at Top of the Pops in the early days of their pop career and before Vince Clarke (far right) was replaced by Alan Wilder at the end of 1981
1. Starmer v Starmer: why is the former human rights lawyer so cautious about defending human rights?
A shapeshifting PM … Keir Starmer. Composite: Guardian Design/REX/Shutterstock/The Observer/Alamy
“Why is Labour’s record to date on human rights – the one thing you might expect a Starmer-led government to be rock solid on – so mixed?” asks Daniel Trilling in this comprehensive long read.
Due to Keir Starmer’s background as a distinguished human rights lawyer, his supporters hoped that he would restore the UK’s commitment to international law. Unfortunately, he is being blocked by a powerful man who has conflated protest with terrorism and called for musicians whose views he dislikes to be dropped from festival bills. That man is also named Keir Starmer. Over the past six months, Trilling has spoken to two dozen Labour insiders, former colleagues of the prime minister and leading human rights advocates in an attempt to pin down the shapeshifting PM.
Read more
2. ‘Generations of women have been disfigured’: Jamie Lee Curtis lets rip on plastic surgery, power and Hollywood’s age problem
‘The wax lips are my statement against plastic surgery,’ says Jamie Lee Curtis. Photograph: Mary Rozzi/The Guardian
“At 66, I get to be a boss,” says Jamie Lee Curtis. That is very much the vibe of this interview, in which the actor shows up “aggressively early” to the Zoom chat, opens up about her experience with addiction, and uses – and staunchly defends – the word “genocide” to describe the impact that cosmetic surgery has had on a generation of women. Emma Brockes speaks to Curtis before the forthcoming sequel to Freaky Friday, which sees the actor reuniting with Lindsay Lohan in the mother-daughter body-swap comedy (“I felt tremendous maternal care for Lindsay after the first movie, and continued to feel that”) – but their chat ends up becoming about so much more.
Read more
3. ‘There’s an arrogance to the way they move around the city’: is it time for digital nomads like me to leave Lisbon?
Alex Holder is considering leaving Lisbon after living in the city for five years. Photograph: Luis Ferraz/The Guardian
“The lack of integration means I’m not the only remote worker feeling adrift. What happens when the shared spaces of your so-called community are sun-drenched cafes and boutique fitness studios? What does it mean to never volunteer, or spend time with an elderly person, to rarely take public transport, or read the local news?”
It’s easy to romanticise the life of a digital nomad: swapping the office for a beachside cafe; living in a flat far more spacious than the ones available back home; being eternally drenched in the southern European sun. But this thoughtful piece by Alex Holder, who moved from London to Lisbon, reveals the cracks in this fantasy. “Maybe,” she wonders, “it’s time to move and make room for someone else.”
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4. Can Democratic socialists get Zohran Mamdani across the finish line?
A supporter wears a badge backing Zohran Mamdani at a campaign event in New York in June. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
He had charisma. He had good content. He also had the support of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an organisation whose membership has grown from 6,000 or so upon its founding in the 80s to a sizeable 80,000 today. Zohran Mamdani’s record-setting success in New York’s June mayoral primary was bolstered by 60,000 volunteers knocking on 1.6m doors across the city – a vast effort, Dharna Noor writes, made possible by New York’s DSA field team.
In this piece, Noor tracks the rise of an organisation that is increasingly shaping American politics – and considers whether it’s ready for a face-off with the Democratic establishment.
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5. Euro 2025: our writers hand out their awards from the tournament
From left: Dutch star Vivianne Miedema, Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí and England goalie Hannah Hampton. Composite: Guardian Picture Desk
From the match of the tournament and the best player to the most memorable goal, Guardian sports writers nominate their picks and personal highlights from Euro 2025, and share what they’d like to see next for women’s football – “Just more of everything!”
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6. ‘There’s an overwhelming bond of love’: the grandparents whose kids rely on them to raise a family
Rita Labiche-Robinson with her nine-year-old granddaughter Nia. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
They say it takes a village, and parents today are ever increasingly turning to their own parents for help with childcare. One study estimates that 9 million British grandparents spend an average of eight hours a week helping to care for their grandchildren. Ellie Violet Bramley meets members of the “grey army” and talks to them about the joys – and lows – of taking a hands-on role in their grandchildren’s lives.
What were you hoping for? At best, to meet my future wife. At worst, free food and a fun story.
First impressions? I didn’t realise Sabrina Carpenter had dyed her hair brown! Zoe immediately had a warm and lovely energy about her, which helped ease my nerves.
What did you talk about? Voice notes, why Normal People should be classified as a horror, and our carefully curated funeral playlists.
Most awkward moment? Zoe had a horror run with public transport, so I had a few extra minutes to intensely scrutinise the wine list.
Good table manners? Impeccable.
Best thing about Zoe? She just radiates positivity, and I got the sense she lights up every room she enters. She can also deliver a killer rendition of Madonna’s Like A Prayer.
Would you introduce Zoe to your friends? In a heartbeat.
Describe Zoe in three words Caring, gorgeous, passionate.
What do you think Zoe made of you? Well, she did say Eddie Redmayne should play me in a movie, so I like to think that was a good thing! Or maybe she was just being generous …
Did you go on somewhere? We stayed until the restaurant closed, then went on to a pub for karaoke.
And … did you kiss? Well, when the karaoke host informed the crowd that it was our first date and then got everyone to chant “kiss, kiss, kiss”, we couldn’t let the people down …
If you could change one thing about the evening, what would it be? If I have to be extremely picky, it would be the option to have orange wine at the restaurant.
Marks out of 10? 10.
Would you meet again? Absolutely.
Q&A
Fancy a blind date?
Show
Blind date is Saturday’s dating column: every week, two
strangers are paired up for dinner and drinks, and then spill the beans
to us, answering a set of questions. This runs, with a photograph we
take of each dater before the date, in Saturday magazine (in the
UK) and online at theguardian.com every Saturday. It’s been running since 2009 – you can read all about how we put it together here.
What questions will I be asked? We
ask about age, location, occupation, hobbies, interests and the type of
person you are looking to meet. If you do not think these questions
cover everything you would like to know, tell us what’s on your mind.
Can I choose who I match with? No,
it’s a blind date! But we do ask you a bit about your interests,
preferences, etc – the more you tell us, the better the match is likely
to be.
Can I pick the photograph? No, but don’t worry: we’ll choose the nicest ones.
What personal details will appear? Your first name, job and age.
How should I answer? Honestly
but respectfully. Be mindful of how it will read to your date, and that
Blind date reaches a large audience, in print and online.
Will I see the other person’s answers? No. We may edit yours and theirs for a range of reasons, including length, and we may ask you for more details.
Will you find me The One? We’ll try! Marriage! Babies!
Can I do it in my home town? Only if it’s in the UK. Many of our applicants live in London, but we would love to hear from people living elsewhere.
How to apply Email blind.date@theguardian.com
Zoe on Alex
What were you hoping for? Two words: a boyfriend.
First impressions? Super cute. Did he lie about his age though? What’s your skincare regime, Alex?
What did you talk about? Our hopes for the date (Alex was looking for an outdoorsy golden retriever girly. I was mildly alarmed, as I’m more of an indoor black cat kind of gal). Our dream festival headliners, his frat party days in Colorado, the GC (Gemma Collins).
Most awkward moment? The whole crowd cheering “kiss kiss kiss” after our karaoke performance of the song from Dirty Dancing.
Good table manners? Very polite, friendly to the staff, didn’t hog a single dish, and kept my wine glass full.
Best thing about Alex? Total gent and a great conversationalist.
Would you introduce Alex to your friends? Of course!
Describe Alex in three words Warm, energetic, spontaneous.
What do you think Alex made of you? He gave me 5/5 for karaoke – I’ve got the X factor, guys!
Did you go on somewhere? A pub/drag-karaoke bar where Alex tried his first blackcurrant vodka soda.
And … did you kiss? Yes – we pecked on stage after much heckling from the crowd (and queen).
If you could change one thing about the evening, what would it be? The temperature – I was boiling.
Marks out of 10? 8.
Would you meet again? Yes, but maybe more as friends.
Zoe and Alex ate at Fire & Wine, London W1. Fancy a blind date? Email blind.date@theguardian.com
The Naked Gun Out now Following a slightly tortuous period in development, a new Naked Gun film is in cinemas with Liam Neeson playing the son of legendary Det Sgt Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen in the three original films). Also starring Pamela Anderson and Busta Rhymes.
Late Shift Out now A nurse on an understaffed surgical ward in a Swiss hospital, Floria (Leonie Benesch), takes her work seriously. But as she cares for a sick young mother and an elderly man, she finds herself caught in a race against time, in this acclaimed drama from Petra Volpe, which premiered at the Berlinale.
Sophia Loren: Hollywood Style, Neapolitan Spirit BFI Southbank, to 31 August Like Marilyn Monroe or James Dean, the mere words “Sophia Loren” bring to mind a particular image. In Loren’s case, it’s a particularly Italian sense of glamour, sophistication and elegance. To celebrate, the BFI is putting on a Sophia Loren season. Saluti!
Savages Out now Fresh from a special screening at Cannes this year, this stop-motion animation, influenced thematically by Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (itself back in cinemas in a couple of weeks), tells the story of an orphaned orangutan, rescued from a palm oil plantation. Directed by Claude Barras (My Life As a Courgette). Catherine Bray
Going out: Gigs
Board silly … Leigh-Anne. Photograph: Niklas Haze
Boardmasters Watergate Bay & Fistral Beach, Newquay, 6, to 10 August Cornwall’s singing and surfing extravaganza returns with a lineup headlined by Raye, Central Cee and the Prodigy. Other artists serenading the sea include Leigh-Anne, Flo, Wet Leg and, as seems obligatory for every festival this year, Natasha Bedingfield. Michael Cragg
Jin The O2, London, 5 & 6 August With BTS returning next year after each member completes their time in the South Korean military, the band’s vocalist Jin is heading to London for two solo shows. Expect songs from his two mini-albums – including the Gary Barlow-penned Running Wild – plus some BTS bangers. MC
The Veil of the Temple Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 2 August A rare performance of John Tavener’s eight-hour choral epic, the first in the UK since its 2003 premiere, launches this year’s Edinburgh international festival. This gigantic hymn, with texts in five languages and bringing together all the world’s major religions, is sung by the combined forces of the Monteverdi Choir, Edinburgh Festival Chorus and National Youth Choir of Scotland. Andrew Clements
Brecon jazz festival Various venues, Brecon, 8 to 10 August The Brecon jazz festival, an innovative gem on the small Welsh scene that brought the genre’s jazz giants to the town, returns with Friday’s opening night show by UK vocal original, Jazz Warriors’ co-founder, reggae singer, DJ and more, Cleveland Watkiss performing his Great Jamaican Songbook on this curtain raiser. John Fordham
Going out: Art
Digital fitness … Andrew Thomas Huang and James Merry’s Björk: Virtual Avatars, 2017, from the exhibition Virtual Beauty. Photograph: Andrew Thomas Huang/James Merry
Virtual Beauty Somerset House, London, to 28 September This exhibition takes you to the cutting edge, exploring how AI-enhanced selfies and artfully curated Instagrams are making virtual aesthetes of us all. Pioneering body artist Orlan, Turner nominee Sin Wai Kin, American self-portraitist Qualeasha Wood, and Björk colaborators Andrew Thomas Huang and James Merry are among the guides to this brave new digital world.
Edinburgh art festival Various venues, 7 to 24 August A summer smorgasbord of art hits Edinburgh alongside its international and fringe festivals. Manchester punk icon Linder, Borgesian installationist Mike Nelson and painter John Bellany are among the varied fare. There is always something worth seeking out and, in this cityscape, the seeking itself is fun as you climb and delve.
Millet National Gallery, London, 7 August to 19 October This French 19th-century landscape artist who fascinated Van Gogh and Salvador Dalí depicts the countryside from the peasants’ point of view. The work of the fields, from sowing to gleaning and winnowing, becomes real yet also mythic in his art. This survey includes his haunting twilight masterpiece The Angelus.
Animal Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives, to 29 August Strange beasts have haunted art and folklore for thousands of years. They are common where the land meets the sea and you can imagine the old inns of Cornwall being regaled by fishers’ tales of mermaids and sea serpents. Kate Clark, Jamie Mills, Lena Dabska and more update the bestiary. Jonathan Jones
Jacqueline Novak Monkey Barrel 4, Edinburgh, to 23 August The Edinburgh fringe-workshopped, Emmy-nominated Get on Your Knees – an exquisitely funny treatise on the blowjob – established this New Yorker as one of the most impressive comedians around; whatever she brings to this year’s festival – and details are scarce – will be more than worth your while. Rachel Aroesti
Robert Cohan: Gala Performance Dance City, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2 August Eliot Smith Dance celebrates the centenary of Robert Cohan. The American, who died in 2021, was instrumental in bringing modern dance to the UK, founding Britain‘s first contemporary dance school and company, and was an influential and much loved figure. The programme includes Cohan’s 1961 duet Eclipse. Lyndsey Winship
Far Away Ambika P3, London, 5 to 23 August LostText/Found Space stages startling plays in unusual spaces. This time it’s Caryl Churchill’s Far Away, in which nature warps and bends as a young girl screams at night – all playing out in a former concrete construction hall. Miriam Gillinson
Ohio Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh, to 24 August A new musical written by and starring married US indie-folk duo the Bengsons. A musician loses his faith. Can he find himself again through his music? MG
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Staying in: Streaming
Eye catching … Wednesday. Photograph: Jonathan Hession/Netflix
Wednesday Netflix, 6 August Tim Burton’s spectacularly successful Addams Family spin-off returns to Nevermore Academy, where our mordant, mystery-solving protagonist gets a hero’s welcome – much to her dismay. But soon Wednesday’s imagination is captured by something even more awful: a premonition of her roomie’s impending death.
The Count of Monte Cristo U&Drama, 2 August, 9pm A Danish director, British stars, Italian writers, French source material: this pan-European drama’s credits alone feel like a triumph in the Brexit era. Sam Claflin plays the wrongly imprisoned protagonist; Jeremy Irons is the priest who tells him the location of a life-changing fortune.
Platonic Apple TV+, 6 August Following his success with The Studio, Apple’s current golden boy Seth Rogen reunites with Rose Byrne for a second season of the pair’s goofy buddy comedy about two friends from college who reconnect in midlife – and whose attempts to support each other frequently end in catastrophe.
Parenthood BBC One & iPlayer, 3 August, 7.20pm When it comes to child-rearing in the animal kingdom, nature documentaries tend to focus on extreme neglect or heartwrenching peril: this new five-parter takes a different tack, by examining how parents impart valuable knowledge to their offspring. RA
Staying in: Games
Mob mentality … Mafia: The Old Country. Photograph: Hangar 13
Mafia: The Old Country Out 8 August; PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC Ever watched Robert De Niro in Godfather Part II and thought: I could do that? Here’s your chance. The fourth main title in the underworld action adventure series takes us back to 1900s Sicily, where we must guide junior mobster Enzo Favara to the top of the Torrisi crime family by any means necessary. Surely an offer we can’t refuse.
Gradius Origins Out 7 August; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch Konami’s space shooter series has been thrilling and frustrating gamers since 1985, and this collection brings together seven titles, including the original Gradius trilogy, the spin-off Salamander titles and the upgraded Salamander remix, Life Force. Keith Stuart
Staying in: Albums
This is hardcore … The Armed. Photograph: Luke Nelson
The Armed – The Future Is Here and Everything Needs to Be Destroyed Out now After going fully meta on 2023’s Perfect Saviors by critiquing the concept of rock stardom via an album full of arena rock, the mysterious collective return with an all-guns-blazing hardcore album. Well Made Play might start like the Killers but soon sounds like an aneurysm.
Reneé Rapp – Bite Me Out now The 25-year-old actor, singer and non-stop quote machine (see her recent interview with comedian Ziwe), returns with her second album of bolshy pop bops. Singles Mad and Leave Me Alone are pepped-up vessels for brattish anger, while Why Is She Still Here? showcases Rapp’s full-bodied voice.
Wisp – If Not Winter Out now On Natalie R Lu’s debut album, the San Franciscan combines shoegaze and heavy rock, her featherlight voice often tossed about on waves of crashing guitars. That’s showcased best on the heaving Breathe Onto Me, while electronic textures sparkle around the edge of Sword.
Laura Groves – Yes Out now This four-track follow-up to 2023’s Radio Red album finds Shipley-born singer, songwriter and producer Groves offering up more heartfelt, 80s-indebted soft-pop. Featuring collaborations with the likes of Joviale and Fabiana Palladino, it’s a perfect showcase for her sonic world-building and melodic prowess. MC
Staying in:Brain food
Busy Izzy … Leading Labour. Photograph: School of Advanced Study, University of London
Leading Labour Podcast Historian Izzy Conn’s series on Labour party leaders is a fascinating insight into the ways the party has navigated leftwing politics from 1945 onwards. Experts analyse how each postwar leader rose to power and their legacy.
Inside NPR’s Tiny Desk YouTube YouTube series Tiny Desk began in 2008 as a showcase of stripped-down musicianship and has since developed to become a key industry tastemaker. This Architectural Digest video explores its meteoric rise.
What Happened to Counter-Culture? Radio 4, 7 August, 9am Stewart Lee delves into the history of counterculture in this engaging five-part series. From beat poetry to free jazz and punk, Lee speaks to the artists who shaped the zeitgeist with their vision and impact. Ammar Kalia
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time. Photograph: Wickes Helmboldt
Summed up in a sentence A powerful, gripping look back at the tragic events that overwhelmed New Orleans in 2005.
What our reviewer said “This series is a devastatingly precise illustration of systemic failure, political impotence and media distortion.” Phil Harrison
Read the full review
Further reading ‘There’s New Orleans before and after’: revisiting Hurricane Katrina in a new docuseries
Pick of the rest
Destination X
BBC iPlayer; available now
Destination X. Photograph: Ian West/PA
Summed up in a sentence A surreally elaborate reality competition that makes contestants live on a coach with blacked-out windows, drives them around Europe – and forces them to guess where they are for cash.
What our reviewer said “Destination X does not close like a vice around you in the manner of The Traitors, nor does it have the cockle-warming aspect of Race Across the World. But it’s fun to go along for the ride.” Lucy Mangan
Read the full review
Kamikaze: An Untold History
BBC iPlayer; available now
Summed up in a sentence This powerful documentary tells the story of Japan’s deployment of kamikaze pilots to bomb US ships in the Pacific during the second world war; missions that killed almost 4,000 Japanese and 7,000 American soldiers.
What our reviewer said “Clear answers are not to be found here but, as we gaze at photographs of squadrons of men under the age of 25, whose whole adult lives were rehearsals for their death, we have to ask why.” Jack Seale
Read the full review
You may have missed …
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
Channel 4; available now
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack. Photograph: Channel 4/Basement Films
Summed up in a sentence A belated airing of the hugely controversial documentary that the BBC refused to show: a horrifying investigation into claims that Israel’s Defence Force has systematically targeted Palestinian medics.
What our reviewer said “This is the sort of television that will never leave you. It will provoke an international reaction, and for extremely good cause. Forget what got it stopped at the BBC. It is here now and, regardless of how that happened, we owe it to the subjects to not look away.” Stuart Heritage
Read the full review
Film
If you only watch one, make it …
Bring Her Back
In cinemas now
Sally Hawkins and Jonah Wren-Phillips in Bring Her Back. Photograph: Ingvar Kenne
Summed up in a sentence The Philippou brothers seal their position as dark chiefs of modern horror in story of an orphan trying to save his stepsister from a villainous Sally Hawkins.
What our reviewer said “It’s a horror preying with hideous expertise on our protective instincts towards the vulnerable, our fear of our own vulnerability, the shame and guilt of abuse, and survivors’ wretched sense of loyalty to their abusers.” Peter Bradshaw
Read the full review
Further reading ‘It’s very risky’: the Philippou brothers on horror films, back yard wrestling and knocking back Hollywood
Pick of the rest
The Naked Gun
In cinemas now
Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson in The Naked Gun. Photograph: Photo Credit: Frank Masi/Frank Masi
Summed up in a sentence Highly amusing spoof reboot of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker’s comedy classic, with Liam Neeson as the son of Leslie Nielsen’s Lt Frank Drebin, appearing opposite Pamela Anderson.
What our reviewer said “It is a life-support system for some outrageous gags, including sensational riffs on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sex and the City, and one showstopping are-they-really-gonna-do-it reference to OJ Simpson, who featured in the original films.” Peter Bradshaw
Read the full review
Further reading The return of the spoof: can comedy’s silliest subgenre make a comeback?
Oslo Stories Trilogy: Dreams
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Third in a playful trilogy from Norwegian novelist and film-maker Dag Johan Haugerud, about a 17-year-old whose memoir about her passion for a teacher rattles three generations.
What our reviewer said “I can imagine two different sorts of US English-language remake: one which ramps up the wry indie comedy, and another which transfers the emphasis to a dead-serious generational family drama. Neither would have this insouciant flavour.” Peter Bradshaw
Read the full review
2000 Meters to Andriivka
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Heartwrenching follow-up to 20 Days in Mariupol, in which photojournalist Mstyslav Chernov is embedded with the 3rd Assault Brigade during a gruelling counteroffensive in Ukraine.
What our reviewer said “The forces brutally fight every metre of the way, heading for the symbolic liberation of the largely ruined village of Andriivka in north-eastern Ukraine. They are carrying a precious Ukrainian flag, and it is their mission to fix this to any broken bit of wall they can find, to proclaim their national spirit is not dead.” Peter Bradshaw
Read the full review
Further reading ‘The soldiers want you to see what they’re going through’: the heartbreaking follow-up to 20 Days in Mariupol
Now streaming …
Last Swim
Multiple digital platforms; available now
Deba Hekmat in Last Swim. Photograph: Caviar, Pablo and Zeus
Summed up in a sentence Deba Hekmat is impressively subtle as a British-Iranian teen whose celebrations come unstuck on a complicated A-level results day.
What our reviewer said “Director Sasha Nathwani gets a headlong rush of energy from his zesty young cast, as they roam all over London – first in a horribly uncool 80s car, then on bikes, then via train.” Peter Bradshaw
Read the full review
Books
If you only read one, make it …
Photograph: PR
Authority: Essays on Being Right by Andrea Long Chu
Review by Houman Barekat
Summed up in a sentence Scorching literary hot takes.
What our reviewer said “Reviewing Bret Easton Ellis’s ‘deeply needless’ 2019 essay collection Long Chu bemoans his descent into fogeyish paranoia, and suggests the author of American Psycho is starting to resemble his most famous creation.”
Read the full review
Pick of the rest
Photograph: AP
Gwyneth: The Biography by Amy Odell
Review by Emma Brockes
Summed up in a sentence A gossipy, unsparing portrait of the actor and wellness guru.
What our reviewer said “Here’s a reveal: Paltrow is such a massive cheapskate she used Goop’s food editors to cook for her.”
Read the full review
Further reading Self-belief and sex eggs: 10 things we learned about Gwyneth Paltrow from an explosive new biography
Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart
Review by Xan Brooks
Summed up in a sentence Precocious 10-year-old Vera Bradford-Shmulkin comes of age in a near-future, post-democracy US.
What our reviewer said “Shteyngart’s ode to a good American in a bad America conspires to be, by turns, a rueful human comedy and a coming-of-age caper, a dystopian chiller and an espionage yarn.”
Read the full review
The Fathers by John Niven
Review by James Smart
Summed up in a sentence Two fortysomething Glaswegians from either side of the tracks form an unlikely friendship.
What our reviewer said “A comic melodrama that’s never dull, and a satire that hits most of its targets … a fine choice for anyone who likes a little grit in their holiday read.”
Read the full review
Further reading John Niven: ‘My comfort read? Alan Clark’s diaries’
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén
Review by Patrick Gale
Summed up in a sentence In the rugged far north of Sweden, an elderly man lives out his last days with his beloved dog.
What our reviewer said “As Bo’s end draws near, he faces the twin challenges of keeping his beloved Sixten at his side and overcoming his masculine conditioning so as not to die with love unexpressed.”
Read the full review
You may have missed …
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
Review by Marcel Theroux
Summed up in a sentence As his kids leave home, a middle-aged man takes a road trip to figure out his future, and whether to leave his marriage.
What our reviewer said “The relaxed precision of the writing is one of the novel’s pleasures. Another is the gradual unpacking of Tom’s mind as we travel alongside him.”
Read the full review
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
The New Eves: The New Eve Is Rising
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Velvets-style drone rock, trad folk, anarcho-punk and hippy whimsy are all discernible in the Brighton quartet’s debut album.
What our reviewer said “The New Eve Is Rising sounds as if it’s being played live, by a band who prize immediacy over virtuosity, with all the teetering potential for disaster that suggests. There’s a certain white-knuckle intensity to the moment when Circles shifts its rhythm, and given that the change is counted in with such vociferousness, perhaps it hasn’t always come off in the past.” Alexis Petridis
Read the full review
Pick of the rest
AraabMuzik: Electronic Dream 2
Out now
Summed up in a sentence This sequel retains the original’s generation-defining mix of dread and debauchery, although it is overshadowed by recent bolder versions of the sound.
What our reviewer said “It’s an understandable impulse to make a sequel: rappers have done it for years, and nostalgia-bait has become a dominant form of popular art – to the point that Madonna has been teasing Confessions Part 2. But for an innovator such as AraabMuzik, moving on seems the best path.” Shaad D’Souza
Read the full review
DJ K: Radio Libertadora!
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Kaique Vieira’s latest “bruxaria” album is even bolder and louder than his 2023 debut, as he brings revolutionary spirit to the funk sound of São Paulo.
What our reviewer said “Vieira displays immense skill in balancing his arrangements and allowing each element, no matter how brash, to play clearly without collapsing into muddy loudness. Some listeners may find it too noisy, but succumb to Vieira’s relentless energy and there is freedom in the barrage of sounds – an invitation to lose yourself in the cacophony.” Ammar Kalia
Read the full review
Chromatic Renaissance
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Exaudi, directed by James Weeks, explore late 16th-century choral works in this fascinating and involving disc.
What our reviewer said “The writhing, convoluted lines of these pieces, negotiated with exemplary precision and clarity by the seven singers of Exaudi, their voices perfectly matched and balanced, carry their own expressive power. This is a disc that becomes more fascinating and involving the more you listen to it.” Andrew Clements
Read the full review
You may have missed …
Justin Timberlake: Everything I Thought It Was
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Painted as a villain following Janet Jackson and Britney Spears controversies, the pop-R&B megastar gets back to brass tacks – and bed-rattling.
What our reviewer said “With not a hope in hell of regaining the narrative upper hand, the only weapon in Timberlake’s arsenal is to produce bangers beyond reproach. For nearly half of this excessively long album, he gets close.” Laura Snapes
Read the full review
Further reading Justin Timberlake reveals Lyme disease diagnosis
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