More than 40 artists from Cornwall have transformed body boards into works of art in support of Cornwall Hospice Care.
The completed designs will be exhibited in venues across the county throughout July, August and September.
An online auction, with bidding open from now until 25 September, gives the public the chance to bid for one of the boards.
The money raised by the auction will be used to deliver care and support to patients and families.
The project was created by long-time fundraiser Sue Dennett, who said: “We reached out to our local community of artists to ask if they would take one of our belly boards to transform, and the response has been overwhelming.
“We’ve had everyone from passionate hobbyists to established names like Michael Praed, Kurt Jackson, Dick Twinney, Anthony Frost, and Steven Camps wanting to get involved.
“Like our previous project, 38 Churns, this is all about harnessing creativity and community to support the remarkable work Cornwall Hospice Care delivers every day.”
Helifest, Cornwall Air Ambulance’s blue light festival, is to return to the county on Saturday.
The day of events will take place at Scorrier House, Redruth, between 11:00 and 19:00 BST.
The family fun festival aims to celebrate the work of Cornwall Air Ambulance and Cornwall’s other blue light services.
During the day, visitors can meet local services where children can explore the various emergency vehicles, watch live demonstrations, listen to local live music and buy goods from Cornish traders.
The orchestra (seen here with former conductor Kiril Karabits at the Proms) shares a long-standing link with Portsmouth
A city’s authority has reflected on its near-100-year relationship with an orchestra ahead of two concerts.
Portsmouth City Council acknowledged the contribution of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) both within and beyond Portsmouth Guildhall, including performances for local schoolchildren and accessible concerts for people with disabilities.
Founded in 1893, the BSO shares a long-standing connection with Portsmouth, such as in 1959 when it was invited to perform at the reopening of the Guildhall by Queen Elizabeth II.
The Guildhall has remained a key venue for the orchestra, hosting regular concert seasons from the 1960s to the present day.
BSO chief executive Dougie Scarfe addressed the council’s cabinet decision meeting, and said the orchestra existed to “bring music into peoples lives” and to foster “cultural engagement, creativity, opportunity and well-being in our communities”.
He said the BSO brought world class musicians from the UK and across the world to Portsmouth each year with “probably the most accessible UK pricing for this quality of music”.
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Portsmouth City Council acknowledged the contribution of the BSO within Portsmouth Guildhall
Scarfe highlighted the Sea Change concert, which gave 1,326 children the opportunity to experience the “awesome sounds of a symphony orchestra”.
He also noted the orchestra’s investment in live streaming, which he said had helped address barriers to cultural access, pointing out that live stream audiences were about 50% more likely to identify as disabled compared to in-hall audiences.
Scarfe thanked the council for its continued support, which totals £22,500 this financial year.
He added that while the grant had “reduced in real terms by 65% since 2010 it remains vital to our work as your support helps us secure investment from Arts Council England and enables BSO to leverage significant funds through fundraising”.
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Steve Pitt, leader of the council, said he planned to attend one of the two concerts in Guildhall Square in August and encouraged residents to buy tickets.
The BSO will perform a John Williams concert on 1 August, followed by an ABBA Symphonic Spectacular on 2 August.
It was a brie and cranberry panini that nearly killed my friend George. Six of us were squashed on to one picnic bench in Edinburgh, nine years ago, on our lunch break at a magazine. I felt an instant click with George when he we first met. I was an intern when I first met George, nauseous with first-day nerves. “Is that a Welsh twang I can hear? Sorry, I’m George!” he’d said, before talking me through the office milk-buying etiquette. We had that frenetic compatibility that makes you assume you’ll be friends for ever.
Within a couple of years I’d become part of the team. That day at lunch, as someone cracked a joke, George mistimed his bite. He cleared his throat while we slapped his back and chuckled. Then the colour drained from his lips. His coughs turned to rattly gasps, his fingers flew to his collarbone and his eyes rolled back.
I realised then the stark difference between movies and reality. When someone chokes in real life, there’s no dramatic music tipping you off to impending tragedy – just your friend gasping for air. Ambulances arrive instantly in films; realistically, they can take much longer. You can die from choking waiting for one. On the picnic bench that day, I was paralysed – until I remembered a scene from a certain 2000 Sandra Bullock action romcom.
One Christmas in the early 00s, my sister unwrapped a shiny new VHS of Miss Congeniality Miss Congeniality, the cover of which featured– Bullock in a fuchsia gown, black boots and a gun holster strapped to her thigh. The VHS quickly came under my custody and an obsession began – I’d watch it, rewind the tape and watch it again on my bedroom TV. I probably still know it word for word. It’s all dance routines, pastel chiffon and ticker tape – one big glittery sleepover. But it also solved my childhood dilemma over whether to be a fearless tomboy or manicured beauty queen. Kickboxing and bagel-inhaling FBI agent Gracie Hart, played by Bullock, tries both and – huge relief – isn’t perfect at either.
Take, for example, one of the opening scenes, in which Hart risks her career – and life – when she defies orders during an undercover sting to save a Russian target who’s choking on a peanut. The line “That’s one really, really purple Russian, sir” used to make me laugh – but now George’s face was the exact same colour.
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In the film, Gracie throws her arms around the Russian man’s waist and places her thumbs at his navel. Years later, the image of her thrusting at his abdomen, over and over until the peanut flies out, sprung into my mind as George gasped.
Suddenly, I was behind him, arms around his waist. “Am I really doing first aid informed by nothing but a 00s VHS?” I thought. On one of my final thrusts, the lump of panini came flying out. I didn’t even notice – in my panic I had rushed off to a nearby cafe, bargaining with the universe to deliver an off‑duty medical professional. When I returned, George was sipping water, pallid but alive. “Kate, you’d already saved him!” my colleagues laughed. When George gathered the strength, he gave me a very shaky hug.
Another Hollywood cliche that doesn’t bear out in real life is that saving a life creates a permanent bond. Reality is less sentimental. I left the magazine, moved to London, and George and I stopped speaking. But I like to think we both hold that day as a postcard from our funny friendship – and that he’s more careful nowadays when eating sandwiches.
Years later, the story of Miss Congeniality and the brie and cranberry panini would play another major role in my life. When I applied for a dream role at Cosmopolitan, I had to submit a first-person piece. I wrote about panini-gate, got the job, and it changed the trajectory of my career. I eventually became an investigative journalist – and have even been undercover several times, just like FBI agent Gracie Hart.
Did a cultural moment prompt you to make a major life change? Email us at cultural.awakening@theguardian.com
Telly assassins have many good qualities, as well as one obvious red flag. We admire their prowess, method, patience and improvisation. We may be jealous of their efficiency, or their extraordinarily brief phone conversations, some of which merely involve listening to the words “Is it done?” or “Call me when it’s done.” The Assassin (Friday 25 July, Prime Video) features a supremely confident title and many of these aspects. It is also funny.
The set-up is low-key. Journalist Edward Green visits his estranged mother Julie on a Greek island. Following an attempt on her life, which she settles with brutal efficiency, he discovers she is actually a deactivated hitwoman. Fleeing across Europe, he attempts to learn about her past as they untangle a giant conspiracy threatening their lives. There’s also a mystery around who his father is, so it’s a bit Mamma Mia, too.
“Are you really not going to tell me why you’re some kind of perimenopausal James Bond?” Edward boggles, after she dispatches another assailant. Actor Freddie Highmore spends a lot of time in this mode, trailing his mother with anxiety and admiration, like a live-action Rick and Morty. Keeley Hawes has more fun as the reluctantly maternal asset, whether kicking a child’s football into the sea or stabbing someone in the neck. David Dencik, as a shrewd IT specialist, has a Peter Lorre skittishness, while Alan Dale makes a villainous boss, though I still think of him as Jim from Neighbours.
Acting schmacting. The Assassin opens with an intense, one-shot sequence of a younger Julie carrying out a mission, like something out of The Raid. Later fight scenes are more cartoonish, which isn’t to say sanitised: fingers are as disposable as Ikea pencils. There’s a blood specialist credited, so corners are the one thing not being cut. While the physicality of the performers isn’t on a par with the best of this type of action, it is able to wield humour with violence – and that is a very specific set of skills.
I don’t usually like killing capped with a zinger. My taste is for the clean lines of Chad Stahelski-choreography, or the scrappy but character-revealing grit of a film like Nobody. Snappy dialogue undermines reality, in the same way as physics-defying choreography. That’s why it’s better to choose one.
The Assassin, though, understands visual wit. That intense opening sequence is capped by Julie, still at the kill site, checking a pregnancy test and swearing. In another scene, she uses a cheese fork as a lethal weapon, elsewhere a sauna as an interrogation device. There are shades of last year’s Mr & Mrs Smith, which similarly explored domesticity through extreme conflict. Still, I’d be happy with a little less conversation, a little more action.
The getaway … Hawes with Freddie Highmore in The Assassin. Photograph: Amazon Prime Video
The scenes between the Greens play best. Julie has lied about her job his whole life – although as half-truths go, calling herself a “headhunter” is pretty good. Edward repeatedly calls out her casual deception, violence and ease with backstabbing. Accurate but painful, she concedes. “That should be on your business card,” he responds. For her part, she thinks her son is boring and pale. On the run across Athens, France and Libya, he’s unlikely to remain either. But can motherhood be exciting enough for Julie? It’s a provocative question.
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There is a traditonal MacGuffin, in the form of “Chantaine”: a secret guarded by Jim from Neighbours, which connects all the characters in some way. Four episodes in, we don’t know what Chantaine is. It might be an AI, assassin training program, a password or a white wine. Moreover, many of the actors pronounce the word so it sounds like “Sean Penn”. There are frequent scenes of characters demanding “What is Sean Penn?” which is distracting.
These types of shows generally feature a monastic, taciturn, near sociopathic lone wolf, almost invariably male. By centring on a retired, middle-aged mother’s relationship with her son, the show kicks away most of the genre’s crutches, forcing itself to do something new. All in all, its confidence is earned. For contract killers and mothers alike, there’s no room for diffidence.
Darnell Swallow was elected Head of House during his time on the show
A former Big Brother housemate said the show had put him on a path he did not regret.
Darnell Swallow, who was born in Ipswich but later moved to the United States, made it to the final of series nine in 2008, finishing fifth.
Before the show, he had been deported from the US after becoming involved in gang culture, leaving him back in the UK and experiencing homelessness.
Swallow reflected on his time in the limelight as Big Brother – then filmed in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire – celebrated its 25th anniversary.
He described how, prior to programme, he “did not know what I was going to do with my life”.
“I had just moved here under some very unfortunate circumstances and I had no path,” he said.
“A stranger on the street offered me a place to live, he said he had this really nice house in Borehamwood and I [said] ‘What no electricity bills? Cool I’m in’.
“It turned out to be the Big Brother house.”
Getty Images
Swallow entered the Big Brother house on 5 June 2008
Swallow was 26 when he entered the house and was the first contestant with albinism.
He spent 93 days inside and likened being in the house to city living.
“If you move to London and try to rent here, you get used to it really fast because it’s quite similar,” he continued.
“You have that first week where everyone is getting along and washing dishes and doing the laundry and putting out their best selves, but then that wears down real quick.”
Getty Images
Swallow, seen lifting up the then Big Brother presenter Davina McCall after his eviction, now works in the music industry and releases songs
Swallow said he was still close with fellow contestant Rex Newmark and was still being recognised.
“It’s funny because I’ll be at Sainsbury’s just looking at vinegar real close because I don’t see well, and I’ll turn around and someone will have their phone out just gawking,” he said.
Swallow, now 43, had no regrets from being on the show and was working in the music industry.
“It put me on a path,” he said.
“It might not have been the path that I would have chosen, but it was a path nonetheless.
“I get to speak with cool people quite often so I can’t be mad at that.”
I Know What You Did Last Summer Out now Alongside the superior Scream, the original I Know What You Did Last Summer embodied the late 20th-century quippy slasher movement. In an era defined by new takes on old IPs, it’s perhaps surprising it’s taken so long to get around to a reboot of this one, but it’s here now, and it’s a sequel, with Freddie Prinze Jr and Jennifer Love Hewitt reprising their roles.
Harvest Out now This dark historical drama, which premiered at the Venice film festival, is the English-language debut of the well-regarded Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari, and is an adaptation of the Jim Crace novel. Set in an ambiguous preindustrial time period, a juicy ensemble cast (Harry Melling, Caleb Landry-Jones, Rosy McEwen) contend with universal themes: the march of progress, harmful traditions and the scapegoating of the outsider.
Friendship Out now Paul Rudd plays Austin, a charismatic weatherman who moves to a new neighbourhood and is initially open to a new friendship with Tim Robinson’s misfit marketing executive Craig. Those familiar with Robinson’s oeuvre will know that the path of true bromance n’er did run straight, with the escalating awkwardness and discomfort in this cringe comedy about male loneliness.
Human Traffic 4K restoration Out now Nice one bruvva! The quintessential 90s night out in Cardiff starring a baby-faced John Simm returns to the big screen in the sort of glorious 4K restoration too often reserved for the kind of films that don’t feature a young Danny Dyer AKA “pill monster” Moff getting caught masturbating by his mum. Catherine Bray
Going out: Gigs
Magic whip … Alice Cooper. Photograph: jennyrisher9177233785/Jenny Risher
Judas Priest & Alice Cooper Scarborough (Judas Priest only), 23 July; London, 25 July London’s O2 arena descends into darkness, augmented by dry ice and pyro, as the rock and metal legends co-headline a one-off spectacular. Two days prior, Birmingham heavy metallers Judas Priest also head to Scarborough with guests Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons. Michael Cragg
Latitude Henham Park, Suffolk, 24 to 27 July Even if you’re not a fan of headliners Sting, Fatboy Slim and Snow Patrol, there’s plenty to enjoy further down the bill at this East Anglia festival. French band Air, a returning Sigrid and a raucous Lambrini Girls, for example, plus a stellar comedy lineup. MC
Soweto Kinch Fire Station, Sunderland, 24 July Dynamic UK saxophonist, rapper and radio presenter Soweto Kinch hosts a special BBC Proms edition of his Round Midnight Radio 3 show, with guests including genre-bridging and Grammy-nominated American trumpeter Theo Croker and vivaciously skilful UK pianist Joe Webb, the latter celebrating the centenary of piano giant Oscar Peterson. John Fordham
BBC Philharmonic premieres Royal Albert Hall, London, 21 and 22 July Significant new works look thin on the ground in this summer’s Proms, but two of the most promising come in the BBC Philharmonic’s first pair of concerts. John Storgårds conducts tenor Allan Clayton in Tom Coult’s Monologues for the Curious, while the next night Sean Shibe is the soloist in Mark Simpson’s guitar concerto, ZEBRA (or 2-3-74: The Divine Invasion of Philip K Dick). Andrew Clements
Going out: Art
Going above and beyond … Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth? Photograph: Lucie Goodayle/Natural History Museum
Space Natural History Museum, London to 22 February 2026 This accessible, interactive and fact-filled show is fun for all ages. It looks at how science is closing in on extraterrestrial life, taking you from the deserts of Mars to the icy moons of the gas giants, and beyond the solar system to see how life may exist orbiting remote stars.
Folkestone Triennial Various venues, Folkestone, 19 July to 19 October This contemporary art festival sees venues – which range from genteel civic gardens to the atmospheric port with its decaying concrete ferry terminal – taken over by ambitious, often provocative installations. Dadaist mayhem-maker Monster Chetwynd stars along with Cooking Sections, Dorothy Cross, Katie Paterson and more, all exploring landscape and deep time.
Sculpture in the City Various public sites, City of London, to spring 2026 Ai Weiwei and Jane and Louise Wilson are among the artists unveiling new public sculptures in this annual free event that leads you on an intriguing walk through the City of London’s jumble of ancient and modern buildings. There are also works by Julian Opie, Elisa Artesero and Daniel Silver.
Louise Bourgeois, Robert Mapplethorpe, Helen Chadwick Modern One, Edinburgh, to 2026 Three artists who investigated the body and desire are celebrated by the Artist Rooms collection, whose excellent holdings guarantee insight. Bourgeois carried the surrealist imagination into this century while Mapplethorpe pioneered the art of shock with his stunningly sensual monochrome photographs and Chadwick brought new organic truth to British art. Jonathan Jones
St Albans Comedy Garden Verulamium Park, 24 to 27 July If you can’t find anyone to your taste at this household name-packed four-dayer, standup might not be for you after all. Highlights include observational maestro Phil Wang, harried mum-era Sara Pascoe, inimitable absurdist Sam Campbell, apologetic old Etonian Ivo Graham and the bluntly witty Fern Brady. Rachel AroestiRachel Aroesti
Scottish Dance Theatre: Pirates! His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, 19 & 20 July This family show is a lot of fun: warm, engaging and silly, it’s the story of a daydreaming ship assistant whisked away by a ragtag bunch of pirates for an adventure on the high seas, featuring zombies, strange sea creatures, acrobatics and funny squelchy noises. Lyndsey Winship
Inter Alia National Theatre, London, to 13 September A searing new play from writer Suzie Miller, who penned Prima Facie – a huge hit for Jodie Comer. It’s about a maverick crown court judge whose life is unravelling, played by Rosamund Pike. Miriam Gillinson
The Railway Children Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, to 7 September Mike Kenny’s Olivier-winning stage adaptation has been reworked for Bradford 2025 City of Culture. Audiences will be taken by steam train on an immersive soundscape journey before watching the show in an auditorium built at Oxenhope station. MG
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Staying in: Streaming
Close encounters of the furred kind … Washington Black. Photograph: Lilja Jonsdottir/Disney
Washington Black Disney+, Wednesday 23 July Esi Edugyan’s historical novel becomes an epic TV adventure, taking our titular hero from slavery on a sugar plantation in Barbados to a new start in Nova Scotia, partly via hot air balloon. Sterling K Brown leads a predominantly British cast including Tom Ellis, Charles Dance, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Sharon Duncan-Brewster.
Unforgivable iPlayer/BBC Two, Thursday 24 July, 9pm Ever since his 2006 anthology series The Street, screenwriter Jimmy McGovern has been synonymous with stories about the troubling underbelly of ordinary British life – and this new drama about grooming and abuse within a family unit may well be his most distressing yet. Anna Friel, Anna Maxwell Martin and David Threlfall star.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North iPlayer/BBC One, Sunday 20 July, 9.15pm The BBC has been buying in Australian TV at a rate of knots, but tThis adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker-winning novel is clearly a cut above. Jacob Elordi is Dorrigo, who falls in love with his uncle’s wife before becoming a prisoner of war; Ciarán Hinds plays his older self, a celebrated surgeon entangled in another affair.
Hitmakers Netflix, Thursday 24 July This new series reality-gamifies songwriting camps – the backbone of the 21st-century pop music biz – by getting the brains behind songs sung by some of the planet’s biggest stars to compete, writing tracks for John Legend, Shaboozey and Blackpink’s Lisa. Expect equal parts musical insight and unhinged interpersonal drama. RA
Staying in: Games
Vicious cycle … Wheel World. Photograph: Messhof
Wheel World Out Wednesday; PS4/5, PC, Xbox Like a futuristic Forza Horizon for cyclists, this open-world racing game has you pedalling around an eye-catching cel-shaded world on a fully customisable ride, taking on races to a soundtrack comprised of chill beats.
Fretless Out now; PC/Mac A pixel-art adventure game about a lone musician out to save the world from a demonic record executive, who has used dark magic to ensnare all the world’s bands with soul-stealing contracts. Each new riff you learn helps tear through monsters and win people to your cause.Keza Macdonald
Staying in: Albums
All you need is love … Jade Bird.
Jade Bird – Who Wants to Talk About Love? Out now Bird, and follow up to last year’s Mura Masa-produced stopgap EP was inspired on this third album by the breakdown of her relationship with her former fiancee (and bandmate). On songs such as Who Wants and Dreams, heartbreak is laid bare over folksy arrangements that highlight her weather-worn voice.
Alex G – Headlights Out now American indie rock experimentalist Alex Giannascoli returns, three years after the critically acclaimed God Save the Animals, with this first major-label album. On lead single Afterlife he makes the mandolin sound cool, while opener June Guitar is built around a wheezing accordion solo.
Alex Warren – You’ll Be Alright, Kid Out now Retired influencer turned earnest troubadour Alex Warren adds 10 tracks to last year’s EP of the same name to create this debut album. Featuring blustery acoustic collaborations with Jelly Roll and Rosé, its calling card is the loved-up anthem Ordinary, a recent US and UK chart-topper.
Fletcher – Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me? Out now On Boy, the first single from her third album, queer singer-songwriter Cari Fletcher has a confession: “I kissed a boy / And I know it’s not what you wanted to hear,” she sings delicately, like a stripped back, reverse I Kissed a Girl, ushering in a transitional record for the 31-year-old. MC
Staying in:Brain food
Sitar hero … Alam Khan. Photograph: Stian Rasmussen
Rāgas and Redemption 25 July, BBC World Service Alam Khan, son of sarod virtuoso and Ravi Shankar collaborator Ali Akhbar Khan, has a weighty legacy to carry. This intimate documentary uncovers his complex relationship with Indian classical music since his father’s death in 2009.
AI & Us Podcast Actor Stephen McGann’s series on the future of AI and its uses is informative as well as concerning. From influencing our choices of housing to intervening in mental health care, we explore how embedded AI has already become.
New Economic Thinking YouTube The Institute of New Economic Thinking’s YouTube channel is full of slick and engaging explainers even the most numerically illiterate will be able to follow. Experts delve into the racial wealth gap, global debt and more. Ammar Kalia
What were you hoping for? My parents met on a blind date and I thought it would be a bit of fun.
First impressions? Friendly and funny, if a bit younger than I’d usually go for.
What did you talk about? Our summer plans, the festivals we’re going to. We both love film, so we exchanged our Letterboxd top four.
Most awkward moment? When he put his Instagram handle in my phone it popped up that I’d searched for him. I’m not a stalker, Matt, promise.
Good table manners? It’s quite hard to eat Sri Lankan food with grace, but he did his best.
Best thing about Matthew? It was nice to see the energy of someone moving to the city for the first time.
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
Would you introduce Matthew to your friends? Yeah, for sure!
Describe Matthew in three words Fun, friendly, chill.
What do you think he made of you? We had a good vibe going.
Did you go on somewhere? We went to a pub and discussed how to pronounce the beer Jubel. And … did you kiss? There’s just something in a Jubel that makes me want to kiss someone, so yes.
If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be? I think I’m looking for someone who’s in a slightly different phase of life.
Marks out of 10? 9.
Would you meet again? I’m sure we’ll bump into each other on a night out in London.
Edward and Matthew on their date
Matthew on Edward
What were you hoping for? When do you actually get the chance to go on a proper blind date? I had very little expectation; I was just looking to have a laugh.
First impressions? Great hair and moustache, and I liked what he was wearing.
What did you talk about? Music, the different places in London he’s lived, where I should live next, our favourite pubs in the city. And how the beer Jubel is pronounced, which included asking several strangers and watching a couple of YouTube videos.
Most awkward moment? Probably that he had to help me finish my pint at the end.
Good table manners? Definitely. We shared every dish.
Best thing about Edward? He has a very laid-back and fun energy; very easy to get along with.
Would you introduce Edward to your friends? I’d just come from a friend’s birthday drinks. I did consider messaging them to see if we could rejoin them.
Describe Edward in three words Intelligent, funny, well-dressed.
What do you think he made of you? I hope I wasn’t talking his ear off; we had a good laugh.
Did you go on somewhere? After all that talk about the best pubs in the city, he showed me one of his favourites.
And … did you kiss? Would’ve been rude not to.
If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be? Maybe the weather: walking across the city in 31-degree heat meant I had to freshen up when I got to the restaurant.
Marks out of 10? 9.
Would you meet again? I’m sure I’ll bump into him somewhere soon.
Edward and Matthew ate at Kolamba East, London E1. Fancy a blind date? Email blind.date@theguardian.com
Ella Al-Shamahi hosts Human. Photograph: BBC Studios
Summed up in a sentence Explorer, paleoanthropologist and standup comedian Ella Al-Shamahi delivers a wonder-filled, joyful look at the origins of humanity that is never short of fascinating.
What our reviewer said “It feels as if a presenting star is being born here.” Jack Seale
Read the full review
Further reading ‘Forever chemicals’ are killing whales – and harming us
Pick of the rest
Bookish
U&Alibi
From left: Buket Komur as Nora, Mark Gatiss as Gabriel Book and Connor Finch as Jack in Bookish. Photograph: Nicolas Velter/UKTV
Summed up in a sentence Mark Gatiss leaps into the world of cosy crime dramas as a postwar bookseller with a mysterious “letter from Churchill” that lets him assist the police with investigations.
What our reviewer said “Bookish is a fine piece of entertainment – meticulously worked, beautifully paced and decidedly moreish. A joy.” Lucy Mangan
Read the full review
Further reading Mark Gatiss: ‘What does Benedict Cumberbatch smell like? Strawberries’
My Mom Jayne
Sky Documentaries
Summed up in a sentence A touching, beautiful and sad biopic of film star Jayne Mansfield, created by the daughter who lost her mother to a car crash aged three.
What our reviewer said “My Mom Jayne is tender rather than schmaltzy, compassionate rather than hagiographic and an evident labour of love for all involved.” Lucy Mangan
Read the full review
You may have missed…
Live Aid at 40: When Rock ’n’ Roll Took on the World
BBC iPlayer
Bob Geldof, interviewed for Live Aid at 40. Photograph: Brook Lapping/BBC
Summed up in a sentence A three-part retrospective of the era-defining 80s charity concerts, filled with startling archive clips and soul-baring modern-day interviews.
What our reviewer said “A fascinating portrait of a complex man’s imperfect attempt to solve an impossible problem.” Jack Seale
Read the full review
Further reading Live Aid campaigner Bob Geldof was ‘scathing about African leaders’, files reveal
Film
If you only watch one, make it…
Friendship
In cinemas now
Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in Friendship. Photograph: AP
Summed up in a sentence Tim Robinson is magnificently cringeworthy as a man in thrall to his cool neighbour Paul Rudd in Andrew DeYoung’s comedy bromance.
What our reviewer said “This is a shaggy dog tale of ineffable silliness, operating ostensibly on the realist lines of indie US cinema but sauntering sideways from its initial premise, getting further and further from what had appeared to be a real issue: how difficult it is for grown men to make new friends.” Peter Bradshaw
Read the full review
Further reading ‘A case study on psychosis’: men on why Tim Robinson’s Friendship feels a little too real
Pick of the rest
I Know What You Did Last Summer
In cinemas now
Jennifer Love Hewitt in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Photograph: Matt Kennedy/AP
Summed up in a sentence Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr return for a goofy, slickly made legacy sequel to the classic 90s slasher.
What our reviewer said “There’s something charmingly deranged about this kind of hyper-specific fan service, appealing to a select few with the brash confidence that everyone knows exactly what you’re talking about.” Benjamin Lee
Read the full review
Human Traffic
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Reissue of 90s one-crazy-night clubbing comedy, a loved-up ensemble piece that is cheerfully apolitical, pro-drugs and pro-hedonism.
What our reviewer said “A reminder of that interesting 90s moment when euphoria and uncomplicated fun had cultural cachet.” Peter Bradshaw
Read the full review
Further reading How we made Human Traffic: ‘The first question I asked in the auditions was: have you ever taken drugs?’
Barry Lyndon
In cinemas now
Summed up in a sentence Stanley Kubrick’s hypnotic masterpiece, adapted from Thackeray, follows the fluctuating fortunes of Ryan O’Neal’s humble Irish hero.
What our reviewer said “Barry Lyndon is an intimate epic of utter lucidity and command. The final intertitle drily noting that all the characters are “equal now” in death is exquisitely judged.” Peter Bradshaw
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Further reading Stanley Kubrick: the Barry Lyndon archives – in pictures
Now streaming
Moon
Mubi; available now
Florentina Holzinger in Moon. Photograph: Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion
Summed up in a sentence Gripping thriller about an Austrian ex-cage fighter called Sarah who goes to Dubai to work with three teenage sisters, and realises they are trapped.
What our reviewer said “It’s easy to imagine the Hollywood version of this story, with a heroic escape orchestrated by Sarah. But Moon is gripping in its own understated way as it presents the unvarnished reality: that standing up to injustice is harder than it looks in the movies.” Cath Clarke
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Books
If you only read one, make it …
Photograph: PR
Endling by Maria Reva
Out now
Summed up in a sentence A black comedy about endangered snails and the Ukraine marriage industry is disrupted, in terms of both narrative and form, by Russia’s full-scale invasion.
What our reviewer said “Rather than feeling distracting or tricksy, the author’s intervention heightens the impact of the story, giving it a discomfiting intensity and a new, more intimate register. We all have skin in the game at this point.” Marcel Theroux
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Pick of the rest
Photograph: Scribner UK/PA
The Original by Nell Stevens
Reviewed by Lara Feigel
Summed up in a sentence A flamboyant tale of fakery and forgers that delights in queering the Victorian era.
What our reviewer said “In book after book, Stevens is showing herself to be that rare thing: a writer who we can think alongside, even while she’s making things up.”
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Further reading Nell Stevens: penguins, paranoia and an old potato on the island of Bleaker
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
Reviewed by Christopher Shrimpton
Summed up in a sentence The perfect lives of wealthy New Yorkers are shattered by a violent act on a birthday weekend.
What our reviewer said “A bracingly honest and affectingly intimate depiction of abuse, family dynamics and self-deceit… it upends its characters’ lives so ruthlessly and revealingly that it is hard not to take pleasure in a false facade being finally smashed.”
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Witness in a Time of Turmoil by Ian Mayes
Reviewed by Joe Moran
Summed up in a sentence Behind the scenes at the Guardian, 1986-1995.
What our reviewer said “Few events in these years, from the fatwa on Rushdie to the first Gulf war, failed to provoke fierce disagreements in the newsroom.” Joe Moran
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You may have missed …
The Evin Prison Bakers’ Club by Sepideh Gholian
Reviewed by Alex Clark
Summed up in a sentence Life on the women’s wards of Iran’s infamous prison.
What our reviewer said It is unclear how many of these dishes are materially realised within the confines of the prison, and how many are acts of fantasy, a dream of what life might be like in the future. Alex Clark
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Further reading I endured Evin, Iran’s most notorious jail. I can’t understand how Sweden can leave its citizen to die there
Albums
If you only listen to one, make it …
Jim Legxacy: Black British Music
Out now
Jim Legxacy – Black British Music.
Summed up in a sentence The London rapper and producer doubles down on his vaulting style, lurching from alt-rock to distortion and chipmunk soul on an astonishingly coherent and melodic third record.
What our reviewer said “It feels like the work of someone who has grown up with the all-you-can-eat buffet of streaming as standard, hurling contrasting ideas and inspirations at you in a way that recalls someone continually pressing fast-forward in a state of excitement … That it doesn’t result in an annoying mess comes down to Legxacy’s skills as a producer, which allow him to weave it all into something coherent, and to his songwriting.”. Alexis Petridis
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Pick of the rest
Alex G: Headlights
Out now
Alex G. Photograph: Chris Maggio
Summed up in a sentence While the sonic invention and off-kilter details remain, on his 10th album the cult musician eschews distortion for melancholic melodies and crooked love songs.
What our reviewer said “The sonic invention remains, but it is deployed with increased subtlety, serving the timeless, melancholic soft-rock rather than overpowering it.” Rachel Aroesti
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Poor Creature: All Smiles Tonight
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Ruth Clinton of Landless and Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody of Lankum contrast hauntological synths with robust noise on this playful debut.
What our reviewer said “Poor Creature comprises three musicians expert in heightening and managing atmosphere … Within Clinton and MacDiarmada’s dense harmonies, Dermody’s drums and the track’s cacophonous final minutes, you sense folk rocketing somewhere poppy, wild and new.” Jude Rogers
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Further reading ‘We are extreme’ … how Lankum’s heavy mutant folk made them Mercury favourites
Justin Bieber: Swag
Out now
Summed up in a sentence Bieber reverts to his first love, R&B, in what seems to be a genuine passion project.
What our reviewer said “It’s all very considered, cleverly nostalgic and subtly satisfying – there’s not a craven chart smash in earshot.” Rachel Aroesti
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You may have missed …
Nídia and Valentina: Estradas (Versions)
Out now
Summed up in a sentence The Portuguese producer and British-Italian drummer united last year for a characterful, polyrhythmic debut; this redux sees each song remixed by a different producer, from Sherelle to Kelman Duran.
What our reviewer said “These transformations yank the source material in all kinds of different directions, from baile funk to breakbeat. My favourite is the brooding, bubbling take on the title track by Chinese producer Yu Su.” Laura Snapes
Further reading ‘Drumming is full of machismo, so vulgar, so dumb’: Valentina Magaletti, the musician giving the underground its rhythm
‘A new set of rules’ … the sports-based manosphere. Illustration: Ben Denzer/The Guardian
“Today’s sports broadcast world,” wrote Aaron Timms in this fascinating exploration of the sports-based manosphere, “runs according to a new set of rules, in which ‘respectable’ TV and the demimonde of sports podcasts, streaming, and shitposting increasingly intersect: all engagement is good engagement, and the best type of filter is no filter. Whatever faint norms of decorum constrained earlier generations of professional sports talkers have faded completely. There’s a reciprocal flow of testosterone and ideas between these shows, the world of sports, social media and real life. A handful of subjects and themes recur: veneration of the military, glorification of strength and traditional ‘male’ values, celebration of gambling, the denigration of women and anything thought to represent ‘woke’ culture.”
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2. ‘People here are as strong as concrete’: the stunning architecture of war-torn Kharkiv
The Ukraina cinema and concert hall in Kharkiv. Photograph: Pavlo Dorohoi
A new architectural guidebook was written as a love letter to the Ukrainian city – then Russia started bombing it. How will this home to Tetris-like offices and daring curved cinemas be rebuilt, asked the Guardian’s architecture critic, Oliver Wainwright.
If you liked this piece, you might also be interested in Charlotte Higgins’s feature on the ghost museums of Ukraine.
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3. ‘This is going to be a real hatchet job, isn’t it?’ Janet Street-Porter on ‘bitchiness’, backstabbing and her remarkable career
Janet Street-Porter outside her old school in Parsons Green, west London. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
One of the giants of British media, Street-Porter is a regular on Loose Women, a former TV executive, newspaper editor and author – and about to launch a one-woman stage show. Before she dashed out of the restaurant where they met for lunch, she told Simon Hattenstone about love, regrets and her fury with her late mother.
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4. The Shining: my trip to the G7 horror show with Emmanuel Macron
‘Hating Macron is a national sport in France,’ wrote Emmanuel Carrère. Photograph: Teresa Suárez/EPA
Nearly seven years ago, Emmanuel Carrère travelled on the presidential plane with Emmanuel Macron, to profile him for the Guardian. It was at the start of his first term in office, and everything seemed to be going well for him. Now, Carrère wrote on Tuesday, hating Macron is a national sport in France. For the long read, Carrère travelled once more with the French president, this time to Kananaskis in Alberta, Canada, for the recent G7 conference most notable for Donald Trump’s abrupt departure: “With [Trump] gone, the tension subsided. We could breathe again but there was no denying that the game had lost some of its appeal. Even though the second day was no more than a half day it dragged on, which was all the crueller given that its star was Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Invited by the G7, he had travelled more than 3,000 miles just to see Trump and beg him once again not to completely abandon Ukraine, and Trump once again humiliated him, this time by leaving just before he arrived.”
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5. ‘A relentless, destructive energy’: inside the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were found guilty of the manslaughter of their newborn daughter. Composite: Alex Mellon for the Guardian ; PA/Getty Images
On Monday, Marten and Gordon were found guilty of the manslaughter of their newborn daughter, who died after they took her to live in a tent in freezing wintry conditions to evade social services. Their story – of a woman born into extraordinary aristocratic privilege and her life with a violent convicted rapist – grimly fascinated Britain. For an extraordinary long read, Sophie Elmhirst spent months attending their retrial and chronicled the chaotic scenes as Gordon chose to defend himself and Marten pushed the patience of the presiding judge to its limits.
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6. Where Oasis, the Killers and Noddy Holder raised hell: Britpop’s debauched HQ, the Columbia hotel
Columbia hotel became the place to be in the 1990s. Photograph: Roberto Herrett/Alamy
The Columbia hotel in west London was known for its cheap rooms, its bar’s flexible opening hours, and its look-the-other-way attitude. It became a go-to spot for musicians in the 1980s and, in the 90s, became the place to descend on. In this fun history, Daniel Dylan-Wray spoke to those who remember (or perhaps don’t) its hedonistic glory days.
