
Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice
The Irish politician was targeted in 2022, in the final weeks of her run for office. She has never found out who made the malicious deepfake, but knew immediately she had to try to stop this happening to other women
When Cara Hunter, the Irish politician, looks back on the moment she found out she had been deepfaked, she says it is “like watching a horror movie”. The setting is her grandmother’s rural home in the west of Tyrone on her 90th birthday, April 2022. “Everyone was there,” she says. “I was sitting with all my closest family members and family friends when I got a notification through Facebook Messenger.” It was from a stranger. “Is that you in the video … the one going round on WhatsApp?” he asked.
Hunter made videos all the time, especially then, less than three weeks before elections for the Northern Ireland assembly. She was defending her East Londonderry seat, campaigning, canvassing, debating. Yet, as a woman, this message from a man she didn’t know was enough to put her on alert. “I replied that I wasn’t sure which video he was talking about,” Hunter says. “So he asked, did I want to see it?” Then he sent it over.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 05:00:25 GMT
Broken ceasefires, bombing, ground incursions and mounting deaths: Israeli imperialism is now expanding across the region
It is clear now that the ceasefire in Gaza is only a “reducefire”. The onslaught continues. There are near-daily attacks on the territory. On a single day at the end of October, almost 100 Palestinians were killed. On 19 November, 32 were killed. On 23 November, 21. And on it goes. Since the ceasefire, more than 300 have been killed and almost 1,000 injured. Those numbers will rise. The real shift is that the ceasefire has reduced global attention and scrutiny. Meanwhile, Israel’s emerging blueprint becomes clearer: bloody domination not only in Gaza, but across Palestine and the wider region.
A “dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal”, is how Amnesty International’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, described this post-ceasefire period. Israeli authorities have reduced attacks and allowed some aid into Gaza, she said, but “the world must not be fooled. Israel’s genocide is not over.” Not a single hospital in Gaza has returned to being fully operational. The onset of rain and cooling weather has left thousands exposed in dilapidated tents. Since the ceasefire on 10 October, almost 6,500 tonnes of UN-coordinated relief materials have been denied entry into Gaza by Israeli authorities. According to Oxfam, in the two weeks after the ceasefire alone, shipments of water, food, tents and medical supplies from 17 international NGOs were denied.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 06:00:28 GMT
The husband and wife team cook up a winter storm with lamb shoulder, dauphinoise and brown sugar meringues – just don’t ask them who’s doing the cleaning up
When I first started seeing Mattie, there was a constant dinner party at his mum’s house,” recalls pastry chef Ravneet Gill. “There were loads of people there all the time, being fed with massive bowls of home-cooked food and a big block of parmesan.” There was an open-door policy, with pastas and roast meats on heavy rotation, confirms her now-husband and fellow chef, Taiano. And it’s this sentiment that has carried through to the couple’s restaurant, Gina, which opened in Chingford, east London, earlier this year, a process they documented in their newsletter, Club Gina.
Named after Taiano’s late mother, it is very much a neighbourhood joint, Gill points out, with the food – from pithiviers and vol au vents to Gina’s pasta with tomato sauce, half a roast chicken with little gems and aioli to share on Sundays, and slabs of “Ravi’s” chocolate cake – an extension of how the couple like to eat.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 12:00:33 GMT
Michael Bond’s beloved bear is the star of an eagerly anticipated new show at the Savoy theatre in London. Here is what the critics thought
Paddington is brought to life with state-of-the-art animatronics: James Hameed is his voice and remote puppeteer, while Arti Shah is under his furry skin on stage (puppet design by Tahra Zafar). The Brown family are recognisable from the star-studded film: risk-averse dad (Adrian Der Gregorian), arty mum (Amy Ellen Richardson), adolescent Judy (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) and encyclopaedia-chomping wee Jonathan (Jasper Rowse on the night of attendance), along with houseguest Mrs Bird (Bonnie Langford, in national treasure mode) … This is the new Mary Poppins: a well-known story imaginatively staged, immaculately performed and utterly winning.
The plot and general mood here are both loosely based on the first Paddington film, with director Luke Sheppard and set designer Tom Pye creating a warm, multicultural, and gorgeously maximalist evocation of bohemian London. The famous bear crash-lands in an inhospitable city, then finds a home with the kindly Brown family. In the glorious set-piece song Don’t Touch That, his butter-pawed curiosity nearly destroys the fabric of their home: shelves tilt, white goods explode, and soap bubbles and jets of water burst through the ceiling.
The moment when the newcomer from darkest Peru tries on his trademark duffle coat for the first time drew a chorus of “Ahs” around the auditorium. The adults aren’t to be upstaged in an effervescent, if slightly overlong production directed by Luke Sheppard. Jessica Swale’s script is based on the original Paddington books and the first of the film spin-offs. Here, it’s the busybody neighbour Mr Curry who gets some of the best lines, Tom Edden having no end of fun as a killjoy with a combover who eventually sees the error of his ways.
Ah, Paddington Bear. Are the poppy songs in this new musical, by Tom Fletcher of McFly, especially memorable? They are not. Is the plot, by Jessica Swale, full of holes and needless diversions? It is. But will your eyes be moist the minute that the little furball from Darkest Peru sets paw in Paddington station – and will they be full to overflowing by the time he climbs into a black taxi with the Brown family and sets off on his journey towards home, family and belonging? Unless there’s something seriously wrong with you – and, probably, almost in spite of yourself – yes, they will.
Not only does he blink bashfully, his little puzzled muzzle wrinkles with extreme pathos – and off-the-Richter-scale cuteness. When he turns to wiggle his tiny behind, he gets the kind of reception normally reserved for a 40-point Samba on Strictly. So the bear necessities – designed by Tahra Zafar – are genius. But Paddington is a team effort. His voice is delivered from the wings by James Hameed, while the costume itself is inhabited by Arti Shah. She has the little fella’s adorable wiggle off pat.
There’s a glorious, hallucinogenic knees-up in praise of marmalade (involving Tom Edden’s joyously slimy neighbour Mr Curry), tub-thumping carry-on courtesy of the Geographers’ Guild and a show-stopper in which Bonnie Langford’s wise old Mrs Bird turns theatrical trouper, does the splits and brings the house down; so silly, yet so life-affirming. Is this a new classic on a par with Mary Poppins or Matilda? No, it’s a touch threadbare and a little overstuffed with songs, but it’s still a very welcome addition to the British musical family.
It is not only the bear design that is marvellous. Scenic designer Tom Pye makes stunning use of the high ceiling and proscenium arch by flooding them with a mosaic of images that evoke Paddington’s homeland and the superhero cartoons that Mrs Brown draws. Every detail of this show is exquisite – and I predict that this will be one proudly British export that will go on to conquer the world.
This is a show about welcoming foreigners, about asserting the values of kindness and tolerance that used to be Britain’s hallmarks. Swale’s script and Fletcher’s lyrics make that point over and over again. It’s uplifting to find such a strong message in such a popular entertainment. Yet the comedy of the show never lets up.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 09:34:56 GMT
Ruben Amorim is happy to ‘steal’ from others, Phil Foden is central to City and Thomas Frank is in trouble at Tottenham
As Barney Ronay has noted, Arsenal are facing a weekly renewal of the Game You Just Have to Win If You Want to Be Champions. Did this represent a Game You Just Have to Win Because Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo Was Sent Off? Yes and no. The hosts will naturally be more pleased with a point in the context of the first-half red card, while Arsenal perhaps looked a little jaded and below their best overall. But Enzo Maresca’s side were excellent throughout, despite having to play so much of the match with 10 men, and they deserved something from it. Compared with some Chelsea v Arsenal encounters from the olden days (when more overtly physical iterations of the Blues traditionally used to crush the fragile Gunners) there were no signs of weakness, mental or otherwise, from Arteta’s Premier League leaders in a fierce and physical derby. They will experience few harder tests than this, and a point was fair. Luke McLaughlin
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 08:00:30 GMT
Residents in Batn al-Hawa have all but given up hope and blame the Gaza war which, they say, has created ‘an atmosphere of hate’ towards them
The dome of the al-Aqsa mosque gleamed in the late afternoon autumnal sun as Zohair Rajabi looked out from his balcony towards the skyline of Jerusalem’s Old City. Christian pilgrims spilled out of buses, while observant Jewish worshippers gathered outside the gate to the Western Wall.
New flags now fly a few metres from Rajabi’s home. Blue and white and bearing the Star of David, they mark where residents were evicted recently from their homes by Israeli police. After more than 20 years of activism, Rajabi knows his days in Batn al-Hawa, a predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood less than a mile south of the Old City, are almost certainly numbered.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 06:00:27 GMT
PM says he is ‘very supportive’ of spending watchdog but breach was a ‘massive discourtesy’ to parliament
Keir Starmer has increased pressure on the head of the government’s spending watchdog over the budget leak by saying that while he was “very supportive” of the institution, a “serious error” had been made.
The prime minister said the breach of market-sensitive information, shortly before Rachel Reeves delivered her statement last week, was a “massive discourtesy” to parliament.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 12:20:35 GMT
MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London denies allegations and condemns ‘flawed and farcical’ trial
A court in Bangladesh has sentenced the British MP Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail after a judge ruled she was complicit in corrupt land deals with her aunt, the country’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
In a ruling on Monday, a judge found Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, guilty of misusing her “special influence” as a British politician to coerce Hasina into giving valuable pieces of land to her mother, brother and sister.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 09:37:01 GMT
Ukrainian president embarks on busy week of diplomacy as US ups pressure to end war
UK prime minister Keir Starmer is delivering a major economy speech this morning.
You can follow all the key lines on our UK live blog with my colleague Andrew Sparrow, but there’s a particular line of argument that will no doubt reasonate in Europe, too.
“Let me be crystal clear, there is no credible economic vision for Britain that does not position us as an open, trading economy.
So we must all now confront the reality that the Brexit deal we have significantly hurt our economy and so for economic renewal, we have to keep reducing frictions.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 12:34:27 GMT
Advocacy group tells education secretary ‘working smarter’ can protect staff wellbeing and help students
Campaigners have urged the government to pilot four-day working weeks in schools in England and Wales saying it would boost teacher wellbeing, retention and recruitment rates.
The 4 Day Week Foundation has written to the education secretary calling for greater autonomy for schools to pilot shorter working weeks, saying the government will not be able to meet its manifesto pledge of recruiting 6,500 new teachers without change.
Continue reading...Mon, 01 Dec 2025 05:00:25 GMT