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Fierce … Anne-Marie Duff and Carol MacReady in The House of Shades. Photograph: Helen MurrayFierce … Anne-Marie Duff and Carol MacReady in The House of Shades. Photograph: Helen MurrayTheatreReviewAlmeida, London Beth Steel’s ambitious new play follows the Webster family over decades, with Duff as a thwarted singer This is an intergenerational family drama, inspired by Greek myth, with a radical revisionism at its core. The ancient royals are replaced by working-class characters in Nottinghamshire and the play stretches across more than half a century in the lives of the Webster brood, whose trajectories we follow from 1965 to 2019. [Read More]

Howard Jacobson's diaryHoward Jacobson This article is more than 6 years oldThe Meyerowitz Stories is an excruciating watch if you aspire to make great artThis article is more than 6 years oldHoward JacobsonCompare this portrait of an artist to Maudie. I know which I’d rather hang on my wall ‘If he isn’t a great artist, that means he was just a prick.” That contribution to the art versus morality conversation is delivered ungoofily by Adam Sandler, playing Danny Meyerowitz in Noam Baumbach’s Netflix film The Meyerowitz Stories. [Read More]

Goliath bird-eating spider, Theraphosa blondi.Image: Snakecollector (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license) [goliathise] What is the world's heaviest spider? The mere suggestion of the two words -- "heaviest" and "spider" -- standing next to each other in a sentence is enough to strike terror into the minds and hearts of arachnophobes everywhere. After recovering from our initial terror, this raises the question: how would you even figure this out? [Read More]

CitiesThe rapid closure of Manchester’s postwar estate pubs – once seen as a vital part of the community – is leaving neighbourhoods without a social anchor English postwar estate bars are often seen as a joke: “Never drink in a flat-roofed pub,” the saying goes. But these pubs – whether they’re 1930s-style redbrick structures with pitched roofs and large beer gardens, or forbidding cubes of wood and brick that squat in the shadow of tower blocks – are now at risk. [Read More]

World news This article is more than 14 years oldChina blocks YouTubeThis article is more than 14 years oldAttack on video showing security forces beating TibetansChina has blocked the video-sharing network YouTube after Beijing denounced footage appearing to show security forces beating Tibetans in Lhasa last year as "a lie". The authorities have blocked the service on previous occasions and, more frequently, have prevented access to specific videos. Google, which owns YouTube, confirmed that Beijing halted access to the site this week but said it did not know why. [Read More]

Christine KeelerObituaryChristine Keeler obituary: the woman at the heart of the Profumo affairModel and showgirl at the centre of the scandal that rocked 1960s Britain There were many victims of the Profumo affair, the sex and spying scandal that dominated the headlines in 1963, contributed to the resignation of the then prime minister, Harold Macmillan, soon afterwards, and still looms disproportionately large in the history of modern Britain. High on any list of those who suffered, and arguably at the very top, was Christine Keeler, who has died aged 75. [Read More]

Barcelona This article is more than 2 years oldFormer head of Barcelona’s youth system accused of sexual abuse of childrenThis article is more than 2 years oldAlbert Benaiges was coach at Barça academy from 1992 to 2012 Benaiges denies accusations of more than 60 witnessesAlbert Benaiges, the former head of FC Barcelona’s youth system and the man who was credited with having discovered Andrés Iniesta, has been accused of sexual abuse of children in his charge over 20 years, accusations the 71-year-old strongly denies. [Read More]

UK newsMan claimed £18,500 disability benefits after willingly having leg amputated, court toldMarius Gustavson, 46, known as ‘eunuch maker’, allegedly oversaw ‘lucrative’ UK body modifications group Warning: this story contains graphic descriptions of bodily mutation that some readers may find upsettingThe ringleader of an extreme body modifications group who was known as the “eunuch maker” claimed £18,500 in disability benefits after willingly having his leg amputated, a court heard. Marius Gustavson, 46, was the mastermind of a “lucrative” and “widespread” extreme body modifications enterprise in which procedures – including the removal of genitals – were filmed and streamed on his pay-per-view website, the Old Bailey was told. [Read More]

Sony Pictures This article is more than 4 years oldMiley Cyrus: I was fired from Hotel Transylvania over penis cake photosThis article is more than 4 years oldActor-singer says Sony let her go from family animation after seeing images of her licking a phallic gateau bought for her then-boyfriend Liam Hemsworth Miley Cyrus claims she was fired from children’s animation Hotel Transylvania after posing with a penis-shaped cake purchased for her then-boyfriend’s birthday. [Read More]

US elections 2024Trump’s 30-point Iowa lead boosts his confidence for New Hampshire winTrump’s victory in Iowa intensifies skepticism that any of his opponents will be able to overtake him in the Republican primary Donald Trump will continue on to the New Hampshire primaries more confident than ever about capturing the Republican nomination after the former president secured a 30-point win in the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Iowa caucus key takeaways: Trump’s hold on Republicans is clear but second place isn’tRead moreTrump won 51% of the vote in Iowa, giving him the largest margin of victory in the history of the state’s Republican caucuses, further securing his position as the Republican frontrunner who will face President Joe Biden in November. [Read More]