The 12th edition of the BredaPhoto Festival opens on 11 September 2026. Under the title Our Songs Came Through, the festival in the Dutch city of Breda brings together stories of comfort and resilience BredaPhoto Festival 2026: Our Songs Came Through 11 September – 25 October 2026 Continue reading...
The Guardian11 Sept
With a character inspired by Wittgenstein, this exploration of the mysteries of the universe draws on multiple philosophical traditions For several years I ran community groups that involved reading books aloud with other adults. Sharing the experience of reading in that way made me notice how, when one or more of us was baffled by a story, this bafflement was rarely experienced without an accompanying sense of mild anger. It was so easy to make us, the readers, angry – at the characters; at the author; perhaps even at the nature of this reality on which we’d lost our grip. We were confronted with the fact that our capacity to understand the world was limited. We didn’t like that. Irish author Adrian Duncan’s fifth novel, A Thought Without Collision, takes risks with this bafflement: it relates and conveys an experience of being mystified by the universe. As it opens, in Ireland in 1923, it is becoming apparent that six-year-old Catherine has exceptional academic gifts, and that her father’s farm is failing. In the next chapter, set in 1951, Dr Josef Alois, a Tyrolean émigré academic in his mid-50s, is living in his self-built house on the east coast of Scotland. He is alone until Catherine reappears, “a handsome woman in her mid-thirties”, and now an Oxford professor. The second chapter ends starkly: Alois “is more unwell than he believes and will perish in one month and eleven days”. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Daisy Hildyard11 SeptWith a character inspired by Wittgenstein, this exploration of the mysteries of the universe draws on multiple philosophical traditions For several years I ran community groups that involved reading books aloud with other adults. Sharing the experience of reading in that way made me notice how, when one or more of us was baffled by a story, this bafflement was rarely experienced without an accompanying sense of mild anger. It was so easy to make us, the readers, angry – at the characters; at the author; perhaps even at the nature of this reality on which we’d lost our grip. We were confronted with the fact that our capacity to understand the world was limited. We didn’t like that. Irish author Adrian Duncan’s fifth novel, A Thought Without Collision, takes risks with this bafflement: it relates and conveys an experience of being mystified by the universe. As it opens, in Ireland in 1923, it is becoming apparent that six-year-old Catherine has exceptional academic gifts, and that her father’s farm is failing. In the next chapter, set in 1951, Dr Josef Alois, a Tyrolean émigré academic in his mid-50s, is living in his self-built house on the east coast of Scotland. He is alone until Catherine reappears, “a handsome woman in her mid-thirties”, and now an Oxford professor. The second chapter ends starkly: Alois “is more unwell than he believes and will perish in one month and eleven days”. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Daisy Hildyard11 Sept
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. We’re about to learn how the UK economy fared in July, during the summer heatwave. 7am BST: UK GDP report for July 7am BST: UK trade report for July 1.30pm BST: US CPI inflation report 3pm BST: University of Michigan’s US consumer confidence report Continue reading...
The Guardian•Graeme Wearden11 Sept
They join pub landlord Joe for more a night of more convivial chaos. Plus: cosy crime in Brooke Shields’ You’re Killing Me. Here’s what to watch this evening 10pm, Channel 4 It’s opening time once again at Joe Lycett’s paisley-carpeted boozer, and even though the pub is only open for an hour a week, Lycett isn’t a man to do things by halves. Accordingly, the premises are legit, the bevvies are real and hopefully so is the atmosphere of convivial chaos. This week, Joe welcomes Lenny Henry, who offers Brum solidarity as temporary bar manager, and comic Joanne McNally, who proves a lively punter. Phil Harrison Continue reading...
The Guardian•Phil Harrison, Ali Catterall, Hannah J Davies and Graeme Virtue11 Sept
Hampshire paid £1m by ECB after missing out in 2023 County challenged decision to give Headingley match The lack of Ashes cricket in the north of England next summer is the result of a legal dispute that followed the allocation of venues for the 2023 series against Australia, which also involved the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) paying about £1m in damages to Hampshire. The Guardian can reveal that Hampshire brought a legal challenge against the ECB after missing out on hosting the Ashes in 2023 to Yorkshire, who staged the third Test – which England won by three wickets – at Headingley. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Exclusive by Matt Hughes11 Sept
Make the most of the early-autumn glut of fruit with this quick, squidgy-crumbed bake that’s bursting with berries Every year, I get annoyed with myself for not making the most of blackberry season, and then it’s gone before I’ve had a chance really to enjoy them. They’re such great berries to bake with, and here I’ve scattered them in a simple ricotta cake. It’s a quick, one-bowl bake with a perfectly squidgy crumb that’s bursting with fruit. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Benjamina Ebuehi11 Sept
National Audit Office calls for greater transparency on £70bn programme that is running over budget and behind schedule Speed up electricity grid upgrade or else face higher bills, warns UK watchdog It’s an open secret in the energy industry that “the great grid upgrade” – the £70bn programme to rewire the nation’s electricity transmission network to enable clean power by 2030 – is running over budget and behind schedule, and may end up costing consumers and businesses more in their bills than advertised. How far behind? How much more? It is impossible to get straight answers from the bodies overseeing the massive spending programme, which may continue at an even greater scale into the 2030s. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz), its in-house body, the National Energy System Operator (Neso), and Ofgem, the supposedly independent regulator, publish acres of information on narrow matters, but none provides a clear big-picture assessment: how is the grid upgrade really going? Continue reading...
The Guardian•Nils Pratley11 Sept
Christina Stambolian dress from 1994 has defined a whole category of fashion and is expected to fetch up to £220,000 The dress that Diana, Princess of Wales wore one September evening in 1994 would have been memorable for its design alone – black, fitted, off-the-shoulder, skintight and short. However, it has another distinction, of defining a whole category of fashion – what has since become known as “revenge dressing”. Worn by Diana the same night Charles would reveal his infidelity on TV, the dress was quickly labelled “the revenge dress” by the media. It has its own Wikipedia page , with the same title. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Lauren Cochrane11 Sept
National Audit Office says failure to implement £70bn modernisation would also hold back economic growth The ‘great grid upgrade’ is off track – ministers should spell out the risks for bills Consumers will pay higher energy bills unless the UK government speeds up work on a vast programme of upgrades to the electricity grid to enable the switch to renewables, the public spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office (NAO) said that without faster action the extra costs associated with managing the ageing power network, which are ultimately passed on to the public, could reach £7.8bn a year by 2030. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Alex Daniel11 SeptChristina Stambolian dress from 1994 has defined a whole category of fashion and is expected to fetch up to £220,000 The dress that Diana, Princess of Wales wore one September evening in 1994 would have been memorable for its design alone – black, fitted, off-the-shoulder, skintight and short. However, it has another distinction, of defining a whole category of fashion – what has since become known as “revenge dressing”. Worn by Diana the same night Charles would reveal his infidelity on TV, the dress was quickly labelled “the revenge dress” by the media. It has its own Wikipedia page , with the same title. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Lauren Cochrane11 SeptNational Audit Office says failure to implement £70bn modernisation would also hold back economic growth The ‘great grid upgrade’ is off track – ministers should spell out the risks for bills Consumers will pay higher energy bills unless the UK government speeds up work on a vast programme of upgrades to the electricity grid to enable the switch to renewables, the public spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office (NAO) said that without faster action the extra costs associated with managing the ageing power network, which are ultimately passed on to the public, could reach £7.8bn a year by 2030. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Alex Daniel11 Sept
Test your knowledge of the big stories in football, tennis, cricket, rugby union, F1 and more Continue reading...
The Guardian•Will Magee11 SeptTest your knowledge of the big stories in football, tennis, cricket, rugby union, F1 and more Continue reading...
The Guardian•Will Magee11 Sept
The country is one of just three that still permits commercial whaling, while its government has faced mounting pressure to ban the practice Iceland will submit a bill in February 2027 which could permanently ban whaling in its waters, a move that would leave Norway and Japan as the only two countries to permit commercial whaling. Whaling in Iceland has been put under intense scrutiny since a government-commissioned report was published in 2023 that found harpooned whales took two hours to die. The report led to a temporary suspension of the hunt that year. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Karen McVeigh11 SeptThe country is one of just three that still permits commercial whaling, while its government has faced mounting pressure to ban the practice Iceland will submit a bill in February 2027 which could permanently ban whaling in its waters, a move that would leave Norway and Japan as the only two countries to permit commercial whaling. Whaling in Iceland has been put under intense scrutiny since a government-commissioned report was published in 2023 that found harpooned whales took two hours to die. The report led to a temporary suspension of the hunt that year. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Karen McVeigh11 Sept
SMD is the moisture the soil must make up until it is at capacity, with very dry conditions over most of England and Wales When the ground is thoroughly wet, after excess rainwater has run off it is said to be at field capacity. Meteorologists describe drought in terms of soil moisture deficit (SMD) from field capacity. The SMD is a measure of how thirsty the soil is, expressed as how many millimetres of rain it would take to top it up to field capacity. In southern England, the SMD tends to hover around zero in winter when fields are wet. In summer it may be about 100mm, going up to 150mm or more in a dry year. The extreme of dryness, when soil has no water accessible to plants, is known as the permanent wilting point or PWP. Continue reading...
The Guardian•David Hambling11 Sept
Trespass case launched by two mothers settled after officers often went to families’ houses between midnight and 4am Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Two Indigenous mothers have settled a trespass case against New South Wales police, after officers turned up at one of their homes 150 times in 20 months to conduct bail checks on her sons. The case, which was launched against NSW police in April 2024, was settled on confidential terms three weeks before it was to go to trial in the supreme court. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Australian Associated Press11 Sept
Toronto film festival: the rousing story of Judith Heumann makes for obvious dramatic fodder and at times this biopic finds a rebellious groove but too much feels cut-and-paste On my way to Toronto, I wheeled my suitcase toward the taxi that would take me to the airport, finding the curb cut in the sidewalk so that my luggage could roll seamlessly down to the street. What a nice convenience provided by municipal governments all over the United States, one that so many of us take wholly for granted. But there was a fierce struggle for their existence, once deemed a radical, far too costly alteration to the nation’s infrastructure. (The same was argued about ramps and other means of accessibility.) They now exist ubiquitously across the country largely because of the tireless efforts of disability rights activists like Judith Heumann, one of the most prominent leaders of that cause from the 1970s until her death in 2023. Those who’ve seen Heumann in the Netflix documentary Crip Camp will remember her wit and tartness and zeal. That spark has now been bluntly captured in writer-director Sian Heder’s Being Heumann, a biopic covering the first major political act of Heumann’s long war on government indifference. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Richard Lawson in Toronto11 Sept
The morning kick-off provided ‘incredible’ vibes for a sell-out crowd clearly different to that which attends AFL and cricket games at the venue At 9am on a Friday, Melbourne’s tongues would usually be tinged with toothpaste. Beer, however, was the flavour craved by this throng of bros brought together by the visit of one of the United States’ great institutions. Dressed in San Francisco 49ers red, LA Rams blue and every other colour of the 32-team NFL rainbow, the 100,021 fans had come to the competition’s first regular season match in Australia. They were there in droves, and 90 minutes from kick-off their thirst had already forced the closure of the pop-up pub adjacent to the MCG. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Jack Snape at the MCG11 Sept