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‘Just be aware of what you’re spending’: budget hints for students

The cost of living crisis hits students hard. Planning ahead and some self-discipline will help, alongside a sharp eye for a bargain and, if you’re eligible, a bursary Like late-night study sessions and cramming into a student kitchen to cook up meals, being savvy with money has long been part of the university experience. But with the cost of living remaining high, students are more money-conscious than ever. “It is one of the most difficult times to make ends meet as a student,” according to Tom Allingham, communications director at Save the Student (STS) . He says soaring prices for essentials, such as food and energy bills, have “disproportionately affected” students, while maintenance loans (intended to help cover day-to-day costs) have failed to keep up with high rates of inflation. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Miatta Mbriwa15 Sept

Lucy Letby public inquiry report findings to be published after repeated delays – latest updates

Long-awaited Thrilwall inquiry has examined how the former nurse was able to murder babies at a Chester neonatal unity over a two-year period My colleagues Jamie Grierson and Josh Halliday have summarised the crimes Lucy Letby has been convicted of in a useful explainer I have linked to at the bottom of this post. What crimes was Lucy Letby convicted of? What was the outcome of the second trial? Continue reading...

The Guardian•Yohannes Lowe15 Sept

Venice best actress winner says she signed on at Danish job centre days before her victory

Mathilde Arcel, who won the Volpi Cup on Saturday for her role in Golden Lion winner Woman Unknown, said job offers have now begun to arrive The winner of this year’s best actress prize at the Venice film festival has revealed that she is on unemployment benefits and had to fly to back to Copenhagen to report to the job centre before receiving her award. On Saturday night, Danish actor Mathilde Arcel won the prestigious Volpi Cup for her first leading role in a feature film, May el-Toukhy’s post-second world war drama Woman Unknown, which also won the Golden Lion award for best film. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Philip Oltermann European culture editor15 Sept

David Squires on … a big weekend for controversial calls in the Premier League

Our cartoonist on the English top-flight leading the way for debatable decisions and performative sadness Buy a cartoon | Some of David’s favourite works And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...

The Guardian•David Squires15 Sept

‘The cauldron was already bubbling …’ Green Lung, Druidess and the return of folk horror to British heavy metal

Playing a sound rooted in 80s bands such as Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar, metal bands are once again gravitating towards dark folklore – but in a ‘Glastonbury crystal shop’ kind of way Behind Tom Templar’s shoulder as we talk over video call is a poster for The Wicker Man , the 1973 cult folk-horror film set on a remote Scottish island, whose sunniness conceals – inevitably – a dark secret. It’s fitting, because Templar is the singer of Green Lung, the breakout British metal band who immerse themselves in British mythology. The forthcoming Necropolitan, their fourth album devoted to the folklore of the isles, takes its inspiration from the “Magnificent Seven” London cemeteries built in the 1830s and 40s, and from the Necropolis railway, which transported the dead out of the city. No generic demons here: this is metal in the spirit of Fairport Convention as much as Black Sabbath. “My big thesis is that heavy metal has become a form of folk music in the past couple of decades,” says Templar. “They’re both riff-based, circling around similar tropes, and about reinventing what has gone before. Metal even feels like a folk movement, in the way it’s full of festivals no one else has heard of. There’s such a thriving ecosystem.” Green Lung have certainly been nourished by it: at this year’s Desertfest in London, their T-shirts felt like an unofficial uniform. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Michael Hann15 Sept

She was the Royal Ballet’s first ‘young choreographer’ – Charlotte Edmonds’ next 10 years show how dance is changing

As a teenager, Edmonds had a three-year residency at the Royal Opera House. Her eclectic career – creating NFTs, adverts and films as well as for the stage – reveals a precarious industry moving in new directions At the age of 18, Charlotte Edmonds was such a promising choreographer (“astonishing”, in the words of the Observer) that the Royal Ballet invented a whole new job for her. As the company’s “ young choreographer ”, she spent three years learning everything she could at one of the world’s biggest dance institutions. “It’s mad to think that happened,” she says, a decade on. With that kind of start, you’d expect Edmonds’ career to have followed a predictable narrative, choreographing for the big ballet brands, maybe setting up her own company. But that’s not exactly how it’s gone. Her eclectic portfolio reflects how the dance industry has changed and become ever more precarious, but also expanded in uncharted directions. She has indeed made short works for a number of European ballet companies, but she’s spent more time recently making films, music videos and adverts for the likes of Budweiser and Nike, as well as advocating for artists with dyslexia and launching her own video series, Cameo , in which she interviews female and non-binary choreographers to counter a lack of representation. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Lyndsey Winship15 Sept

Democrats say supreme court rejection of Trump mail ballot restrictions will ensure ‘safe, secure and accurate elections’ – US politics live

Comments come after court on Monday rejected the president’s mail ballot restrictions ahead of the November midterm elections Supreme court rejects Trump’s mail ballot restrictions for midterm elections Donald Trump is facing a rare backlash from the US Congress as Democrats and some Republicans push for guardrails on the world’s most powerful AI companies. Concerns over the dangerous potential of AI reached fever pitch this week after tech leaders sounded the alarm over the rapid advancement of the technology and its potential threat to humanity. Mitch McConnell , the 84-year-old former Senate majority leader from Kentucky, was seen in Washington for the first time in months on Monday, minutes before his office released a statement saying that he was back at work. With a slip of the tongue reminiscent of Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom , California’s Democratic governor, told CNN that he would not run for president in 2028 if his fellow Californian, former vice-president Kamala Harris , decides to run again, since “I know what that means: I know her base of supporters, I know her friends, the zen diagram on that is just pure crossover.” Donald Trump claimed there is a “SICK conspiracy” against artificial intelligence and data centers in response to the growing calls for greater checks on AI development. In a statement posted on social media , Barack Obama , the former US president, called for the pace of AI development to be slowed to allow time for the federal government to develop regulations to address “serious safety concerns”. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Tom Ambrose15 Sept

Legend of Destruction review – starry voices grace animated telling of the Jewish revolt against the Romans

Eight years in the making, the innovative film uses painted still images – it’s like being read a graphic novel by a cast including Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly and Elliott Gould This Israeli animated film has been largely hanging around in limbo since it was finished in 2021 after taking eight years to complete – though this may or may not be due to the international opprobrium that Israel has attracted in the intervening period. It’s actually a rather fascinating film, if oddly told and a bit severe. Legend of Destruction isn’t about the current conflict, taking place as it does in the first century, 66 years after the birth of Christ – although of course, if you squint a bit, parallels with current events are there to be discerned. Revolutions fracture from within, hegemons topple due to their own greedy self-destruction, and in the end ordinary people are the ones who suffer and die as cities burn. Fill in the blanks as you see fit. Cleaving pretty closely to the known facts as recorded by Flavius Josephus’ The Jewish War and the Talmud, the script by director Gidi Dar and Shuli Rand recounts how Jewish resistance rose up in Judea, particularly in Jerusalem, against the occupying Romans and the reigning Jewish elite, including the Temple’s high priests and queen Berenice of Cilicia (Evangeline Lilly), over excessive taxation. Our protagonist narrator is ordinary schlemiel Ben Batich (voiced in this English language version by Oscar Isaac), who becomes a leader of one faction after he snaps and can no longer agree with the pleas for patience and tolerance from his mother (Marilu Henner) and rabbi uncle Yohanan ben Zakkai (Elliott Gould). Continue reading...

The Guardian•Leslie Felperin15 Sept

The best iPhones: which Apple smartphone is right for you, according to our expert

Looking for a new iPhone or a good deal on a refurbished one? Samuel Gibbs has tested and rated Apple’s smartphones, including the best for camera quality and battery life • How to make your smartphone last longer The best iPhone may be the one you already own. There’s generally no need to buy a fresh phone just because new models have been released, as hardware updates are broadly iterative, adding small bits to an already accomplished package. But if you do want a replacement handset, whether new or refurbished, here are the best devices of the current crop of Apple smartphones. Many other smartphones are available besides the iPhone, but if you’re an Apple user and don’t fancy switching to Android , there are still a few choices to make. Whether your priority is the longest battery life, the best camera, the biggest screen or simply the optimal balance of features and price, there’s more to choose from in the Apple ecosystem than you may expect. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor15 Sept

The Breakdown | Meg Jones leads the call to provide fertility support for rugby players

The Red Roses captain says nobody should have to choose between their career and having a family The introduction of funding for egg freezing and wider fertility treatment in women’s football has started a wider discussion about fertility in women’s sport with the Red Roses captain, Meg Jones, shining a light on the topic in rugby. The Spanish football federation and Chelsea have both announced financial support around fertility recently and Jones has said it is something the Red Roses should “jump on too”. On the Good, the Scaz and the Rugby podcast, Jones described those decisions made in football as “class” before revealing that she and her fiancee, former Trailfinders and sevens star Celia Quansah, have been to get their egg count checked. The admission prompted her England teammate Hannah Botterman to share that she and her partner, the Wales player Georgia Evans, had also been researching their IVF journey. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Sarah Rendell15 Sept

London snubbed in favour of Nairobi for 2029 World Athletics Championships

Munich selected for 2031, announces president Seb Coe Source in British bid ‘gutted’ at double disappointment London’s bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships has ended in failure and heartbreak after it lost out to Nairobi. It marks an historic day for the Kenyan capital as it becomes the first African city to host the global championships. World Athletics president Seb Coe also announced that Munich would be staging the 2031 event, saying it had “all the ingredients to be a spectacular world championships.” Continue reading...

The Guardian•Sean Ingle15 Sept

From hygge to horsepower: why Swedish design has become the blueprint for modern EVs

The Scandi aesthetic has shaped countless aspects of everyday life. Now, as combustion engines give way to battery packs, those same pared-back principles are proving a natural fit for the latest electric vehicles Scandinavian design used to be something most of us thought we could readily spot: pale wood, simple furniture, clean lines, maybe a carefully chosen lamp and very little clutter. However, over the past few years it has become much more than a look – you can see its influence in the way we decorate our homes, the clothes we buy, the technology we use and even in the growing obsession with wellness and trying to make modern life feel just a little less hectic. I think that’s why Swedish design feels so relevant right now. We have more stuff, more screens, more notifications and more things fighting for our attention than ever before. Against all that noise, cool simplicity suddenly feels rather luxurious. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Steve Fowler15 Sept

One of Sydney’s largest councils joins ban on ‘pervert’ glasses at local swimming pools

Councillors say locals have been raising concerns about people secretly filming in change rooms, swimming pools and around schools Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One of Sydney’s largest councils has joined the City of Brisbane and the City of Yarra to issue a ban on AI smart glasses at public pools as concerns mount over the potential for predators to exploit the new technology. On Tuesday evening, Canterbury-Bankstown voted overwhelmingly in favour of banning the tech at its local pools, with its mayor, Bilal El-Hayek, describing them as “pervert glasses” . Continue reading...

The Guardian•Caitlin Cassidy15 Sept

Channel 4 poaches Paramount’s TV ad sales business from Sky

Move is a big boost for Channel 4, days after it announced it is to cut 340 jobs Business live – latest updates Channel 4 has poached Channel 5 owner Paramount’s £300m-plus TV advertising sales business from Sky, in a huge boost days after the broadcaster announced it is to cut 340 jobs. The win is a big boost for Channel 4, which also handles the ad sales for UKTV, the owner of channels including Gold and Dave, which relies on advertising for about 90% of its £1bn in revenues. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Mark Sweney15 Sept

‘We were bored of traditional fantasy cliches’: inside Playground Games’ 10-year effort to revive Fable

The distinctively British RPG is returning courtesy of the makers of Forza Horizon – with comedy talent such as Richard Ayoade and Natasia Demetriou voicing sweary characters. We had our first play and spoke to its developer When Playground Games was founded in 2010, its objective was straightforward: to make the best cars in video games. Operating out of an unassuming white building in Leamington Spa, the studio sought to challenge Gran Turismo with its critically acclaimed British racing alternative: the acclaimed free-roaming Forza Horizon series. Yet as the team grew, so did their ambitions. Now they are making the most intriguing British fantasy game we have seen in many years. For those who have never ventured into Albion, Fable is a quintessentially British role playing game. Created by Lionhead Studios for the original Xbox in 2004, it boasted cheeky charm alongside world-altering player choices, and its droll writing was brought to life in later iterations by national treasures such as Stephen Fry and Simon Pegg. Thanks to its unique blend of farce and fantasy, Fable grew into a globally beloved franchise – before Microsoft unceremoniously shuttered Lionhead in 2016 , after mandating that the studio turn its star series into a multiplayer game. The result, Fable Legends, was never released. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Tom Regan15 Sept

Parents seek out school uniform deals, cutting average spend to £54.53

Overall grocery inflation jumps to 2.3%, as Ocado and Lidl gain market share Business live – latest updates Parents and carers spent 12.5% less on school uniform in the run-up to the start of this academic year, turning to promotions and second-hand items to keep expenses down as families struggled with the cost of living crisis . The average spend on school uniform was £54.53 in the four weeks to 6 September, down an eighth from £62.29 in the same period last year, according to the market research company Worldpanel by Numerator. Overall grocery inflation picked up to 2.3% from 2.1%. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Julia Kollewe15 Sept

I’m a psychoanalyst. Social media is damaging children’s inner lives in ways we don’t fully understand | Robin Kirman

Discussion has focused on behavioral outcomes. But Meta’s settlement shines a light on damage to young people’s emerging desires and identities During the landmark social media addiction trial that led to Meta’s recent $17.1bn settlement , a therapist testified that she had once asked the plaintiff – a young woman named Kaley, who had been using social media since she was six – what her miracle day would look like: what she wished to come true, if anything were possible. Kaley replied that she would be prettier. As a psychoanalyst, I find that exchange devastating in a particular way. A miracle day is an invitation to engage with the full range of human desire: with what one might accomplish or experience, whom one might encounter or love. Kaley’s answer contracted the world and all its possibility into a single preoccupation with her own image. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Robin Kirman15 Sept

Fast, furious and potentially fatal: why are supercars suddenly so popular?

Once the preserve of the ultra-rich, supercars are finding new drivers through rentals, finance deals, influencer culture and the manosphere. But why would anyone want a 200mph vehicle? ‘The £600,000 Lamborghini; that was the first seizure of the operation,” says special chief inspector Geoff Tatman of the Metropolitan police, thinking back to the second weekend of August. “He was stopping at the red lights, revving his engine, waiting for the traffic to clear, then speeding. So on the third time we saw him do it, we stopped him and seized the vehicle.” The car has a top speed of 217mph (350kmh), but the limit on these London streets is 20mph. Over the same weekend, the Metropolitan police seized about 90 more cars with a combined value of more than £8m, an increase on last year’s tally of 72 cars . They were seized for various offences: driving without insurance, driving with incorrect licences or antisocial behaviour. Previously, the Met would have had to let such drivers off with a warning, but the law – section 59 of the Police Reform Act – was strengthened this year to enable the immediate confiscation of vehicles. The seized cars also included a Ferrari Monza worth about £3.4m (the driver only had a provisional UK licence). They were all put on display at Marble Arch, attracting a throng of camera-wielding onlookers (one attender did a seven-hour live blog of the occasion). Many of the supercars apprehended by the Met in August bore Middle Eastern number plates. It has been a growing trend for car owners from the region to spend summer in London, bringing their cars with them (at a cost of £25,000 upwards). The orange Lamborghini that Tatman seized had Dubai plates. Most of the vehicle owners retrieved their cars the next day after paying fines and presenting the correct paperwork. The Lamborghini driver was subsequently seen driving respectfully and not revving his engine. Lessons were learned, although the question remains: why ship a 200mph car to London to drive in a 20mph zone? Continue reading...

The Guardian•Steve Rose15 Sept

Australia’s Indigenous population estimated at 2.2m before ‘demographic catastrophe’ of colonisation

Study finds earlier numbers were underestimated, suggesting impact of diseases and massacres were much greater than previously thought Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia before colonisation was dramatically underestimated, according to new research that suggests many more of them were killed. Modelling by a national research group puts the population levels before the 1788 first fleet arrived at 2.2 million, compared with early estimates of 250,000 people. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Tory Shepherd15 Sept

Houseplant hacks: can pothos help new cuttings to root?

The hormone-packed pothos plant might encourage healthy root growth in other cuttings – or it might not. But you’ve nothing to lose by trying The problem Propagation can provide never-ending plants, but sometimes you have to wait weeks for something to happen. Anything that speeds up those reluctant rooters is worth knowing about, especially if it’s free. The hack According to a popular plant hack, placing a pothos in the same water as other cuttings encourages them to root faster. This is often attributed to pothos releasing auxins – the plant hormones involved in root development – into the shared water. Continue reading...

The Guardian•Gynelle Leon15 Sept