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Apocalypse: this end-of-days survival show is an absolute slam dunk

Geeks, toffs and biceps go to war in a wild survival experiment that answers that eternal question: if society collapsed, could you cope? This is going to be huge! Have you ever wondered how Cormac McCarthy’s wasteland novel The Road could be made into a reality show? No? Well someone who works in TV has, so here we are. Who knows if they experienced a follow-up thought: that the instinct to package the end of the world as entertainment might be the most dystopian aspect of the whole enterprise, but hey. Apocalypse (Sunday 13 September, 9pm, Channel 4) launches this week, and people are buzzing! It’s a slam dunk for a show, because we’ve all run the thought experiment. If society collapsed, how would you get food and find shelter? Would you hunker down or forge alliances? To what depravities might you stoop without the rule of law? Apocalypse puts this empty talk to the test. Seven strangers are dropped at the edge of an abandoned town. They have no access to phones, light, electricity or infrastructure. They do have access to boarded-up supermarkets, desolate buildings, broken vehicles. How soon until they eat each other? Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Rhik Samadder12 Sept

What is the UK’s heaviest and fastest flying duck? The Saturday quiz

From Cheddar Man and the Dead Sea Scrolls to Abbie Hoffman, Kikuchiyo and Peter, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz 1 Slovenia and Venezuela are the first two countries to lose all their what? 2 Which celebrated rock has 1620 carved on to it? 3 What is the UK’s heaviest and fastest flying duck? 4 Which royal consort was born in the same bedroom as Queen Victoria? 5 Skaldic poetry was written in what language? 6 Which international organisation was dissolved on 19 April 1946? 7 Who has statues in Middlesbrough, Derby and Nottingham? 8 Which irrational number is represented by the Greek letter phi? What links: 9 Cheddar Man; Dead Sea Scrolls; Altamira and Lascaux art; olm salamander? 10 Ash Dykes; Ed Stafford; Ed Talone; Levison Wood? 11 Bat and Ball; Blackrod; Hall i’ th’ Wood; Whatstandwell? 12 US citizen; Stem master’s degree; two years’ professional experience; pass physical test? 13 Ain’t Misbehavin’; Blueberry Hill; Hound Dog (originally); The Twist; Hypnotize? 14 Maia; Peter; Chris Adams; Kikuchiyo; Abbie Hoffman? 15 Profiles in Courage; Brave New World; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Thomas Eaton12 Sept

Kent is having a champagne moment: ‘English wine has gone from a joke to world-class’

French champagne house Taittinger is helping produce a premium fizz in the Garden of England – and now visitors can visit the beautiful winery and sample it The grapes are turning purple on tall green vines, which stretch down towards the distant flint-and-limestone tower of Chilham church. These rows of Pinot Meunier, destined for English sparkling wine, are 51% owned by French champagne house Taittinger. “England is now the most exciting wine region,” says host and sales executive Hilary Sharp as she leads me around Domaine Evremond vineyard, which opened its visitor centre last year to coincide with the launch of its first wine. In his 2023 book Vines in a Cold Climate , drinks writer Henry Jeffreys charts the rise of English wine “from a joke to world-class in 30 years”. The book opens with an alcohol-fuelled scene of vine-planting at Domaine Evremond in May 2017: unseasonably cold, rainy, muddy, with rambling anecdotes from anglophile Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger about “English women encountered in his misspent youth”. The vineyard is named for the exiled French aristocrat Charles de Saint-Évremond , a symbol of hedonistic Anglo-French cooperation. The bon vivant introduced champagne to England and party-loving Charles II made him governor of Duck Island in St James’s Park. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Phoebe Taplin12 Sept

Kent is having a champagne moment: ‘English wine has gone from a joke to world-class’

French champagne house Taittinger is helping produce a premium fizz in the Garden of England – and now visitors can visit the beautiful winery and sample it The grapes are turning purple on tall green vines, which stretch down towards the distant flint-and-limestone tower of Chilham church. These rows of Pinot Meunier, destined for English sparkling wine, are 51% owned by French champagne house Taittinger. “England is now the most exciting wine region,” says host and sales executive Hilary Sharp as she leads me around Domaine Evremond vineyard, which opened its visitor centre last year to coincide with the launch of its first wine. In his 2023 book Vines in a Cold Climate , drinks writer Henry Jeffreys charts the rise of English wine “from a joke to world-class in 30 years”. The book opens with an alcohol-fuelled scene of vine-planting at Domaine Evremond in May 2017: unseasonably cold, rainy, muddy, with rambling anecdotes from anglophile Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger about “English women encountered in his misspent youth”. The vineyard is named for the exiled French aristocrat Charles de Saint-Évremond , a symbol of hedonistic Anglo-French cooperation. The bon vivant introduced champagne to England and party-loving Charles II made him governor of Duck Island in St James’s Park. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Phoebe Taplin12 Sept

Thousands of ebikes seized by London councils as anger rises over blocked paths

Operators blame lack of parking and councils bemoan lack of central regulation, as more than 3,000 badly parked bikes seized London boroughs have seized at least 3,000 ebikes this year, a Guardian investigation has found, as hire companies face growing calls to stop bicycles littering streets and blocking pavements. Local authorities across the capital have seized 3,393 hazardously parked or abandoned ebikes so far this year, 23% higher than the number seized during all of 2025. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Lauren Almeida12 Sept

‘Costing billions’: is the pensions triple lock a lifeline or simply unaffordable?

With the budget looming, arguments rage over whether ministers should scrap a pledge popular with millions There were fresh calls this week for the state pension “triple lock” to be ditched as debate rages over whether the UK can afford it. The triple lock guarantees that the state pension goes up each year in line with inflation or wage increases or 2.5% – whichever is the highest. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Rupert Jones12 Sept

The Guide #260: From Oasis to K-pop, music is going mad for the big-screen documentary

A new wave of concert films and career retrospectives is drawing fans to cinemas – but why now? • Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here There’s a moment towards the end of Don’t Look Back in Anger , the newly released documentary capturing Oasis’s 2025 reunion tour, that helps explain why those planet-conquering gigs happened in the first place. Liam and Noel Gallagher are sitting down together for the rarest of paired interviews – the first since the 2009 scrap that broke up the band and created such a huge appetite for their return. Had Oasis’s story ended with that backstage fight in Paris, both Gallaghers note, their legacy would have been one of astonishing success curtailed by “chaos”. Instead, those reunion gigs, as well as proving wildly lucrative, have allowed them to add a triumphant coda to that messy ending. “It feels like a weight has been lifted,” a surprisingly contemplative Liam says. That maybe makes Don’t Look Back in Anger sound more navel-gazing than this entertaining and often very funny film is – as you might expect of any doc that features a sweary rumination from Noel on Liam’s ability to balance a tambourine on his head (“If I did that I’d look an utter cunt, but somehow he does it and it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen”). Still, for all the droll quippery and bucket-hatted euphoria, there is something poignant and self-reflective at the film’s heart: hatchets are buried, departed friends are toasted and legacies are contemplated. What you leave behind was clearly on the minds of the brothers Gallagher throughout the tour and film. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Gwilym Mumford12 Sept

Thousands of ebikes seized by London councils as anger rises over blocked paths

Operators blame lack of parking and councils bemoan lack of central regulation, as more than 3,000 badly parked bikes seized London boroughs have seized at least 3,000 ebikes this year, a Guardian investigation has found, as hire companies face growing calls to stop bicycles littering streets and blocking pavements. Local authorities across the capital have seized 3,393 hazardously parked or abandoned ebikes so far this year, 23% higher than the number seized during all of 2025. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Lauren Almeida12 Sept

Thousands of ebikes seized by London councils as anger rises over blocked paths

Operators blame lack of parking and councils bemoan lack of central regulation, as more than 3,000 badly parked bikes seized London boroughs have seized at least 3,000 ebikes this year, a Guardian investigation has found, as hire companies face growing calls to stop bicycles littering streets and blocking pavements. Local authorities across the capital have seized 3,393 hazardously parked or abandoned ebikes so far this year, 23% higher than the number seized during all of 2025. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Lauren Almeida12 Sept

Saudi Arabia shuts down oil pipeline, blaming drones from Iraq

Riyadh has increased its use of the East-West pipeline since the start of the Middle East war to bypass the closure of the strait of Hormuz Saudi authorities said Friday drones launched from Iraq led to the temporary closure of a crucial oil export route used to bypass the lockdown of the strait of Hormuz . Riyadh has increased its use of the East-West pipeline, which links Abqaiq, near the Gulf, to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, since the start of the Middle East war to bypass strait of Hormuz closed by Iran. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Agence France-Presse12 Sept

Saudi Arabia shuts down oil pipeline, blaming drones from Iraq

Riyadh has increased its use of the East-West pipeline since the start of the Middle East war to bypass the closure of the strait of Hormuz Saudi authorities said Friday drones launched from Iraq led to the temporary closure of a crucial oil export route used to bypass the lockdown of the strait of Hormuz . Riyadh has increased its use of the East-West pipeline, which links Abqaiq, near the Gulf, to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, since the start of the Middle East war to bypass strait of Hormuz closed by Iran. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Agence France-Presse12 Sept

Solheim Cup golf 2026: Europe v USA, day two foursomes – live

⛳️ Solheim Cup updates from 6.40am BST at Bernardus Golf ⛳️ Official live scoring | Day one report | And email Scott It looked like Team USA would take a one-point lead into Saturday when Nelly Korda and Lauren Coughlin found the 18th green in regulation, while Carlota Ciganda was wandering off piste down the 1st as part of an ersatz tribute to the more outré work of Severiano Ballesteros and Jordan Spieth. But in the classic matchplay style, Korda and Coughlin missed their birdie putts, while Ciganda got up and down from nowhere to somehow secure a half for Europe. And now here we are … … and this is the order in which the Saturday foursomes will go out this morning. Friday was so much fun, and if today is even halfway as entertaining, we’ll be in for a wild and wonderful treat. Good luck confidently predicting the winner of any of these matches, or indeed the whole thing itself. Solheim Cup fever is raging; won’t somebody please call Dr Golf?! It’s on. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Scott Murray12 Sept

Meera Sodha’s vegetarian recipe for mushroom claypot rice

I’m taking a break to replenish my creative reserves. Until then, I leave you with this champion champignon number In the nine years that I’ve been writing this column, I’ve had two babies, a breakdown and very little time away from writing a weekly recipe. I love this column, and creating recipes for you makes me feel like the luckiest duck alive, but I don’t believe that anyone can be endlessly creative without occasionally filling up their own cup. So, I’m taking six months out to travel, replenish and see what treasures I can find for us out there in the big wide world. Treasures such as this gentle claypot rice, which is based on the magical one at Dongnae in Bristol . Until then, so long. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Meera Sodha12 Sept

From black-clad agitators to an appeal for ‘Tommo’s Mum’: an unsettling week with the Patriot Platform

A militaristic operation with features of influencer culture, the new anti-migrant movement seems to show a shift in tactics and rhetoric Shortly after 7am last Saturday in the English coastal town of Dover, livestreamed footage distributed by Britain’s newest anti-migrant movement showed dozens of men in paramilitary outfits jumping out from the backs of vehicles, their faces covered beneath balaclavas, their hands in black gloves. Within an hour, hundreds more masked agitators, dressed head to toe in black, some wearing silver crosses around their necks, were marching through the town’s streets, clapping and chanting “Stop the boats” and “Christ is king”, blockading the busy port for hours. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Amelia Gentleman12 Sept

From black-clad agitators to an appeal for ‘Tommo’s Mum’: an unsettling week with the Patriot Platform

A militaristic operation with features of influencer culture, the new anti-migrant movement seems to show a shift in tactics and rhetoric Shortly after 7am last Saturday in the English coastal town of Dover, livestreamed footage distributed by Britain’s newest anti-migrant movement showed dozens of men in paramilitary outfits jumping out from the backs of vehicles, their faces covered beneath balaclavas, their hands in black gloves. Within an hour, hundreds more masked agitators, dressed head to toe in black, some wearing silver crosses around their necks, were marching through the town’s streets, clapping and chanting “Stop the boats” and “Christ is king”, blockading the busy port for hours. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Amelia Gentleman12 Sept

Call it the Miliband doctrine. Let’s hope the new Israeli settlement boycott is just the start | Steve Bloomfield

This week’s move suggests that, even in the age of Trump, Britain will once again have an ‘ethical dimension’ to its foreign policy. That’s good for the world Almost 30 years ago, the Labour titan Robin Cook announced his arrival at the Foreign Office by laying out what would become described as an “ethical foreign policy” . The UK, he said, “must support the demands of other peoples for the democratic rights on which we insist for ourselves”. Human rights would be “at the heart of our foreign policy”. In the 25 years since Cook was demoted, Britain has had a further 14 foreign secretaries – including seven in the past six years – few of whom can claim to have placed progressive ideals at the heart of their actions. Ed Miliband’s speech on Tuesday outlining the UK’s decision to impose economic sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank – and unveiling the international coalition he has built to support it – suggests that Cook may finally have a successor. Steve Bloomfield is the former international editor of the Observer and a previous winner of the Orwell prize Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Steve Bloomfield12 Sept

Sweden’s extremely close election could see far right enter government

Latest poll shows 0.3-point gap between left and right blocs, with country’s reputation as global champion of human rights said to be at stake Sweden goes to the polls on Sunday in an extremely close election that could see the far right enter government for the first time if the country’s rightwing parties can form a majority. Opinion polls show the centre-left opposition alliance ahead, with Magdalena ⁠Andersson of the Social Democrats the favourite to become prime minister again after four years in opposition, but her bloc’s lead has narrowed considerably in the final days of the campaign. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Miranda Bryant Nordic correspondent12 Sept

From Practical Magic 2 to Saturday Night Live UK: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

Bullock and Kidman try to put a second spell on you in the fantasy comedy sequel, while the topical sketch show returns after a well-regarded debut Practical Magic 2 Out now The beloved fantasy romance from the 1990s returns with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman reprising their roles as the Owens sisters. The story picks up 25 years later, with more family secrets and curses in the offing, plus a trip to the UK. Sure to be spellbinding stuff. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Guardian Staff12 Sept