A record of what was published, when, and how it changed.

‘It brings me joy’: how young people are making CDs cool again

By Lauren Cochrane

Compact discs are back, with searches for players up 96% at John Lewis and popular models sold out online With more than 800 million people subscribing to a music streaming service, wireless speakers have become a familiar sight in homes. But expect to get reacquainted with a different object to play music soon: the CD player, once consigned to obsolescence, is back. John Lewis report that searches for CD players are

Elouise Eftos: Aphrodite review – ‘Australia’s first attractive comedian’ asks if love is real

By Brian Logan

Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Heckling herself in character as the Greek goddess, the standup delivers an intelligent, in-your-face show about sex and expectations You can’t argue with the opening gambit of Aphrodite: “I’ve never been in love and I don’t think it’s real.” Consider me grabbed. This is the follow-up to Elouise Eftos’s fantastically provocative 2025 debut, Australia’s First Attractive Comedian, and it’s ano

• Machine signalInvestigation language

Stand By Me at 40: Rob Reiner’s seminal coming-of-age saga remains a bittersweet triumph

By Scott Tobias

The late director’s sensitive and detailed adaptation of Stephen King’s novella has an authenticity that so many imitators could never replicate Coming-of-age metaphors don’t get any blunter than a group of preteen boys following a set of railroad tracks to a classmate’s dead body, a sobering testament to the fragility of life and a sign that their own futures are not guaranteed. The Stephen King novella that would b

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From Booker-listed Marlon James to a memoir by Michael Douglas – the biggest books this autumn

By Guardian Staff

Midlife meditations from Barbara Kingsolver; musical portraits by Jonathan Coe and Yiyun Li; plus memoirs from Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench – all among the coming season’s highlights The Disappearers by Marlon James Hamish Hamilton, 3 September After a detour into mythic fantasy, the author of the Booker-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings returns to Jamaica. This account of a brutal homophobic attack on a gro

Hook, hold, harvest and hide: Meta’s alleged strategy laid out in first week of landmark trial

By Dara Kerr

In trial that opened on Tuesday, California and 28 other states accused the company of designing addictive sites and violating laws protecting children’s privacy Meta’s business can be boiled down to four words that begin with the letter H: hook, hold, harvest, hide, according to a lawyer who is prosecuting the world’s largest social media company. The owner of Facebook and Instagram “hooks” in users, “holds” them on

• Machine signalAllegation language

Why am I called The Black Farmer? Because there are so few of us in Britain. I’d like that to change | Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones

By Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones

Running a farm is tough – TV’s Clarkson’s Farm shows that – but I know many minorities would love the chance. And we would all benefit Who’d be a farmer? Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon is great entertainment but it also gives some indication of the stresses and challenges behind the farm gate. Would anyone who lacked the significant alternative income that Clarkson is lucky to have want that? Well, actually, yes. I’m an e

Island-hopping through stone-age history in Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man

By Kevin Rushby

Exploring prehistory sites around the Irish Sea – that were old even before the pyramids were built – throws a magical light on our ancestors The guide was adamant. “I’ve picked human teeth out of there and I’m not doing it again.” The small group of tourists looked suitably aghast, except the boy. He was jiggling the wellington boots on his feet and singing to himself. He looked about 14. I sensed that he was the ca

Dog Park: a delightful sitcom that will fill the Colin from Accounts shaped hole in your life

By Rhik Samadder

This snort-aloud Australian comedy is sweet, hilarious – and a surprising examination of male loneliness and mid-life crisis. Who’s a good show then?! Whenever I’m watching a programme that features an animal and I realise I’m expected to have a specific reaction to that animal, I run into a problem. I call it the Cuteness Assumptive Theory: Subjectivity in Television issue (CATSIT for short). It boils down to this:

The Guide #257: What we lose when a medium ​built for the ear surrender​s to the camera

By Gwilym Mumford

In this week’s newsletter: As platforms chase ​s​ubscribers, podcasts are losing their off‑screen charm​, leaving listeners to wonder whether the intimacy of audio can survive the studio lights • Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here This has been the year that podcasting properly, unapologetically “ pivoted to video ”. Yes, it’s been a progression that has been in the making for quite a while, ar

‘It exists only for pleasure’: does ice-cream have a future in the age of wellness fads and weight-loss drugs?

By Words: Kitty Drake. Photographs: Christian Sinibaldi

As fitness-conscious consumers turn away from processed foods, the industry is scrambling for new ideas, including nutrient-rich lollies and protein-packed tubs. Will they take the fun out of this summer treat? Last month, I stood in the biggest ice-cream factory in Britain and watched a 5-metre Viennetta mint-flavoured ice-cream cake get made. The factory – which is owned by the Magnum Ice Cream Company and produces

‘They’re thinking about the likes’: deadly TikTok motorway trend horrifies Ireland

By Rory Carroll Ireland correspondent

Social media platforms face public ire after fatal crash involving teenagers filming themselves driving on wrong side Videos often begin with the camera panning across a glowing dashboard as a gloved hand starts the ignition. The camera turns to show figures with masked faces in the rear seat, who are also filming, and swivels back to show the windscreen. Beyond it, a dark cityscape. The engine throbs, headlights pun

Tim Dowling: my working holiday just isn’t working

By Tim Dowling

The weather is unrelentingly glorious, the views are amazing, but I cling to the freelancer’s habit of never quite admitting I’m on holiday In the summer of 1995, I went on a family holiday to Portugal. On the first day I got a call from a UK magazine, asking if I would be interested in interviewing Meg Ryan, in three days’ time. I looked out to the pool, where my wife and my mother-in-law were pushing my infant son

Blind date: ‘There was a mature, polite peck on departure at a busy Manchester Piccadilly station’

By Guardian Staff

Susan, 74, a retired careers adviser, meets Pete, 72, a retired Methodist minister What were you hoping for? A relaxed, friendly lunch with good and fun conversation. Continue reading...

From Ludwig to Ariana Grande: the week in rave reviews

By Guardian Staff

David Mitchell’s quirky puzzle-maker is back with the low-stakes murder mystery, while the US pop superstar’s Eternal Sunshine tour continues its London residency Continue reading...

From Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma to Brandon Flowers: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

By Guardian Staff

A film-maker’s attempt to reboot a horror movie franchise is derailed by her wild relationship with its former star, and the Killers frontman gets rustic Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Out now Jane Schoenbrun’s third feature builds on their interest in queer horror, with a story about the fictional Camp Miasma slasher franchise, set to be resurrected by an up-and-coming director (Hannah Einbinder), who enters i

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‘My ability to cope was unravelling’: how I navigated ADHD and childbirth – and seven things I learned

By Sarah Marsh

Neurodivergence can make an already challenging process far trickier — and in the UK support isn’t automatically available. A new book aims to help mothers prepare It’s 7am in a postnatal ward. I’ve been brought here having given birth around four hours earlier. I’m hot and have not slept since arriving at the hospital at 9pm for an induction, only to go into labour spontaneously before it could begin. All around me

Icons, new stars and First Nations excellence: 10 key shows from New Zealand fashion week

By Patty Huntington

The event feted its 25 year anniversary with labels like Zambesi, promising emerging designers and an explosion of Māori and Indigenous culture New Zealand fashion week took place in Auckland this week at the heritage-listed Shed 10 on Waitemata harbour and other venues across the city. Founded by Dame Pieter Stewart in 2001, now run by entrepreneur Feroz Ali, the 25th anniversary featured a mix of established names,

Meet Fat Papi, the little-known NZ rapper catapulted to Billboard 100 fame

By Eva Corlett in Wellington

Kurdish New Zealander Baban Hussain has gained global fame with online hit he created with Australian producer Two months ago, Baban Hussain, a 22-year-old Kurdish New Zealander, was working from a self-run studio in Auckland, putting out music to a few thousand followers as little-known rapper Fat Papi. Then, as modern fairytales go, he made a viral hit that has amassed over 7.5bn views across YouTube, gained him ne

Australia v Bangladesh: second men’s Test, day one – live

By Jonathan Howcroft (now) and Geoff Lemon (later)

Updates from the Great Barrier Reef Arena Start time in Mackay is 10am AEST Any thoughts? Email Jonathan Sport coverage is powered by hyperbole and recency bias, but the following statement is justifiable: Bangladesh’s defeat of Australia in Darwin is the most profound upset, the greatest revolt against the pre-game odds, in international cricket history. Australia’s win in England in 1882 so shocked locals that they

Women’s Super League 2026-27 preview No 1: Arsenal

By Suzanne Wrack

After a season without silverware, Arsenal have made major changes with club legends departing and top talent from all over Europe arriving Guardian writers’ predicted position: 2nd (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips) Last season’s position: 2nd Continue reading...

Editor of military news outlet that first revealed US aircraft carrier crisis says he was fired over interview – live

By Sam Levin (now); Robert Mackey, Lucy Campbell, George Chidi and Vivian Ho (earlier)

Erik Slavin says he was dismissed for insubordination after objecting to potential censorship in wake of furor sparked by reported conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln Pentagon fires publisher and editor of Stars & Stripes Backlash as navy carrier set to honor Black war hero could be named after Trump Sign up for the US Breaking News email US Senator Tim Sheehy, a Montana Republican and a cattle rancher, has come out ag

Girl, 6, dies three days after Shoreham sea incident that killed parents and sister

By Harry Cockburn

Saja El-Khawas had been in critical condition after being pulled from sea in West Sussex A six-year-old girl has died in hospital three days after being pulled from the sea off Shoreham in West Sussex, in an incident that also killed her mother, father and sister. Saja El-Khawas died on Friday after the deaths of her sister Sara El-Khawas, 14, and her parents Hassan El-Khawas, 55, and Zeina Alayn, 37, on Tuesday. Con

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Five Great Reads: Secret filming, secret surgery and 30 years of Pokémon

By Jacqui Housden

Guardian Australia’s weekend wrap of essential reads from the past seven days, selected by Jacqui Housden Get this in your inbox every weekend. Sign up for Five Great Reads here Hello and welcome to the weekend. You’re looking well, some might say “refreshed”. Is it the diet, the exercise, a relaxing holiday? You’d tell me if you’d had something “done”, right? According to the experts, and some thrilling anecdotes, c

TikTok agrees to $400m settlement to resolve US children’s privacy litigation

By Reuters

The DoJ sued TikTok and its former parent company in August 2024 for allegedly failing to protect children’s privacy and collecting their information ⁠TikTok and its Chinese former parent company ByteDance on Friday agreed to a $400m settlement to resolve the US Department of Justice’s allegations that the short-form video app ⁠violated children’s online ⁠privacy. The justice ​department sued TikTok and ByteDance in

• Machine signalAllegation language

Wigan sink Wakefield and hit Super League summit with 12th straight win

By Aaron Bower at the Brick Community Stadium

Super League: Wigan 26-12 Wakefield French leads the way as Warriors break club record If you are a Wigan Warriors supporter and a keen believer in omens, it may be wise to cancel any plans you had for the first weekend of October. The Warriors are back on top of Super League, albeit for potentially just 48 hours before Leeds Rhinos get the chance to return serve on Sunday in York. But this was a record-breaking nigh