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

New rules, managers and pundits: what’s different this Premier League season?

By Sarah Rendell

A crackdown on time wasting, a record number of new people in charge, and some new faces on Match of the Day The 2026-27 Premier League season kicks off on Friday and while the familiar rivalries return, the English top flight has some alterations this campaign. From evolved rules to new faces and broadcast changes, there is plenty to catch up on before a ball is kicked. Marco Rose – Bournemouth Xabi Alonso – Chelsea

Tips for living well! Death comes for all of us – so what’s the best way to live in the meantime? | First Dog on the Moon

By First Dog on the Moon

Prioritise people and relationships. If you don’t you might die and nobody will know until months later. Gross! Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...

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UK reports unexpected deficit of £1.8bn as John Healey prepares for first budget

By Heather Stewart Economics editor

July data shows total public debt was £2.98tn, or 94% of GDP – up £96bn on a year earlier Business live – latest updates The UK government ran a larger-than-expected £1.8bn deficit in July, underlining the challenges facing the chancellor, John Healey, as he draws up his first budget. City economists had expected a shortfall of zero for July, a month when Treasury receipts tend to be swollen by self-assessment income

Anthony Hopkins: Life Is a Dream album review – easy on the ear melodies written from the heart

By Clive Paget

Philharmonia Orchestra/Dudamel (Decca) There’s a cinematic flourish to many of Hopkins’ compositions, together with fine arrangements of Welsh tunes and pieces dedicated to family Anthony Hopkins, it turns out, has been composing music all his life. Now, at the age of 88, the Welsh-born Hollywood actor makes his Decca debut, securing the services of LA Philharmonic’s outgoing music director Gustavo Dudamel to bring h

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Eco homes that can stay cool for sale in England and Wales – in pictures

By Anna White

From a triple-glazed barn conversion in a Welsh valley to a thermally regulated home in a busy area of London Continue reading...

Meet the Owens to Dog Park: the seven best shows to stream this week

By Phil Harrison

Is Michael Owen really boring? That’s the elephant in the room in a new documentary that goes inside the former football star’s home and racing empire. Plus, a lovely canine-centred meet-cute comedy First the elephant in the room, which Michael Owen addresses head on. Is he really, as he describes himself, “a boring prick”? This documentary series sees the former Liverpool and England striker welcome cameras into bot

Life of M by Rachel Cusk review – is this story of a film star based on Natalie Portman?

By Clare Clark

A teasing tale of the friendship between a writer and an actor explores the fallout from fame, and the blurring between pretence and reality M is a celebrated film actor. A star since childhood, now the face of a major fashion brand, she has been famous all her life. That her career closely resembles Natalie Portman’s has been gleefully seized upon by the press, something Rachel Cusk must surely have anticipated: in

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‘Tuscany may be beautiful, but do they sell sticks of rock?’: readers’ favourite UK holidays

By Guardian readers

Your best UK breaks include an island off Mull, a rail journey along the County Antrim coast and Dorset’s best-kept secret • Tell us about your favourite under-the-radar European city – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher Mudeford feels like one of England’s best-kept secrets, the sort of place visitors from abroad might never imagine exists here. Golden sand and sparkling water give it an almost Mediterranean f

‘If I’m spending that kind of money, the shoe has to do everything’ – the backlash to the three figure trainer

By Adam Cheung

From Nike’s infamous 110s to £250 and back again, sneakerheads are rediscovering why cheaper shoes can be worth just as much hype as much more expensive ones • Don’t get Fashion Statement delivered to your inbox? Sign up here When Nike’s Air Max 95 trainers first landed in Britain back in the mid-1990s, they looked unlike anything else. Created by footwear designer Sergio Lozano, the shoe had wavy layers running down

Israeli settler attacks shift focus to West Bank areas under direct Palestinian rule

By Peter Beaumont and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem

Report says violence is moving from Israeli-controlled areas to those earmarked for a future Palestinian state Violent Israeli settler attacks in the two areas of the occupied West Bank under direct Palestinian rule have almost doubled since 2025, as settlers pursue a self-proclaimed “great settlement revolution” in the very heart of the territory earmarked for a Palestinian state. According to a report by the Israel

TV tonight: Brooke Shields stars in a silly murder-mystery comedy

By Hollie Richardson, Jack Seale, Hannah J Davies and Simon Wardell

A novelist and a podcaster are an unlikely crime-solving team in You’re Killing Me. Plus: get ready to cry over a robot. Here’s what to watch this evening 8pm, U&Drama Allie (Brooke Shields) is a bestselling “menopausal mystery” novelist; Andi (Amalia Williamson) is an aspiring true-crime podcaster. When they meet at a writing convention, it’s a boomer and gen Z culture clash. But then a murder takes place and the tw

UK men with heart disease at higher risk of developing and dying from cancer

By Andrew Gregory Health editor

Decade-long study finds stark gender difference in outcomes of people with heart disease Millions of men with heart disease have a higher risk of developing and dying from cancer, according to a decades-long study. The biggest drivers behind male cases were smoking, obesity and drinking too much alcohol, researchers said, with the link most pronounced in lung and oesophageal cancers. Continue reading...

What happens to people’s health when air pollution is reduced?

By Gary Fuller

Growing evidence that cutting coal use and bans on high-polluting vehicles are leading directly to health benefits Failing crops, wildfires and overloaded health systems are focusing minds on the local impacts of our changing climate. While carbon emissions reduction is normally framed as having a global benefit rather than a local gain, studies published in 2025 and 2026 from Greece have added to growing evidence th

Stupid Never Dies – a zombie fights for the love of a frozen corpse

By Bex April May

Free from a big brand’s audience expectations, new studio GPTrack50 has created a wacky action-packed romp through a monster-filled world for its first game Love is blind. In Stupid Never Dies, it is also frozen solid and technically dead as Davy, the weakest zombie in monster society, discovers Julia’s body in a shopping centre and falls in love at first sight. He wants to bring her back to life and take her on a da

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The Taliban have built a system for enslaving women in Afghanistan | Tala Elissa

By Amanda Abou Abdallah

Five years on, the regime’s chokehold has left Afghan women with almost nothing, but many are still bravely fighting for their freedom The Taliban did not just ban women from schools, impose the burqa and outlaw smartphones. The Taliban built a system that enslaves nearly half the country’s population, or according to outdated statistics: 21,701,532 women and girls. In general, the Taliban’s system runs on laws that

The lace race: what to wear with slip skirts

By Melanie Wilkinson

Midis with a lingerie-inspired lace trim can do it all, whether you want to dress up for a wedding or down for the pub Continue reading...

Back on track: can Burnham fix the north’s woeful rail services?

By Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent

From a new high-speed line to better intercity links, the PM has a chance to tackle problems he criticised as Manchester mayor For passenger rail travel, the north of England was the future, once. But since that first train from Darlington to Stockton in 1825, many have felt short-changed. As one angry passenger put it, 200 years later: “What is it about the rail industry which makes them think they can treat passeng

‘Billy’s thriving’: family’s joy as boy who helped legalise cannabis medicine in UK turns 21

By Rory Carroll Ireland correspondent

Mother of Billy Caldwell, who has severe epilepsy, celebrates son’s story while pushing for better access to prescription cannabis for families who need it When Billy Caldwell was a baby he was not expected to survive infancy. A severe form of epilepsy condemned his tiny body to daily seizures – brutal, draining and each one potentially fatal. “They couldn’t get the seizures under control,” his mother, Charlotte, rec

I’ll admit it: I’ve cycled through red lights. But Britain’s traffic laws are to blame, not me | Simon Jenkins

By Simon Jenkins

The essence of cycling is to keep moving, but London’s chaotic roads often make this difficult. My solution: fewer, not more rules I plead guilty. I have loved and used the streets of London all my life, as a cyclist, driver and pedestrian. Touch wood, I have done so without accident, blemish or insurance claim. Yet now I find myself perpetually on the wrong side of the law. Regulation has become bureaucratic and cha

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Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for rosemary and cherry blondie ice-cream sandwiches | The sweet spot

By Benjamina Ebuehi

Blondies will happily take an ice-cream filling without falling apart, and when those biscuits are infused with herbs, they also help to cut through some of the sweetness Ice-cream sandwiches have really grown on me. I used to find them a bit tricky to eat; far too many of them had outer shells so hard they would crack a tooth, while the rest would turn to mush after a few minutes out of the freezer. Finding the bala

Rewilded land remains green amid drought-stricken English countryside, images show

By Sandra Laville

National Trust’s Holnicote estate says restored wetlands and rivers offer proof of resilience to drought, wildfires and flooding Aerial footage of an estate in Somerset has revealed the benefits of rewilding land in the face of extreme weather brought about by the climate crisis. The area of the National Trust’s Holnicote estate where rivers have been returned to their natural courses and wetlands have been restored

Russia’s missile tests around disputed islands anger Japan

By Gavin Blair in Tokyo

Pacific fleet launched missile drills near what Moscow calls the Kuril Islands but Japan regards as its Northern Territories Japan has criticised missile tests carried out by Russia’s navy around the disputed islands visited by Vladimir Putin last week amid continuing tensions between the two countries. Russia’s Pacific fleet said on Thursday that it had fired Bastion surface-to-ship missiles from Etorofu, the larges

Country diary: Ten tonnes of solid muscle, basking sharks are booming here once again

By Tim Earl

Port Erin Bay, Isle of Man: A few years ago they disappeared from these shores, but with food stocks on the up, they’ve made a magnificent return Not long ago, my encounters with basking sharks were pretty close up. When a scientist researching them off the Isle of Man needed help, with my experience of driving inflatable ribs, I was tasked with steering his small boat up to a 10-tonne shark, closely and carefully en

Badgers review – the audience investigates in this true-crime podcast yarn

By Mark Fisher

Traverse theatre, Edinburgh Malaika Kegode delivers a supernatural story about the strange disappearance of a maudlin folk singer Playwright and performer Malaika Kegode tops and tails this show for Theatre Royal Plymouth with a message about the allure of storytelling. In a festival city bursting at the seams with stories, it is an unnecessary observation. A more important question is about which stories we choose t

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Python named Jodie Foster first snake to receive pioneering cancer treatment

By Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent

Chester zoo resident, 23, ‘back to her usual feisty self’ after electrochemotherapy for tumour in her jaw A 15ft (4.5-metre) python is believed to be the first snake in the world to be given a pioneering, life-saving cancer treatment normally used on humans. The 50kg reticulated python, named Jodie Foster after the Hollywood star, has just turned 23 and lives at Chester zoo. Keepers first became concerned that she ma