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Refugees, homophobia, gay rights, even Trump, are all covered in this opener, which occasionally leans towards agitprop. But with excellent performances, and RTD’s storytelling brilliance, things really build from here
We open on an ordinary suburban street. A teenage boy is gazing out of a window. A woman – his mother? – is screaming. A man – his father? – is standing in the garden gazing unfocused at whatever lies beyond. The camera draws back to reveal a scene so shocking it hardly computes. Then we flashback to 10 days earlier to begin to understand how they, and the other figures in the scene, got here.
So, with characteristic bravura, begins Russell T Davies’s new drama, Tip Toe. The man in the garden is Clive (David Morrissey), an electrician with two sons – 16-year-old college student George (Jackson Connor) and 25-year-old Saul (Joseph Evans), who helps him in the business when there is enough work to go around – and enduring an unhappy marriage to Marie (Pooky Quesnel).
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 21:00:58 GMT
The far shorter Middle East war has rapidly revealed the strategic weakness of US firepower in an interconnected world
In a 1965 speech justifying the war in Vietnam, Lyndon B Johnson argued that the goal was to ensure “every country can shape its own destiny” since only in such a world could the US secure its own freedom. However, he also admitted “such were infirmities of man that force must often precede reason, and the waste of war, the works of peace”.
It was the kind of elegant justification of the country’s moral mission to which successive US presidential speechwriters have turned at times of war.
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 12:00:47 GMT
Rather than being one of the shrewdest operators in British politics for a decade, it turns out Sturgeon was just too trusting
You know how it is. You wake up and look out the bedroom window. You see a brand new Jaguar worth £81,000 parked in the driveway. You smile to yourself. That’s what you love about your husband. Always nipping out to the shops to buy himself treats. And where’s the harm in that? No one can say he isn’t worth it. And a new car is only a trifle compared with a motor home. That’s just Pete being Pete.
You get dressed and go downstairs. Your husband is already in the kitchen making you breakfast. “Fancy a coffee?” he asks. You nod. You’re busy not reading the SNP accounts. “Which machine would you like me to make it from?” he asks. “The basic Jura? The Jura Z8? Or the Miele? I always think the Z8 makes the best flat white. And what milk would you like?”
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 16:27:57 GMT
Producer Rob Ford’s trove of 1,700 items includes membership cards and the Prodigy’s first business card
Rob Ford often met his contacts in car parks, under the cover of darkness. Cash quickly passed between hands before the author and music producer gathered his quarry – bags full of memorabilia from the rave and acid house era.
Among the flyers and assorted paraphernalia were some of the rarest surviving items from the scene: membership cards.
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 16:01:40 GMT
Many of those who love spending time in Britain’s green places say it is awe-inspiring, calming and therapeutic
As a recent study revealed almost half of UK adults now spend less than three hours a week in natural settings such as gardens, parks, fields or woods, we asked readers to tell us about what being outside means to them.
The replies – heartfelt and passionate – came flooding in, with some admitting they just did not have the words to say how important it is.
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 10:00:44 GMT
Whether it’s Hyrox or CrossFit, some of this century’s biggest exercise trends have one thing in common: combining cardio with strength training. Here’s how to do it
Tough Mudder. CrossFit. Hyrox. Some of this century’s biggest fitness trends have one thing in common: they require feats of both strength and endurance. People used to pick a side: either you used weights and resistance machines to build your muscles or you did cardio for the sake of your heart and lungs. Now everyone wants to be a “hybrid athlete”. So is this the best way to get fit – and where do you start if you’re a complete beginner?
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 07:00:41 GMT
Exclusive: Papers to be published on Monday cast doubt on assurances provided by senior Whitehall officials
A trove of government documents about Peter Mandelson contains no record of any measures taken to mitigate serious security concerns over his appointment as Washington ambassador, the Guardian has learned.
Multiple sources who have seen or been briefed on the files, which will be published on Monday, say there is no detail about any steps put in place to deal with flags raised about his associations with senior figures in foreign states.
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 18:12:48 GMT
Social housing landlords to be able to evict perpetrators, while right-to-buy tenancy requirements to rise
Social housing landlords will be able to evict domestic abuse perpetrators under a new bill, which will also increase the length of tenancy required before residents qualify for the right-to-buy scheme from three to 10 years in England.
The government said the bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, would fix “the long-term decline in social housing” and offer new protections for social tenants who were subjected to domestic abuse.
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 21:30:58 GMT
Experts say capture is largely symbolic, but it complicates efforts to extend the ceasefire between US and Iran
Israeli troops have captured a clifftop castle as they made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than 26 years, further shattering a nominal US-brokered ceasefire and complicating efforts to extend the separate truce between Washington and Tehran.
After days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages, the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the military had captured Beaufort Castle, also known as Qalaat al-Shaqif, which it had used as a base during its previous occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 16:51:41 GMT
Watching the Premier League trophy pass by was a moment of joy for a generation that has often not had much to celebrate
When the Arsenal bus turned off Blackstock Road towards Newington Green, the heaving crowd was ready. It was only a brief moment, and one more than partially obscured by a drift of red smoke, but as the Premier League champions came past nobody was about to miss their shot. The phones were out, the zoom was pinched and the moment was captured. Then everyone darted off again.
If it was to catch the bus at another point on its odyssey around Islington, to go home, or just rejoin a picnic wasn’t entirely clear. This was not a celebration confined to the official route of the parade. Nor, even, strictly to celebrating Arsenal’s on-field success. It was more than that, and a lot more; a celebration of a community local and global, of an identity that has been forged in adversity and endless mockery, and a moment of joy for a generation that has often not had much to celebrate, full stop.
Continue reading...Sun, 31 May 2026 15:47:25 GMT