Supporters come way below sponsors in the stadium-seat pecking order. No wonder some fans plan to binge-watch matches on a Spanish package holiday

There is nothing wonderful in the world that men in suits can’t find a way of spoiling. Football World Cups used to be great: massive events to which the world’s eyes were glued. Not one of us watched, or went to, West Germany, Argentina, Spain, Mexico or Italy and thought: “You know what? This is all very well – but if only it was all a bit bigger.”

It was plenty big enough, but not big enough for the men in suits, for they had willies to wave, and so the tournament had to grow, because growth is good and bigger is always better. So now we have 48 teams competing not in one country but over a whole continent.

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The ‘fraud’ he sees is in the very concept of democracy, in the idea that people who don’t agree with or fawn over him might have a say, too

By now, it is an event as regular and predictable as the tides: a Democrat wins an election, and Donald Trump says that that election was rigged. There does not need to be any evidence for this; indeed, there never is. Trump will say it anyway.

He rallies the rightwing media ecosystem to spread the lie; he convinces his followers to believe it. That this, by now, a repetitive spectacle, devoid of suspense, does not mean that it is not dangerous.

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There’s a downside to too much convenience: it harms our bodies

There is a seductive fantasy being floated by AI executives that all the efficiency their products will bring us will lead to humans finally returning to their essential, best selves. Picture it: when this day arrives, we’ll spring from our chairs, push aside our keyboards and, supposedly, do all things we’ve been meaning to do: hike, cook and finally take a pilates class.

It’s true – AI has already taken some workday drudgery, such as reading and writing contracts, presentations and quarterly reports, off some people’s plates. Within a few years, we’re told, a team of invisible digital assistants will take over mundane domestic chores too: making medical appointments, renewing our car insurance and planning. The vision is enticing: finally, the moment when we can stop switching-switching-switching between screens and devices, put our health first and flourish. Unfortunately, if the history of innovation teaches us anything, it’s that labor-saving technology has rarely, if ever, triggered healthier habits.

Drive-throughs and microwaves did not lead to more time spent walking in nature. When escalators replaced stairs, email took over from walking over to talk to a colleague, and wandering through the video store was swapped out for streaming from the couch, few of us considered how these tiny conveniences would chip away at our physical health, year after more efficient year. A task that took almost no effort used to be described with the saying: “You hardly need to lift a finger.” Now, we literally lift a finger and – tap – the chore is done.

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(Dirty Hit)
Aided by Jack Antonoff, Kim Gordon, Sampha and more, the cello-playing singer-songwriter’s abstracted yet tuneful second album is worth the seven year wait

Seven years separate the release of cello-playing singer-songwriter Kelsey Lu’s debut album, Blood, from its follow-up. Lu has suggested the long gap was an act of artistic rebellion against a music industry obsessed with providing a constant stream of new product – “tuning into my intuition, trusting myself and building a team to support that”, as they put it.

Perhaps they wanted to carve their own path after a cover version – of 10cc’s I’m Not in Love, used in HBO drama Euphoria – became their most successful song, or perhaps they simply didn’t have the time to make an album amid their plethora of other interests. They have scored two movies: the Bafta-winning Earth Mama and the Netflix documentary feature Daughters. They have collaborated with Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Yves Tumor, Mykki Blanco, Jamie xx, Boys Noize and visual artist Kevin Beasley and contributed a version of Manchild to a Neneh Cherry tribute compilation and more. They have been photographed by Nan Goldin for a Gucci campaign and staged a performance art piece at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. They have also appeared on stage with Debbie Harry, while dressed as Kermit the Frog, recreating the Blondie vocalist’s famed 1981 appearance on The Muppet Show.

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Sabine Nkusi, who fled Kigali during the genocide, leads initiative aimed at challenging stigma of sexual violence

As a 14-year-old, Sabine Nkusi witnessed the horrors of the genocide against the Tutsi in her home country of Rwanda. Fleeing Kigali with her parents, brother and sister, she saw women lying dead by the road, many who had been the victim of sexual abuse.

She vowed to God that if she survived, she would dedicate her life to trying to give dignity to women who suffered this unspeakable brutality. “I said to God … if I’m ever going to make it out of here … I want to be part of something … a vehicle to end that sort of violence.”

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The reclusive figure spent decades filling every surface of her apartment at the legendary New York hotel with artworks that rose in teetering piles. Some are now on display for the first time in Glasgow

When the artist Yto Barrada stepped through the door of room 503, up on the fifth floor of New York’s Chelsea Hotel, she was overwhelmed by what she saw. Every inch of the walls was plastered with Xeroxed word art, graphic reproductions of geometric sculptures, hundreds of photographs of passersby in the street below and collections of leaves laid out in grids. Piles of cardboard boxes and crates, full of yet more artworks, prints, books and maquettes, created teetering canyons through which Barrada had to turn sideways to navigate. Every visible surface was covered with sculptural forms in brass, marble and wood. In the midst of it all, on a small daybed surrounded by this aggregation of 40 years of fervent work, was Bettina, as the resident artist of the famous New York landmark was simply known.

“One sees Bettina and understands that some disaster has taken place, long ago,” writes Barrada in Bettina, the book she edited with the designer Gregor Huber, published by Aperture in 2022. Barrada was one of only a handful of people the reclusive artist had permitted to enter 503 since she moved into the Chelsea in 1972. Despite the bohemian buzz around the hotel, with neighbours including Patti Smith, Bob Dylan and many of Andy Warhol’s entourage, Bettina chose to lock herself away, devoting her life to conceptual works that seemed to flow unstoppably from deep within, a creative impulse she likened to a divine energy.

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A number of drivers will be sitting out of Free Practice 1 at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix to allow junior, test and reserve drivers to gain experience in F1.

Alex Albon will become Williams’ leading all-time Grand Prix starter when he climbs into his FW48 at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix this weekend.

LONDEN (ANP/AFP) - De Britse mededingingsautoriteit gaat onderzoek doen naar de Ierse luchtvaartmaatschappij Ryanair over de verplichte kosten die ouders moeten betalen om bij hun kinderen te zitten. Ryanair eist namelijk dat minstens één ouder tijdens een vlucht naast kinderen in de leeftijd van twee tot elf jaar zit. Daar moet dan een "verplichte familiestoel" voor gereserveerd worden.

Volgens de Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) wordt nu bekeken of die kosten van doorgaans ongeveer 8 pond, omgerekend 11 euro, oneerlijk zijn onder de consumentenwetgeving. De toezichthouder wil vaststellen of ouders worden belast om te voldoen aan "verplichtingen met betrekking tot de veiligheid van kinderen en personen met een beperking, zoals vastgelegd in de luchtvaartregelgeving".

De CMA zegt ook dat Ryanair de enige grote maatschappij is die vanaf het Verenigd Koninkrijk vliegt en deze kosten rekent. Ryanair stelt dat het beleid volledig overeenkomt met relevante wet- en regelgeving.