In the 2000s, the queer scene in Queensland felt small, but Melania Jack fell for Patty Preece big time

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It was 2007 and I was heading out to work on the regional program of an Indigenous arts festival called Stylin’ Up. A car entourage of arts workers were headed to Cherbourg to run beatmaking, songwriting and dance workshops.

As I drove up into Highgate Hill, the sun was just coming up. Ahead of me I saw Patty leaning against a yellow ute wearing a striped ’70s men’s T-shirt, a rat’s tail catching the light. She looked electric. I remember thinking: Uh oh. This person is literally shining.

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Melania Jack and Patty Preece perform as the multidisciplinary arts duo The Ironing Maidens

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Australian collections of the endangered and notoriously unpredictable flowers have popped off in recent years, as ‘personas’ like Putricia, Stinkerella and Smellanie prove a hit with nosy spectators

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From little things glorious fetid things grow. Corpse flower blooms, once vanishingly rare, are becoming more commonplace in Australia.

More than a dozen bloomed across the country in 2025, including the infamous Putricia in Sydney, Morpheus in Canberra, Big Betty in Cooktown, and Spud and co in Cairns. But with plants kept in gardens across the country, and blooming more frequently after their first flower, you could catch a whiff of one soon.

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Applying cosmetics for concerts and competitions is part of dance culture but many now question the tradition

I recognised the signs straight away: the twirling, the mirror glances, the obsession with her music box. I didn’t need my daughter to ask if I wanted to see her “magic dance show” to confirm it – she was a dance kid.

Despite efforts to offer trucks and tutus, sports with sparkles, I was quietly thrilled. I’d been a dedicated dance kid (and later an unhinged ballet teen) and was excited to see her join the tribe. But when I mentioned ballet lessons to my partner, he was horrified. He spiralled about the pressure, the body image, the gender stereotypes and, most of all, the makeup.

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The actor on bloodcurdling stage experiences, back yard cricket and the best advice he’s ever received

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In the spirit of your role as Lord Davenport in Fackham Hall – what is the poshest thing you have ever done?

Taking a helicopter to Royal Ascot. That is one of the poshest things I have done. I became aware of how posh it was when I started calming down and realised I wasn’t going to fall out of it.

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Agency statement comes one day after announcement of 6 March target for astronauts’ mission to circle the moon

Nasa said in a blog post on Saturday it is taking steps to potentially roll back the Artemis II rocket launch after discovering an interrupted flow of helium.

The agency said it is taking steps to roll the Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off
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Both teams are in if-it-ain’t-broke mode. Manchester City name the same starting XI from their last Premier League match, the 3-0 home win over Fulham, with one exception: Omar Marmoush comes in for Phil Foden, who drops to the bench.

Newcastle also make one change. This is from their actual last game, the 6-1 Champions League romp at Qarabag. Jacob Ramsey replaces Harvey Barnes, who is named as a sub.

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• Wales 23-26 Scotland

• Finn Russell scores 11 points in second-half turnaround

Scotland pulled off a dramatic comeback win against Wales to back up their impressive Calcutta Cup success the previous week.

Hosts Wales had the lead at half-time thanks to a spark lit by the wing Josh Adams but the visitors managed to fight their way to victory with a feeling they were lucky to come away with five points.

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Satyricon was één van de grootheden uit de Noorse golf black metal die startte in het begin van de jaren 90 – en dat puur op basis van muzikale kwaliteit, zonder publiciteit te krijgen uit kerken in de fik te steken of door bandgenoten te vermoorden.

Nou ja, met Mother North spelen ze een béétje vals, want de naakte deerne die door het beeld dartelt (Mother North, mag ik aannemen?), dat is natuurlijk ook een vorm van niet-muzikale aandachtvragerij. Voor de zedigheid is dit de nette en geblurde versie. Voor de nieuwsgierigen is er ook een ongecensureerde versie, maar zo’n jaren 90 clipje is dermate pixelig dat er nauwelijks verschil te zien is, zeg ik er vast bij.

Voor de muzikaal nieuwsgierigen is er ook een versie met de Noorweegse Nationale Opera – is het uiteindelijk toch allemaal goed gekomen, en zijn de rebellen nette jongens geworden:

Hoe dan ook: hoge kwaliteit Noorse black metal, wie wil dat nou niet?

Op de slotdag van het olympisch schaatstoernooi pakte Nederland nog twee gouden medailles, waardoor deze Winterspelen de succesvolste ooit zijn. Verslag van een dubbelslag op de massastart – en een huwelijksaanzoek. „Jorrit dacht: verdomme, ik moet gaan.”

CNN reports on a 13,000-year-old glacier in a Romanian cave, where scientists say a bacterial strain they thawed and analyzed "is resistant to 10 modern antibiotics used to treat diseases such as urinary tract infections and tuberculosis."

But there's no evidence the bacteria is harmful to humans, CNN notes, and "The scientists said the insights they have gained from the work may help in the fight against modern superbugs that can't be treated by commonly used antibiotics."


Analysis of the Psychrobacter SC65A.3 genome revealed 11 genes that are potentially able to kill or stop the growth of other bacteria, fungi and viruses... Matthew Holland, a postdoctoral researcher in medicinal chemistry at the UK's University of Oxford, said that researchers were searching in new and extreme environments, such as ice caves and the seafloor, for biomolecules that could be developed into new antibiotic drugs. He was not involved in the new study. "The team in Romania found this particular bug had resistance to 10 reasonably advanced synthetic antibiotics and that in itself is
interesting," he said. "But what they report as well is that it secreted molecules that were able to kill a variety of already resistant, harmful bacteria.
"So the hope is that can we look at the molecules it makes and see if there's the possibility within those molecules to make new antibiotics."

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