The Irishman seems a dead cert for his performance as Ian Charleson in Elsinore. And his ability to avoid being pigeonholed while embracing queer stories, from Pride to All of Us Strangers, is a remarkable achievement
This Sunday, the curtain falls on the Toronto film festival, the last of the three big autumn showcases – alongside Venice and Telluride – that are launchpads for award campaigns. And as the dust settles on the red carpets, one name rises above the others as destined for sure-fire glory: Andrew Scott.
The Irish actor, 50 next month, is now not only considered a lock for a leading actor Oscar nomination but almost certain to take the prize next spring. Should he win, he will become the first out gay actor to do so in the Academy’s almost 100-year history.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Survivors say luxury store’s attempt to recoup money is at odds with its public acceptance of responsibility
Harrods is seeking to recover the cost of the compensation paid to hundreds of women allegedly sexually abused by Mohamed Al Fayed from his estate, the Guardian understands.
The luxury department store is seeking full indemnity from the late billionaire’s estate for any settlements it is required to pay, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes
Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.
Continue reading...From Alpine Rams and Rhein Fire to Giandujot and SuperCrema, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
1 10,935 metres is the answer to which question, posed by an Irving Berlin song?
2 Which empire had its capital at Cusco?
3 Who released her bestselling Workout fitness video in 1982?
4 In which sport does Rhein Fire play the Alpine Rams?
5 Greater mouse-eared is the UK’s largest and rarest species of which mammal?
6 The David Bowie Centre is part of which museum?
7 Giandujot and SuperCrema are the predecessors of which spread?
8 Richard Moth was appointed to which religious post last year?
What links:
9 Cricket; crow; cuckoo; dik-dik; gecko; owl?
10 Richmond and Charleston (Tudor); Raleigh and Columbia (Stuart); Atlanta (Hanover)?
11 Chan; kun; sama; san; senpai; sensei; shi?
12 Ninoy Aquino assassination; Brink’s-Mat robbery; Entebbe raid; Rudolf Nureyev defection?
13 Tu Youyou, 2015; Alphonse Laveran, 1907; Ronald Ross, 1902?
14 Benjamin Franklin Z Grill; Inverted Jenny; Treskilling Yellow; Tyrian Plum?
15 Australian and US TV; Jackson 5; Martin Fry; Poirot case?
The perils of ageing and the horrors of finding post-divorce romance are laid bare in the new show from the creator of Motherland. It’s humungously funny, and so acutely observed it’s painful
Ageing has changed, hasn’t it? There’s a generation of middle-aged and perimenopausal elder millennials and xennials who refuse to do it. We’re young enough to be part of an online world that puts a premium on appearance, too old for such narcissistic self-branding to be achieved without unsustainable effort. Dating apps and social media connect people across generations, so it’s easy to become confused about how old we actually are. Here’s a tip: ask your knees.
This brings us to Youth (from Monday 21 Sepptember, HBO Max), Sharon Horgan’s dramedy about being 50. That perky title is a quip about the decade being known as “the youth of old age”. Horgan is Alex, a divorcee in her sandwich years, caring for teenage son Ruarí and ageing parents. There’s a lot going on in her life, and some doom. She’s falling forwards in a semi-successful career as a literary agent, getting back into dating under pressure. She needs someone to fall in love with her immediately, as she points out to her best friend. Not for romantic myth-making, but “so there’s a bit of time with the present version of me, before the ‘old me’ is here”.
Continue reading...In this week’s newsletter: From HBO’s incredible divorce drama War to the hilarious return of The Paper, there’s too much TV to choose from even for a confirmed addict like me
For those of us who like to stay indoors, it has been a bad summer. The World Cup ate up all traditional television scheduling, and the streamers apparently declined to counterprogramme. The Bear came and went before anybody noticed, and House of the Dragon conclusively disappeared up its own bottom.
If you’re anything like me then you clung to the good stuff (basically Disney’s Furious and nothing else) like a life raft, eking out new episodes like someone in a desert sucking condensation off the underside of a tarpaulin. But forget summer. It is now autumn, and television is back. In fact, I can’t remember a time when television has come roaring back with quite the same ferocity as it has this month.
Continue reading...The country has one of the highest femicide rates in the world, and women are yet again being asked to remove themselves from public life to counter it
When I heard the authorities advising women in and around Kempton Park, the site of a recent spate of femicides, not to walk or run alone, to avoid isolated places and to “remain vigilant”, my immediate response was anger. Remain vigilant. How groundbreaking.
Women are already vigilant. We photograph number plates before entering vehicles. We share Uber details with friends. We phone one another while walking. We watch the driver’s route and notice every unexpected turn. We avoid certain roads, certain times and certain conversations. We scan parking areas before getting out of our cars. We check the back seat. We listen for footsteps. We carry pepper spray where we can. We hold our keys in a way that makes us feel slightly less defenceless.
Continue reading...Two women I meet on our walk are way more interested in Jean than me – and insist she’ll clean up if we enter her in the local dog show
It’s a Saturday morning and I’m walking the dog on a vast bit of scrubland. The path in front of me is parched and deserted. Up ahead, the dog turns the corner at a patch of brambles, and I hear the excited voices of two women. My immediate reaction is one of alarm; I whistle, but the dog doesn’t reappear. The voices rise.
Only when I turn the corner myself do I see that everything is fine: the dog is dashing from one woman to the other, tail wagging, and the women are both delighted. Meanwhile, their own dogs stand to one side, staring balefully at the ground, leads trailing.
Continue reading...Sometimes, you can remember what ordinary life was like before Russia’s invasion. Then reality comes screaming back
Sometimes, where I live in Kyiv, I hear people say: “This feels pre-war.” It refers to situations that remind us of what life was like before. You could call it a “sense of normalcy”.
For example, it refers to being able to walk around at night, travel abroad or plan your life at least six months in advance. Simple, everyday things have become a lost luxury.
Continue reading...Thousands of knock-off records worth a fortune are being seized in the UK by anti-counterfeit police stings
From 2017 onwards, Rehan Ahmed styled himself as a savvy business owner. But behind the facade of a successful entrepreneur lurked one stark fact: his empire was built on fakery.
On Friday, the man behind the biggest-ever UK case of producing fraudulent vinyl, who sold counterfeit copies of records by some of the world’s biggest artists including Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Kendrick Lamar, was jailed.
Continue reading...Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:
handwritten on slide, “Patti and paper" date stamped on slide November 1960
LELYSTAD (ANP) - Het schip De Batavia, een replica van het VOC-schip, is zaterdagochtend vertrokken vanuit Lelystad en wordt naar Amsterdam gesleept. Daar gaat het schip het droogdok in en wordt het voorzien van een stalen ondersteuningsconstructie. Dat is nodig om de replica, die in een kwetsbare conditie is, beter te beschermen en voor lange tijd te kunnen bewaren. Twee sleepboten begeleiden De Batavia op haar reis, die ongeveer zes uur duurt.
De Batavia is een reconstructie van een Oost-Indiëvaarder en is oorspronkelijk gebouwd in 1628. Een jaar later al verging het, op haar eerste reis. De replica is tussen 1985 en 1995 gebouwd in Lelystad, als leer- en werkgelegenheidsproject. Sindsdien zijn volgens een woordvoerder zo'n vijf miljoen mensen komen kijken. In 1999 werd het op een dokschip naar Sydney gevaren voor de Olympische Spelen van 2000.
De constructie, ook wel de stoel genoemd, is bijna 40 meter lang, ruim 15 meter breed en weegt ruim 87 ton. De stoel staat op een ponton dat in het droogdok wordt afgezonken.