I was on the Goodyear blimp above London – here’s what it was like July 10, 2026 Unless you’ve fully committed to hiding from the heatwave, you’ve probably noticed the return of the iconic Goodyear blimp, which has been cruising above the London skyline for the first time since 2022. With a capacity of just 14, getting a seat beneath its 75 metre balloon has been like finding a golden ticket to [...]
Supergirl movie review: another disjointed DC superhero film July 10, 2026 Supergirl film review and star rating: ★★ I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie has been handed a rather heavy baton inheriting the next film of James Gunn’s rebooted DC franchise. It seemed last summer’s surprisingly heart-warming rendition of Superman (2025) had turned a new leaf for DC following Zack Snyder’s decade-long churn of lukewarm superhero films [...]
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced review: A classic rebuilt July 10, 2026 Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced | PlayStation 5 (reviewed), PC, Xbox Series X/S | ★★★★☆ The year was 2013: Pope Benedict XVI resigned, Margaret Thatcher died, Breaking Bad ended and traces of horse meat were found in beef burgers sold by the likes of Tesco and Lidl. And Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. The [...]
The Yahoo Boys: The men behind online romance scams July 10, 2026 In an extract from his new book The Yahoo Boys: Real Life with the Love Scammers of Lagos, journalist CARLOS BARRAGÁN travels to Lagos to uncover the truth behind romance scams When journalist Carlos Barragán’s mother fell in love with a man she had never met, it seemed too good to be true. She would [...]
Who is scrawling poetry on London streets? And why? July 10, 2026 London’s self-styled street poets are scrawling messages on walls and pavements. Lucy Carter tracked down the creators Walk down any central London street and you’ll spot them: pithy statements scrawled on paving slabs, walls and hoardings. They often take the form of simple white words, signed off with an Instagram handle. These pavement poems are [...]
Has The Odyssey made the classics cool now? July 9, 2026 Are they elitist or universal? Either way, they’re Christopher Nolan’s new film The Odyssey shows they’re going viral, says Eliot Wilson Classics – the study of ancient Greece and Rome, their languages, literature, history and art – is perceived not only as elitist, but as irrelevant, abstruse, without concrete value and self-indulgent. That you could [...]
How Swatch and Audemars Piguet pulled off the ultimate high-low watch collab July 7, 2026 Audemars Piguet and Swatch have teamed up to create a plastic pocket watch that riffs on the Royal Oak, turning an untouchable status symbol into something playful, divisive and irresistibly collectible. Sam Kessler asks: ‘What’s going on?’ On 16 May every Swatch Store in London closed for the day as hundreds of people queued outside, [...]
Harry Styles at Wembley Stadium review: running through the grief July 3, 2026 Harry Styles at Wembley Stadium review and star rating: ★★★★ Harry Styles is running in laps around an elevated rectangular walkway at Wembley Stadium. Barely stopping for sips of water, it’s exhausting to watch, especially in this heat. He’s wearing what looks like a thick cotton shirt and has sweated through most of it – [...]
Archduke play at the Royal Court: A fascinating comedy about radicalisation June 30, 2026 Archduke | Royal Court | ★★★★☆ I’m not sure what I expected from this play about the days preceding the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand – the event credited with starting the First World War – but it wasn’t a comedy of errors whose influences run the gamut from Withnail and I to Chris [...]
The Misanthrope at the National Theatre: Sandra Oh shines in a play that flatters to deceive June 30, 2026 The Misanthrope | National Theatre (Lyttelton) | ★★★☆☆ True to its name, this new version of The Misanthrope is a difficult play to love. Mercilessly updated from Moliere’s 17th-century comedy of manners by the mercurial Martin Crimp, it’s a jagged diatribe against… well everything. The literary world, the privileged, the young and the old, the [...]