From fake AI journalism to very real lives: An anatomy of a scoop September 2, 2025 Last week I wrote a wild story that began with an AI-generated pitch about warring London chicken shops and ended with a video call to Nairobi with the man who had willed it into existence. Wilson Kaharua – working under the alias Joseph Wales – was not a criminal mastermind but a small-time SEO writer [...]
Mass hallucinations: How I caught a rogue AI reporter August 27, 2025 The ‘customer’ in the fried chicken shop didn’t touch his meal. Instead, he photographed the kitchen door’s keypad and left. ‘Corporate spy,’ muttered the cashier before showing me three identical incidents caught on his security cameras. This is the opening line of a pitch I received from a writer called Joseph Wales, entitled “London’s Fried [...]
Juniper Blood review at Donmar Warehouse: Mike Bartlett’s climate change play lacks heat August 27, 2025 Juniper Blood review and star rating: ★★★ Mike Bartlett‘s play Cock starring Jonathan Bailey and Taron Egerton became one of the most expensive plays in West End history in 2023 when seats went for north of £400. That play, like Unicorn, looked at changing attitudes towards sexuality, but another of Bartlett’s recurrent themes is climate [...]
A movie producer’s guide to the 82nd Venice Film Festival August 26, 2025 Even by its own towering standards, this year’s 82nd Venice Film Festival will be its most star-studded yet, as some of the world’s best filmmakers compete for the prestigious Golden Lion. VENETIAN LOVE AFFAIR Venice had a starring role in the wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. Their Venetian love affair will continue as [...]
Coldplay, Wembley review: the most feelgood two hours you’re likely to experience August 26, 2025 Since Coldplay started their current Music of the Spheres tour more than three years ago, they have played in 43 countries, made (unwitting) headlines and smashed records. They’ve headlined Glastonbury for an unparalleled fifth time and sold over 12 million tickets, making this tour the most highly attended in history. Their return to London this [...]
How the Barbican Theatre has rivalled the West End for four decades August 21, 2025 Our Toast the City Awards are celebrating the City’s top spots and takes place this October. This week: the Barbican Theatre. Think of the Barbican Centre and you might picture the lakeside suntrap or Brutalist passageways that feel purposefully designed to get lost in. You might not immediately think of the Barbican Theatre, but here’s why you [...]
We Out Here festival review: Dorset isn’t supposed to be this cool August 19, 2025 We Out Here festival programmes a line-up of jazz-inflected music. Its diversity is exciting, says Adam Bloodworth Over fifty festivals have shuttered in the past year. Shockingly, turning a patch of rural grass into a temporary metropolis for the weekend doesn’t chime well with the cost of living crisis. For a midsize event, upfront fees [...]
Lunchtime Tourism: Is there a better City green space than the Garden at 120? August 18, 2025 To get you in the mood for out Toast the City Awards celebrating everything that makes the Square Mile great, we asked a professional tour guide to recommend his favourite City spots. “The first weeks of August,” said American writer Natalie Babbitt, “hang at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, [...]
‘Wonderfully weird’: 7 of the best Edinburgh Fringe shows to book now August 14, 2025 City AM’s theatre writers have been catching the very best of the shows at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. We’re only reviewing productions with London transfers in the autumn, so if you can’t make it to Edinburgh this August, everything you read here is coming to the capital at a later date. From Fleabag to Flight [...]
Freakier Friday review: Lindsay Lohan sequel offers innocent fun August 8, 2025 Last year’s musical remake of Mean Girls sparked a re-evaluation of Lindsay Lohan, the Disney star whose personal life made her tabloid fodder in the noughties. Now she has reunited with Jamie Lee Curtis to make a sequel to one of her biggest hits. Freaky Friday was a famous example of the body swap comedy, [...]