Society booksReviewThe BBC Newsnight reporter looks at what led to the closure of the Tavistock Centre, and what it means to be transgender
There are knowns, as the saying goes, and there are known unknowns. But most difficult of all, perhaps, are the things we can’t know for sure, but must still make definitive judgments about. The latter form the heart of the BBC journalist Hannah Barnes’s densely reported account of events inside the Tavistock Centre’s Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) in London, the country’s only specialist clinic for transgender children, where, as one clinician tells her, it was “impossible to be sure” of getting decisions 100% right, but mistakes had frightening consequences.
London holidaysA Christmas drink, be it mulled, pulled or poured, comes with an extra splash of seasonal cheer at these classic London pubs, where the festive season is celebrated in style
The Churchill Arms, KensingtonStart by stepping into a Christmas tree. The evergreen Churchill Arms on Kensington Church Street becomes one enormous conifer each December. This year the pub is strapping 80 Christmas trees to its exterior walls and decorating them with 18,000 fairy lights.
North Korea networkNorth KoreaInterviewFreed American Matthew Miller: 'I wanted to stay in North Korea'Nate Thayer for NK News, part of the North Korea networkIn a series of exclusive interviews after he was released earlier this month, the 25-year old Californian sentenced to six years hard labour tells NK News his story
For most people visiting North Korea, the prospect of being arrested during their trip is a source of some concern.
Happy Valley: episode-by-episodeHappy ValleyWhat an absolutely electrifying ending. Sally Wainwright masterfully wrongfooted viewers, while the show’s star was outstanding. Baftas surely beckon
Happy Valley finale review – one of TV’s greatest trilogies gets a fiery farewell
Spoiler alert: this recap is published after Happy Valley airs on BBC One in the UK. Do not read on if you haven’t watched episode six.
Sally Wainwright’s enthralling West Yorkshire epic took us on a nerve-jangling ride in its extended finale.
Pass notesUS immigrationDonald Trump Jr, the presidential candidate’s son, has compared Syrian refugees to poisoned sweets
Name: Skittles.
Age: 42.
Appearance: Sporadically deadly.
What the hell? I just ate some Skittles last week! Then you, my friend, should count yourself lucky. Did you know that in every bowl of Skittles, there are three that could kill you?
No! Is this an allergy thing? Nope, they just have the ability to kill you.
The ObserverFictionReviewThe British author weighs the worth of a writer’s life in this intimate blend of memoir and fiction
Narrated in the second person, this short autobiographical novel follows a black British writer living in Berlin. Dumped over dinner by the woman he loves – before his pizza has even arrived – he finds himself zigzagging between zestless dates and crying himself to sleep. He’s abused by racists online and in the street, and his freelance journalism doesn’t always pay the bills.
James Franco This article is more than 2 years oldJames Franco admits sleeping with students and says he had sex addictionThis article is more than 2 years oldActor gives first extended comments about accusations that came nearly four years ago
James Franco has acknowledged sleeping with students of an acting school he previously ran, saying he struggled with a sex addiction and has been working to improve his behavior in recent years.
Julian Sands – a life in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email The British actor best known for his roles in The Killing Fields, A Room With a View and Boxing Helena has died aged 65 – we look back over his life and work
Guardian film
Main image: Julian Sands in ABC's Castle. Photograph: Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images Tue 27 Jun 2023 16.
Science fiction booksTo celebrate the opening of the British Library's science fiction exhibition Out of this World, we asked leading SF writers to choose their favourite novel or author in the genreBrian Aldiss
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon (1937)It requires little sophistry to consider Daniel Defoe's immortal Robinson Crusoe as a metaphor for a man stranded on an alien planet. Crusoe is an exile, and exile has proved a perennial theme within the genre of science fiction.
World newsWoman joins art thief son in dockThe mother of Europe's most prolific art thief was in court in France yesterday, charged with throwing many of the invaluable paintings her son had stolen into the local canal.
When Mireille Breitwieser, a former nurse, found out that her son Stephane, 33, had been arrested on suspicion of stealing paintings worth tens of millions of pounds from museums across Europe, she rushed into his bedroom and started chopping up all the canvases she found there, prosecutors said yesterday.