Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Football, Sport, World Cup 2026
Title – Cape Verde do it again and Lamine Yamal spurs on Spain | World Cup Daily | Football | The Guardian
Author –
Link – Cape Verde do it again and Lamine Yamal spurs on Spain | World Cup Daily | Football | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T06:31:08.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2026/jun/22/cape-verde-do-it-again-and-lamine-yamal-spurs-on-spain-world-cup-daily

Keyword – Info
Trefwoorden – Information, Football, Newsletter sign-up
Title – Sign up for the Football Daily newsletter: our free football email | Information | The Guardian
Author – Guardian Staff
Link – Sign up for the Football Daily newsletter: our free football email | Information | The Guardian
Publish date – 2022-11-14T09:05:50.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/info/2022/nov/14/football-daily-email-sign-up

Keyword – Fashion
Trefwoorden – Milan fashion week, Men’s fashion, Fashion, Fashion weeks, Life and style, Italy, Europe
Title – Ralph Lauren bridges generations with menswear tie-up in Milan | Milan fashion week | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/chloe-mac-donnell
Link – Ralph Lauren bridges generations with menswear tie-up in Milan | Milan fashion week | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T11:21:21.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/jun/20/ralph-lauren-milan-fashion-week-menswear-ties

For his second standalone menswear show in Milan, Ralph Lauren reverted to the accessory that launched his empire in 1967 – ties.

Skinny silk ties featuring subtle swirly prints were neatly knotted and used as the finishing touch to elegant pinstripe suits, while more brightly printed or striped cravats were whirled and worn like ties peeking out from under knitwear and rugby shirts.

Elsewhere, ties were used in place of belts; others came wrapped around bags, and even footwear came tied up, with the uppers of espadrille shoes formed of ties that had been spliced together.

For the American fashion house that has become catnip to gen Z, the focus on ties in Friday night’s show was a slick way of appealing to this younger cohort, who have recently discovered both the brand and the accessory for the first time, but without alienating its existing older customers, many of whom are octogenarians like Lauren himself and have been wearing ties since day dot.

While other key players in the fashion industry continue to grapple with a widespread luxury slowdown, Ralph Lauren is enjoying a renaissance. In May, its CEO, Patrice Louvet, announced that sales for the last fiscal year had increased by 15%, with revenue exceeding the $8bn (£6bn) mark for the first time in the company’s history.

While womenswear has been a key focus of this growth, the decision by the brand to join the men’s fashion week schedule in Milan suggests there is further momentum to be found in menswear too. The show that kicked off Milan fashion week on Friday night combined its dapper-driven label Purple with its more accessible Polo brand, which focuses on collegiate style classics.

Part of Lauren’s magic is worldbuilding and this time around he transported guests to the golden age of Italian sport. A gleaming 1920s mahogany speedboat plonked in the courtyard of his Milan headquarters – a sprawling palazzo in the capital that Lauren bought in 1999 – greeted guests including the actors Tom Hiddleston and Colman Domingo and the grand prix record-breaker Lewis Hamilton.

Textured knitwear in sea-salt whites, striped shirting in nautical blues along with reversible butter-soft leather jackets lined with cashmere captured a fantasy mood of zipping around Lake Como. Reflective racer sunglasses, deck shoes and squashy tote bags that could be easily stowed onboard added a purposeful touch.

Later came the Polo collection, which Lauren in his show notes described as the “next-generation vision of American prep”. This was luxury through the lens of TikTok fashion fans. For them, much of its aspirational appeal lies in the styling that can be easily riffed on as they rummage around secondhand platforms and shops.

Camo trousers were worn loose and baggy; colourful checked shirts were styled untucked; rugby shirts were patchworked together featuring motifs of flowers and crossbones, while neat blazers clashed with denim speckled with paint or visible mending created by using sashiko embroidery.

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Athletics, Keely Hodgkinson, Sport
Title – Keely Hodgkinson exits in tears from UK Championships but injury fears played down | Athletics | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ben-bloom
Link – Keely Hodgkinson exits in tears from UK Championships but injury fears played down | Athletics | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T16:50:49.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/21/keely-hodgkinson-exits-tears-uk-athletics-championships-400m-final

Keely Hodgkinson’s camp moved swiftly to play down concerns after the Olympic 800m champion withdrew from the 400m start line in tears just seconds before she was due to race at the UK Athletics Championships.

Using the weekend in Birmingham as a speed-work opportunity, Hodgkinson emerged for the women’s 400m final and began the usual pre‑race strides in her lane, only to stop, grimace and slowly make her way to the side of the track. After a few seconds of thought, she crouched down and started to cry before she was led away, with the race going ahead in her absence.

In a statement later she said: “I wasn’t feeling 100% standing on the start line, so I made the tough decision to step away and not race. I didn’t want to risk anything ahead of this summer.” She subsequently expanded on this on Instagram, posting: “Leaving champs healthy!! Sometimes the hard decision is saying no, body wasn’t feeling 100[%], exciting summer ahead.”

Her coaches insisted the withdrawal was precautionary before an attempt at the longstanding 800m world record later this summer. They suggested the problem was muscle tightness, which had emerged at the end of her warm-up just before the race yesterdayon Sunday.

Hodgkinson has recent experience of serious injury after missing much of the 2025 season because of a torn hamstring in February that year. She belatedly returned to action in mid‑August, but could only win bronze at the world championships .

Minutes before her withdrawal, Hodgkinson’s training partner Georgia Hunter Bell had run a championship record 1min 55.93sec to claim the 800m title.

“I’ve only just found out,” Hunter Bell said when asked about Hodgkinson. “I’m not sure what’s up because she was warming up really well. We were warming up together and she was looking amazing. She knows she’s in really good shape.”

Hodgkinson has been open about hoping to break Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 43-year-old 800m world record of 1:53.28 this summer. This month she lowered her own national record in her only 800m outing, running 1:54.33 though losing to Audrey Werro in Stockholm, and had hoped to sharpen up her speed in Birmingham this weekend. She had qualified fifth fastest for Sunday’s 400m final after clocking 51.62 a day earlier. In her absence, Amber Anning, the British record holder and a former world indoor champion, claimed gold in a championship record 50.16.

Hodgkinson is next due to race over 800m at the Eugene Diamond League in Oregon on 4 July, before a potential tilt at the world record on home soil at the London Diamond League on 18 July.

With Hodgkinson not contesting her preferred event in Birmingham, Hunter Bell was unchallenged in a dominant front-running display, the world silver medallist leading from gun to tape. Now third in the world this year behind Hodgkinson and the rapidly improving Swiss athlete Werro, she will also compete over 800m in London.

Asked about her own proximity to a world-record challenge, Hunter Bell said: “I’ve realised over the last few years that there’s no point putting limits on anything. Everything is getting faster and faster. Today was a frontrunning job on my own after a round yesterday, so it makes me really confident going into London. I feel like all the times come when there’s a good race. The better the race, the faster the time will be.”

Just before the Hodgkinson drama, the men’s Olympic 400m silver medallist, Matt Hudson-Smith, regained the British title in 44.45, dedicating his Father’s Day triumph to his daughter, whose difficult birth caused him to miss last year’s championships.

“Last year, there were a lot of complications,” he said. “It was a whirlwind. I was at the hospital bed for five days straight due to my wife’s birth and then when I got to the world championships I was injured. It was a bit tough. But it’s part of the sport. My coach said I should make a statement to show that I’m back.”

There was a shock in the women’s 200m, where the world silver medallist, Amy Hunt, was unable to replicate Saturday’s 100m victory . With Dina Asher-Smith not contesting the final, Hunt was beaten by the 21‑year‑old Success Eduan, who clocked a personal best of 22.43 for her first national outdoor title. Pipped to the 100m crown by Romell Glave on Saturday the British record holder, Zharnel Hughes, made amends with a comprehensive men’s 200m victory in 20.04. Jake Wightman took men’s 800m gold after a battle in the straight with Ben Pattison.

Keyword – Food
Trefwoorden – Food, Snacks, Side dishes, Vegetables, Italian food and drink, Summer food and drink
Title – How to make courgette fritti – recipe | Food | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/felicity-cloake
Link – How to make courgette fritti – recipe | Food | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T12:00:30.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jun/21/courgette-fritti-recipe-felicity-cloake-masterclass

T hese are not chips. If you’re hankering after a fluffy, carby heap of fried potato, I’ll be honest, these courgette numbers probably won’t cut the mustard. If, however, you like the idea of hot, crisp, juicy veg, then you’re in luck. As well as a vegetable side, these make a fantastic snack with drinks, particularly when paired with a hot sauce or punchy dip.

Prep 15 min Salt 30 min+ Cook 15 min Serves 8 as a side

2 medium courgettes Salt 150g plain flour 2 egg whites Light olive or neutral oil

1 A note on the courgettes

You can use just about any size of courgette or other summer squash for this, but do bear in mind that the bigger the fruit, the more seeds it will contain, so consider using a teaspoon to scrape out the watery core of larger courgettes and marrows, because the steam those seeds give off during cooking may turn the batter soggy.

2 A note on the shape

Having tested various shapes, I found that the thinner the cut, the crisper the outsides, though at the expense of the juicy centre. Chunky matchsticks seem to me the best compromise, but you might like to cut yours into bigger batons for easier dipping. If using a rounder squash such as a pattypan, half-moons also work well.

3 Cut the courgettes

Trim the ends off the courgettes, then cut each one in half lengthways. Stand one on its wider end and carefully slice down into roughly 5mm-thick pieces (use a mandoline to do this, if you have one). Stack the slices on top of each other, cut into matchsticks, and repeat with the remaining courgette.

4 Salt the courgettes

Toss the matchsticks with a fairly generous sprinkling of salt, then put them in a colander or sieve set over a bowl or sink and leave to drain for about 30 minutes. You can skip this step if you’re pressed for time, though it does draw out the water, making for a crisper finish; it also seasons the courgettes from the inside out.

5 Start the batter

Meanwhile, put the flour (a gluten-free variety will also work just fine here) in a wide, shallow dish, then stir in enough lukewarm water (probably about 250ml) to make a batter with the consistency of double cream (for non-UK readers, a thick but pourable liquid). Season lightly and rest for 20 minutes, if you have time.

6 Whip the egg whites

Put the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk to stiff peaks (if you like, use the yolks to make a mayonnaise for dipping; any blender mayonnaise recipe will work). Stir a spoonful of the egg white mix into the batter to loosen it, then carefully fold in the rest.

7 Heat the oil and turn on the oven

Fill a large, deep pan by a third with oil, then heat it to 170C (150C fan)/335F/gas 3½ (or use a deep-fat fryer set to the same temperature). Turn on the oven to low, and have ready an ovenproof tray lined with kitchen paper near the hob. Squeeze the excess liquid out of the salted courgettes, then tip them into a clean tea towel and rub as dry as possible.

8 Fry in batches

When the oil is hot, drop a handful of the courgettes into the batter, then shake off as much excess batter as possible. Fry, stirring to separate the fries and prevent clumping, for three to four minutes, until golden. Scoop out on to the kitchen paper-lined tray, season lightly, then keep warm in the low oven while you repeat with the rest of the courgettes, making sure the oil comes to temperature each time.

9 Serving suggestions

You can cut the courgettes and make the batter up to 24 hours in advance, and store both in the fridge. The cooked fries pair well with garlic mayonnaise, hot sauce, salsa verde or a quick dip made by mixing thick plain yoghurt with crushed garlic, crumbled feta and fresh herbs, then season and add lemon juice and olive oil to taste.

Keyword – Travel
Trefwoorden – France holidays, Europe holidays, Travel
Title – ‘Year-round sunshine practically guaranteed’: Le Mourillon is Toulon’s cool, beachy quarter | France holidays | The Guardian
Author – Rachel Hosie
Link – ‘Year-round sunshine practically guaranteed’: Le Mourillon is Toulon’s cool, beachy quarter | France holidays | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T06:00:52.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/jun/22/le-mourillon-toulons-beach-quarter-sunshine

Why go now

South of the city centre, Le Mourillon is Toulon’s characterful and unpretentious seaside quarter. Once a fishing village, Le Mourillon is home to little shops selling Provençal produce such as huge garlic bulbs and tomatoes in vibrant shades, alongside lively bars and restaurants. It’s not as glamorous or polished as the likes of Antibes or Saint-Tropez – you won’t find designer brands – but it’s all the more charming for that.

The hilly, narrow streets wind down to Le Mourillon’s star attraction: its beaches. Widely recognised as the second sunniest city in France, Toulon practically guarantees year-round blue skies and sunshine. The clear, azure sea sparkles and the beaches are lined with restaurants and date palms. While cruise ships come and go from the city’s main port, Le Mourillon is far enough from the centre that you only see them in the distance, alongside sailing boats and fishing vessels.

Where to eat and drink

Eating and drinking is one of the main pastimes in the south of France, especially on Sundays when many shops are closed. Le Mourillon is home to some of the best restaurants in Toulon, most of which celebrate Mediterranean cuisine and ingredients. Try AOC 41 for fresh, seasonal fare and some of the most flavoursome meals I’ve had, such as confit beef open ravioli with sand-grown carrots and bourguignon jus whipped with bone marrow (starters from €12, mains from €26). If you fancy a pre- or post-dinner drink, pop round the corner to Havana Cafe , which in the summer months spills out across the whole square.

Down by the beaches, restaurants offer everything from a p’tit dej formule (classic French set breakfast of bread, a pastry, coffee and juice) to freshly caught fish of the day. La Sorga serves an incontournable (unmissable) caesar salad with breaded chicken and oven-baked potatoes, best enjoyed with a glass of rosé overlooking the sea. This being the south of France, the wine is cheap and you certainly won’t be rushed.

Cultural experiences

Created in the 1970s, the four human-made beaches are the main attraction in Le Mourillon. Swim in the (usually calm) Mediterranean or rent a paddleboard or kayak from the yacht club . While strolling along the promenade, take in the local people playing pétanque and beach volleyball, while children play mini golf, bounce on trampolines and enjoy churros.

At one end of the beaches, next to a little fishing harbour, you’ll find Fort Saint Louis – built in the 17th century, it’s still used by the French navy (albeit for staff lunches rather than warfare).

Back in the heart of Le Mourillon, Saint-Flavien church, built in 1868, is a beautiful building worth admiring, and you might get lucky and hear some music or singers. Art lovers should visit the Museum of Asian Art , just back from the beaches, or head inland to one of the many galleries on Rue Lamalgue, Le Mourillon’s main street, such as Galerie d’art Toulon Inna Khimich .

In the height of summer, Toulon’s jazz festival (26 July-8 August) brings free concerts to Le Mourillon’s beaches. Every year on 15 August, the Feast of Assumption is marked with a spectacular fireworks display from the fort. In spring, La Fête de la Mer sees local producers and winemakers set up stalls in the port to sell fresh oysters, baked goods and local wine and beer. Tables are filled with les Toulonnais, who arrive en masse to settle in for a day of live music, drinks and seafood.

Where to shop

Rue Lamalgue is a narrow street lined with Provençal buildings in shades of pale pink and terracotta with faded blue shutters, decorated with strings of bunting and floral arrangements on the lamp-posts. It’s the heart of Le Mourillon and home to many independent boutiques and cafes. For tasteful gifts, from vases to children’s toys, visit Oblada , and try Acanthe for chic French clothing for the whole family. But be warned: most shops close for up to 3.5 hours over lunch, as well as all day Sunday and Monday.

Pick up artisan cheeses at Fromagerie Grosso , meat at one of Lamalgue’s multiple boucheries, fruit and veg at Primeurs Vitamine, wine at Cave Faubourg du Mourillon or La Dégust Nature , and bread, pastries, chocolates and cakes at one of the many bakeries. Of course, there’s a market too, selling fresh produce every morning except Mondays. Saturday mornings is when Le Mourillon is most alive, as local people amble around, picking up fresh bread and stopping for a coffee and croissant.

Don’t miss

Walking along the beaches of Le Mourillon is lovely, but the best trails are the coastal paths that continue from each end. If you go east, past the yacht club, the path winds around the coast with various sets of steps down to tiny beaches. Keep going past Fort Cap Brun, and you’ll eventually get to Anse de Méjean, one of the most beautiful coves in the area, which almost feels like a tiny Greek fishing village. Toulon may not be as bougie as Cannes or Nice, but you might still see a family sail in on a yacht for lunch at L’Escale , a hidden gem of a restaurant that is well worth a visit (bear in mind it closes in the winter).

Walk the other way from the beaches of Le Mourillon and the path winds round to Plage de La Mitre , another beautiful stretch of sand.

Stay

There aren’t many hotels in Le Mourillon, but Hôtel Les Voiles offers simple accommodation with sea views (doubles from €112). A little more upmarket is the four-star L’Eautel in central Toulon (doubles from €119).

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Serena Williams, Wimbledon 2026, Wimbledon, Tennis, US sports, Sport
Title – Serena Williams to make Wimbledon singles comeback after being handed wildcard | Serena Williams | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tumaini-carayol
Link – Serena Williams to make Wimbledon singles comeback after being handed wildcard | Serena Williams | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T19:11:58.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/21/serena-williams-wimbledon-singles-comeback-handed-wildcard-tennis

Serena Williams will make a stunning return to singles competition at Wimbledon after being announced as the tournament’s final wildcard on Sunday.

Wimbledon will mark Williams’s first singles appearance in nearly four years after retiring from the sport at the 2022 US Open and it marks a dramatic escalation in her comeback.

Williams, a 23-time grand slam singles champion and seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, resumed her doubles career at the beginning of the grass-court season this month after months of speculation. The 44-year-old had already received a wildcard into the ladies’ doubles draw at Wimbledon alongside her 46-year-old sister, Venus.

However, she had remained coy about whether she planned to return to singles. Asked this past week in Berlin about whether she would take a singles wildcard, Williams responded: “That’s the question of the hour, right? I don’t know. I don’t know. I wonder why there’s … I don’t know,” she said.

She left the announcement to the last moment. The All England Club (AELTC) has spent the week allocating its various wildcards and as of Sunday morning, only one wildcard in either draw remained. The ladies’ qualifying singles draw will be published on Monday, meaning the AELTC had to decide on the recipient of the final wildcard before the draw.

Williams had been victorious in her doubles comeback match alongside Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club, but Mboko was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to the significant knee injury she suffered in her singles match. Williams then competed alongside Karolina Muchova in Berlin this week, with the pair losing in their opening match, but she declared herself satisfied with her level. She has spent the rest of this week training on the grass courts of the All England Club in advance of her return.

Although her first career eventually ended on a positive note, with Williams sensationally defeating the then world No 2, Anett Kontaveit, at the US Open before falling in a dramatic three-set battle to Ajla Tomljanovic , her Wimbledon career had ended badly earlier that summer. After suffering a serious hamstring injury by falling on a slippery Centre Court in her first round match in 2021, Williams was defeated in the first round of Wimbledon 2022 by the world No 115 Harmony Tan , a loss that many believe played a part in motivating her to return to Wimbledon. She has not won a singles match at the tournament since 2019.

Williams will now have an opportunity to end her Wimbledon career on a different note, but it remains to be seen what level she will be able to compete at in singles. Singles requires far more movement and physicality than doubles, making it a much more difficult task for a 44-year-old. As has been the case for more than 30 years, the American refuses to shy away from a great challenge.

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Bridesmaids, Comedy films, Comedy, Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Culture, Film
Title – ‘Allowed me to accept my own taste’: why Bridesmaids is my feelgood movie | Bridesmaids | The Guardian
Author – Hannah Beer
Link – ‘Allowed me to accept my own taste’: why Bridesmaids is my feelgood movie | Bridesmaids | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T09:00:51.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/22/bridesmaids-feelgood-movie

A t this year’s Oscars ceremony, Kristen Wiig , Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy , Rose Byrne and Ellie Kemper lined up on stage to celebrate 15 years of Bridesmaids . Frankly, as awards bits go it was a little hard to watch, and the lineup was missing Wendi McLendon-Covey (recovering from a neck lift, naturally), but I had a small thrill seeing them together anyway: Bridesmaids has been my comfort film for almost half my life.

Bridesmaids, written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo and directed by Paul Feig, arrived in a confetti shower in 2011. It follows Annie (Wiig) – already in a fragile state following the collapse of her bakery, her relationship and her living situation – as she navigates being maid of honour for her best friend Lillian (Rudolph). We don’t see much of Dougie, Lillian’s fiance: it’s Annie and Lillian’s relationship that takes centre stage here. They have the sort of friendship it seems impossible to break, built on years of love, shared tastes and endless inside jokes – that is, until the wedding planning begins, and Annie finds herself ill-equipped to lead the motley crew of bridesmaids Lillian has assembled in the run-up to the wedding. No one poses a greater threat to the friendship or Annie’s headspace than Helen (Byrne), the perfectly manicured wife of Dougie’s boss. Helen is everything Annie is not: pristine, well-connected and apparently excellent at organising bachelorette parties. They clash constantly, with increasingly messy results.

In 2011, the dominant comedies were bro-y films in which women barely got a look-in, and I remember a heavy dose of scepticism among the mainstream media and my teenage peers about Bridesmaids. A film written by women, about women? Would it even be funny? As far as that era was concerned, if you were to take any pleasure at all in female-created comedy, it should come with guilt. For my part, I met Bridesmaids at a very “ Sylvia Plath ” time of my life, believing, like many 16-year-olds on Tumblr, that if I wanted to be a writer, I needed to a Serious One. Ideally a little tortured, but if I couldn’t manage that, then I should at the very least steer clear of light-hearted.

Of course, Bridesmaids proved its naysayers very wrong, very quickly. It grossed $306.5m at the box office and earned a couple of Oscar nominations along the way, but for me, it blew a tiny window – one I didn’t even know I wanted open – completely off its hinges. Here was a film with a killer script, wall-to-wall jokes, and an all-female cast, being … universally praised? Suddenly, being both light and taken seriously didn’t seem so incongruous, and my love of the likes of Nora Ephron and Louise Rennison didn’t feel so guilty. It allowed me to accept my own taste, and I watched the film repeatedly, delighting in seeing women on screen being as freely hilarious as those I knew in real life.

Then, at 22, recovering from a particularly blistering relationship – one that really distorted my sense of self – my best friend would put on Bridesmaids, sometimes night after night, to help me through the breakup. Studying for final exams, unsure of my next steps and untangling myself from someone who had been monumentally bad for me, my friend and I would share conspiratorial looks every time Annie’s mum earnestly tells her, “This is your bottom!” There was probably an element of schadenfreude in seeing someone else’s life implode, but if I’m honest, it was mostly nice to know that I still had my sense of humour despite the bruising my spirit had taken. From that point on, we watched Bridesmaids at least once a year until we could practically perform the whole thing off-book. It’s become a cornerstone of our friendship and our shared language: with each rewatch, a different line worms its way into our everyday lexicon.

Now in my early 30s, attending friends’ weddings and planning my own, it’s taken on new significance again. It’s certainly a cautionary tale of how not to approach my wedding, for a start – though I will say that it’s only now I’ve co-organised a hen party that I realise the many-layered brilliance of Annie’s bridal shower crash-out. The line “Did you really think this group of women was going to finish that cookie?” haunted us as we tried to ascertain how much cake was too much cake for 22 of our bride’s friends and family.

Beyond that, Bridesmaids does hold some bittersweet truths about this phase of life. At its heart, it’s about the fear of your friends moving on. It’s hard not to feel its pangs as your friends form new, deep-rooted relationships, but I take comfort in the film’s ending: Annie and Lillian dancing and singing to Wilson Phillips together, despite all the drama. It reminds me that if I ever feel that fear creeping in, I can always text my best friend with our current favourite Bridesmaids quote and know she’ll reply with the following line and a date for our next rewatch.

It reminds me that Annie is right when she tells her nemesis Helen that “we stay who we are” regardless of the directions we’re growing in. Those close friendships, like Bridesmaids, will always be there.

Bridesmaids is streaming on Peacock in the US and on Disney+ in the UK and Australia

Keyword – Info
Trefwoorden – Information
Title – What is the ‘Deeply read’ list? | Information | The Guardian
Author – Guardian staff
Link – What is the ‘Deeply read’ list? | Information | The Guardian
Publish date – 2024-02-28T09:45:16.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/info/2024/feb/28/what-is-the-deeply-read-list

For many years at the Guardian we have been looking at how long our readers spend with our journalism. While the number of clicks on an article can help us understand the possible importance or popularity of an article on a given topic, it’s just as important for us to get a sense of the quality of a piece and the time readers spend with it can help us gauge that.

Along with many other sites, the Guardian has for a long time shown readers the pieces other people are clicking on in the form of a “Most viewed” list. But these lists often don’t include wonderful journalism on topics more off the beaten track. The “Deeply read” list uses attention time to surface a wider range of journalism that other readers are spending more time with. It appears on our regionalised home pages and reflects the interests of the region’s audience.

Not all of these pieces are long. To power the list we created a metric that looks at the attention time from readers compared with the length of the piece. This means that the list is diverse in terms of topic, length and format.

We hope you enjoy the increased variety and depth of the pieces you find here.

Keyword – Society
Trefwoorden – NHS, Nottingham, Women’s health, Women, Health, Society, UK news
Title – ‘Truly horrific’: the stories of five people affected by the NHS maternity scandal | NHS | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jessica-murray
Link – ‘Truly horrific’: the stories of five people affected by the NHS maternity scandal | NHS | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-22T07:00:03.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/22/nhs-maternity-scandal-nottingham-report-five-stories

T he long-awaited report into maternity failures at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust (NUH), the largest investigation of its kind involving about 2,500 families, will be published later this week.

Led by the senior midwife Donna Ockenden, the inquiry investigated stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and babies or mothers who suffered brain damage and other injuries between 2012 and 2025.

It follows a decade-long campaign for justice and change by the families affected. Some share their stories about what happened to them in Nottingham, and explain why this is such a landmark moment.

Wynter Andrews

Wynter died in 2019 at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) from hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy – a loss of oxygen flow to the brain – which could have been prevented had staff delivered her earlier.

Wynter’s mother, Sarah Andrews, said: “I went into labour and I was having contractions, and for six days, I was basically told to stay at home. I didn’t feel like I had any other choice. And then in hospital, the care was just beset by failures.

“I actually said to my husband I felt like I’d be better off dead than in the situation I was in … It was truly horrific. When they eventually called the emergency C-section and opened me up, the smell of infection filled the room and that’s when they realised that Wynter was stuck in my pelvis. All the warning signs of infection were there.

“Me and Gary had to watch for 23 minutes while they failed to resuscitate her. We had staff come visit us in the bereavement suite and they said it was one of those things, that sometimes babies die. One said to us: ‘If we listen to every mother’s concerns, we’d be overrun.’ They’re telling us that they can’t see anything that’s gone wrong. And a year later, at the inquest, the coroner rules that it’s a clear and obvious case of neglect.

“We have a lifetime of growing up without our daughter. When the cameras stop rolling, when the media goes home, we’re still traumatised people. We continue to live this every day. We’ll never be the same people we were before.

“This report is going to be very traumatic for families but I think it’s important that what happened in Nottingham is laid out so that we can ensure those failures aren’t repeated again.”

Felicity Benyon

Felicity had an emergency hysterectomy at QMC after giving birth in 2015 when she was 29, during which medics accidentally removed her bladder, leaving her with a urostomy bag.

Felicity said: “I had a difficult pregnancy, I was in hospital for weeks. I had a planned C-section and was told that since it was such a high-risk case, a multi-disciplinary team would be involved. But that never happened. They actually let a student doctor do it, despite it being the highest risk C-section they’d had in years. They took out my bladder without even realising. The whole thing.

“Originally they said the placenta accreta [a serious pregnancy condition where the placenta attaches too deeply into the uterine wall] had completely enveloped the bladder. Initially, I was just so happy my baby was alive, so happy that I’d survived because they made me think they had saved the day.

“But then they instigated an investigation, which found the accreta had not touched the bladder and it was completely healthy. I was absolutely floored. It should have just been a hysterectomy and then home, instead of living with lifelong complications.

“It’s completely taken my trust away. I have regular hospital appointments because I now live with this disability, and it’s horrific because I don’t feel like I can trust doctors. I don’t feel safe in hospitals. But that’s the place you’re supposed to feel safe because it’s where you’re at your most vulnerable.

“This review is a huge moment because we’ve fought for years to get this. Going into a pregnancy there’s a risk, but we’re talking about things that were preventable. Things that should never have happened. Things where there’s actually already a system in place to stop them from happening, but it’s just not being adhered to.”

Caitlin Stringer

Caitlin was born prematurely in 2021 at Nottingham City hospital and at 30 days developed necroti sing enterocolitis (NEC), a severe, life-threatening gastrointestinal emergency. Her parents allege the failure of staff to treat her quickly led her to collapse and suffer a severe brain injury.

Caitlin’s mother, Emily Stringer, said: “Caitlin did really well initially, and got off the ventilator really quickly. But we’d been having concerns for few days. We’d been taking photos and showing them to staff of Caitlin’s abdomen getting bigger and bigger, and she wasn’t tolerating her feeds. She was struggling with her breathing and becoming increasingly lethargic. These are all red flag signs of NEC.

“But staff had an answer for everything. They addressed all of our concerns in isolation. No one was either able or willing to join the big picture together, take a step back and think, no, these parents are right, this is a deteriorating baby.

“She collapsed and needed to be put on to a ventilator. The next day her condition worsened. She ended up having over half of her bowel removed because it had ruptured and died inside of her. About a month later, she had a brain scan which showed a devastating injury.

“The trust commissioned an external review and found an X-ray had been taken about 15 hours before Caitlin collapsed, which diagnosed NEC, and she should have been given antibiotics within an hour – but she wasn’t.

“Now she’s expected to die in childhood. She has cerebral palsy and has had multiple respiratory arrests at home. She was in paediatric intensive care 13 times last year. We know that one day one of these will be fatal. It’s horrendous.

“This review feels like the validation that I never wanted. It’s great that people will understand the truth, the scale of what’s happened to thousands of families in Nottingham, but heartbreaking that they have to. Things that you think are unthinkable, that you think are ludicrous, they can’t possibly do that – well, we know that they have.”

Quinn Parker

Quinn died at Nottingham City hospital 36 hours after his birth in 2021 . His mother, Emmie Studencki, went to hospital four times with bleeding in the late stages of her pregnancy and said her requests for a caesarean section were ignored.

Quinn’s father, Ryan Parker, said: “I know it’s very cliche, but you do think you’re in the best place at the time. Emmie had bled a lot, and in hospital we had a feeling that something wasn’t right. What is really happening is Quinn is just slowly dying but no one’s doing anything.

“Eventually a doctor decided to break her waters and I just remember the whole bed was covered in blood and liquid. People came flying in and tried to scan for Quinn’s heart, and Emmie was stretchered out. I didn’t know if either of them were alive. Eventually a midwife told me that Quinn was OK and Emmie was in recovery, but then 90 minutes later a neonatal consultant appeared and told me Quinn actually had brain damage.

“We later found out that paramedics had noted all of the concerns about rigid abdomen and blood loss of over a litre, and the notes were not collected properly by the hospital.

“The Ockenden review doesn’t feel like the end of a journey, it feels like a significant landmark moment which should result in more attention and a fundamental appreciation of how dire some maternity care in this country is. Ultimately you want to ensure other places aren’t a Nottingham, but the reality of the situation is other places are already Nottinghams.”

Harriet Hawkins

Harriet was stillborn at Nottingham City hospital in April 2016 after her mother had been in labour for six days. An external review of the case found 13 failures and concluded the death was almost certainly preventable.

Her mother, Sarah Hawkins, said: “You hope that you’re going to be the only person that’s been through this, but when you hear of other people, and it’s not just one or two, it’s hundreds and thousands. You just lose your faith in the NHS .

“When I was eventually brought in, Harriet’s head was coming out of me. For three years, they tried to tell us it was an infection. We had to wait two years to have Harriet’s funeral.

“For so long in Nottingham we were made to feel like the mad grieving parents. Harriet should have been a serious incident within 48 hours, and it took us 159 days to actually get an incident logged. It just felt like a complete cover-up.

“Quite a lot of people focus on statistics, and that’s fine. But you’ve got to think we drove home with an empty car seat, we had to empty our nursery, I gave birth so I still had leaky boobs and hair loss, you have everything. It’s not just an intrapartum death, it’s someone’s baby.

“The massive thing for me [with the Ockenden report] will be the feeling of eventually being heard and listened to. It took over 10 years. Loads and loads of families were referred to as tragic, isolated cases which clearly wasn’t the case.”

The NUH chief executive, Anthony May, said: “I want to pay tribute to the bravery of the many families who have worked tirelessly to get answers and to make maternity services safer for others.

“I have met some of the affected families, and they have shared their painful and life-changing experiences with me, for which I am very grateful. I am very sorry for the pain and suffering these families have endured.”

He said NUH staff had “shown their commitment to change”.

“Upon receiving the findings of the review, we will consider carefully what we need to do next to ensure that we learn from what happened in the past and to continue to improve maternity services,” he said.