Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Palestine, Israel, Ed Miliband, Politics, Middle East and north Africa
Title – The Guardian view on Britain’s new Middle East policy: an unlawful occupation must carry a price | Editorial | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/editorial
Link – The Guardian view on Britain’s new Middle East policy: an unlawful occupation must carry a price | Editorial | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T17:35:24.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/08/the-guardian-view-on-britains-new-middle-east-policy-an-unlawful-occupation-must-carry-a-price

R arely in recent years has the Commons felt like the cockpit of history. On Tuesday it did. The foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, placed Britain at the head of a 12-country coalition considering economic restrictions on Israel’s illegal settlements, with the UK, France and Canada committing to national trade bans.

The move comes after escalating numbers of attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian villages in the West Bank. International opinion seemed to shift decisively after Israel gave the go-ahead for 1,200 homes in the E1 settlement that would cleave the West Bank into two – using illegal settlements to bury Palestinian statehood for good. Mr Miliband added that evidence of war crimes in Gaza was mounting, making the overdue case for Britain to recast its economic and military relationship with Israel.

Mr Miliband, who is Jewish and lost more than 60 relatives at the hands of the Nazis, declared himself to be a friend of Israel. But clearly he thinks friends should talk straight to each other. Mr Miliband has delivered perhaps the toughest official British indictment of Israeli conduct in recent history, declaring that “ ethnic cleansing ” is taking place in the West Bank and accusing members of Israel’s government of supporting forced displacement.

Probably the most consequential move by Mr Miliband is to formally declare the occupation of the Palestinian territories unlawful, in line with the international court of justice ’s 2024 opinion. The import ban logically follows. But private acts will have to change too. British companies could soon have to ask whether they are profiting from – or helping to sustain – an illegal occupation.

To emphasise this point, the foreign secretary also promised to take action against those providing construction, infrastructure and financing services, because a goods-only ban would leave untouched the commercial activity sustaining unlawful settlements. He also committed to target extremist settlers and to refuse to license arms sales that “ contribute to the occupation ”. By simultaneously sanctioning Iran and Hezbollah, the UK is signalling that it recognises the threats Israel faces while opposing its illegal actions.

No one can accuse Mr Miliband of ducking a fight. His statement will be pored over by the Trump administration, which has supported Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Being part of an international coalition will help to shield Britain from US ire. However, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, warned that some US states such as Florida could impose penalties against foreign governments deemed to be boycotting Israel.

Britain’s intervention comes in the midst of an Israeli election campaign. Opinion polls give neither Mr Netanyahu’s far-right coalition nor the opposition a sustained lead. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, a figure expected to be above the fray, absurdly claimed that Mr Miliband was interfering in the elections – as if the campaign itself could excuse ethnic cleansing. Israel closed the UK consulate in Jerusalem as a first response.

Tuesday’s announcement deserves a welcome. Mr Miliband has been characteristically brave. But the test is not what he said, but what he enforces in the weeks and months ahead. He promises a “sanctions regime” to take action against “companies and individuals” aiding settlements. Britain has accepted the principle that it must sever the business ties that uphold an unlawful occupation. The test is whether Mr Miliband can turn that into a comprehensive embargo, rather than a symbolic blacklist.

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Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Solheim Cup, Golf, Sport
Title – Solheim Cup vice-captain denies Charley Hull’s late arrival due to ‘drinks’ | Solheim Cup | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ewanmurray
Link – Solheim Cup vice-captain denies Charley Hull’s late arrival due to ‘drinks’ | Solheim Cup | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T17:29:19.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/08/solheim-cup-vice-captain-denies-charley-hulls-late-arrival-due-to-drinks

Charley Hull has, unsurprisingly, been involved in a colourful start to Solheim Cup week. After arriving late for her Tuesday practice tee time in the Netherlands, an online clip of her joking about the reason prompted a cascade of online speculation and ended with members of the European team hierarchy forcibly denying any overindulgence on the teetotal Hull’s behalf on Monday night.

In an unusual scene, Hull, who is crucial to Europe’s quest to reclaim the Solheim Cup from the US this week, drove off alone at Bernardus Golf and caught up with her teammates after arriving on the 1st tee minutes behind them. In a clip that gained traction, Hull appeared to jokingly blame “drinks” from the night before. The English golfer did, however, seem to point towards her caddie at the time.

When asked about Hull’s delayed arrival, the European vice-captain Mel Reid, slightly strangely, focused firstly on the online speculation. “It is a completely false story,” said Reid. “Charley Hull was the first one to bed last night at eight o’clock and the first one on the bus this morning. She doesn’t even drink. So that is a completely false story that has been misquoted.

“She was late to the tee because I was responsible for her so I will take a little bit of responsibility for that. She just thought her tee time was a little bit later and trying to drag Charley Hull off the range is a feat in any tournament, especially a Solheim Cup.”

When it was pointed out to Reid that many observers were unaware of the “false story” anyway, she said: “I kind of want to shut this down before people start talking about it. She was late because one, I couldn’t drag her off the range and two, she thought her tee time was five minutes later.”

There is rarely a dull moment around Hull. Her participation in the recent Women’s Open was overshadowed by a prank she played on her caddie. Alongside Lottie Woad, she is one of two members of the world’s top 10 in the European side.

Hull’s individualism is one of her most endearing qualities. Anna Nordqvist, the European captain, denied that was in any way a problem but did concede Hull was given permission to arrive in the Netherlands later than her teammates.

“It has been really nice to see how much Charley has started to embrace the whole Solheim Cup atmosphere,” said Nordqvist. “It is nice to see how excited she is. I flew in on Saturday, some of the girls flew in on Sunday. For Charley, we decided she was going to be better off preparing at home in England so she flew in last night.

“I was on the 1st tee this morning, I told the other three girls to go. It takes a good five or 10 minutes to get out there so I told them Charley would just catch up because we knew she was on her way.”

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – England rugby union team, Rugby union, Sport
Title – England coaches tell Lawes and Marchant they need to prove themselves in Prem | England rugby union team | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gerard-meagher
Link – England coaches tell Lawes and Marchant they need to prove themselves in Prem | England rugby union team | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T17:00:45.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/08/england-coaches-tell-lawes-and-marchant-they-need-to-prove-themselves-in-prem

Courtney Lawes and Joe Marchant have been warned they must go “over and above” the performances of their rivals in the first five weeks of the new season to earn England recalls this autumn.

Lawes, 37, and the 30-year-old Marchant have both joined Sale this summer after spells in France and stated their ambition to resurrect their international careers, having last represented England at the 2023 World Cup.

Lawes retired from international duty after that tournament and helped Northampton to secure the Prem title before heading to Brive in France’s second tier for two years, while Marchant spent three seasons at Stade Français before agreeing a move to the north-west.

While both are now eligible for selection again, Steve Borthwick has not chosen them for the pre-season camp this week and the pair have been challenged to prove they warrant a place in the autumn squad expected to be named in late October.

“It is great to have [Courtney] back, [he has] unbelievable experience, [he’s] an England legend and he is back in pre-season, as everyone is, flying,” the England senior assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth said. “There is a real excitement about watching him back in the Prem so I am enjoying that.

“I have actually bumped into Joe Marchant walking around living quite close to me so I caught up with him and it is great to have him back. We want as much quality as we can have in the league but they are going to have to go and play well because there are some good players in the room and to put them in you have to leave someone else out, so they would have to go over and above that I would say.”

Lawes has been clear that he believes players based in France should still be eligible for selection for England but the current criteria means those such as Jack Willis miss out. Wigglesworth feels Lawes’s decision to return and pursue another World Cup is a positive move for England.

“Everyone’s case is individual in where you want to play your rugby and what you want to do – I couldn’t have given it up, I didn’t play [for England] as much as loads of people. But Courtney has said: ‘I have got an itch here and I am coming back.’ How good is that as a statement? I am coming back because I want to do this. That level of determination and the qualities he has should put himself in a good spot.”

Meanwhile the captain, Maro Itoje, has returned to the fold after he was rested for the summer fixtures against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina after showing signs of fatigue during the Six Nations. “He is looking hungry,” the attack coach, Lee Blackett, said. “At first he thought it would be good for him. I don’t think he realised how good it would be for him. He looks really hungry to be back and in a good place.”

Keyword – Fashion
Trefwoorden – Beauty, Phoebe Bridgers, Fashion, Life and style, Music, Women’s hair
Title – The rise of hairy young women: ‘I know people who dye their armpit hair, so it stands out more’ | Beauty | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/leah-harper
Link – The rise of hairy young women: ‘I know people who dye their armpit hair, so it stands out more’ | Beauty | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T16:58:06.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026/sep/08/phoebe-bridgers-venice-festival-leg-armpit-hair-women-beauty-shaving

I n 2026, female body hair feels as if it should be the least of anyone’s concerns. But although we may think we’ve come a long way since Julia Roberts’ unshaven underarm caused a furore at the 1999 London premiere of Notting Hill, depilation remains a staple of many women’s grooming routines – and when singer turned actor Phoebe Bridgers made her Venice film festival debut last weekend, her unshaven legs still made headlines.

Even so, her au naturel look may signal that attitudes are changing – particularly among younger generations. Vogue decreed that “rather than undermining the femininity of the look, unapologetic hair sharpened it”, and pictures of the 32-year-old’s hair-covered calves were generally praised by fans. But what do other gen Z and millennial women make of the decision to ditch the razor?

“Hell yeah!” is 27-year-old PhD student Anna Busuttil’s response. “I think it’s awesome; cool and rebellious,” she says – a view that chimes with that of most of the women I speak to outside University College London’s Bloomsbury campus. Busuttil says she sees a lot more women nowadays choosing not to remove their body hair. “I know people who dye their armpit hair a certain colour as well, so it stands out even more. I feel like leg hair is more taboo for women; it feels like such a ‘masculine’ thing, and legs are supposed to be a really sexy part of a woman.”

Francesca Hall, 25, agrees: she removes her leg hair, but doesn’t worry about her underarms. Yet she feels that, if anything, it’s becoming less common to go unshaven. “There’s been a general shift, culturally, towards more conservative ideas,” says the student union-worker. “It’s the same with veganism; it’s gone backwards a bit. My friendship group is quite queer, leftwing, and not everyone would remove their leg hair.” But, she says, not removing leg hair is more common “in those circles … I definitely think there’s a correlation there.”

“I’ve got really hairy legs!” says student Phoebe Green, 21, hitching up her long shorts so I can get a better look. “I don’t really pay attention to the trends that are going around; having leg hair doesn’t affect my life in any way,” she says. “I’ve definitely had a few comments, a few condescending dudes being like, ‘why aren’t they shaved?’ But I get a lot of compliments from girls, there’s a lot of solidarity.”

Children’s nurse Venus Whyte, 23, thinks that attitudes are changing among younger generations – albeit slowly. “I think society puts pressure on women to shave when they don’t really want to,” she says. “If I’m wearing something where my legs are showing, I would prefer to shave but that’s just what I feel comfortable doing.”

Not everyone thinks that leg hair remains the most taboo type of female body hair: for 24-year-old Wendi Fei, it’s armpit hair. She will shave hers for the first time ever this week, for her graduation ceremony. “It’s a formal event so I will be wearing a dress,” she explains. “I don’t think women really need to shave – men don’t need to do it – but some women think that it’s not beautiful.”

Bridgers was also at a formal event: she paired her unshaven calves with a Gucci skirt suit at the photocall for her first acting role, in A24’s psychological crime thriller Primetime. Online, Bridgers fans – or “ Pharbs ” – appeared to approve: “Sorry I actually might cry this is the first time I’ve seen a favourite artist of mine with her leg hair out while wearing feminine clothing like it’s the most normal thing in the world (which it should be!!)” wrote X user @starforthemagic ; “wait this is literally so rare for public figures omg …. queen” agreed @yyelyahkwonn .

But for 22-year-old student Matilda Moore, social media can sometimes be part of why women feel required to conform to certain beauty standards. “Women shouldn’t have to worry about removing body hair – it’s down to individual preference,” she says, “but I still see, sadly, on social media, that women can get a lot of backlash for how they present themselves, which I think is unfair.”

Postgrad student Sarah Cender, 26, agrees that while many of her friends would be happy not to remove their body hair, they worry about how they might be seen by their peers. “I don’t think that it matters – but other people might judge you or see you differently,” she says. Laser hair removal has become more common than shaving or waxing among her friendship group: “so you can just get rid of the hair permanently”.

“I have lots of friends who religiously get laser everywhere,” agrees Hannah, a legal and corporate services manager at a trend forecasting company, “but I can’t even be bothered plucking my eyebrows, you know?” The 30-year-old feels that, today, people are more empowered to do what they want when it comes to grooming, especially compared with when she was younger. “I am just pretty lazy, I’ll be honest,” she laughs.

Her thoughts on Bridgers’ look? “Go her! I rate that.”

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Israel, Palestine, West Bank, Middle East and north Africa, World news, UK news, Foreign policy
Title – Israel to close British consulate in Jerusalem after sanctions announced | Israel | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/peterbeaumont
Link – Israel to close British consulate in Jerusalem after sanctions announced | Israel | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T16:55:26.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/08/israel-close-british-consulate-jerusalem-sanctions

Israel has ordered the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem in response to sweeping UK sanctions on goods from illegal settlements.

Reacting to Ed Miliband’s description of violent Jewish settler activity on the occupied Palestinian West Bank as “ethnic cleansing” carried out with the tacit backing of the Netanyahu government , Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced retaliatory measures including the closure of the consulate and entry bans on several UK MPs.

It is the latest stage in a furious and escalating row between the countries in which diplomatic relations have hit rock bottom.

The consulate in the Sheikh Jarrah area of the city focuses on Palestinian issues in the occupied territories, including Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem. The British embassy in Tel Aviv is where the UK’s ambassador to Israel is based.

While most countries regard East Jerusalem as illegally occupied by Israel since the Six Day War in 1967, Israel says Jerusalem is its undivided capital.

“United Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and is under its full sovereignty,” Sa’ar said. “Any foreign activity in the area must be conducted through accepted and agreed channels and without violating Israel’s sovereignty.”

Sa’ar also announced entry bans on a number of mostly leftwing MPs including the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the Your Party MP Zarah Sultana, the Labour MPs Diane Abbott, Naz Shah, John McDonnell and Richard Burgon and the Green MPs Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer, Siân Berry and Ellie Chowns.

The Israeli government added that longstanding British involvement in the training of Palestinian security forces on the West Bank would be terminated. Britain will also be excluded from the US-led Gaza coordination mission, which is based in Israel.

The British sanctions were coordinated with 11 other countries, including France and Canada.

Sa’ar said: “The British move is morally distorted, ​and constitutes blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and its electoral process.”

He added: “Israel has nothing against the British people. We know that we have many friends in Britain. Unfortunately, a hostile Labour government is in office, systematically acting against the state of Israel, and it has left us with no choice but to finally respond to its hostile actions.”

Sa’ar said that he ​had coordinated ‌Israel’s response ​with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel will hold an election in late October.

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, called the ban “a grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history”.

“In the current context, it would be a gross interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign nation,” he said. “Sanctions are not a solution – dialogue is. I say to all foreign governments: Stop. Step away from the dead-end of sanctions and boycotts, and turn toward constructive dialogue and toward cooperation.”

Settlement building and settlement-related violence have increased under the auspices of far-right Israeli ministers in the Netanyahu government who have said publicly that they aim to “bury” a two state solution through their actions.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hardline public security minister and a settler leader, called on Netanyahu to recognise Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic known in Argentina as Islas Malvinas.

The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a longtime supporter of the settlements, said the British sanctions were “discrimination against the Jewish people”. He said the UK could face “repercussions or retaliations” from the US.

However, in a markedly more muted response, US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Washington would ‌not follow Britain, ​France and Canada in blocking ⁠imports from Israeli ​settlements in ​the Palestinian ​territory and did not want to see moves that would destabilise the West Bank.

Israel has been under notice from successive British governments – both Conservative and Labour – for years over the risk of international isolation and potential sanctions related to continuing settlement activity in the occupied territories. These warnings have becomelouder in recent years as violent settler activity has escalated.

The UK’s Labour government previously sanctioned some Israeli settlers and illegal outposts over violence against Palestinians and illegal development in the West Bank.

In a change of Britain’s position, Miliband, the foreign secretary, said on Tuesday that the UK regards Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, and not just the settlements, as illegal.

The tougher stance is likely to be welcomed by many Labour voters and lawmakers, who have urged the government to go further in sanctioning Israel and supporting Palestinians.

Difficulties to establishing an EU-wide approach, coordinated with the UK, had led to countries making individual decisions on a widening sanctions regime that culminated in the joint statement by 12 countries that they were setting in train the process of far harder-hitting sanctions.

Keyword – Science
Trefwoorden – Ig Nobel prizes, Psychology, Biology, Science prizes
Title – Are rich people really worse behaved? Here’s the science – video | Ig Nobel prizes | The Guardian
Author – Madeleine Finlay
Link – Are rich people really worse behaved? Here’s the science – video | Ig Nobel prizes | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T16:26:32.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2026/sep/08/are-rich-people-really-worse-behaved-heres-the-science-video

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Ballon d’Or, Harry Kane, Football, Sport
Title – Harry Kane and Alessia Russo among nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or | Ballon d'Or | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-sport
Link – Harry Kane and Alessia Russo among nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or | Ballon d'Or | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T16:11:38.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/sep/08/harry-kane-alessia-russo-nominees-ballon-dor-2026

Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice have been nominated for this year’s men’s Ballon d’Or with Alessia Russo and Alex Greenwood nominated for the women’s award.

The 30 men’s and 30 women’s nominees were revealed by France Football magazine on Tuesday, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony in London on 26 October. Ousmane Dembélé, who won the men’s award last year, has been nominated again, as has his France teammate Kylian Mbappé , who made history when he overtook Lionel Messi for all-time World Cup goals (22) at this summer’s tournament.

In the women’s field, two-time winner Alexia Putellas, Ewa Pajor and Melchie Dumornay are among the favourites to succeed Aitana Bonmatí. Winner of the past three awards, Bonmatí did not make the cut after missing most of the season through injury. The Spaniard returned at the end of Barcelona’s quadruple-winning season that included another Champions League title.

Kane is odds-on to win the men’s award after a club-record 61 goals in 51 games for German double winners Bayern Munich last season. He also scored six times at the World Cup for England, a tournament where Bellingham and Rice shone as well, the latter also playing a key role in Arsenal ending a 22-year wait for the Premier League title.

Lamine Yamal, who won La Liga with Barcelona and the World Cup with Spain, is second favourite to win the award, followed by his club and international teammate Rodri. Messi, who has a record eight Ballon d’Or awards, is on the shortlist after guiding Argentina to the World Cup final and winning Major League Soccer with Inter Miami.

Russo finished third in last year’s voting and enjoyed another successful individual campaign, scoring 24 goals in 40 club appearances. Greenwood, the Manchester City captain, lifted the Women’s Super League and FA Cup last season.

The Ballon d’Or ceremony is moving from its traditional Paris home to London this year to mark the 70th anniversary of the first award won by England great Stanley Matthews.

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Culture, Comedy films, Maisie Williams, Comedy, Romance films
Title – Practical Magic 2 review – Bullock and Kidman return for odd sequel that still casts a spell | Film | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/adrian-horton
Link – Practical Magic 2 review – Bullock and Kidman return for odd sequel that still casts a spell | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T16:05:39.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/08/practical-magic-2-movie-review

M uch has changed in the universe, cosmic and otherwise, since the Owens witches last graced the big screen with their practical magic of sleeping draughts, midnight margaritas and generational love curses. For one, movies like the 1998 cult-ish classic Practical Magic – a compellingly bizarre mashup of genres, aspirational 90s fashion and sisterly affection starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in their movie-star primes as lovelorn sorceresses in Puritan-lite Massachusetts – largely stopped reaching theaters. For another, nostalgia cycles only intensified and tightened, our algorithms clogged with unsolicited sequels and dupes for Bullock’s impeccable vintage 90s Levi’s.

Which makes Practical Magic 2, reuniting both Kidman and Bullock, and Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as their lovingly eccentric aunts, somewhat of an anomaly, at once a seeming inevitability and, as a matrilineal romance comedy (though decidedly not a romcom) starring two 60-year-old women , an oddity . There’s no circumventing nostalgia bait, but Practical Magic remains so idiosyncratic in tone and, well, kookiness, that a sequel somewhat appeals.

The new film, directed by Susanne Bier from a script by original co-screenwriter Akiva Goldsman alongside Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel (and again based on a book by Alice Hoffman ), doubles down on the distillable ingredients of the original – hairpin tonal turns; strange CGI flourishes; needle drops by Stevie Nicks, that patron saint of witchy white women – though perhaps to a fault. Once again, Bullock’s Sally, the older and more neurotic/sensible of the central sisters, has given up practicing magic, much to the chagrin of Kidman’s looser, airier Gilly. Though she ended the first film believing that she broke the centuries-long curse that every man an Owens woman loved was doomed to die, life offered no such happy endings; her second husband, played in the original by Aidan Quinn, lasted only a few years, prompting her to supernaturally erase any memories of magic from her daughters’ minds, lest they too knowingly love a man to death.

This requires a little magical fudging of the timeline: though the original took place in March 1998– so says Quinn’s investigator Gary Hallet when interviewing Sally for the suspected murder of Gilly’s serial killer ex (it’s kooky!) – new headstones place the events in early 2000s. That’s all the better for Kidman and Bullock, both older now than Channing and Wiest were in the original but with fewer laugh lines, to hover somewhere in the uncanny valley of Hollywood middle age and keep Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia ( Maisie Williams ), who should be in their mid-30s, in the young 20s heyday of first real love. (Sorry to the recast Evan Rachel Wood and Alexandra Artrip.)

This will prove irksome if you, like me, are timeline-sensitive, but the original’s playful sense of tone, logic and rules in general was admittedly central to its appeal. I find it endearing that the magic in the Practical Magic franchise allows for generational curses, purgatorial spirits and the automatic stirring of coffee cups but not, say, levitating suitcases upstairs, forcing poor Kidman to lug oversized bags through three separate scenes.

So it goes – though Gilly obliquely warns Kylie that “love is our undoing” with “ heartbreak feels good in a place like this ” camp sincerity (complimentary), Kylie goes on loving anyway. And when her doting college boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Maridueña) ends up cursed in a coma, she, like her mother before her, tearfully rages against the powers that be and, guided by a recently unearthed Book of the Raven, flees to the Owens’ ancestral homeland of England. Sally and Gilly, whose old-pro sparring could sustain a lesser sequel, chase after her, leaving poor Williams and Channing – by far the film’s most luminous screen presence – stranded at the hospital in Boston. A shame, as I would love Aunt Fran’s take on the men they meet abroad, a fascinating dichotomy of masculinity in the hetero-pessimist age: one, an occult professor played by 6ft 5in internet boyfriend Lee Pace, openly pines for Sally, encouraging her to feel her feelings and embrace her power while covered in tattoos; the other, a brooding warlock with a mask of affability (Solly McLeod), craves Kylie’s power, seething with a resonant, almost too pointed sense of aggrieved entitlement.

The plot beats, guiding all the women through said men back to both magic and each other, are characteristically odd and mostly beside the point; if you’re watching the Practical Magic sequel, it is probably to see Kidman and Bullock channel their unique movie-star sorcery – beguiling eccentricity and earthy exasperation, both singularly endearing in their primes – and they conjure it with muscle memory that is fascinating in its own right.

Still, there is some comfort in the Owens’ narrative circularity; in the occult realm, as in the real one, we never truly escape our inheritances nor ourselves, even as times (and men, and hair) change. The overarching, if occasionally overwritten (“no magic is stronger than sisterhood”), theme of feminine solidarity through cyclical adversity is winning enough. The midnight margarita redux may feel obligatory, but there’s just enough magic here to still, despite everything, cast a peculiar spell.

Practical Magic 2 is out in US and Australian cinemas on 10 September and in the UK on 11 September

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Vuelta a España, Cycling, Sport
Title – Vuelta a España: Matthew Brennan follows Van Aert’s lead to complete four-timer | Vuelta a España | The Guardian
Author – Associated Press
Link – Vuelta a España: Matthew Brennan follows Van Aert’s lead to complete four-timer | Vuelta a España | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T16:02:03.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/08/vuelta-a-espana-matthew-brennan-four-timer-stage-16

Matthew Brennan enhanced his status as the standout sprinter at the Vuelta a España by winning a fourth stage on his Grand Tour debut.

The 21-year-old British rider was delivered to the front of the bunch with 100 metres left by an ideal leadout from Wout van Aert, his star teammate at Visma-Lease a Bike who had already won two stages at this race.

Crossing the line, Brennan raised his right hand with four fingers out in a victory salute. Bryan Coquard was second and Vito Braet third. Van Aert was sixth at the end of a 181km ride in blazing heat from Cortegana to Palos de la Frontera.

“It’s unbelievable. Four stages and the plan was for one,” Brennan said. “As a team we’re on six, I’ve lost count.” Of Van Aert’s work setting up the win, Brennan said: “It’s incredible that he can bring you in such a perfect position in such a chaotic race.”

After 16 stages, the overall leader, Enric Mas, retained his advantage in the red jersey of 2min 6sec ahead of Felix Gall. Primoz Roglic is four seconds further back in third.

Wednesday’s stage is another flat ride into Seville before a 32.5km time-trial on Thursday that could be key for Roglic’s hopes. The Vuelta finishes on Sunday in Granada.

Keyword – Art and design
Trefwoorden – Art and design, Culture, Art, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Art theft, France, Europe, Museums
Title – A constipated baby and a kid that looks like Boris Johnson: why would anyone bother stealing a Renoir? | Art and design | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/eddy-frankel
Link – A constipated baby and a kid that looks like Boris Johnson: why would anyone bother stealing a Renoir? | Art and design | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-08T15:33:41.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/sep/08/why-would-anyone-bother-stealing-a-renoir-boris-johnson

S tealing from the Louvre you can understand. I mean, who wouldn’t want a Géricault or Leonardo to hang in the downstairs loo? Same for the Musée d’Orsay too, even the Pompidou – they’re French museums absolutely rammed full of stunning art, all just begging to be audaciously heisted. But the Renoir Museum? It’s hard to see why anyone would bother.

As French art fans reel at the news that two Renoir paintings were stolen from the Cagnes-sur-Mer museum that bears his name this week, the rest of the art world has been saying really? Him? Renoir? He’s … awful. It’s like doing a heist of flares in the era of skinny jeans.

Did the thieves know something the rest of us don’t? Or was this just a crime of opportunity, taking advantage of a regional art museum with shonky security?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was one of impressionism’s head honchos, a leading figure in one of 19th-century art’s most important movements. But time hasn’t been too kind to poor old Pierre. Where his contemporaries like Monet, Cézanne and Degas have been heralded as modernist revolutionaries, artists who shaped the future of western painting and helped set the path that all of their successors would soon follow, in recent years Renoir has been denigrated, mocked, protested and hashtagged.

In 2015, a group who called themselves Renoir Sucks at Painting picketed the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and then protested outside the Met in New York, with placards that read “God Hates Renoir” and “ReNOir”, demanding the museums remove his work from display. And they had their sympathisers: the hashtag #RenoirSucksatPainting trended soon after, they sold hundreds of anti-Renoir T-shirts, and their Instagram was full of photos of people giving the finger to Renoir paintings or pretending to vomit in front of them.

And his crime? Kitsch and chintziness. His work is soft focus and gentle, his figures are plump and joyful, it’s all happy haze and night-time revelry. He lacks the hard-edged absolute dedication to angular, prismatic experimentation that made the impressionists so famous. He is the safest of the group, the chocolate boxiest, the easiest, the horniest. And that has made him the most hated.

It’s not a new thing. Even his contemporaries disliked him. Édouard Manet said he had “no talent” and Mary Cassatt described his paintings of women as “the most awful of all”. Add to all of that a hefty dose of antisemitism (he refused to take part in exhibitions that featured Jewish impressionist Camille Pissarro), a big pinch of misogyny, and you’ve got a recipe of aesthetic distaste that can last centuries.

However in PR terms, the timing of this latest in a long string of French art robberies couldn’t be better. The National Gallery is opening their major Renoir and Love exhibition next month, a show they hope will have the same blockbuster success it had at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris this summer.

I want to defend Renoir, if only for the sake of debate, but I’ve hated his work for decades. I like him when he’s weird, when his nudes look like a super-psychedelic, ultra-horny version of Rubens with endless, surreal, undulating rolls of pink flesh. And I like a lot of his hazy, strange landscapes, though not as much as the work of any other impressionist. But for the most part, the haters are right.

I mean look at the works the thieves made off with after cutting through the fence with bolt cutters in the early hours of the morning. The first is Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano , her tiny head dwarfed by shoulders so vastly broad she could play rugby for Saracens, all watched over by a tiny painting-within-a-painting of a constipated looking baby. The other, Jeune Femme au Puits , is an unfinished smudge of a woman pulling a bucket out of a well. An art detective said the thieves would “have no idea what to do” with the paintings, well, they probably have some idea, and it involves the dustbin.

The best bit about this week’s heist on the Côte d’Azur is that the thieves actually took four paintings, but decided to leave two behind as they ran for it, including a portrait of a little boy who looks almost exactly like Boris Johnson. In all my years as an art critic, I’ve never managed a piece of criticism as incisive, cutting and direct as a bunch of criminals looking at a painting that they’d already nicked and thinking “leave it – it’s not worth it”.