Keyword – Music
Trefwoorden – Music, Culture, Jazz
Title – Joe Lovano: Paramount Quartet review – inspired sax maestro bounces from bebop to fertile improv | Music | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/johnfordham
Link – Joe Lovano: Paramount Quartet review – inspired sax maestro bounces from bebop to fertile improv | Music | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-19T07:30:25.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jun/19/joe-lovano-paramount-quartet-review

T he saxophone’s 19th-century inventor, the Belgian Adolphe Sax , imagined hybrid horns that could combine the speed and fluency of woodwinds with the volume and punch of brass. Sax’s career was almost derailed by a childhood of hair-raisingly frequent accident-proneness that led his mother to fear for his survival, but at 20 he patented a prototype contrabass clarinet, and then the first saxophone as its offspring. Sneered at by traditionalists for decades, the sax was sidelined to parade bands and purring strings mimicry in dance orchestras – until jazz musicians from Sidney Bechet in the 1920s to Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and scores more contemporary originals, all the way to Joe Lovano today, put it centre stage as jazz’s radiantly expressive equivalent of the classical violin.

And Lovano’s Paramount Quartet glows with all the saxophone’s pliable eloquence in a master’s hands, alongside comparably free-spirited guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Asante Santi Debriano and sometime Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun. Lovano is a brilliant bebop player, but also an inspired free-improviser, creatively inhabiting the sound worlds of classic jazz, global music and more texture-based European approaches. He played Charlie Haden’s First Song with Bill Frisell long ago, and here it returns on a lyrical solo guitar intro from Lage and an exquisite sax theme, spinning into long improv over vaporous guitar chords and soft, sleek runs.

On the faintly Ornettish Amsterdam (featuring the tonally rich G mezzo soprano sax), symmetrical ascents and descents swell into fast improv-swapping sax/guitar improv as Calhoun’s rattling percussion intensifies; Fanfare for Unity is a percussive disguised-funk dance, Wayne Shorter’s Lady Day is entrancing, and Congregation summons up the communal vibe of its title. A late-career triumph from a tireless maestro of the saxophone.

Also out this month

Saxophonist Joshua Redman ’s recent collaborations with California-born vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa have confirmed this newcomer’s shrewd musicality, intelligence and heart. On Diavola (Blue Note) , Redman and guitarist Jeff Parker guest on Cavassa’s originals and audacious remakes, including an intimate Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, a capricious To Say Goodbye and a private, hypnotic Could It Be Magic. Tehran-born, Vienna-based guitarist Mahan Mirarab unveils a unique sound palette on Unspoken (ACT) , playing a double-necked instrument with both fretted and fretless fingerboards to mingle east and west on a fascinating mix of traditional themes and covers including the Joe Zawinul/Miles Davis classic In a Silent Way. And long-running UK ensemble Empirical release Like Lambs: To the Slaughter (Whirlwind) , with guests Ivo Neame on piano and David Preston on guitar, joining regulars Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), Tom Farmer (bass), and Shaney Forbes (drums/composition). Yoruba traditions, European chamber music, post-bop and free-improv mingle on this engaging trip across Empirical’s ever-inviting ballpark.

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Andy Burnham, Illustration, Politics, Manchester, Greater Manchester, UK news, Labour, Art and design, Design
Title – ‘Within 10 mins, Andy had nicked it’: illustrator on his ubiquitous image of Andy Burnham | Andy Burnham | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/morwennaferrier
Link – ‘Within 10 mins, Andy had nicked it’: illustrator on his ubiquitous image of Andy Burnham | Andy Burnham | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T06:00:04.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/20/stanley-chow-andy-burnham-illustration

It was shortly after Andy Burnham’s famously rousing speech outside the Manchester Central Library in October 2020 that Stanley Chow decided to draw him. Or rather his wife did.

“It was the pandemic and we were all so down in the dumps at that point,” says the illustrator, speaking from his home in the city this week. But I remember looking around and he had just moved everyone.”

“He was already a good mayor, but at that point we all thought: ‘Oh shit, he’s really good.’ And then my wife goes: you should draw Andy.”

So he did, using his preferred medium, Adobe Illustrator. “I put it on Twitter and within 10 mins, Andy had nicked it.”

Chow, a 51-year-old designer who grew up in Altrincham and then Stockport, has met Burnham a few times, and describes him as jolly and personable. His image of Burnham is “funny with just a little anger in there”. As an illustrator, he says his style is “hard to pin down” but that it sits somewhere between caricature and portraiture. His technique is to reduce someone’s face to an assembly of shapes while somehow keeping them “recognisably themselves”.

Chow did his foundation course at Manchester Metropolitan before moving to Swindon. At 21, he returned to Manchester, working in his parent’s chip shop while trying to get work. “I don’t want to blow smoke up my own ass but I’ve always been good, I always knew I would be an artist one way or another,” he says. His illustrations have since appeared in the New Yorker and Time magazine, and he is currently working on an exhibition for Manchester’s Arndale shopping centre.

Burnham initially used the image for his Twitter handle, but it has since appeared on billboards, beer mats, mugs, aprons and record inlays, becoming a visual proxy for both his mayoral campaigns and more recent campaigning in Makerfield. With his spot-on light scowl and navy/black attire, the image has become shorthand for Burnham’s anti-establishment sentiment. “There is no tie, no,” says Chow. After its initial use, Burnham said he was “grateful to Stan for making me look cooler than I am”.

It’s rare for an election these days not to feature some sort of visual merchandising, but making it land is not always a sure thing. “I don’t know why it works but he’s quite a modern guy, and my style is quite similar, so maybe it helps to humanise him?” Chow’s images are modern but playful, he says. “He wants to be seen as a man of the people and maybe the design delivers that?” He’s tweaked it a bit since the initial version, he says.

But it wasn’t just Burnham who copied it from Twitter. Within a few hours of him posting the image, “it had been reused [and memed] to fuck”, most notably by senior Reform UK figures including Nigel Farage and the Makerfield byelection candidate, Robert Kenyon, who recently posted the image on social media, doctored with imagery and words to advance an anti-immigration sentiment.

Chow was neither consulted by, nor gave permission to Reform UK for the image’s usage. “Memes are one thing, but something [nefarious] like that? That’s something else.”

He took legal action and they have since removed the images. “It’s all fair in love and war [on social media] as far as I’m concerned but when it comes to something like Reform, you have to draw a line,” he says. As for Burnham nicking the imagery, “at the time, I didn’t charge him”, says Chow. “I think initially him using it felt like recognition enough for me. But yeah, don’t worry, [Burnham’s team] have licensed the image off me,” he says.

What happens now that Burnham is heading beyond Makerfield? “I’m not sure I want the attention – I mean in some ways this has been my journey too,” he says. “But yes, I’d probably still send him a message.”

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Andy Burnham, Labour party leadership, Makerfield byelection, Greater Manchester, Labour, Politics, UK news
Title – Could ‘king in the north’ become Britain’s new prime minister? | Andy Burnham | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alexandratopping
Link – Could ‘king in the north’ become Britain’s new prime minister? | Andy Burnham | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-19T18:25:01.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/andy-burnham-could-king-north-become-britain-new-prime-minister

“W e know no king but the King in the North”, declares the young Lady Lyanna Mormont in the hit HBO series Game of Thrones. In the early hours of Friday morning, in a nondescript conference hall in the north of England, it appeared that the electorate agreed.

About 70,000 voters in a post-industrial region of north-west England may have changed the face of British politics this week, after electing the charismatic Labour politician Andy Burnham to represent them in London.

His ambitions do not end there. In a development that would have improbable just a few months ago, it would now be a surprise if Burnham does not end up representing the UK on the world stage, as its next prime minister – its sixth in 10 years.

And that change could come soon.

That is what was at stake in the byelection in Makerfield – it gave Burnham his much-craved path back to Westminster, and a chance to challenge Keir Starmer to become prime minister.

Burnham is that rare breed in British politics. He has been a member of parliament before, and few people who knew him then could have foreseen his transformation. But when he stepped way and became mayor of Greater Manchester nine years ago, he reinvented himself.

In this role, he forged a second political career, revelling in the moniker “king of the north” for his robust championing of an area that has long ceased to be the UK’s economic engine.

It was this personal popularity that may have been decisive in the Makerfield contest.

Pundits thought it would be close: it was billed as a two-horse race between Burnham’s progressive Labour party and the rightwing Reform UK, which has ballooned in popularity since the 2024 general election.

Yet by the early hours of Friday morning it became clear that Burnham had pulled off a barnstorming victory – taking 55% of the votes to Reform’s 35% and almost doubling the majority won by his predecessor.

It was an extraordinary result and in his victory speech, Burnham did little to hide the fact that his eyes were now firmly on deposing Keir Starmer.

“This is a final chance to change,” he said. “This is what people said directly to me on the hundreds of doorsteps that I stood on. We must hear it, we must act upon it and we must get it right. There will be no second chance.”

Throughout his slick, fast-paced and social media-friendly campaign, Burnham has tapped into a deep sense of dissatisfaction felt by many people in Britain.

Speaking directly to a handheld camera in folksy daily video clips from the campaign trail, he has said repeatedly that people from places like the town of Ashton-in-Makerfield and its surrounding former coalmining villages felt neglected, forgotten and left behind.

“That changes tonight,” he said on Friday. “This result changes that. This result will bring about a country that works fairly for everywhere and for everybody. People here have voted for change. They have voted for more power for the north and everywhere forgotten by Westminster.”

Dressed casually in a dark suit and black T-shirt, the 56-year-old wore a pin badge bearing an image of the worker bee, long a symbol of the industrial heritage of Manchester and the north: an emblem of where he is from, and what he now wants to do.

Burnham – in his time away from Westminster – has built a reputation as a strong communicator, who is comfortable in his own skin. He has also managed to position himself as a Westminster outsider, despite his background.

A career politician who has held key jobs at the top of the British government, he is on the verge of making his third attempt to become leader of his party after more than a year of political manoeuvring.

First elected in 2001, he soon became a junior minister in Tony Blair’s New Labour government, before being promoted to the cabinet under the next prime minister, Gordon Brown, first as culture secretary and then taking charge of the health department.

When Labour lost the general election in 2010 he ran to become leader of the party but crashed out in fourth place . In 2015 he tried again only to lose out to veteran leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn .

Ambition thwarted and a potentially long period in opposition looming, Burnham quit Westminster in 2016 to run as the Labour candidate to become the mayor of Manchester, saying in a blunt farewell speech that “voters have a problem with an out-of-touch elite who don’t seem to care”.

His closest friend in politics, Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool city region, has said the role – which he took up in 2017 – shaped the politician he has become. “I’ve known him for 18 years. I saw the way he started to shape politics once he left Westminster,” he said. “Before that, politics was starting to shape him.”

In the nine years since Burnham left London, his political and personal style and demeanour have transformed. Gone are the sharp suits and conservative ties. Now he dresses in T-shirts and bomber jackets.

His willingness to challenge critics on social media , and channel the style of his New York mayoral counterpart, Zohran Mamdani, in direct-to-voter messaging has delighted his backers.

The contrast with Starmer – a forensic technocrat who has at times seemed to belong to another political era – could not be more stark.

Described by friends as charming and funny in private, Starmer’s public delivery is often stiff and overwhelmingly cautious – contributing to record low favourability ratings in opinion polls.

But while shooting from the hip can be praised, and go relatively unpunished in a regional mayor, critics warn that Burnham’s people-pleasing urges could prove a liability in the highest office.

In recent weeks the former mayor has had to row back from previous suggestions that the UK should be less in hock to the reaction of bond traders , and that he would like to see the UK rejoin the EU in his lifetime.

It is likely that both the rightwing populist Reform UK and the Conservatives will paint Burnham as a leftwinger, who will hike taxes and be profligate with taxpayers’ money.

“People don’t want hard socialism under Burnham,” said one Reform parliamentarian on Friday. But Burnham has described himself as a democratic socialist and while he is associated with the left wing of his party, during his stint as Manchester mayor he gained a reputation for pragmatism.

He has described his economic model as “business-friendly socialism” – or Manchesterism – after the model he adopted in the northern city during his nine years in charge.

In a video launching his campaign to get back to Westminster, he said this meant “the end of neoliberalism” – and would mean the national rollout of what he has achieved in the city: essential assets like transport and water brought into greater public control, a closer partnership between the state and business to spread the proceeds of wealth, and a huge expansion of devolution.

Burnham’s bid for the top job is not guaranteed. He will now need the support of 80 of his fellow Labour parliamentarians to fire the starting pistol on a leadership battle, which Starmer said on Friday that he would contest .

Burnham’s allies are hoping the prime minister will change his mind and instead opt for a more dignified exit.

If so, October’s annual gathering of the Labour party faithful in Burnham’s birthplace of Liverpool may be less of a conference, more of a coronation.

Keyword – UK news
Trefwoorden – UK weather, Extreme heat, England, Wales, Environment, UK news
Title – Met Office issues rare amber extreme heat warning for parts of England and Wales | UK weather | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/donna-ferguson
Link – Met Office issues rare amber extreme heat warning for parts of England and Wales | UK weather | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-19T16:06:21.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/19/met-office-rare-amber-extreme-heat-warning-england-wales

The Met Office has issued an amber extreme heat warning for much of southern England and south-east Wales over the coming days – the most extreme heat warning the weather forecaster has issued for four years.

Temperatures are expected to climb to about 30C (86F) over the weekend and peak on Monday and Tuesday at 34C, “though there remains a chance of this being exceeded in some spots”, the Met Office said.

The forecaster introduced amber extreme heat warnings in July 2021, and issued its most recent one in August 2022.

The warning differs from amber heat health alerts issued by the UK Health Security Agency. It issued a separate amber health alert on Thursday, warning health and care services that the expected high temperatures could significantly affect the health and wellbeing of people in London, the south-east, the south-west and the east of England.

The UKHSA’s warning means a rise in deaths is likely in these areas, particularly among those aged 65 or over or with health conditions, and there may also be a rise in “water-related incidents”, including “risks from cold-water shock and drowning”.

Ross MacLeod, the water safety manager for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, said: “Cold water shock is a real danger, which we particularly want people to be aware of. The sea or open water may look inviting during hot weather, but it remains cold enough year-round to trigger cold water shock, which can cause uncontrollable gasping, increased heart rate, and can lead to panic and drowning very quickly. It’s best to enter the water slowly to gradually acclimatise.

“Anyone who finds themselves in danger in the water should fight the panic instinct and ‘ float to live ’: try to relax and float on their back, with head tilted back, gently moving their hands and legs to help them stay afloat. This buys valuable time to get your breathing back under control, before then calling for help or swimming to safety.”

He urged people not to enter the water when they see someone else in danger, but instead to contact emergency services, tell the struggling person to float and throw them something buoyant, such as a life ring. At least 15 people died after getting into trouble in open water during a hot spell in May.

Greg Wolverson, a deputy chief forecaster at the Met Office, said: “While heatwave criteria will be met for some in the south and south-east of England over the weekend, with temperatures into the low 30s [celsius] possible, the warmth will expand and intensify at the start of next week, which, coupled with high temperatures overnight, leads to potential impacts.

“Tropical nights – where the temperature doesn’t drop below 20C – are also likely for some.”

The warmth may bring some thundery downpours on Monday and Tuesday, though these should be “fairly isolated”, the Met Office said.

The climate crisis is increasing the likelihood of extreme heat. The UN climate chief described May’s heatwaves across Europe as a “brutal reminder of the spiralling impacts of the climate crisis”.

Car breakdown services have also warned of an “early summer surge in breakdowns” due to overheating engines and tyre blowouts caused by air expanding in the heat.

An RAC spokesperson said: “Demand from drivers for our help will climb by around 10% compared to what’s normal for mid-June.”

The AA advised drivers to avoid travelling in the hottest part of the day and to carry at least one litre of water per person, as well as extra water and a bowl for pets.

In Cambridge University botanic garden, Sally Petitt, the head of horticulture, has been giving her new plantings a “good dose of water” before the weekend heat. But she said some of the garden’s rare plants, such as ligularias, would flag in the heat – no matter how much water they have access to. “They’re not desperate for a drink, they just don’t like the heat,” she said. “It’s a bit like us when we flag and collapse in a chair in the living room.”

Petitt is also concerned about some of the mature trees in the garden, such as Scots pines, which come from cooler climates and are sensitive to intense heat. “They don’t die overnight, but they very quickly show signs they are in decline,” she said. “We’ve lost at least four in the last probably five or six years … mature specimens, more than 50 years old.”

She mourns every tree the garden loses. “They’re kind of like family. You get so familiar with them. They’re like friends.”

At Kew Gardens in London, staff will be making regular checks to ensure glasshouses remain fully ventilated, said spokesperson Tom Freeth. “The worst thing that could happen is for vents to fail and that not be noticed in one of the glasshouses, because temperatures would rise very, very quickly. You might be talking about 50C plus in a nursery glasshouse, if that were to happen and it wasn’t spotted for a few hours.”

Staff will be asked to water the plants as early as possible each day and damp down the floors of the nursery to keep the humidity levels up inside. It’s not just the high temperatures that the garden has to worry about, he says. “It’s the amount of moisture that it [the heat] draws out of the soil as well.”

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Parents and parenting, Life and style, Social media, Social media ban, Social media bans, Media
Title – Social media bans are trending. But it’s too late for my son and me | Dave Schilling | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/dave-schilling
Link – Social media bans are trending. But it’s too late for my son and me | Dave Schilling | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T11:00:04.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/20/social-media-addiction-ban

T ry as I might, I think there’s no saving my son from modern technology. It’s ubiquitous, seductive and deeply ingrained in every aspect of middle-class life. Worse yet, I’m also addicted. When do I not have my iPhone out, desperately scrolling through a suite of apps, hoping they’ll offer me some manner of comfort from the security of my living room couch? Hours go by as I’m practically begging someone to notice me on Instagram, while he’s skipping from brainrot videos to basketball tutorials on our internet-connected TV. Ten years ago, I might have witnessed a scene like that and thought it was a sign of the end times. We’ve lost our way so much as a culture that a parent and a child can be simultaneously subsumed by screens, barely noticing the other person . But at some point, everyone realizes that the battle is lost. This is just how it is.

In spite of that grim diagnosis, Keir Starmer – who turned snatching defeat from the jaws of victory his personal brand – has made this losing battle a signature issue. This week, the British prime minister announced a comprehensive ban on social media for children under the age of 16 . That includes Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, Snapchat and YouTube (though not the kids’ version ). The ban is modeled on one currently deployed in Australia, which has holes wide enough to drive a fleet of vintage Sherman tanks through. Teenagers in Australia are finding ways around their ban already, and of course they are. When I was 15, if I wanted a six-pack of Budweiser or some of those tiny airplane liquor bottles, I could figure it out.

The UK will try the policy anyway, swearing that their social media ban is tougher. “Australia-plus”, as it was described by Starmer, like it’s an esoteric streaming service that only shows rugby and Crocodile Dundee movies. We must applaud the attempt, even if it’s plainly quixotic. Restrictions on underage drinking and cigarettes might not prevent every kid from picking up a bad habit, but what would it say about our society if we didn’t bother trying? Still, I’m fully aware that keeping my kid off social media until the day he turns 16 is about as likely as him reading the entirety of James Joyce’s Ulysses. First of all, he hasn’t even started yet. Second, he’s reading at a third-grade level. Because he’s in third grade.

I suppose I could model better behavior for him. I could put my phone away. I could drag him outside for an aimless walk. I could force him into some elaborate arts-and-crafts project that I will then have to clean up after he’s done. Maybe we could pretend to be fairies in the forest and sprinkle invisible pixie dust on each other? We could, but I don’t want to do any of those things. I want to share this clip from La Dolce Vita on my Stories. What if a beautiful woman likes it and messages me? Oh, wouldn’t that be a fine thing?

Of course, as I’m modeling neurotic, digitally corrupted behavior, my son peers over to see what’s so damned important. “I’m on Instagram,” I blurt out, turning sharply to shield my shame from his view. He doesn’t need to know I’m a sad, middle-aged single man. Or at least he doesn’t need to know right now . When I text friends about the “depths of my solitude”, he has to peek. Fortunately, the only texts he really cares about are the ones I send to his mother, which are far more normal. Things like “yes, we’re watching YouTube again” or “he wants a Lamborghini because he saw one in a YouTube video.”

“Lambos are cool, Dad,” he’ll say, slyly picking up my subtle frustration. You know what isn’t cool? Significant credit card debt. The thing that social media and online video has done the most with my son is make him not understand the basic tenets of capitalism as I know them. When I was his age, I understood that money comes from work. That work affords you a salary, which can be really high or really low. What you can afford is dictated by the boundaries of your bank account. YouTube has obliterated the concept of financial hierarchy. It says: you can have whatever you want in life as long as you have enough rizz, that you farm the requisite amount of aura. Success, according to YouTube, is not tied to work. It’s about clout. And maybe that’s true these days, and that’s why I don’t own a sports car. Can’t get many aura points if you’re too busy updating your Hinge profile.

In some twisted, dystopian way, our form of online parallel play is like bonding for the modern age. We watch YouTube on TV, which means no easily visible comments section, no trolls. Just a lean-back TV watching experience, though one more chaotic than what I grew up with. My parents sat down to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation with me every week, and even though we were practically mute for an hour every Saturday, they were at least showing an appreciation for my interests. Watching YouTube with my son might be the 21st-century version of that. Instead of restrictions or draconian surveillance, I sit there with him while he watches a guy get hit in the groin with a Slim Jim-branded baseball bat to win $15,000.

At least we’re doing it together. At least we’re both sufficiently curious about the other’s technological addiction that we can be skeptical. Why is my son watching baseball bat punishment videos? And why am I doomscrolling and hoping to meet “single women in your area”? Perhaps the only thing that will break the cycle of social media addiction isn’t an elaborate law, but the basic shame of transparency. Whenever my son peers over my shoulder to ask me what I’m doing, I’m snapped out of my own neuroses and placed back into reality. I suffer a bit of embarrassment, then stow my phone back in my pocket. The lure of the infinite void of the internet will come back soon enough, but for at least a moment, my son and I can share a bit of joy. This is the life , I say, as we watch a woman eat a handful of Pop Rocks and brush her teeth .

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Andy Burnham, Makerfield byelection, Labour, Greater Manchester, Politics, UK news
Title – Celebrations and a swift exit after a Burnham win ‘beyond our wildest dreams’, say supporters | Andy Burnham | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniel-boffey,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/josh-halliday,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jessica-elgot,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/hannah-al-othman
Link – Celebrations and a swift exit after a Burnham win ‘beyond our wildest dreams’, say supporters | Andy Burnham | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-19T17:10:15.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/19/andy-burnham-avoids-press-queries-staff-no-doubts-makerfield

T here was plenty of the hopey, changey stuff from Andy Burnham at his victory rally on the morning after the night before – but it ended with the new MP for Makerfield doing a runner. “Are you going to become the new prime minister?” shouted Sky’s political editor, Beth Rigby, at the retreating Burnham. “Keir Starmer says he is not going to give way – what’s your message for Keir Starmer?”

Hemmed in by cameras, chairs, tables and a whole load of the giggling supporters who had been assembled around him on the turf at Ashton Town FC’s grounds, Burnham picked up the pace.

He skipped nimbly past the temporary toilets and weaved through the photographers and the beer garden benches, keeping his gaze firmly away from the chasing TV cameras all the while. It turned into a pretty urgent trot that might even be described as a jog. With Burnham’s vanishing act began what has every appearance of being a strange sort of interregnum in British politics, as authority drifted from one man to the next, after a challenge made in deed if not in words.

An hour or so later, Louise Haigh, the former transport secretary, who has been managing Burnham’s campaign in Makerfield, laid out in crystal-clear terms what her candidate had been shy of saying directly.

“I hope the prime minister takes the weekend to really reflect on the result here,” Haigh said. “Listen to soundings from the cabinet and from the PLP [parliamentary Labour party], as all the evidence suggests that a contest would be brutal, it would be unpleasant and it would be very unlikely the PM would win.”

Did Burnham have a leadership campaign ready to go if Starmer refuses to move? Her answer was straightforward: “Yes.”

It is not only the fact of Burnham’s win but the scale of it that had many of his supporters convinced on Friday that a coronation, rather than a contest, was the only course of action. Burnham’s madcap escape from the inevitable questions was about allowing Starmer his own dignified way out.

Burnham won the seat with a majority of 9,231 – nearly double that enjoyed by his predecessor, Josh Simons, in 2024. With 54% of the vote, he finished about 20 percentage points ahead of Reform, despite Nigel Farage’s party’s vote share rising by 2.7 percentage points from the general election. The former health secretary Wes Streeting – remember him? – posted on social media his congratulations. “It gives us all hope that Labour can still win, but Andy’s campaign is proof that to do so we need to change,” said the rival leadership hopeful.

Understandably, but rather unconvincingly, Starmer sought to own the victory on Friday morning in an interview with broadcasters and in a call to party officials. The sweeping victory in Makerfield was evidence that the “tide is turning on Reform”, Starmer said, as he endured a fresh round of broadcast reporters telling him he was “finished”.

“Let’s pull together as a party and a movement,” the prime minister added, betraying none of his inner emotions, as he insisted the result was a “very good outcome”. “The one thing we’ve got to avoid doing is plunging our party and our country into chaos by turning on each other and tearing apart our party and our movement,” he said. “That has never worked. That’s what the last government did. We need to learn that lesson.”

Confronted again about his parlous position, Starmer added: “If there is a contest, then yes, I will stand. I have said repeatedly I am not going to walk away from that.”

One No 10 adviser said it wasn’t a bluff. There were “enough people around the prime minister still who want to back him to fight”, they added. “There are no men in grey suits, or at least not ones he thinks are worth listening to.”

In a social media post filmed in an undisclosed field far, far away from reporters’ pesky questions, Farage too was putting the best gloss he could on it. He was “disappointed” and urged voters who had voted for the rival party on the right, Restore Britain, which secured just short of 7% of the vote in Makerfield, to “think again”. “As for the Reform vote share, well, I thought we would get 18,000 votes, we got just shy of 16,000, so I’m disappointed by that, no question about it,” he said.

It was only an hour after the polls closed at 10pm on Thursday night that the scale of the victory had become clear to Burnham’s inner circle. Holed up in the Edge convention centre in Wigan, his closest aides could see they were on course for a significant victory after sampling boxes of ballots showed they were ahead in the “vast majority” of wards.

Five miles south in Stubshaw Cross, in the old Labour club that became Burnham’s campaign HQ (while also carrying on its normal business and hosting a wedding, funeral, christening and birthday party during the campaign – all of which the would-be prime minister attended), his team had refused to believe their data suggesting that 65% of voters canvassed had promised to back their man.

But, shortly after midnight, word filtered through that they were on course for a victory that was “beyond our wildest dreams”, as one Burnham staffer described it. “Lisa [Nandy, the culture secretary] was funny, she just couldn’t stop grinning,” said one Labour source. “You try and stay composed before the result comes but some people have got better game faces than others.”

Soon after, there was a rumour among the Labour ranks that Farage had already left Makerfield – although a Reform spokesperson insisted at the time he was still in the area. At about 1.30am, Jon Burns, one of Farage’s key aides, strode up to a senior Labour organiser and offered his congratulations. The private handshake was taken as the concession and by 4am the party was in full swing in Stubshaw Cross.

According to those who attended, Burnham walked in with his family and immediately commandeered the playlist, putting on New Order’s Your Silent Face – his choice “when I want to be in running mode”, he said – and a somewhat eclectic mix of Dua Lipa, the Smiths and Oasis.

The Downing Street heir apparent circled the room hugging supporters, thanking them for their efforts over the mammoth four-week campaign during which Labour canvassers knocked on every door seven times. “It wasn’t raucous, but there were a lot of Cruzcampos,” said one attender, adding that there was “a suggestion of karaoke but thankfully that didn’t come to pass”.

The celebrations ended at 6am with the sun firmly up on a bright summer morning. Four hours later, many of them were at Ashton Town’s football stadium, some wearing sunglasses and others nursing pints of lager, Guinness and mini bottles of champagne.

Burnham, casually dressed in a cream-white polo shirt with gold zip, arrived looking pretty fresh-faced, although his wife, Marie-France, resplendent in a polka-dot top, took the precaution of hiding behind a pair of oversized sunglasses.

Directly behind Burnham, in the horseshoe-shaped crowd of his supporters facing the cameras, were Haigh and Anneliese Midgley, an adviser to Starmer in opposition but now a key organiser for Burnham. “This campaign was won by a band of strong northern power women,” Burnham said, perhaps in acknowledgment that in taking his place in Downing Street, he would continue Labour’s record of electing solely male leaders.

He praised his predecessor who had stood down for him in recognition of the seriousness of the local election results in May and the need for “change”. It had been an act of “incredible selflessness”, Burnham said, although there is talk of Simons taking a Downing Street role.

“You have to respond to what people here are saying,” Burnham went on. He talked through some of his broad-stroke campaign themes: cutting water, energy and rail fairs and a focus on vocational education; a reindustrialisation of the north, and procurement that backed British businesses. It was a “new path” for the country, he said. “This now is the change moment,” Burnham concluded, and everyone knew what he meant.

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Giorgia Meloni, Donald Trump, World news, Europe, US news, G7
Title – Italy PM Meloni ‘stunned’ by Trump’s claims she begged him for a photo | Giorgia Meloni | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/angela-giuffrida
Link – Italy PM Meloni ‘stunned’ by Trump’s claims she begged him for a photo | Giorgia Meloni | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-19T14:10:19.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/19/giorgia-meloni-stunned-donald-trump-claims-begged-him-photo

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni , has said Donald Trump “totally invented” a story about her after the US president claimed she begged him to take a photo with her during the G7 summit.

The two former allies had appeared to be getting their relationship back on track by having several one-to-ones on the sidelines at the gathering in Évian after falling out in April over the US-Israeli war in Iran.

But referring to Meloni during a brief interview with Italy’s La7 – a dubbed version of which was broadcast by the Italian TV network on Friday – Trump said: “She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her. She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her.”

The remarks provoked fury in Italy and words of solidarity for Meloni from across the political spectrum, with Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, saying he had cancelled a trip to the US next week.

Responding in a video post on Instagram with the caption “Italy and I never beg”, Meloni said “some things deserve an immediate response”.

“Donald Trump’s declarations are totally invented,” she added. “Frankly, I am stunned. I don’t know why the US president behaves this way towards his allies. It’s not the first time it’s happened, I can only say it’s unfortunate he doesn’t show the same determination towards the west’s enemies.”

Trump and Meloni fell out in April for two reasons: Italy’s refusal to support the US-Israeli war in Iran and then Trump’s extraordinary broadside against Pope Leo in reaction to the pontiff’s condemnation of the war. Until then, Meloni had long nurtured good relations with Trump, mostly rooted in shared nationalistic rhetoric, and was the only European leader invited to attend his inauguration as US president.

Giuseppe Conte, the former prime minister and leader of opposition party the Five Star Movement, said Italy “doesn’t deserve to find itself so blatantly humiliated”.

Announcing the cancellation of his planned trip to the US on X, Tajani said: “The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia offend the whole of Italy.”

Giovanbattista Fazzolari, undersecretary to the prime minister’s office, said in a statement: “It is unclear whether out ​of intent or ineptitude [Trump] is wrecking the historic ​relations between the United States and Europe . With his ​inappropriate outbursts, he has managed ‌no easy feat, to make ​the US unpopular across the ​entire European continent, damaging not only Europe but above all the US.”

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Scotland, World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – Scotland rue ‘50/50’ penalty calls in defeat: ‘Morocco got away with one there’ | Scotland | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ewanmurray
Link – Scotland rue ‘50/50’ penalty calls in defeat: ‘Morocco got away with one there’ | Scotland | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T02:58:25.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/20/scotland-morocco-world-cup-reaction

Steve Clarke believes Scotland were unfortunate not to be awarded at least one penalty during their 1-0 defeat to Morocco . In separate incidents, John McGinn and Scott McTominay appealed vociferously for spot-kicks under challenges from Moroccan players. McGinn later insisted a Morocco defender Neil El Aynaoui “took me out”.

While Clarke steered well clear of castigating the match officials, he clearly felt the decisions were borderline and suggested Morocco’s Issa Diop could have been red carded early in the game. The deciding goal arrived after just 70 seconds, with Scotland spirited in the second half.

“Everyone when I did my television interviews was talking about the Scott McTominay one,” Clarke said. ‘That is the one I didn’t watch back. I thought the John McGinn one was 50/50. Some would give it and I think if the referee gives it, the VAR doesn’t overturn it. So I can only speak on that one.”

Clarke volunteered opinion on Diop, who was booked for a foul on the Scotland striker Ché Adams. “I was a little bit 50/50 as well on the Ché Adams [challenge], last man,” Clarke added. “He had a chance to go through one on one with the goalkeeper and is brought down. The referee chooses yellow. There is nothing we can do about it.”

Assessing his own incident, McGinn said: “Sometimes that goes for you. If we got a couple of those penalty decisions for us, I don’t think VAR intervenes. Out the corner of my eye, I could see [the Morocco defender] charging in. I got first contact to the ball and he took me out. It’s a penalty kick for me. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t. If it was given on the field, no chance it’s overturned.

“Morocco have got away with one there. But we need to be better and create chances from open play, not rely on referee’s decisions.”

Scotland’s attention will shortly turn to Wednesday and a game with Brazil in Miami which will determine whether they advance from the group stage for the first time ever.

“I am proud of the players but obviously we are all devastated,” said Clarke. “The players will suffer a bit over the next 48 hours. They don’t like losing against anybody.

“Right throughout the team, Morocco had a bit of class. But we gave it a good go. Morocco know they have been in a game tonight. We have shown we can compete at this level.”

Clarke, who singled out Lewis Ferguson for praise for a second game in succession, allayed fears over the second-half injury sustained by Kieran Tierney. Scotland’s manager said Tierney had only suffered cramp before being replaced by Ben Gannon-Doak.

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Culture
Title – Tell us your favourite film of 2026 so far | Film | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guardian-community-team
Link – Tell us your favourite film of 2026 so far | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T07:32:27.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/18/tell-us-your-favourite-film-of-2026-so-far

The Guardian’s film writers have compiled their favourite films of the year so far – and we’d like to hear about yours, too.

Which films have captured your imagination this year? Are there any new releases from so far in 2025 that you would recommend watching?

Tell us your nomination and why you like it below.

If you’re having trouble using the form click here . Read terms of service here and privacy policy here .

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Cycling, Life and style, London
Title – Naked cycling: is it ever acceptable to ride a rental bike in the nude? | Cycling | The Guardian
Author – Guardian Staff
Link – Naked cycling: is it ever acceptable to ride a rental bike in the nude? | Cycling | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T14:51:29.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/16/naked-cycling-ever-acceptable-rental-bike-nude

Name: World Naked Bike Ride.

Age: 22.

Appearance: A global celebration of potentially crushed genitalia.

Is it World Naked Bike Ride again already? Where does the time go? Well, the World Naked Bike Ride event in London already happened, last Sunday. I can’t believe you missed it.

Always the naked bridesmaid, never the naked bride. Don’t worry, though, because the repercussions of World Naked Bike Ride will carry on for weeks to come.

Really? Why’s that? Primarily because everyone is freaking out about the, er, let’s call them consequences of sharing a saddle with someone who has ridden it in the buff.

Oh. Oh . Yuck. I’m afraid so. Apparently, of the 1,000 cyclists who rode naked through the streets of London at the weekend, about half of them were using rental bikes. As such, social media is quickly filling up with people hyperventilating about saddle hygiene – issues such as sweat and fungal infections have been mentioned.

Well, World Naked Bike Ride sounds absolutely disgusting. That’s the thing, it really isn’t. This is the 22nd year that it has taken place in London, and nudity is always an optional aspect. People can take part fully dressed if they like.

Ah, World Ride a Bike With All Your Clothes On. That’ll grab the headlines. It’s held for an important reason, too.

Which is? Safety. In big cities that are dominated by cars, cyclists are physically vulnerable. Doing it with all your bits flapping around highlights this vulnerability as strongly as possible.

Why hasn’t there been this much fuss about it before? Oh, there has. Six cyclists were charged with public indecency when the event took place in Chicago in 2005. A man was removed from the event in Canterbury in 2015 after becoming too visibly excited. Last year, the Reform MP Lee Anderson called it a “freak show”.

That sounds like all the excuse I need to support it, then. However, this is the first time that hygiene has been used as a weapon. The rise of cycle hire schemes means that bikes now belong to everyone.

So now cyclists are also vulnerable to catching chlamydia from a saddle? No: from an infection control standpoint, the risk of catching a disease from a bike previously ridden by a naked person is vanishingly small.

Have the rental bike companies said anything? A spokesperson from Lime – one of the biggest e-bike rental companies in London – told the Metro: “As with any ride, we ask that people leave our bikes in the condition they’d want to find them. For safety reasons, we’d always encourage everyone to wear appropriate clothing when cycling.”

Do they at least clean them? According to the Metro, Lime bikes are “regularly” pressure-cleaned with recycled rainwater.

So it’s fine then? No, of course it’s not fine! It’s gross! Next time World Naked Bike Ride happens, bring your own bike. Or pop a shower cap over the saddle.

Do say: “Please leave your bikes in the condition you found them.”

Don’t say: “Drenched in someone else’s sweat.”

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