Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – England v New Zealand 2026, England cricket team, Brendon McCullum, Cricket, New Zealand cricket team, Sport
Title – England are a mess in this Test: isn’t it about time the Brendon McCullum era ended? | England v New Zealand 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/andybull
Link – England are a mess in this Test: isn’t it about time the Brendon McCullum era ended? | England v New Zealand 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T18:33:09.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/20/england-mess-second-test-new-zealand-brendon-mccullum-era-cricket

At the end of the fourth day’s play here the abiding question wasn’t whether England could complete a record-breaking fourth innings chase or even if they could bat the match out to secure the draw. It was why everyone is still watching an England team coached by Brendon McCullum six months after he ought to have moved on from the job.

The way we tell it in this country, McCullum’s backstory as England coach begins on 2 January 2013 when, in his first match as New Zealand’s Test captain, the team were bowled out for 45 by South Africa at Cape Town. Legend has it this was the watershed Test. In a management meeting that evening, McCullum laid out his ideas about the way the game should be played. The hard-charging, happy-go-lucky approach that has characterised England’s cricket in the past four years was born right here, when, New Zealand’s coach, Mike Hesson, said, McCullum was first empowered “to do the job the way he wanted it done”.

There is a chapter missing in this version. Everyone involved in New Zealand cricket knows it by rote, but it’s not often discussed in England. It’s all about what happened in the months running up to that match, when McCullum’s predecessor as captain, Ross Taylor, was forced out of his job by Hesson, who was an old teammate of McCullum’s.

The fallout was so incendiary that last time anyone asked McCullum and Taylor were still at odds about how it went down. Both wrote about it in their memoirs. McCullum describes himself as being caught in the middle, Taylor says he felt McCullum knew what was going on all along.

The way Taylor tells it, New Zealand’s dressing room was a place of player cliques, power dynamics and press briefings, where there were two sides to every story, the one they said to your face and the one you overheard when your back was turned.

Taylor writes that when McCullum suggested that they should split the captaincy between the two of them “it was hard to know where he was coming from: maybe there was an element of him not wanting the Test captaincy and/or being able to say to the media that he’d tried to convince me to do it – by that stage they knew they had a PR problem’’.

In between all the he-said, she-said what is absolutely true is that McCullum threatened to sue for defamation when he was falsely accused of orchestrating Taylor’s removal. The man who made the accusation, the former Test player John Parker, apologised and retracted his remarks.

Later, when a Sunday paper obtained a series of emails between McCullum and the mental skills coach, Kerry Schwalger, from this era, McCullum’s legal team secured an injunction to prevent their publication. Martin Crowe was so offended by the way Taylor was treated that he said he had burned his New Zealand team blazer.

All of which may, or may not, be a timely reminder that McCullum’s dressing rooms have not always been the sort of free-and-easy open-to-all environments they seem to be when the team are winning. That, expert as he is handling his players, he is also a pretty ruthless dressing-room politician, a man who knows how to instruct a media team and even deploy his lawyers during a crisis.

All of which is a long way from what’s been going on at the Oval this week, 275 miles to be exact. This was a team full of rookies, with no spinner, two debutant wicketkeepers and an attack spearheaded by a man who had not bowled anything more than a four-over spell in six months, led by a man who does not want to be captain, while their real captain is in Chester-le-Street , working out his anger on the Northamptonshire bowling attack. They have caught poorly and batted rashly. Every one of these problems can be tracked back to the team’s leadership, which, this week at least, does not include Ben Stokes.

The talk is that Stokes will be back for the third Test at Trent Bridge next week. Sooner or later, someone is going to have to explain what has gone on between England’s leadership team, why McCullum refused to give Stokes his backing as captain and what he meant by repeatedly insisting that he was worried about Stokes’s mental wellbeing when, according to all reports out of Durham, there isn’t anything wrong with him.

“He has been absolutely fine,” said Durham’s chief executive, Tim Bostock, on Thursday, “just normal Ben”. Bostock said he was “bemused” by the comments.

McCullum’s England tried and McCullum’s England failed. They provided a lot of entertainment along the way, but six months on the charm of watching them do it all over again is starting to wear a little thin, even when you’ve drunk as much as the Saturday crowd at the Oval.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Netherlands, Sweden, Football, Sport, World Cup
Title – Brobbey and Gakpo at the double as five-star Netherlands crush sorry Sweden | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/nick-ames
Link – Brobbey and Gakpo at the double as five-star Netherlands crush sorry Sweden | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T19:03:13.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/20/netherlands-sweden-world-cup-group-f-match-report

It turns out Sweden do not have a monopoly on old-fashioned centre-forward play. They were schooled in it here by Brian Brobbey, who was brought in by Ronald Koeman to give the Netherlands’ attack a focal point and swiftly made his under-pressure manager resemble a genius. Brobbey scored twice in the opening 17 minutes to pave the way for a crushing win, proving impossible to handle with a cocktail of strength, touch and finishing.

Koeman had criticised his own decisions after Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Japan , lamenting substitutions that failed to pay off. This time he could, if the mood took him, pat himself firmly on the back. There was yet more to enjoy in the contribution of Crysencio Summerville, who sparkled after his half-time introduction. Summerville finished unerringly late on to complete a rout that leaves Sweden dizzy from finishing on different ends of the same scoreline.

Viktor Gyökeres and Alexander Isak had made hay in the 5-1 win over Tunisia and both tested Bart Verbruggen this time, finding the keeper equal to regular examination. Sweden and their feted strikers woke up after the first-half hydration break, Graham Potter’s switch to a back four loosening the straitjacket, but much of the damage had already been done. The squad are due a belated celebration of midsummer on Sunday, marking a time of year when much of their country sees near-constant daylight, but their World Cup may yet plunge into darkness if they do not master Japan’s threat in Thursday’s decisive final game.

“The scoreline was a bit harsh on us but the Netherlands played well and deserved to win,” Potter said. There was little to quibble with in that; nor was there much complaint when Potter reeled off a list of the victors’ star names and remarked that Sweden were always going to have it tough. His team were torn apart down the flanks, looking far too easy to play through and being punished repeatedly by sheer quality.

Brobbey, who showed an appetite to grapple with his marker, Isak Hien, from the off, quickly emphasised the gulf in class. He was simply too strong for the centre-back when receiving a chest-high pass in the fifth minute, cleverly bringing Tijjani Reijnders into play and allowing a switch left to Cody Gakpo. While Gakpo’s angled centre was perfect, Brobbey deserves credit for not standing to admire his own work. He had bust a gut to meet the delivery, arriving first to convert from close in.

The floodgates were open. “If you look at the number of goals we scored it will create fear among other teams, the quality was great,” said Koeman, who was more modest about his selection of Brobbey for this assignment. Soon Brobbey scored again, touching in after the latest of several marvellous, snaking Denzel Dumfries crosses from the right. He had scored only one international goal before being unleashed on Sweden’s back line.

“You get a smack in the face and then you have to change your plan,” Potter said. Both mid-half pauses were booed loudly by the crowd, a mostly orange mass who evidently know when they are being taken for mugs, but Sweden shrugged off most of their early timidity after the first. By the interval Gyökeres, three times, and Yasin Ayari had forced Verbruggen into smart saves. Ayari blasted narrowly over and a Gustaf Lagerbielke header was ruled narrowly offside, but the transformation was soon rendered irrelevant.

When given oxygen the Netherlands were simply too good, scoring straight after the restart when Summerville twisted Sweden inside out and allowed Dumfries to cross again. Gakpo could not miss from a couple of yards and, enjoying a wildly productive afternoon of his own, proceeded to score another. This time he took a pass from Summerville, who had not been deemed fit to start, and cracked low to Kristoffer Nordfeldt’s right from 20 yards.

“Maybe it was an experience we needed to go through,” Potter said. “A big game, a big occasion, a young developing team.” Isak, whose needless squandering of possession had given the Netherlands their platform to spring upfield for the fourth, played the substitute Anthony Elanga through for an emphatic finish before the hour and for a brief spell Sweden threatened to make matters interesting. Balls fizzed across the box from both flanks but with none of the killer touch their opponents had found.

Instead Summerville, with a pleasingly stroked finish from a similar position to Gakpo’s second, showed how it is done. Neither of these sides look especially reliable but an early statement of this nature should do wonders for the Netherlands’ morale. “We have very good forwards and we can take advantage of that, the team has improved quite a bit,” Koeman said.

Potter needs his own attackers to fire once more against Japan, while keeping the door bolted, in a match that in effect resembles a knockout tie. Surely, in this most forgiving of formats, Sweden will not crash out after making such an exhilarating start. “Sometimes you have to grow to learn these things,” he said of the numerous lessons handed down. They will need to absorb them quickly.

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Tennis, Sport, Emma Raducanu
Title – ‘I hope it works’: Tim Henman on Raducanu’s coach and vice-captain duties at Laver Cup | Tennis | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/donaldmcrae
Link – ‘I hope it works’: Tim Henman on Raducanu’s coach and vice-captain duties at Laver Cup | Tennis | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T04:00:51.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/20/tim-henman-emma-raducanu-laver-cup-interview

“T ennis is in a good place, but I think it could be better,” says Tim Henman when asked about the state of the sport that has consumed most of his life. He will soon outline ways tennis could be improved but, first, it helps to remember that the 51-year-old played in six grand slam semi-finals, including four at Wimbledon, won an Olympic silver medal and became No 4 in the world despite constant gripes from part-time tennis supporters who wrongly said he lacked the grit of an elite player.

Yet grit filters through Henman’s memories and explains why he loves tennis while always striving to reach a better place. We meet at the Queen’s Club and the elegance of the venue provides a stark contrast to the series of cheap B&Bs where Henman lived, down the road in Earl’s Court, for two years at the outset of his career. Money was tight then and sometimes four young players could share a single room.

“I somehow convinced my parents that I should leave school at 16 to play full-time tennis,” he says. “I was still very small so my results weren’t particularly good. We were based in a far corner at Queen’s with the two indoor courts. It was such a basic facility, but it was brilliant.”

Henman grins when I ask him about B&B life. “Amazing,” he says. “So good. Funnily enough I bumped into Andrew Richardson just before I walked in to see you.”

Emma Raducanu’s coach helped her reach the final at the Queen’s Club last Sunday. Richardson also guided the 18-year-old Raducanu to her astonishing grand slam victory as a qualifier at the US Open in September 2021. That same month she decided to fire him as her coach before rehiring him this summer.

Henman nods when I ask if he shared a room with Richardson in Earl’s Court? “Absolutely. We first met when we were 11 and played against each other. Andrew was best man at my wedding.”

Henman was close to Raducanu during her unforgettable US Open run. Coaching was not allowed from the players’ box then and so Henman encouraged and advised her at courtside, where he was working as a television pundit. When she clinched the title the first person she turned to was Henman, who pointed back at her in delight. So he offers a unique perspective on her relationship with Richardson.

What did he think when, two weeks after she won what is, to date, her solitary adult title, Raducanu removed Richardson as she said he was not experienced enough? “I was surprised she chose not to work with him. She’s worked with a lot of coaches since then and now I really hope that her decision to get back with Andrew works for both their sakes.

“He’s one of my best friends and I’ve also been around Emma. So it would be good if results improve.”

Raducanu and Richardson have made headway and in the Queen’s Club final she lost to Donna Vekic . The winner acknowledged Raducanu’s resurgence after a difficult year, but Vekic reserved most praise for David Felgate – whom she restored to her own team a few weeks ago. Vekic said the victory at Queen’s, where she scraped into the main draw as a lucky loser, was shaped by Felgate’s expertise.

Felgate was one of three coaches Henman used during his career. “Emma’s had eight or nine coaches,” Henman says, “but it’s her prerogative. I looked for consistency, continuity and building the relationship – and that’s why I had three coaches in 16 years.”

Raducanu won the grand slam title that eluded Henman, but she has a long way to go before she matches the depth of his overall achievements. The way he had to fight for his spot on tour forged a resilience and steeliness in him. Does he believe Raducanu’s shock US Open victory damaged her development?

“It was so unexpected because no one had ever qualified and made the final of a slam, let alone qualified and won it. So she didn’t really have a foundation to build from. She’d just done her A-levels and played some grass-court tournaments and then her ranking went up to No 20 in the world.

“All of a sudden she was playing top-level events and she wasn’t ready, physically and mentally. You can’t drop down to build match practice and resilience but would you rather it had not happened? Absolutely not. It’s one of the most incredible achievements in sport.”

Henman is cautious when asked whether she can win another slam. “It would be very hard. Not many people win slams so you could say, if you’ve done it once, you can do it again. But it’s all about the process. She’s got to become physically more resilient to build up her schedule, her match count, her weight of shot, her speed of movement and durability.”

Is Richardson the right coach to unearth that consistency and durability? “Of course. He was a good player and he understands the game well. He’s got a good history with Emma as they’ve known each other since she was in her early teens.”

Even more than Raducanu, Jack Draper has struggled physically and the most talented British men’s tennis player on tour has missed most of the last year through injury. Does Henman expect that Draper, who reached No 4 in the world 15 months ago, will play at Wimbledon?

“I don’t know. He’s pulled out of Queen’s [this week] but this time last year he was in that conversation as to who might challenge Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. He’s had such a rotten time because he was playing great tennis.

“It’s very challenging whether it’s this bone bruising or his knee. He’s just got to try and stay patient because, if you’re not healthy, you can’t compete.”

Henman expresses his misgivings in regard to the brutal calendar that has resulted in the injury of so many leading players. Alcaraz has been forced to miss the French Open and Wimbledon. And, after racking up a 30-match winning streak, Sinner’s body betrayed him during the first week in Paris. Leading Juan Manuel Cerúndolo 6-3, 6-2, 5-1, he lost 18 of the next 20 games to crash out in the second round. Sinner looked as if he had hit a wall after winning successive Masters tournaments in Madrid and Rome.

“The schedule needs looking at because less is more and I would definitely streamline it,” Henman says. “The Masters 1000 events should be eight or nine days and then you need some periods where there is no tennis at the very highest level. It’s good for the players and fans and builds expectation for the next event.

“I’m not a fan of the 12-day Masters 1000 events. Physically and psychologically that is tiring and, if anything, we should be trying to shorten the season.”

Money drives modern sport and so is it feasible that some tournaments could be curtailed or even cut? “It’s difficult, but that’s where the sport needs to come together. When you look at the governance of tennis there are seven different bodies – the ATP, WTA, ITF and the four grand slams. And right now we have this PTPA lawsuit .” The Professional Tennis Players Association triggered legal action against those seven organisations while accusing them of collaborating to reduce prize money, impose a restrictive ranking system and repress players’ promotional opportunities. “We really need to communicate, and that has made it very difficult with the lawyers.”

Henman has recently been at the heart of tense negotiations between the leading players and the grand slam tournaments over prize money. He is a board member at Wimbledon, but his achievements in the game mean Henman is respected by the players and last week there was a breakthrough. Wimbledon announced a 20% increase in prize money, which the players accepted, but has the situation been fully resolved?

“The communication needs to be better and conversations are not going to stop. It’s a huge strength of our sport that we have combined [men’s and women’s] events and look at how the grand slams have led the way in equal prize money and the opportunity that they’ve given to lower-ranked players. In the women’s game, the Wimbledon prize money for qualifying this year will be more than some of the [WTA] Masters 1000 events.”

Henman is particularly animated when confirming his reappointment as the vice-captain of Team Europe in the Laver Cup against Team World at the O 2 in London in September. He believes the competition, which began in 2017, has the potential to become as powerful in tennis as the Ryder Cup is in golf.

“I absolutely love it,” Henman says. “Until I first experienced the Laver Cup in person I’d thought it was an exhibition event. But when I was at the 2022 Laver Cup, when Roger Federer played his final match before retirement at the O 2 , I was blown away by the intensity and passion of both teams.

“The players are individuals and rivals and here they are coming together for the greater good of Europe or the rest of the world. The way the event was delivered was incredible and so when I was asked last year if I’d like to be vice-captain I was blindsided. But I felt it was an absolute privilege and I could not have enjoyed it more in San Francisco – apart from the fact that we didn’t win .”

Team Europe has won five of the eight Laver Cups and Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, the new French Open champion, have agreed to play at the O 2 . “We were bitterly disappointed when we lost last time but it was then that Alcaraz signed up. He said: ‘I’m coming back.’ If the players love the event they have that intensity to win.”

Will Alcaraz be fit again by September? “I have no idea. It’s obviously a serious injury, because he pulled out of Madrid, Rome, Paris, Queen’s and Wimbledon. So, fingers crossed.”

Negotiations to entice Sinner to make his Laver Cup debut are under way and Henman says: “We have a WhatsApp group so we’re always in dialogue, looking at how the team could shape up.”

It seems a long time since, at the end of 1992, Henman was 18 and finally left B&B life in Earl’s Court. “I got my first ranking points in Morocco and central Africa. I had seven points and my ranking was 780 at the end of the year. That was such a defining moment, because I was on the ladder. I wanted to be 700. I wanted to be 500. I wanted to be 300.”

Henman smiles when I ask if he believed then that, one day, he would become the fourth‑best player in the world with an enduring influence in tennis in the decades ahead?

“No chance. If you’d said to me then: ‘Sign this document and you can be top 100 for the next 10 years, and play the grand slams,’ I would have bitten both arms off. It’s what I always wanted to do.”

The Laver Cup is at the O 2 from 25-27 September. Visit lavercup.com .

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Frank Bowling, Painting, Fitzwilliam Museum, Art, Art and design, Black British culture, Culture, Life and style
Title – Frank Bowling: ‘Guiltiest pleasure? Sixteen-year-old whisky. My doctor says I shouldn’t’ | Frank Bowling | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rosannagreenstreet
Link – Frank Bowling: ‘Guiltiest pleasure? Sixteen-year-old whisky. My doctor says I shouldn’t’ | Frank Bowling | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T09:00:05.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/20/frank-bowling-artist-interview-seeking-sublime-exhibition

B orn in British Guiana (now Guyana), Frank Bowling, 92, moved to the UK aged 19 and did national service in the RAF. In 1962, he graduated from the Royal College of Art with the silver medal for painting. He moved to New York in 1966, where he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, and exhibited his “map paintings” at the Whitney Museum in 1971. In 2005, he became the first black artist to be elected a Royal Academician, and Tate Britain staged a retrospective in 2019. His exhibition, Seeking the Sublime , is at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, until January 2027. He lives in London with his wife.

When were you happiest? Recently, as people began to understand what I am trying to do in my painting.

What is your greatest fear? Being poor.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? The boozing. I started on rum as a child.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? Trying to exercise authority over one.

What was your most embarrassing moment? In the 1950s I went to the Chelsea Arts Club’s New Year’s Eve ball at the Royal Albert Hall dressed as a Christmas pudding, with swimming trunks under my costume and holly in my hair.

Describe yourself in three words Needing order always.

What do you most dislike about your appearance? I haven’t kept up with fashion. I think I dress well – corduroy trousers, colourful shirts and a hat – but it’s all traditional stuff. I envy my grandson’s bright yellow suit and colourful sneakers.

Would you choose fame or anonymity? Fame. It is hard to be clothes-conscious and anonymous.

What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? A fellow artist called me a flaneur!

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose? Billy Eckstine singing Tenderly.

What did you want to be when you were growing up? A detective. Or a writer. Or a poet.

What is your guiltiest pleasure? Lagavulin 16-year-old whisky. My doctor says I shouldn’t.

What do you owe your parents? My mother paid my first term’s fees at art school. I inherited her ambition.

What did you dream about last night? Making a bigger picture. I see my paintings as competitive, so when Into the Blue [13 metres wide] was installed in a church, I immediately saw how I could make it bigger: by adding wings.

Which words do you most overuse? The edge! I’m very concerned about the edges of my work and sometimes I can’t get my assistants to understand.

What is the worst job you’ve done? Picking up RAF pilots’ parachute packs and gear they dropped off in a pile.

When did you last cry, and why? In 2001, when my eldest son died.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? Being able to paint the way I do.

What has been your closest brush with the law? My father. He was a policeman who believed in corporal punishment.

What keeps you awake at night? My work. What shape will it take?

How would you like to be remembered? As a nice old man.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you? Keep working, improving your step.

What happens when we die? I hope I’ll find my mother and father in heaven. Only my father would probably say, “You can’t come and live here, boy!”

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Benjamin Netanyahu, US foreign policy, US news, World news, Israel-Gaza war, Iran, Donald Trump
Title – Trump may survive the humiliation of the Iran deal. Netanyahu will not | Simon Tisdall | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/simontisdall
Link – Trump may survive the humiliation of the Iran deal. Netanyahu will not | Simon Tisdall | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T06:00:22.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/21/donald-trump-iran-deal-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-pm-iran

B enjamin Netanyahu, the biggest loser in last week’s preliminary deal to halt the US-Israel-Iran war , will be remembered – and reviled – as the man who put the Middle East to the sword. Whether the “problem” was Hamas in Gaza, illegal West Bank land seizures, supposed Israeli-Arab fifth columnists, peace campaigners’ aid flotillas , Hezbollah in Lebanon, hostile militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, or Tehran’s hardline Islamic regime, the Israeli leader’s “solution” was always the same: extreme, often lawless violence that invariably made matters worse.

The unprovoked, illegal war against Iran was the ultimate expression of the Netanyahu doctrine – the disproportionate application of brute force. Predictably, it too, has failed. Donald Trump is desperately arguing that the ceasefire memorandum he signed in Versailles (of all places!) is not the lame capitulation it so self-evidently is. But while the US president may survive this humiliation – despite global scepticism and mockery – the likely consequences of the debacle for Netanyahu, his brother-in-harms, are career-ending serious. In many respects , Israel’s longest-serving prime minister is already yesterday’s man.

His political obituary reads like a criminal indictment. For decades, Netanyahu resisted a two-state solution with the Palestinians. He failed to prevent the terrible Hamas atrocities of 7 October 2023, then visited genocidal vengeance on Gaza . He clung to power by giving far-right politicians key government roles, to his country’s lasting chagrin and shame. He undermined the internationally endorsed 2015 nuclear pact with Iran, whose subsequent repudiation by a credulous Trump led directly to this year’s disastrous, self-defeating conflict.

Yet the main reason Netanyahu is now hurtling towards political oblivion, even as autumn elections approach, is none of the above. It’s because he has poisoned and perhaps fatally weakened the vital US-Israel “special relationship”. He and Trump are barely on speaking terms . Fairly or not, the White House, and an American public already shocked and alienated by Israel’s war on Gaza, blame him for drawing the US into an unwinnable fight on the basis of glib predictions of easy victory and regime collapse. And now that peace is at hand, they fear Netanyahu is sabotaging it by continuing the war in Lebanon .

In the decades after Israel’s independence in 1948, the two countries often clashed – over Suez in 1956, over Israel’s Arab wars, peace plans, borders and settlements. But when the cold war ended, and the Soviet threat evaporated, their strategic and security interests, underpinned by shared democratic values, increasingly converged. US military aid to Israel mushroomed, as did the Washington lobbying power of its supporters. The US became Israel’s chief defender and indispensable ally – Israel America’s leading regional partner.

The consensus began to fall apart in 2015 when Netanyahu and pro-Israel organisations in the US mounted a huge campaign to derail Barack Obama’s attempt at a rapprochement with Iran. “The Israel-advocacy complex’s blitz failed to stop the nuclear deal. Instead, it demolished its own vestigial facade of bipartisanship. Pro-Israel groups soon began to function openly as a wing of the Republican party,” wrote Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer. Trump’s first term deepened the political polarisation. He ghosted the Palestine Liberation Organization, moved the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. “Trump has arguably done more to push rank-and-file Democrats away from Israel than any pro-Palestinian activist,” Leifer noted .

Netanyahu’s subsequent actions – his calculated embrace of hard-right nationalist-populist politics, support for unchecked territorial expansion and settler land-grabs, and his failed wars in Gaza, Lebanon and now Iran – have further fractured the old consensus. Recent polls indicate a startling turnaround. For the first time, more Americans sympathise with Palestinians than with Israelis. Many question whether the alliance serves US interests and want to halt or limit military aid. Ironically, present-day criticism, like past applause, is bipartisan, coming from both leftwing progressives and Maga supporters.

If reports of Trump’s profanity-laden personal attacks on “crazy” Netanyahu are to believed, then they reflect a broader collapse in mutual trust – and the resulting shock waves may have permanent geopolitical consequences. Having achieved something none of his predecessors achieved – roping the US into an all-out war – Netanyahu is now at the centre of another unprecedented development: a profound US-Israel strategic schism .

Trump’s Iran deal has left many Israelis aghast, and not only those on the right. The war enjoyed strong public support on the basis of Netanyahu’s promises to finally eliminate the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threat, degrade Tehran’s regional proxies, principally Hezbollah, and spark regime change. None of these objectives has been achieved. Worse, from Israel’s perspective, Iran’s revamped, Revolutionary Guards-dominated regime is emerging defiant and emboldened: witness its plan to charge transit fees in the strait of Hormuz .

Speaking after the G7 summit last week, Trump eviscerated Netanyahu’s red lines. He said Iran must be allowed to enrich uranium, had a right to ballistic missiles, and should be given back billions of dollars in frozen assets as part of a broader lifting of sanctions. The US also backed Iran’s demand for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Lebanon – a position angrily underscored by vice-president JD Vance, who ordered Netanyahu to stop fighting and toe the line . The US is “the only powerful ally” Israel has left, Vance warned ominously. By any conventional measure, this open confrontation is catastrophic for Israel.

Netanyahu is cornered. If he tries to demonstrate sovereign freedom of action by defying Trump, he could provoke Iran into restarting the war and wreck the peace deal. After Tehran pulled out of follow-up talks on Friday in Switzerland because of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, US officials claimed the two sides had agreed to reinstate an earlier ceasefire. Yet if Netanyahu tamely submits to Trump’s diktats, especially over a full Lebanon troop withdrawal, any remaining credibility he has with voters and his far-right allies may be lost. Either way, the “special relationship” is unlikely to recover quickly.

The possible ramifications of this rupture are giddying. It may come to mark the high-point of Israeli exceptionalism, the collapse of Netanyahu’s dream of a greater Israel as the dominant Middle East power – and the end of unquestioning US support and unconditional military aid. It could scupper hopes of extending Trump’s Abraham Accords to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that are busy recalibrating postwar loyalties. Trump’s unjust Gaza “peace plan” may deservedly hit the dust. It could be the moment Iran’s isolation finally eases, when Tehran comes in from the cold. Crucially, Israel will be less, not more, secure.

Netanyahu staked everything on a comprehensive, legacy-boosting victory over his Iranian nemesis – and he lost, badly. Now he must reap the whirlwind. Don’t make more trouble or more excuses, Bibi. Don’t wait to be pushed or sacked. Resign.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

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Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – England, World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, Sport, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham
Title – Rashford and Rice give England boost for Ghana with Saka set for bench again | England | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jacob-steinberg,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/davidhytner
Link – Rashford and Rice give England boost for Ghana with Saka set for bench again | England | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T18:19:07.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/20/rashford-and-rice-give-england-boost-for-ghana-but-saka-set-for-bench-again

Marcus Rashford and Declan Rice have given England a boost by training in advance of Tuesday’s game against Ghana, but Bukayo Saka looks likely to start on the bench again as he works his way back towards full fitness.

Thomas Tuchel has revealed Saka is managing an achilles problem and is not ready to complete a full 90 minutes yet. The winger came off the bench when England opened their World Cup campaign against Croatia with a 4-2 win in Dallas on Wednesday, but he is still being treated with caution.

Saka stayed indoors to work on an individual programme at England’s training base in Kansas City on Saturday, indicating that Noni Madueke will start again on the right when England face Ghana in Boston in their second game in Group L.

England are top of their group after an impressive second half against Croatia, although they left Dallas with a couple of injury concerns. Rashford, who came on and scored the fourth goal, complained of a minor muscular problem and Rice went off in the 72nd minute after feeling discomfort in his lower back and upper hamstring.

But there was good news for Tuchel when the team returned to training after being given a day off on Friday. Rashford, who is competing with Anthony Gordon for a place on the left flank, looked in good shape and Rice, the vice-captain and a crucial part of England’s midfield , also appeared to be moving freely as Tuchel ran his players through passing drills.

Jude Bellingham, meanwhile, has spoken of how he has grown into playing for his country. In an interview with Fifa, the 22-year-old said: “My responsibility to my team and to my country is to give everything I have. It’s been a gradual process into being where I am with the England squad.

“I wore the captain’s armband for the first time in the friendlies which means I’m on a good path and I know I can contribute whether it be from the starting XI, from the bench, I understand other players deserve to play as well. But I think I’m more than ready to give the team minutes.”

Bellingham, who scored England’s third goal in the win against Croatia, added: “I think it’s always the players who are calmer, more relaxed who understand what they have to do and don’t get carried away with the atmosphere. They are normally the ones who normally seem to look a step above.”

The Real Madrid midfielder also talked about his pride at playing for his country. “When I cross the line, wear that badge on the front, wear the No10 on the back of my shirt, I make sure I give everything that I have,” he said. “It’s every footballer’s dream to play at a World Cup and I’ve been fortunate enough to play in one already and now I’m back with the squad for the second one.”

Talking to BBC Sport, Bellingham said that he used the pre-match national anthem as a chance to draw inspiration from his family. “I think the anthem is the last chance you get to really be mindful of the people who have got you there and what it means to be from England,” he said.

“I think about my grandad, who passed away just before my England debut. He was so patriotic. He was an Englishman through and through. He could give you every fact about every war, every battle, every king, and every queen.”

Bellingham continued: “I also think about the rest of my family and the sacrifices they’ve made to get me to this stage. My mum, my dad and my brother, Jobe, have all been so important for me. My brother has been a constant crutch for me.”

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Health & wellbeing, Children, Life and style, Netherlands, Health and fitness holidays, Walking, Fitness, Europe, Family, Schools
Title – Dutch children are unusually happy and healthy. Is it because of this walking ritual? | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
Author – Hannah Docter-Loeb
Link – Dutch children are unusually happy and healthy. Is it because of this walking ritual? | Health & wellbeing | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T04:00:45.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/16/dutch-children-unusually-happy-healthy-avondvierdaagse-walking-festival

I shouldn’t have been surprised that the rain didn’t stop the Dutch kids. All day it had been thunderstorming, and the forecast didn’t look so great for the evening. And yet at 5pm, hundreds of kids started arriving – many by bike – with their parents to Amsterdam’s Westerpark, a beloved city park that caters to a more residential area of the capital. Today, it functions as a starting point: volunteers coordinate registration, and groups of children gather, decked out in raincoats and eager to embark on either a 5km or a 10km excursion around the surrounding neighbourhoods.

It’s the second night of Avondvierdaagse (which literally means “four-day evening walk”) , organised by a group of neighbourhood volunteers . It’s not a race, but if children complete every night, they get medals, a bouquet of flowers and, if they’re lucky, a lot of sweets. It’s not just Amsterdam; across villages, towns and cities in the Netherlands, hundreds of thousands of Dutch people are doing the same: every year, kids spend four evenings in early summer exploring their neighbourhoods with their school friends and parents as part of the Week van de Avond4daagse . Some places had celebrated earlier; others were walking the following week. A variation of the tradition has even made its way to Suriname, one of the Dutch former colonies. There are also four-day cycling and swimming events. According to the Royal Dutch Walking Association (KWbN), which helps coordinate the events, half a million people take part every year, in 700 locations across the country, powered by tens of thousands of volunteers.

“The event is just so Dutch – they don’t have this really anywhere else,” says fellow volunteer Judith van Oudheusden as we cycle from one checkpoint to another to catch the wave of kids at another part of the route. We are responsible for stamping cards to confirm they have completed this part of today’s 10km walk. A full card means they can get their medal on the last day, a feat many are determined to accomplish. Tonight they’ll be walking along the west boundaries of the neighbourhood, making their way through green city parks such as Erasmuspark and Rembrandtpark, and charming residential streets, catching a glimpse of the historic Molen de Otter windmill on the way back to Westerpark. Van Oudheusden participated in the activity as a child, she says, and then walked with her own children when they were younger. Volunteering is a full circle moment for her.

Avondvierdaagse originated from military ideology, explains Inger Leemans, professor of cultural history at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The first march was held in 1909 in Nijmegen as a military training event. But when the second world war broke out, different towns started to organise their own walks for soldiers. After the war, citizens were invited to walk along with them: the four-day marches in Nijmegen grew into an immensely popular event where tens of thousands of soldiers and citizens walked in solidarity. Aimed at older crowds, this is now the largest walking event in the world, with 45,000 participants from more than 80 countries, walking the same 30km, 40km and 50km routes each year. According to Arno van Gemert, a team leader for programmes and projects at KWbN, the Avondvierdaagse is like the event’s “little brother or sister”, mainly aimed at primary school children and their parents.

“It is interesting that this walk – with its military origins – grew into one of the national identity markers for the Dutch, a country that does not often self-represent as a military nation,” says Leemans, who also participated in the tradition when she was growing up in Leende, a village near the Belgian border. Most people now see it as a national event, comparable to other festivities such as King’s Day , a national holiday to celebrate the Dutch monarch’s birthday, involving street parties, flea markets, and lots of orange apparel. Avondvierdaagse even has its own traditional delicacy: half an orange, topped with a white Wilhelmina peppermint and wrapped in a piece of muslin, for kids to suck on as they walk. Many children were enjoying one along the route.

While the original walks were not necessarily to promote exercise, Avondvierdaagse has become a way to motivate kids to enjoy being outside and moving their bodies. “It’s important that children are physically active and can develop their motor skills from a young age,” explains Sanne de Vries, professor of physical activity in childhood at Leiden University Medical Center. Encouraging children to go through the whole week of walking – rain or shine – and rewarding them at the end can help build a positive association with physical activity. “Positive emotion that sticks is important.”

It also helps build resilience. “It’s been presented to them as a big challenge because it’s 5km and it sounds super hard,” says Fernanda Gomes, 44, who is walking the shorter route with her seven-year-old daughter, Alicia (who is snacking on the traditional orange as we speak). “Even if it’s raining, they do it and the message behind it is very great for the children.”

Dutch kids are consistently judged to be some of the happiest in the world. This year, a Unicef report again ranked them number one out of 44 western countries for overall wellbeing, and for mental health. Rich social relations were cited as a key factor. Research has shown that Dutch children have strong connections with their peers. In addition, many Dutch parents work part-time, so have more time to spend with their children. Children also have increased independence: parents let their kids roam more freely, and many start young, cycling to and from school by themselves.

Those social relations are at play at Avondvierdaagse: the walks are a chance for children to spend time with not only their parents but also their school friends, outside the classroom. Some even have matching shirts to represent their school: one reads “ Ren voor je leven ”, Dutch for “run for your life”. “It’s fun with friends,” says Robin Astill, 10, who is walking with her mum and a friend.

“I like that it’s something that happens each year and you get exercise out of it,” says Ansel Howard, 13. “It’s something that people have been doing for a long time and that you can do with friends and family and just enjoy.”

Parents also enjoy the Avondvierdaagse. Rebecca Astill, 46, participated when she was younger; as a parent, it’s a chance to explore more of her surroundings. She’s walked with her kids 10 times, first with her son and now with Robin. “You get to see more of your neighbourhood and walk through parts you don’t normally walk through,” she says. The organisers specifically pick out routes to expose participants to new places, and it’s a different route every year. “That’s the art and craft of the routemaster,” says organiser Philip Bueters, who walked as a parent with his own children years ago.

Astill also likes that it’s a social opportunity: a sentiment echoed by many other parents. “At school, you usually see other parents for a couple of minutes,” says Joost de Koning, 44, as his five-year-old, Noa, trails behind us at the beginning of a 5km walk. “But this is bringing the school community together.”

Avondvierdaagse is such a positive event, it’s hard to find any downsides to it. Some have questioned whether the walks are inclusive enough – for people with disabilities, for instance, or those from different cultural backgrounds. In Amsterdam, especially, the events’ participants may not necessarily reflect the diversity of the population, appealing more to higher-income parents in the neighbourhood.

Another problem: while the beauty of the event is its volunteer nature, it can be a huge undertaking. “In recent years, some events have had to stop because of a lack of volunteers,” says Bueters, who joined the neighbourhood organising committee when the last round of volunteers retired. “People are willing to chip in every now and then but not four days in a row.”

Avondvierdaagse is very much a communal effort. Locals provide their time, businesses donate food and flowers, and the KWbN supports the local committees (and provides the coveted medals) all because they know the importance of the event for the kids and the surrounding area.

“It has survived for decades because it brings communities together in a very simple, healthy and screen-free way,” says van Gemert of KWbN. As he explains, there is a specific Dutch word for it: Gezelligheid . The word doesn’t have a perfect English translation – perhaps cosiness or togetherness, but you know it when you see it. “It captures the Dutch spirit of being active outdoors regardless of the weather, combined with a highly organised community effort.”

And while Avondvierdaagse is uniquely Dutch, that doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way. “It’s not an invention of the government to make kids do sports; the formula can be copied,” says Bueters. Aicha Lagha, another volunteer, agrees. “I think it can be anywhere there is a community or you want to build a community,” she says.

And in Westerpark, as I wait at the finish line on the last day, when the sun is finally shining, that sense of community is strong. A few hundred metres from the finish line, volunteers hand out flowers, provided by a local florist. Family members wait patiently at the finish to celebrate the achievement: one grandma arrived 20 minutes early to make sure she could catch her seven-year-old grandson, walking with her daughter. “It’s a very special event,” she tells me, reminiscing about walking during her own childhood – “and that’s a long time ago”, she jokes.

As more and more kids pass the finish line, the area turns into a major celebration: children dance to Snollebollekes’ 2015 hit Links Rechts , jumping from left to right in a line during the chorus in what has become a national tradition of sorts. Some kids climb a statue for a photo opportunity. Parents are celebrating too: proudly taking pictures of their kids with their medals.

As I leave, Joost Klein’s 2024 Eurovision entry, Europapa (another local kids’ favourite), is playing for the third time in 20 minutes, and no one seems to care, nor do they mind that the weather seems to be turning overcast and rainy. They are more focused on the party. There are no English words to fully describe the feeling of pure joy that encapsulates the area. It’s just gezellig .

This article was amended on 16 June 2026 to clarify that Inger Leemans is professor of cultural history at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Keyword – Books
Trefwoorden – Fiction, Books, Culture
Title – A Little Bit Bad by Cassandra Neyenesch review – a sparkling, subversive debut | Fiction | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/daisy-hildyard
Link – A Little Bit Bad by Cassandra Neyenesch review – a sparkling, subversive debut | Fiction | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T06:00:03.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/18/a-little-bit-bad-by-cassandra-neyenesch-review-a-sparkling-subversive-debut

The plot of A Little Bit Bad sounds like the setup for a joke: “Like, this white lady lusting after her hot Chicano roofer?” Perdita Jungfrau, the narrator, is describing her own situation. “Yuck.”

It’s 2009 and Perdita is 39 when she meets 25-year-old Nando, who is working on next door’s roof. “Burned out” after a decade as a hospital social worker, she’s a stay-at-home mother to a toddler, and pregnant again (though she doesn’t know it yet). She isn’t happy. Her husband is critical of her for quitting her job, and won’t look after the children: “Babies scare me!” Perdita is out in her San Diego backyard on the day that Nando falls from a ladder propped up against the neighbour’s house. She sees it happen, calls an ambulance and sits beside him on the grass to wait.

“You know when someone is either handsome or wild-looking, and you don’t know which it is?” Nando’s face is freckled, with two little bumps where his nose has been broken twice. He describes himself as an “anarcho-Marxist” and is “opinionated in a calm, deadpan way”. He reads The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon on his lunch break, but has “somehow missed out” on college and is struggling to make a living in the post-crash economy.

Perdita and Nando should make an odd couple, but they don’t. They’re both raw and fragile, and they share a sense of delight in the abyss. (When Perdita’s son bites the face of another child at toddler group, Nando totally gets it: “He just likes the taste of human flesh”.) Their attraction feels real – there’s a sense of something tense and secret between them when they’re alone. When their differences come between them, that also feels realistic.

A Little Bit Bad is the debut novel from New Yorker Neyenesch. It’s released in the wake of Miranda July’s very successful All Fours , another story of a middle-aged California wife who discovers an intense desire for a younger man, and absconds. Where July’s novel concentrates on the “unleashed life” of the perimenopausal woman, Neyenesch’s takes a different turn. A second plot strand, set one year on in 2010, runs in parallel to the story of the affair. Nando has been murdered, and Perdita is trying to solve the case (she’s devastated, and also a fan of true crime).

Like All Fours, A Little Bit Bad has a careering plotline, flying between the everyday drudgery of mom-life, and a heightened, surreal or imagistic mode. My favourite character is an owl with the face of a woman who appears occasionally to Perdita and addresses her in the voice of the man who works at the local pawn shop. Beyond or via their fictional flights of fancy, All Fours is concerned with the politics of biology and the “true self” of a woman in midlife, whereas A Little Bit Bad is more interested in societal injustice. The military-industrial complex, the “good Obamaverse” and the carceral system all feature. At its sharpest, the novel poses questions about the structural violence of a culture that privileges the normative nuclear family. To some extent, it pulls back from a focus on the middle-class mother to ask who really feels that violence.

It’s also very funny. I was reminded of the heroines of Halle Butler’s novels – Perdita could be their older sister, another ferocious dork with a genius for behaving inappropriately. ( Of course her son bites faces.) Neyenesch’s comic excellence and sharp insight occasionally come at the cost of blunter things, such as emotion. When Nando falls off the ladder and lies on the ground between life and death, Perdita, kneeling beside him, sees the blood coming out of him as “exit-sign red”. There’s something here that could be felt by the reader as serious, but the narrative chooses a smart humour, and those feelings never get too close.

There were points at which I wondered whether Neyenesch was deliberately satirising All Fours, or more broadly the trend for frantic fictional celebrations of older women going rogue. Certainly, she is having a laugh with California-flavoured ideas about self-expression. One chapter is wonderfully titled “The Roofer Holds Space for My Feelings”.

At heart, this story is tragic. The touch of satire pulls it back from the abyss, and it’s probably for the best. I absolutely enjoyed every single page. The plot is constructed for compulsive reading: the two storylines are told in interspersed chapters, and as the affair begins to cool, the murder mystery gets going. The central couple are sparkling and adorable. At an open-mic night on their first date they get up on stage. Perdita raps, while Nando, at her side, does “an Irish clog dance”. The audience is delighted.

A Little Bit Bad by Cassandra Neyenesch is published by Fig Tree (£16.99). To order your copy, go to guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, World Cup, Curaçao, Ecuador, Football, Sport
Title – Room shuts door as Curaçao claim historic first World Cup point against Ecuador | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ed-aarons
Link – Room shuts door as Curaçao claim historic first World Cup point against Ecuador | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T02:35:43.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/21/curacao-ecuador-world-cup-group-e-match-report

It’s doubtful whether many Ecuador supporters – or many others for that matter – had ever heard the name Eloy Room before this match. They will never forget it now.

Watched by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in the stands, the Curaçao goalkeeper etched his name into the pantheon of World Cup legends with what must rank as one of the most heroic performances in the long history of the competition.

Room – a 37-year-old who has spent most of his career sitting on the bench for clubs in the Eredivisie – came within one save of breaking Tim Howard’s all-time record of 16 in a single men’s World Cup game from 2014, although that included a period of extra time. It earned the nation with the smallest population ever to make it to a finals a first ever point on their World Cup debut against highly-rated opponents, as Dick Advocaat’s side recovered from their 7-1 thrashing against Germany a few days ago in some style.

“I still have to process it myself,” admitted a delighted Room, who revealed that he had received a congratulatory kiss from Queen Máxima in the changing room afterwards. “I’m a bit annoyed that I didn’t get the record in the end but I think Tim Howard was sweating on it a bit.”

Advocaat, who stepped down in February due to his daughter’s health concerns before returning last month and who is the oldest manager at a World Cup finals, was in tears at the final whistle. “I’m so proud,” he said. “We have come from nothing and they fought like lions. It will be a big party on the island tonight and they deserve it.”

For Ecuador, who left the field to jeers from their fans as Curaçao’s players congratulated theirs, it was another performance to forget and they know they must beat Germany in their final match to stand any chance of progressing. “There are things you cannot explain in football – we’ve had 27 shots on goal but we couldn’t score,” said their coach, Sebastián Beccacece. “It is normal to feel this pain but we still have a chance to put things right.”

Curaçao’s thumping against Julian Nagelsmann’s side had not dampened the spirit of their partying supporters, with as many as 5% of the country’s 160,000 population estimated to have travelled to the United States. They more than held their own in the pre-match decibel challenge at the self-styled loudest stadium in the world that usually hosts the serial Super Bowl winners the Kansas City Chiefs.

But the section of blue-shirted fans who brought their own brass band to perform the national anthem before kick-off were totally outnumbered by an expectant Ecuadorian crowd, boosted by a large local expat population, who were desperate to make amends for the surprise defeat by Côte d’Ivoire that ended a 19-match unbeaten run.

The stylish Beccacece – a long-haired Argentinian who started his career with the youth teams at Lionel Messi’s childhood club, Newell’s Old Boys, and is a disciple of Jorge Sampaoli – had urged against complacency as they prepared to face a side ranked 83rd by Fifa. “We are not Germany,” he warned beforehand.

With a team packed full of players starring for top European clubs, including Arsenal’s Piero Hincapié and Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain in defence, La Tri were widely tipped to do well here after finishing second in South American qualifying.

Enner Valencia should have settled their nerves inside the open two minutes when the veteran former West Ham striker raced through in goal. But Room – who earned himself a move to second-tier side Miami FC off the back of his performances in qualifying – produced an exceptional save to push his shot around the post.

The king and queen, having been treated to an impressive 5-1 Netherlands victory over Sweden in Houston hours earlier, may have feared the worst for the territory less than 40 miles from the South American coast that was colonised by the Dutch in the 17th century. Yet Curaçao showed they are not here to make up the numbers as a driving run from Sheffield United’s Tahith Chong – the only member of Curaçao’s squad born on the island and sporting a distinctive haircut for the occasion – lifted the tempo before Juninho Bacuna shot wide.

Advocaat was further encouraged by the space his side were finding down the flanks as Ecuador’s wing-backs pushed high. The frustration was starting to grow for Beccacece after Pedro Vite curled wide and some slack passing undermined his side’s dominance of possession. Valencia and John Yeboah tested Room just before the break but the goalkeeper was again equal to their efforts.

It was up to Ecuador to significantly raise their game and Beccacece hauled off Jordy Alcívar for the second half after he had picked up a booking and replaced him with Kevin Rodríguez. Room resumed where he left off by making a routine save from Moisés Caicedo before somehow stopping a goalbound header from a corner that deflected off his own player.

Curaçao’s discipline began to wane as they were pushed back but they continued to look dangerous on the break. A brilliant backheel from Bacuna set up his older brother and captain, Leandro, and Hernán Galíndez ended up having to make a triple save from Livano Comenencia and Jürgen Locadia.

Room took centre stage yet again moments later when Rodríguez powered a header on target from a corner and the goalkeeper repelled further efforts from Valencia and Pacho. Hincapié headed over from a corner before the substitute Ángelo Preciado’s cross hit the woodwork. Valencia wasted the best chance to win it as Ecuador failed to avert disaster and left Curaçao feeling on top of the world.

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Labour party leadership, Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting, Labour, Politics, UK news
Title – Keir Starmer expected to announce departure as prime minister on Monday | Labour party leadership | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/peterwalker
Link – Keir Starmer expected to announce departure as prime minister on Monday | Labour party leadership | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T09:03:57.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/21/keir-starmer-expected-to-announce-departure-as-prime-minister-on-monday

Keir Starmer is expected to announce on Monday that he will step down as prime minister, after overwhelming pressure from Labour MPs to make way for Andy Burnham to become Labour leader.

Speaking for the government on Sunday, Peter Kyle, the business secretary, refused to comment on Starmer’s specific plans but said the prime minister was aware of the “political realities” and would do what was best for the country.

“I don’t want to come on here and be delusional that there is no process, there are no forces at work which are challenging the prime minister as leader – that is clearly the case,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.

The prime minister and his allies had insisted for weeks, before the Makerfield byelection in which Burnham secured a return to Westminster, that they would fight a leadership challenge from Burnham, or anyone else.

Downing Street reiterated this on Sunday, pointing to Starmer’s comments to reporters on Friday, after Burnham’s byelection win, in which the PM vowed that he would fight any challenge to his leadership.

While Kyle said he did not know “what the next few days will entail”, he presented Starmer as thinking very carefully about his future and how to avoid damaging the national interest.

Kyle said he had spoken at length to Starmer on Friday. “He was very mindful of the interests of the country, and in that conversation he repeatedly said to me and asked my advice on what I believe the country wanted at this moment in different circumstances.”

Refusing to say what advice he had given, Kyle said of the Labour party: “We are a tight group of people, and we are now facing a period of political uncertainty, and we need to find a way to get through this that puts the country first. This is what we are trying to do.”

Kyle is a close friend of Wes Streeting , who resigned as health secretary last month and has pledged to challenge to become prime minister.

Asked if he would want a full contest to see who might replace Starmer, rather than the mooted coronation for Burnham, Kyle said that while contests were “better wherever possible, that needs to be balanced with the needs of maintaining authority of a party”.

He urged Labour to “learn the lessons of the Tories and make sure that any change that may or may not happen is done in a functional way, and in a way that keeps the government focused on the needs of the people”.

But in a veiled warning to those expecting Burnham to turn around the party’s fortunes, Kyle said Labour also needed to learn from the Conservatives that “whenever they saw a challenge in their party, they always thought that changing the person at the top would fix everything, and that palpably, patently, is not the case”.

After the Greater Manchester mayor won Thursday’s contest by a significant margin over Reform, gaining a 9,000-plus majority and more than 50% of the vote, Burnham’s team believed they had the support of about 200 Labour MPs, about half the parliamentary party.

That number has since increased, with Burnham becoming increasingly confident of a coronation in which he would take over as Labour leader and thus PM without a contest, with Starmer setting out a relatively quick timetable for departure.

On Friday, ministers previously loyal to Starmer told him that he should reach a decision on a timetable for his departure by the end of the weekend or face being forced out of office, with an intervention at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting likely to result.

Under Labour party rules, any MP who wishes to challenge to be leader needs the backing of at least 20% of the parliamentary party, or 81 MPs.

Streeting has pledged to seek the top job and says he has sufficient backers, but allies of Starmer and Burnham are sceptical. His candidacy will become less likely if wavering Labour backbenchers conclude that they would prefer to back a likely winner and swing behind Burnham.

Starmer’s departure will set the UK on course for a seventh prime minister in 10 years, just two years after he led Labour to a sweeping general election victory, winning a majority of 174 seats.

His premiership has been battered by controversies and U-turns, including over winter fuel payments to older people and the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington.

Labour has slumped in the polls, and Starmer himself is enormously unpopular with much of the public. Reform UK has led for more than 300 consecutive national polls and many Labour MPs are increasingly convinced that without a change of leader, Nigel Farage will win the next election.