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Life and style
This is how we do it: ‘My sex life with her is completely separate to my life as a divorced father’
Olivia Ladanyi
Sun 17 May 2026 12.00 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/may/17/this-is-how-we-do-it-sex-life-after-divorce-late-forties

Can, 49

I was used to telling people that I could only offer them adventure, but with Shani that wasn’t true

I remember the moment Shani leaned forward slightly at brunch. We started kissing but we were a bit tipsy so decided to leave it there. I’d been poly for seven years after my divorce, rediscovering myself through the pleasure of connection with different people.

Shani and I both decided to stop having sex with other people so that we could experience each other fully. I was used to telling people that I could only offer them adventure, but with Shani that wasn’t true. Maybe it was timing, or that she also wanted good sex with someone who didn’t need a relationship. In the beginning, she focused on the physical – I was more of a sexual tool for her than a partner, and I understood why she needed that. But trust grew slowly and Shani began to let her guard down. Now she says she likes my company as well as my anatomy.

More than two years in, we still can’t get enough. We only see each other a few nights every couple of weeks, and that distance keeps the sexual tension alive. My life with Shani is completely separate from my life as a divorced father. There’s still a part of my heart that’s frozen, and difficult to open up and give away. Divorce does that to a person.

What I’m drawn to most is her brilliant mind. She’s intelligent and has strong opinions, which is as arousing to me as her figure. The more she realises how much I love her body, the better the sex is. Shani initiates by walking through the door wearing a certain nail polish or lipstick or shoes. I initiate by coming up behind her and biting her neck, and depending on the way she smiles or pushes back on me, I can tell there’s reciprocity. If she’s horny, it’s written all over her face.

I didn’t think my sex life would be like this in my late 40s. It helps that Shani and I are very open with each other. We talk about attraction, other people, our fantasies. She told me early on that she can get jealous. It’s about being open – communicating our doubts and fears rather than letting them sit unspoken.

Shani, 44

Our relationship is intuitive and exists in the present, so I don’t know what long-term looks like

I’d known Can for 15 years when I invited him over for brunch. I hadn’t felt attracted to him before, but then we got drunk and kissed. Nothing else happened between us that day because we both had plans, but we knew that something was unfolding and we’d jump on each other the next time we met. When we eventually did, we had sex for two days. The attraction is just as strong two and a half years later.

At the time, I was coming out of a wild period after my husband of 12 years left me out of the blue. I moved around a lot, between cities and countries, sleeping on sofas, never staying in one place longer than a month. At the peak, I was sleeping with four men I met via apps in one day. Being with everyone was a way to avoid being with anyone, so I wouldn’t be abandoned again. But it eventually started to scare me, so by the time Can and I got together I’d already decided to stop.

Getting closer to Can was scary, so I told myself it was just sex. But being with him was fun and easy, so I was open to seeing where it could go. He was poly and divorced, and didn’t seem as if he needed anything from me, which made it feel safer. When he decided to stop seeing other people early on, it was reassuring. I really trust him; he’s taking the cynicism out of me. But the fear is still there – that he’ll fancy someone else and leave me for them.

We talk about going to sex clubs and bringing other people in – Can is the first person I can imagine doing that with. But seeing him with someone else will be a test. I’m not sure how I’ll react.

We live an hour apart and don’t talk every day, and I like that distance. I don’t want to rely on anyone, but I know I can rely on him. When we’re together, we have sex first, then talk. Our relationship is intuitive and exists in the present, so I don’t know what long-term looks like, but I don’t see why it can’t continue like this.

Chelsea flower show
‘An accessible space’: the Chelsea garden visitors can see, hear, feel, taste and touch their way round
Donna Ferguson
Tue 19 May 2026 07.00 CESTLast modified on Tue 19 May 2026 14.31 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/may/19/chelsea-flower-show-accessible-sensory-garden-sightsavers

S ome will want to touch the Stachys byzantina , an evergreen plant with leaves so velvety soft its common name is lamb’s ear. Others will want to smell the star jasmine, taste the plethora of herbs or listen to the “sensory soundscape” inspired by bioelectric signals of the surrounding plants.

When the Sightsavers sensory garden opens at the Chelsea flower show this week, designers Peter Karn, Janice Molyneux and Sarah Fisher are hoping that visitors, with disabilities or without, will find it an accessible, inclusive space that engages all their senses.

“A garden can be more than just a nice space to look at. It can be an immersive sensory experience,” said Karn. “And the more sensory elements like texture, flavour and aroma we can work into a garden, the more accessible it is going to be for lots of different groups.”

The flower show in west London gets under way on Tuesday, with hundreds of thousands of people from around the world expected to flock to the banks of the Thames. But among the crowds and more typical “luxury” attractions, the creators of the sensory garden hope it will stand out because of its accessibility and use of humble, everyday materials.

Children, wheelchair users and those who have lost, or are losing, their sight or other senses will find many safe and stimulating ways to interact with the natural world in the Sightsavers 3-metre by 4-metre garden. Molyneux said: “We’ve designed the planting so there’s nothing harmful, so if you reach out and touch a plant, it’s not going to be a thorn – or if you put a leaf in your mouth, there’s nothing toxic there.”

Instead, visitors are invited to enjoy the sensory delights of fennel, dill, rosemary and thyme, as well as the edible, colourful flowers of nasturtium and chives.

Many of these plants were chosen because, as well as being “lovely” to taste and smell, they are pleasant to brush past and touch, Molyneux said. “The dill has a fine, feathery texture, the rosemary is really tactile, and the thyme is quite bouncy … you want to touch its little leaves.”

To attract the sound of birdsong, there is also a small ornamental tree, Cornus kousa , with edible berries birds like to feed on, and the lamb’s ear, a perennial member of the mint family, which birds often use to line their nests. “It has grey silvery leaves, which have all these soft little hairs,” Molyneux said. “They feel like felt.”

The “pollinator-friendly” and drought-tolerant plants, which are all grown in low-level, tiered containers, offer interest at different heights and could be easily maintained by a wheelchair user or mobility-impaired gardener, Karn said.

The containers are curved, “so it’s quite easy to feel your way around the space and by having protruding leaves, you get this very gentle brushing of sensory plants as you move through the garden,” he added. “You experience the aroma of the garden as you explore it through touch … If you were to shut your eyes, you could feel and smell your way around the garden.”

Visitors are invited to sit in the centre, underneath a steel halo structure that collects rainwater near a fragrant seven sons flower tree ( Heptacodium miconioides) , which has a textured, peeling golden bark. The water trickles down into a pond via a “rain chain” water feature, creating “a relaxing, natural sound”, Molyneux said.

The entire garden has been designed around a wheelchair-turning circle, and there is a light beige path that contrasts sharply with the red brick of the planters. “You need a contrast between vertical structures and the floor so that you can see where your boundaries are, if you’re visually impaired,” said Karn.

As some of the plants were growing in their nursery, composer Dr Helen Anahita Wilson recorded their bioelectric signals by hooking up their stems, leaves and roots to monitors, using crocodile clips and sensors. She then interpreted patterns of the plants’ “aliveness” that she saw in the numerical and graphical data she collected, and used these patterns to compose a sensory sound installation of rhythms and melodic phrases that will be played on hidden loudspeakers in the garden.

“I have a deep fascination for all things gold – and there’s this one plant in particular in the garden called Aurinia saxatilis , which also goes by the name ‘gold dust’,” she said. “So in the sound installation, all of the harmonies are built from biodata from this gold dust and my observations of its plant structure, because I like to look really closely at plants and think about how their shape could be interpreted in sound.”

From her bioelectric recordings of achillea “Moonshine”, a perennial yarrow with bright yellow flowers, she got “very strange, intricate, delicate patterns” which she decided to interpret as being “quite bubble-like and insect-like … So any visitors to the garden will hear these effervescent sounds in the higher registers, which feel a bit twinkly and curious.”

Listeners will also be able to hear the character of the fragrant star jasmine plant, which has been turned into a “supportive string drone sound” similar to an electronic double bass and a cello, throughout the 30-minute composition.

Wilson was excited about how the weather and sounds of wildlife in the garden would transform and enhance her music. “We’re hoping for some insects and birds to add another sonic layer to it,” she said.

The inclusive ethos of the garden is intended to reflect the breadth of Sightsavers’ charitable work across more than 30 low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia, from tackling avoidable blindness and neglected tropical diseases to promoting equality of opportunity for people with disabilities.

Molyneux hopes the garden will help people – particularly those living with sensory loss – to feel as though they belong in gardens and the natural world. “Connecting with nature has been proven to be so great for our wellbeing,” she said.

Karn was determined to show visitors how a well-designed garden should do more than just appeal to people visually: “Gardens should be universally accessible places for everyone.”

Books
‘Capitalism has to become more humane’: a Stanford economist on big tech, power hoarding and democracy
Hannah Harris Green
Mon 18 May 2026 15.00 CESTLast modified on Tue 19 May 2026 00.13 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/18/big-tech-monopolies-democracy-mordecai-kurz

T he billionaires of today are unusually aggressive in their hoarding of cultural and technological influence, according to Mordecai Kurz, a Stanford economist whose research connects monopoly power with political and economic inequality. In his new book, Private Power and Democracy’s Decline, publishing 19 May, he argues the US is living through an extreme version of a pattern that has repeated itself since industrialization: technological power concentrating in the hands of a few, which is eroding democracy.

According to Kurz, technological moguls have long seen themselves as superior beings whose natural role is to shape society – so they have no problem disrupting the institution of democracy. During the first Gilded Age, in the late 19th century, as the US was enjoying its first ascent as an industrial powerhouse, wealthy industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller “invented all kinds of theories about human evolution”, twisting the logic of social Darwinism to convince themselves that their success was a sign they had been selected by nature to influence society, Kurz explained. Now, the Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, has suggested his technology has a mystical potential to become a transcendent good. He has also openly acknowledged it could lead to mass unemployment .

Voters turn towards fascist leaders when democracy no longer serves workers, Kurz says. “New Deal” reforms during the Great Depression limited monopoly power and provided benefits to the vulnerable. According to Private Power and Democracy’s Decline , these reforms precipitated a “half-century of sustained innovations, rapid economic growth and stable income distribution”. Reagan-era reversals of those reforms led to what Kurz calls the “second Gilded Age”, when technological firms could accumulate monopoly power and wealth while most Americans, especially blue-collar workers without college degrees, saw their wages stagnate as the cost of living rose. It was this economic disenfranchisement, rather than cultural forces, that led to the rise of Maga, according to Kurz.

The book describes how today’s tech giants are diminishing voter power through both economic and cultural influence. Small tech startups and bigger tech companies like Microsoft and OpenAI prefer to collaborate with one another rather than compete, Kurz says. New technology companies are now formed not with the intention to challenge existing players but with the explicit aim of eventually being acquired by one. This is a symptom of monopoly power so extreme and entrenched that no innovator can survive without an established monopoly’s blessing. David has no choice but to work with Goliath. This same monopoly status gives tech giants enormous lobbying influence. Politicians who rely on their money are unlikely to rein them in.

“When you use strategies designed to manipulate knowledge to create market power, you go way beyond what we should be willing to accept,” Kurz said.

Tech giants use the force of their largely unregulated social media networks to further drive polarization to serve their bottom lines, Kurz says. “[Social meda] activity is profitable, and sometimes you generate activity by creating falsehoods, which are not good for democracy,” he said, adding that tech companies should be held legally liable for misinformation on their platforms. Unregulated AI could also further entrench disillusionment as it seeks to displace an even larger swath of workers, he projects – not just those without college degrees but doctors, lawyers and engineers as well.

Still, Kurz is optimistic that a better democracy will rise again, though it might be a difficult road. “Trumpism will not go in a whimper,” Kurz says. “There may be a big recession or a big depression or some other crisis before we can complete a new reform cycle.”

Kurz says that extreme consolidation of technological power has eventually led to reform in the past, and conditions are ripe for it to happen again. “If you talk to any normal, intelligent American, they will tell you something is wrong in America and something has to change,” he said. The Maga coalition is a combination of old-fashioned Republicans, white supremacists and former blue-collar workers who have been disenfranchised, says Kurz. Very specific economic circumstances led this group of people to come together, and they will fall apart again.

When the time for that reform comes, Kurz outlines what it should look like in Private Power: the government should tax and redistribute excess wealth that tech firms accumulate due to monopoly power. When workers are displaced by AI, education to help them learn new, more relevant skills should be government subsidized, as should companies who hire them. And new policies should ensure that AI technology assists workers but doesn’t replace them.

“We want capitalism to support democracy. Capitalism has to become more humane. It has to be more regulated. And in democracy, we don’t leave anybody behind,” he said.

Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock painting sells for record $181m at Christie’s in New York

Tue 19 May 2026 16.08 CESTLast modified on Tue 19 May 2026 22.23 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/may/19/jackson-pollock-painting-sells-for-record-181m-christies-new-york-auction

A Jackson Pollock painting has sold for a record $181.2m (£135.3m) at Christie’s in New York.

The sale on Monday made Number 7A, 1948 the fourth most expensive work ever sold at auction, according to ARTnews.

The previous auction record for a work by Pollock was $61.2m, set in 2021. Other works by the abstract expressionist have sold privately for up to $200m.

“It is with this work that Pollock finally frees himself from the shackles of conventional easel painting and produces one of the first truly abstract paintings in the history of art,” Christie’s said in a statement.

On a busy day for the auction house, Danaïde, a bronze head sculpted by the Romanian-born artist Constantin Brâncuşi in around 1913 sold for $107.6m, topping its previous record of $71.2m set in 2018.

No 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) by the US painter Mark Rothko sold for $98.4m, and Portrait of Madame K by the Catalan artist Joan Miró for $53.5m.

The sales broke previous records for Rothko (of $86.9m) and Miró ($37m) set in 2012.

Monday’s auction followed a string of records set at Sotheby’s in November last year.

Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, painted by the Austrian master Gustav Klimt between 1914 and 1916, sold for $236.4m, becoming the second most expensive work ever sold at auction.

The Dream (The Bed), 1940, a self-portrait by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, sold for $54.7m, a record for a painting by a woman.

The most expensive painting ever sold at auction is Salvator Mundi, a Renaissance work attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which was bought for $450m in 2017.

Food
José Pizarro’s recipe for spiced crab croquetas
José Pizarro
Tue 19 May 2026 07.00 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/may/19/spiced-crab-croquetas-recipe-jose-pizarro

C roquetas have always been part of my life, and my favourites have always been my mum Isabel’s hake croquetas. That’s really where it all started for me: simple but full of flavour, the kind of thing you grow up eating without really thinking about it and then never forget. What I especially love about croquetas, however, is that they can be made from almost anything. Many people say that they rely on good leftovers, and that’s true, but they can also be made with rather more indulgent ingredients, like crab. It just goes to show quite how versatile croquetas are – and how they always go with a good glass of white rioja!

Spiced crab croquetas

Prep 10 min Chill 2 hr 20 min Cook 45 min Makes About 30

If you don’t want to serve these immediately, freeze them for 20 minutes, then keep covered in the fridge until you’re ready to fry. If you want to keep them for even longer, then freeze completely and use within three months. Defrost at room temperature before frying.

75g unsalted butter 100g plain flour ¼ tsp smoked sweet pimentón ½ tsp fennel seeds , crushed in a mortar 550-600ml whole milk Sea salt and black pepper 150g white crab meat 50g brown crab meat Finely grated zest of 1 lemon 1 large egg , beaten 150g panko breadcrumbs Olive oil , or sunflower oil, for deep-frying

Melt the butter in a nonstick pan over a medium heat, then add the flour and cook, stirring, for a minute or two. Add the pimentón and fennel seeds, then very gradually stir in 550ml of the milk. Stirring all the while, cook for about seven minutes, until you have a really thick, glossy bechamel, then season generously. Simmer for two to three minutes more, and add a splash more milk if the mix thickens too much.

Take the bechamel off the heat, then beat in the white and brown crab meat and the lemon zest. Line a baking tray with clingfilm or greaseproof paper, then spread out the mixture on top in an even layer. Cover with a second layer of clingfilm or paper, leave to cool to room temperature, then chill for at least two hours.

When you’re ready to shape and cook the croquetas, use wet hands to shape the mixture into walnut-sized balls – there should be enough croqueta mix to make about 30 in total. Put the beaten egg in a shallow bowl and put the panko in a second bowl. Working one by one, roll each ball in the beaten egg, roll in the panko to coat, then return to the baking tray. Repeat with the remaining balls and, when they’re all coated, freeze for 20 minutes just to firm them up (you don’t want to freeze them).

Heat the frying oil to 170C – I use a thermometer, but you can also test by dropping in a pinch of the croqueta mix: if it bubbles gently and rises slowly to the surface, the oil is ready. Fry the croquetas in batches for three or four minutes each (do not overcrowd the pan), until deep golden all over and piping hot throughout. Serve hot sprinkled with a little sea salt, if you like.

Elon Musk
Musk v Altman: tech bros at war over OpenAI – The Latest
Lucy Hough
Tue 19 May 2026 18.27 CESTLast modified on Tue 19 May 2026 20.56 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/news/video/2026/may/19/musk-v-altman-tech-bros-at-war-over-openai-the-latest

Manchester City
Guardiola tells Manchester City players he is leaving as club line up Maresca
Jamie Jackson
Tue 19 May 2026 12.16 CESTLast modified on Tue 19 May 2026 22.57 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/19/pep-guardiola-tells-manchester-city-players-leaving-enzo-maresca-chelsea-compensation

Pep Guardiola has informed Manchester City’s players that he will leave the club after Sunday’s final Premier League game of the season against Aston Villa.

The manager felt obliged to update his squad after news of his departure broke on Monday night, taking him by surprise while he was preparing for Tuesday’s match at Bournemouth.

Guardiola had hoped to keep his decision to leave City private for longer, so as not to provide a distraction. City need to beat Bournemouth to take the title race to the last day after Arsenal moved five points clear by defeating Burnley .

Guardiola is leaving after 10 years with a season remaining on his contract and City have identified Enzo Maresca as his replacement. Chelsea are in line for sizeable compensation for Maresca from City after the Italian’s acrimonious departure from Chelsea on New Year’s Day.

City are understood to have agreed a three-year deal in principle with Maresca but there are matters to tie up relating to his exit from Stamford Bridge. The former Leicester manager is understood to have contractual obligations to Chelsea . He walked away with three and a half years on his deal, with the club option of an extra year.

Sources close to Maresca, who worked as Guardiola’s No 2 at City in the 2022-23 season, have confirmed he did not claim severance and that Chelsea hold his compensation rights. That means the London club are in position to seek compensation. The number on the claim has been kept confidential but is unlikely to be small.

Chelsea have watched events around Guardiola’s future unfold with interest. They view Maresca’s resignation as the reason for their disappointing second half of the season. Chelsea are likely to miss out on the Champions League and lost the FA Cup final to City last Saturday. Liam Rosenior struggled after replacing Maresca and was fired last month , leaving Calum McFarlane to take over as interim until the end of the season, with Xabi Alonso to join this summer.

The club’s BlueCo ownership had no desire to make a mid-season change. The situation deteriorated after Maresca said after the win over Everton on 13 December that he had just experienced his worst 48 hours at Chelsea. It later emerged he had informed Chelsea that he had twice held talks with people associated with City about replacing Guardiola at the end of the season.

Tension had flared between Maresca and the Chelsea hierarchy after last summer’s Club World Cup triumph. Maresca felt he deserved a new contract and was disappointed when Chelsea did not respond to Levi Colwill sustaining a serious knee injury in pre-season by signing a centre-back. Chelsea felt no suitable defenders were on the market but the situation was not resolved. Sources said Maresca also tried to use interest from City and Juventus as leverage for a new deal.

The situation reached the point of no return after the 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth on 30 December. Maresca did not attend his post-match media duties, his absence initially put down to illness. It later emerged he had told the club he did not want to face the media. Sources have told the Guardian that Maresca met with his bosses in his office after full-time and indicated that he planned to quit.

Maresca intends to add Willy Caballero to his backroom staff at City, the Argentinian having been his assistant at Leicester before following him to Chelsea, where the former goalkeeper occupied the same role. Caballero, who played for City for three years until May 2017, left Chelsea with Maresca.

Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live: the 10 best sketches from the 51st season
Zach Vasquez
Tue 19 May 2026 13.00 CESTLast modified on Tue 19 May 2026 22.19 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/may/19/saturday-night-live-best-sketches-season-51

S aturday Night Live, which just closed out its 51st season , has been on the upswing for the past few months. Following their disappointing 50th anniversary, a combination of major changes and small course corrections have resulted in a noticeably better show. The departure of Bowen Yang earlier in the season, along with the reduced presence of Chloe Fineman, both of whom had become the faces of the series during one of its most frustrating periods, has been a huge boon, as has the increased presence of the younger cast, at least one of whom is poised to become its next star.

The sketches, as always, were hit and miss, but unlike other recent seasons, it wasn’t difficult finding the standouts. Here are the 10 best sketches of season 51 of Saturday Night Live:

Auctioneers

While there’s no ranking for the rest of this list, this is, far and away, the best of the bunch, and arguably the best sketch SNL has done in years. It’s also an (all-too rare these days) crossover hit, having gone viral almost immediately. The premise is delightfully silly (a scene from the crumbling marriage of two auctioneers), but it’s the actors’ commitment to the bit that really astounds. As the motormouthed cowboy couple, Sarah Sherman and host Matt Damon deliver some of the trickiest dialog the show has ever done with screwball aplomb. And while they no doubt made use of the cue cards, they weren’t beholden to them as so many SNL performers are. You can tell they rehearsed this until they killed it, and kill it they did.

Substitute Teacher’s Goodbye

If it weren’t for Auctioneers, people would probably be talking more about this sketch from Damon’s turn hosting, in which he plays a painfully earnest substitute teacher who tries, and spectacularly fails, to get his students to join in on an impromptu dance party. For almost two and a half minutes, Damon’s dweeby sub cuts a one-man rug while the rest of the class sit still in embarrassed silence (although Fineman almost ruins the whole thing by breaking). SNL does its share of awkward premises, but this is a rare case of them going all in on cringe comedy. Damon’s physical performance is even more impressive in hindsight, when you realize he had to follow this with Auctioneers just a few minutes later.

Tidy Care Crystals

Damon takes one more spot, this time for his performance of a suburban dad driven to the edge of sanity in this meta-TV ad for cat litter. All seems well when he and his wife (Ashley Padilla) first try out Tidy Care kitty litter, which comes with colorized crystals that alert pet owners to potential health hazards. But when the ad’s omniscient narrator (James Austin Johnson) acts cagey about the meaning behind blue crystals, things take a foreboding turn. Eventually, the narrator reveals that the crystals turn blue “at the first sign of human urine”. This leads to Damon’s character’s psychological breakdown, as he first accuses his teenage son, then his wife, of peeing in the litter box.

Will Ferrell monologue

This weekend’s season finale kicked off by pranking everyone in the audience and at home. Following his appearance in the cold open, former cast member and six-time host Will Ferrell was replaced on stage by his celebrity doppelganger, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. Smith is hilarious in his short screen time, soaking up the audience adulation until the real Ferrell emerges from backstage (where Smith pushed him down, requiring Lorne Michaels to give him mouth-to-mouth) to kick him out. No sooner does he take back the reins than the night’s musical guest, Paul McCartney, comes on stage and, mistaking Ferrell for Smith, orders him to “get back behind the drums where you belong”.

Rasta Driver

Andrew Dismukes has been one of the most consistent and underrated cast members of Saturday Night Live since he joined in 2020 (having been a writer for the show since 2017). In this sketch, he plays a working-class Uber driver who suddenly busts out an improvised Jamaican dancehall song while giving a ride to two young clubgoers, revealing, much to his horror, that he’s “one of the most talented Rasta emcees on earth”. Like Auctioneers, this is an impressive feat of verbal virtuosity, with Dismukes nailing the prolonged, tongue-twisting rap without so much as blinking.

The Goo Goo Man

Sometime all it takes for a sketch to work is one great line. Such is the case with this episode closer from Ryan Gosling’s March episode. Gosling and Sherman’s travelling couple attempting to check out of their hotel, only to be hit with a surprise incidental charge for “$1,200 for two visits from the Goo Goo Man”. Both are completely taken aback by this, but for different reasons. She thinks it’s a mistake, until her partner adamantly declares: “I only had one visit from the Goo Goo Man.” Gosling is known for constantly breaking in his sketches, but here he impressively manages to keep a straight face while haggling over absurd amenities like “tummy time” and “cuddle car”.

Mom Confession

It’s taken for granted that Saturday Night Live is and always has leaned left, but the truth is that for as often as it sends up rightwing political figures, it’s far more willing to make fun of smug, often hypocritical liberal voters. That’s all well and good, but it’s refreshing to see them not only take aim at middle class Trump voters for a change, but actually hit the bullseye. In Mom Confession, Ashely Padilla plays a suburban mother who gathers her four grown children together for a shocking announcement. After much strain, she finally admits, “I may have changed my mind … about Trump … I feel now … like he might be … bad for our country.” A perfect encapsulation of much of America’s too-little, too-late buyer’s remorse amid this current era of carnage and chaos, as well as one of the standout performances from Padilla (more on that below).

Toy Commercial

An update on the classic Philadelphia toy commercial parody from way back in 1994, today’s generation of kids are obsessed with their new favorite movie: best picture Oscar winner One Battle After Another. Host Teyana Taylor reprises her role as revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills, kicking down the door of a white family’s home to hand out action figures of “all your favorite heroes and villains from director Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically lauded masterpiece about resistance in the face of racial tyranny”. The best bits involve the little Caucasian kids reciting their favorite lines (“My name is Junglepussy. See this face? This is what black power looks like”) to their nonplussed parents.

Haircut

Despite being only a featured player in her second year on the show, Ashley Padilla has become the new face of Saturday Night Live. Combining a natural talent for physical slapstick with bizarre but always entertaining line delivery (reminiscent of Will Ferrell back in his SNL days), she is the reason to watch. It’s entirely possible that she eventually falls into mugginess (see: Kate McKinnon), but as of now, she has managed to mostly avoid that pitfall. If this were a different era, Lorne would be building a feature vehicle around her, but alas. This stupidly simple sketch about a woman who gets a truly awful haircut and gamely pretends to like it cemented her as the cast standout. Her sad little dance of hesitation as she enters frame is as endearing as it is pathetic, and for as good as the prosthetic wig she wears is, her facial expressions are the best special effects on display.

Pete Hegseth Cold Open

The very first cold open of the season saw the introduction of Colin Jost’s Pete Hegseth, a character that would be almost as prevalent throughout the next 20 episodes as the president. Last season, James Austin Johnson’s Trump made a meta-joke about SNL not having anyone with a strong enough jawline to play his new secretary of war (nee, defense). Enter Weekend Update anchor and head writer Jost, who’s always best when leaning into his innate unlikability and frat boy skeeviness. In his first go-round as the character, where he mocked Hegseth’s infamous humiliation of military brass at Quantico, he nails the angry middle-schooler aura that has come to define Hegseth, alongside his alleged alcoholism and utter ineptness. Over the course of the season, both Jost and SNL have somewhat lost the plot, turning him into just another silly clown (a mistake, given that Hegseth is currently racking up one war crime after another), but here they managed to get it right.

Jamaica
Woman shot dead by police in Jamaica at protest over previous police shooting
Natricia Duncan
Tue 19 May 2026 18.41 CESTLast modified on Tue 19 May 2026 22.23 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/19/woman-shot-dead-by-police-jamaica-protest

Authorities in Jamaica have launched an investigation after CCTV footage of a woman’s fatal shooting by police sent shock waves across the Caribbean nation.

Footage circulating on social media shows a police officer firing at a vehicle during a protest on Sunday in Granville, in Jamaica’s north-western parish of St James. The bullet hit Latoya Bulgin, 45, who was behind the wheel of the vehicle.

According to the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), the police officers were “conducting crowd control duties” during a protest against a previous police shooting, in which 17-year-old Tjey Edwardson was killed on 12 May.

In the video, Bulgin’s minivan is seen stationary at the side of the road as several people climb out. Police officers can be seen standing nearby. With one of the side doors still open, the vehicle starts to pull back out into the road.

Apparently without warning, an officer standing a few feet in front of the vehicle pulls a handgun and shoots at the driver, amid screams and cries from people nearby. Some people are seen running.

Police officers are then seen dragging Bulgin’s limp body out of the car and on to the ground before putting her in the back of a police pickup truck. The officers do not appear to make any attempt to offer first aid to the injured woman.

Bulgin was reportedly taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead. Local reports say Bulgin, who was affectionately known as “Buju”, was a mother of two and a businesswoman.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned” about the shooting and had suspended the officer involved pending an investigation.

The incident has sparked outrage across Jamaica, with the opposition People’s National party calling for swift and transparent action and raising concerns about the increasing number of fatal police shootings.

Fitz Jackson, the opposition spokesperson on national security,called for calm and said too many Jamaicans were “almost as fearful of the police as they are of criminals”.

He said : “The Granville community is dealing with an absolute tragedy, compounded by two fatal police shootings in just one week. While interdicting the officer is a necessary first step, we need a transparent, fast, and completely independent investigation by Indecom. The residents of Granville and the wider Jamaica deserve the truth. We cannot keep losing citizens during interactions with the law enforcement officers who are paid to protect them.”

According to Indecom , 130 people have been fatally shot by Jamaican security forces this year.

Jamaicans for Justice , a human rights group that has been campaigning for more body-worn cameras for security officers, said Sunday’s shooting demonstrated the importance of independent footage.

“Without the availability of that CCTV footage, we would not be in the position to even be having this conversation and we would not perhaps have seen the JCF high command responding,” the group’s executive director, Mickel Jackson, told Radio Jamaica News .

She raised concerns about the preservation of evidence. “We’re not seeing where there was the preservation of the crime scene and allowing the independent investigators to arrive at the scene, to see how the body was positioned and so on,” she said.

“And I bring it a step further. When you look at the footage and you see the woman’s body just being hauled in the street and then being thrown in the back of the service vehicle, then it raises questions about the dignity of person and how we treat even those who the officers may in their judgment deem to be dead.”

Indecom said the CCTV footage underscored “the importance of technology and independent visual documentation in modern policing oversight”.

It appealed for witnesses to come forward and said: “Indecom wishes to remind the public that while video recordings may capture significant aspects of an incident, investigations require a comprehensive assessment of all available evidence, including official statements and witness accounts.”

Spain
Clint Eastwood cannon from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly traced to Spanish museum
Sam Jones
Tue 19 May 2026 16.15 CESTLast modified on Tue 19 May 2026 22.23 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/19/clint-eastwood-cannon-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-traced-spanish-museum

Six decades after Clint Eastwood nonchalantly used a cigar to light its fuse and fell a fleeing Eli Wallach , the Manchester-made cannon that appeared in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been rediscovered in a museum in south-east Spain.

The artillery piece was tracked down by the Sad Hill Cultural Association , a group of volunteers dedicated to restoring the graveyard near Burgos, northern Spain, built for the climax of Sergio Leone’s seminal spaghetti western.

After coming across images of the cannon in a book on the film, the association set about trying to trace some of the weapons used in preparation for the 60th anniversary of the movie’s release later this year.

The 75mm cannon, made in Manchester by Whitworth in 1873, was one of the antique arms lent to Leone’s production team by the Spanish military. After filming it was returned to the army museum in Madrid. There it languished on outdoor display until 2010, when the museum and its collection were moved to Toledo.

A few months ago, Diego Montero, treasurer of the Sad Hill Cultural Association, visited the Toledo museum to look for the cannon. Further research led to the south-eastern Spanish city of Cartagena, where Montero discovered a group of retired soldiers had restored a 19th-century British cannon from the local military history museum .

“A few days ago we wanted to check the photos from the book against a more detailed photo, so we wrote to the director of the Cartagena museum, and he sent us a closeup photo of the top of the cannon and of the piece’s number,” said Montero. The serial numbers matched.

“The museum had no idea that they had the cannon that was used in the film. We told them that we were going to put out a press release because we knew that a lot of people would be interested – and they’d get loads of visits.”

The city council is certainly keen to use the cannon’s fame to draw more visitors. It posted on social media on Monday: “Did you know that one of cinema’s most famous cannons is in Cartagena and that you can visit it for free?”, with the post accompanied, inevitably, by Ennio Morricone’s genre-defining theme.

The museum’s director, Lt Col Ernesto Terry, said the cannon’s fame was already causing a stir.

“We had no idea this was the cannon from the film,” he said. “It’s been crazy and I’ve been talking about it non-stop to the media and to people who have been ringing to ask me about it. It’s been madness and we’ve had a lot more visitors.”

While the Sad Hill Cultural Association would love to borrow the cannon and temporarily reinstall it in the Burgos landscape, where it last stood 60 years ago, its protected heritage status means that will not be in time for the anniversary.

“The bureaucratic procedures are very lengthy, and we don’t have time,” said Montero. “But we’ll definitely try to do something in the future. Maybe we can get hold of the piece and at least bring it to Burgos, because there’s a military museum there.”