Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Makerfield byelection, Labour, Andy Burnham, Byelections, Labour party leadership, Greater Manchester, Politics, UK news
Title – Labour campaigners fear hordes of MPs may annoy public as Makerfield votes | Makerfield byelection | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jessica-elgot
Link – Labour campaigners fear hordes of MPs may annoy public as Makerfield votes | Makerfield byelection | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T05:00:02.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/18/up-to-3000-labour-activists-expected-in-makerfield-campaign-andy-burnham-byelection

Up to 3,000 Labour campaigners are expected to descend on Makerfield for Andy Burnham , prompting fears among organisers that the hordes of activists may end up overwhelming voters during Thursday’s byelection.

Local hotels are fully booked and party members are expected to be dispatched to polling stations, and to leaflet people waiting at bus stops and school gates to avoid swamping residents on their doorsteps.

Cabinet ministers are among the MPs who are expected to spend the day in the Greater Manchester constituency, where Burnham is seeking to defeat Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon.

“There is only so many times we can knock on doors on polling day without people getting too annoyed,” one MP said.

Backers of Burnham are expected to use the sheer numbers of activists and MPs doorstepping in Makerfield as proof that the mayor of Greater Manchester can re-energise the party to beat Reform UK – where the momentum will be crucial for him to then seek to immediately replace Keir Starmer as prime minister.

Some MPs and ministers arriving to campaign in the constituency over the past week are said to have sometimes been taken aback that there is little public-facing for them to do apart from dispatching leaflets through letterboxes. “There were just too many of them,” one said.

The campaign estimates that the number of volunteers – including hundreds of MPs – has meant each door in the constituency has been knocked at least six or seven times.

The number of volunteers who have signed up has been so vast that the Burnham campaign has organised three campaign centres beyond its headquarters in order to be able to handle the volume of MPs and activists who are arriving in the Wigan suburbs.

“It will be the operation that every Labour campaign has wanted to run but hasn’t had the bodies,” one organiser said. “A person on every polling station from open to close, school gates, station leafleting.”

All polls in the constituency have given Burnham a clear lead over Kenyon, though MPs who have visited the area in recent days say the race remains tight. One unknown factor will be the size of the vote for Rupert Lowe’s Restore party, which he set up as a rival to Reform and which may get as much as 10% of the vote.

Backers of Burnham are keen to prove the mayor can win without the need for Restore to split the vote on the right – or risk casting doubt over the symbolism of his victory.

“No 10 will be talking down the achievement of winning Makerfield,” one MP said. “Yet the result at the locals would equate to an 8,000 majority for Reform.”

Starmer has not campaigned in Makerfield, despite having promised to do so at the beginning of the campaign.

However, cabinet ministers including David Lammy, Bridget Phillipson and Jonathan Reynolds have been in the constituency in recent days, as well as the former health secretary Wes Streeting, who has said he also intends to challenge Starmer for the leadership.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Czechia, South Africa football team, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – Czechia v South Africa: World Cup – live | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/danielharris
Link – Czechia v South Africa: World Cup – live | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T14:00:06.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jun/18/czechia-v-south-africa-world-cup-live

Preamble

Mike Costello, the legendary boxing commentator, tells a story of when he was fresh in the game, an old pro heard him getting dead excited calling a fight that wasn’t Hagler-Hearns , so issued some advice: always leave yourself somewhere to go.

For those of us involved in a similar kind of thing, this is an important lesson, but one easier grasped than lived – especially during the World Cup and even more so during this World Cup. How not to unload the suitcase – and why not unload the suitcase – when Curaçao equalise against Germany, Cape Verde force a draw with Spain and DRC equalise against then draw with Portugal? For them – and so for us, sport being the experience of living your life through others – this is their Hagler-Hearns, so it makes more sense to trust you’ll find somewhere to go than not turn up somewhere you desperately need to be.

Which is to say we’ve enjoyed a sensational first week of football – but Czechia and South Africa have not, enduing the respective agonies of a soul-crushing late winner conceded and a total no-show dropped. But the structure of the competition is in their favour, a defeat today terminal for neither – though with final-round matches against Mexico and South Korea upcoming, a win feels essential for both.

Kick-off: 12pm local and EDT, 5pm BST, 2am AEST

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US supreme court, US politics, Donald Trump, Trump administration, US immigration, US news
Title – Supreme court sides with Texas marijuana user who wants to own a firearm in latest case expanding gun rights – live | US supreme court | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lucy-campbell
Link – Supreme court sides with Texas marijuana user who wants to own a firearm in latest case expanding gun rights – live | US supreme court | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T14:30:10.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/jun/18/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-ruling-tps-mangione-iran-latest-updates

Supreme court backs challenge to ban on gun ownership for drug users

The supreme court has sided with a marijuana user who wants to legally own a gun, the latest in a line of firearm cases from a court that has expanded gun rights.

In a 9-0 ruling, the justices sided with Ali Danial Hemani, a resident of Texas who was charged with felony gun possession after he acknowledged being a regular marijuana user. Hemani wasn’t charged with any other crimes or accused of using the weapon under the influence.

The 1968 Gun Control Act makes possession of a firearm illegal for anyone ⁠who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance”.

That gun restriction led to the 2024 conviction of Hunter Biden , who later that year received a pardon from his father, then-president Joe Biden . Prosecutors had accused him of lying about his use ⁠of narcotics in 2018 when he purchased a Colt Cobra handgun.

Hemani argued that a federal law barring gun ownership from anyone who uses drugs illegally violates the constitution’s second amendment.

The decision is a loss for the Trump administration , which had defended the 1968 law despite arguing against other gun restrictions.

And that’s all the supreme court is giving us for now, folks. JD Vance is due to hold the White House press briefing at the top of the hour, where he will no doubt face questions on the details of the deal with Iran the president signed last night at Versailles – a deal which some of Trump ’s allies are already seeking to pin on the vice-president.

Though that could end up being very much to Vance’s advantage. “ Without question, the biggest potential political liability Vance had was the unpopularity of the war in Iran ,” one person close to the White House who supports the deal told Politico last night . “ So it’s fascinating to watch his biggest enemies in the GOP unwittingly inoculate him from that liability by branding him as responsible for the peace deal. ”

The person went on: “[Vance] now gets to do a media tour defending the president – AKA the kingmaker of our party – from their idiotic criticism of the deal. While even his critics would acknowledge that the vice-president is a smart guy, sometimes what really matters in politics is how stupid your enemies are.”

Supreme court backs challenge to ban on gun ownership for drug users

The supreme court has sided with a marijuana user who wants to legally own a gun, the latest in a line of firearm cases from a court that has expanded gun rights.

In a 9-0 ruling, the justices sided with Ali Danial Hemani, a resident of Texas who was charged with felony gun possession after he acknowledged being a regular marijuana user. Hemani wasn’t charged with any other crimes or accused of using the weapon under the influence.

The 1968 Gun Control Act makes possession of a firearm illegal for anyone ⁠who “is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance”.

That gun restriction led to the 2024 conviction of Hunter Biden , who later that year received a pardon from his father, then-president Joe Biden . Prosecutors had accused him of lying about his use ⁠of narcotics in 2018 when he purchased a Colt Cobra handgun.

Hemani argued that a federal law barring gun ownership from anyone who uses drugs illegally violates the constitution’s second amendment.

The decision is a loss for the Trump administration , which had defended the 1968 law despite arguing against other gun restrictions.

Supreme court releases opinions

The supreme court has started releasing opinions, so far it has issued a ruling backing a challenge to a federal law barring drug users from owning guns.

We’ll bring you any more updates here as we get them.

Indeed, this morning’s Washington Post Early Brief (paywall) asks the question: “Are we back to where we started on Iran ?”

The memorandum ends the fighting, reopens the strait of Hormuz and gives Trump a chance to claim he prevented a broader economic crisis. But many of its core terms appear to return the US and Iran to roughly where they were before the conflict : with Iran’s government still in power and its long-term nuclear commitments still unresolved.

Before the war, the strait of Hormuz saw the free flow of shipping, including roughly a fifth of the world’s oil traffic. Reopening the water way essentially restores the status quo.

Iran and the US had also already engaged in negotiations – albeit brokenly – on a framework over Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting U.S. sanctions. The negotiations were in pursuit of a deal to replace the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under President Barack Obama , which Trump vehemently criticized and left during his first term.

The terms of the MOU diverge substantially from Trump’s initial threats to obliterate Iran unless it agreed to “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” back in March . And it diverged from long-standing conservative criticisms of Obama’s deal that lifted sanctions on Iran.

After Donald Trump ’s signing of the 14-point agreement with Iran yesterday at the Palace of Versailles – the home of humiliating treaties – the question of what the president’s war was actually for continues to divide some Republicans and foreign policy hawks.

GOP senator Lindsey Graham , a key Trump ally, appeared to soften his view of the memorandum of understanding yesterday (from this to this ) after a “very lengthy and productive” conversation with US special envoy Steve Witkoff .

“After this discussion, it is my opinion that signing the MOU will be beneficial to the United States , in as much as the strait of Hormuz will begin to open, and the hostilities with Iran will stop,” Graham wrote on X. “Whether or not the United States can reach an acceptable, verifiable deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program and other issues is yet to be determined, but I see little downside to trying.”

But a handful of other Senate Republicans were more scathing in their views .

Outgoing Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy , who Trump failed to back in a tightly fought primary last month, said that the whole affair had Ronald Reagan “rolling over in his grave”. He wrote on X:

Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future .

Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead , families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.

Ted Cruz , who has backed the war, said the president was getting “very poor advice when it comes to this deal” .

Susan Rice , a former official in the Obama and Biden administrations was more blunt in her assessment, calling it “the biggest national security blunder in decades” , while Democratic senator Adam Schiff said it was “hard to imagine a more thorough capitulation” .

Iran gets sanctions relief, the release of frozen funds, the ability to export oil, and a $300 billion reconstruction fund. The US gets a reiteration of the vague promise Iran won’t develop a nuke.

In case you missed it, last night Donald Trump signed a 14-point agreement with Iran , claiming it delivered a “major win” for the United States – even as it made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression” .

In extraordinary remarks yesterday, Trump went from threatening Iran with a new wave of attacks to suggesting the country had basic rights to enrich uranium for civilian use , that he would not pressure Tehran to abandon its ballistic missiles programme and the US was “going to have to give back” billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets .

Those remarks, as well as the full text of the agreement – which was hailed by the Hezbollah chief, Naim Qassem , as a “great victory” – are likely to fuel anger in Israel and among hardliners in the Republican party who had urged Trump not to make a deal with Tehran.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian , signed the agreement yesterday from Tehran. US vice-president JD Vance is also expected to sign the deal at a more formal ceremony in Geneva tomorrow.

Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf , said:

The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.

Supreme court to release opinions with several high-stakes rulings to come including birthright citizenship

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

The supreme court is expected to render at least one judgment today as the term is set to come to an end later this month. There are a series of cases yet to be decided that are relevant to Donald Trump , including his attempt to limit birthright citizenship and plan to remove legal protection from Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

Generally, terms last between October and late June – but the most significant cases are often left until the end of the term.

There are two main immigration-based decisions yet to be made. One pending ruling is on Trump’s desire to ban birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and those whose parents are temporary residents.

“Birthright citizenship is one of America’s most consequential commitments – the idea that where you are born, not where your parents came from, determines your belonging to this nation,” said Adam Strom, executive director and co-founder of Reimagining Migration, in The74 . “For the millions of immigrant-origin children in our schools, this isn’t an abstraction. It’s the ground they stand on.”

The court also has a case that will decide if the US can terminate the Temporary Protected Status that has allowed Haitian and Syrian immigrants to live and work in the country.

Other significant cases include Trump’s wish to fire a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

In other news:

Donald Trump has signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a “major win” for the US. The Guardian’s Andrew Roth argues that the US entered war with maximalist goals and exited it with a pragmatic decision to end conflict despite political cost.

A teenager has died after being thrown to the ground on Wednesday when a Central Park carriage horse bolted away from its driver, police in New York have said .

On Wednesday, court proceedings revealed that Luigi Mangione’s legal team plans on pursuing a psychiatric defense during his upcoming Manhattan state court trial over the killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.

Keyword – Film
Trefwoorden – Film, Star Wars, Sidney Lumet, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino
Title – ‘It’s where the poetry is written in cinema language’: the female editors behind cinema’s masterpieces | Film | The Guardian
Author – Bethany Elliott
Link – ‘It’s where the poetry is written in cinema language’: the female editors behind cinema’s masterpieces | Film | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T09:29:34.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jun/18/the-female-editors-behind-cinema-biggest-film-directors

B ehind every great director, to coin a phrase, is a great editor – and as the tributes paid earlier this month to the late Marcia Lucas, Oscar-winning editor of Star Wars: Episodes IV to VI, and former wife of creator George Lucas, reminded us, that editor is often a woman. In a historically male-dominated industry, this familiar Hollywood dynamic is a phenomenon that is worth investigating.

It goes back decades. During the supermacho Hollywood new wave era, Dede Allen worked with Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) and Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon), and Thelma Schoonmaker edited Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and GoodFellas for Martin Scorsese (and much else besides). David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia may have contained no female speaking characters, but it won Anne V Coates an editing Oscar. Anne Bauchens was nominated for Cleopatra in 1934, when the Oscars’ editing category was created, and became its first female winner in 1940 for Cecil B DeMille’s North West Mounted Police.

The received wisdom is that women came to occupy the editing suite while being excluded from other creative roles as it was assumed that editing was monotonous, unskilled labour and, as the male-dominated studio system emerged, editors were subordinate to the producer and director.

This, however, may not be the full story. “During the studio system, editing was not considered unskilled labour,” says JE Smyth, professor of history at the University of Warwick. “Women were the best editors in the studio system; many had musical backgrounds which helped them with finding a flow.

“They were well paid, in senior positions and editors would often be on the set and watch for directors’ mistakes. Barbara McLean [20th Century Fox’s head of editing] would shoot closeups on a production after the director had left the picture. Usually producers would listen to the editor’s perspective for the final cut.”

Editors could exert significant creative influence over the end result. “Viola Lawrence saved The Lady from Shanghai,” says Smyth, “and, without McLean, All About Eve would have been a mess because director Joseph L Mankiewicz was too sentimental. McLean said he was naive.”

The partnership between a director and editor is often vital to long-term creative success. Justine Wright, editor of The Last King of Scotland and The Iron Lady, says it’s down to “trust and a shared vision”. “It’s about being open to suggestions and honest in your opinion while being sensitive to each other’s vulnerabilities. Because we are a step removed from the script stage and turmoil of a shoot, the editor can see things a director can’t, but a director has to be able to stand up and defend their film. Because of the many hours you sit together, it’s pretty important to like the vibe of each other.”

As Marcia and George Lucas demonstrate, creative partnerships can also be personal ones. Mary Sweeney, editor of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, was briefly married to director and collaborator David Lynch . She tells me: “David was the only person with whom I had a simultaneous personal and professional relationship. We worked together for several years before it became personal. Working together, living together, growing a family when our son was born, was a synchronised dream for two decades. It was a very productive professional relationship. We were lucky, but I’m not sure mixing professional and personal lives always is.”

The key question is whether female editors are viewed through a gendered lens? Have they been hired in the stereotypical belief that they are more accommodating or to passively execute the visions of “genius” male directors? Schoonmaker has modestly said that she “works with a lot of geniuses” and laughs at the idea of overruling Scorsese, stressing that she would “never show (him) anything other than what he originally planned”. She further suggested that women may have enjoyed greater success breaking into editing than directing because they “are better maybe at collaborating with directors”. Quentin Tarantino, meanwhile has spoken of his late editor Sally Menke in maternal terms, explaining he felt a woman would be “more nurturing to the movie” and to him, not “trying to shove their agenda or win their battles”.

Sweeney pushes back at this, saying, “I wouldn’t describe her contributions as nurturing”, instead defining Menke as a “great editor” characterised by a “powerful understanding of character and continuity, a rock-solid sense of musical rhythm and timing, and boot-camp dedication to the work”. (In Tarantino’s defence, he did also call Menke his “number one collaborator”).

“What continues to frustrate me is the imbalance in creative leadership,” says film and TV editor Mariana Moraes. “When we look at Bafta or Academy Award nominations, department heads are still overwhelmingly men. I recently worked on a production where every assistant in post-production was a woman, while the editor, post producer, composer, sound designer, VFX supervisor and VFX editor were all men. At times, it felt like a playground where ‘the boys’ were allowed to take part in the most exciting aspects of film-making.”

But the women I spoke to resisted the label of frustrated creatives, emphasising their dedication to the craft in its own right. Sweeney says: “I fell instantly in love with editing. It spoke to both sides of my brain – the physical, tactile, haptic-packed skills, and the ability to paint, sculpt and dream a story in images with visual metaphor.”

Sweeney sums it up romantically: “Editing is the final rewrite, where the poetry is written in cinema language. The film is made or broken in the editing room.”

Keyword – Travel
Trefwoorden – Cultural trips, France holidays, Marseille holidays, Art, Europe holidays, Art and design, Travel, Culture
Title – From cool Marseille to a photo-feast in Arles – an art trail through Provence | Cultural trips | The Guardian
Author – Jarred McGinnis
Link – From cool Marseille to a photo-feast in Arles – an art trail through Provence | Cultural trips | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-16T06:00:46.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/jun/16/art-trail-through-provence-france-marseille-arles-aix-avignon

M y wife and I moved from London to Marseille a little over five years ago when our British passports still conferred “right to reside” in France. That first winter on the beach, in short sleeves, as our daughters played in the topaz-coloured Mediterranean and the sun set across an ever-clear blue sky, I understood why this part of southern France has always been popular with artists.

I was recently speaking about this with the painter Fanny Nushka and her sailor husband, Benoît Bouchet, on the terrace of Café la Muse in Marseille’s “coolest” neighbourhood . She said: “It took a long time to go back to blue. It’s like being in Paris and painting the Eiffel Tower. It’s dangerous to paint the Calanques [limestone coves] as an artist from here.”

We moved to Marseille for the same reason that has attracted countless artists: it’s cheaper to live here. Marseille’s affordability enables Fanny to paint full-time and Benoît to sail without being away from his family for weeks. Benoît runs daily catered cruises on a listed sailing yacht, Le Don du Vent . For €135, you get a taste of Mediterranean luxury with swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing in the unspoiled sea coves around Marseille, pausing briefly for wine and a lunch prepared onboard.

Céline Ghisleri, co-president of Provence Contemporary Art , which represents 62 arts organisations in and around Marseille, tells me the city has always had a dynamic art scene. However, the turning point came when Marseille was named European Capital of Culture in 2013. Since then, large institutions such as Frac Sud , Mac and the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations ( Mucem ) have expanded the city’s offering with bigger exhibitions from more widely recognised artists.

This summer, the Mucem’s exhibitions are Bonnes Mères, a collection of contemporary and historical works on the theme of motherhood, and Clément Cogitore’s fascinating Ferdinandea, l’île éphémère, a body of work centred on the brief existence of a volcanic Mediterranean island. At the end of August, the art fair Art-O-Rama will be hosted at La Friche La Belle de Mai . La Friche (the Wasteland) was a tobacco factory and is now an enormous warren of a multidisciplinary arts centre that is always buzzing, especially in the summer when they set up a movie screen and food trucks on the roof. La Friche is emblematic of the art scene in Marseille: absolute chaos, but somehow it works.

Outside Marseille, Plein Sud , a network of contemporary art organisations between Monaco and Montpellier, produces a guide with travel itineraries. It’s how I discovered the charming Gallifet art centre in nearby Aix-en-Provence, which is only about 40 minutes from Marseille but exists in a completely different universe.

You couldn’t be further away from Marseille’s port city energy than Aix’s daily market at Place Richelme, where you can grab a coffee and, if you are lucky, an outdoor seat at the patisserie and salon de thé Maison Weibel . For lunch, I recommend Drôle d’Endroit (Funny Place). It is tucked down an alley off a sidestreet, but the meals are always pleasing and the atmosphere friendly. Another solid choice is Tita for Levantine street food.

As tiny and quiet as Aix is, it has an abundance of museums, such as the Granet Museum , the Caumont Art Centre and the Vasarely Foundation , but they tend to lean heavily on art that historians have already anointed. For example, it wasn’t until 1984 that the Granet acquired any works by the local boy done good, Cézanne, whose preserved studio is just up the hill.

That’s why it was refreshing to find Gallifet trying something different. The owners, Nicolas Mazet and Kate Davis, have a mission to bring contemporary art to conservative Aix. Located on the ground floor of an 18th-century townhouse, the courtyard’s striking red sculpture of a swimmer mid-stroke, by Diadji Diop , hints that Gallifet is more than just a home (the owners live above the art centre).

This summer’s exhibition features a retrospective of the photographer François Halard , with more than 100 works spanning more than three decades. Until the end of September, Gallifet also hosts a seasonal restaurant and chef’s residency. This year, two Paris-based chefs, Lisa Desforges and Bruno Hammerle, will use Provence’s abundant and delicious ingredients to create menus including entrees such as smoked ricotta gnocchi with peas and a peapod veloute. Gallifet also offers two apartments (from €200 and €160 per night), both decorated with pieces from previous exhibitions and filled with Provençal features such as marble fireplaces and tomette terracotta tiles.

A little further up the Rhône, Avignon nestles against the river, enclosed by preserved medieval walls. The Palais des Papes overlooks the renowned vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape to the north and lavender fields to the south. Each July, the town is taken over by the Avignon festival , one of the oldest performance arts festivals.

After a visit, take a walk along the most picturesque and charming street in Avignon, La Rue Peyrolerie. A winding medieval cobbled alley leads to an equally charming restaurant, L’Épicerie , situated in a square beside a small 14th-century gothic church with an ornately carved walnut-wood door. The cuisine is classic French, served in generous portions by friendly staff. Every time we visit Avignon, we dine here and have never been disappointed, but be warned that the terrace fills up quickly. This is a well-known and well-loved spot among locals. Another safe bet for outdoor courtyard dining is Numéro 75 .

The most notable address for contemporary art in Avignon is the Lambert Collection , housed in two stunning 18th-century townhouses, Hôtel de Caumont and Hôtel de Montfaucon. The collection is the legacy of Yvon Lambert, a celebrated gallerist and collector who made his reputation in the latter half of the 20th century championing American artists such as Nan Goldin, Donald Judd, Lawrence Weiner and Cy Twombly. The collection continues to support up-and-coming local artists in its Antechamber of Summer exhibition. This year’s exhibition is by Melika Sadeghzadeh , an Iranian artist living and working in Montpellier.

Just south of Avignon, Arles has at its centre a nearly 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre, which hosts plays and concerts. The Vincent van Gogh Foundation and Luma host several exhibitions throughout the year, but the real treat comes in July during the Rencontres d’Arles . For 50 years, venues across town, from galleries to grocery stores, have showcased a wide range of contemporary and historical photography.

Recently, we went to Arles for its Festival of Drawing . After a wander through the picturesque medieval streets of the Roquette district on the east side of town, popping into venues as we went, we discovered the tiny restaurant Páou in the quaint Place Paul Doumer. The menu promised sharing plates starring local produce and wines. So we sat down for another meal at another terrace table, under another clear blue sky.

Jarred McGinnis ’s latest book is There is No Meant to Be ( Harvill , £ 20 ). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – US Open, PGA Tour, US sports, European Tour, Golf, Sport
Title – US Open 2026: golf under way after two-hour fog delay on day one – live | US Open | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/david-tindall,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/cooper-matt
Link – US Open 2026: golf under way after two-hour fog delay on day one – live | US Open | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T14:27:22.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/jun/18/us-open-2026-golf-updates-on-day-one-live

McIlroy bellows at his tee-shot at the par-3rd 11th to “sit”. But there’s no need to feel any anxiety as his ball lands safely on the green and pulls back to around 11 feet. Rory steadies himself and pops in the putt. Birdie! Then he’s into his conserve energy in tough conditions routine: head down, look at marking on ball, short acknowledgement to crowd, walk to next tee.

-2: Nicholas (6) -1: McDowell (4*), Reitan (3*), Burns (2*), Novak (2), McIlroy (2*)

“From Dallas, Texas, please welcome Scottie Scheffler.” A fairly low-key introduction for the World No 1, who can become just the seventh man in history to complete the Grand Slam of all four majors if he wins the US Open this week. Scheffler, dressed exactly the same as McIlroy with white hat, grey jumper and dark slacks, hits an iron 260 yards into the fairway. Scheffler is part of a three-ball featuring current US Open champion J.J. Spaun and US Amateur champ Mason Howell.

Great lag putt from McIlroy at 10 results in a tap-in par. You’ll take those all day here in these conditions. A nice way to start. But it’s been a testing opening hole for Fleetwood. After a drive that missed the fairway, his second bounds away into a hollow left of the green. The pitch is decent but his 11-footer for par stays above ground and that’s a dropped shot out of the gate.

The wind is really whipping off the right as McIlroy plays his 173-yard approach to 10. He backs off, unsure. But when Rory finally does pull the trigger, he finds the heart of the green. The Masters champ will have two putts from 40 feet for his par.

Up ahead, McDowell is making a mockery of the conditions. After a birdie at 10, he adds another from just inside nine feet at 11 to hit -2. And after an excellent approach at 12, the Pebble Beach hero could make it a hat-trick of opening birdies if he can sink a 12-footer.

Here goes Rory! Like his fellow Northern Irishman, Graeme McDowell, McIlroy is teeing off at 10. He takes iron and safely finds the fairway. He has Shinnecock runner-up, Tommy Fleetwood, and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg for company today. Perhaps a bit of Ryder Cup chat between that trio as all played in Europe’s victory at nearby Bethpage Black last year. As I write that, defeated Ryder Cup skipper Keegan Bradley misses a six-footer for par at his opening hole.

Half the field is starting at 10 today and that includes former US Open champ Graeme McDowell. G-Mac won this event at Pebble Beach in 2010 so enjoys a windy, coastal test. And he can still putt too, draining a 25-footer for an opening birdie. Kristoffer Reitan, surely on the current Mount Rushmore of Norwegian sports stars after his Truist Championship win, also makes a 3 at the 10th.

-1: Nicholas (4), B Wu (2), McDowell (1*), Reitan (1*)

Koepka, whose pink and white horizontal striped shirt makes him look like a boiled sweet from the 70s, finds sand with his approach at 1. But he plays a sugary bunker shot to kick-in range and saves par. Cam Young produces an even better up and down to make his 4, launching a giant flop shot that sits down four feet from the flag.

We have the first big group of the day hitting off. That’ll be Brooks Koepka, the winner the last time Shinnecock staged this event in 2018, Players Championship winner Cameron Young and current Scottish Open, Sony Open and WM Phoenix Open champ Chris Gotterup. Koepka and Young find the short grass with irons but Gotterup ends in a greenside bunker after taking a more aggressive approach by smashing driver. The 1st is a short par-4 measuring 396 yards so a fairly gentle introduction to a fearsome course.

James Nicholas sounds more like a county cricketer than a man leading the US Open . But the 29-year-old has an interesting background and his family are well known in some local New York circles.

From Nicholas’ US Open profile: “His grandfather and father are both noted orthopaedic surgeons who served as team doctors for the N.Y. Jets, N.Y. Knicks, N.Y. Islanders and N.Y. Rangers. Each has performed surgeries on Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath. His father, Stephen, played football and baseball at Harvard. James Nicholas qualified for a pair of U.S. Amateurs and was the 2019 Ivy League Player of the Year. In 2024, he won the New York State Open at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course, a two-time U.S. Open venue.”

James Nicholas is the first man under par. Just off the green at the 497-yard par-4 3rd hole, he’ll be happy to get down in two from 50 feet away. But his putt, up and over a ridge, always looks on a good line and it has the perfect pace too. In it goes for an unlikely birdie.

Sixteen players have completed at least one hole and they’re a collective 12-over. That, and the style of the bunkers, remind us that we’re watching a US Open and not at Open.

The flapping flags, the grey skies, the fescue, the big greens with steep run-offs, players in jumpers to keep the chill off. This has more the look and feel of an Open Championship than a US Open in June.

England’s Matthew Jordan has a birdie putt from 14 feet at No.1 to become the first player in red figures. It’s bang on line but comes up just short. The greens were being watered during the weather break due to fears that strong winds later today would make them unplayable. Add in some morning dew in the foggy conditions and perhaps putts will be underhit until players start to adjust.

The horn blows and play resumes. Rory McIlroy currently on the range. He’s due to tee off two hours later than scheduled so that’ll be 14:52 BST.

With the delay precisely two hours in duration, let’s relist the tee-times. I’ve basically gone into them and added two hours. I think that’ll work. If somehow it’s not quite this neat, l apologise. Let’s see how we go.

14:08 Carl Yuan (Chn), Brandon Wu, Jimmy Stanger 14:19 Padraig Harrington (Ire), Miles Russell (x), Cameron Smith (Aus) 14:30 Brooks Koepka, Cameron Young, Chris Gotterup 14:41 Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler 14:52 Patrick Reed, Andrew Novak, Kurt Kitayama 15:03 Harris English, Adam Scott (Aus), Nick Taylor (Can) 15:14 Mason Howell (x), Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun 15:25 Sahith Theegala, Jackson Koivun (x), Michael Kim, 15:36 JB Holmes, Filippo Celli (Ita), Jackson Ormond (x) 15:47 Jake Peacock, Vaughn Harber (x), Kaito Onishi (Jpn) 19:30 Niklas Norgaard (Den), Rocco Repetto Taylor (Esp), Sudarshan Yellamaraju (Can) 19:41 Laurie Canter (Eng), John Parry (Eng), Bryan Lee (x) 19:52 Chris Kirk, Max McGreevy, Jake Knapp 20:03 Harry Hall (Eng), Michael Brennan, Andrew Putnam 20:14 Davis Thompson, Preston Stout (x), David Puig (Esp) 20:25 Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn), Corey Conners (Can), Ryan Fox (Nzl) 20:36 Ryan Gerard, Russell Henley, Ben Griffin 20:47 Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Xander Schauffele 20:58 Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Nico Echavarria (Col), Robert MacIntyre (Sco) 21:09 JT Poston, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel 21:20 Arni Sveinsson (x) (Ice), Taihei Sato (Jpn), Marcelo Rozo (Col) 21:31 Nick Hardy, Cole Hammer, Jack Schoenberger, United States. 21:42 Marek Fleming (x), Tom Kim (Kor), Giuseppe Puebla (x)

Starting at Hole 10

14:08 Adrien Dumont de Chassart (Bel), Ben Silverman (Can), Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 14:19 Patrick Rodgers, Keith Mitchell, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 14:30 Sungjae Im (Kor), Lucas Herbert (Aus), Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 14:41 Sam Burns, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Si Woo Kim (Kor) 14:52 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 15:03 Alex Noren (Swe), Maverick McNealy, Sepp Straka (Aut) 15:14 Max Greyserman, Brian Harman, Jacob Bridgeman 15:25 Alex Fitzpatrick (Eng), Tom Kim (Kor) Ben James 15:36 Brandon Holtz (x), Ryuichi Oiwa (Jpn), Dylan Wu 15:47 Greyson Leach, Logan Reilly (x), Robbie Higgins 19:30 William Mouw, Ryder Cowan (x), Hennie du Plessis (Rsa) 19:41 Adrien Saddier (Fra), Jackson Van Paris, Ugo Coussaud (Fra) 19:52 Neal Shipley, Matti Schmid (Ger), Bud Cauley 20:03 Pierceson Coody, Zac Blair, Kevin Roy 20:14 Aaron Rai (Eng), Collin Morikawa, Jason Day (Aus) 20:25 Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng) 20:36 Dustin Johnson, Wyndham Clark, Gary Woodland 20:47 Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Alex Smalley, Shane Lowry (Ire) 20:58 Akshay Bhatia, Carlos Ortiz (Mex), Min Woo Lee (Aus) 21:09 Justin Rose (Eng), Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm (Esp) 21:20 Ben Kohles, Johnny Keefer, Matt McCarty 21:31 Angel Hidalgo (Esp), Mateo Pulcini (x) (Arg), Spencer Tibbits 21:42 Matthew Robles (x), Jake Sollon, Manav Shah

Play to resume at 09:05 ET after two-hour delay

Good news! “Round 1 of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills will resume at 9:05 a.m. ET.” So says the official tweet. That’s just over 15 minutes away.

Weather delay in the golf but they’re playing at the Oval. Should be the other way round surely?

While we wait , have a read of this Shinnecock scene setter from Bryan Armen Graham.

Official update: There’ll be another update shortly. That will tell us when the next update is. Basically, the USGA are posting updates every 15 minutes to tell us another update is 15 minutes away. Nothing they can do really. At least we’re being informed.

Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington says: “I just want to go back to bed.” The three-time major winner, now 54, needs to get those joints loosened up these days so isn’t thrilled about the prospect of having to go through a second warm-up … whenever that is.

Rickie Fowler is one of the morning starters waiting for the skies to clear. He’s just given a shrug-laden interview. “Kind of just sit and wait. There’s nothing we can do about what we can and can’t see out there. I wasn’t expecting some low-hanging clouds like this, so sit and wait.

“Good to see some of the shots this morning, roughly how the golf course is playing. And yeah, kind of just wait. I know we’re supposed to have wind and gusts that are supposed to pick up as the day goes on. And yeah, hopefully get it moving forward out there.”

Fowler was runner-up in the US Open at Pinehurst in 2014 while in 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club he started out with a remarkable 62, the joint-lowest score in the history of men’s majors.

Exactly an hour since play was suspended. Still looks pretty foggy.

Official US Open weather update: “Round 1 remains suspended. Next update: 8:00am. ET.” That’s 1pm UK so we’ll know more in around five minutes. Players currently in the practice areas, working on some chipping and putting.

The very early starters did get a couple of holes in at least. No-one is under par though with the eight-way tie for the lead on evens including Jackson Suber and amateur Ethan Fang. Last June, American Fang won the 130th Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s. Both have played just a single hole. Fellow Americans James Nicholas and Caleb Surratt occupy the top two slots on the leaderboard after both managed to par the first two holes.

Let’s go! Oh, maybe not. The weather on Long Island isn’t behaving and play is currently suspended. Players were taken off at 12.05pm UK time due to fog.

The official line is that we’ll get another update in just under 10 minutes.

Preamble

What a time to be a New Yorker.

The Knicks have just won their first NBA championship since 1973, there’s a World Cup in town and one of its most famous golf courses is staging this week’s US Open .

Shinnecock Hills, in the Hamptons don’t you know, is the only US Open venue to host the tournament in three different centuries. And while there’s only one road in and out for those making the trip to Long Island, the traffic chaos just adds to the theme of the week: don’t expect anything to come easy.

In the four US Opens staged since 1986 only three men have emerged from the wreckage with scorecards totting up to an under-par total. Shinnecock is hard, brutal at times, and a windy forecast for this links-style, exposed piece of property – particularly in today’s first round – could see scores rocket. Not that it’s unusual.

In 2018, none of the last 45 players to tee off in round three broke the par of 70, while in 2004 the final-round scoring average ballooned to a mighty 78.7 with the par-3 7th needing to be watered between groups with conditions bordering on the impossible.

As usual, there’s a plethora of storylines waiting to be written. Will Scottie Scheffler become just the seventh player to complete the Grand Slam (a first US Open would complete his set)? Can Rory McIlroy add a seventh major, a record for any European player? And is this the week when Tommy Fleetwood or Tyrrell Hatton – second and sixth respectively at Shinnecock in 2018 – win a first major title?

Let’s find out!

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Wimbledon, Tennis, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Sport
Title – Wimbledon wildcard for Williams sisters is just reward for their contribution to tennis | Wimbledon | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/malaika-khan
Link – Wimbledon wildcard for Williams sisters is just reward for their contribution to tennis | Wimbledon | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T16:00:38.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2026/jun/17/wimbledon-wildcard-serena-venus-williams-sisters-tennis

Serena and Venus Williams have received a wildcard into this year’s Wimbledon women’s doubles draw, but do we really need them back?

From a competitive standpoint, perhaps not. Tennis has moved on to a new generation and neither sister is expected to challenge for a major singles title again.

But the Williams sisters are not just former champions. They are among the most influential athletes the sport has seen. Together, they changed the perception of women’s tennis, inspired generations of players and delivered some of the most memorable moments in the modern era.

As a doubles pairing, they were virtually unstoppable. Serena and Venus won 14 grand slam doubles titles together, including six Wimbledons, and three Olympic gold medals. They reached world No 1 in doubles and established themselves as one of the greatest partnerships tennis has witnessed.

Yet their story was never solely about playing alongside one another. It was also about competing against each other. Their rivalry began on 20 January 1998, when Venus defeated Serena 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 in the second round of the Australian Open. At the time, Venus was the established sister, ranked inside the world’s top 20, while Serena was only beginning her journey.

What followed was one of the most fascinating tussles in sporting history. The sisters faced each other 31 times, with Serena holding a 19-12 advantage. Nine of those meetings came in grand slam finals, where Serena won seven times. Between Wimbledon, the US Open, the Australian Open and the French Open, they repeatedly found themselves battling for the sport’s biggest prizes.

It created a unique dynamic rarely seen in professional sport. They were sisters, doubles partners, friends and rivals all at once.

Today, the picture is very different. Venus, now 45, has struggled for results in singles, losing all seven of her matches this season. However, her determination to continue competing remains admirable, more than 30 years after making her professional debut.

Serena, 44, returned to action at the Queen’s Club this month, four years after what many believed would be her final appearance, at the 2022 US Open. Although her comeback was disrupted when her doubles partner, Victoria Mboko, sustained a knee injury, Serena still showed flashes of the quality and competitive spirit that made her a 23-time grand slam singles champion. She then continued her return alongside Karolina Muchova at the German Open in Berlin, but the pair suffered a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos on Tuesday. While the results have been mixed, Serena’s return has already generated excitement across the tennis world.

Neither sister received a singles wildcard for Wimbledon, and neither is expected to contend for the title. Their doubles partnership is unlikely to replicate the dominance of their prime years – but perhaps that is missing the point. The return of Venus and Serena is not about trophies. It is about celebrating two legends whose influence stretches far beyond the court. Tennis does not need them back because the sport can’t survive without them. Tennis needs them back because few players have given so much to the game.

For one more Wimbledon, fans will have the chance to watch one of the greatest partnerships in sporting history share a court again, and that is a good enough reason.

Keyword – Music
Trefwoorden – Martha and The Vandellas, Pop and rock, Music, R&B, Soul, Culture
Title – Post your questions for Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas | Martha and The Vandellas | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ben-beaumont-thomas
Link – Post your questions for Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas | Martha and The Vandellas | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T14:10:05.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jun/18/post-your-questions-for-martha-reeves-of-martha-and-the-vandellas

Martha Reeves is one of the defining voices of 1960s pop, someone who embodied the romance and euphoria of Motown Records at its peak. And at the age of 84, she is preparing to release a new album – her first in 22 years. To mark the occasion, she’ll be joining us to answer your questions.

Born in Alabama and raised in Detroit, Reeves started out in the shadows of Motown Records, first doing administrative work, then backing vocals for the likes of Marvin Gaye. But in 1962 she got her shot as a lead artist with Martha and the Vandellas. Their second single, Come and Get These Memories, was a hit – and their third was an absolute smash. Heat Wave featured an astonishing performance from Reeves as she was knocked for six by love and lust. It kicked off a run of similarly lovestruck hits such as Jimmy Mack, I’m Ready for Love and Nowhere to Run. Dancing in the Street, meanwhile, was a euphoric paean to dance which took on a new meaning at the height of the civil rights movement, becoming a rallying call for protesters to unite.

It adds up to one of the most astonishing bodies of work in 60s pop, and while the group may have wound down in 1973, Reeves’s career didn’t end there: she recorded five solo albums, acted on Broadway and continued to perform live.

She has now gone back to the recording studio for new album Searching, a title that “represents hope for the future in all things”, she told Rolling Stone recently. Co-produced by jazz trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, it has a jazz flavour with standards such as Summertime, but also traverses R&B, gospel, blues and beyond, and includes I’ve Got It Bad, a song Reeves first recorded with the Vandellas but which was never released.

Ahead of the release of this record, Reeves will join us to answer your questions on her career. Post them in the comments below before Tuesday 23 June, and we’ll publish her answers later that week.

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Titanic sub incident, Canada, World news, Americas
Title – Titan sub: design flaws and company groupthink central to catastrophe, report finds | Titanic sub incident | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/leyland-cecco
Link – Titan sub: design flaws and company groupthink central to catastrophe, report finds | Titanic sub incident | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T18:24:06.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/17/titan-sub-design-flaws-company-groupthink-report

Canadian safety officials have issued a damning report on the catastrophic final voyage of the Titan submersible, finding that the US company behind the expedition was overcome by “groupthink” and “confirmation bias” and failed to understand the profound risks confronting their largely untested craft.

The 6.7-metre (22ft) carbon fibre submersible dipped below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in June 2023 en route to the wreckage of the Titanic ocean liner. But nearly two hours after it departed with five passengers, communications went dark. The disappearance prompted a frantic international search, with Canada and the US marshalling all available resources .

OceanGate, the company behind the expedition, operated trips to the final resting place of the Titanic, which struck an iceberg in 1912 and sank, killing more than 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew.

Onboard the submersible were Hamish Harding , 58, a British explorer and pilot; Shahzada Dawood, 48, a British-Pakistani businessman, and his son Suleman, 19; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a deep diver, submersible pilot, former French navy commander and leading authority on the Titanic wreck site; and Stockton Rush, the founder of OceanGate.

Within days, investigators found the wreck of the vessel nearly 400 miles (640km) off the coast of Newfoundland and concluded all passengers died instantly when the structure imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic.

In its report released on Wednesday , Canada’s transportation and safety board (TSB) said that numerous failures in the submersible’s design and the broader company culture were central factors in the disaster.

OceanGate positioned itself as an ambitious undersea exploration company that had pioneered a carbon fibre submersible to venture deep below the surface.

Inspectors said: “There was no precedent for diving a human-occupied carbon fibre submersible to the deep ocean, and the company acknowledged both internally and publicly that its operations involved risk.”

The Washington state-based company built a pair of 1/3 scale models of the Titan to test how it responded to pressure. Six tests were done on these scale models. Both failed at depths above the resting place of the Titanic.

The company changed the design and manufacturing to mitigate the “ply waviness” of the carbon fibre. Waviness can dramatically weaken the strength of the material.

But unbeknown to the company, the Titan’s carbon fibre cylinder was accumulating damage each time it was exposed to extreme pressures on deep-ocean dives.

“Normal engineering practice would be to expose full-scale models to a very significant number (hundreds, possibly thousands) of test cycles,” inspectors wrote.

OceanGate did relatively little testing of the final craft. While it did conduct tests equivalent to the Titanic depth and deeper, there was no further analysis to understand if and when the hull might fail after repeated use. “The number of cycles at extreme pressure that the full-scale pressure hull could withstand was therefore unknown,” the report said.

The report noted that different materials and shapes were used in conventional submersible design to increase safety when operating at immense depths. It called the design of the Titan “novel” and found “the construction and testing of the Titan did not follow standard engineering practices”. Inspectors were able to examine offcuts of the material used to construct the hull and found structural defects that would weaken the craft’s integrity.

Inspectors also point to a number of instances in which the craft might have sustained damage, including when it collided with the port bow of the Titanic in 2022 and a loud bang when the Titan was surfacing from another dive days later. The craft was also left outside and exposed to the elements for nearly a year between 2022 and 2023.

“Every time a structure is stressed, small damages may accumulate,” the report said. “The higher the imposed stress on the structure, the more quickly these damages will accumulate.”

While the craft successfully completed 13 dives, the accrued weaknesses in the materials meant the 14th trip was fatal. While not all of the debris was recovered, investigators estimate the hull failure happened 5.397 seconds after the submersible crew sent a text message at a depth of more than 3,000 metres.

The acoustic monitoring system used to alert crews of a looming structure failure “had not been tested to demonstrate that it would consistently provide enough advance warning” and when catastrophe struck “it did not function as intended during the occurrence”, according to the report.

While the physical structure of the craft raised concerns with inspectors, they also found the company culture exhibited “closed-mindedness, pressures toward uniformity and overestimation of the group’s power”– traits that amplified the riskiness of the endeavour.

“Over the course of OceanGate’s operating history … employees with expertise in specific areas left the company or were dismissed after raising safety-related concerns or expressing differing perspectives from the CEO,” the report found, adding that confirmation bias was “affecting OceanGate’s decisionmaking and risk management with respect to the structural integrity and lifespan of the Titan pressure hull”.

In July 2023, Oceangate posted a one line statement on its website saying it had stopped “all exploration and commercial operations”.

Inspectors found the world of submersibles was largely unregulated and that there were “no external checks on OceanGate’s risk assessment processes from the regulators” in any of the countries in which it operated, nor was there oversight from a classification society.

Because there was limited information sharing between Transport Canada (TC) and other government departments, TC often lacked key information about the Titan.

In one instance, the department of fisheries and oceans joined an OceanGate mission in 2021 and found the Titan had not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, was constructed from a material not widely used for submersibles that carry people and OceanGate was not carrying insurance.

TC said that without a change to policy “there is a risk that vessels and crews will continue to operate without the minimum defences … leading to unsafe conditions and potentially fatal” accidents.

Yoan Marier, the chair of the TSB, said: “We have been calling for stronger regulatory surveillance in the marine sector for years. Lives are at risk when safety gaps are left unaddressed.”

Keyword – Media
Trefwoorden – BBC, Television industry, Media, Sexual harassment, Television & radio, UK news
Title – BBC made second Ashley Cain TV series despite alleged misconduct | BBC | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sirin-kale
Link – BBC made second Ashley Cain TV series despite alleged misconduct | BBC | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T05:00:01.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/18/bbc-made-second-ashley-cain-tv-series-despite-alleged-misconduct

The BBC made a second documentary series fronted by the presenter Ashley Cain just months after it was informed about an incident of alleged misconduct on a separate production in Las Vegas, which caused filming to be suspended and another presenter flown out at short notice to replace him.

The BBC’s decision to hire Cain, and promote him as a rare talent who could appeal to young men, is under scrutiny after the Guardian revealed his history of highly offensive and misogynistic social media posts , including jokes about hitting women and degrading sexual practices.

A former professional footballer and MTV reality TV star, Cain had also been publicly accused by a woman of uploading footage of them having sex to Snapchat without her consent – which he denied – before the BBC hired him to present season one of Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone, which was first broadcast on BBC Three on 1 April 2025.

Months later, Cain flew to the US to present another BBC production, Sin City: The Real Las Vegas . Filming took place in Las Vegas in June 2025.

On 9 June last year, Cain posted on Instagram to say he was scheduled to “head to Las Vegas this week to film another documentary series”, and posted a video of himself leaving for the airport on 10 June. “Another documentary series pending … see you on the other side,” he wrote.

Multiple sources familiar with the production allege it had to be temporarily suspended after Cain appeared to be drunk during filming on 12 June. Sources said a decision was made to halt filming, before Cain was scheduled to meet vulnerable contributors, including representatives from a sex trafficking charity and a sex worker.

The following day, a BBC commissioner is understood to have been made aware of the concerns raised by the crew on the production. The broadcaster then requested it to be suspended. Cain’s agent was also notified. Statements were subsequently collected from crew members. It is understood those statements were shared with the BBC.

Cain returned to the UK – in effect being pulled from the production – and another presenter, Tir Dhondy, flew out on 14 June to replace him.

By then two interviews had already been filmed with Cain. One, with a gambling addiction survivor, Rob Minnick, was included in the final cut of the programme but edited to remove footage of Cain asking the questions.

Cain did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A BBC spokesperson said: “We are very clear we expect the highest standards of behaviour from everyone who works with or for the BBC. When allegations are brought to our attention we take them seriously. We will consider this information carefully and do not intend to comment further at this stage.”

A source at the BBC said the corporation had been unaware of Cain’s social media posts and had now asked the production companies that hired him to review what checks were undertaken at the time.

The allegations about Cain’s conduct on Sin City: The Real Las Vegas were made two months after the BBC chair, Samir Shah, promised to draw a “line in the sand” concerning unacceptable behaviour from on-screen talent, after an external review of BBC culture and practices.

In the speech, delivered at Broadcasting House on 28 April 2025, Shah responded to a wave of scandals involving prominent BBC presenters, such as the newsreader Huw Edwards and and the MasterChef host Gregg Wallace.

“Frankly, I know it’s not easy to deal with such behaviour [when it] surfaces in the middle of a recording,” said Shah, telling staff he had “an absolute determination to take decisive action and rid the BBC of these behaviours for good.”

Despite the incident in Las Vegas in June 2025, the BBC chose to make a second season of Into the Danger Zone. It is unclear when exactly the second series was commissioned, but production appears to have commenced around November 2025 – six months after the Las Vegas incident.

Last week Cain posted on his Instagram suggesting the second series of his show would be broadcast by the BBC in July. The post has since been deleted. A BBC source said no release date has been announced for the series, which was filmed on location in early 2026.

Details of the Las Vegas incident will add to the growing questions over the BBC’s decision to promote Cain, who executives previously said had an “exceptional” ability to connect with young men and was “what BBC Three is about”. Cain also appeared on the BBC last year as a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef.

Allegations from 2015 that Cain posted footage of a woman he had sex with to Snapchat – which he denied – would have been easily discoverable to BBC vetting staff looking into his background. So too would historical tweets in which he used extremely offensive language toward women, whom he called “slags”, “sluts”, “psychos” and “bitches”.

On Wednesday, following the Guardian’s reporting, two Liberal Democrat MPs, Anna Sabine and Marie Goldman, wrote to the BBC director general, Matt Brittin, urging him to launch an immediate investigation into how Cain was hired by the BBC, and to urgently overhaul vetting processes. “This situation represents a catastrophic failure of the BBC’s vetting procedures,” they wrote, asking: “How did Mr Cain slip through the net?”

The production company Middlechild, which made Sin City: The Real Las Vegas, declined to comment. True North, which produced Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone, and Shine TV, the company that makes Celebrity MasterChef, did not respond to requests for comment.

This article was amended on 18 June 2026. An earlier version incorrectly said a second series of Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone had been broadcast. This has been corrected.