Keyword – Music
Trefwoorden – Experimental music, Classical music, Music, Culture, Canada, Christianity, Indie, Americas, World news, Religion
Title – ‘A sacred kind of sound’: inside a solar-powered journey to preserve the music of church organs | Experimental music | The Guardian
Author – Andy Cush
Link – ‘A sacred kind of sound’: inside a solar-powered journey to preserve the music of church organs | Experimental music | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T09:00:01.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jun/18/michael-cloud-duguay-album-church-organs

Michael Cloud Duguay and his band of collaborators were nearing the end of their pipe organ tour of Newfoundland when they encountered a hitch in Aguathuna, a town of about 400 people on a craggy peninsula that juts out from the Canadian island’s south-western edge. For the past week, they’d been showing up at old churches in remote communities like this one, preparing their solar-powered mobile studio, and recording instruments both humble and monumental, whose complex systems of keys, stops, hand cranks, foot pedals, bellows and reeds were designed to vibrate the air around them until it approximates the sound of God.

This was all in service of music that was still taking shape in Duguay’s mind. It would eventually form the basis of the Ontario composer’s new album, Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go, a collection of quietly elegiac pieces that doubles as a sort of audio documentary about Newfoundland’s organs and the congregations to which they belong . The music is collaged from recordings that Duguay made on that trip in July 2024, of the organs (which the team documented and will be available as Midi instruments later this summer) but also of church leaders and ordinary congregants talking about their lives, as well as saxophones, flutes and whatever other sounds happened to go by while the tape was rolling. Listening in headphones on a spring day can be mildly hallucinatory: are the bird calls, the rustling wind and the chattering people part of the music or the world outside?

When Duguay and his crew got to Our Lady of Mercy, the century-old church in Aguathuna, the locals told them there was no organ there. That came as a disappointment to Duguay, who’d coordinated the visit in advance with someone at the church, though planning the excursion had required such a quantity of cold emails and phone calls to strangers that this crucial detail could have gotten lost in the shuffle. The churches were generally small, with hardly any presences online. Finding them had taken extensive sleuthing; at one point, he was searching through Facebook pages for photos that looked like they might have an organ in the background. “They were like, ‘What organ?’” he recalls, wearing a Grateful Dead T-shirt while speaking from his home in Peterborough, Canada . “I was like, ‘This is what we’ve been talking about. This is what we’re here to do.’ And they’re like, ‘We’ve never seen an organ in this space.’”

Then a teenage volunteer piped up: wasn’t there something like that in the balcony? Sure enough, surrounded and covered by old church junk – dusty nativity figurines, outdated hymnals – there was a keyboard and two Leslie cabinets, vintage motorized speakers whose horns spin in circles to better emulate the flutter of air through pipes. This was an electronic organ, unlike the instruments that Duguay and his team had recorded so far on the trip, but an organ nonetheless. They later learned it hadn’t been used since the 90s. They set up a couple of microphones for recording, depressed one of the keys and powered it up, hoping for sound.

What they heard became Pond 1, the first track on Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go. A single note comes on more abruptly than you might expect, given the decades of disuse. It wavers slowly with the movement of the Leslie speakers, then sputters and restarts itself a couple of times. Gradually Duguay depresses another key, and then another, and it grows from one voice into a wistfully ambiguous chord. “We recorded the sound of this organ coming back to life,” he says. “There’s these outcomes of making records in this way that are so special and kind of sacred to me. I’m never going to hear that exact sound again, and it was an incredible sound.”

Duguay grew up in Catholicism, but his current spiritual practice is a “self-constructed” one, developed in recovery from a long period of addiction, neglect of music-making, and occasional incarceration. Though he doesn’t share his interviewees’ Christianity , he wanted to capture the organs within their spiritual and social contexts, just as he might turn a microphone on a creaky floorboard or a dog barking outside to capture the instruments’ physical surroundings. Scattered among the drones and arpeggios of Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go are interviews with church members that Duguay conducted while the recording crew was setting up. “The general question was: ‘What do you think is going to happen to these instruments?’” he says.

“And the response, again and again was: ‘They’re going to stay here forever because this church is going to be here forever.’ Because even though not a lot of people are coming to church right now, people are going to come back.”

These people often talked to him about the biblical idea of the remnant: a small community of believers who remain faithful as the rest of the world turns its back on the church. “We were seeing these remnants of two or three elderly people working in these churches, diligently maintaining them daily, painting everything, and as soon as they’re done, they just start again,” he says. “It’s all this idea of service to their community, service to God and service to the people who have not yet arrived. These spaces are uniquely forward-looking.” With the climate crisis and totalitarianism raging, one needn’t be a believer to be moved by their optimism.

Duguay, whose background is in punk and indie rock, is not a trained organist. He had never touched one before starting work on Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go . His willfully simple approach to the instrument is best illustrated by a track called Damnable Island. For six and a half minutes, you hear a note that flickers and warps as it sustains, an effect the composer attained by recording an E flat on all seven of the organs he visited and layering them atop each other. Some of the instruments were in perfect tune; others hadn’t been maintained for years. The micro-variations in their pitches contribute to a sound richer and stranger than any one could produce on its own.

This was typical of Duguay and his team’s process: they were always recording material without knowing precisely what they’d do with it, or how it would interact with other organs they hadn’t heard yet. Sometimes, they didn’t know for sure whether the other organs existed at all. In a way, the experience of recording Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go helped Duguay to be more like the people whom the album is about. “We had to think about how to arrange the music if we wanted multiple organs on the same piece,” he says. “‘OK, we’re gonna record these next parts on either the organ we encounter tomorrow or the day after, and we’re just going to have to accept whatever that is.’ We couldn’t even guess what they were going to sound like. We just had to practice a sort of faith.”

Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go is out on 10 July

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Transfer window, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Football, Sport
Title – Real Madrid announce signing of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella in £52m deal | Transfer window | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jacob-steinberg
Link – Real Madrid announce signing of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella in £52m deal | Transfer window | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-15T09:18:58.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/14/real-madrid-marc-cucurella-chelsea-transfer-window-football

Real Madrid have announced the signing of Marc Cucurella from Chelsea in a package worth up to €60m (£52m).

News of the deal emerged on Sunday, with this Spanish club now revealing a six-year deal has been negotiated. “Real Madrid CF and Chelsea FC have reached an agreement for the transfer of the player Marc Cucurella, who will be linked to our club for the next six seasons, until June 30, 2032,” a club statement released on Monday morning read.

Chelsea also released a statement confirming the move has gone through. “Marc Cucurella has completed a permanent transfer to Spanish La Liga side Real Madrid,” it read. “Everyone at Chelsea FC would like to thank Marc for his efforts during his time at the club and for the role he played in our recent achievements.”

The Spain left-back, who is preparing to face Cape Verde in the World Cup, threw his future into doubt when he criticised the Chelsea hierarchy during the March international break. Cucurella said the team paid for “inexperience” when thrashed by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and he raised misgivings over Enzo Maresca’s departure as head coach.

A return to Spain has been on the cards and Cucurella has signed a contract at the Bernabéu until 2032 on after four years at Stamford Bridge. Madrid will pay an initial €55m plus €5m in add-ons for the 27-year-old.

Chelsea will regard this as the right time to cash in on Cucurella, who overcame a difficult start after joining from Brighton for £62m.

They felt his level dipped after Christmas and were encouraged by the form of Cucurella’s deputy, the 20-year-old Netherlands left-back Jorrel Hato.

Madrid, who are revamping their squad after two trophyless years, are moving quickly after appointing José Mourinho as their manager and have bolstered their defence with moves for the Netherlands right-back Denzel Dumfries and the former Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konaté. They have also agreed to sign the former Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva on a free transfer.

It remains to be seen whether Madrid look to do further business with Chelsea by attempting to sign Enzo Fernández. The Argentina midfielder joined Cucurella in speaking out against the hierarchy towards the end of the season.

Fernández has made little secret of his desire to join Madrid but Chelsea will look for more than £100m for the former Benfica midfielder.

Chelsea, who missed out on qualification for Europe, will also be guided by the wishes of their new manager, Xabi Alonso.

They are not under pressure to make sales but Fernández, unlike Cole Palmer and Moisés Caicedo, is not regarded as one of the club’s untouchables.

Keyword – Business
Trefwoorden – Real estate, United Arab Emirates, Middle East and north Africa, Dubai, World news, The super-rich, Business
Title – Dubai property sales have fallen ‘off a cliff’ since start of Middle East war | Real estate | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lauren-almeida
Link – Dubai property sales have fallen ‘off a cliff’ since start of Middle East war | Real estate | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T05:00:04.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/18/dubai-property-sales-fall-since-middle-east-war-say-experts

Property sales in Dubai have fallen “off a cliff”, a leading market watcher has said, after war in the Middle East forced a dramatic slowdown in one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets.

Sales in the city dropped 19% in May compared with the previous month, accelerating from a 4% drop in April, the researcher ValuStrat found.

Transactions are now below half their level compared with the same point last year, it said.

“The ready homes market has not recorded an annual decline of this magnitude since the pandemic,” said Haider Tuaima, head of real estate research at ValuStrat, a Dubai-based consultancy which has been tracking the city’s property market since 2014.

A separate study from the Dubai-based research firm Reidin found that property worth 22.5bn dirhams ($6.1bn/£4.5bn) was sold in May, 42% below the April figure. It was about half the 46.6bn dirhams in the month before the conflict began, according to the figures, which were first reported by Bloomberg.

Dubai, which is on the eastern side of the Arabian peninsula, had had a frenzied trade in property in recent years, boosted by a wave of high-earners attracted to the city’s zero income tax policy.

But the outbreak of war in the Middle East in late February has rocked the market, with an Iranian missile hitting the five-star hotel in Dubai’s famed Palm Jumeirah area in March.

It remains unclear how quickly the market may recover if a peace deal between the US and Iran holds firm.

Sellers of luxury villas and flats in the city have wiped tens of millions of pounds off asking prices, according to property agents.

Yasin Valimulla, a buying agent in Dubai who specialises in properties worth at least $10m (£7.5m), said that the few home sales still going through were at a 20%-25% discount to their value before the conflict.

“We have sold to super-high-net-worth guys in the last year and a half – every single one them has now left Dubai,” he said.

“There was a lot of panic in March and there is still not much clarity to this day,” he said. “Western European buyers are now more reluctant to buy properties here. I think they want to wait out maybe a year, even two years. It depends on how things play out.”

It marks a sharp correction for Dubai, which was the busiest city in the world last year for luxury real estate. The international estate agent Knight Frank found that more homes worth $2.5m to $10m were bought in Dubai than any other city in the world in at the end of 2025 – ahead of London, New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

In the $10m-plus bracket, there were 9,050 sales in Dubai compared with 6,577 in New York and 3,089 in London.

But the market is now correcting itself, Valimulla said. “The numbers were so high to begin with, especially in the last two years. The market at that level was not sustainable anyway.

“There is going to be a correction in pricing, we just do not know the impact of that correction until we have [geopolitical] clarity.”

In the meantime, the nomadic super-rich class are turning to other international hubs, such as Milan , London and Singapore.

Richard Waind, of the real estate group Cencorp, added that several brokers in Dubai’s once booming property market would now be forced to close.

“The war has been a black swan event that was huge and swift,” he said. “The slowdown in sales is putting pressure on those smaller agencies that set up in a frothy market. There were about 1,000 brokers in the market a decade ago – now it’s about 10,000. That is going to fall.”

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – US-Israel war on Iran, Iran, Donald Trump, Trump administration, Obama administration, Middle East and north Africa, US news, US politics, US foreign policy, World news
Title – Trump’s war accomplished nothing – the Iran deal is proof | Kenneth Roth | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/kenneth-roth
Link – Trump’s war accomplished nothing – the Iran deal is proof | Kenneth Roth | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T09:00:01.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/18/trump-iran-war-deal

N o one gets a Nobel peace prize for ending a war he started, let alone for a pointless war of aggression that set back the causes that supposedly prompted the conflict. No amount of Donald Trump’s spin can obscure the fact that his newly announced deal with Iran is one big lesson in why this war should never have been launched.

The text of the deal, a 14-point memorandum of understanding, underscores its emptiness. The tyrants of Tehran are undoubtedly celebrating.

Trump’s political challenge is to show that his deal is better than the one negotiated by Barack Obama in 2015 and abandoned by Trump in 2018 – that Trump’s bombing produced a result superior to Obama’s diplomacy. The problem for Trump is that it didn’t. He did worse.

Trump will likely spotlight two supposed “victories”. First, Iran “reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons”. But it made that pledge in the Obama accord and many times since then. The key issue is whether the steps that could lead to a nuclear weapon are curtailed.

To that end, Obama imposed severe restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program. Trump can only hope to secure similar limitations during negotiations that are supposed to be concluded over the next 60 days. But such complex issues are unlikely to be settled so quickly, and the deal allows for the deadline to be extended by mutual consent.

Still to be resolved are whether and for how long Iran will limit what it calls its right to enrich uranium, whether it will export or dilute its half-tonne of highly enriched uranium, and whether it will dismantle its nuclear program. The deal says only that in a final accord such issues will be resolved by “mutual agreement”, hardly an airtight commitment. Trump will tie sanctions relief to Iranian concessions on these points, but that could have been accomplished through diplomacy, without resorting to war.

Second, Trump will highlight that Iran has agreed to reopen the strait of Hormuz, where its restrictions on movement of some 20% of the world’s oil and gas led to galloping prices and a surge in worldwide inflation. But Iran only closed the strait once Trump initiated his war of choice. Now Tehran sees the power of this new weapon. The genie is out of the bottle and will not easily be lured back.

Trump announced that the strait will be “ permanently toll free ”. But the published deal doesn’t say that. And Iranian officials have maintained the right to impose fees for unspecified services, which might mean no more than the “service” of not firing on boats passing through. Trump’s war has left global commerce worse off.

The deal is noteworthy for what it does not include. There is nothing on Iran’s ballistic missile program, nothing on Iran’s military support for regional allies such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, nothing on regime change in Tehran. These were all reasons cited by Trump for going to war. In these areas, his bombing accomplished nothing.

Indeed, in lieu of regime change, he obtained regime hardening, as US and Israeli bombers killed off Iranian clerical leaders and left Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials in charge.

Meanwhile, the Iranian government can trumpet its own victories. The deal requires that Israel end its attacks in Lebanon.

That does give Benjamin Netanyahu the opportunity to play spoiler, given his quest for ongoing war with Iran. But Netanyahu may not dare. Trump has become overt in his anger at the Israeli prime minister, calling him “ fucking crazy ” and “ a very difficult guy ”, and explicitly criticizing his tendency to attack entire apartment buildings using the pretext of attacking a single Hezbollah member (although the same criticism can be made of Israel’s disproportionate attacks in Gaza, which Trump aided and abetted).

As soon as the accord is signed, Trump commits to issue ”waivers” for all sanctions on Iranian petroleum exports. That is a reward for simply returning to the status quo that existed in February before Trump opted for bombing over negotiation.

Then, according to the “progress of negotiations” toward a final agreement, Trump agrees to release frozen Iranian assets. Once a final accord is reached, Trump commits to lifting all sanctions on the country. In addition, the deal includes a $300bn private fund for “rehabilitation and economic development of Iran”.

These economic incentives toward a deal were all available in February as well. The bombing made no positive difference.

If there is a silver lining in this debacle, it is that the utter failure of Trump’s military adventure in Iran may give him pause before trying another. (The same could be said for Vladimir Putin’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine.) Resorting to military force is often far more complicated than Trump’s quick removal of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Might makes right , in Trump’s warped view, but it doesn’t guarantee victory. There turns out to be a role for diplomacy after all.

Kenneth Roth is a Guardian US columnist, visiting professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, and former executive director of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments

Keyword – Environment
Trefwoorden – Climate crisis, Rivers, Water, Environment, Flooding, Drought, Extreme weather, World news, UK news
Title – Rising temperatures may increase flood risk through river ‘whiplash’, study finds | Climate crisis | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/pippa-neill
Link – Rising temperatures may increase flood risk through river ‘whiplash’, study finds | Climate crisis | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T13:24:00.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/17/rising-temperatures-may-increase-flood-risk-through-river-whiplash-study-finds

Rising temperatures may trigger a dangerous increase in “hydroclimatic whiplash” in rivers that would make traditional approaches to flood and drought planning insufficient, a study has found.

As temperatures rise owing to the worsening climate crisis, rivers will experience increasingly rapid transitions between heavy downpours and long dry spells – called hydroclimatic whiplash events – because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, intensifying rainfall extremes.

Sudden swings from dry to wet conditions may increase the risk of flash flooding, the study found, because intense rainfall on dry, hardened soil is less able to infiltrate the ground. Instead, water can rapidly run off the surface leading to local flooding and water quality deterioration, as well as soil erosion because intensive rainfall can flush pollutants into the rivers.

In comparison, wet-to-dry shifts can make drought planning harder because preceding wet conditions may create a false sense of security before a rapid move into drought.

In the study, published on Wednesday in Earth’s Future , researchers used climate projections and a hydrological model to simulate changes to 698 river catchments in the UK under 2C and 4C warming scenarios. Hydroclimatic whiplash was defined in the study as being when monthly riverflow moves from unusually low to unusually high flows, or the reverse.

The lead author, Dr Yi He from the University of East Anglia, said the UK is already experiencing rapid dry-to-wet and wet-to-dry shifts, making hydroclimatic whiplash a significant concern.

The modelling, which provides the most comprehensive national-scale assessments to date of how UK rivers may respond to different levels of global heating, found that in the 2C and 4C warming scenarios, widespread increases in the frequency of both types of whiplash events – wet to dry and dry to wet – are expected.

The researchers found that in some catchments, the number of whiplash events could rise from about four over a 30-year period in the 1981-2010 baseline to up to nine under the 4C warming scenario.

This increase is projected across most of the UK, however, for dry-to-wet whiplash, the greatest increases are likely to occur in south Wales, Northern Ireland, northern and western England and parts of south-east England.

Dr He said these rapid shifts will make water management increasingly difficult by putting pressure on flood defences and drought-response systems at the same time. “As warming increases, traditional approaches to flood and drought planning may no longer be enough,” she said. “We need to plan for sequences of extremes, not just a single event.”

The study authors said the findings underscored the need for regionally tailored adaptation plans, including enhanced flood-risk management and greater capacity to store water during wetter periods.

Dr He said the modelling in the UK was an important test case for temperate regions worldwide, with the findings offering insights into how rising temperatures could alter river flows, flood and drought risks across the globe.

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Makerfield byelection, Byelections, World news, Politics, Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham, Labour, Labour party leadership, Nigel Farage, Reform UK
Title – Why is there so much interest in a byelection in north-west England? | Makerfield byelection | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/peterwalker
Link – Why is there so much interest in a byelection in north-west England? | Makerfield byelection | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T04:00:00.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/18/why-is-there-so-much-interest-in-a-byelection-in-north-west-england

An election that could shape the future of UK politics for years to come is taking place on Thursday. But it is only happening in one small part of north-west England, with little more than 70,000 people eligible to vote.

Why? It is a question with a number of answers, some connected to the structure of the British political system, others much more topical.

In brief – what’s happening and why does it matter?

Voters in Makerfield, a largely suburban constituency on the edge of Wigan, Greater Manchester, are choosing a new MP after the incumbent stood down. The candidate for the ruling Labour party and favourite to win, Andy Burnham, is the mayor of Greater Manchester and a former MP.

If Burnham wins, it is widely assumed that he will launch a campaign to unseat Keir Starmer as Labour leader and thus UK prime minister, or persuade Starmer to stand down. If things go as expected, the UK could have its seventh prime minister since 2017 in just a few weeks or months.

How does all this work constitutionally?

The prime minister is, under very strong constitutional convention – there is no written constitution in the UK – always a member of the House of Commons, all 650 of whom represent a specific geographical constituency.

Burnham was from 1997 to 2017 MP for the adjoining seat of Leigh, serving as a government minister and twice standing unsuccessfully for the Labour leadership. But he left Westminster when Labour was in opposition after being elected Greater Manchester mayor.

For him to challenge Starmer, Burnham needs a new seat. After much wrangling one of his allies, Josh Simons, agreed to stand down as the Makerfield MP, triggering what is known as a byelection, a single-seat contest held when there is a vacancy between general elections.

Why does Burnham want Starmer to go?

It’s not just him. About 100 Labour MPs have publicly called on Starmer to quit, with many others privately sharing the sentiment. A lot of it is self-interest – Labour is consistently polling well behind the hard-right populist party Reform UK, and performed terribly in May in elections for the devolved Scottish and Welsh parliaments and local government seats across England.

But many Labour MPs also think Starmer lacks any political vision or much of a plan, and have seen him lurch from U-turn to U-turn . A number are worried that without action, Reform will win the next election.

Will Burnham win the seat?

The short answer is that, yes, most people believe he will, even if it could be a fairly close result. The longer answer is that Makerfield is the sort of seat Labour used to win with ease – the party has held the constituency since it was created in a 1983 reorganisation of parliamentary boundaries – but now struggles with.

With its voters disproportionately being older, less well educated and less likely to come from minority ethnic backgrounds, Makerfield, like dozens of similar post-industrial seats in the north of England, now heavily favours Reform, led by Nigel Farage, the driving force for the UK’s decision in 2016 to leave the EU.

Burnham’s hope is that his charisma, plus his reputation as a generally popular mayor, will get him over the line. He has also been helped by Reform’s slightly misfiring campaign, with the party’s candidate, a local plumber called Robert Kenyon, criticised about past social media posts, including some sexist and otherwise lewd comments.

If Burnham wins, what happens next?

Starmer has repeatedly said that, just two years from a big general election win, he is not going anywhere and will fight any challengers. Nonetheless, Burnham’s allies hope he can be persuaded to set a timetable to leave.

If that happened and no other MP sought the leadership, Burnham could be made prime minister within weeks. But at least one other MP, Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary last month, has promised to enter the race.

If there is a contest, how does it work?

An MP needs at least 80 nominations from other Labour MPs to trigger a contest. Any other MP who reaches the same threshold also takes part, as does the sitting leader, if they choose to, by default.

Those names are then put to a vote of Labour party members, a process that would take four or five weeks at least, given the need for hustings events and similar.

Who would win such a contest?

Again, the money is largely on Burnham, although some supporters of Starmer argue he could appeal to the loyalty of Labour members who chose him in 2020.

Streeting is seen as an outsider but is a talented political operator, who is considered to be on the centre-right of the Labour party.

What would a Burnham government look like?

Some cynics say: much like Starmer’s , but with better presentation. And more seriously, many Burnham supporters enjoy his relaxed eloquence, particularly against Starmer’s often pained and stilted approach.

Policy-wise, while once on the centre-right of the party, Burnham has as a mayor developed a more left-leaning philosophy, based on a version of what is almost a European-style corporatism. Awkwardly known as “Manchesterism” , it sets out that while free markets are central, they must be tempered by some state control, even ownership, particularly in necessities of life such as utilities, transport and housing.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Australia, USA, World Cup, Football, Australia sport, Sport, US sports
Title – Australia superpower v USA pentagon: how each team can win their World Cup clash | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alexander-abnos,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jack-snape
Link – Australia superpower v USA pentagon: how each team can win their World Cup clash | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T06:00:02.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/18/world-cup-2026-socceroos-australia-usa-which-team-will-win-how

Australia

Back Nestory Irankunda: the 20-year-old was expected to be an impact player at this World Cup, coming on as a substitute to affect matches against tiring opposition. A player of the match performance when starting against Turkey showed how Irankunda has become one of the Socceroos’ most important players. While still learning his wing-craft, his speed and determination without the ball are vital in a Socceroos outfit seemingly happy to give their opponents’ possession, and his ability to make the most of transition and direct opportunities – as seen for his opening goal against Turkey – can be a superpower.

Bring in the reinforcements: Australia used five substitutions against Turkey, including three when it was still 1-0 . In a squad with few standout players, Australia will be wise to spread around the physical load of the tournament with one eye on the knockout rounds. This week’s health concerns for midfielder Aiden O’Neill – only able to walk the day after the Turkey game – and Mo Touré, whose calf keeps Socceroos fans up at night, underscore the need for rotation. The striker in particular is a vital player for the Socceroos , given his anticipation and pace make him the primary outlet when the defence is under pressure with the ball.

Play for the draw: one point will almost certainly secure a place in the round of 32 for the Socceroos ahead of the third pool match against Paraguay, widely seen as the weakest team in Group D and the least equipped to chase a result. Yet it would also leave Australia in the box seat to go through as group winners, as they would just need to eclipse the result recorded by the United States in their final match against a motivated Turkey. Securing top spot in the group means the Socceroos stay in the San Francisco Bay Area for the round of 32 and play one of the third-placed finishers from the other groups. The Socceroos already have a setup to murder a football spectacle, now they also have the motive.

United States

Midfield rotations are key: this is the kind of thing that any USMNT fan would have known before last week’s fantastic opener, but the nature of the US’s play in that game made it especially so. Paraguay head coach Gustavo Alfaro took time in his presser to specifically compliment the starting trio of Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Malik Tillman, whom he described as “floating” and a key part of a “pentagon” of play. For as well as Australia played against Turkey, they did not dictate the tempo, conceding more than 70% of possession and getting overrun in the centre of the park. If the US are going to do something with similar levels of possession, they’ll need their midfield to continue rotating effectively to help pull the Socceroos’ back two lines out of shape, manufacturing gaps in what had proven to be an airtight defence.

Don’t get carried away : after the US’s emphatic opening statement , fans were over the moon, and journalists (including us) speculated that it may well have been the team’s best game at a men’s World Cup. That is, of course, those people’s jobs. But so far, US players and head coach Mauricio Pochettino haven’t been buying into it publicly. Immediately after the game, Pochettino stressed that the 4-1 win was just the beginning. All week in training, players have spoken about how they see this Friday’s match as a tough test . Given the degree to which the Socceroos stunned Turkey, the US would do well to keep doing privately what they have done publicly: prepare for what could easily be a very different type of game from the one they enjoyed at Los Angeles Stadium last week.

Score early (if you can): Australia’s calling card is their organised defence, their intensity and the knowledge that they would always be up for a physical battle. Funny thing is, those exact same traits could also have been said about Paraguay, a team who conceded just 10 goals over the 18-game Conmebol qualifying gauntlet and survived because they scored just enough (14 times) to get results when needed. Last week, that plan was dashed with a seventh-minute own goal from Damián Bobadilla. No longer could Paraguay hope to sit back and absorb pressure – they had to press higher, which opened gaps in the midfield. Getting on the scoreboard early will not only ignite what is sure to be a raucous environment in Seattle, it will force Australia to come out of their defensive shell slightly more than they may be comfortable doing.

Keyword – Art and design
Trefwoorden – Art and design, Gilbert & George, Culture
Title – ‘You learn how to be idiotic artists’: Gilbert & George on fame, rebellion and their mystery new collaborator | Art and design | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rich-pelley
Link – ‘You learn how to be idiotic artists’: Gilbert & George on fame, rebellion and their mystery new collaborator | Art and design | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T07:00:04.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jun/18/gilbert-and-george-endless-interview-our-george-crompton

‘H ello girls,” greets 82-year-old Gilbert Prousch, one half of art duo Gilbert & George, as he shakes my hand when I arrive at his house with a very important guest in tow. He kisses his other guest on the cheek. Gilbert is Italian after all.

“This way,” he says, ushering us into the four-storey, 18th-century Georgian townhouse in Fournier Street, Spitalfields, east London, where he and the other half of his duo, George Passmore, 84, have lived since the late 1960s. Back then, they rented the ground floor for £16 a month. Now, they own the whole house. I bet it costs a bit more now.

I sneak a peek through a door at one of many living rooms crowded with antiques. As I walk further into the house, something feels odd. I realise that there’s no kitchen. Then I remember: Gilbert & George famously have no kitchen. They have long regarded cooking as time wasted when they could be making art – they balk at the idea that the “average housewife spends 27 years in the kitchen”, as they put it – and so eat out or have food brought in every day (more on their favourite haunts later).

We cross the courtyard into an impossibly warm studio to find George, dressed in a brown Irish tweed suit to complement Prousch’s green. The pair switched from Scottish to Irish tweed in 2014 to mark their disapproval of the Scottish independence referendum. Together in their colourful suits, they are unmistakably the Gilbert & George I’ve come to recognise: part artist duo, part double act known for being deadpan, mischievous and defiantly unchanged. The contrast is the point: here are two polite gentlemen in beautiful tailoring, whose art has for decades revelled in sex, bodily fluids, swear words, religion, death, urban grime and (ahem) schoolboy smut.

We sit at the long studio table, which is crowded with works in progress: medicine from the chemist, newspapers (George is reading today’s Telegraph) and cured meat.

“What have you two been doing? Eating sausages?” asks the guest, taking the mick.

“Yes. Sandra brings them in every day,” says George.

Which Sandra he’s talking about is unclear. It could be Sandra, the waitress at the Golden Grill, the local cafe where they used to eat daily as part of their “Living Sculpture” philosophy, which stipulated that even their daily routines became a work of art. But the Golden Grill closed years ago, and I’m not sure there’s a Sandra at their current favourite, east London’s Mangal 1 Turkish grill. Or it might be Sandra Esqulant, landlady of the nearby Golden Heart pub, who has looked after them for decades. Or perhaps everyone who feeds them just becomes a Sandra. At least I recognise the other recent visitor they mention, “Tracey” – as in Emin – who popped round on Monday. Her arrival caused a brief panic because they didn’t know her preferred tea. Earl Grey, it turns out.

“We know her quite well,” says Gilbert. It’s not surprising – Emin also lived nearby in the 90s, when all three were part of the Britart scene.

“This is my friend, Rich,” says the guest. “He’s a writer.”

“You write? Marvellous,” says George. “What sort of thing? Novels?”

“No, for newspapers. Have you got today’s Guardian?” I say, keen to show off my byline.

“Certainly not,” says George, flapping his copy of the Telegraph at me. “What do you think we are?”

I am here at their house as the plus one of the 41-year-old London artist Endless. He was the first street artist to exhibit at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, an institution better known for Botticellis and Michelangelos than pieces by artists armed with spray cans. That work, which he donated to the museum in 2021, is called ExG&G, and features Endless alongside Gilbert & George in their studio: the duo are shown as living sculptures, while Endless hides behind a magazine.

It’s a sign of the unlikely bond that has formed between them. Endless has become such a part of the furniture at Fournier Street that he can knock on the door more or less whenever he likes (Gilbert & George do not have mobile phones). Their friendship has prompted some rumours in the art world: are the duo quietly handing their expertise – and even legacy – down? This is something I’m keen to find out.

The trio seem unlikely collaborators: tweed-suited conservative mavericks on the one hand, an edgy street artist on the other. How did they meet?

“It has nothing to do with public lavatories,” jokes George.

The truth is that the pair, who like to source subject matter within walking distance of their home, noticed an Endless street piece on a nearby wall and photographed it to feature in a 2015 exhibition in Singapore. When Endless discovered this, he got in touch, both baffled and flattered. They began corresponding by letter; a decade later, Endless now visits them on a weekly basis.

The piece that got Gilbert & George’s attention – entitled Crotch Grab – is a signature of sorts for Endless, and is a reworking of a 90s Calvin Klein advert featuring Mark Wahlberg in his underpants (Endless has also made a new customised version of the artwork for the Guardian). What was it they liked so much about it?

“It’s difficult to explain. It just appealed,” says George. In 2018, Endless depicted Gilbert & George grabbing their crotches in Union Jack boxer shorts.

Conversation turns to the duo’s new exhibition, a reworking of their 1990 London and New York Worlds and Windows exhibition. It is on display at the Gilbert & George Centre, a converted 19th-century brewery that opened in 2023 round the corner from their home. In line with their “Art for All” ethos, the centre offers free admission, and attracts, according to the pair, “a small but serious, or perhaps unserious, crowd”.

Some preliminary prints for the show are hanging on the wall.

“You know George is dead – George Crompton?” says George, pointing to a figure in one of the new artworks. Crompton was a homeless man – a “lost soul”, as they put it – who would turn up most days, and who they’d invite inside to keep warm. “He’d had a lot of bad luck in life, so it should be a lesson to us all,” says George. “We could all be Georges if something had gone a bit wrong.”

Crompton would sit in what Gilbert calls “the relaxing chair” in the corner of the studio, watching the pair at work. “It was intriguing for him,” says George. “He was a harmless, nice person, very calm. He felt part of things.”

“We went to see him when he died in the hospice,” adds Gilbert.

“He wasn’t unhappy,” says George. “I think he knew and accepted that he was going to fade away.”

Crompton now appears, posthumously, in two new works at the duo’s latest show, standing outside their famous front door.

“You’ve immortalised him,” I say.

“I like to think so, as near as we can,” says George.

With a shifting cast of visitors – friends, neighbours, food providers – passing through their home, I wonder how the octogenarians feel about an artist half their age inviting himself round, seemingly any time he likes. “It has worked out well so far,” smiles George.

And how does Endless feel about his place in this revolving cycle? “You learn how to be an artist from people who are greater than you,” he says.

“How to learn to be big-headed, idiotic artists,” George says.

Endless studied Gilbert & George at Cambridge School of Art (“Cambridge? You must be very clever,” pipes in Gilbert). Gilbert studied in Val Gardena, Hallein and Munich; George at Dartington and the Oxford School of Art (“I’m overtrained,” he says). They later met at St Martin’s School of Art on London’s Charing Cross Road in the 60s.

“St Martin’s was extraordinarily famous all over the world at that time,” says Gilbert.

“Charing Cross Road in the late 60s was the centre of the universe for fashion and music,” adds George. “Every minor actor had to be photographed there.” Did St Martin’s make them feel famous? “Yes,” says George.

“But you rebelled against what they were teaching,” says Endless.

“We didn’t accept formalism: shapes and colours,” says Gilbert. “We did our own thing.”

Why did they decide to work as a pair? “For a living sculpture, it was a very good idea to have two people, not one,” says Gilbert.

“Two makes a composition; one doesn’t,” adds George. “The world is twos. In the cities, in the jungle, even in the animal kingdom.”

“Have two now become three?” I ask. “Huh?” “He’s asking if we’re a threesome,” says Endless.

What I want to know is: are you handing down your legacy to Endless?

“I don’t even know what ‘legacy’ means,” counters Endless.

“Leg over-sy,” says George, his schoolboy smut returning.

Gilbert & George are staying put – lunch is due any minute – but there’s just time for Endless to sneak me into the Gilbert & George Centre, where the previous exhibition is being dismantled to make way for the next. On the wall, George Crompton already looms several metres high: the lost soul from their studio chair now getting the full Gilbert & George send-off.

The artists have long planned for their own absence, treating even death as part of their project. The works still in their possession are to be left to the centre, free to the public – a final extension of Art for All. If they are handing anything down to Endless, it may be less about ownership than attitude.

“It’s seeing how they live, hearing their stories from the past, and how they have it in their minds that they’ll always push forward and never stop,” he says. “They’ve got their vision, their focus, and they never veer away from it. Whatever they feel in that moment, they turn into art. That’s inspiring.”

Perhaps that’s how legacies are really passed on: not by inheritance, but by example. Endless has certainly been pushing forward this year: working on a giant mural on the side of Indelible Fine Art Gallery in Brighton; and preparing for exhibitions in London, Milan and Rome.

“You can’t take over what they’ve done,” says Endless. “But you can carry the spirit forward.”

Our George Crompton, Worlds and Windows is at the Gilbert & George Centre, London, to 2027 ; Endless X London is at Cris Contini Contemporary, London, to 25 July.

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Christian Pulisic, USA, Football, US sports, Sport, World Cup 2026, World Cup
Title – A mercurial talent to a workhorse: who should replace Christian Pulisic if he misses the Australia game? | Christian Pulisic | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jeff-rueter
Link – A mercurial talent to a workhorse: who should replace Christian Pulisic if he misses the Australia game? | Christian Pulisic | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T23:33:32.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/17/christian-pulisic-fitness-usa-australia-world-cup

Mauricio Pochettino now has the privilege of giving the new World Cup format a practical test.

The Argentinian wisely played it safe at half-time of the United States’ 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay, pulling Christian Pulisic before his calf could be kicked any more. The attacking midfielder said after the match that he had taken similar punishment before, and he was optimistic he would be fit for the next match. As of Wednesday, he was still training away from his teammates and wearing a sleeve on his left calf.

And so, Pochettino must weigh a question many have wondered since Fifa announced this would be the first World Cup with 48 teams. How much will teams gamble with players’ fitness after securing the three points many expect should be enough to ensure safe passage to the round of 32? The team’s strong performance against Paraguay has US fans thinking about the long game. But the Americans could find themselves on the end of some hefty challenges when they face an Australian team who have clearly been irritated by disparaging comments about the Socceroos in the US media. All this with control of Group D on the line too.

All of this could be posturing, of course. Keeping Pulisic off to the side during training could invite the slightest bit of uncertainty into Australia’s preparations after such a decisive first US performance in their opener. It’s the World Cup, where the smallest of advantages must be found.

But even so, such was the emphatic nature of their opening win that the United States may want to protect Pulisic from harm in their remaining group games. But it’s not as simple as that: there’s no like-for-like replacement for Pulisic.

Option 1: The man in form with a point to prove

Gio Reyna last logged a 60-minute shift for club or country on 19 December 2025. But after his incredible late goal against Paraguay , one can’t rule out the possibility of a larger role against Australia.

While he continues to struggle to establish himself at the club level, Reyna’s rare talent kept him in Pochettino’s rotation as the Argentinian tested alternatives in midfield. Reyna would help the US with ball retention – he has proven technical acumen in tight areas – and his incisive passing comes in handy against well-organized defensive structures.

Reyna came off at half-time of the May friendly against Senegal, then entered as a substitute against Germany (30 minutes) and Paraguay (nine minutes). Reyna was originally expected to be a super-sub given his lack of time for his club, Borussia Mönchengladbach. But Pulisic’s injury and Reyna’s own heightened confidence could make him an option to start against Australia.

Option 2: Tucker out the Socceroos from the opening whistle

Pochettino could still unleash Reyna against Australia after they’ve been adequately tired out by the industrious Brenden Aaronson . The 25-year-old was a key figure in Leeds’s return season to the Premier League, bringing tireless off-ball movement and pressing and steadily improving his end product. Still, it’s the stuff away from the box score that has endeared him to the coaches he has played under. Aaronson is the kind of player who makes the team around him a little bit better due to his thankless efforts.

Then again, Aaronson hasn’t been a regular part of Pochettino’s teamsheets. No outfield player earned less time in March camp than Aaronson’s 11 minutes, while he logged just 18 against Germany and didn’t leave the bench against Paraguay. His lack of goals and assists for the US have been an issue, but he could open up more space for Folarin Balogun, Weston McKennie and others while tenderizing Australia’s defense.

Option 3: Introduce some width and shot volume

With Balogun now a priority for opponents to mark, Pulisic has relished having more time and space on the ball over the last three games as opponents drop deeper. Often, he’s now the US’s second-greatest scoring threat when everyone is available: a crucial second proven option to make opponents sweat their rotations in the final third. While Reyna’s worldie against Paraguay showcased his finishing chops, neither he nor Aaronson could replicate Pulisic’s threat in front of goal.

It could be time for Tim Weah to return to the lineup. A versatile option who can play along the right flank, Weah also rose up the youth ranks as a center-forward and can credibly play a slightly wider interpretation of an attacking midfield role. The reality is that the US haven’t played identically in any consecutive games of the Pochettino era, both in terms of style and often of formation. The trick is to combine the right roles to put it all together in a roster with plenty of chemistry and movement.

Weah thrived in a break behind Wales’s backline at the last World Cup, nimbly prodding home his team’s first goal in Qatar. It may require McKennie to shift to the left in that attacking midfield line, but getting Weah on the field adds another capable shooter to the mix.

Option 4: Make the change further back

Pulisic’s presence and McKennie’s impact in a more advanced role has recently shunted Malik Tillman back a line. He’s made an incredible first impression despite little prior experience in central midfield, a key link in the US’s unbalanced midfield. Tillman played the joint second-most progressive passes (eight) and led the US with five balls played into the opponent’s box against Paraguay, per Futi, including his assist on Balogun’s second goal of the night .

When the US last faced Australia, none of the four attacking midfielders listed above had an assist. Instead it was Cristian Roldan who scythed up the channel to provide Haji Wright with a pair of assists. For much of the last year, Pochettino has shown Sebastian Berhalter even greater trust to break lines. Berhalter is also the roster’s dead-ball specialist, another factor to consider, since Pulisic still takes the occasional set-piece.

Tillman and McKennie could then operate in the advanced line in tandem while one of Berhalter or Roldan could help Tyler Adams in the engine room. In a game that could be hard-fought, that extra bit of midfield steel could go a long way toward staying in control of proceedings.

Keyword – UK news
Trefwoorden – Crime, Lancashire, Child protection, England, UK news
Title – Whole-life order given to UK teacher who sexually abused and murdered adopted baby | Crime | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/markbrown
Link – Whole-life order given to UK teacher who sexually abused and murdered adopted baby | Crime | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T12:39:14.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/18/whole-life-order-given-to-uk-teacher-who-sexually-abused-and-murdered-adopted-baby-jamie-varley-preston-davey

A secondary school teacher has been jailed for life for sexually abusing and murdering the baby boy he was adopting with his partner.

Jamie Varley, 37, was sentenced to a whole-life order on Thursday for abusing and killing 13-month-old Preston Davey. It means he will stay in prison for the rest of his life and never be eligible for parole, the judge Mr Justice Turner said.

His partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, was jailed for 25 years for sexual abuse, child cruelty and allowing the death of a child.

Preston was taken from his biological mother, a convicted killer, and went to foster parents five days after his birth. He was placed by an adoption agency with Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley at the age of nine months.

The adopting parents treated him as a “plaything”, Preston crown court heard. Over the course of his time at the couple’s home in Staining, near Blackpool, the baby was “routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted”, the prosecutor Peter Wright KC said. Evidence showed the baby had 40 traumatic injuries.

On 27 July 2023, the couple took an unresponsive baby Preston to hospital where medics worked in vain for 50 minutes to try to save his life.

Varley, described in court as overly dramatic by nature, gave a “performance” of a grieving parent that one senior doctor described as unlike anything she had seen before.

Jurors heard that Varley claimed to have left the baby in the bath for a couple of minutes and returned to find him submerged. But there was no medical evidence to support that story. Preston’s hair was dry, he had a nappy in place and he did not appear to have swallowed any water.

Instead, a pathologist gave the cause of death as acute upper airways obstruction by either smothering or an object or objects being inserted into the baby’s mouth.

A long police investigation revealed a number of disturbing images and videos on Varley’s phone, which were used as evidence that he had been physically, psychologically and sexually abusing his child.

The case has raised questions about whether authorities missed opportunities to save Preston. The eight-week trial heard that Preston was seen by a “battery of professionals” in the final weeks of his life. They included social workers, doctors and nurses.

Preston was taken three times to hospital by Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley, once with a broken arm. Each time, the baby returned home in the care of the couple.

No alarms were raised and explanations for the injuries given by Varley, a head of year at a Blackpool secondary school, and McGowan-Fazakerley, a sales manager for an asset finance company, were believed.

A child safeguarding practice review launched by Oldham council after the baby’s death was paused during the criminal proceedings and has now resumed. The independent review will examine the handling of Preston’s safeguarding and the involvement of agencies responsible for his welfare before his death.

Preston was born four weeks early to Sarah Davey, who was on the mother and baby unit at the women’s prison HMP Styal. Davey was jailed when she was 14, along with a teenage friend, for the murder of a pensioner who had befriended them.

The baby’s maternal grandmother, Debbie Davey, from Oldham, said she had wanted to care for Preston but had been unable to do so because she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Preston spent his first nine months with Sandra and Paul Cooper, experienced foster parents, where he lived happily.

In a victim impact statement, Sarah Davey said Preston’s death “should never have been allowed to happen” and she carried “grief, guilt and heartbreak” every day.

“He was defenceless,” she said. “He relied entirely on you – the adults responsible for him – to love him, care for him, and keep him safe. Instead, you caused him suffering. You took away his chance to grow up, to go to school, to make friends, to live a full life. You took everything from him.”

Davey, sitting in the public gallery, sobbed uncontrollably as a barrister read her statement.

Preston’s foster parents read impact statements from the witness box. Sandra Cooper said the couple often watched videos they took of Preston when he was with them and he was happy, laughing and giggling.

“Preston’s face would light up when we looked at him,” she said. “He was joyful, so content and happy, with sparkly smiling eyes. That is how we want to remember him.”

The children’s commissioner for England, Rachel De Souza, described Preston’s murder as a “massive safeguarding failure”.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme before the sentencing, she asked whether more attention was not paid because Varley was a teacher.

“Did that evil abuser hoodwink people under that professional guise?” she asked. “The social worker saw [Preston] 20 days before he died. I want to know whether the correct level of professional curiosity was there. I have huge numbers of questions and I’m not going to let go until I have the answers.”

DCI Andy Fallows, of Lancashire police, the senior investigating officer, said Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley had made Preston’s life one of harrowing misery and pain. “It is not often in this job that you encounter pure evil,” he said. “Anybody who has followed this trial will no doubt understand why I place Jamie Varley and John McGowan-Fazakerley in that category.”

Varley and McGowan-Fazakerley had denied all charges.

Karen Tonge, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This has been one of the most shocking and horrific cases I have dealt with in my career. It is difficult to comprehend how the very people who should have loved him could inflict such sickening physical and sexual harm on an innocent child.”