As a new series of the dark comedy begins, creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith reveal what inspired eight classic instalmentsSteve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith are back with a sixth season of TV’s most devilishly imaginative comedy, Inside No 9 – a show that uses its anthology format not only to tell a different story in each episode but to flit constantly from genre to genre. With the only premise being that every No 9 takes place within a space carrying the number 9 (normally a room or a house, although the series has also located itself in a train compartment, a numbered police car and an office cubicle) it can be a silent comedy one week and a psychological thriller the next. As writers, actors and occasionally directors, the pair have shown that they can switch from bleak domestic drama to Shakespearean light comedy to full-on horror without dropping a stitch.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...

The past year has turbo-charged our relationship with cleanliness, raising expectations and turning many into germophobes. Has it gone too far?Before Lynsey Crombie sits on a train, or outside a cafe, she takes out her antibacterial wipes and cleans the table, the arms of her seat – anywhere she might touch or put her phone down. “I’ve always done it,” says the bestselling author of The 15-Minute Clean and How To Clean Your House And Tidy Up Your Life. “Until last year I used to get some funny looks.”These days there are no funny looks, the pandemic having made germophobes of many of us. Between March and May of 2020, UK sales of liquid disinfectant were 74.9% higher, and bleach 32% higher, than the year before. Until the vaccine came along, hygiene seemed to be our best defence against a deadly enemy that threatened our entire way of life, and we diligently held that line. What did you do in the war effort, Mummy? I triple-sanitised the door handle, darling. Continue reading...

Bloc had hoped ‘cheese diplomacy’ could help bridge divide, but PDO status has fuelled further ructions

Huw, 33, engineering team leader, meets Charlotte, 27, environmental analystWhat were you hoping for?

The Dunvant Male Choir has endured world wars, industrial decline and mining disasters. How would it handle rehearsals on Zoom?Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, their faces pop up: Norman, Nigel, Alan, Dai and the others. It’s become second nature to close the door at 6.30pm, click the Zoom link, check if everyone’s well, ask if anyone’s fled beyond Swansea, have a laugh. Then the men mute themselves, and the singing begins.They sing along on their own, watching their friends’ silent faces, imagining the rousing sound they make all together, from the heart, from the gut: singing to each other hymns, spirituals and songs from musicals. The Dunvant Male Choir (DMC) is Wales’s longest-running male singing group, and it has kept going despite Covid-19. Last year was meant to be a celebratory year, the group’s 125th anniversary, with concerts planned to recognise their endurance and survival, including a gala concert last June featuring Sir Bryn Terfel, the world-renowned bass-baritone who began his career with the choir as a student (he loved them so much they sang at his wedding). Continue reading...

Queensland police say there is ‘early indication’ man, 53, responsible for death of 48-year-old woman at Sapphire apartment complex in LabradorPolice are investigating the sudden death of a 53-year-old man and suspicious death of a 48-year-old woman, who was found in a furniture chest inside an apartment block at a Gold Coast suburb in Queensland.Gold Coast district detective inspector Chris Ahearn said on Saturday morning that the case was being treated as a murder-suicide. Continue reading...

India’s total has now passed 16 million; European commission expects to buy 1.8bn doses; new ‘emergency brake’ in Germany from Saturday

Australia’s most decorated living soldier is backed by media magnate Kerry Stokes in a defamation case against a key competitor, Nine NewspapersThe accusations could not be more serious, nor the stakes higher. But with each new allegation, each twist of an already bloody story, the stakes ratchet up a little more.Australia’s most decorated living soldier stands accused of brutal war crimes, including kicking an unarmed, handcuffed civilian off a cliff, before ordering him shot dead. Continue reading...

Much of Australia’s mental ill-health could be avoided if rather than focus on the system, we fix societal factors that lead to distressMental health system reform is focused on providing more services while failing to evaluate whether those services make people better, leaving people cycling in and out of a system that fails to prevent them from getting sicker, former national mental health commissioner Professor Ian Hickie says.Hickie, a psychiatrist and co-director of health and policy at the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre, says to prevent suicide and other acute mental health events, healthcare practitioners need to better understand what works, but data around how people fare following psychological, medicinal and hospital treatment is lacking. Continue reading...

Usman Khan mentioned ‘If you’re going to do something, just do it’ comment from notorious prisoner two weeks before attack, says witness

The Indian prime minister’s overconfidence lies behind the country’s disastrous Covid-19 responsePolitical hubris met pandemic reality in India this week. At the beginning of March, the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi claimed the country was in Covid-19’s “endgame”. India is now in a living hell. A new “double mutant” variant, named B.1.617, has emerged in a devastating coronavirus second wave which has seen hospitals run out of beds and oxygen. Mortuaries are so full that bodies are left to decompose at home. Charities warn that the dead risk being left on the streets.On Friday India recorded 332,730 new Sars‑CoV‑2 infections, the highest one-day increase in cases worldwide for the second day in a row. More than 2,200 deaths were recorded in the previous 24 hours. Nations have either banned flights from India, suggested avoiding travelling there or insisted visitors quarantine on their return. Yet little more than six weeks ago, Mr Modi, with not even 1% of the population vaccinated, declared that the country was the “world’s pharmacy” and signalled that pre-pandemic life could resume. Superspreading took place when thousands filled cricket stadiums and millions of Hindus took a dip in the Ganges during the Kumbh Mela festival. Continue reading...

The courage of Alexei Navalny galvanised his movement. Putting him behind bars wasn’t enough for Vladimir Putin

Former chief aide alleges PM tried to quash a leak inquiry as it implicated an allyDominic Cummings has launched an unprecedented and extraordinary attack on Boris Johnson, alleging the prime minister tried to quash a leak inquiry as it implicated an ally.A day after anonymous No 10 sources said Cummings leaked texts between Johnson and the billionaire James Dyson, the prime minister’s former chief aide denied the charge, also claiming Johnson had tried to have Tory donors pay for renovations to his Downing Street flat. Continue reading...

Front for Change and Concord heads towards capital, N’Djamena, where memorial took placeRebels were preparing a new offensive towards the capital of Chad on Friday as dignitaries and supporters paid their final respects to Idriss Déby, the veteran ruler of the central African state, who died earlier this week from wounds sustained “on the battlefield”.The Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) said its forces were about 190 miles (300km) north of N’Djamena, the capital, but would observe a pause in hostilities to allow time for Déby, who was 68 when he died, to be buried. Continue reading...

Bomb found near car in Derry was attempt to kill officer and her daughter, say police

A Dutch superyacht has completed its four-day passage through a narrow canal en route to the North Sea for testing. At 94 metres long, it is the largest possible vessel which can pass through.Tom van Oossanen, a superyacht photographer who captured the footage, said: ‘The designers face limitations due to the narrow waterways and bridges. It’s always a tight squeeze. The locals usually love it. It’s very instagrammable’ Continue reading...

Georges Tron, a former junior minister under Nicolas Sarkozy, has refused to give up job as mayor of DraveilFeminist groups have expressed outrage that a French mayor jailed for rape is still being allowed to run his town from his prison cell.Georges Tron, who once served as a junior minister under Nicolas Sarkozy, was jailed in February for the rape and sexual assault of a junior staff member at his town hall in Draveil, south of Paris. Continue reading...

With their leader in prison, Russia’s opposition is on the verge of being driven underground

Art dealer Giancarlo Ciaroni attempted to buy painting listed at €1,500 for €500,000 – but discovered bewildered owners already had two offers of €3mIt took all of six minutes for Massimo Pulini to realise that the small oil painting due to go under the hammer in Madrid earlier this month with a guide price of €1,500 (£1,300) could be worth millions.At 9.48pm on 24 March, Pulini, a 63-year-old professor at the Bologna Fine Arts Academy, received an email request for an evaluation. Sent by an antiques dealer and friend of Pulini’s, it included a photo of a luminous oil painting of the scourged Christ. Continue reading...

With public art collections closed we are bringing the art to you, exploring highlights and hidden gems from across the country in partnership with Art UK. Today’s pick: Joséphine Bowes’s Château du Barry in the Bowes museumBowes Museum in Barnard Castle wouldn’t exist without the painter of this work. Joséphine Bowes was a French actor with Théâtre des Variétés in Paris who captured the heart of the English landowner John Bowes. She was also a talented artist, whose work was chosen to be exhibited at the Paris Salon four times and more than 60 of her works, including landscapes (such as this) and still lifes, can be seen in the museum they founded.They married in 1852 and John gave Joséphine the Château du Barry, shown bathed in sunlight in this painting, as a wedding gift. It is suggested that the figure of the lady who can be seen sitting beside the path between the tall trees could even be Joséphine herself. Continue reading...

With UK hosting G7 and Cop26 this year, decision threatens Britain’s status as a ‘soft power’ superpowerBoris Johnson is said to be having “queasy second thoughts” about a long-term cut to the UK aid programme, faced both by the surprising unpopularity of the measure with his own backbenchers and the fact that most other G7 countries will come to the British-hosted summit in June increasing theirs – in the process endangering the UK status as a soft power superpower.The official government line remains not to look at the falls in aid spending but the size of the budget as a proportion of gross national income, which is still in excess of most G7 countries. The reduced £10bn budget still puts the UK third in the aid spending league table and if anyone has doubts about the UK’s soft power status, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, likes to cite an Ipsos Mori poll finding for the British Council in 2020 that found the UK was the most attractive country in the G20. Continue reading...

Based on data from 14 March, there is a shortfall of about 1.5m coronavirus vaccine doses in the countryAustralia has received just 70% of the vaccine doses the government expected to have on hand by mid-April, according to a Guardian Australia analysis.In a presentation published online on 14 March, the government included monthly forecasts for Australia’s expected vaccine supply, accounting for the disruptions to overseas supply that had already occurred leading up to that point. Continue reading...

New Zealand to be mission control for ‘MethaneSAT’ which will collect data on emissions from bovine flatulence and leaking oil and gas pipelinesIn space, no-one can hear you belch – at least, not for the time being. New Zealand has announced mission control for a new satellite that will orbit the earth observing methane produced by burps or other flatulence from cows.The digestive processes of its 6.3 million-strong cow population are among New Zealand’s most critical environmental problems. Agriculture is one of the country’s biggest producers of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global heating and climate breakdown. Continue reading...

Friday: Australia under pressure after virtual climate summit. Plus: Johanna Leggatt on tuning out the constant stream of self-improvement adviceHello, it’s Imogen Dewey here with the main stories on Friday 23 April: all the action from the climate summit overnight, Australia’s (and the UK’s) deteriorating relations with China, and new flight rules amid India’s Covid crisis.Scott Morrison told more than 40 world leaders at a virtual climate summit (after a technical glitch) that Australia is “on the pathway to net-zero” emissions, and blamed carbon taxes for destroying industries and jobs. Morrison earlier confirmed that Australia would not increase its emissions reduction target – in sharp contrast to Joe Biden, who vowed to slash US emissions by half to meet “existential crisis of our time”. Biden’s 2030 target is the strongest contribution yet towards meeting the 2015 Paris climate agreement and holding global heating below 2C, scientists say. In a break from the Trump era, the US president and summit host warned that “time is short” to address the climate crisis and urged other countries to do more. The Australian government is under pressure to do just this, but critics say the PM has instead employed “Trumpian misrepresentation”: Adam Morton examines exactly how well Australia’s climate credentials stack up. Continue reading...

Commission move causes concern about bringing case against key supplier of Covid vaccines

Foreign secretary denies that aid organisations are scared to speak out or people are going hungryThe UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has told MPs that “no country is immune” from the impending aid cuts, but failed to clarify when specific plans would be made public.Speaking after the release of the first details of the £4bn cuts to international aid, which have been widely criticised as “draconian” and opaque, the minister confirmed “no stand-alone” impact assessment had been carried out in individual countries but that “we identify risks we see across the board”. Continue reading...

The founder of Belize Zoo and a champion of native species including the tapir and the scarlet macawIn 1983, after a wildlife film-making project she was working on fell apart, Sharon Matola found herself in Belize, Central America, with a menagerie of homeless native creatures. She scrounged some land, wrote a sign on a piece of wood, and the Belize Zoo was open for business. Suddenly, she became “the zoo lady”, responsible for housing, feeding, cleaning and maintaining the health of the 20 animals.The “office cat” was a jaguar, and there was a baby tapir in the bedroom on several occasions. It looked chaotic, but Matola, who has died aged 66 of a heart attack, was scrupulous about animal husbandry and determined that Belizeans would have a chance to learn about their tiny nation’s biodiversity. Continue reading...

Defence minister announces decision after military buildup led to fears of possible invasion

Sigrid Rausing denies financial interest in building, as court orders booksellers Kisch & Co to vacate Kreuzberg premisesA UK-based Swedish multibillionaire family known for their philanthropic donations to literature, libraries and other arts, have become the target of angry protests in Berlin over the eviction of a community bookshop from a counter-culture neighbourhood.The bookseller Kisch & Co, which has operated for the last 24 years from a historic building on one of the main thoroughfares in the Kreuzberg district of Germany’s capital, was told on Thursday by a criminal court to vacate its premises. Continue reading...

Case against RTHK producer Bao Choy has become central to Hong Kong authorities’ press clampdown

Back with a new album, the Fannies frontman remembers his teenage years, from the kindness of the Specials to selling guitar strings to John Martyn – and trying to impress with his ice-skating skillsI got my parents to buy me a bass, because I admired the Clash’s Paul Simonon and thought that would be the easiest instrument to learn. McCormack’s was a Glasgow institution: when the Beatles played the Apollo, when it was known as the Green’s Playhouse, the amps came from McCormack’s. I got a cheap Fender Precision copy and a Wem Dominator amp from there. Plugging in for the first time was an incredibly visceral experience because it was so loud. I moved on to guitar, but after I left school I didn’t have a job and so asked if I could work in McCormack’s, which was amazing aged 17. I got to meet the artists that came in when they were playing Glasgow. I was told that John Martyn never paid for his guitar strings so I handed them over and he went: “Thanks, wee man!” I got to test the latest synthesisers and the reason I’m good at tuning guitars is because I did it 5,000 times in McCormack’s. I could also play them all day. In those days, Sean Dickson [Soup Dragons], Francis McKee from the Vaselines and Duglas T Stewart [BMX Bandits] and myself went busking together. My first band was with Duglas, whom I was at school with. It’s completely ridiculous but we were called the Spanking Newts. Continue reading...

Exclusive: victims and relatives describe suffering as repression intensifies under Yoweri MuseveniHundreds of ordinary people suspected of supporting opposition politicians in Uganda have been snatched off the streets by security services in the worst wave of repression in the east African country for decades.Many suffered systematic torture, detention in harsh conditions in often secret prisons and the denial of access to relatives or lawyers. The abductions, which were described in detail to the Guardian by survivors and relatives of victims, have led the UK and the US to express concern through diplomatic channels. Continue reading...

Choral singing has become a health hazard – and reuniting isn’t as simple as hopping on ZoomAs anyone who has tried to sing “happy birthday” at a Zoom party this past year can tell you, online audio does not work well with multiple users.This is because Zoom, like most other video platforms, experiences a 300-millisecond to one-second lag between computers as information gets sent over the internet. The delay renders directing and singing music simultaneously nearly impossible, making the pandemic eerily quiet for the one in six Americans who sing in a choir. Continue reading...

Police say the Gold Coast woman contacted them on at least three separate occasions before she was allegedly murderedThe Queensland police service says Gold Coast woman Kelly Wilkinson repeatedly sought their help in relation to domestic violence in the “weeks and months” before her death.Police revealed on Thursday that Wilkinson’s ex-partner, Brian Earl Johnston, a former US Marine, was arrested and charged “in relation to a number of matters” on 11 April. Continue reading...

System will be among top 25 supercomputers in world and twice as powerful as any other in BritainThe Met Office and Microsoft are to build a world-leading supercomputer capable of providing more accurate warnings of severe weather as part of a multimillion-pound agreement.It was expected to be the most advanced machine of its kind dedicated to weather and the climate, ranking among the top 25 supercomputers in the world and twice as powerful as any other in the UK, the Met Office said. Continue reading...

Being chronically ill is challenging and often upsetting – but there can be hope and happiness along the way. Start by giving yourself a break and some appreciationMore than 1 million people in the UK are experiencing long Covid, according to the Office for National Statistics. Much of the media coverage of this has been bleak and upsetting. That is understandable. Chronic illness is bleak and upsetting, particularly the early stages of falling sick. But there is something else that no one tells you: it can be hopeful and happy, too. I fell ill with postviral fatigue from the flu a few years ago and what I craved above anything was advice and reassurance. I will not claim I am sorted. I am writing this in bed. There may be cheese in my hair. But I will offer my top 10 tips on living well, even when knackered and sore. Continue reading...

Funds offered to persuade Jair Bolsonaro’s ruinous government to stop deforestation are meant well, but badly misjudged

At the mercy of international markets and denied access to mainstream finance, the enterprising growers face a precarious existence

The author of Native Son wrote another damning book about race that was rejected by publishers at the time – but now it’s finally seeing the light of dayHe was one of most influential African American writers of the 20th century. But Richard Wright found it hard to talk to his daughter about race.“It’s like soldiers who go to war and then come back,” Julia Wright, who turns 79 this year, says in a phone interview with the Guardian. “They don’t always find the way to share what they did at war with their family. My father didn’t really know how to share the pain about race with me. Continue reading...

From Josephine Baker to Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson to Dave Chapelle … a freewheeling collection of essays explores black culture in the USHanif Abdurraqib got into writing through the poetry slam circuit in Columbus, Ohio, which might explain why reading A Little Devil in America, his book of essays on black culture, feels like hearing him speak. He addresses the reader and skates between subjects. He might consider astrology, Michael Jackson, Blade Runner 2049 and the musician Sun Ra in pursuit of a single thought, as if in late-night, errant conversation with a friend.This is not to say the essays lack discipline. Every subject is carefully chosen in the service of a broader critical project, which is to understand the significance of black performance in the US across media such as music, dance, comedy and even card games. Take the piece on “magical negroes”, a term that is applied to black characters, like Bubba in Forrest Gump, who provide absolution for white protagonists. The magical negro that Abdurraqib is most interested in is the real-life Dave Chappelle, the devilish comic who found success in the 2000s with his TV series, Chappelle’s Show. Continue reading...

The renowned Mexican photographer has spent a lifetime documenting indigenous communities and chance encounters in her homeland Continue reading...

How newspapers – and Queen Victoria – described the unusually wintry conditions

From elite football to tech giants, our lives are increasingly governed by ‘free’ markets that turn out to be riggedBack in the days of the Soviet Union, it was common to hear people on the left criticise the Kremlin for pursuing the wrong kind of socialism. There was nothing wrong with the theory, they said, rather the warped form of it conducted behind the iron curtain.Related: Boris Johnson says fans will be at centre of wider review of English football Continue reading...

As world leaders meet to discuss the climate crisis, campaigners say wealthier countries need to do more

Analysis: The vaccine won’t protect everyone, but whatever figure scientists settle on, the data is highly encouraging

22 April 1949: The Chinese communist revolutionary called for the ‘anti-democratic Kuomintang forces on Chinese territory’ to be wiped outNanking, April 21

Leaked files show applicants leave homes empty for most of year while claiming ‘genuine link’ to EU country

Xi Jinping is likely to push back against US claim to global leadership, but both know their interests overlap on tackling environmentObservers of the US and China this week may ponder whether a joint call to tackle the climate crisis marks a positive change in their fraught relationship as the two leaders meet for the first time since Joe Biden was sworn into office.After four years of Donald Trump, the bilateral relationship has reached its lowest ebb since formal ties were established in January 1979. In both capitals, fear of a “new cold war” is on the rise. Many highlight growing competition, and the opposing nature of the two countries’ political systems. Continue reading...

The critical questions of who is really in charge and who has the money still need to be answeredAfter decades of neglect, inequality, and outright racism in New Zealand’s health system, a shift toward indigenous sovereignty and tino rangatiratanga in healthcare is long overdue. The Māori Health Authority that the government announced this week seems like a step in the right direction. But the devil will be in the details, as we wait to see if this will produce true change, or just more window dressing.The failure of the health and disability system to serve Māori has been apparent for decades. A visit to the Ministry of Health website will yield report after report documenting the seven-year life expectancy gap between Māori and non-Māori, higher rates of cancer and other preventable illness, worse outcomes in care, and a myriad of other inequities. Being able to describe Māori health inequities is necessary. But ultimately, it’s insufficient. Continue reading...

Creation of an extra seat giving government’s party the edge was counteracted when independent MP joined oppositionAfter what commentators have referred to as the most dramatic election of the Pacific century and almost two weeks of twists and turns, Samoa’s polls have still failed to produce a clear winner.The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), which has ruled the small island country for 39 years, and its long-serving leader, Tuilaepa Sailele Lupesoliai Malielegaoi, faced their biggest election challenge yet in Fa’atuatua I le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (Fast), led by Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, the country’s first female MP and a former deputy prime minister. Continue reading...