The American British author on pet peeves, the perils of fantasy dinner parties, and revisiting The Short History of Everything two decades later

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You did a whole book on Australia, and have travelled here a bit since – what’s the number one tip or recommendation you’d give someone coming for the first time?

Get out and walk! I mean, maybe not through the outback, but if you’re in any of the cities, walk. I do that wherever I go. And I love to just go off and explore without knowing where I’m going, without a map or any preconceived ideas. I think it’s the best way to discover a place, and it has the great virtue that if you turn a corner – say in Sydney – and there’s suddenly the Harbour Bridge, you feel as if you’ve discovered it. There’s a real feeling of exhilaration, I think, in that. But also, you discover little cafes and hidden corners and odds and ends.

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A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 by Bill Bryson is out now through Penguin. The author is touring Australia and New Zealand in February 2026 with the live show The Best of Bill Bryson

There are shades of Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives and everything Nicole Kidman has appeared in for the last five years. Put your brain aside, and enjoy

That its ultra-wealthy characters live in a place called Richford Lake tells you almost everything you need to know about the glossy new thriller Wild Cherry. Yes, it’s another entry in the increasingly popular eat-the-rich genre. Yes, it has shades of The White Lotus and everything starring Nicole Kidman for the past five years. Yes, most of the budget has gone to wardrobe, with any woman over the age of 30 apparently allergic to synthetic fibres and every actor seemingly cast primarily for her ability to carry off swagged silk and cashmere in warm beige tones. Yes, you should have bought shares in the colour camel years ago but it’s too late now. Yes, the insular community and soapy vibe suggests an ancestry that includes Desperate Housewives and Gossip Girl. Yes, in short, it’s trash with pretensions. But trash with pretensions is as fun a way to spend the long winter evenings as any, so why not set your brain aside and enjoy it?

We begin with the obligatory the-future-as-prelude scene, which here involves four women – two older, two younger – standing in a well-appointed bathroom in their underwear scrubbing blood off their hands. We then flashback to begin the six-part journey to finding out what the jolly heck is going on.

Parenting guru Gina Ford believes bending over backwards to please your children puts your marriage at risk. Sorry, Gina, but I’m not on board

Gina Ford ruined my life. OK, technically not all of it, just a small but significant chapter: very early motherhood. The parenting guru’s bestselling tome convinced me I was the worst mum in the world, and that my baby was faulty. He didn’t do what her book said he was meant to, you see, even when I followed her strict rules to the absolute apostrophe, never mind letter. It was almost as though he hadn’t read it, or was an individual human being or something.

I was out of my mind with sleep deprivation, and perhaps not seeing the full picture, but I felt like a hopeless failure. I once woke my husband up at 3.47am to read a passage from Ford’s The Contented Little Baby to him, while pointing accusingly at our extremely uncontented one, who was screaming louder than I was.

Cherrie-Ann Austin-Saddington was working in a men’s prison when she began a relationship with an inmate that would turn her, too, into a criminal. How do some of the most dangerous men in Britain get what they want – even behind bars?

There was a moment in the summer of 2022 when 26-year-old Cherrie-Ann Austin-Saddington, a female prison officer in a men’s jail, had to make a choice. She was on her wing at HMP The Verne in Dorset, in the day room where inmates go to read books and newspapers, when a prisoner called Bradley Trengrove handed her a magazine. Concealed within its pages was a slip of paper with a number written on it – the number of his secret, illicit mobile phone. Under the watchful eye of the prison’s security cameras, Austin-Saddington had to decide what to do next.

“I was thinking, do I report it? Do I not report it?” she says. “I wasn’t thinking, I’ll text him – that wasn’t in my head.” But she did not throw the piece of paper away. She kept it, and in the end decided not to report anything.

Official Trump social media accounts have been using The Life of a Showgirl snippets to promote his agenda. Why has Swift, who once wanted ‘to be on the right side of history’, said nothing?

In the last two weeks, the Trump administration has used music from Taylor Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, in three posts on social media. The first, shared by the official White House account on TikTok, was a patriotic slide show of images set to lead single The Fate of Ophelia. As Swift sings “pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes”, the video cuts to pictures of the US flag, President Trump, the vice-president, JD Vance, and the first and second ladies. The second and third were posted by Team Trump, the official account for the Trump Campaign. One, set to Father Figure, riffs on the lyric “this empire belongs to me” with the caption “this empire belongs to @President Donald J Trump”, while the other, celebrating Melania Trump winning something called the Patriot of the year award, is soundtracked by Opalite.

The Trump administration has found itself in dicey waters for using popular music in the past. The White Stripes and the estate of Isaac Hayes have both attempted to sue the administration for using their music without permission, while artists including Celine Dion, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Abba and Foo Fighters have released statements demanding Trump stop using their songs at campaign rallies and public appearances. Most recently, Olivia Rodrigo condemned the administration after the official Department of Homeland Security and White House Instagram account used her song All-American Bitch on a video promoting its controversial deportation efforts (the song was later removed by Instagram).

We’ve tasted, sniffed and inspected more than 300 presents to bring you our ultimate Christmas gift guide – from must-have Lego and smoky mezcal to Meera Sodha’s favourite knife

Don’t you just love Christmas shopping? There’s a massive thrill in finding a present you know they’ll love and won’t have thought to ask for, but the pressure is enough to drive any sane person to hibernation.

We’ve gone the extra (2,000) miles to help you find the perfect gifts: we’ve tested out the latest products to see which ones are worth the hype (and which aren’t); trawled shops in person; enlisted babies (OK, their parents), tweens and teens to test out toys and give us their must-haves; tasted the good, bad and the did-I-really-put-this-in-my-mouth; and rounded up some of the products that were tried and tested by us this year.

Home secretary expected to change system to deny help to those who can work or who have assets

Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce changes to Britain’s asylum system on Monday in an attempt to quell rising fears about immigration.

The home secretary plans to amend laws that guarantee housing and financial support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.

100 police officers injured in Mexico City as demonstrators attack National Palace following death of Michoacan mayor who fought drug trafficking

At least 120 people, mostly police officers, were injured as thousands marched through Mexico City to protest against the government of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

The demonstration on Saturday was organised by members of generation Z, but ended with strong backing from older supporters of opposition parties.

LNER’s Samir Zitouni, known as Sam, was seriously injured in mass stabbing and is credited with saving multiple lives

A train crew member who was seriously injured while protecting passengers during a mass stabbing onboard a train in Cambridgeshire has been discharged from hospital, police have said.

Samir Zitouni, known as Sam, was working onboard the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) high-speed train from Doncaster to London when the attack happened on 1 November.

LNER said the 48-year-old, who has worked for the company for more than 20 years, has been credited with helping to save multiple lives after passengers came under threat in Huntingdon.

British Transport police said Zitouni was now able to continue his recovery at home.

The force said on Saturday: “Samir Zitouni had been in a critical condition having suffered multiple injuries, and thanks to the efforts of NHS medical staff he’s been able to be discharged from hospital today.”

His family said: “We are so grateful for the outpouring of support from the public, and very touched by all the kind words about Sam’s brave actions on the night of the attack.

“While we are really happy to have him home, he still has a significant recovery ahead and we would now like to be left in privacy to care for him as a family.”

Zitouni’s job is customer experience host, which largely involves providing onboard catering.

He was among 11 patients treated in hospital for injuries sustained during the attack, which is understood to have started shortly after the train left Peterborough station.

Among the injured was Jonathan Gjoshe, 22, a Scunthorpe United footballer who was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, and Stephen Crean, 61, who sustained stab injuries.

Anthony Williams, 32, was remanded into custody at Peterborough magistrates court on 3 November charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, two counts of possession of a bladed article and one count of actual bodily harm. One of the attempted murder counts relates to a separate incident at a London station.

Gwent police name victim as Lainie Williams and have charged Cameron Cheng, 18, a British national

A teenager has been charged with murder after a 17-year-old girl was killed in South Wales.

The girl, named as Lainie Williams, was pronounced dead at the scene, Gwent police said.