Stephen Graham and Steven Knight had an astonishing 2025. As A Thousand Blows explodes back, they talk about taking decades to become overnight sensations, the Peaky Blinders movie – and why it could be time for a scouse Bond villain

Stephen Graham had a stellar 2025. He didn’t just play Bruce Springsteen’s father in biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere but, of course, co-created and starred in Netflix mega-hit Adolescence – the game-changing drama that sparked global debate about online misogyny, incel culture and the “manosphere”.

His friend and regular collaborator Steven Knight watched admiringly from afar as the devastating four-parter became event TV. “My God, it was a cultural phenomenon,” he says, puffing out his cheeks with pride. “Adolescence got people talking who don’t normally talk, about things they don’t normally talk about. Is there any finer achievement than having a direct, immediate and positive effect worldwide on human relationships? It’s like putting something on screen which is medicine. It’s actually good for you.”

These malign figures will do anything to avoid paying for the harm they have done, but accountability must eventually come to both

It’s not quite a new year resolution, and it’s certainly not a prediction. Think of it instead as a hope or even a plea for the next 12 months. May the coming year see those leaders who have done so much damage to their own countries, and far beyond, at last be called to account. Let 2026 be a year of reckoning.

Start with the man whose reach is longest, by dint of the mighty power he wields. Such is the nature of the US electoral system that Donald Trump, who returned to power less than a year ago, will face the judgment of voters in 10 months’ time. His name will not be on the ballot but, make no mistake, the midterm elections of 3 November will deliver a verdict on the second Trump presidency.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

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The first surfers at Nias were joined by a backpacker who got sick and vanished. When a film about their ‘discovery’ of the spot screened in Australia, the woman’s remarkable story finally came to light

When Ingrid LeFebour woke up on a concrete slab, covered in a sheet in the morgue on the remote Indonesian island of Nias in 1976, she had no idea how she got there.

Nor did anyone else know her fate – some believed she had died in bizarre circumstances.

A UK government warning that Amal Clooney risks US sanctions over her role in the issuing of an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister is key among reasons the couple have sought French citizenship

The exodus from Hollywood to shores not presided over by Donald Trump has been busy and loud. Ellen DeGeneres, Robin Wright and Courtney Love moved to England; Rosie O’Donnell opted for Ireland; Eva Longoria, Spain. Other Trump critics, including Richard Gere, Lena Dunham and Ryan Gosling, have upped sticks without citing the re-election as a motivating factor.

In the case of Clooney, however, there has appeared little doubt that his decision to gain French citizenship was primarily because of Trump, whose re-election he energetically campaigned against. Yet amid the heat and headlines generated by the pair’s war of words, some of the actor’s reasons for relocating may have flown under the radar.

Many athletes and professional musicians swear by getting some shut-eye during the day, but what’s the best way to ensure you don’t end up feeling groggy?

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Listen to enough productivity podcasters, and it’s easy to convince yourself that napping is a superpower: not just a sticking plaster after a bad night’s sleep, but a shortcut to a better memory, improved mood and possibly a faster 5k run time. Premier League footballers are all at it – and so are professional piano players, UFC champions and Arianna Huffington. But if you haven’t got a dedicated nap-room or a job that encourages regular snoozing, are there really enough benefits to a burst of shut-eye for it to be worth the kerfuffle? Is there a reliable way to get to sleep quickly enough? And can you really guarantee you’ll wake up feeling better, not worse?

“There are three main reasons for napping among most adults,” says Clare Anderson, the University of Birmingham’s professor of sleep and circadian science. “The first is what we call compensatory napping, which is what you do when you’ve had insufficient sleep the night before. The second is prophylactic napping, where you are pre-empting insufficient sleep coming up, for instance if you’re working on night shifts. The third is called “appetitive drive”, which basically comes down to desire: you have an opportunity to sleep during the day, and it feels nice to do it.”

Sometimes Michelle Law looks at people who make risky decisions and feels a deep sense of envy. But when that envy materialises, so too does the voice of her mother

• Read more in the Home Truths series

In news that will delight my enemies, I believe there’s a chance I’ll die young and by accidental means. To clarify, I’m currently in excellent health (sorry to my enemies), but I’m sensing a spectacular midlife crisis on the horizon that could spell the end.

Maybe it’ll be an overdose in a seedy nightclub. Maybe I’ll drink myself into oblivion. Maybe I’ll get kicked in the head during an orgy. Whatever it is, it’ll be the result of a botched attempt at compensating for a lifetime of being the world’s most risk averse, law-abiding scaredy cat who is terrified of physical danger.

Footage and witness statements show blaze that killed about 40 was ‘very rapid’, prosecutor says

Investigators believe fountain sparklers mounted on champagne bottles and held too close to the ceiling sparked the deadly fire that tore through a crowded bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, killing about 40 people and injuring more than 100.

“Everything suggests the fire started from the burning candles or ‘Bengal lights’ that had been attached to champagne bottles,” the prosecutor Béatrice Pilloud said on Friday. “These went too close to the ceiling.”

Minutes obtained under freedom of information laws show West Midlands police flagged concerns over decision ahead of Aston Villa match

Jewish communities warned West Midlands police that a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a match against Aston Villa “could be perceived as antisemitic”, documents show.

Supporters of the Israeli team were banned from attending the Europa League fixture at Villa Park in Birmingham on 6 November, causing outrage, with the prime minister, Keir Starmer, condemning it as “wrong” and suggesting it amounted to antisemitism.

Ex-adviser Paul Ovenden says ‘political perma-class’ has distracted government, but critics argue ministers already have power to act

Downing Street only has itself to blame for failing to exercise power,
Whitehall experts have said, after a former No 10 adviser said that lobbying by a “political perma-class” had distracted the government from voters’ priorities.

Paul Ovenden prompted a debate about how Keir Starmer’s administration is governing after criticising what he described as the “sheer weirdness of how Whitehall spends its time”.

Exclusive: Inaccurate information presented in summaries, Guardian investigation finds

People are being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health information in Google’s artificial intelligence summaries, a Guardian investigation has found.

The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and “reliable”.