When the Light Breaks review โ€“ two students grieve one boyfriend in Icelandic heartbreaker

Elรญn Hall gives a quietly intense performance as a young woman privately grieving her secret boyfriendโ€™s untimely deathWhat happens when the unthinkable happens? This Icelandic drama begins when an art student in his early 20s is killed in the countryโ€™…

Is Germanyโ€™s powerful finance minister in over his head?

Lars Klingbeil has rapidly risen to become one of his country’s most influential politicians. But the hard part is just beginning.

simultaneously holds the roles of SPD co-leader, vice chancellor and finance minister in the EUโ€™s biggest economy.

Patti Smith to perform Horses in full on 50th anniversary tour

Singer will visit US, UK and Europe later this year alongside members of the original band who recorded the classic punk textPatti Smith is to perform her classic album Horses in full on a tour to mark the albumโ€™s 50th anniversary.Playing gigs across t…

Dior reinvents Lewis Carrollโ€™s Alice for the Brat era at Paris fashion week

Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri borrows from Dorotea Tanningโ€™s surrealist paintings for her runway showThe new year has its first new muse: โ€œPunk Aliceโ€. At Diorโ€™s haute couture show in Paris, Lewis Carrollโ€™s feisty heroine got a 21st century makeover. Im…

The worldโ€™s most feminist city: how Umeรฅ in Sweden became an idyll for women

From snow-clearing to bus stops, civic furniture to football teams, women and men are considered and treated equally in this small city in Scandinavia โ€“ with the aim of making life happier for everyoneThe big red puma is the focal point of Umeรฅ. The wo…

All hail Viktor Orbรกn, the hero Europe needs!

Say what you like about the Hungarian prime minister, but his messaging is clear.

Can things only get better for England? | Brief letters

Football and politics | Tactical voting | Dyslexia | Election jinx | Boris Johnson | Polling song | Note for the new chancellorThe last time England won a major football tournament was shortly after Labour had been elected with a landslide. Just a thou…

No more Kanye East? Russian orthodox group wants US rapper banned

Far-right activists say Hitler-endorsing rapper should be permanently barred from Russia for “supporting Ukraine.”

Limonov: The Ballad review โ€“ Ben Whishaw brilliant as Russiaโ€™s outlaw bohemian

Cannes film festivalEduard Limonovโ€™s bizarre career, from rebel รฉmigrรฉ writer in New York to leader of a fascistic, militaristic political group, is told with gusto by Kirill SerebrennikovFascism, punk, euphoria and despair โ€ฆ itโ€™s all here, or mostly, …

Angela Merkelโ€™s little book of calm

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column. Pour yourself a glass of something chilled, put your feet up, and prepare to dive into a book by one of the great European leaders; someone who generates respect and even a little fear among even her fiercest rivals. And after youโ€™ve read Liz Trussโ€™ masterpiece, thereโ€™s an [โ€ฆ]

Billy Connolly: Big Banana Feet review โ€“ proto-punk star comic at his 70s peak

Restored 1976 doc of Connollyโ€™s tour of Ireland shows that, despite his bombastic stage presence, he is impeccably polite. But his naughtier material hasnโ€™t aged wellHere is a 70s time capsule as pungent as a brimming pub ashtray. Restored and rereleas…

โ€˜Whoโ€™s Mike Johnson?โ€™: Diplomats scratch their heads at new US speaker

โ€œJust a minute, donโ€™t tell me,โ€ said an Irish government adviser as he searched the name online. โ€œIโ€™m curious how blood-red his state might be.โ€

Soft sandwiches, street fights and surrealism: Marlene Marderโ€™s memoir of Swiss punks Kleenex/Liliput

The guitaristโ€™s diary of their formation and early tours gets its first English translation, offering funny, biting, absorbing insight into the influential band beloved by the likes of Kurt CobainOn 29 March 1978, Marlene Marder leapt into her new exis…