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Today:
Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger review – does this sequel measure up to The Time Traveler’s Wife?
NEWS | 20 October 2026
The usual suspect in that category is Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel The Time Traveler’s Wife. The irresolvable question is where that loop starts: does a bright young art student fall in love with a junior librarian, or does a time-travelling man groom a child to become his future wife? In the last two decades, The Time Traveler’s Wife has been adapted for Hollywood and HBO and sold more than 9m copies in 40 languages. There’s plenty of unease here – political, ecological, technological – but none of it gets under the skin (the ick-factor of The Time Traveler’s Wife is treated like an in-joke). At the end of The Time Traveler’s Wife, that discovery seemed poised to reshape the world (imagine what it would do to financial markets alone).

Top Stories:
‘They were brilliant people’: fascinating film reveals a Harlem Renaissance reunion
NEWS | 20 October 2026
Like the David committee of the Italian Renaissance or the American Revolution’s Continental Congress, the Harlem Renaissance is one of those moments that makes you wonder: what was it really like? “I think they were shooting a lot of events, looking for evidence of the Harlem Renaissance,” Liani says. They were brilliant people.”View image in fullscreen Liani Greaves and David Greaves speak onstage. “It shows that the Renaissance was not a monolith of thinking.”But the issue that really hung over the party was how the Harlem Renaissance would be remembered. “I often think about this film as a recipe for a renaissance,” Liani says.

World:
‘We tried to levitate the Pentagon’: the almost unbelievable life of Ed Sanders, trickster god of the US counterculture
NEWS | 20 October 2026
“Charles Manson once wrote me a letter saying, ‘If I was as powerful as you claim then you wouldn’t be here,’” Ed Sanders tells me over a video call, savouring the menace in that sentence. Ed Sanders top left, with – left to right – Ken Pine, Tuli Kupferberg, Ken Weaver, Bob Mason, Charles Larkey. Photograph: Courtesy of Ed Sanders ArchiveIndeed, Sanders was a Zelig of the Lower East Side, friendly with Ginsberg (“A great man”), William Burroughs (“Unnerving, brilliant”), a then unknown Jimi Hendrix (“He was trading as Jimmy James. Photograph: Courtesy of Ed Sanders Archive“Some of the songs we wrote then we probably wouldn’t write now,” says Sanders, today more professorial than hippie in appearance and speech. Today, Sanders, long resident in leafy Woodstock, keeps the Fugs going with younger musicians.

Current Events:
Pedigree chums: why the movies are killing off fewer dogs
NEWS | 20 October 2026
Revenge, dog gets shot. Turner & Hooch, dog gets shot. Red, dog gets shot. Man with the Gun, dog gets shot. Badlands, dog gets shot.

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SPONSORED | 20 October 2026
SmartSync is a mobile application, compatible with any Android smartphone, that syncs your important data to your email. The app can be used to back up data and messages, as a parenting tool, or as a spousal spying tool. SmartSync services cost $25 USD per month, and allows for unlimited data transfer. The app can be found Here

News Flash:
A Zack Snyder DC Universe might not have been such a bad thing, after all
NEWS | 20 October 2026
Nine years after superhero epic Justice League arrived in cinemas, there ought to be very little left to say about how it all went wrong. Zack Snyder shot the film, Joss Whedon substantially rewrote and reshot it, and audiences eventually got to see both men’s versions. If what actually happened matters, in 2026, it’s because this was the moment that the DC extended universe (DCEU) really began to enter its death spiral. After Justice League, the DCEU’s films crossed $500m at the worldwide box office only once, with 2018’s Aquaman. Nine years on, DC has built a new universe, but still struggles to explain what happened to the old one.

Latest:
‘A beautiful dismantling of cynicism’: why Galaxy Quest is my feelgood movie
NEWS | 20 October 2026
“By Grabthar’s hammer, by the sons of Worvan … you shall be avenged.”If you have seen Galaxy Quest, those words may bring you close to tears. Author and film-maker David Mamet has called Galaxy Quest a “perfect” movie, and I would agree. Another parody might revel in giving him a stupid death but there is an innate kindness to Galaxy Quest. For the Thermians, Galaxy Quest was literal: they genuinely believed that what they were watching was real. Galaxy Quest gives you permission to immerse yourself in the culture that you love, even – or especially – if it appears silly and slight to everyone around you.

Breaking:
The fascinating tale of a heart that died twice: best podcasts of the week
NEWS | 20 October 2026
Pick of the weekHeartThis fascinating series opens with the death of a man from a gunshot wound – and the revelation that this isn’t the first time his heart has stopped beating. It previously belonged to another man who died the same way, and who also had the same wife. Hosted by Karen Kilgariff, what follows is an intriguing eight-part tale that veers between a scientific exploration and a gripping true-crime saga. Now, education journalist Emily Hanford offers a colourful tale of a US maths experiment that left four-year-olds fluent in algebra – only for it to be shunned. ADWidely available, episodes weekly

Trending:
‘A reclamation’: The Simpsons gives Apu a new voice as actor Sunil Malhotra replaces Hank Azaria
NEWS | 20 October 2026
After years of silent appearances, The Simpsons has given longstanding character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon a new voice. American actor Sunil Malhotra, who moved to the US from India as a child, made his first appearance on the animated TV show as Apu on Sunday night. Apu was originally voiced by actor Hank Azaria, who – along with the producers of the show – was criticised for the stereotypical and racist portrayal of the character, a convenience store owner. In 2020, after a documentary called The Problem With Apu by Indian American comic Hari Kondabolu, Azaria announced he would no longer voice the character. Selman said Apu and the Nahasapeemapetilon family will appear on The Simpsons more frequently now.

This Just In:
Scholars conclude ‘beyond doubt’ that Shakespeare was main author of Edward III
NEWS | 20 October 2026
Dramatic new evidence concludes that the play Edward III should be added to William Shakespeare’s canon, and also that it was a major collaboration with his contemporary rival Christopher Marlowe. The history was published anonymously in 1596, and it has long been thought that Shakespeare wrote at least a few scenes. Edward III did not appear in the 1623 first folio collection of Shakespeare’s plays. Loughnane said: “Our new research suggests that Marlowe is Shakespeare’s collaborator on Edward III. Insights into Shakespeare’s early career are also explored in Loughnane’s forthcoming book, Shakespeare at Thirty, to be published by Princeton University Press this week.

Today:
Ali G answers his critics: ‘Me ain’t the first intellectual to get haterz’
NEWS | 20 October 2026
“Can you tell people that you’re from Hustler?” Ali G asks me. View image in fullscreen Back in da house … Ali G. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The GuardianNow he’s back in Ali G: Who Iz I? it happened to Jesus, to Gandhi and to Brooklyn BeckhamSo how should I address you – Ali, Ali G or Mr G? Did the world need Ali G, or did Ali G need the world? And that’s no bad thing.” So who understands Ali G better in 2026: the Guardian or Jacob Rees-Mogg?

Top Stories:
Selma Blair ‘did not intend to harm anyone’ during airplane incident, representatives say
NEWS | 20 October 2026
“Selma Blair experienced a medical emergency on the flight,” her representatives’ statement contended. “And the authorities took her dog from her,” said the statement, which described Blair as a disability rights and MS community advocate. Blair’s representatives expressed gratitude to the “handful of journalists [who] have taken the time to report on Selma as a human being rather than a headline”. Beside that case and the incident in 2016, Blair grappled with controversy when she apologized in February 2024 for an Islamophobic comment on social media. And she also starred in the acclaimed 2021 documentary Introducing, Selma Blair, which explores her life after her MS diagnosis.

Sponsored:
SmartSync Data Sync App
SPONSORED | 20 October 2026
SmartSync is a mobile application, compatible with any Android smartphone, that syncs your important data to your email. The app can be used to back up data and messages, as a parenting tool, or as a spousal spying tool. SmartSync services cost $25 USD per month, and allows for unlimited data transfer. The app can be found Here

World:
Fight the power! Protest and rebellion in America – in pictures
NEWS | 20 October 2026
Fight the power! Protest and rebellion in America – in picturesFrench photographer Jean-Pierre Laffont spent two decades capturing demos, clashes and countercultural gatherings in America. ‘They dreamed of living in a better world,’ he says‘Defiant’ … Women’s Liberation protestor, Miami, Florida, 23 August 1972

Current Events:
Michael Kiwanuka: Fudge review – rough and instinctive, but also lush and alive with melody
NEWS | 20 October 2026
In November 2024, Michael Kiwanuka released his fourth album, Small Changes, an extremely poised and self-assured piece of work. It turned out there was a second album, its songs written – or rather, jammed into existence by Kiwanuka and members of his live band – concurrently with Small Changes. Fudge’s release was announced in 2025, hard on the heels of Small Changes: it was reviewed in a handful of heritage rock magazines. View image in fullscreen Never self-indulgent … Michael Kiwanuka and collaborators. Indeed, you’re left thinking that Fudge could probably have been released as the new Michael Kiwanuka album, with no explanation of its genesis, without spooking any horses.