Retired England out-half Stuart Barnes has claimed that Sam Underhill’s “brutal hit” last Saturday on Ali Price in Edinburgh has made him fall in love with rugby all over again
The Champions Cup semi-finals in Dublin and Bordeaux were the past weekend’s headline rugby fixtures in Europe, but Bath’s Challenge Cup win in Scotland didn’t escape the attention of Barnes
who used his Monday column in The Times to wax lyrical about the moment the England flanker mowed down the Scotland scrum-half on the Murrayfield back pitch
Bath eventually won 39-24 to book their place in the May 23 final in Cardiff versus Lyon
but Barnes’ attention was drawn to the early second-half incident just minutes before Edinburgh were awarded the penalty try that gave them a short-lived 17-12 lead
“Sam Underhill had already levelled Edinburgh’s scrum-half
with a horrifying shot to the ribs in the first half
As Price produced an almost perfect kick from his own 22
the Bath open side smashed the scrum half on the left side of his ribs
all his formidable power legitimately channelled through his shoulders
“Price didn’t see just what a wonderful kick he had manufactured as he rolled around in understandable agony
The TV director produced a replay to remind us that rugby is brutish at its best
Or perhaps he was on the hunt for a late tackle and a controversial card
Price was trying to make sure one part of his body hadn’t been dislodged from the other when the hit man himself
arrived on the scene to check that his target was all right
The Bath man extended his hand in legitimate concern and respect
the scrum-half accepted it and rose ruefully to his feet
tenderly trotting towards the Bath 22 for a lineout
There weren’t half a dozen players surrounding the referee demanding a red card or something worse
There was no incitement to and from the terrace
The English side took victory in Edinburgh, catch up on all the #ChallengeCupRugby action with Instant Highlights ⬇️
— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) May 5, 2025
“There was nothing but huge admiration for the legitimate brutality of the Bath flanker and — from me
who was wincing from another country – even more respect for Price
he shook his head and smiled as he hobbled to his feet
you will not see much better than the thriller in Dublin
with the most brutal of endings for Leinster
possession turned over inches from the Northampton try line
strategic decision to play it tight up front
and then there was that hit from Underhill on Price
A brutal moment which made me fall in love with rugby all over again.”
READ MORE: ‘Sea of red’ fails to materialise as fans snub British and Irish Lions squad announcement event
Bath defeated Edinburgh 24-39 on Saturday afternoon to progress to the final of the 2024/25 Challenge Cup. Here's how we rated the visiting players.
Planet Rugby's Edinburgh player ratings following their loss to Bath in the Challenge Cup.
Stuart Barnes has floated a radical Anglo-Welsh Premiership idea to revive the financial stricken regions in Wales that would involve demoting three current English top-flight teams to the Championship.
Sam Underhill was sent off in his side's Challenge Cup win over Pau last weekend.
Faced with a medical establishment that doesn’t serve them, a volatile political environment, and a technological revolution, some women are taking longevity into their own hands, Holly Baxter reports
Faced with a medical establishment that doesn’t serve them, a volatile political environment, and a technological revolution, some women are taking longevity into their own hands, Holly Baxter reports
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generates a magnetic field that many believe is good for healing injuries and targeting inflammation
During the time she’s attached to the PEMF machine
a little bit of prayer” and “gratitude practice”
It’s a good time to fit in this routine because electronics can’t be used around the magnetic interference of PEMF
so she takes time “setting my mind before the day sets it for me”
And then she gets morning sun — she lives in LA
so it’s “pretty much sunny all year around” — which takes 10 minutes on a bright day and up to 30 if it’s cloudy
Then she has a “protein coffee,” which is “an all-organic biodynamic coffee” mixed in with “colostrum” (yes
the early liquid from the first days of breastfeeding
although the source is bovine rather than human)
dead lifts.” Although she’s only in her early 30s
she’s already planning for perimenopause and menopause
strengthening the bones and the muscles surrounding them so her body is in peak shape when it begins to experience those hormonal changes
She also does VO2 max cardiovascular training on an AI power fitness bike ($500)
Following the workout, she’ll sit down and take a look through her biometrics. Barnes wears an Oura ring — a piece of health tech beloved by biohackers
which is worn on the finger like any other ring but tracks sleep and physical activity
and costs around $400 — and has a number of other trackers in her home
Each week she’ll do a deep dive into “lung health
but also muscle mass and bone density,” as well as “my sleep score — deep sleep
and some kale salad with avocado and extra-virgin olive oil
she has a coconut yoghurt with Zen basil seeds — “it’s like half your daily fiber in two tablespoons” — and blueberries
Barnes’ work involves putting together her “Female Longevity Optimization” plan, a five-day course with daily newsletters that provides daily information about biohacking to over 300,000 subscribers and costs $200 a year. In the interest of transparency, she shares her labs publicly on her website
you can view everything from her dental X-rays to the results of a stool sample taken to profile her gut microbiome
123.4 pounds) and fat mass percentage (18%) are shared publicly too
Her daily newsletters — with subjects like “Optimize your mid day routine!” and “Stem cells for longevity!” — include YouTube how-to videos with thumbnails of her and her husband
leaning in to kiss each other lightly while dressed in artfully loose
After a few hours of work — including three walking breaks — Barnes goes into her hyperbaric chamber
a pressurized oxygen chamber (for a home unit
you’re looking at between $7,000 and $20,000)
and increases or decreases the pressure according to how much stress her body can take
usually organic fish and vegetables with whole grains
increasingly so: “I make every single meal
and I live in LA but there’s only one place that I’ll even eat at
Barnes and her husband go for another walk in the hills — 50 minutes — and when they get back
so all the lights in the house are changed from blue to red
If you think her daily routine has little room for spontaneity
“I feel best having a nice routine,” she says
but they come at 4.30pm so she can still make her 8.30 bedtime
“I think my friends love doing all this stuff
they're obsessed with coming over and doing my hyperbaric oxygen chamber or like
I'll put them on a bio-impedance scale at my dinners
or I’ll be passing around a grip strength tester.” What’s she missing
“I think it’s a little bit self-harm-ish to be going out late and be drinking an obscene amount of alcohol,” she says
but you really are harming yourself on a pretty frequent basis if that’s how you’re living.”
She was raised in a fairly unhealthy environment
and her family aren’t quite as enthusiastic about her routine as her friends
“I remember years ago when I had a Dexcom glucose monitor on
I'm doing this to check my blood sugar because I want to
Barnes knew “I would have to optimize my biology to really build the dream life that I wanted
which by the way I now have.” It took a lot of work and a lot of experimentation
she’s trialled a lot of different technologies
After the wildfires in California last year
she had two-and-a-half liters of plasma removed from her body in an effort to filter out the toxins her body had accumulated from the low air quality (“You make new plasma within 24 to 48 hours,” she says
adding that she thinks of it “kind of like an oil change” for your car.) And she was convinced to have a hyperbaric chamber installed in her house after she saw how her biometrics jumped up from the data on her Oura ring once she stepped inside one
and changing sauna temperatures and oxygen pressure according to menstrual cycles rather than using one set metric like men do
Jason Kovacic is an internationally acclaimed cardiologist
executive director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney
and professor of medicine in cardiology at Mount Sinai in New York
he’s become more and more aware of the biohacking trend — and more worried about what it might mean for those who practice it to the extreme
“I think it's pretty clear there's not one real leader in the field, whether ice bars or barometric pressure, sauna, nutrients, supplements, juicing — there's a proponent of all of these things and more,” he says. A surprising amount of people, he adds, have expressed an interest in testing since the extreme biohacker Bryan Johnson appeared on The Kardashians in February
People are experimenting widely in pursuit of longevity
all with the sense that it just can’t hurt
I don't have a problem with my patients taking a multivitamin a day
One patient he recently heard about had moved from a multivitamin to taking excessive amounts of vitamin B6
and ended up with peripheral neuropathy — where the peripheral nerves
which connect the brain and the spinal cord
“Then you get to things like hyperbaric oxygen,” Kovacic says
“which can be quite expensive for people that are buying these chambers
it's a lot of money and I think the data supporting hyperbaric oxygen
there's a couple of papers suggesting that telomere length is longer and that that may be the case
massive jump — to go from ‘you've got longer telomeres in a small group of highly selected people in one or two clinical studies’ — it's a massive adjunct going from that to saying you're going to live longer.”
because a lot of DNA-damaging habits — like smoking — shorten your telomeres
Your cells get shorter and shorter each time they replicate
People with shorter telomeres often appear
to have an older “biological age” than their actual age
The aim behind things like hyperbaric oxygen and strictly regulated diets is to lengthen those telomeres
A Mediterranean diet rich in legumes and whole grains does
Unfortunately, studies done in the past two years have poured some cold water on the telomere theory
Despite flying in the face of what is understood
some people with very short telomeres seem to have very long lives
A 2023 study suggests that those with very long telomeres might actually be keeping their cells around far too long
allowing cancerous tumors and other catastrophic mutations to proliferate
The fountain of youth might actually be poisoned
“What we don't know is what are the off-target effects of things like hyperbaric oxygen,” says Kovacic
“That have a whole bunch of other changes — blood viscosity
and other things that we just don’t know about in the endocrine and immune systems.” There have been many
many studies where something like telomere length “looks fantastic,” he adds
“but then we actually then do a big trial and say: Does it save lives
it goes in the opposite direction because there's off-target effects we didn't anticipate.”
Not only do people fail to think about those unexpected effects
but they also sometimes seek to cash in on “biohacking” techniques that are downright dangerous
When I asked Kovacic about the plasma removal therapy that Kayla Barnes says she undertook after the California wildfires
“I think it's unethical to take her money to give that kind of a therapy
And taking off two liters of plasma — that's a massive drop in blood volume
It depends a bit on the technical details of how they did that
but that volume of plasma removal could be dangerous
they may have taken plasma off and given back saline or another solution
but — especially in the context of an acute wildfire — there's no data to support that removing two liters of plasma to take out toxins is going to be beneficial.”
red and white building on Union Street in San Francisco and another in wealthy Palo Alto stand the two Biohackr Health clinics
state-of-the-art facilities run by the founding team of Dr
Lori Bluvas MD — a San Francisco-based OB-GYN – and Dr
a plastic surgeon with a clinic on Stanford’s campus who specializes in breast and facial surgery
What began as a drop-in center that focus on anti-ageing and IV therapies has bloomed into a business that offers emerging treatments and regimens to a broad clientele aimed at improving cognitive
became very interested in all of this because of medicine
but also because of what was happening to ourselves,” says Greenberg
I have found that so much of the biohacking world feels like snake oil to me.”
Greenberg and Bluvas knew two things: firstly
that women are often ignored and their issues are often downplayed by doctors; and secondly
is a capitalist practice often tainted by sales and marketing
because all of these multimillion-dollar companies have that test
it's because it didn't show what they wanted it to.” There are “20 million companies” who turn up to such medical conferences to sell to doctors
and they throw exciting-sounding buzzwords like “exomes” (another biohacker beloved) and “regenerative medicine” around while often trying to manipulate their actual findings
Bluvas concurs: “I've had sales reps come to my office talking about how great this or that blood pressure medicine is
But I will look at their research and the average age of their person will be 67 years old or 72 years old
so my patients I'm treating with blood pressure are 15 years younger and all women… They will present it to me as the best new high blood pressure medicine under the sun
we have great studies to back it.’ I'm like: Yeah
great studies in a very narrow demographic
not great studies for [a woman] who’s 36 years old
These companies are here to sell us things.”
Because medical research is so behind in terms of showing outcomes for women
Greenberg and Bluvas do their own deep-dives into new treatments in their areas of expertise
It’s something they think is especially important
considering the Trump administration’s latest attacks on anything perceived to fall under the umbrella of DEI
“I have a friend who's in OB-GYN at Stanford
“And she's at Stanford and it has already happened to her
we will do some studies which may not be quite as scientific
but we do have a large patient base and [we can] try to again bring some science to this area of things.”
Greenberg and Bluvas aren’t surprised that women in particular have started expressing such interest in the biohacking space in the past few years
“I think you've seen such an explosion because a lot of women who are very empowered and intelligent hit menopause and went to their doctors
and you need to just deal with it,’” says Greenberg
That’s especially urgent, she adds, considering that menopause now takes up between a third and a half of a woman’s life: “If you go through menopause when you're around 51 and you live to be 86
And so it used to be that people didn't live that long past menopause
So I don't think that this was so much of a factor
they weren't traveling and hiking Mount Kilimanjaro when they were 70
which they are now… [In the United States]
but we aren't healthy at the end of our lives
I ask Bluvas and Greenberg about colostrum
one of the main ingredients in Kayla Barnes’ morning coffee
high-fat liquid that all mammals make in the early days immediately after giving birth
but the popular supplements take it from cows
“The benefits of colostrum are the antibodies that come over
for human people and human babies,” says Bluvas
that's not going to be able to cross species
So in terms of the immunology benefits of colostrum
you sort of don't get that.” There might be something in the concentrated fats
What both Bluvas and Greenberg are enthusiastic about
is creatine — “which every post-menopausal woman and every man over 50 should be on” — and testing for NAD levels
Levels of NAD — molecules that are essential for molecular energy production — tend to decline as we age and are therefore touted as “signs of your biological age” in biohacking circles
and other scans and bloodwork are suggested according to one’s family history (Greenberg’s father died young
so she keeps on top of her cardiac panel.) Along the way
they’ve done some experimentation with their own numbers and had some surprising results
and experimental therapies now to slow aging as much as possible in the hope of reaching that tipping point
If you can just keep chasing health until we reach “escape velocity,” goes the theory
you might be able to live forever: you’re the rocket ship blasting up out of the atmosphere that can actually escape the earth’s orbit and power through into outer space
This is how biohacking fundamentally differs from traditional medicine
even when it’s being practiced by medical doctors: “Traditional medicine waits for you to have an issue,” says Greenberg
and then you treat it — as opposed to saying: Ooh
Biohacking tech can now put people more in tune with their bodies than they ever were before, she adds: “You can do a continuous glucose monitor
I would've for sure said the oats are better for me
Everyone at the Biohackr clinic practices what they preach
who is a registered nurse with broad experience across the medical spectrum and has also worked as an aesthetician
who sees the patients and brings them in and starts the whole process of the biohacking”
Habibi brought biohacking to her 80-year-old mother after she moved into the clinic
“She had a full hysterectomy at the age of 52,” she says
She went from the liveliest mom to…” Her voice cracks with emotion
it makes me emotional thinking about it because I'm like: If she had this help years ago — 20
30 years ago — how would she be now at 80?”
One big issue is that studies done into hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women have been few and far between
“There was a Women's Health Initiative study back in the year 2000
which basically pooh-poohed hormone replacement for postmenopausal women
“And it turns out it was a very flawed study.”
blanket pronouncements about how postmenopausal women should be treated led to failings at the individual level — including for Habibi’s mother
“People were so focused on breast cancer and how hormone replacement as you get older can increase your breast cancer risk,” Greenberg continues
you don't have to do progesterone — and estrogen only actually decreases your breast cancer risk… And so if someone doesn't have a uterus
they should probably be on estrogen because it's going to decrease their breast cancer risk
help their skin.” Considering that this was a “known fact” before the study
it does seem particularly upsetting that Habibi’s mother never received such advice from her own doctor in the immediate aftermath of her hysterectomy
it often might simply be about leveling the playing field
But Greenberg and Bluvas want to aim higher than leveling the field
and they believe women are owed that individual attention
“I've done some testing [with multiple pieces of tech] just to see
And when they tell me what my biologic age is
it tends to be 10 to 11 years younger than my age,” says Greenberg
“And they all are consistently saying that
it’s telling me that there's something about what we are doing that is making a difference.”
“We haven't done a very good job as a global planet in looking after women as we should have,” says Dr
“And I think what we're seeing with biohacking is that women want to have all the same level of treatments and outcomes and benefits from healthcare that men have enjoyed
drug therapies and so on have been skewed towards men's health rather than women's health over the last 50 years as a sort of modern era of medicine has come about
which is the same sort of benefits from the healthcare system.”
His “biggest concern about biohacking,” however, is that too many people pursue it as a hobby while ignoring the elephant in the room. “There is an abundance of robust data,” he says, “and I think nobody will argue with that. A healthy diet, regular exercise
optimal glucose control and avoidance of diabetes
and getting the right amount of sleep — there is an abundance of evidence for all of those things
And what I worry about is biohacking shifting our attention away from these critical eight factors
when there is proven data to support the importance of these factors
And I do get concerned that people are paying inordinate amounts of money for all sorts of biohacks when they haven't got these eight fundamental things optimally set up in their own life.”
When he talks to patients about these issues
“I'm very aware of people that are not getting the right amount of sleep or they're a bit overweight
or they still occasionally socially smoke or whatever
that are still investing money in biohacking
And it's just wrong to be putting your faith into unproven therapies and ignoring the proven fundamentals.”
Barnes knows that most people won’t have access to a personal sauna or the ability to install a hyperbaric oxygen chamber in their home
But she says she wants people to know “that you can get incredible results with just free or low-cost practices.” Most of what she does is still dependent on closely following Kovacic’s “essential eight”
She’s still interested in the cutting-edge
That’s partly because she’s simply an enthusiast in the space — and partly because she knows women are still waiting for research
so she’d like to get ahead of it while she’s still young
and a lot of us don’t have the time to wait for medicine to right all its wrongs
“I've been using hyperbaric [oxygen] because we know it is great for brain health,” she says, as an example, “but I'm excited about the studies for fertility there. We know that it helps improve sperm quality, but the studies for women are still undergoing.” She smiles a gently ironic smile. “I mean, imagine that, right?”
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some women are taking longevity into their own hands
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The United pair have been in terrific form of late in the Magpies' quest for UEFA Champions League qualification as Eddie Howe's side recorded five wins from their six league matches in the penultimate month of the 2024/25 campaign
Barnes enjoyed an excellent month for United after recording four goals and two assists
teeing up Sandro Tonali's winning strike in a 2-1 win against Brentford at St
James' Park before scoring against former club Leicester City in a 3-0 win at the King Power Stadium
The left winger then scored a second-half brace in the Magpies' 4-1 win against Manchester United as well as netting in a 5-0 victory against Crystal Palace before providing an assist in United's 4-1 loss against Aston Villa
Murphy also enjoyed a bright streak in front of goal with six goal contributions in as many matches
setting up Alexander Isak's opening goal against Brentford before netting a quick-fire brace against Leicester
who has recorded 11 league assists so far this season
produced a goal and assist during the Magpies' thumping 5-0 win against Palace
opening the scoring in stunning fashion whilst winning the penalty in Newcastle's 3-0 triumph over relegated Ipswich Town last weekend
Nominated alongside Barnes and Murphy for the award are Wolverhampton Wanderers pair Rayan Aït-Nouri and Jørgen Strand Larsen
Newcastle fans can vote for Barnes or Murphy by clicking here, with voting close at 12pm (BST) on Monday, 5th May. The winner announced at 12pm (BST) on Friday, 9th May.
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Subscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret Down"Nothing Gets My Ovaries Screaming": People Are Reacting With A Panic After Watching "Thunderbolts*" All Because Of What Bucky Barnes Did In A Post-Credit SceneYeah
Warning: the below story consists of spoilers for Thunderbolts*
"Bucky got me like.." - Geraldine Viswanathan on tiktok 🤭🙂↕️ pic.twitter.com/UhvodLFG0W
cw // #Thunderbolts spoilers .......Bucky Barnes at the start of the movie vs Bucky Barnes in the post-credit scene pic.twitter.com/ANv9OgvwOC
that scene of bucky riding a motorcycle with his glasses on in thunderbolts* pic.twitter.com/OpPCRJBbaP
watching thunderbolts isnt enough i need congressman barnes to put me through the bed im so serious pic.twitter.com/Rks6UP4bnY
shaving before thunderbolts just incase bucky decides to leap out of the screen pic.twitter.com/F9mzTIGlqA
But you did not need to have met Albert Barnes for him to take against you. In late 1927 Ford Madox Ford, then in New York, telegraphed for permission to visit the foundation. Barnes cabled back: ‘Would rather burn my collection than let Ford Madox Ford see it.’
If the faculty applicant is a woman, we test the sensitivity of her clitoris by titillation with the finger. If the faculty applicant is a man, we make an examination of the man’s scrotum to determine the presence or absence of testicles. The reason we make these tests is that it is commonly believed that women candidates for professorship at Bryn Mawr must be sexually dead and the men candidates lacking in testicles.
Kenneth Clark had also started out as true a believer in formalism. His initial admiration for Roger Fry had been little short of ‘idolatry’. He attended a lecture in which Fry applied his principles of pictorial analysis to a Poussin and a Cézanne, side by side:
Julian Barnes’s father was called Albert Barnes.
More by this contributorLa Chasse au Pinard: Drinking for FranceJulian Barnes07 November 2024
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Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes is one of the last-standing MCU OGs
Stan’s Bucky Barnes first appeared in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger
the fifth film in Marvel’s line-up which now reaches 36
And even though his “I’m-with-you-until-the-end-of-the line” bestie Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers has long since departed from the MCU
Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes continues to star in Marvel movies
From best friend to weapon to lost soul to maybe a leader in his own right
Bucky Barnes has had quite a journey in his long MCU career
Bucky’s signature hair has been the cause of much debate and discussion through his one and a half decades in Marvel projects
to help answer all questions related to Bucky’s hair once and for all
we present to you the definitive* ranking of Bucky’s MCU haircuts
*Definitive here meaning conducted with the utmost science and vibes
There were quite a few issues with the way Bucky’s story was handled in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
but one of the Marvel TV series’ most significant sins was definitely giving Bucky a short haircut that no one asked for
Bucky Barnes’ longer locks had become something of a signature look
And while there was definitely a valid story that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier could have told about Bucky reclaiming his own agency by changing the look that Hydra forced upon him
the show did NOT in fact tell that story at all
it felt much more like Bucky’s short haircut was an attempt to homogenize him
to make him look and seem more like the rest of the MCU’s masculine set of heroes
The haircut made Bucky Barnes read more like Sebastian Stan than Bucky in the TV series
even Marvel had to admit it was not successful
Bucky’s short haircut was a one-hit wonder
We really wanted to love Bucky Barnes’ Thunderbolts* haircut. You know, to show our support for the return of a proper length of hair for Bucky
Bucky’s Thunderbolts* hairstyle did not do him any favors
We blame his senatorial publicist for this somehow
But Bucky Barnes’ haircut in his latest movie was by turns greasy
We guess they just don’t pay public servants the big bucks… Or Bucky simply has no interest in taking care of his hair these days
Bucky Barnes turned up in Captain America: Brave New World looking better than he did in most of Thunderbolts*
Bucky’s cameo haircut was still a little too short for our tastes; it kind of had that awkward air that suggested he was in the middle of growing out his hair
There was also a little bit of a bob energy to it
which we’re not sure is totally Bucky’s vibe
so we give him points for putting in the effort
Bucky Barnes’ Thunderbolts* post-credits scene hair might not be good
we see Bucky in his new role as one of the “New Avengers” and to celebrate this position change
it looks like Bucky finally did get himself a stylist
I would define Bucky Barnes’ Thunderbolts* haircut and style as “blown-out poodle” or “volume galore.” A blow dryer and possibly some large heated rollers were absolutely taken to Bucky’s mop
I literally cackled out loud in the theater when I saw it
he was on his own for the first time in a century
we forgive him for his haircut being a little touch and go
although we’ll call this look the turning point for Bucky haircuts we favor
it felt like Bucky had taken a straightening iron to it or something similar
Bucky Barnes’ haircut really worked in some Captain America: Civil War sequences, and in others
Did Hydra wash and cut the hair of their pet assassin
But what we do know is that Bucky’s Winter Soldier hair was actually a very good look
it did not in fact seem like it was brushed
But it worked for Bucky’s brainwashed
mad-dog energy in the movie and set off the character in exactly the right ways
Seeing the new vision of Bucky in full as he slow-mo flips his hair and turns to meet Steve’s horrified recognition truly sets the tone for what’s to come
If The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s haircut diminished Bucky’s characterization in the MCU
his The Winter Soldier haircut established it
And so we applaud its existence and mark it as good
even though we do not want it back because it belonged to a DIFFERENT Bucky Barnes
Bucky’s ’40s haircut was a good look
We love seeing him rock this ruffled hairstyle
and we love the juxtaposition of it against the vast transition he undergoes
Bucky may as well have shown up looking his absolute best
Even though Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers had almost NO scenes together in Avengers: Infinity War
Bucky made sure to blow out his hair (nicely
this time) in celebration of their reunion
Everyone just had excellent hair in Avengers: Infinity War
which suggests he took special care with his hair for his main sequence
Just look at it swooshing in the wind as Bucky prepares for battle
And so we have Bucky Barnes’ best haircut in the MCU—his god-tier look in the Black Panther post-credits scene
A couple tendrils loose in the front for fashion
We were ROBBED of seeing more of Bucky in this state because it is easily the best haircut Bucky Barnes has ever had at any time during his long Marvel life
I remember being thrilled to see this scene and delighted with Bucky’s hair evolution in it
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my parents used to listen to Any Questions
I would sit through the programme in a state of consummate boredom
and that the chance of there being a car crash or a gunfight in it – apart from a metaphorical one – was non-existent
I would listen with a slightly larger understanding
though now with a kind of amazement that people could talk so fluently
answers would flow effortlessly from the panellists
I sometimes watch Question Time on television with much the same appalled admiration
And most of all – I’ve come to realise – no one ever changes their mind
No panellist is ever convinced by another’s argument
of course you’re right and I was wrong.” Opinions
whether expressed by a male or female panellist
Some people are brought up in families where politics is openly and noisily discussed
and where tribalism is as deeply rooted as support for a football team
middle-class English family in which politics
Not that my relatives didn’t have political views
was a Methodist who morphed into a socialist
especially in leafy Buckinghamshire – one who supported the Chinese rather than the Russians when the great Sino-Soviet split happened
Grandma would sit in her chair – in the red corner – tut-tutting over her Daily Worker
which exposed the fiendish iniquities of capitalism
while my grandfather sat in his chair – in the blue corner – reading the Daily Express and tut-tutting over the fiendish threats of communism
But they never argued – a truce had long since been called
My brother used to be a theoretical anarchist “of the Godwin/Spooner/Kropotkin sort”
but tells me he hasn’t thought about politics for decades and hasn’t voted in England since 1970
I was slow to become interested in politics
“A plague on all your houses.” I believed that the personal life and the artistic life were far more important than politics
and have only marched in political rallies twice
and while I don’t believe in making it compulsory
I think it’s a personal as well as a civic duty
Even if you’re voting against rather than for something
During the 60 years I’ve had the franchise
Liberal Democrats and Greens; also for the Women’s Equality Party
I was once tempted in a local election to vote for a candidate whose name appeared at the bottom of the list
This position had been achieved by changing their name to something beginning with Z
while the party he or she was standing for was called None of the Above
But even this display of jaundiced wit didn’t deflect me
I worked for the New Statesman in the late 1970s on the books and arts pages
and for more than a year didn’t let on that in the previous general election I’d voted Liberal
my fellow staffers treated my obvious simple-mindedness with surprising indulgence
But though I’ve voted for six different parties in my life – and some independent candidates in local elections – I don’t regard myself as having changed my mind
We keep the faith; it’s the parties that are faithless
I’ve sometimes heard the familiar soft-shoe shuffle to the right
Those idealistic principles they had in their twenties have been rubbed away by exposure to the realities of life
Or they’ve now got more money than they did and want to protect it
Or they start hating young people’s principles because they are remarkably similar to the ones they had in their own youth
principles they now realise are foolish delusions
Or they simply don’t want any more change in their lives
The European referendum of 2016 offered a departure from this last notion
While three-quarters of young people voted to remain in the European Union
two-thirds of older people voted to leave – which would result in considerable change to their lives
which applies both to parties and their leaders
I couldn’t possibly vote for…” and then fill in the name of the party leader
be it Tony Blair or Michael Howard or Nick Clegg
The single time I voted Conservative was when the two main parties were led respectively by Harold Wilson and Edward Heath
This would have been one of the two general elections of 1974
He was also the only prime minister to have fought in the Second World War
and had therefore witnessed the consequences of European schisms
seemed to me – and still does – less than scrupulous: deviously shifting his party this way and that for short-term advantage
anti- or pro-European according to his parliamentary needs
And so that time I favoured Heath’s Conservative Party
couldn’t alas prevent Wilson from securing victory
when I voted for Tony Blair’s Labour Party
this was mainly because it was necessary to evict the Tories
I’d interviewed Blair for The New Yorker when he became leader of the party
liked to refer to him as “Little Boy Blue”
If John Maynard Keynes changed his mind when the facts changed
I find that facts and events tend to confirm in me what I already believe
But another thing has been going on in my lifetime: the centre ground of politics has moved to the right
once asked what her greatest success had been
Whereas there had previously been little pendulum swings to the left and then the right
Mrs Thatcher rehung the whole clock at a different angle on the wall
someone of my political beliefs has found himself moving further to the left as the centre moved away from him
I might have seemed a right-wing Labourite
the capital “L” Liberal that I sometimes was – now I probably sound like a Corbynista
I continued to vote Labour under Corbyn’s leadership in the 2019 election
despite my dismay at his vapid performance during the European referendum
But that is one of the functions of politicians – to disappoint us
was asked an anxious question by one of the dons interviewing him
He had heard that Mr Taylor regrettably suffered from a dubious condition known as Strong Opinions: was this the case
(And he got the job.) Some of us have strong opinions weakly held
I’ve always assumed that liberals like me have moderate opinions
But I’m not sure that’s any longer the case
the more convinced I am that I do have Strong Opinions
“Changing My Mind” by Julian Barnes is published by Notting Hill Editions
[See also: David Hockney writ large]
This article appears in the 10 Apr 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Spring Special 2025
Former England international will be supporting runners before cheering Liverpool on in quest to clinch title
Read moreBarnes plans to stay for the first six hours to cheer runners on and he also expects to hear a familiar phrase from his association with Lucozade which began in the early 1990s
“There was one advert where I looked like a mad scientist with big glasses and a straw,” he admits
people still say: ‘Lucozade gets to your thirst
So I think I’ve been promoting them forever
Because as much as that advert is not on TV anymore
everybody remembers me doing that ridiculous line as my body starts to shine.”
However the 61-year-old admits that he wishes he was young enough to be out there himself
because I’d love to have run a marathon,” he says
“I used to be a really good long distance runner from my Watford days
where we used to do 10-mile runs in training
That is reflected in Sport England’s latest Active Lives report
which found almost 350,000 more adults ran between November 2023 and November 2024 – almost all of them women
but it has made it more organised and inclusive.”
“It’s a huge achievement – and probably a bigger achievement than our team because we were expected to win the league when I was there,” he says
“I thought it would take time for Arne Slot to bed in
particularly after an iconic manager like Jürgen Klopp left
So I didn’t expect us to win the Premier League this season.”
“After we lost against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Newcastle in the Carabao Cup
“But in terms of the consistency we’ve shown in a difficult league
The great Liverpool title-winning team of 1987-88 only lost two league games all season – the same as Slot’s side
Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold get on against the likes of Barnes
John Aldridge and Alan Hansen in their primes
“I always say what rules are we playing?” replies Barnes
they’ll beat us because we’ll end up with five men
whereby you can get stuck in and they’re not used to that
Any Liverpool team that has won the league is probably similar in quality
View image in fullscreenLiverpool’s title-winning team of 1987-88 only lost two matches all season
Photograph: Getty Images/Hulton Archive“Glenn Hoddle is my favourite player of all time from a technical perspective,” he adds
he’d be the best player in the world because he played when people were trying to break his legs
All the skilful players would love to play nowadays
Back then you needed danger money and eyes in the back of your head
there is another striking difference between the late 80s and the modern era
“In the old drinking days we used to mix Lucozade with a little something every now and again,” he says
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winning a second national title in as many days
Picture by Richard Pelham/Getty ImagesBy Jo GunstonMegan Barnes tipped her head back and smiled on finishing first in the women's 400m freestyle at the 2025 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships (formerly known as the British Swimming Championships) at the London Aquatics Centre on Friday (18 April)
In a race that chopped and changed throughout
it was Holly Hibbot who initially blazed a trail
with Barnes in eighth place for much of the early stages
But it was the Louisiana State University student who claimed the national title
ahead of fast-finishing 16-year-old Amelie Blocksidge
to Barnes' top time and massive personal best of 4:12.66
“This is one of the hardest seasons of training I’ve ever done," said Barnes
who finished seventh in the same race in 2024
already a three-time national champion in the longer distances from previous editions
revealed what was going through her mind in the final stages
"I knew that would make me faster on the last bit
So I just really tried to catch her and kept closing the gap
His time of 1:56.44 was the third-fastest in the world this season
The eight-time Olympic medallist finished ahead of Matthew Ward (1:59.13) and Evan Jones (1:59.21)
both with lifetime bests and both dipping under the two-minute mark for the first time
Scott told Olympics.com afterwards: "It's great with those boys
you've really got to utilise your strengths as much as you can and figure out how you get the most out of your weaknesses as well
So that's why they send it out the way they do
It puts me under a lot of pressure in the first portion of that race and you've just got to go to work
On the penultimate day of the championships, Saturday 19 April, fans can look forward to men's 800m free, women's 100m fly, men's 200m breaststroke, men's 50m free, and women's 200m individual medley.
From midday on 22 April to midday on 29 April
local nature conservation and education charity Barnes Common Limited is taking part in The Big Give’s Green Match Fund
aiming to raise £8,000 to restore the rare acid grassland in Barnes
Barnes Common is home to some of the richest examples of lowland acid grassland in London
providing a home to rare insects and plants
The funds the charity plans to raise will go towards restoring this fragile habitat
Any donations made via BigGive.org from midday on 22 April to midday on 29 April will be matched by a donor
“Please take advantage of this exciting opportunity and schedule your donations for our match funding week
Business Operations Manager of Barnes Common Limited
Donate now
Lowland acid grassland is a UK threatened habitat of national conservation importance
“Recent research has identified 57 invertebrate species linked to LAG and sandy soil habitats,” says Conservation Manager Will Dartnell
“with 15 species being of conservation concern
such as the nationally rare bryony mining bee (Andrea florea) and the ridge-saddled carpenter bee (Heriades truncorum)
Several of the yellow meadow ant (Lasius flavus) hills found on Mill Hill are thought to be 150-200 years old!”
across the common much of this habitat has been lost through urban development and succession to scrub and woodland
Acid grassland is a fragile ecosystem and too much human disturbance can destroy it altogether
as can increases in nitrates from pollution and nutrients from dog fouling.
Up to: April 2025
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The Week Junior are partnering with Barnes Children's Literature Festival
inclusive event designed to bring children's books to life
Barnes becomes the children's books capital of the UK once more when the Barnes Children's Literature Festival returns on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June with more than 100 inspiring events
workshops and performances for young book fans and their families
Bestselling children's author, David Walliams, who will appear at the festival for the first time; Cressida Cowell, the superstar creator of the How to Train Your Dragon books and Hollywood film series and the book rapping sensation
are just a few of the big names on their way to beautiful Barnes Pond
Festival media partners The Week Junior return with their thought-provoking workshop for young journalists which sold out in ten minutes in 2024
and a brand-new event - the Great Debate – will offer a chance for children to polish their debating skills with advice from the magazine’s journalists
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter
get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox
Festival favourite, Axel Scheffler illustrator of The Gruffalo, returns to the festival for his 11th appearance! Million-selling former NHS doctor
Adam Kay with Henry Paker will have the kids in stitches
CBeebies superstar Andy 'Dinosaur Adventures' Day and Steven Lenton; the funniest brother-sister duo
Green Wing comedian Steven and Anita Mangan
Barnes is always committed to programming a few special treats that audiences are unlikely to see elsewhere and this year this includes the first children's festival appearance by internationally bestselling crime writer Janice Hallett (The Appeal etc) with her debut children's title
A Box Full of Murders and an appearance from Global TED talker Gavin Pretor-Pinney with Cloudspotting for Beginners
There will be plenty of fun for graphic novel and comic fans too from the creator of the hilarious Grimwood series AND the Festival's 2025 poster, Nadia Shireen; the author illustrator of the smash hit Loki series, Louie Stowell; Marvel artist
Children can also get involved in creative writing
clay-mazing workshops with Aardman Animations
and there are lots of free things to do too including LEGO
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Festival director said “In eleven years we've grown from a conversation at the school gate to become the UK's largest dedicated children's book festival
As well as celebrating all our favourite authors and illustrators
we're always pushing the boundaries of traditional literature festivals to create more space for the family-friendliest fun
Because every year we discover all these brilliant new books
or we'll see an event that has gone down a storm somewhere else
and we'll think 'oh they're just going to love that!' It's the best job in the world!”
To snap up your tickets visit barneskidslitfest.org where you'll find more information about the line up
is an award-winning current affairs magazine for eight to 14-year-olds
and be inspired by ideas and stories that spark family conversations and nurture curiosity
It's the perfect way to give children a safe and inspiring window to the world - showing them all the amazing and inspiring things that are happening around them every day. To learn more, please visit TheWeekJunior.co.uk
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Take part in the Great British Spring Clean and help clean up the Common on Sunday 23 March
bags and gloves will be provided (or bring your own gloves if you prefer)
Please register for this free event so the organisers know how many people to expect
Register now
Come and collect your litter picker and gloves from bases at Rocks Lane car park (SW13 0DG)
the Pavilion at Vine Road Park (SW13 0NE) and the little bridge over Beverley Brook on Barnes Green (pick up only)
Dress appropriately for the weather - it will go ahead
Refreshments and snacks will be available from the Vine Road Café with a 50% discount on hot and cold drinks for event attendees
Up to: March 2025
Sebastian Stan explains future of Bucky Barnes political career
The biggest surprise in Captain America: Brave New World entailed Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes running for Congress
the former Hydra operative ends up winning the seat and becomes Brooklyn's congressman
he puts up his Winter Soldier flag again and joins the Thunderbolts team
it isn’t clear in the movie if Bucky’s political career will continue or not
"He's still been trying to find his way of how he can contribute in a way that he hasn't before
"But there's a lot of strange congressmen these days anyway
why is he growing out his hair if he's going to be a congressman?!'" the Apprentice star added
Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier echoed Sebastian Stan’s take
I think he's found a new place that makes much more sense for him."
Julian Barnes’s latest book comprises five micro-essays
originally commissioned for a radio series a decade ago and repackaged here
for something like a manifesto on open-mindedness
Not unreasonable: as the author of 14 novels
he knows a thing or two about the power of language: “I believe deeply in words
I’m equally aware that words are constantly used for the opposite purposes: to obfuscate truth
Read moreHe has likewise changed his mind about memory
Time was when he thought it “operated like a left-luggage office”
its subtle emendations and self-serving elisions
is no better than “an act of the imagination”
But how far has Barnes really shifted on this one
He has evidently distrusted the vagaries of memory for a while now
as anyone familiar with his 1991 novel Talking it Over or the conclusion of The Sense of an Ending will know.Then we have his conversion from “conservative prescriptivist” to “liberal descriptivist”
though he was one himself before working on the Oxford English Dictionary in the 60s
for insisting on pointless distinctions such as the one between “uninterested” (not interested) and “disinterested” (impartial)
Some etymological digging reveals that on first usage their senses were reversed
its boundless adaptability and malleability
it must have had the thrill of iconoclasm to write this sentence down: “at least we are not French”
There’s no Anglo-Saxon equivalent of the Académie Française
tut-tutting at loanwords and shoving ludicrous neologisms down people’s throats
He may have voted for six different parties over the course of his life
but his positions have remained more or less constant; it’s Britain that has changed: “by staying still
someone of my political beliefs has found himself moving further to the left as the centre moved away from him”
Plenty of social attitudes in Britain – on migration
premarital sex and so on – have if anything moved leftward in the preceding half century
Barnes’s own voting record gives the lie to any notion of unchanging centrism
His support for the Conservatives in 1974 was evidently a vote against the miners
disarmament and Lords reform are there among other desiderata in “Barnes’s Benign Republic”
was the work of a consummate Little Englander
rejecting the unruly soixante-huitards across the Channel for the mundanity and stability of the home counties
the anti-Metroland as it were – a mid-century
May-December romance that sends up the stifling promise of middle England: “suburbia with a tennis wife and 2.4 children”
Ultimately it is not just these niggles of inconsistency
but the sense of writing forced to fit a frame that is altogether too neat that left me cold
though – a future reread might do the trick
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Changing My Mind by Julian Barnes is published by Notting Hill Editions (£8.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com
The Booker-prize winning novelist reflects on the times in his life when recollection and imagination have intertwined
and wonders whether we can ever rely on our brains to provide us with the truth
without correcting or diminishing adjectives or adverbs
I’m not doing that – I changed my mind” is usually an irrefutable statement
It implies the presence of strong arguments which can be provided if necessary
he – and we – are happily and confidently in charge of this whole operation
The world may sadly incline to inconsistency
And yet the phrase covers a great variety of mental activities
There may be a simmering-away beneath the level of consciousness until the bursting realisation comes that
you have changed your mind completely on this subject
The dadaist Francis Picabia once put it like this: “Our heads are round so that our thoughts can change direction.” And I think this feels as close to a true accounting of our mental processes as does Maynard Keynes’s statement
adults of my parents’ generation used to say
“Changing her mind is a woman’s privilege.” This was
either a charming or an infuriating characteristic
It was regarded as something essentially female
sometimes deeply emotional and intuitively intelligent – again
intuition was back then a female speciality – and related to the very nature of the woman in question
So perhaps you could say men were Keynesian
Memory is key to changing our mind: we need to forget what we believed before because now we know something truer and deeperYou rarely hear that phrase about a woman’s privilege nowadays
and to many it sounds doubtless merely sexist and patronising
if you approach the matter from a philosophical or neuroscientific point of view
But where is this “I” that is changing this “mind”
like some rider controlling a horse with their knees
or the driver of a tank guiding its progress
Certainly not very visible to the eye of the philosopher or brain scientist
This “I” we feel so confident about isn’t something beyond and separate from the mind
“there is no self-stuff” locatable within the brain
Far from being a horse rider or tank commander
we are at the wheel of a driverless car of the near future
And this is true – except that on this particular model the driver cannot switch from automatic to manual
So if things are this way round – if it’s the brain
that gives birth to what we think of as “I”
then the phrase “I changed my mind” doesn’t make much sense
“My mind changed me.” And if we see things this way round
then changing one’s mind is something we don’t necessarily understand ourselves
Though perhaps “privilege” isn’t quite the right word – better to say
View image in fullscreenLady Ottoline Morrell tested the attitudes of Oxford undergraduates and predicted they would change with time
Photograph: George C Beresford/Getty ImagesSometimes in my life
I’ve been a logical Keynesian about the whole business
I’ve been confident that I was right to change my mind
This is another characteristic of the process
I’ve changed my mind and have now adopted a weaker or less plausible view than the one I held before
We always believe that changing our mind is an improvement
to our dealings with the world and other people
It seems to make us stronger and more mature; we have put away yet another childish thing
I remember the story of an Oxford undergraduate of literary aspirations visiting Garsington Manor in the 1920s where the artistic hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell presided
Her riposte was that when he got older he would probably prefer autumn
In the late 1970s I interviewed the novelist William Gerhardie
who was almost exactly half a century older than me
He asked me if I believed in the afterlife
you might when you get to my age,” he replied with a chuckle
while not believing that I would ever change my mind to that degree
from matters of mere taste – the colours we prefer
the clothes we wear – to aesthetic matters – the music
the books we like – to adherence to social groups – the football team or political party we support – to the highest verities – the person we love
the significance or insignificance of our place in the seemingly empty or mysteriously full universe
We make these decisions – or these decisions make us – constantly
though they are often camouflaged by the momentousness of the acts that provoke them
the death of those close to us: such matters reorient our lives
it’s more that areas of fact and feeling hitherto unknown to us have suddenly become clear
I have become a Picabian rather than a Keynesian
Consider the question of memory. This is often a key factor in changing our mind: we need to forget what we believed before, or at least forget with what passion and certainty we believed it, because we now believe something different that we know to be truer and deeper. Memory
helps endorse our new position; it is part of the process
there’s the wider question of how our understanding of memory changes
I assumed that memory operated like a left-luggage office
subconscious judgment on the importance of that event
we take the left-luggage ticket along to a department of our brain
which releases the memory back to us – and there it is
as fresh and uncreased as the moment it happened
We have come to understand that every time we take that memory out of the locker and expose it to view
And so the stories we tell most often about our lives are likely to be the least reliable
because we will have subtly amended them in every retelling down the years
told the same anecdote to three different audiences with three different punchlines
Thomas.” He looked at me in disbelief (at my manners); I looked at him in disbelief (at his not being able to stick to a reliable narrative)
I think that sometimes we remember as true things which never even happened in the first placeThere is also such a thing as a memory transplant
My wife and I were great friends of the painter Howard Hodgkin
and travelled with him and his partner to many places
when Howard spotted a black towel in an old-fashioned haberdasher’s window
and the assistant produced from a drawer a black towel
it wasn’t quite the same black as the one in the window
each of which Howard rejected as not being as black as the one in the window
Then Howard asked the assistant to get the one out of the window
and we all saw at once that it was indeed very
and a lesson about the precision of an artist’s eye learned
I described this incident in an essay about Howard
and doubtless told it orally a few times as well
I was at dinner in painterly circles when a woman
“Do you remember when we went into that shop with Howard for a black towel…” Before she could finish
I reminded her firmly that this was my story
And I don’t believe she was doing it knowingly: she somehow remembered it as happening to her and her husband
It was an artless borrowing – or a piece of mental cannibalism
View image in fullscreenArtist Howard Hodgkin’s eye for colour provided Barnes with an amusing anecdote – until someone else appropriated it
Photograph: Martin Argles/The GuardianIt’s salutary to discover
how other people’s memories are often quite different from our own – not just of events
but of what we ourselves were like back then
I had an exchange of correspondence about one of my books with someone whom I’d been at school with
but had not kept up with and had no memory of
The exchange turned into a sharp disagreement
at which point he clearly decided he might as well tell me what he thought of me – or
tell me what he remembered now of what he had thought of me back when we were at school together
“as a noisy and irritating presence in the Sixth Form corridor.” This came as a great surprise to me
My own memory insisted – and still does – that I was a shy
But I couldn’t deny this fellow pupil’s reminiscence; and so
and changed my mind about what I must have been like – or
how I might have appeared to others – 50 and more years ago
a philosopher by profession – and emailed him explaining what I was up to
I asked some preliminary questions about our parents – how he judged them as parents
what he thought their own relationship was like
I added that he himself would inevitably feature in my book
He replied with an initial declaration that astonished me
as it is probably better.” I thought this was not just extremely generous of him
Though he was only three years older than me
he was assuming the superiority of my memory
I guessed that this could be because he was a philosopher
living in a world of higher and more theoretical ideas; whereas I was a novelist
professionally up to my neck in the scruffy
View image in fullscreenEconomist John Maynard Keynes famously remarked that ‘when the facts change
Photograph: Bettmann ArchiveBut it was more than this
he had come to distrust memory as a guide to the past
uncorroborated memory was in his view no better than an act of the imagination
“Imagination is memory” – which is much more dubious.) My brother gave an example
In 1976 he had gone to a philosophical conference on Stoic logic held at Chantilly
and having to take a taxi back up the line and arriving late as a consequence
and 30 years later they were having dinner in Paris and reminiscing about how they first met
Brunschwig remembered how he had waited on the platform at Chantilly and immediately recognised my brother as soon as he stepped down from the train
They stared at one another in disbelief (and perhaps had to apply some Stoic logic to their quandary)
I have come round to my brother’s point of view
uncorroborated and unsubstantiated by other evidence
retelling them – usually – to our own advantage
I believe that the operation of memory is closer to an act of the imagination than it is to the clean and reliably detailed recuperation of an event in our past
I think that sometimes we remember as true things that never even happened in the first place; that we may grossly embellish an original incident out of all recognition; that we may cannibalise someone else’s memory
and change not just the endings of the stories of our lives
perhaps I will have changed my mind about it all over again
This is an edited extract from Changing My Mind by Julian Barnes, published by Notting Hill Editions on 18 March (£8.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy from guardianbookshop.com
This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025
The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has reignited excitement among Newcastle United supporters
making trips to St James’ Park something to look forward to again
The Magpies’ owners have achieved this by making some outstanding signings
We most recently ranked Newcastle’s PIF signings in January 2024 – check that out if you are intrigued by how much we have changed
The bottom line is that this goes down as a £20million signing in the history books and paying £20m for a third-choice goalkeeper is beyond stupid
READ MORE: PSR deals dominate list of five transfers with £80m of unaccounted value
He did rack up 17 league appearances that year but only six came as a starter
Injuries and falling further down the pecking order limited Targett to just three appearances last season and he has played a grand total of 19 minutes this campaign
incidentally accumulated across two matches against his former side Villa
Wood left Newcastle for Nottingham Forest a year after joining
initially signing on loan before joining permanently for around £15m
He struggled for a while but a hat-trick away to Newcastle
seemed to spark something in him nobody knew was laying dormant
This season, as we all know, the 33-year-old has been electric, scoring 19 goals in 31 appearances so far as Forest chase Champions League football
Kelly joined from Bournemouth on a Bosman last summer but failed to impress before earning a bizarre move to Juventus in January
That transfer should become permanent but nothing is guaranteed
Newcastle will hope to pocket £20m and record that as some crucial pure profit to help fund a huge 2025 summer transfer window
Howe’s side are relying on Juve qualifying for any European competition for the buy obligation to be triggered and if they fail to do so
Newcastle reluctantly sold Minteh – signed from Odense Boldklub for £6m in June 2023 – to Brighton last summer for £30m as the club’s hierarchy feared a potential PSR breach
This was a transfer that frustrated fans given Howe’s need for a new right-sided forward
but Minteh has not been missed thanks to Jacob Murphy performing well above expectations this season
He has been hot and cold for much of his Magpies career but Harvey Barnes has been in and out of the team – which believe it or not
and understanding the tactics being deployed
The ex-Leicester City winger has had his fair share of minutes this season and has capitalised, specifically since the turn of the year. He started the Carabao Cup final win over Liverpool and has four goals and four assists in his last seven Premier League appearances
£30m was a risk for a young player with a cruciate ligament tear on their injury report but the 22-year-old has recovered well from that and certainly has the potential to be the Geordies’ long-term starting right-back with Hall on the other side
Pope might not be the most convincing with the ball at his feet but he is undoubtedly a very solid goalkeeper and has been crucial since the start of 2022/23
The fact Newcastle have looked fine without him in goal and were debatably better with Martin Dubravka has knocked Pope down a spot or two
He really needs to overcome his fitness issues because Botman is a crucial player for Newcastle – if he can return to the level he was playing in 2022/23
The betting ban defined Sandro Tonali’s first season at Newcastle and led many to write him off
but he’s been absolutely world-class this year
Gordon has 22 goals and 23 assists in 102 appearances for Newcastle and has established himself as one of the best wingers in the country
He needs Harvey Barnes to have a stinker soon to get back in the team
READ MORE: Newcastle have a gem in Gordon and we have never been so wrong about a player
Trippier was the first big name through the door under the new Saudi regime and he led by example from day one
the Brazil international would walk into any starting XI in world football
He wears his heart on his sleeve and his passion
makes him the sort of player capable of endearing himself to any supporter
Isak has 53 goals in 83 Premier League matches after scoring 33 in 105 La Liga matches for Real Sociedad
He also netted some crucial goals en route to Carabao glory and is the one player in this Newcastle team we think is truly irreplaceable
No matter how much the income from his potential exit can potentially help them in the long run
it won’t be more beneficial than keeping him
READ NOW: Ten Premier League stars at risk of being poached by Real Madrid in summer rebuild
Paul Merson has told Arsenal that they will “win the league by 10 points” next season if they are able to land an elite star from a Premier League rival ..
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By Jenny Hamilton
Halley just needs to stay under the radar until her professional troubles blow over
she can’t turn down a job no matter how shady it sounds—which is how she ends up taking a job on the Elysian Fields
Once vaunted as a holding area for the cryogenically frozen rich and powerful as they awaited a more advanced technology to bring them back to life
the Elysian Fields never fulfilled its promise
just a piece of near-forgotten history haunted by the hologram AI versions of its founder’s children
I have to start this review by saying how happy I am that S
Barnes is now on her third book of really fun
My space horror bona fides are wobbly in that I still haven’t watched any of the Aliens
so you may have to take it with a grain of salt when I attest that I love space horror and yearn to see more of it
(The only thing more horrifying is deep sea horror
which I am too terrified even to contemplate.) Space horror is always a haunted house story
and I love a haunted house story more than I love hot dinners
nothing is emptier than an abandoned ship or planet or space station
No sooner does Halley board the Elysian Fields than she starts seeing things that aren’t quite right
She’s sure at first that she saw something moving—a monster—on one of the lower decks
assures her it’s just a glitch in the cameras
And is she noticing real changes to the frozen bodies under her care
or is she losing her mind a lil bit because she never gets more than a couple hours of sleep at a time
The stillness of space provides the perfect canvas for horror
given that there’s nobody else on the ship but Karl (supposedly)
A reader can roll her eyes at characters refusing to leave an obviously haunted house
Barnes allows the true horrors of the Elysian Fields to trickle out gradually
Cold Eternity leans heavily into the inherent horror of living forever
The Elysian Fields exists because one rich man
Zale Winfield (great name for a rich bastard)
couldn’t bear the possibility of mortality
Relentless in his pursuit of a way to circumvent it
he convinced a whole ship full of rich people to gamble on a future technology that might revive them
But here is a whole ship full of corpses who in life didn’t agree with me
and who had the money to make a desperate final gamble on the possibility of immortality
The great insight of this book is that people who want to conquer death are simultaneously the most pitiable and the most dangerous people imaginable. (I say this as someone who has read that NYMag article about the vegan cult murders every day for the last several weeks.) Zale Winfield dedicated his life to pushing beyond the boundaries of mortality
and it’s obvious that such a desire is corrosive to society and corrosive to the people who are pursuing it
We see again and again that the seekers after immortality—Zale Winfield
even Halley’s parents in their own way—destroy the lives of those around them
and ultimately create the conditions for their own loss of self
At the risk of sounding like Emperor Joseph II
I have to say that Cold Eternity contained just slightly more plot elements than it could carry
Halley’s reason for taking the Elysian Fields job involves a hefty dose of political intrigue
involving a lot of off-screen characters and machinations we have to keep track of
except that Halley also has a set of overbearing
amoral parents whose search for her keeps intruding into her present day and affecting her decisions
The two pieces of backstory together were just that little bit too much
especially because the parents never really became plot-relevant
I’d have much preferred Barnes to give that space to telling us more about Zale Winfield’s three children
and all three died unexpectedly before the Elysian Fields set sail
They’re now preserved as AI holograms aboard the ship
forever giving canned presentations on Zale Winfield and his dreams
Their story becomes important to the horrors unfolding on the ship
and I’d have liked to get a better sense of what they’re about—especially Aleyk
Cold Eternity is published by Nightfire.Read an excerpt
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“The sky above the port was the color of television
For compliance with applicable privacy laws:
Getty ImagesPublished29 April 2025Former Liverpool forward John Barnes does not believe there is a need for Arne Slot to bolster his Premier League winners with new signings this summer
The Reds secured a record-equalling 20th top-flight title on Sunday with a squad that contained just one summer signing
who has played a total of 33 minutes in the league this season
"I'm not worried about the summer," said Barnes
"I'm a bit old school in thinking the solution to problems is not just signing players
"We have won the league comfortably so why do we need to sign players
We have kept the two most important players Virgil (Van Dijk) and Mo (Salah)
If we lose Trent (Alexander-Arnold) we've got Conor Bradley
When Jurgen Klopp ended the club's 30-year wait for a title in 2020 he bought Diogo Jota
Kostas Tsimikas and Thiago Alcantara for a combined £73m
but Barnes believes this team can still challenge next season without breaking the bank
"Other people will catch us but I'd love to stand still because if we do we're still at the top," added Barnes
we have world-class players all over the pitch as we've shown."
BBC Sport's chief football writer Phil McNulty disagrees and believes Liverpool will "need new blood" this summer, especially in the full-back positions.
Do you think Slot should be looking to bring in reinforcements
Have your say
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As the railway celebrates its 200th birthday
Barnes station in south west London has officially opened accessibility upgrades
setting the station up for the next 200 years
The transformational investment makes travel much more accessible for South Western Railway (SWR) customers
particularly those with limited mobility or those travelling with prams and luggage
staircases and footbridge serve each of the outside platforms
meaning the station has step-free routes to and from each platform for the first time
Other upgrades include refreshing the station lighting and installing CCTV
helping customers feel safer and more comfortable while travelling
The £8.3m programme of work was funded by the Department for Transport’s (DfT) ‘Access for All’ scheme
which aims to improve accessibility across the railway network
Richmond Council and local schools gathered to formally open the new lifts and bridge across the platforms
Hounslow and Richmond Community Rail Partnership (CRP) has unveiled a new mural on the north side of the station
designed by artists Christopher Anthony and Andrew Werda of Nightshift Studios
The colourful display celebrates local wildlife and landmarks
including the nearby WWT London Wetland Centre
a thriving haven for nature in the capital
The mural was created in partnership with local schools and community groups
The art restores a wall previously vandalised by graffiti
significantly enhancing the look and feel of the station
Across Network Rail’s Wessex route – which serves towns and communities in and around London
and down to the South West of England – Motspur Park
Walton-on-Thames and Isleworth stations have all benefited from accessibility upgrades in the past 12 months
with Stoneleigh and Teddington set to follow in 2025
said: “Barnes is a vital junction station
where the lines from Hounslow and Richmond converge towards London and we’re delighted that all four platforms are now fully accessible
“We welcome the continued investment from the DfT to support us in making the railway easier to use and increase the number of accessible stations we have across our Southern region
“The support Richmond Council have given us has been vital to completing these accessibility improvements to Barnes station
“We know that works of this nature cause inconvenience to passengers and local residents and we thank them for their patience and understanding
Our hope is that they can enjoy the benefits of these improvements."
Customer and Commercial Director for South Western Railway
commented: “This transformational investment in Barnes station is the latest to make our railway more accessible for customers
particularly those with limited mobility or those with prams or luggage
“The improvements open up new opportunities for residents and those visiting the area
and make it significantly easier for many people to choose the sustainable way to travel
“It’s also wonderful to see local attractions celebrated in Hounslow and Richmond CRP’s colourful new mural
particularly the plants and animals found in this especially green corner of the capital
“We’re grateful to our partners at Network Rail and Richmond Council for working with us to deliver this important project.”
Chair of the Transport and Air Quality Services Committee at Richmond Council
said: “We are thrilled to see the positive impact the new lifts and footbridge will have on our community
have provided improved routes from the Barnes station entrance to the platforms
This enhancement boosts our community’s safety
ensuring that public transport is accessible to everyone
said: “I am pleased that upgrades to Barnes station have been made to improve accessibility
The new footbridge and lifts are a great improvement and will enable more residents to access the station
The increase in lighting and security cameras will also help passengers feel safer and are very welcome.”
to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years
Seven Premier League stars have been nominated for the April 2025 EA SPORTS Player of the Month award
had until 12:00 BST on Monday 5 May to vote for one player from the shortlist below
Your vote will be combined with those of a panel of football experts to determine the winner
He followed that up with a brace as Newcastle beat Leicester 3-0
but perhaps his standout performance came with a goal and assist in a thumping 5-0 victory over Palace
He scored the first in a memorable 3-2 win over Liverpool - only the champions' second defeat of the season
and first away from home in 2024/25 - before bagging a stoppage-time winner as Fulham beat Southampton 2-1
Sessegnon also produced assists for Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz in 2-1 defeats against Chelsea and Arsenal respectively
Jorgen Strand Larsen (Wolves)P5 W5 D0 L0 G4 A0The Wolves striker was the Premier League's joint-highest scorer in April
The Norwegian started April with the only goal in a 1-0 win over West Ham United and followed that up with another decisive effort in a 2-1 success at Ipswich Town
He scored again in a 4-2 win over Spurs before finding the net in a 3-0 victory at home to Leicester
Vote HERE for your EA SPORTS Player of the Month
Help decide who wins the Premier League award for April
Watch eight of the best April Premier League goals and help decide which of them wins the award
Watch six of the best saves in April 2025 and help decide which of them wins the award
Michael Owen and Steve Cooper discuss the top-five race and who they think will be in the competition next season
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A welcoming and acutely funny stand-up show
It feels to me like she’s been in the public eye for years
being consistently funny and insightful on shows such as Mock the Week (RIP) and elsewhere
Maybe she’s not touring arenas or fronting a primetime TV series with her name in the title
but she’s certainly established enough that I was very keen to be in the audience to witness her latest stand-up show
Angela (I think I’ve “known” her long enough for first names to be okay) charges onto the stage at Leicester Square Theatre to thank us for not staying home with Netflix watching the bizarre With Love
which she seems to admire most because the title exactly captures the thought in the audience’s heads
After that brief “hello” she gives up the stage to her support act
James Ellis is an exponent of typical British self-effacement and its sub-genre the hapless male who’s ceded control of his life to a more evidently capable wife
Frizzy of hair and rotund of stature (30% fat – only 5% less than salad cream
apparently) Ellis acknowledges he doesn’t have a naturally joyful expression
revealing its childhood origins – terrifyingly
that thing about expressions becoming fixed when the wind changes is true
I enjoyed Ellis’ bemusement about finding friends’ new babies interesting and marvelling at his mate’s gym habits: he goes there to pick up heavy things and put them down again
Angela delivers over an hour of comic brilliance
An irresistibly frank and likable presence
she has us willingly in the palm of her hand as she treats us to a whirlwind tour of her headspace
which includes insights into her synaesthesia
and the experience of driving over the Alps with Rhod Gilbert
contending with both treacherous mountain roads and sexist Italians
the superbly affable Angela makes friends with youngest audience member 14-year-old Alex
to whom she explains teletext service Ceefax was an early attempt to invent the internet but using potatoes
a German woman with whom she shares her enthusiasm for that language and its latently amusing vocabulary
and such is Angela’s speed of delivery that we were probably treated to 50% more jokes per minute than many of her peers
If Angela Barnes isn’t yet a “name” in your household
you’d be doing yourself a favour if you sought her out and changed that
Angela Barnes Angst tours nationally throughout 2025
Looking for half-term activities with your children
Join Barnes Common Ltd for a series of outdoor activities that connect you with nature
Family groups of adults and young people aged 3 to 9 years old are invited to join this monthly club getting out and about exploring the wonderful outdoors at Barnes Common
Join the group to learn about the wildlife around us
Book yaffles club tickets
Participants will have the opportunity to get their hands dirty with lots of different gardening activities
All tools and equipment are provided – just wear suitable clothing for the weather
Book growing session tickets
this workshop provides a great opportunity to try their hand at some DIY while also helping wildlife
Come along and build your own bird nesting box in time for this year’s nesting season
Book bird box workshop
Up to: February 2025
MAJOR SPOILERS are ahead for the latest of new Marvel movies
What the heck is going on with Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson
and why do they appear to be on opposite sides of a feud after their sweet moment in Captain America: Brave New World
The ending of Thunderbolts* has Julia Louis Dreyfus’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine introducing the world to the New Avengers
there’s no way this is ultimately going to be the full Avengers lineup
but it promotes the Thunderbolts straight to hero status
Aren’t Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson now buddies
Why would they have conflicting teams to begin with if the pair of original Avengers weren’t on good terms
Is it possible that the public rejected these heroes and they didn’t play nice with Sam Wilson’s Avengers
but they still have Avengers Tower to themselves
we know that the events of Brave New World have to have been before Thunderbolts* because there’s mention of Red Hulk’s rampage and Bucky isn’t known as an Avenger when he makes his cameo in the Captain America movie (not to mention the exposition that he was running for congress)
there’s clearly a disconnect being illustrated in the post-credits scene when it comes to the relationship between these two heroes
But I’m not sure what specific threat will actually entice him to get the gang back together
I’m curious why Bucky Barnes wouldn’t be instrumental in Sam's plan that if they are on good terms
This development is especially surprising to me because of Brave New World
he arrives during Sam’s darkest hour when he’s worried about Joaquín Torres a.k.a
Falcon and isn’t sure he’s cut out to be the next Captain America
Sam questions to Bucky why he was chosen by Steve over him
but Bucky comes back with these sweet words:
He gave you that shield not because you're the strongest
You think if you had that serum you'd be able to protect all the people you care about
the whole point of this scene was to remind the audience why Sam Wilson is the right man for Captain America
and show how the two friends connected via their relationships with Steve Rogers are stronger than ever
I have some major whiplash now that I know that they are in separate corners with their own Avengers teams going into Avengers: Doomsday
Perhaps when the New Avengers goes public Sam doesn’t approve of the team
It does feel like the 14 months time jump is rather specific
so I assume there’s some missing context Marvel wants us to have questions about
and they have different backgrounds that could easily make them butt heads
It won’t be long until we find out… just a year
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I Had MCU Fatigue, But I'm Excited Again - Thank You, Thunderbolts*
Robert Downey Jr. And Some Of The Avengers: Doomsday Cast Took A Field Trip To See Thunderbolts*, And I’m So Ready For All The Crossovers
Thunderbolts* Director Reveals That Post-Credits Scene Was Directed By The Russo Brothers (But I’m Just Shocked How Fast It Happened)
The actor behind Marvel’s hero-turned-villain-turned-hero Bucky Barnes has quietly become the franchise’s heart and soul over a period of a decade and a half. Ed Power explains why Stan is very much the man
Sebastian Stan knows all about taking risks. It was just last year that he played Donald Trump in The Apprentice; depicting the president as a blustering sociopath and rapist
the film was released despite preventative efforts from Trump’s lawyers
“It’s become really convenient to pick on [Marvel films],” he told GQ
[But Marvel] is an artery travelling through the system of this entire machinery that’s Hollywood
It feeds in so many more ways than people acknowledge.”
Rare indeed is it that an actor will come out to bat for the MCU – even if
they’ve been part of the Marvel Universe almost from the beginning
He joined the franchise first as Captain America’s peppy best pal Bucky Barnes (in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger)
then played Barnes’s killing machine alter-ego
uncomplaining and focused on the task at hand
both Stan and Bucky may well be the underappreciated heroes of the Marvel Universe
Stan is back as Barnes in Thunderbolts* – a team-up movie also starring Florence Pugh as Black Widow’s younger adoptive sister Yelena Belova
and David Harbour as Russian supersoldier Red Guardian
It marks the ninth MCU film Stan has appeared in (plus two TV series)
Stan popped up for one scene in Captain America: A Brave New World – arguably the highlight of an underwhelming film
It was also a reminder of what Stan brings to the franchise – a stolid charm less dazzling than the mega-charisma of Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man
unshowy style – he doesn’t jump up and down demanding your attention; instead he quietly gets under the skin of his characters
It’s only when you look back at the arc of his oeuvre that what he’s achieved becomes clear
Stan’s willingness to put a shoulder to the wheel and just get on with things is perhaps rooted in his own life story: he’s the child of Romanian parents who moved to America after the end of the Cold War
He has talked about feeling like an outsider amid the go-getting optimism of 1990s America
and of making a concerted effort to lose all traces of his Romanian accent
He was the outsider who wanted to fit in – just like Bucky
He has been upfront about the MCU being a lifeline
He was best known for a recurring part in the rich-kid soap opera Gossip Girl and for playing the baddie in Hot Tub Time Machine – the residuals from which were just about keeping him afloat when he auditioned for Captain America’s ill-fated buddy
His character was introduced as a newly minted GI
shipped off to Europe to dispense Stars ’n’ Stripes justice to the Nazis
it seemed like we had lost a perfectly agreeable minor character – sacrificed so that Cap could understand the value of friendship
Stan’s character lends his name to the title of the second Captain America movie
The Winter Soldier – the best MCU film up to that point
He is chilling and relentless as a programmable assassin whose mind has been wiped by Hydra (Cap’s Nazi enemies in 1943)
who isn’t in the least concerned about his character being likeable – only that he scares us
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Stan’s Marvel character has swung through highs and lows
He was a C-list figure in the later Avengers films – there to fill out an already overstuffed bench
Stan began taking on more interesting side-projects
in which he impressed as Jeff Gillooly – abusive boyfriend
of Margot Robbie’s disgraced figure-skater Tonya Harding
for which he received Golden Globe and Oscar nominations
He also played a charming cannibal in Fresh and a man with facial disfigurement in last year’s A Different Man (for which he won a Golden Globe)
he seared himself into the memory of the unsuspecting viewer in the 2022 Disney + series Pam & Tommy
playing Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee in a “can’t be unseen” sequence in which he converses with his own anthropomorphic penis
Amid those diverging opinions, Stan was a rare bright light, imbuing Lee with a hint of tragedy. He was the hair-metal meathead with a tragic gaze and the air of someone who knew deep down that there was more to life than wrecking hotel rooms and joshing with his junk.
Despite his forays into more critically lauded fare, Stan has always chosen to look at the MCU not as a burden but as a gift – never grumbling, or behaving as if he was above the material.
Many actors have, of course, accepted the MCU’s money only to then badmouth the franchise. Anthony Hopkins said his role in Thor and its sequels amounted to little beyond “shouting a bit”: “If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it,” he tutted. Christian Bale described Thor: Love & Thunder as “monotony”; Mickey Rourke branded Iron Man 2 “mindless” and “s***”.
Even Robert Downey Jr, the franchise’s biggest star, has levelled digs at the films, calling them “content” and suggesting that an acting muscle may have “atrophied” during his time in the MCU.
Thunderbolts* is unlikely to silence the dissenters, but reviews have hailed it as one of Marvel’s best films in years. There are fight scenes, spectacular set pieces, and lashings of the trademark Marvel “banter” – sarcastic, tension-alleviating quips adored by fans but which detractors have identified as the franchise’s great sin against the spoken word. (In the modern movie-going landscape, there is apparently nothing more egregious than a well-crafted zinger.)
Former Liverpool winger John Barnes does not believe there is a pressing need for Arne Slot to bolster his Premier League title winners with new signings
A record-equalling 20th championship was achieved with a squad which had just one summer addition – the £10million misfit Federico Chiesa
When Jurgen Klopp ended the club’s 30-year wait for a title in 2020 he bought Diogo Jota
Kostas Tsimikas and Thiago Alcantara for a combined £73million but only the former has been a success
and a qualified one at that because of his chequered injury record
A season-ending ACL injury to Virgil van Dijk in October
left Klopp so short of centre-backs that midfielders Jordan Henderson and Fabinho ended up being paired there as the team limped to a third-place finish
There are no guarantees where fitness is concerned
even if Liverpol’s injury record improved in Slot’s first season
but Van Dijk has already spoken about a “big summer” ahead after extending his stay
A deal was agreed last year for Valencia’s 24-year-old Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili to join in July and reinforcements are expected
Barnes believes the squad can challenge again even if out-of-contract right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold does make his expected move to Real Madrid
I’m a bit old school in thinking the solution to problems is not just signing players,” he told the PA news agency
“We have won the league comfortably so why do we need to sign players
We have kept the two most important players (Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah)
world-class players all over the pitch as we’ve shown
I’m not concerned about whether we sign players in the summer
“Other people will catch us but I’d love to stand still because if we stand still we’re still at the top
Manchester City have already begun their bid to wrestle back the title with the likes of defender Abdukodir Khusanov and forward Omar Marmoush joining in January with more set to follow
while this season’s likely runners-up Arsenal also look like investing significantly
“Those are the teams who then need to improve
Us signing players doesn’t necessarily mean we will improve so
who attended Sunday’s London Marathon as part of Lucozade’s Bring the Energy Zone promotion
“Teams sometimes get worse because the players don’t work out
Other teams have to take that chance because they need to improve
Regardless, it seems striker Darwin Nunez, a potential club-record signing when he arrived from Benfica nearly three years ago, will leave having struggled to improve under Slot.
The Uruguay international has cut a frustrated figure and has scored just seven times – and only once since his match-winning substitute cameo at Brentford in January – this season having managed just one league start since Boxing Day.
“If Nunez had been playing and we hadn’t been winning (it’s different) but if he’s not playing then why do we need an upgrade on Nunez?” said Barnes.
“You are talking about an upgrade of someone who is on the bench to be on the bench, not to be in the team.”
A new mural will be officially unveiled at Barnes station on Friday 7 February
It's a beautiful example of collaboration between the Barnes community and Hounslow and Richmond Community Rail Partnership
Hounslow and Richmond Community Rail Partnership is part of a nationwide network that supports local communities and local railway services across Britain
The partnership is dedicated to supporting community-based groups
volunteers and partnerships that deliver social benefit and connect communities with the SWR stations along the Hounslow Loop comprising of 15 stations in Richmond and Hounslow
The funding for the mural was provided by SWR and Network Rail through the Hounslow and Richmond Community Rail Partnership
and delivered alongside the new lifts at the station which were funded via the Department for Transport’s Access for All fund
Inspiration and design work were contributed by local primary schools and community groups
St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School
Up to: January 2025
watching on television from a hospital bed and too ill to activate a telephone line to the home dugout
Newcastle’s players were so determined to send their manager a meaningful get-well message that they ultimately put on the sort of show that not merely proved Howe’s hard work on Tyneside is yielding rich rewards but blew Manchester United away.
On an afternoon when Thomas Tuchel, England’s head coach, occupied a seat in the directors’ box, Tino Livramento and Harvey Barnes pressed their international claims. Livramento had an excellent game out of position at left-back as goals from the similarly outstanding Sandro Tonali, Barnes (twice) and Bruno Guimarães lifted Newcastle to fourth in the table.
The triumphalist strains of Status Quo’s Rocking All Over the World that boomed out of the sound system at the final whistle were not misplaced; a Champions League place appears well within their grasp.
had reason to punch the air in delight at the final whistle
The Portuguese’s side – in mitigation fairly heavily rotated here as the Europa League is prioritised – have slipped to 14th and another awkward inquest centred on defending and goalkeeping doubtless awaited them on their return to Manchester
Only two minutes into a long‑awaited Premier League debut
Altay Bayindir found himself picking the ball out of his net
selected ahead of the dropped – or rested – André Onana
Joelinton was clearly offside as he turned Kieran Trippier’s cross home and that effort was disallowed
When Joshua Zirkzee subsequently turned slapdash and forfeited possession
Jacob Murphy’s shot flew fractionally wide
perhaps prompting Amorim’s players to briefly get their act together
As the visitors showed they were capable of establishing
initially looked encouragingly unfazed in the face of Trippier’s streetwise attentions
Newcastle’s sting was drawn and a deft one-two involving Zirkzee and Bruno Fernandes concluded with Nick Pope tipping the former’s shot over the crossbar
Not that Amorim looked exactly satisfied as he incessantly paced the perimeters of his technical area in the manner of a hyperactive child fuelled by a sugar rush with his body language turning even more manic as Tonali volleyed Newcastle in front
View image in fullscreenSandro Tonali fires Newcastle into a first-half lead
Photograph: Richard Lee/ShutterstockIt began with Manuel Ugarte conceding possession and allowing Trippier to pick out Alexander Isak
All that remained was for the Swede to swivel free of his marker before dinking a pass for Tonali to volley past Bayindir
The only consolation for the former Fenerbahce goalkeeper was that there was absolutely nothing he could have done to prevent it
The anxiety etched on Amorim’s face every time Tonali received the ball reflected the latter’s impact
Anyone devising an identikit of the complete midfielder could do worse than model it on the string-pulling
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curling a 25-yard shot narrowly wide as Amorim shook his header with the puzzlement of a man who very possibly wonders why on earth he left Lisbon
Not that a team who flattered to deceive whenever Fernandes contributed a clever touch were quite out of it
into the bottom corner at the end of a fine counterattack conjured by the suddenly quick-thinking Ugarte and Diogo Dalot
The rapidity of Garnacho’s acceleration seemed capable of wrong-footing Newcastle and
Pope came to the rescue again and denied him a second goal
If only Amorim’s defence did not look quite so prone to melting in the face of the slightest bit of attacking heat
his touchline prowling might not be quite so frantic
How Manchester United could do with a bit of Newcastle’s efficiency at both ends
something emphasised as Tindall tightened the home pressing mechanism and Barnes restored his side’s lead with a simple tap-in after Livramento’s devastating counterattacking advance
With Dalot left trailing in Livramento’s rear view mirror
the full-back crossed for Murphy to cut the ball back into Barnes’s path
Amorim’s dismay deepened as first Zirkzee hobbled off with a hamstring injury and then Barnes scored again
His first goal may have been routine but this was anything but
It began with the winger dispossessing Noussair Mazraoui and involved him sprinting past two more defenders before lashing an unstoppable shot beyond Bayindir’s reach
Tuchel could do worse than summon Barnes to his next squad
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then Notifications.Turn on sport notifications.Was this helpful?Thank you for your feedback.Poor Bayindir was at fault for the fourth as
whose ensuing header cued up Guimarães to do the rest
It will certainly be intriguing to see whom Amorim selects in goal for United’s all important Europa League engagement with Lyon on Thursday night
Women
Kent Cricket is delighted to announce that Kent Talent Pathway graduate Olivia Barnes has been made available to play for Kent Women this Summer on a match-by-match basis
Be there to witness the start of new era of Kent Women at the Home of Kent Cricket on Saturday 26 April:
Entry is FREE for all valid 2025 Kent Members
With no Kent Men match over the weekend of 26 April
this is your ideal chance to support Kent Women at The Spitfire Ground in their first home match of the 2025 season
the first year of a new chapter for the Horses
The 19-year-old originally made her Kent debut in May 2022
and made 14 appearances for the Horses before making the move to the west country ahead of the first season of League One cricket with Somerset
She returns to Kent after playing for the county from Under 11s upwards
after also having spent time with South East Stars and Sunrisers at regional level
The Margate-born left-arm orthodox spinner and right-hand batter will be available for Kent Women in the Metro Bank One Day Cup League Two and Vitality Blast League Two from 21 April onwards
Barnes said: “I’m so happy to be able to play for my home county again in 2025 around my commitments with Somerset
“There is a great squad at Kent that is ready to compete for honours across two formats – I’m chuffed that I can be more than just a fan now following from afar
but I can wear a Kent shirt again and continue my development.”
said: “We’re extremely pleased that Liv has been made available for us again this Summer
“She adds an extra dimension for our bowling unit and is an aggressive middle-order batter
“The fact that multiple former Kent Talent Pathway players that have moved up to League One cricket are actively looking to return and be a part of our new chapter shows the strength we have as a squad
and our commitment to continuing to be one of the most successful women’s county sides in the country.”
Her first game as Head Coach will be at The Spitfire Ground
against West Indies in an International T20 match under lights
Be there for the start of the International Summer and a new beginning for England Women – tickets are over 50% sold
All-action T20 cricket is back in Canterbury this June & July
Get the best seats in the house and enjoy exclusive access and benefits with a Kent Cricket Membership for 2025
The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury
Download all upcoming fixtures and add them to your calendar
Download a PDF of all upcoming Men’s & Women’s fixtures
Site by: TILT
When Danny White was announced as the University of Tennessee's athletic director on Jan
his first objectives were to hire a new football coach and navigate that program through an NCAA investigation
White's first significant personnel change occurred last year
when he fired Kellie Harper as women's basketball coach and replaced her with Kim Caldwell
The Volunteers were humming along in men's basketball under the direction of Rick Barnes when White arrived
so that aspect of his job was and continues to be rather simple
"I love working with Rick Barnes," White said in a news conference this past Thursday night before the Tri-Cities Big Orange Caravan stop
"He's a great leader who is overseeing the most successful run in our men's basketball history
I love everything about how he runs his program
"I've spent zero time worrying about our men's basketball program."
Tennessee has compiled a 109-36 men's basketball record in the four full seasons since White became athletic director
winning one Southeastern Conference regular-season championship
one SEC tournament title and advancing to the Elite Eight each of the past two NCAA tournaments
The Vols have been equal parts successful and stable under Barnes
advancing to the 2024 Elite Eight with the help of fifth-year seniors Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi and this past Elite Eight with fourth-year seniors Jahmai Mashack and Zakai Zeigler
Mashack wound up receiving the Torchbearer Award
which is the highest student honor conferred by the university
while Zeigler is in the conversation for the most beloved player in program history
"We've built our program really based on high-character people and guys who are very team-oriented and are very hard workers," Barnes said Thursday night at the Kingsport event
"Everyone has a culture and people talk about that
but we feel like we know what we're looking for
and I think we've been able to attract people who really want to be at the University of Tennessee
Every team here is given the resources to compete at the highest level."
Barnes had some obvious rebuilding to do in recent weeks after having to replace five of his top six players -- Mashack
-- from the third team in program history to win at least 30 games
Starting that rebuild meant keeping every other scholarship player from entering the NCAA transfer portal
Boston University and the Vols have accomplished this offseason out of the 364 Division I members
four-star shooting guard Amari Evans and four-star center DeWayne Brown
"The kids he brings into our program he develops into men," White said
"They're high-character and represent us really well
I don't think we've had a single issue off the court since I've been here
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com
David Paschall has covered sports at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since 1999 and wrote for the Chattanooga Free Press in the nine years before that
David has mostly covered college athletics
with a focus on the University of Georgia from 2000 to 2019 and the University of Tennessee since 2020
He grew up in Chattanooga and is a graduate of the Baylor School and Auburn University
David has received multiple writing awards and has served as a Heisman Trophy voter since 2003
He has also worked in radio in Chattanooga and has been on the SEC Network's "Classic Rewind" series since 2014
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has told his players to use Harvey Barnes’s patience as an example as the winger prepares to return to his former club Leicester for the first time
The 27-year-old left the King Power Stadium in a £38m switch to Tyneside in July 2023 after the Foxes’ relegation from the top flight
but has had to remain patient since as he vies with Anthony Gordon for a place on the left side of Howe’s front three
Gordon’s recent suspension and injury have handed Barnes a chance. He started the Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool and as he heads back to the East Midlands, Howe faces a difficult choice between him and the England international.
Read moreAsked what the forward has to do to establish himself as a regular
Howe said: “I think it’s continue to take your chance
The training ground is match day for the lads that aren’t playing
so they need to see training as that important
They need to show that they’re better than the player in their position and that’s a really healthy squad dynamic to have
Barnes’s misfortune was to arrive at St James’ Park and find Gordon in blistering form
and Howe’s efforts to shoehorn both men into his starting lineup earlier in the season resulted in only limited success
he has had to bide his time and try to make an impact from the bench
but his performances in Gordon’s absence have given his manager food for thought
Howe said: “We’ve really tried to focus on Harvey’s game and his training and try to see it as an opportunity to improve him while he’s out of the team
while recognising his qualities and knowing that we want him in the team
That’s a very difficult thing because we probably didn’t have the balance of the side right early season
We were trying players in different positions to try and find a way to make that work
We didn’t probably have the right outcome then.”
Now Barnes will hope for a chance to show what he can do in familiar surroundings to remind Howe of why he wanted to sign him in the first place as the race for Champions League qualification gathers pace
Howe said: “I’m sure the game will mean a lot to Harvey
It was a very successful period for him at Leicester
very strong and we always had really tough games against them
so I’m delighted that Harvey’s now with us.”