The Guide #231: ​How the ​hunt for the ​next James Bond ​became the ​franchise’s ​best ​marketing ​tool

Callum Turner’s turn as James Bond lasted at most a couple of weeks. No sooner had he been enshrined as frontrunner to succeed Daniel Craig, than he was nudged from the DB5 driver’s seat by the latest heir apparent, Jacob Elordi, installed as the new bookies’ favourite after his smouldering, highly profitable performance in Wuthering Heights. Smarting somewhere in the background is Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who seemed locked in for the job a couple of years ago, enjoying the backing of former 007s Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby, but now seems to have fallen out of favour. And don’t forget the succession of other dead cert Bonds now banished to the back of the odds market: the long-rumoured likes of Tom Hardy and Idris Elba (both now likely to have aged out of the role); Theo James; James Norton; Josh O’Connor; Harris Dickinson; Bridgerton’s Rége-Jean Page; and approximately 5,000 other predominately British actors who have enjoyed box office success/led a successful TV drama/look good in a tuxedo.On and on the hunt goes

Goodies galore in a Clued-up crossword tribute to Graeme Garden | Brief letters

Thanks to Soup for the splendid birthday compliment to Graeme Garden (Cryptic crossword, 18 February). It brought back joyous memories of the Goodies, and reminded me of how many years I’ve been hooting with laughter at I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. Many happy returns, Graeme – and all power to your setting, Soup.Julie MottersheadDeal, Kent Roger Mosey makes a lot of good points in his critique of the current news agenda (While we’re seeking to fix what’s wrong with Britain, look hard at our policy-lite, sensation-seeking media, 18 February). At the BBC, we used to have something called “the significance test”

Salman Rushdie among 170 figures to sign open letter over Barbican arts lead departure

Salman Rushdie, John Akomfrah and Pankaj Mishra are among more than 170 cultural figures who have signed an open letter to the Barbican expressing concern over the departure of its arts director, Devyani Saltzman.Saltzman, who became director of arts and participation at the Barbican in February 2024, is leaving the institution amid a significant leadership change a few weeks after its new CEO joined.Saltzman was recently named as one of the 40 most influential women working in the arts in the UK, and was described as the driving force behind the organisation. Her departure comes months after she unveiled a five-year creative vision for the Barbican.“We are writing as a group of global majority creative and cultural leaders and allies to express our profound disappointment and alarm at the decision to curtail Devyani Saltzman’s tenure,” the letter said

Colbert on Kristi Noem: ‘Everyone can’t wait to tell a reporter how awful you are’

With Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel off air for the Presidents’ Day holiday, Stephen Colbert focused his monologue on a Kristi Noem scandal and Maha’s new suggested way to enjoy vegetables.On Monday night’s Late Show, Colbert returned after a week off the air to focus on the Wall Street Journal’s recent exposé of Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary. The host described the piece as “the kind of article that gets published only if everyone who works for you can’t wait to tell a reporter just how awful you are”.The Journal exposé claims that Noem is jealous of the border czar, Tom Homan, and monitors her media appearances to make sure that she is on TV more than he is. The article also reports that Noem’s relationship with the Trump aide Corey Lewandowski is more than professional, and the pair are in a romantic relationship despite both being married with children

Pluto: the spinoff that reshapes Astro Boy into a provocative political drama

Astro Boy, first serialised in 1952, remains one of Japan’s national treasures and the defining work of the “father of manga”, Osamu Tezuka. When the renowned manga artist Naoki Urasawa revealed in 2003 that he would reimagine Astro Boy in a new series, expectations were astronomical. Astonishingly, Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka did not just honour its source material; it radically expanded it and became an immediate critical and commercial sensation. While the 2023 anime adaptation doesn’t quite surpass the manga’s cultural impact, it still manages to faithfully capture the philosophical and emotional adeptness of its source material.Over eight hour-long episodes, Pluto does not follow Atom, the spiky-haired protagonist of Astro Boy; instead, it centres on Gesicht, a German detective and one of the world’s most advanced robots

My cultural awakening: Thirteen influenced my hedonistic youth, until a psychotic episode ended it

My teenage self was shy and miserable, before a coming-of-age film unleashed an adolescence of drink, sex and drugs. It was a years-long party that eventually came crashing downAt 13, what felt like almost overnight, I turned from a happy, musical-theatre-loving child into a sad, lonely teenager. Things I had cared about only yesterday were suddenly irrelevant, as I realised that nothing and no one mattered, least of all me. It’s an angst that adults often find difficult to remember or understand; as the famous line from The Virgin Suicides goes: “Obviously, Doctor, you’ve never been a 13-year-old girl.”Going to an all-girls Catholic school, I didn’t even really know that sex, drugs and alcohol existed, or that they had currency, until I watched Thirteen for the first time at 14, after seeing a still on Pinterest