
‘My guitar was mangled – like my life!’ Goo Goo Dolls on how they made epic ballad Iris
‘I’m grateful to Taylor Swift, and others who have covered it, for introducing the song to a new generation. Three billion streams on Spotify is astonishing!’I was going through a divorce and living in a hotel in West Hollywood when my manager said Warner Brothers were seeking songs for the movie City of Angels. They already had U2, Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morissette, so I thought getting a track on there would draw attention to us. Warners showed me the film and it was like Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire. They wanted a song for the scene where the angel – played by Nicolas Cage – decides to become human to be with the woman he loves

My cultural awakening: Leonardo da Vinci made me rethink surgery – I’ve since mended more than 3,000 hearts
For one heart surgeon, seeing the Renaissance artist’s anatomical drawings gave him a natural understanding of the body that was often overlooked in modern medical scienceIf you’d asked my teenage self, growing up in a small village in Shropshire, what I wanted to do with my life, I would have talked about art and music long before I spoke of scalpel blades and operating theatres. As an 18-year-old, I intended to go to art school, until my mother sat me down and told me rather bluntly that being an artist wouldn’t earn me much money. As she spoke, a surgical documentary flickered across the screen of the black-and-white television in our living room. I told her, half joking, that that was what I’d do instead. Which is how I ended up repeating my A-levels and fighting my way into medical school, where I qualified in 1975

The Guide #232: From documentary shock to Bafta acclaim – how the screen shaped our understanding of Tourette’s
The wildfire surrounding last week’s Bafta ceremony – where Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson involuntarily shouted a racial slur at actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo, and the BBC aired the moment – continues to rage. Criticisms have been levelled at, and investigations opened by, the Beeb and Bafta; hundreds of news stories and comment pieces have been devoted to the incident (if you read anything, make sure it’s this clear-eyed piece from Jason Okundaye, who was at the ceremony); and the climate on social media has been toxic, with much of the ire directed at Davidson himself. It’s an ire that is based on a complete misunderstanding of coprolalia, the form of Tourette syndrome (TS) that Davidson has, which results in the unintended and completely involuntary utterance of offensive or inappropriate remarks.There’s an unhappy irony at play here because Davidson, arguably more than any other person in Britain, has been responsible for raising awareness of TS. There’s an unfortunate symmetry, too, to the fact that the incident was shown on primetime BBC, because that was where Davidson was first brought to national attention as the subject of the landmark 1989 documentary John’s Not Mad

From The Testament of Ann Lee to Gorillaz: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Amanda Seyfried is Shaker all over in a wild period drama, while Damon Albarn and his cartoon cohort return with a polyglot offeringThe Testament of Ann LeeOut now In Mona Fastvold’s critically acclaimed drama, Amanda Seyfried shakes things up as the founder of the restorationist Christian sect the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. More commonly known as the Shakers, the egalitarian ecstatic worship group coalesced round the visionary female leader in the 18th century.Scream 7Out now The Kevin Williamson-scripted Scream films (1, 2, 4) are probably the best in the franchise, and this time he not only writes but directs the antics of Ghostface et al. Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard and Courteney Cox all make appearances, regardless of whether you thought their characters were dead or not.SirâtOut now In the deserts of southern Morocco, a man searches for his missing daughter, enlisting the help of a group of partygoers who tell of a rave deep in the desert where perhaps she can be found

Pulp have the last word in Adelaide festival saga with triumphant opening gig
Britpop rockers wow crowd and say all voices are ‘important’ in wake of Randa Abdel-Fattah controversyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast“All voices are important,” the Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker told an adoring crowd in Adelaide on Friday. “All voices should be heard.”Message received. At one point Pulp had pulled out of the opening gig at the Adelaide festival over the Adelaide writers’ week (AWW) furore.But they turned up, they wowed the 10,000-strong crowd, and while Cocker didn’t explicitly say his comment was a reference to the brouhaha around AWW, it was pretty clear

Seth Meyers on Team Trump’s Iran threats: ‘These guys speak like they’ve been hit on the head’
On Thursday night, late-night hosts remarked on the Jeffrey Epstein investigations, the threat of a US attack on Iran and Donald Trump nominating a wellness influencer as the next US surgeon general.Meyers focused on the president’s criticisms of a landmark 2015 deal between Iran and world powers in which the country agreed to curb their nuclear program. “I’ve been making lots of wonderful deals, great deals,” Trump said. “That’s what I do. Never in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran

Maritime and port workers: how is the Middle East conflict affecting you?

Labor says Australia won’t run out of fuel due to the Iran conflict. So how much do we have and how long will it last?

UK oil firm fined £13m for repeatedly publishing inaccurate financial results

Workers at top 20 US low-wage firms rely on public assistance, report says

UK supermarket chain Iceland drops trademark dispute with Iceland

UK borrowing costs jump again on fears Iran conflict will curb growth
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