Celia Paul on life after Lucian Freud: I had to make this story my own | Painting
Celia Paul photographed at her studio in London: ‘I am freer than I’ve ever been before.’ Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The ObserverThe artist is best known for her intense, haunting portraits of her close family and herself. She talks about finding her voice by Tim AdamsYou walk up many flights of stairs to reach Celia Paul’s flat, but the climb is worth it. The windows of her studio and bedroom look down on the courtyard and facade of the British Museum.
Chelseas Kai Havertz: From day one I felt a special relationship with donkeys | Chelsea
ChelseaInterviewChelsea’s Kai Havertz: ‘From day one I felt a special relationship with donkeys’Sid LoweThe forward talks about his love for animals, his new charity and how he deals with the highs and lows of being a footballer
“Some of my teammates call me Donkey.” A grin creeps across Kai Havertz’s face. “It’s not because of my football,” the Chelsea forward adds, as if he needed to. Instead, he says, it is something deeper.
Cook one batch of soffritto, make four different meals
Get aheadFoodThe simplest soffritto mix of aromatic, finely diced carrot, celery and onion is a go-to for the organised cook. Make a quick batch at the start of the week for the ultimate sweet, rounded, homely base to many a recipe inspired by Italy...
You don’t need to be a gastro trendsetter to see that this combination of workaday vegetables – carrots, onion and celery, painstakingly diced and slow-cooked – can turn into a riotous base for countless recipes.
Daniel Craig has given us woke James Bond, says Charlie Higson | James Bond
James Bond This article is more than 2 years oldDaniel Craig has given us ‘woke’ James Bond, says Charlie HigsonThis article is more than 2 years oldYoung Bond author highlights how much the spy has changed since Ian Fleming created him in 1953
He’s the brooding bad boy who drives luxury cars, jumps through windows and wrestles on top of moving trains, all while having an array of beautiful women on his arm.
Liberalism and Its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama review a defence of liberalismfrom a for
Book of the dayFrancis FukuyamaReviewIn this slim, elegant book, the author of The End of History outlines with crystalline precision why the liberal spirit, for all its qualities, cannot grow complacent
I read this book, which is a thoughtful critique but ultimately a stalwart defence of liberalism, as Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, and it felt urgent and timely. Vladimir Putin, as Francis Fukuyama reminds us, has declared liberal democracy “obsolete”.
The man who took bullets waging war on Mexico's cartels is now taking on politics
MexicoOn Julián Leyzaola Pérez’s watch as police chief, murder rates in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez plummeted – now after surviving a murderous attack, he’s trying to become mayor of Tijuana When I interviewed him in 2008, Julián Leyzaola Pérez strutted with a military gait. As he should: a former lieutenant colonel in the Mexican army, he had been summoned to command the police force, then head public security in Tijuana, at the time Mexico’s second-most dangerous city.
Feast your eyes, feed your soul: the 31-day art diet for January
Photograph: Catherine MacBride/Getty Images Photograph: Catherine MacBride/Getty ImagesThe Observer's January cultural dietArtFrom a single Van Gogh star to peaches in outer space, brighten up dark January with an artwork a day, selected and introduced by the Observer’s art critic
January is the cruellest month. TS Eliot was wrong. A full 31 days with the sad tinsel of Christmas a departing memory in the winter darkness and February stretching rigidly before you.
Guns N Roses their 20 greatest songs, ranked! | Guns N' Roses
Guns N’ Roses … Steven Adler, Duff McKagan, Axl Rose, Slash and Izzy Stradlin in 1988. Photograph: Icon and Image/Getty ImagesAs they play Spurs’ stadium twice this weekend, we rate the best of the swaggering rock gods, from epic balladry to high-speed juggernauts
by Matt Mills20 Shadow of Your Love (1987)Recorded in 1986 and released a year later, this speed metal gem was released as the B-side of the 12in version of It’s So Easy/Mr Brownstone before being lost to antiquity for 31 years.
Madonna stage collapse kills British man | Madonna
Madonna This article is more than 14 years oldMadonna stage collapse kills British manThis article is more than 14 years oldTwo people, including a British technician, have been killed following the collapse of stage being built for a Madonna concert in MarseilleA stage being built for a Madonna concert in Marseille collapsed on Thursday, killing two people including a British technician.
Charles Prow, 23, had been in intensive care following the accident, but died from his injuries overnight.
MC Beaton, multimillion-selling author of Agatha Raisin novels, dies aged 83 | Crime fiction
Crime fiction This article is more than 4 years oldMC Beaton, multimillion-selling author of Agatha Raisin novels, dies aged 83This article is more than 4 years oldScottish writer, who also created detective Hamish Macbeth, did not take kindly to her ‘cosy crime’ reputation
MC Beaton, the prolific creator of the much loved fictional detectives Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth, has died after a short illness at the age of 83.