Jon Stewart on politicization of USA hockey win: ‘Is Kash Patel a Make-a-Wish man?’

Late-night hosts reacted to Republicans claiming USA hockey Olympic victories as their own and the US supreme court declaring Donald Trump’s tariffs unconstitutional.Jon Stewart returned to his Monday-night Daily Show perch just a day after the US Olympic men’s hockey team beat Canada in overtime to win the country’s first gold medal since 1980. “This country is in such emotional turmoil right now,” he said. “A feeling that we are one nation divided, under siege. That perhaps we have crossed a Rubicon of this great American experiment, and that we, slowly and inexorably, are sliding into the abyss of fallen and broken democracies

Down with Love: Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger’s perfectly offbeat 60s fantasy

In May 2003, a romcom starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor seemed like a surefire recipe for success. Zellweger had just earned consecutive best actress Oscar nominations for Bridget Jones’ Diary and Chicago, and McGregor had leading roles in zeitgeist-defining hits including Moulin Rouge and Star Wars. But on release, Down with Love barely made a dent at the box office, and audiences and critics alike were baffled by its camp sensibility and embrace of artifice.In the film, Zellweger plays writer Barbara Novak, who arrives in New York City in 1962 to publish her feminist manifesto, Down with Love. Novak’s book encourages women to reject romance, embrace sex and refute the rigid gender roles of 50s America, and with the help of her publisher, Vikki (Sarah Paulson), Down with Love becomes a worldwide phenomenon – much to the chagrin of “man’s-man-ladies’-man-man about town” Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor)

Maxi Shield, beloved Australian drag queen and Drag Race Down Under star, dies aged 51

One of Australia’s best-known and loved drag queens, Sydney’s Maxi Shield, has died after being diagnosed with throat cancer, prompting tributes from around the world.Kristopher Elliot, who performed drag under the name Maxi Shield, was 51. Shield was a mainstay of the Sydney drag scene and brought Australian drag to the world as contestant in season one of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under.Shield revealed she had throat cancer in September, which forced her to step down from performing in a Kath & Kim show at Edinburgh fringe with a fellow Drag Race Down Under season one alum, Art Simone.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailShe returned to performing at the Oxford Hotel and Palms on the gay strip of Oxford Street in Sydney this month, and was set to host a sold-out Mardi Gras viewing party at the Oxford Hotel on Saturday

Kenneth Williams and racist attitudes | Brief letters

While appreciating Kenneth Williams’ humour, I felt uneasy that your article (‘He loved showing his bum. Loved it’: the subversive genius of Kenneth Williams, 20 February) didn’t simply state he had racist attitudes. Referring to a dislike of Sid James and people of colour seems to water down unacceptable views.Catherine UtleyLondon When I can’t sleep because my brain is too busy, I have my own method of “cognitive shufflng” (I tried the latest sleep trick – and my husband and I were up all night, 18 February). I choose a subject and try to think of an example for each letter of the alphabet

Philippe Gaulier obituary

In 1980 the École Philippe Gaulier opened its doors in Paris to help performers find and celebrate their “inner idiot”. The school quickly became the prime destination for clown training, attracting theatre students, actors and curious others from around the world.Philippe, who has died aged 82 following a lung infection, made the concept of le jeu – play – central to his teaching. For him, comedy was not about jokes but about danger: the moment when a performer risks failure or ridicule in pursuit of delight. His clowns were not sentimental innocents but mischievous creatures who loved the audience and longed to be loved in return

‘Musicians drank too much and slept on my barn floor’: Andrew Bird on making cult album The Mysterious Production of Eggs

We had a family farm three hours west of Chicago, and when I was scoping out potential studio spaces I remembered some barns where my brother and I used to make forts out of hay bales when we were little. One was in rough shape and had racoons living in it, but I got a local carpenter to do the skilled jobs and I did the mundane stuff such as boards for the ceiling. Then I just moved in, but I hadn’t realised how isolating it would be. It was February and snowing and none of my friends had cars. I’d go for two weeks at a time without speaking to anyone