The Guide #193: Meet Ernesto, the viral America’s Got Talent contestant … who doesn’t exist

Have you heard Ernesto’s story? It’s a real tearjerker. You may well be familiar with it, in fact, having caught it on YouTube, TikTok or Instagram at some point over the last few weeks.A hard-working carpenter, Ernesto devoted every ounce of himself to his wife and child, skipping meals and working overtime to provide for them and send his son through college. But things changed: said wife and child grew distant and walked out on poor old Ernesto, who lost his house and sense of purpose, eventually ending up on the streets.The one thing Ernesto did have left? His beautiful baritone singing voice, of course

Jimmy Kimmel on Elon Musk’s Doge tenure: ‘He came, he chainsawed, we bled, he left’

With most late-night hosts on vacation, Jimmy Kimmel celebrates the end of Elon Musk’s term in Washington and riffs on the new Taco nickname for Donald Trump.Jimmy Kimmel celebrated a big announcement on Thursday evening: Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s head of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), posted on X that he would officially step down from his post and leave Washington DC. “We’re just happy that your time as a special government employee has come to an end,” Kimmel said.“Elon had a remarkable 130-day stint in government,” he continued, speaking of Musk’s highly controversial and much-loathed stint of firing civil service workers. “He came, he chainsawed, we bled, he left

London tunnels that inspired James Bond creator will become spy museum

During his time in military intelligence, Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels, regularly worked with Winston Churchill’s spy organisation based 30 metres below ground in a labyrinth of tunnels in central London.The Kingsway Exchange tunnels complex, stretching out across 8,000 sq metres beneath High Holborn, near Chancery Lane underground station, hosted the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and is said to have inspired Q Branch in Fleming’s novels.So it seems appropriate that plans to breathe new life into this long-abandoned second world war subterranean network will include a permanent exhibition about the history of military intelligence and espionage.The Military Intelligence Museum is to collaborate with the London Tunnels company, developing the complex to showcase its original artefacts, equipment, weapons and documents in a modern hi-tech experience at the proposed new £220m London tourist attraction, which is planned to open in 2028.Today the tunnels remain closed, but inside they yield many clues to their fascinating past

Parks are for all, not just paying festivalgoers | Letters

Emma Warren, who is quoted in your article (What are public parks for? Inside the debate sparked by London festival row, 24 May), could not be more wrong when she says the Protect Brockwell Park campaign is about “a small number of people trying to limit a larger number of people’s access to space”. Parks are open to everyone, all year round, except during the weeks leading up to and during such festivals.For centuries, local parks have preserved the sanity of parents with young children, allowed children to meet each other and create play with the simplest of means, and permitted elderly people a break from the loneliness of being stuck at home. Parks need preserving because they are egalitarian and provide a meeting space that helps build communities.Very few object to short festivals that treat a park and the local community with respect

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump pardoning the Chrisleys: ‘He has a soft spot in his heart for fraud’

With most late-night hosts on vacation, Jimmy Kimmel unpacks Donald Trump’s full pardons of fellow reality stars Julie and Todd Chrisley, among others.Jimmy Kimmel admitted on Thursday evening that yes, he is often critical of Donald Trump. But “it isn’t fair to focus only on the negative,” he said. “We should focus on the positives too. And today, President Trump showed that he isn’t just a dishonest, divisive, money-grubbing, golfball-pounding narcissist who cares only about himself

‘24/7 transgression? That would be exhausting!’ Cosey Fanni Tutti on radical art, gardening and Kneecap’s ‘power and strength’

The Throbbing Gristle musician and writer answers your questions on everything from squat life to societal outrage and the best music for stripteaseYour ultra-radical art projects during the COUM Transmissions era [in the 1970s] shattered every conceivable boundary – from the ethical to the bodily. Even now, viewed through the lens of history, it feels as though you broke through everything that could be broken, before crossing over into pop culture. Has society become any freer? Has art become any less commodified? Dmitry_SI think it has become more commodified. Nothing comes to my attention that would make me think that art has become anything other than a business. That’s down to people wanting a career