Stephen Colbert to Trump: ‘Why would you start a beef with the pope?’

Late-night hosts dissected Donald Trump’s ability to anger Christians around the world with his attacks on Pope Leo XIV and the AI-generated image depicting him as Jesus.“The last 10 years of Donald Trump worming his way into our brains have been weird,” said Stephen Colbert on Tuesday evening. “But yesterday might have been the weirdest weird that ever weirded. And I’ll just let this actual 100% real, we did not make this up or change this footage in any way, CSpan report sum up the times we’re living in.”Colbert then played a clip of CSpan reporting that Trump took questions outside the White House after having McDonald’s delivered via the food delivery app DoorDash

‘This craving to go viral is tiresome’: the artists sick of the pressure to promote on social media

From Stewart Lee in his wolf costume to Werner Herzog’s big steak sizzle-up, artists are now under huge duress to ‘chase the algorithm’ and reach audiences. Many of them are hitting burnout – and hitting backThere was a meme recently featuring Tony Soprano looking characteristically menacing, with a caption that reads: “Imagine telling him he needs to create short form content to engage the algorithm.” But that sentiment feels inescapable: 82% of all internet traffic is now made up of videos, and the number of short-form videos published on the likes of TikTok and Instagram grew by 71% in the year from 2024.You may have noticed there is a particularly high number of videos featuring people’s faces, which the algorithm rewards. All of a sudden, chefs, lawyers, podcasters, critics – all people with jobs once associated with an off-camera existence – are turning the lens on themselves

Sir Neil Cossons obituary

Neil Cossons, who has died aged 87, wore a convincing disguise as a mild, respectable, affable, slightly conventional chap. But over a long and outstanding career in the museums and heritage sector – during which he was director of the Science Museum for 14 years – civil servants, trustees and ministers who battled with him over policy and funding discovered he was as tenacious as a terrier. He was determined to preserve and promote Britain’s scientific and industrial heritage and make culture accessible to all.In 2000 he became chair of English Heritage, the quango responsible for protecting the historic environment – since split into Historic England and the charity English Heritage, which cares for 400 sites and monuments.In his first year there, he led the steering group that produced Power of Place, an influential policy document produced in partnership with other heritage organisations, which stressed the value and potential of the wider historic environment including high streets, town centres and suburbs; it set the tone of his interests at English Heritage

V&A censored catalogues after demands by Chinese printer

One of the UK’s leading museums has accepted demands by a Chinese firm that publishes its catalogues to remove images that fall foul of the country’s censorship laws.The Victoria and Albert Museum has agreed to requests by the Chinese printing company to delete maps and images from at least two recent exhibition catalogues, according to documents released to the Guardian after freedom of information requests.Like other prominent institutions, including the British Museum, Tate and the British Library, the V&A often uses Chinese printers because they can produce catalogues at half the cost of British or European companies.But in doing so, they have to accede to censorship requests relating to any topics or images deemed sensitive by the Chinese government, such as Buddhism, Taiwan, Tibet, Tiananmen Square and pro-democracy activities.The disclosures from the V&A lay bare the detailed scope of China’s censorship on museum publishers

Jon Stewart on Trump’s Jesus photo denial: ‘Do you even care about lying to us any more?’

Late-night hosts reacted to the breakdown of peace talks between the US and Iran and Donald Trump’s one-sided beef with Pope Leo XIV.Jon Stewart returned to the Daily Show on Monday evening to break down the public clashes between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, which began when the pope delivered a “beautiful, compassionate message” for the Easter holiday calling for peace around the world.“It does not come into my brain that anyone in the world hearing the Pope’s message of peace will have some kind of weird problem with it,” the host noted. Except for Trump, who posted on his social media website Truth Social that the leader of the Catholic church was “weak” and a “loser”.“I am really starting to sour on this president,” Stewart joked

Miracle Mile: boy meets girl, romcom meets nuclear war

Miracle Mile is the result of an 80s romcom getting a severe bout of nuclear fear. It’s a uniquely chilling thriller, combining the disparate elements of screwball romance with a paranoid conspiracy to create a beat-the-clock urgency that defies categorisation and expectations.Jazz musician Harry (Anthony Edwards) meets and falls in love with Julie (Mare Winningham) while visiting Los Angeles, having spent an idyllic afternoon together. Julie rushes off to work and Harry returns to his hotel, with the pair arranging to meet that night.But thanks to a bizarre proto-Final Destination cause-and-effect, Harry blows out the building’s electricity while napping, causing him to be hours late for their rendezvous