‘An Arab in a post-9/11 world’: Khalid Abdalla’s one-man play about belonging comes to Australia

When British-Egyptian actor Khalid Abdalla farewelled the hit series The Crown and his character, Dodi Fayed, he knew he was saying goodbye to a role with a depth and significance well beyond merely a love interest for Princess Diana.“Dodi is one of the first Arab characters I can think of in the history of [western] film that you get to know and love, not fear,” says Abdalla, seated in his London home two years after the series ended. “And so, when he dies, you mourn him.”Glasgow-born Abdalla, 45, whose father and grandfather were leftist political dissidents in Egypt, well understood the cultural significance of fleshing out the character of Alexandria-born Fayed beyond the playboy of legend.He was also acutely aware of the political moment in which his portrayal was being presented

Tension on the streets, the mushroom trial circus and a devastating terrorist attack – looking back on Australia’s turbulent 2025

Fires, floods, murders, a missing child and a massacre – 2025 in Australia brought some of the very worst news.Threaded through the year were themes that persisted from 2024 and will carry on into 2026 – the cost of living, interest rates, immigration debates, the housing crisis, global instability, AI and Aukus.And, of course, the effects of the climate crisis, the battle against it, and the battle against the battle against it.But the year also brought twisty tales, uniquely Australian moments and events that will change the nation for ever.A range of charges were brought under the Australian federal police’s special operation Avalite, targeting antisemitic behaviour

The best films of 2025 … you may not have seen

There’s something almost self-fulfilling about Endless Cookie being an overlooked gem. The crudely animated Canadian documentary, directed by two half-brothers occupying separate worlds between Toronto and Shamattawa First Nation, lives in and finds its voice in the ellipses between typical narrative beats. A fart, a toilet flush, mumbling asides and the squabble of children sharing the same room as Seth Scriver (who is white) he interviews his Indigenous brother Pete are among the overlooked moments that are usually left on a cutting-room floor. But they resonate in Endless Cookie, like life refusing to be silenced in a surrealist self-portraiture that delights in colouring outside the lines. Institutional violence and neglect, intergenerational trauma and over-policing in Indigenous communities are all visible, but often kept at bay

‘I once Bogarted a joint from a Beatle’: Stewart Copeland of the Police

Your 2025 album, Wild Concerto, stars birds and animals as soloists; what animal do you think best represents you, and why?The wolves of the Arctic Circle! Actually, no, no, no – the hyenas of the Skeleton Coast. Hyenas are very cool animals: they’re butt ugly, but they have extremely complex society, they’re very complex vocally, and they’re very strange animals. I don’t know whether I identify with them personally or not. OK, fuck that: let’s go back to the wolf, much more heroic.You’ve been touring your in-conversation show – what is the most common question you get from audiences?Someone always asks me about Spyro [1998 platformer Spyro The Dragon]

From Central Cee to Adolescence: in 2025 British culture had a global moment – but can it last?

Despite funding cuts and shuttered venues, homegrown music, TV, film and, yes, memes have dominated the global zeitgeist over the past 12 years. Now this culture must be future-proofed from the forces of globalisationOn the face of it, British culture looks doomed. Our music industry is now borderline untenable, with grassroots venues shuttering at speed (125 in 2023 alone) and artists unable to afford to play the few that are left; touring has become a loss leader that even established acts must subsidise with other work. Meanwhile, streaming has gutted the value of recorded music, leading to industry contraction at the highest level: earlier this year the UK divisions of Warners and Atlantic – two of our biggest record labels – were effectively subsumed into the US business.In comedy, the Edinburgh fringe – the crucible of modern British standup, sketch and sitcom – is in existential crisis thanks to a dearth of sponsorship and prohibitively high costs for performers

The best songs of 2025 … you may not have heard

There is a sense of deep knowing and calm to Not Offended, the lone song released this year by the Danish-Montenegrin musician (also an earlier graduate of the Copenhagen music school currently producing every interesting alternative pop star). To warmly droning organ that hangs like the last streak of sunlight above a darkening horizon, Milovic assures someone that they haven’t offended her – but her steady Teutonic tenderness, reminiscent of Molly Nilsson or Sophia Kennedy, suggests that their actions weren’t provocative so much as evasive. Strings flutter tentatively as she addresses this person who can’t look life in the eye right now. “I see you clearly,” Milovic sings, as the drums kick in and the strings become full-blooded: a reminder of the ease that letting go can offer. Laura SnapesIn a year that saw the troubling rise of AI-generated slop music, there is something endlessly comforting about a song that can only have been written by a messy, complicated human