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Attention LaMelo Ball: only losers boast about avoiding diaper duty
lifestyle

Attention LaMelo Ball: only losers boast about avoiding diaper duty

That’s so last century Nobody can accuse the basketball star LaMelo Ball of being bad at his job. Ball has a nine-month-old son, LaOne, with his partner Ana Montana (real name: Analicia Chaves) and is apparently uninterested in dealing with all the body fluids that come with a baby.

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The Stone Roses showed me the power of being an introvert
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The Stone Roses showed me the power of being an introvert

At boarding school in the early 90s, quietness was seen as weakness. But then I saw the band’s guitarist John Squire making a vast noise while hiding behind a fringe – and learned the strength of understatement In September 1991, I had just been thrown into the meat-grinder of a Midlands boarding school.

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Lime bike jousts? Why youth culture is embracing the medieval era
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Lime bike jousts? Why youth culture is embracing the medieval era

From chainmail-wearing pop stars to high-fashion catwalks, the spirit of the middle ages is erupting into the zeitgeist Medieval knights used to joust on warhorses with wooden lances, but this week in east London, two men jousted on Lime bikes with PVC pipes. In the video for Troye Sivan’s latest song, Party, the Australian pop star postures as a medieval knight.

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A theatrical dancer on a pristine limestone mountain in East Java: Mohammad Nur Nasikin’s best phone picture
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A theatrical dancer on a pristine limestone mountain in East Java: Mohammad Nur Nasikin’s best phone picture

The photographer hopes his image of a father and son practising a traditional Indonesian artform will go some way towards preserving it Early this summer, in a pristine, limestone mountain range in the East Java province of Indonesia, Mohammad Nur Nasikin met with the father and son pictured here. “Bujang Ganong is one of the characters in the dance; a young regent who is agile, skilful and clever,” Nasikin explains, “Mr Hanafie, on the left, is a true artist, skilled in many Javanese arts.

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Delving into the subtext of Winnie-the-Pooh
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Delving into the subtext of Winnie-the-Pooh

Ian Arnott recommends the joyous spoofs in The Pooh Perplex, while Dr Peter Glanvill recalls Mary Plain One of the best books about Winnie-the-Pooh (Editorial, 16 October) is The Pooh Perplex, a 1963 work by the American academic Frederick Crews. Ian Arnott Werrington, Peterborough • I was surprised that your editorial mentioned Paddington, but not Mary Plain from the bear pits of Berne, who had a mentor in the form of the Owl Man (named for his horn-rimmed spectacles).

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Ryu Murakami, cult Japanese author, dies aged 74
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Ryu Murakami, cult Japanese author, dies aged 74

The bestselling writer, known as Japan’s enfant terrible, explored the dark underbelly of Japanese society in more than 40 works of subversive fiction including Audition, later made into a landmark indie horror movie Ryu Murakami, the cult Japanese author and film-maker whose subversive, blackly comic novels found millions of readers, has died aged 74. He died on 17 October at home, according to his Japanese publisher Gentosha.

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‘It’s part of our history’: can the menú del día survive Spain’s changing eating habits?
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‘It’s part of our history’: can the menú del día survive Spain’s changing eating habits?

Established under the Franco dictatorship, the lunchtime ritual is in decline but all is not lost A little before lunchtime each working day across Spain, evidence of one of the lingering, if less notorious, legacies of the Franco dictatorship is carefully traced in chalk, marker pen and printer ink. But while 4m menús are still served each weekday, Spain is slowly losing its appetite for the familiar ritual.

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‘It annoys people when I eat’: Siobhán McSweeney on perfect snacks, parental pressure – and the power of being ‘a delicious fatty’
lifestyle

‘It annoys people when I eat’: Siobhán McSweeney on perfect snacks, parental pressure – and the power of being ‘a delicious fatty’

McSweeney burst into the public consciousness back in 2018 with Derry Girls, a comedy series about a group of Catholic schoolgirls, set against the background of the Troubles in 1990s Northern Ireland. McSweeney won a Bafta playing the girls’ headmistress, Sister Michael – a potty-mouthed, judo-loving nun – and can count Martin Scorsese as a fan.

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Jackson Boxer’s vegetarian recipe for brown butter pumpkin soup
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Jackson Boxer’s vegetarian recipe for brown butter pumpkin soup

I love this seasonal (not to mention Halloween-appropriate) soup for its simplicity of approach – essentially, you just roast a beautiful pumpkin with caramelised butter – and the remarkable complexity of its result. Jackson Boxer is chef/owner of Brunswick House, Vesper and Dove, all in London, and culinary director of Cowley Manor near Cheltenham and the Henrietta in London Continue reading...

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‘Comfort in a bowl’: porridge hotter than ever as fibremaxxers get their oats
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‘Comfort in a bowl’: porridge hotter than ever as fibremaxxers get their oats

Humble breakfast staple at heart of trend stirred up by health concerns and hearty spoonfuls of nostalgia The clocks may be going back in the UK this weekend, but the biggest sign winter is coming is a steaming bowl of porridge on a breakfast table. A staple for centuries, porridge is traditionally made with oats, water and a pinch of salt or sugar.

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