Harry Styles has wrapped up his record-breaking residency at Wembley Stadium after performing 12 sold-out shows.

The stint tops records previously set by Coldplay and Taylor Swift, with the singer now holding the record for most concerts performed at the venue by any artist during a single year or a solo artist during one concert run.

Styles, 32, kicked off the London leg of his Together, Together tour on 12 June, with the final show taking place on Saturday.

During his final gig, he paid tribute to his former One Direction bandmates as being “a massive part of this journey”.

Styles’ latest tour was originally billed for six nights at Wembley but was extended due to high demand.

His record surpasses Coldplay’s 10-night run last summer, as well as Swift’s eight nights at the stadium in 2024.

Speaking during the final gig on Saturday – attended by about 80,000 people – Styles paused to reflect on his time with boyband One Direction.

“I wouldn’t be on this stage if it wasn’t for four friends of mine that were a massive part of this journey,” he said.

“I wanna thank Niall, Louis, Zayn and my dear friend Liam for these nights and everything that I learned in this time, the friendship, everything… none of this would be possible, I wouldn’t be here without you, thank you so much.”

One Direction formed in 2010 on the TV talent show The X Factor and went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016. Bandmate Liam Payne died aged 31 in 2024.

ITV is selling its media and entertainment divisions to Sky for £1.6bn in a deal that the companies say will create a strong rival to global streaming giants.

The sale includes ITV’s broadcast channels and its ITVX streaming service, although the company’s studio arm is not included in the deal.

It is one of the biggest takeovers in British media history, with American-owned Comcast – which owns Sky – having started takeover talks in November last year.

Sky chief executive Dana Strong called it “a defining moment for British media”.

“The UK media market is undergoing a profound and rapid transformation, and as competition for audiences intensifies, scale matters more than ever in order to compete with global streaming giants and YouTube in the UK,” Sky Group said in a statement.

The firm said there would be no immediate change to popular shows.

“Viewers will continue to enjoy the shows they know and love, such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Love Island, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, This Morning, Loose Women, Lorraine and News at Ten – alongside major live sporting events,” Sky added in its statement.

ITV is required by law to provide a free-to-air service until at least 2034 under the public service broadcasting licence.

Glasgow trio Biffy Clyro are one of the UK’s biggest rock bands, with last year’s Futique their fourth number one album – and this month they’re in Cardiff for the second time in 2026. In a break between bumper European and US tours, Joshua Williams caught up with Biffy drummer Ben Johnston to whet our appetites for their Cardiff Castle show.

A few weeks into 2026, this writer witnessed Biffy Clyro smash it at a sold-out Utilita Arena in Cardiff, with the Glaswegian group in town off the back of Futique, their 10th album. Just over six months later, they’re set to upgrade: the 10,000-capacity Cardiff Castle is a whole different kettle of fish.

Looking ahead to his band’s late July appearance there, Biffy Clyro drummer Ben Johnston says, “We cannot wait. Cannot wait! We’ve been lucky enough to gig the Castle before, many, many moons ago [ageing editor’s note: Ben is likely thinking of a 2005 Biffy show in the adjacent Cooper’s Field]. It’s just one of the most splendid venues in the whole of the UK. I remember the first gig we ever played in Cardiff, at the Barfly – which was just opposite the castle – so we used to kind of stare over at those big castle walls and think ‘One day we’ll get to play in there…’

“We have great memories of Clwb Ifor Bach as well – back in the day it was always a hotspot for us. Our first tour manager was from Swansea, so we’ve been in the seas in Swansea late at night, drank spirits along the beach. Too many memories to mention really. We’ve spent a lot of time in Wales; it’s a country very close to our hearts.”

You can assume that plenty of Biffy’s fanbase who were there in January will be back for this one – so what will the band change up this time? Ben promises a “somewhat” revamped setlist, and the absence of a roof exploited as best they can.

“There will definitely be some fireworks, some pyrotechnics – some gags, as they call them in the industry. It will be a hell of a lot of fun, and a lot less closed than the winter tour.

“I’m not entirely sure what we’re going to change [on the setlist]. I haven’t thought that far ahead! Simon [Neil, guitarist and lead singer] is the one who gets that job. It’s not a job that I envy at all, but we will definitely change it up just to keep things fresh.”

Though Biffy’s last 12 months have been one of their most successful yet, not all has been smooth sailing for the trio. In December, bass player James Johnston – Ben’s brother, and a founder member alongside Ben and Simon – announced he was stepping back from live duties, citing mental health and addiction-related reasons. Naomi Macleod, who features in Empire State Bastard alongside Simon Neil, stepped into James’ gigging shoes for the January tour.

“It’s been strange, you know,” says Ben of the situation. “Obviously, as an adult, my working life has been beside James the whole time, so it’s been odd. Naomi is a fantastic player, though, and a good presence to have around. She keeps me woke, as it were, because she’s a bit younger than us. So that’s been good fun, getting schooled on how to speak properly. She’s a consummate professional, and she’s great on the stage.”

Asked if there’s a chance James will be back for the summer shows, Ben demurs. “These things don’t have a definite timescale on them. But he’s getting well. We’ll wish him back as soon as he’s able.”

Amidst all of this, the band were also processing the reaction to Futique, which was released in September. “You can’t be unhappy with a number one record!” Ben says. “Live, the songs have been working extremely well, and that’s the important thing. I look forward to playing every single one of them in the set, especially Two People In Love and A Thousand And One.

“There’s a couple we haven’t done yet, like Woe Is Me, Wow Is You. We’ll probably fling those ones in the Cardiff set, actually – the ones we didn’t do on the most recent run. I am extremely happy though. I think it’s our best album.”

With around 25 years of songs to draw on, how does Futique compare to playing the old stuff for Ben? “It’s strange,” he says. “We’ve been asked a lot of times if playing the likes of [2010 single] Many Of Horror has become boring – and it never is, you know. We’ve been finishing the set with Many Of Horror and I’ve been loving it. In any given venue, the song takes on its own kind of life.

“So the old songs still feel fresh alongside the new ones; it’s just… there’s always something amazing about playing new material live. You get such a buzz, and you have to be a little bit more switched on because it’s not quite in your muscles as much as the old ones. But I’ve always loved doing new beside old. It’s what keeps the set fresh.”

Are there any old Biffy classics Ben misses playing? “Not really. We’ve got so many songs – 10 studio albums, B-side albums, soundtrack albums, all these things – I don’t even have time to think about songs that I’m missing. That’s how busy we are. I’m sure there’s people who come to the shows and really want to hear old songs and they miss them but there’s only so many hours in the day I’m afraid.

“We get Jaggy [2004 album track There’s No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake, a fan favourite] shouted at every single show! It’s great, you know, but sometimes we don’t have time.”

Speaking of old favourites, next year will mark two full decades since Puzzle – the fourth Biffy Clyro album, and their effective commercial breakthrough. The likes of Machines, Who’s Got A Match?, and Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies remain staples of the group’s present-day setlist – with scope for a 20th birthday revival of the rest, it seems. “I think we’ll try and find a special way to commemorate that and probably play that in its entirety all over the UK – fingers crossed. That’s crazy that that album’s that old – in some ways it feels like yesterday, and also it feels like a lifetime ago.”

Some topics of conversation are more or less evergreen, some carry time-sensitivity. The World Cup is an example of the latter. Full disclosure: when I spoke to Johnston, it was back in spring, and Wales had just missed out on qualification to the tournament – with Biffy’s home nation already through. Rumours had even circulated that the band might record a song to commemorate the milestone…

“We’re just busy!” the drummer told me. “So busy. Like, we would love to do a song for it. I’m sure half of Scotland are trying to write songs at the moment for it but we haven’t quite got one together yet. We’ve got an idea, it’s about finding the time to actually record it and get it all done.” Alas, it seems Biffy did not in fact have the time; still, if it doesn’t take 30 years for Scotland to qualify again, maybe they can keep that idea in their back pocket.

Biffy Clyro, Cardiff Castle, Thurs 30 July

Tickets: £78.35. Info: here

words JOSHUA WILLIAMS

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologised “unequivocally” for comments he made about popstar Kylie Minogue in a podcast interview last week.

The leader had made an appearance on the Bush Deep podcast with comedian Nikki Osborne, who asked him during a 20-minute interview whether he would “shag, marry or date” Minogue, actress Nicole Kidman or entertainer Rhonda Burchmore.

After initially trying to avoid the question, Albanese said “Oh, Kylie, clearly”.

He was quickly met by a wave of condemnation, with one MP calling his remarks “entirely inappropriate”, and another adding that they were “disrepectful to women… and demean the office of Prime Minister.

Osborne, who is best known for posting crude comedy sketches on YouTube, had launched her podcast series earlier this year. Her podcast site describes her as a “wildly inapproriate journalist” who asks “questions no one else would dare”.

In a one-line statement issued early on Monday, the prime minister said: “I apologise unequivocally for the comments”.

The remarks were made during an interview that took place in the prime minister’s official residence in Canberra and which was released at the end of last week.

After Osborne first posed the question, Albanese, who married his partner Jodie Haydon in November, had initially responded: “I’ve just got married, I’m only six months in.”

But after being pushed by Osborne, he added: “Oh, Kylie, clearly.”

“You’d marry Kylie, and shag her, and date her?” Osborne said.

“All of the above,” Albanese said. “She’s terrific.”

Community Strong MP Zali Steggall said the remarks were “entirely inappropriate”, adding that he “needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist”.

Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson said in a post on X the comments were “disrespectful to women, embarrassing to Australians and demean the office of Prime Minister.”

Richard Marles, who is acting prime minister while Albanese is on a visit to the Pacific, told news outlet ABC that the government was “utterly committed” to the elevation of women in society.

“From time to time, we obviously do different interviews to the one we are doing now, but I think the other point to make here is that the government that the PM leads is the first in history that has had equality in terms of the number of men and women in cabinet,” Marles said on the broadcaster’s Radio National Breakfast programme.

Albanese was also asked about the worst gift he had received on an overseas jaunt. He said a “strange” but ultimately “quite good” gift had come from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi who brought two melons.

“She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson?” said Osborne, as Albanese smiled and waggled his hands in front of his chest.

Anthony Joseph has lived in Britain since his early twenties, and for nearly 40 years, but his Trinidadian upbringing remains endemic to his creative output. In Haunting The Black Air, Joseph’s sixth volume of poetry, the island casts a shadow that belies its size. We catch up with him in several other places, too – maybe three further continents – in the shifting form of several dozen poems with a breadth as wide as the poet’s horizons.

Joseph has gone back and forth between verse and prose since debuting in the 1990s. Sonnets For Albert, which per its title concentrates on a single style, won the T.S. Eliot Prize after its publication in 2022. For my part, I came to him via the earlier Kitch – an inspired speculative biography of calypso singer Lord Kitchener, one of Trinidad’s most iconic sons and Windrush émigré in 1948. I have no idea if the bit where Kitch and Shirley Bassey get pissed up in a Manchester front room has any basis in actual events, but it certainly delighted me as fanfic.

Also a spoken-word vocalist on a number of albums backed by musicians like Shabaka Hutchings, Joseph is at his most luminous when he writes about or alludes to the sounds which make him tick. In ‘New York Soul’ he goes clubbing in Manhattan and talks with loving admiration of a pal’s dance moves. James Brown and Charles Mingus are invoked during ‘Combustible’, Albert Ayler on ‘Swing As Praxis’; a Bukka White song serves as simile in ‘Cameo’. In ‘The Kimberley Hotel’, he’s up past bedtime in Cape Town being a huge nerd about the Fela Kuti discography. Even if you’re unlikely to find yourself in a remotely similar scenario, it’s tastily evocative stuff.

Haunting… also has much to say about family distant and immediate, the perpetual reverberations of colonialism, religious ceremony and the visceral reality of death. It tangibly experiments with language and syntax more often than not, with a few poems arranging themselves in visually challenging ways on the page and Joseph using a repeated ident where, for no obvious reason, he switches out a lower-case f for a capital C in words. If, consequently, those words are merely intriguing, most of the others in this collection are exceedingly impactful, and never superfluous.