New novels from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ian McEwan, plus the return of Slow Horses and Margaret Atwood looks back … Guardian critics pick the must-read titles of 2025

Guardian fiction editor Justine Jordan picks the best of the year, from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count to Thomas Pynchon’s return, David Szalay’s Booker winner and a remarkable collection of short stories.

The diminutive Derry Girls star isn’t afraid to speak her mind, even if it costs her fans and followers

Back in 2008, when Nicola Coughlan was at drama school, a guy in her class swaggered over and, with all the brimming confidence of young men in the noughties, asked her, “Do the Irish think the English are really cool?” Coughlan, born in Galway, mimes processing the question. “Well,” she said, “it’s quite complicated. Like, there’s a lot of history there, between the two countries. Like, there’s a lot going on.”

Today, people are more knowledgable about the history of the English in Ireland. Coughlan is happy about that. She’s also happy about the explosion of Irish storytelling in popular culture – Normal People, Trespasses, Small Things Like These, not to mention the series that made her name, Derry Girls. And she’s proud of young Irish actors – Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Lola Petticrew, to name a few. She listens to bands such as Fontaines DC, CMAT and Kneecap. “It’s such a small country and the amount of creativity that comes out of Ireland is really extraordinary.”

England manager happy to ‘focus on what we can influence’ after a draw that will live long in the memory and not for the right reasons

At the end of an extraordinary day in the US capital and a World Cup draw that lurched between the ridiculous and the sublime (with a greater emphasis on the former, if the truth be told), Thomas Tuchel and England now know. Croatia in Toronto or Dallas. Ghana in Boston or Toronto. Panama in New Jersey or Philadelphia. And that is just the group games.

With the excitement running wild and, well, England being England, their determination to bring it home to the fore, it was not long before the permutations were being scrutinised. It could be Mexico at the Azteca in the last 16 – the scene of the Hand of God in 1986. It could be Brazil in Miami in the quarter-finals. Tuchel pulled a face as if to say: “Wow.” There had been a lot to process. And that is before we talk about the Honourable Donald J Trump and his Fifa peace prize glory.

December can bring huge stress, as people struggle with budgetary pressures, organisation and what to give the person who has everything. Here’s a guide to getting it right, every time

The festive shopping season is upon us and there is usually someone who is hard to buy for on the list. How can you avoid the stress of last-minute panic buying? Personal shoppers share their tips on how to treat your loved ones to something that they will cherish.

The desperate search for economic growth is pushing the party to confront the issue that dare not speak its name

For much of the last week, Keir Starmer’s government has been suggesting that a closer relationship with Europe will be a more prominent part of his agenda in the future.

But it was a little-noted personnel change that might prove the most telling shift: Nick Thomas Symonds, the minister in charge of EU negotiations, was promoted to full cabinet rank.

The term ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion life is returning to normal’ for Palestinians squeezed into the remaining 42% of their land behind Israel’s ‘yellow line’

When Jumaa and Fadi Abu Assi went to look for firewood their parents thought they would be safe. They were just young boys, aged nine and 10 and, after all, a ceasefire had been declared in Gaza.

Their mother, Hala Abu Assi, was making tea in the family’s tent in Khan Younis when she heard an explosion, a missile fired by an Israeli drone. She ran to the scene – but it was too late.

Exclusive: Yinka Bankole says he felt compelled to speak out after Reform leader’s attempts to ‘dismiss’ hurt of alleged targets

• I’ll never forget the look of hatred Nigel Farage had for me at school, simply for existing

A former Dulwich college pupil who claims a teenage Nigel Farage told him “that’s the way back to Africa” has said he felt compelled to speak out after the Reform leader’s attempt at “denying or dismissing” the hurt of his alleged targets.

Yinka Bankole, who claims he had just started at the school when a 17-year-old Farage singled him out for abuse, said he had decided to tell his story in full after watching the Reform leader’s press conference on Thursday.

British fertility clinics raise scientific and ethical objections over patients sending embryos’ genetic data abroad for analysis

• What is polygenic embryo screening in IVF and does it work?

Couples undergoing IVF in the UK are exploiting an apparent legal loophole to rank their embryos based on genetic predictions of IQ, height and health, the Guardian has learned.

The controversial screening technique, which scores embryos based on their DNA, is not permitted at UK fertility clinics and critics have raised scientific and ethical objections, saying the method is unproven. But under data protection laws, patients can – and in some cases have – demanded their embryos’ raw genetic data and sent it abroad for analysis in an effort to have smarter, healthier children.

Hosts pull away to 177-run first-innings lead at the Gabba
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74th over: Australia 379-6 (Carey 47, Neser 15) Stokes starts around the wicket to the left-handed Alex Carey. Two slips in place. The first ball is defended for a dot and the next is guided behind point for a single that brings up the fifty partnership between Carey and Neser. It’s a wounding one for England.

Stokes bustles through the over, finding a good length and four dots to Neser. Brydon Carse is going to start from the other end, he had a bruising day yesterday, a couple of wickets here would take the edge off.

Exclusive: ‘extremely unhelpful’ policy seen as deterrent to clearing thousands of dump sites across England

Millions of pounds in landfill tax owed to the government has to be paid by the Environment Agency (EA) if it clears any of the thousands of illegal waste dumps across the country.

Of the £15m that taxpayers are paying for the clearance of the only site the agency has committed to clearing up – a vast illegal dump at Hoad’s Wood in Kent – £4m is landfill tax.