Eurofile

The white stuff in big movies isn’t real - sometimes it’s bleached cornflakes, sometimes fire extinguisher foam.. and it used to be asbestos

The board game shouldn't go on forever if you stick to the real rules

A superb revival of When We Are Married gleefully demolishes 25 years of pious respectability

James Cameron’s CGI sci-fi epics are a box-office phenomenon - but also completely forgettable

Not even Minnie Driver can save a misfiring move to Rome for a series optimised for social media

The trailer has been released for the film about the world's least happy-looking woman

A set of documents provides a unique window into earlier forms of the English language

Feeling not quite Greek but not quite British, a young Georgios went down the route of many uncertain teenagers – he chose Top of the Pops as his guide

25 hopeful stories from technology in 2025

Maybe we have decided to restore it to being a mere useful tool for data analysis, and not to let it run and ruin our lives

The country’s wartime tradition of giving novels has become a key part of the season

The Holy City was extracting money from tourists even when Mark Twain visited in 1867

Forget Die Hard. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is the perfect Christmas movie

In 1975, Britain was mired in economic misery – but the nation’s most terrifying cook was determined that everyone should still eat well

They’re sexless, weightless and aerodynamically impossible – and have become mirrors for our hopes and fears

A new nativity display in the centre of Brussels is so widely detested that it might have to be taken down early

Our writers on their cultural highlights of the year

The Golden Flake Tavern, Greggs’ new pub, brings colas (and beers) to Newcastle

The president’s social media messages about the murdered director reveal him as a humourless, bitter bigot

The Room in the Tower is his eighth festive special for the BBC: long may he continue

IMDb’s breakout star of 2025 is charming, gifted and takes no nonsense

Back in Berlin 24 years after their 9/11 gig, the band’s blistering paranoia is still in very much in evidence

Lacking roots doesn’t mean lacking ties, and people will always matter more than places do

What triggers haplology – why do speakers omit whole syllables?

The clarity of emotion she expressed over strings and a rhythm and blues beat came as naturally to her as breathing

Genetic screening of prospective pets to deduce behavioural traits can’t tell you much about your dog’s personality

In Barcelona, key sites from the fight against Franco remain, but their memory has been wiped clean

The Swiss want their unique singing tradition to be given prized status as part of the world’s cultural heritage – but some nations are struggling to join in

A speedy stop at Bouillon Chartier is exemplary value at just over 15 euros

He was a master of misery who sometimes argued it was better never to have been born. But his love of the flute suggests the philosopher wasn’t all gloom