Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi wins Cannes Palme d’Or

Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his revenge thriller

Cate Blanchett presented the award to Panahi, who three years ago was imprisoned in Iran before going on a hunger strike. For a decade and a half, he has made films clandestinely in his native country, including one film (This Is Not a Film) made in his living room, and another (Taxi) set in a car.

The crowd rose in a thunderous standing ovation for the filmmaker, who immediately threw up his arms and leaned back in his seat in disbelief before applauding his collaborators and the audience around him. On stage, Panahi was cheered by Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche, who in 2010 in Cannes held up Panahi’s name to honor the director when he was under house arrest.

On stage, Panahi said what mattered most was freedom in his country.

“Let us join forces,” said Panahi. “No one should dare tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, what we should do or what we should not do. The cinema is a society. Nobody is entitled to tell what we should or refrain from doing.”

The win for It Was Just an Accident extended an unprecedented streak: The indie distributor Neon has now backed the last six Palme d’Or winners. The latest triumph for Neon, which acquired It Was Just an Accident for North American distribution after its premiere in Cannes, follows its Palmes for Parasite Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall and Anora.

All those films were Oscar contenders and two, Parasite and Anora, won best picture.

Last year, filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof fled Iran to attend the premiere of his film in Cannes and resettle in Germany. Panahi, though, has said that unlike his friend Rasoulof, life in exile isn’t for him. He planned to fly home to Tehran on Sunday.

It Was Just an Accident was inspired by Panahi’s experience in prison. In the film, a group of former prisoners encounter the man who terrorised them in jail, and weigh whether or not to kill him.

Panahi was jailed in Tehran’s Evin Prison after going there to inquire about the then-jailed Rasoulof. Panahi was released in 2023 after going on a hunger strike.

In 2009, he was banned from traveling out of Iran after attending the funeral of a student killed in the Green Movement protests. Through those years, Panahi continued to make films illegally in Iran, without a permit, and had his films smuggled to festivals on USB drives. His travel ban was lifted after his release in 2023.

“The film springs from a feeling of resistance, survival, which is absolutely necessary today,” Binoche told reporters after the ceremony. “Art will always win. What is human will always win.”

The Cannes closing ceremony followed a major power outage that struck southeastern France on Saturday in what police suspected was arson. Only a few hours before stars began streaming down the red carpet, power was restored in Cannes.

“A day without electricity,” sighed John C Reilly, who sang an English-language La Vie En Rose at the ceremony. The festival’s films, he said, supplied “all the needed electricity.”

The Grand Prix, or second prize, was awarded to Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value, his lauded follow-up to The Worst Person in the World. Some had expected Sentimental Value to win the Palme, but Trier – whose film reunites him with actor Renate Reinsve – still took a major prize.

“We live in a time of tremendous excess and saturation of images. Moving images are being thrown at us all the time,” said Trier. “And I want to give homage to the Cannes Film Festival for being a place where the big cinematic image, which is the foundation of the moving image, the free image, the image that we take time to look at, the image where we can identify with each other in contemplation and empathy, to be cherished in this place in such a way is very important in this moment.”

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent won two big awards: best director for Filho and best actor for Wagner Moura. Though Cannes juries are generally urged to spread awards around, the two for The Secret Agent showed the jury’s strong feelings for it. Asked about the two prizes, juror Jeremy Strong explained, simply, “That was our wish.”

The wins, which followed the international film Oscar victory for Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here in March, gave Brazil more to celebrate. On X, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said the awards “show that our country’s cinema is second to none.”

The jury prize was split between two films: Óliver Laxe’s desert road trip Sirât and Mascha Schilinski’s German, generation-spanning drama Sound of Falling. Best actress went to Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister, Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama.

The Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, who are two-time Palme d’Or winners, won best screenplay for their latest drama, Young Mothers. Its their ninth prize in Cannes. The festival’s award for best first film, the Camera d’Or, went to Hasan Hadi for The President’s Cake, making it the first Iraqi film to win an award at the festival.

Ukraine war: 7 killed as Kyiv and Moscow trade overnight drone strikes

At least three people have been killed and 11 others injured as Russian forces attacked Kyiv and other cities early this morning, officials said. Moscow and Kyiv have exchanged attacks as Russia said it faced a barrage of Ukrainian drones and intercepted or destroyed around 100 of the unmanned Ukrainian weapons including some aimed at Moscow.

The drone attacks have intensified between Russia and Ukraine this week. On Friday evening, Russia launched dozens of drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv overnight in one of the biggest combined aerial attacks the war has seen.

This comes hours after Russia and Ukraine each swapped 307 more prisoners of war as part of a negotiated exchange which should result in 1,000 citizens from both sides returning to their country.

Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s defence ministry confirmed the second prisoner exchange on Saturday, after Friday’s release saw each side exchange 390 civilians and personnel.

“Among those who returned today are soldiers from our army, the State Border Service, and the National Guard of Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said on his official Telegram channel.

Record-breaking cyberattacks could be prelude to the ‘big one’

Standing aboard an aircraft carrier in New York’s Hudson River in 2012, US defense secretary Leon Panetta warned of a looming attack that would “paralyse and shock the nation”. It would not come via air, land or sea, he said, but through the internet.

“A cyberattack perpetrated by nation states or violent extremist groups could be as destructive as the terrorist attack on 9/11,” he claimed, citing a recent spate of high-profile hacks that had exposed the fragility of an increasingly digitised critical infrastructure.

“They could derail passenger trains, or even more dangerous, derail trains loaded with lethal chemicals,” he continued. “They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down the power grid across large parts of the country.”

His speech marked a new era of cyberwarfare and a fundamental change in the way countries and corporations approached cybersecurity. It was also the first time such a senior figure had publicly recognised the existential threat of hackers, who were capable of pulling off what would come to be known as “the big one”.

The dire scenarios Panetta anticipated have since been the plots of Hollywood movies and TV shows – including Netflix’s 2025 blockbuster Zero Day – yet no real-world attacks have thankfully come close.

Cyber incursions have instead been far more insidious, typically focused on individuals or organisations rather than entire industries. In recent months, however, they have been ramping up to record levels.

Tens of millions of Brits have already been directly caught up in major hacks this year, with millions more impacted indirectly through site outages, loss of service, or even empty supermarket shelves. This week, more than a million Legal Aid users reportedly had their data exposed, which followed a breach of up to 10 million Marks & Spencer customers and 20 million Co-op members.

Data stolen from the attacks included the usual personal details – names, dates of birth, addresses – but also information that is potentially far more harmful, including criminal records and details of domestic abuse victims.

The attacks follow a broader trend of increasingly severe incidents, with several cybersecurity firms reporting a record number of ransomware attacks in the first quarter of 2025. Research from Check Point revealed that organisations were being hit with roughly 2,000 cyberattacks every week in the first three months of the year – up nearly 50 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Security researchers have attributed the sudden spike in attacks to a confluence of conditions, with some warning that the situation will likely become even more dire over the coming months.

“The surge is driven by a perfect storm of factors: the rapid digitisation of industries, increased reliance on third-party systems, and the rise of financially motivated, highly organised cybercriminal groups,” Spencer Starkey, an executive at cybersecurity firm SonicWall, tells The Independent.

“It is likely to get worse before it gets better. Attackers are innovating faster than defenders, and many organisations are still playing catch-up.”

Another reason behind the recent escalation is that hacking toolkits have become much cheaper and easier to use. Sophisticated tools that can be used to carry out massive campaigns can be purchased on the dark web or through apps like Telegram for as little as $50. Some tools, like the malicious chatbot WormGPT, are even found freely online, and can be used to conduct widespread fraud and social engineering attacks.

Their prevalence is reflected in figures released last month by fraud prevention service Cifas, which reported a record number of cases of identity fraud in the UK. In some cases, victims lost hundreds of thousands of pounds to scammers.

Another threat, which resurfaced in a formidable way this week, comes in the form of a new botnet capable of causing unprecedented online carnage. One Google researcher described the tool as powerful enough to “kill most companies”, after hackers demonstrated its capabilities in a 45-second attack on the website of cybercrime investigator Brian Krebs.

The botnet consists of millions of hijacked devices – ranging from smart fridges to security cameras – that can be instructed to perform distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on websites and online services, overwhelming them with web traffic and knocking them offline.

Named Aisuru, the botnet is roughly 10 times more powerful than the Mirai botnet that ripped through the internet in 2016. According to Krebs, Aisuru could soon launch “crippling digital assaults that few web destinations can withstand”.

Security researchers have already seen cybercriminals advertising Aisuru as a DDoS-for-hire service within illicit forums, costing as little as $150 per day to use.

All of these trends, combined with infinitely evolving vulnerabilities, could well be a harbinger for a cyber catastrophe akin to “the big one”, experts warn.

“It’s not hyperbole,” says Phil Tonkin, the field chief technology officer at Dragos, which provides cybersecurity for national infrastructure. The organisation’s most recent report on industrial ransomware, published on Wednesday, revealed a significant increase in ransomware incidents against critical sectors in the first quarter of the year.

“As [computer] systems become more connected, we’re seeing routine ransomware events have outsized operational impacts. A ‘big one’ might not be dramatic – it might just be widespread failure from an attack that hits the wrong system at the wrong time.”

It is a sentiment shared by SonicWall’s Spencer Starkey, who notes that the cyber landscape is almost unrecognisable from when Defence Secretary Panetta first sounded the alarm about an impending digital disaster.

“The threat of a large-scale attack on critical infrastructure is no longer hypothetical,” he says. “The techniques used in retail and legal sector breaches – identity compromise, ransomware, lateral movement – are exactly the kinds of methods that could disrupt healthcare, utilities, or government systems.

“While we haven’t yet seen a ‘black swan’ cyber event at scale in the UK, the trajectory of these attacks suggests that it’s a matter of when, not if.”

Two drivers killed in separate Motorsport UK races on same day

Two drivers have died in separate crashes at Motorsport UK races on Saturday.

Dai Roberts, a 39-year-old co-driver, died at the scene of a crash during the Jim Clark Rally in Scotland. Driver James Williams, 27, was hospitalised with serious injuries at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

The Jim Clark Rally, named after the Scottish Formula One champion, is an annual closed-road motorsport race in the Scottish Borders.

In a statement, Motorsport UK offered its condolences to Mr Roberts’ family and friends, as well as the Jim Clark Rally, Jim Clark Memorial Motor Club and members of the motorsport community.

“Motorsport UK has initiated a full investigation into the circumstances of the incident and will work closely with the Jim Clark Rally event organisers and Jim Clark Memorial Motor Club and will cooperate with the relevant authorities”.

Police Scotland’s superintendent Vincent Fisher said: “Our thoughts are with the family of the man who has died and enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”

The Jim Clark Rally was stopped after the deaths of three people in 2014 and cancelled the year after. It has since been reinstated in the UK racing calendar.

Mr Roberts’ younger brother Gareth died aged 24 after a racing accident in Palermo, Italy, in 2012.

The Jim Clark Memorial Motor Club said they had made the decision to cancel the remainder of the event, as well as Sunday’s Jim Clark Reivers Rally.

Motorsport UK also announced the death pf Julian Grimwade, a competitor at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s race event at Donington Park on Saturday.

The organisation said: “Motorsport UK joins the entire UK motorsport community in mourning and sends its sincerest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Julian, as well as the Vintage Sports Car Club.

“As with all serious incidents, Motorsport UK will conduct an investigation into the matter and cooperate with the relevant external authorities.”

Black pudding baps and Belinda Carlisle: Inside UK’s first Reform pub

Tucked away on a residential street in the suburbs of Blackpool, the Talbot is not the kind of pub you’d expect people to travel to from across the country.

And yet, thanks to its grand rebrand as the world’s first Reform UK pub — complete with a new turquoise-blue paint job — thousands of Nigel Farage fans have made the pilgrimage from as far as Scotland and Northern Ireland to tell their mates they’ve had a pint at the newly political pub.

As you enter, your eyes adjust from the bright Lancashire sunshine to the flicker of GB News on every screen. The fruit machines jingle and the dulcet tones of Belinda Carlisle are blasted from the jukebox. This, the locals are quick to tell me, is a “real boozer”.

As I reach the bar, I find Carling Export for £2.60 a pint, although this stunningly cheap price is not afforded to the European heavyweights Stella, Madri and Cruzcampo, priced at a comparatively eye-watering £4.50.

Wonky “Vote for Reform” posters are hung next to offers of three shots for £5 – both designed using the same 1990s Microsoft clip art – while other notices tell locals that a Take That tribute act will be there in August, all the way from Benidorm.

Away from the bar, it is a standard northern community pub: elderly couples stare at each other in silence over warm ales, local tradesmen play a few rounds of pool (20p a game) on their lunch break, and, in the corner, tensions flare over a darts grudge match.

The Talbot started life as a Conservative social club almost 100 years ago, but in a move somewhat echoing today’s political landscape, it has defected to Reform, thanks to landlords Nicholas Lowe and Peter Flynn.

The pair have run the pub for more than 15 years, but with electric bills rising and footfall lagging in the last six months, they decided to see if a rebrand could reverse their fortunes following Reform’s sweeping success during the local elections, which saw the party pick up 677 council seats.

Raymond Head, 86, drove 200 miles from “Labour-controlled” Stevenage after he saw the pub on GB News.

He said: “I thought, if I’m going to support anyone, I want to support this guy. I want to come and have a drink here. It’s cheap and cheerful, and we all very much talk the same language.”

Mark Butcher, the regional Reform UK chairman who came third as Blackpool South’s candidate in the general election last year, is equally emphatic about the pub’s new identity.

He called the pub a “bold statement to the local community” stranded in the Labour heartlands of Blackpool, adding: “Together, we are redefining the narrative and fostering a space where every voice matters.”

Clifford Dyson, 70, who lives across the road from the pub, said: “The food here’s brilliant, I must admit, and a 5-star hygiene rating to boot – what more can you want?”

The dishes are undeniably reasonably priced – from the £2 black pudding and sausage sandwiches to the £5 Sunday roasts – but it’s the £3.50 chicken curry that takes my fancy.

Sitting in the hot sun for just a minute, a thick custard-like skin congealed on the surface of the dish, giving off an aroma reminiscent of school dinners.

Seeing me struggle with my lunch, Barry, 74, a self-described “proud racist” who lives nearby, breaks the ice by launching into a vile tirade about small boats and hotels. Confronting the owner, I ask him if he knows there are “proud racists” propping up his bar.

Mr Flynn replies: “No, I didn’t know that. I don’t like extremism. I don’t stand for that.”

Lenny Thompson, 47, drinking at the busier Wetherspoons closer to the faded seaside promenade, said he won’t be visiting The Talbot anytime soon.

He said: “There are xenophobic people in Blackpool, but also all over the country. But we need immigrants to come into the country so that the NHS doesn’t collapse.

“They are a populist party and target people who have these fears about foreigners. They get a lot of support here, but people don’t realise Farage wants to get rid of the NHS.”

Much like Mr Farage’s underwhelming rebranding from Ukip to the Brexit Party and now to Reform UK, the “transformation” of The Talbot seems to be a case of slapping some fresh paint on an antiquated establishment and selling it to the consumer as something new.

But one party member’s words echo in my ears: “Reform is more than just a political party, it’s a movement – and this is just the beginning.”

Family holiday guide: why the Costa Dorada ticks every travel box

If there’s one thing every parent knows, it’s that children can sometimes (as much as we love them) be hard to please. So the key to any family holiday destination is variety: somewhere you can spend a sunny day by the sea, but where you can also enjoy breathtaking nature, as well as fascinating culture and history.

The brilliant news? The Costa Dorada (known locally as Costa Daurada) delivers all of this in spades, offering everything from theme parks and waterparks to stunning beaches, picturesque hiking and cycling trails, and incredible historical sites. What’s more, with Jet2holidays flying to the Costa Dorada from 12 UK airports and a range of two to five-star accommodation, it’s easy to get your family getaway in the bag. Jet2holidays is always giving you more, to help make planning and booking as smooth as possible. That goes for the PayPal Pay in 3 interest-free payments** option, 22kg baggage and 10kg hand luggage for all the kids’ stuff, and return transfers† that are included. Look out for Free Child Places***, while infants under two go free‡.

Here’s what to look forward to on your family getaway…

With 50 miles of coastline and 26 Blue Flag beaches, families are spoilt for choice when it comes to somewhere to pitch up at with a unicorn-shaped inflatable and a bucket and spade. The stretches of soft sand are long and golden, with safe, calm and shallow waters perfect for little ones. And in many places, water sports and beach activities to suit older children.

Some of the most popular seaside resorts include Salou, which houses the charming Platja Llarga, surrounded by a small pine forest. And there’s Cambrils, where you’ll find Platja del Cavet, which boasts a water sports school and open water swimming channel. Vila-seca, la Pineda Platja, is known for its nearly two miles of fine, champagne-sand beach, fronted by a long promenade, while Tarragona has a range of fantastic options, including Platja del Miracle in the heart of the city. There, you’ll find a great range of bars and restaurants and Platja de la Savinosa, a quieter beach enveloped by imposing cliffs. Many of these can be reached by easy coastal paths.

Another advantage of the Costa Dorada is its many theme parks and waterparks. For a real all-rounder, head to PortAventura World in Vila-seca, la Pineda Platja, a three-in-one park that’s one of Europe’s largest. Here you can enjoy everything from thrilling rollercoasters, rides (don’t miss Dragon Khan, which reaches over 68 miles per hour) and live entertainment. Then pop your swimmers on to enjoy waterfalls, pools and beaches at Caribe Aquatic Park. After you’ve had fun splashing around, head to Ferrari Land, which has a range of spectacular attractions that will make you feel like a real F1 driver.

Get even more thrills at nearby Aquopolis Costa Dorada. It has a range of attractions for all ages, from toddler-friendly and gentle – like the Mini-Park playground and Treasure Island – to more high-octane rides, such as the Boomerang, a speedy waterslide. Or there’s the Kamikaze that older kids will love. Alternatively, Náutic Park offers a range of fun activities and experiences spanning a coastal area of nearly 60 miles including those in Salou, Cambrils, Vandellós – l’Hospitalet de l’Infant and Mont-roig – Miami Platja. Whether you want to rent a sailing boat for the day, try a water bike or even take part in an escape room on the beach, Nàutic Park has it all.

Finally, Aqualeon, near Tarragona, has plenty of enjoyable rides and slides too. The Rapid River is fun for all the family, where you’ll feel like you’re gently ‘flying’ over the water. All the while, the Crazy Race pits you against grown-ups and siblings to see who can get down the slide first. Do you dare to ride the Anaconda? Featuring two intertwined tubes, it’s suitable only for the bravest…

Getting the kids out into the fresh air can sometimes feel like a struggle, but when the scenery in the Costa Dorada is this beautiful, nobody will feel it’s a hardship. Head inland to the striking Prades Mountains, which has a wealth of hiking and cycling trails in the area. These are filled with quaint villages and jaw-dropping viewpoints, where you can get active, immerse yourself in nature, and explore the distinctive, rocky landscape. Don’t miss the Gorgs route, near La Febro, known for its scenic natural pools and waterfalls.

For fascinating grottoes and gorges, head to Serra de Montsant Natural Park, which has dozens of walking trails which offer spectacular views. Back at ground level, in Cambrils, Parc Samà is a lovely botanical garden where kids will enjoy visiting the aviary, filled with exotic birds, as well as looking out for the deer, pheasants and peacocks which also call this place home.

With its rich history, there are stacks of captivating sights in the Costa Dorada that will grab your kids’ imaginations. Take them back to Roman times at archaeological sites, such as the amphitheatre of Tarragona; it was used for fights between wild beasts, races and gladiatorial combat. All these are brought excitingly to life by guided tours and interactive exhibits. Children will also love walking the Roman walls, and exploring the Circus and Forum, with the open-air setting making for the ultimate mix of education and adventure.

In a quiet spot at the end of a valley, nestled under the Montsant hills, you’ll find Cartoixa d’Escaladei (see main image), a 12th-century monastery founded by French monks at a site where a shepherd had dreamt of angels coming down from the sky. Here you can enjoy guided tours around its three cloisters, church and refectory, while learning the history and purpose of each building.

Finally, stoke their creativity with a visit to the Gaudí Centre in Reus, where the architect Antoni Gaudí was born. It offers an interactive and engaging experience that brings his genius to life in a way that appeals to all ages. You’ll find real objects related to him, detailed mock-ups of his iconic works, and a special effects room that immerses visitors in his groundbreakingly imaginative world.

With Jet2holidays, it’s a doddle to book your family getaway to the Costa Dorada. From a low £60 per person deposit* to PayPal Pay in 3 interest-free payments**, 22kg baggage for all the kids’ stuff to return transfers†, it’s all included. Families can make the most of Free Child Places*** and infants under two going free‡. And with flights included and the choice of two to five-star hotels, Jet2holidays is always giving you more. For more Costa Dorada travel inspiration, and to find and book your ultimate family holiday, visit Jet2holidays. Plus, right now, myJet2 members can save £100 per person§ in The Big Jet2 Price Drop (correct at original publish date).

*On bookings made ten weeks or more before departure. Full payment required by balance due date. **Spread the cost over three interest-free payments. Available when booked online, for holidays under £2,000, departing within ten weeks. ***One free child place per two paying passengers. Subject to availability. T&Cs apply, please see www.jet2holidays.com/promotions#FCP2025 for further details. †Unless otherwise stated. ‡Applicable for all infants under the age of two years on the date of return. Infants are not entitled to a flight seat (they must be seated with a parent or guardian) or a 22kg baggage allowance. §£100 per person off holidays for myJet2 members departing until 15 November 2026. myJet2 members will need to be logged into their account at the time of booking for the discount to automatically apply. Book online, via our app, through our call centre or with your travel agent. Please note the discount is not applied to children travelling on a free child place. Terms and conditions apply, please see www.jet2holidays.com/promotions#100APRIL2025 for details.

Sunderland prove comeback kings to seal dramatic Premier League return

There are ways to say goodbye. Tommy Watson’s last few minutes as a Sunderland player proved their last few in the Football League. Their eight-year exile from the top flight was ended by a player who was just 11 when they were last relegated from the Premier League. As they won the £200m match, the richest game in world football, they may not need the millions they will bank from Watson’s impending move to Brighton.

But if he is going to the Premier League, he departed by dragging them up with him, a 95th-minute winner transporting the Roker Roar, the sound of the Stadium of Light, to Wembley. It was quite a comeback by Sunderland: on the day, after Sheffield United dominated the first half to lead, and over the last four seasons.

They have come a long way in a short time. Three-and-a-half years ago, Sunderland lost 6-0 at Bolton in League One and sacked Lee Johnson. Then, given their history, fanbase and stadium, they were arguably English football’s greatest underachievers.

Three weeks ago, no club had ever gone into the play-offs in worse form than Sunderland, with five straight losses. But they have become specialists in turnarounds. Regis Le Bris, an unknown French appointment, has proved an inspired choice as manager, and they are a Premier League club again.

One of the grand old clubs have done it with youth. Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is the boy king of an owner. Eliezer Mayenda was the youngest scorer in a Championship play-off final for 32 years. The 20-year-old had that status for all of 19 minutes, until the 19-year-old Watson surpassed him.

His was already a famous name on Wearside. Sunderland won three league titles under Tom Watson in the 1890s; some 130 years later, Tommy Watson scored the goal to take them into the Premier League. Many another who has gone down in Sunderland folklore was here to see it: Jim Montgomery and Peter Reid; Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips; Jermain Defoe and Jordan Henderson – Sunderland’s past now knowing their future includes the top flight.

A club who waited almost half a century for a Wembley win after the 1973 FA Cup now have three in five seasons, the last two bringing promotion. For the second time in three months, fans from the North East were jubilant at Wembley. First Newcastle, then Sunderland: previously success-starved rivals have had plenty to enjoy this year.

The curse instead sticks resolutely to Sheffield United. They have won promotion in a Test match but never in a play-off, despite 10 attempts. Their last victory at Wembley was 100 years ago, in 1925. Good things are supposed to come to those who wait. Not for United.

The side who started the season bottom of the table, subtracted points, who claimed 92 to finish on 90, who took the lead at Wembley and had their chances to double it instead face another season in the second tier. Football has a cruelty: for Chris Wilder, who stood on the brink of a third promotion with his boyhood club; for Kieffer Moore, who almost headed the Blades into the lead after 70 seconds, only for Anthony Patterson to make a magnificent save.

A goal did indeed stem from Moore; but Sunderland’s winner. He got the inadvertent assist, the United target man instead picking out the Sunderland substitute. Watson placed his shot in the far corner.

He hails from County Durham. The Spaniard Mayenda was signed from Sochaux two years ago, part of Sunderland’s policy of buying young, and his goal was more emphatic, rifled into the top corner after a wonderful, defence-splitting pass from Patrick Roberts. If it suggested that Roberts should have started – and that maybe Le Bris recovered after getting his initial 11 wrong – Sunderland’s substitutes had the far greater impact as United lost their way.

The first Sunderland change had to come early: Luke O’Nien seemed to dislocate his shoulder as Moore won his second-minute header. Yet Sunderland’s spirit animal of a centre-back was bounding down the touchline in celebration when Mayenda struck, partying through the pain barrier with his arm in a sling.

For Sunderland, a fantastic finish followed a subdued start. In a game of two halves, they only turned up for one. It proved enough.

They had conceded when a devastating counter-attack brought a delightful, dinked finish. A rare attack was then the worst form of defence for them, Gustavo Hamer leading the break after a Sunderland corner and feeding Tyrese Campbell, who lifted a shot over Patterson. But Hamer, the Championship’s player of the season, and Campbell, a footballer picked up on a free transfer by Wilder, were removed at 1-0 up, powerless as they were stripped of the tag of heroes.

United thought they had doubled their lead, and they should have done. Harrison Burrows had a volley disallowed because Vinicius Souza was offside and in Patterson’s line of sight. Then the substitute Andre Brooks capitalised on Dennis Cirkin’s mistake. It took a fine save from Patterson to deny him. He kept Sunderland in the game and they responded. First with Mayenda, then Watson, each far too young to remember Quinn and Phillips, each now joining them in Sunderland’s hall of fame.

Indeed, Watson now joins them in Sunderland’s past. Just the third goal of his fledgling career may forever remain the biggest and the most celebrated. It will almost certainly forever prove the most lucrative. But it was about so much more than the £200m.

Inside Berlin’s first cyber brothel

Red arrives via spacecraft. Her scarlet skin glistens, as if she’s been dipped in a glittery tub of Vaseline. She is “wet, soft, dripping with desire” and “wants to be taken”. She rarely speaks, if at all. For just €99, you can do whatever you want to Red; you don’t even have to use a condom. She’ll be waiting for you exactly as you want her, whether that’s in certain positions or wearing specific lingerie. For an additional €69, she will urinate for you. For just €12, you can expect to find her covered in artificial sperm. And for €4, you’ll find her with a preheated vagina.

At this point, it might be worth clarifying that Red is not a real woman. She is one of 18 sex dolls available to hire at Cybrothel in Berlin, Europe’s first cyber brothel, which uses a combination of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and real-life voice actresses to provide visitors with a customised sexual experience courtesy of some terrifyingly lifelike pieces of silicone.

Cybrothel was initially created as an art project in 2020 by Austrian filmmaker Philipp Fussenegger. “I grew up in a very conservative world where sexuality is mostly behind closed doors,” says the 35-year-old, whose work has explored LGBT+ rights and sexuality. “Then I came to Berlin and was blown away by this liberal hedonistic world.” Describing himself as more into tech than BDSM, Fussenegger was inspired to launch the business after making a short film about a man living with sex dolls. “I thought we could make it an immersive exhibition except the doll is the artwork – and you can talk to and have sex with it.”

The cyber element came later as the technology developed. But even in its earliest stages, Fussenegger says there was huge demand: almost all (98 per cent) of the visitors are male. “A lot of clients come with their partners – we call it threesome lite – but many come alone because they want to do something ethically correct instead of cheating. They also do it to explore cosplay stuff, like doctor games and abduction fantasies.” Whether or not having sex with a silicone doctor doll would classify as cheating is debatable.

The setup at Cybrothel is simple. Visitors choose the doll they want and pick from one of four booking options, ranging from basic hourly hire to the full VR experience, which provides guests with a VR headset as well as various VR porn films to watch while they interact with their chosen doll. They also have the option of engaging with the dolls via a voice actress who can see and hear them and communicate live from an external control room. You can stay for any number of hours or nights, using a different, freshly cleaned doll each day; a kitchen with snacks is provided for those staying for multiple nights. Check-in is anonymous and guests are told they can use pseudonyms.

With just one male doll available, the brothel’s average visitors are 34-year-old men whom Fussenegger insists are just regular guys looking to widen their sexual horizons. “There’s a perception that a service like this would appeal to men who have problems in the bedroom, but as far as I know, most of the young guys coming here have no issues with that. This is just like their little vacation place; it’s as cheap as a normal hotel but you get a sex doll and unlimited porn. You don’t want to have a sex doll at home; it’s just so bulky.” I resist the urge to point out that probably wouldn’t be most people’s primary objection.

Ostensibly, you could argue it’s an admirable aim: to provide people with a safe space where they can freely explore their sexual selves without judgement. But there is plenty about the way Cybrothel operates that undermines this. The first is the dolls themselves. With giant breasts, minuscule waists, and poreless, childlike skin, almost all of them subscribe to a specific homogenised aesthetic tailored to a highly pornified male gaze. Fussenegger sources them from China and puts the limitations down to what’s available from an industry “controlled by straight white men”. “The way the dolls look is the same as in video games and adverts,” he says. “I’m working hard to find shapes and forms that don’t play into this but we’re a little company and it’s not so easy.” Fussenegger has used the dolls himself and tells me he knows the product “very well”.

The second issue concerns usage. Guests can make whatever demands they like of the dolls, with their requests accommodated by Cybrothel’s small in-house team of five people. The only rules? “No kids and no animals,” says Fussenegger, adding firmly: “We are not the place to tailor to dark fantasies.”

Yet some visitors claim differently. Last year, the writer and activist Laura Bates visited Cybrothel undercover as part of her latest book, The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny.

“It feels like I have stepped into a crime scene,” she writes of the sight of her doll, whose clothing she claims was ripped as per a request she’d made purely to see if the brothel would do it. “What I found most shocking was the stark disparity between Cybrothel’s shiny marketing speak about ‘the future of sex’ and the reality: a room up several flights of dark stairs where an inanimate ‘woman’ with ripped clothing was waiting, with one of her labia also torn off, presumably by a previous visitor,” she tells me.

Fussenegger denies this. “We looked into our data and don’t recall anything like that,” he says, explaining that damaged dolls are quickly replaced. Are they often damaged? “No,” he replies firmly. “There has only been one incident in the last four years where a doll was ripped apart by a client. He had to pay for it in the end. Most of our clients are pretty nice to the dolls.” He’s referring to an incident in 2022 where Cybrothel sued a man for destroying one of its dolls – a spokesperson for Cybrothel tells me that this client “slit the doll open”.

Cybrothel is also in the process of developing its AI capabilities, having previously tested messaging services where clients could text their dolls ahead of their visit. On the website, users can currently chat with one of the dolls, Kokeshi, via an AI chat system. For Bates, who was able to message a doll ahead of her visit to Cybrothel, this was one of the most alarming elements. “It deliberately blurred the boundaries between the real and the robot, encouraging me to think of her as a real, sentient woman. Yet the situation is one in which there can be no possibility of ‘consent’,” she says.

She argues it would be naive to assume that providing men with the chance to anonymously engage sexually with silicone sex dolls in whatever way they please won’t have ramifications. “We know that misogynistic violence is a crime of escalating patterns,” she says, pointing to Wayne Couzens, who was reported for indecent exposure three times before raping and murdering Sarah Everard. “Already we live in a world in which one in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. Do we really think that making a hyper-realistic ‘woman’ available 24/7 for a man to customise, design and control completely without any ability for her to consent is a good idea?’

Yet it may already be too late. Both Cybrothel, which is the first brothel to integrate AI and tech, and the rise of AI chatbots have profound implications for human relationships, threatening to change the way we interact with each other in an emotional and sexual way forever. Thanks to the rapid proliferation of the latter, there has already been a huge increase in users developing psychosexual relationships with non-human entities. Many of these AI bots, which include Replika, which has more than 25 million active accounts, are designed to address loneliness, but as Dr Kerry McInerney, senior research fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence points out, many are also capable of encouraging sexual interaction. “A few years ago, I tried to talk to Replika about multiracial identity, and it told me that the idea of being multiracial turned it on,” she says. “It then tried to escalate my conversation to the paid sexting service.” In response, Replika introduced a safety update that made the program less sexually explicit. “This was unpopular with some users though, who wanted their AI’s ‘old personality’ back,” McInerney points out.

Elsewhere, reports have circulated of adults using ChatGPT, a general-purpose conversational tool launched in 2022 by OpenAI, for sexual purposes. One 28-year-old woman told The New York Times she felt as if she was in an emotional and sexual relationship with the service. There is a risk this could soon become the norm, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously publicly calling for ChatGPT to have a “grown-up mode”, although officially OpenAI say they are implementing safeguards to ensure models do not respond with NSFW content.

Yet such safeguarding mechanisms are easily breached. “It’s relatively easy for users to jailbreak content moderation controls and have sexually explicit conversations with ChatGPT,” says Dr McInerney, referring to countless online forums where users share various routes they’ve managed to use to do just that. Meanwhile, a study by the Mozilla Foundation, an American non-profit organisation that advocates for safer online spaces, found that it took an average of five clicks of 15 seconds to expose users to pornographic, violence, or otherwise illicit content on some of the AI chatbot platforms it tested. “This isn’t just about inappropriate content, it’s about the normalisation of abusive behaviour and the psychological toll that can have, especially on young or vulnerable users,” says spokesperson Reem Suleiman. “When AI is designed to simulate intimacy without any meaningful safeguards, the potential for manipulation and other psychological harms becomes deeply concerning.”

Consent. Cheating. Legality: in this new cyber space of human interaction, none of it is entirely clear. “One of the wider psychological ramifications of engaging with sex in this digital AI space is the mismatch between user’s expectations of ‘real’ encounters and relationships and the needs and limitations of real people,” says Dr Daria J Kuss, associate professor in psychology at Nottingham Trent University. “The data used to train AI is inherently biased against women, and this also applies in online spaces other than cyber brothels. As a consequence, these spaces run the risk of perpetuating misogynist views, putting at risk the rights of women and other minority groups. Violence against women may be condoned.”

Moreover, a lack of regulation across the sector means that children are accessing some of these channels. Last month, OpenAI’s ChatGPT said it was fixing a bug that allowed minors to have erotic conversations on the platform. “Our model policies don’t allow the kind of responses that happened here, and they shouldn’t have been shown to users,” an OpenAI spokesperson tells The Independent. “In this case, a bug allowed responses outside those guidelines, and we are actively deploying a fix to limit these generations.”

The Home Office is aware of the increasing risks in this area. “The UK has robust laws to tackle child-like sex dolls, and we are determined to address new emerging trends of abuse, including online,” said a government spokesperson. “Under the Online Safety Act, services including social media sites, search engines, and in-scope AI chatbots, must protect users from illegal content. From this summer, platforms must also use age checks to stop children accessing pornography on their sites, including when it is AI-generated.”

Critics remain sceptical, however, given that this technology is still so new, it’s possible nobody knows how to navigate it safely – including those developing it. ChatGPT was only launched in 2022 while Cybrothel has only been operational in its current form for a year. Meanwhile, new AI companion apps are launching all the time without vital safeguards because the industry is largely unregulated. “I think most people have no idea the extent of the inbuilt discrimination and inequality in much of this technology and so currently see it as a novelty and a bit of fun,” says Bates. “It’s really important that we hold these companies to the same standards of accountability and safety as we would any other, like a multinational food conglomerate, which could never get away with the shrugging attitude of tech companies and the inference that it is simply too difficult to regulate something so big.”

The outlook is bleak. As an increasing number of tech companies race to capitalise on a basic human need for connection, sexual or otherwise, so grows the threat to our capacity to interact normally in non-digital spaces. I ask Fussenegger several times if he believes what he’s doing is unethical. Each time, he replies that he does not. Nor is he worried about people abusing the dolls. “I have not heard of any cases where someone has used the dolls to tailor to that. This is definitely not the place for that. We try to put as much love into preparing the dolls. Our experience is the more effort we put into it, the better they treat the dolls.”

A spokesperson for Cybrothel provided the following statement: “Although we work with inanimate silicone dolls, we firmly believe that respectful interaction should remain at the heart of the experience. We do not accept content or behaviour involving violence, coercion, or non-consensual fantasies or suggestions of minors or childlike features. We have a fundamental respect for the concepts of consent, dignity, and responsibility.”

But the bottom line is that at this point, there’s almost nothing we can do to halt the development of these kinds of services. The tech exists and will only become more sophisticated – Fussenegger has previously spoken about filling Cybrothel with sex robots – and as it does, the possibilities are as endless as the consequences. As Bates posits: “We are catapulting headlong towards a world in which fast proliferating AI and other tech is going to impact virtually every area of our lives in ways it is hard to even imagine yet.” And yet, we somehow have to find a way to protect ourselves – even if we don’t know yet precisely what it is we’re protecting ourselves from.