Badenoch unknown and not trusted by voters, top pollster says

Kemi Badenoch is an unknown politician who the public do not trust, Britain’s top polling guru has said.

The Tory leader has been unable to halt the decline in support for her party, which collapsed over Partygate and Liz Truss’s premiership and has been falling ever since, Professor Sir John Curtice said.

In a damning assessment ahead of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Sir John said: “The Tories are now barely more popular with those that voted Brexit than they are with the people who voted Remain, despite being the party that delivered Brexit.”

He told the Daily Mirror: “Has Badenoch been able to deal with the challenge posed by [Nigel] Farage and Reform? No. Has she managed to make an impression on the public? No.

“Has she basically had to change tack? Yes, because originally her idea was ‘we’re stuffed, we have to wait for people to forget the last parliament, we’ll spend a couple of years having a consultation thinking up some policy, then only begin to pop up again in the second half of the parliament, by which stage we hope the government is unpopular’.”

He added: “In practice, she has discovered to her right is Reform, which is just eating into the party. We can debate how Labour and the Liberal Democrats are dealing with Reform, but it’s very difficult for the Tories to stand up and say ‘we believe in a diverse country, and we think Nigel Farage is a very nasty man’.”

Sir John urged Ms Badenoch to use her speech at the party’s gathering to introduce herself to the public, but warned it is too late for any hope of a comeback in time for May’s local elections.

“The underlying thing with her numbers is not that she’s not popular, it’s that nobody knows who she is,” he said.

He added: “There’s always been this remarkable mismatch between her longstanding levels of popularity among Conservative activists, and her low visibility among the wider public. She wasn’t that visible as a minister, [and] she’s not that visible as a leader of her position.”

And as Ms Badenoch pledges to pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to crack down on small boats crossing the English Channel, Sir John said it would be hard to adopt a harder line on immigration than Reform.

He said the Tories will struggle to win the trust of voters having “failed to deliver on the issue” during 14 years in power.

His comments came after a YouGov poll on the eve of the Tory conference showed just 11 per cent of voters believe the party is ready for government.

Meanwhile just one in five voters believe Ms Badenoch has done well as Tory leader, while nearly half (45 per cent) think she has done badly.

A seat-level forecast by the pollster found that, were a general election held today, the party would fall from having 119 MPs to just 45, while Reform would be the largest party on 311.

Tories pledge ‘removals force’ to deport illegal immigrants

The Conservative party is set to announce a new “Removals Force,” aiming to deport 150,000 individuals annually to curb irregular migration into the UK.

Plans unveiled on Sunday detail £1.6 billion in funding and “sweeping new powers” for the force, including facial recognition without warning to identify illegal immigrants.

This body is expected to “integrate closely” with police, who will be mandated to conduct immigration checks on everyone they stop or arrest.

The proposal draws inspiration from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, which the Conservatives describe as a “successful approach” to removals.

But ICE has also been heavily criticised in the past year, accused of arresting both legal migrants and US citizens and targeting people based on their race.

The proposal forms part of the Conservatives’ “Borders Plan” announced at the start of the party’s annual conference on Sunday.

Immigration is set to be one of the key themes of the annual gathering, with “Stronger Borders” one of two slogans hanging from the front of the conference centre in Manchester.

Some 34,401 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year, according to PA news agency analysis of Home Office figures, putting 2025 on course to break the record for most arrivals in a single year.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “We must tackle the scourge of illegal immigration into Britain and secure our borders.

“That is why the Conservatives are setting out a serious and comprehensive new plan to end this crisis.”

Along with the Removals Force, the plan includes a radical overhaul of the asylum system which would see refugee status granted only to those threatened by a foreign government.

Those fleeing conflict or “less tolerant” laws on religion or sexuality would not be eligible, with the party saying “few people will qualify”.

The plan will also see the immigration tribunal abolished, with all decisions on migration taken by the Home Office with only limited rights of appeal in cases where officials have acted without statutory authority.

Immigration cases will be denied legal aid, with the Conservatives accusing solicitors of having “defrauded” the UK by “coaching” applicants and arguing there is “no need for lawyers” as people “should simply tell the truth about their circumstances”.

The plan follows the Tories’ announcement that they would look to leave the European Convention on Human Rights if it won the next election, arguing the treaty had “frustrated the country’s efforts to secure its borders and deport those with no right to be here”.

It also comes as Mrs Badenoch faces continued pressure on her right flank in the shape of Reform UK, which has already pledged to leave the ECHR and deport up to 600,000 people over five years if it comes to power.

She said: “Reform have nothing but announcements that fall apart on arrival. Our Stronger Borders plan is serious and credible and backed by a comprehensive legal analysis.

“That is the difference the next Conservative government will deliver.”

She also accused the Government of offering “failed gimmicks”, including its one in, one out deal with France – dubbed “one thousand in, one out” by Mrs Badenoch – that has so far seen just 18 people returned after crossing the Channel.

Vance piles on Democratic candidate who likened rival to Hitler

JD Vance and other Trump administration officials have joined calls for the Democratic candidate in Virginia’s attorney general race to step down after text messages were unearthed in which he suggested his political opponent was worse than Hitler and should be shot.

The vice president, as well as other Republicans including Speaker Mike Johnson and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, condemned the “abhorrent” messages sent by Jay Jones to another delegate in 2022.

“The Democrat candidate for AG in Virginia has been fantasizing about murdering his political opponents in private messages,” Vance wrote on X. “I’m sure the people hyperventilating about sombrero memes will join me in calling for this very deranged person to drop out of the race.”

Vance was referring to the backlash against Donald Trump after the president posted an AI video to his social media depicting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero and sporting a large mustache. Critics have called the video “vulgar” and “racist,” though Vance said that Trump had been “joking.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson called for Jones to “immediately withdraw his candidacy” saying the messages were “plainly disqualifying for anyone who aspires to public office.”

“There is no conceivable justification for wishing violence against a political opponent and their children. Mr. Jay Jones should immediately withdraw his candidacy, save himself and his party from further embarrassment, and take some time to reflect,” Johnson wrote.

In a text exchange with fellow delegate Carrie Coyner in 2022, Jones said that in a hypothetical scenario in which he had a gun and two bullets in a room with Adolf Hitler, Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, and Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, he would choose to shoot Gilbert twice.

“Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” Jones said, according to the National Review.

“It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death on them,” Coyner, a Republican, replied.

Despite multiple calls for him to drop out of the AG race, Jones has refused so far to do so. In a Friday interview, Jones admitted that his text messages about Gilbert were “abhorrent” and apologized, but said Virginians deserved a leader who would “accept when they’ve made mistakes.”

At the time he sent the text messages, Jones had just stepped down from his position as a state delegate representing Norfolk, Virginia. He announced his campaign for Attorney General in November 2024 and went on to the Democratic primary in June.

In the same exchange, Jones reportedly suggested that Republican lawmakers needed to experience their children dying to change their policy views. He also described the Gilberts as “evil” and “breeding little fascists.”

Speaking to ABC Friday, Jones addressed the messages, saying that such violent rhetoric had “no place on our landscape” or in public discourse. “I sincerely and from the bottom of my heart, want to express my remorse and my regret for what happened and what I said that language has no place in our discourse, and I am so remorseful for what happened,” he said.

Jones said he had been in touch with Gilbert and his wife, who were “angry and furious” about the messages.

“What I said was unacceptable, and I accept responsibility for that, and I want them to know, and I want the people of Virginia to know that I am so deeply, deeply embarrassed, and that I understand the gravity of what I said, and I am so apologetic for it,” he said.

On his comments about Gilbert’s children, Jones added: “I’m sick to my stomach when I read those words. And certainly they’re objectionable, they’re abhorrent. They have no place in Virginia, no place in this country’s discourse.”

However, despite his apologies, Jones said he would be continuing with his campaign for state attorney general.

“Virginians, I think, want and deserve and expect leaders who will accept when they’ve made mistakes, when they have aired, and again, I have not ever claimed to be perfect,” he said.

“I don’t think any of us are, but I’m before the people of Virginia, offering my apology and offering my word that I’m learning and growing from all of this.”

It comes amid growing concerns about political violence and extreme rhetoric, in the wake of the assassination of conservative youth activist, Charlie Kirk, last month. A recent poll found that more than 70 percent of Americans believe that political violence is now a “severe problem.”

As well as Vance and Johnson, Youngkin said he was outraged by Jones’ remarks and unconvinced by his apology. “This violent, disgusting rhetoric targeted at an elected official and his children is beyond disqualifying,” Youngkin wrote online X.

“There is no ‘gosh, I’m sorry’ here. Jones doesn’t have the morality or character to drop out of this race, and his running mates Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi, and every elected Democrat in Virginia don’t have the courage to call on him to step away from this campaign in disgrace.”

Robbie Williams cancels his final show of tour due to ‘public safety’

Pop star Robbie Williams has been forced to cancel the final show of his Britpop tour “in the interests of public safety”.

The former Take That member turned solo artist, 51, was due to perform at Atakoy Marina in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday 7 October, but posted on Instagram on Saturday to tell fans he was “extremely sorry” to have to cancel the concert.

He said: “City authorities have cancelled the show, in the interests of public safety. The last thing I would ever want to do is to jeopardise the safety of my fans – their safety and security come first.

“We were very excited to be playing Istanbul for the first time, and purposely chose the city as the final show of the Britpop tour.”

He continued: “To end this epic run of dates in front of my Turkish fans was my dream, given the close connections my family have with this wonderful country.

“To everyone in Istanbul who wanted to join the 1.2 million people who have shared this phenomenal tour this year with us, I am deeply sorry. We were so looking forward to this show, but the decision to cancel it was beyond our control.”

The Sun reports that the gig was cancelled over fears of threats in Turkey due to his past support for Israel, where he has played gigs in the past.

Williams is married to Ayda Field Williams, a Turkish-born woman with a Jewish mother.

He will perform his smallest ticketed gig, at Camden’s Dingwalls venue in London on Thursday, running through his upcoming album Britpop, which is yet to be released, in full, with his first solo LP, Life Thru A Lens.

He began the tour in May, performing in cities including Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Helsinki and Athens.

Reviewing his Edinburgh show for The Independent, critic Mark Beaumont complained that “his bawdy stand-up segments, extended crowd work, regular Proclaimers karaoke and relentless oversharing drag proceedings to several grinding halts”.

“An attempt to sing ‘She’s The One’ to a woman in the front row takes almost 15 minutes to get going and, as the final stretch distends, he wangs on for so long about his children saving his sanity that he’s clearly the only doting parent in the stadium who isn’t measuring out their evening in babysitter hours,” he wrote.

However, he praised the “moments of entertainment” that materialised, including his rendition of “Come Undone” and an encore of his hit songs “Feel” and “Angels”.

After leaving Take That in 1995, Williams released his chart-topping debut album in 1997, and has achieved seven UK number one singles and 15 UK number one albums.

The albums include I’ve Been Expecting You (1998), Sing When You’re Winning (2000), Escapology (2002), Intensive Care (2005) and Rudebox (2006).

In a recent interview, he opened up about how he struggled to acknowledge the adulation of his fans during the stadium shows.

“You would think that a stadium full of people professing their love to you would work, but whatever it is, inside me, cannot hear it,” he explained during an appearance on the I’m ADHD! No You’re Not podcast.

“This tour in particular, as a 51-year-old, I’ve approached it differently because I seem to be in the space to approach things differently,” he continued.

“I have a very complicated relationship with touring and performing live. People say: ‘Oh, you going on tour? You must be really, really excited.’ Not really. I’m terrified.

“I mask, like I’m an Olympian at masking.

“I will look full of bravado and look pompous and look smug and do these grand gestures, which have worked for me because they put my face on the poster and people still buy tickets but actually what’s happening is I feel like the opposite of that all the time, most of the time.”

He said this feeling was “getting better” and that he had found he was looking forward to playing shows more than he had in his thirties and early forties.

Liverpool don’t make sense and latest loss points to something bigger

Just when the stage seemed set for a launch moment from Liverpool’s new stars, Chelsea’s great hope provided one. Just when the Premier League champions looked like they could snatch another stoppage-time winner, Estevao gave Chelsea what their late siege deserved. Liverpool got what was coming. This was of course the second time in a week that they have lost 2-1 to a late goal, to make it a third successive defeat.

Liverpool are now very much in a classic Premier League crisis. Chelsea are out of one, as Enzo Maresca almost symbolised with that Jose Mourinho-style run down the touchline to celebrate the winner.

That resulted in yet another red card, this time for the manager himself, but it’s hard to think that anyone will care too much about that. Everything is now so much clearer at Chelsea going into the international break.

That doesn’t just apply to results. It’s also how they got there.

As the game ticked into the final half-hour, and Liverpool were building some momentum following Cody Gakpo’s equaliser, Maresca knew exactly what he had to do with his substitutes. That’s all the more impressive given that Slot himself mentioned after the game that Chelsea had eight players out, and it could be a “positive” for them.

Instead, Romeo Lavia started to stem midfield, and ensure Chelsea were driving forward again. Jorrel Hato offered a required stability in defence. Estevao, from 75 minutes, was ready to seize the occasion.

There were more than enough occasions when the young Brazilian seized the ball from a Liverpool player lax in possession, something that was a feature of the game.

Against that, Slot’s changes seemed to cede the game. They finished with two midfielders in the back four. That just can’t work in a match in the balance like this.

People can of course point to available personnel, and the pattern of the game, but there is maybe something much bigger.

This Liverpool don’t yet make sense in the same way. When you look at the available players, and particularly the expense of the new attackers, it’s actually hard to see what the obvious best formation is.

Florian Wirtz, initially dropped, is used at the tip of midfield but hasn’t yet physically adapted to the position in this league. Mohamed Salah seems to be missing Trent Alexander-Arnold, and hasn’t yet synced with a changing frontline. From all that, the balance of the team looks wrong, and opposition sides can run right through their centre.

This was what happened with Moises Caicedo’s sensational opening goal. The strike was superb and seemed to pick up speed as it rocketed towards the top corner, but that was in considerable contrast to how easy Liverpool made it for him by opening up the space. Caicedo was able to slip past Alexis Mac Allister and even take another set-up touch before he struck.

Liverpool shouldn’t have allowed it.

There are multiple caveats to this, of course, which is why we obviously aren’t talking about a true “crisis”. Isak will obviously get fit and come good. Wirtz will adapt. Liverpool will instantly start to look better, and Slot’s new formation will be more easily facilitated. It shouldn’t be forgotten this is also a team coping with grief, after the Diogo Jota tragedy.

And they’re still just a point off top.

But that comes after being five points clear a few weeks ago, and after so many warning signs.

All of this was coming. It’s always the other side of late goals, too, in how a regular need for them at once showcases character but also flaws.

Liverpool are now suffering the other side, in how they’re starting to concede such moments.

Hence, all of these caveats can co-exist with the fact the team doesn’t look right at the moment. It doesn’t make sense.

The disconnect could be seen in the number of basic bad passes. Over half the team were responsible for such moments, sometimes playing the ball several yards beyond intended targets or straight out of play.

There was an irony to one of those touches actually setting up Liverpool’s equaliser. Isak attempted to take the ball under control, only to divert it towards goal. Gakpo took the chance.

The greater significance is that there was a randomness about it. Liverpool look like a team looking for connections rather than knowing them.

Hence more contrasts like Salah offering one brilliant ball for Isak, but also so many bad finishes; or Wirtz producing that sublime turn to set up the Egyptian but then do little else.

Right now, rather than collective integration, they’ve got individual instinct. Slot did reference some of the possible reasons for this after the game, as he said that the Champions League schedule ensured he didn’t have the same time to train.

He also insisted that a draw would have been much more deserved.

Maresca might have said otherwise, but his red card ensured he couldn’t speak to media. To give Chelsea their due, too, it is often said there’s an element of this “randomness” about their recruitment. The squad doesn’t seem to be built towards the same vision that Liverpool’s does.

And yet, as this game entered its crucial stages, it was Maresca that had a better idea of what to do.

Malo Gusto had already been an early masterstroke in midfield. Chelsea went man-to-man when Liverpool were attacking, but Gusto often did the work of multiple men.

Then, when Maresca had to change, despite limited options, he had a clarity. Estevao had a focus. Afterwards, all eyes were on him. His run for that winning goal was a natural follow-on from an all-energy display.

Liverpool, despite the ampleness of their attacking options and extravagance of the summer spending, seemed short of ideas. They were mostly relying on rushes and moments.

A coach as good as Slot is of course almost certain to fix this. The sudden risk is that Arsenal, after so much doubt, can go on the kind of run that Liverpool did last season.

Slot may now be enduring the other side of that, too. The breaks aren’t coming. It isn’t fitting in the same way. This, consequently, was a scrambled late Chelsea win that still made a lot of sense.

Eats, Beats and Storied Streets: A journey through Louisiana

Few places in America are as spellbinding as Louisiana. Streets are alive with music, every table groans with food that tells a story, and every river bend reveals landscapes as mysterious as they are beautiful. Whether you’re dancing to zydeco in Lafayette, devouring beignets in the French Quarter, or gliding through the Atchafalaya swamps in search of alligators, this is a destination which offers travellers an unforgettable blend of rhythm, flavour and culture.

Music that Moves You

A seemingly never-ending party, a stroll through the bouncing streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter is one of America’s most thrilling sensory experiences. Guitars crunch, symbols crash and horns howl on every street corner, from Bourbon Street to Frenchmen Street. This Cajun corner of the US has a deep heritage too, and the Preservation Hall – dating back to 1961 – is an essential stop. With its intimate time-worn walls and wooden chairs facing the small stage, it’s a shrine to New Orleans jazz and every note should be savoured.

But Louisiana’s music tradition goes far beyond the Big Easy. Beginning in 1981, the Baton Rouge Blues Festival is one of the country’s oldest blues festivals and the state capital is a haven of Cajun music. It’s also the home of the swamp blues, so to hear the best of these laid-back rhythms, spend a foot-tapping night at Phil Brady’s Bar & Grill or Henry Turner Jr’s Listening Room. And for a little backyard boogie from local Louisiana musicians, try and hit the wonderfully chilled out Bee Nice Concert Series.

One of the more niche regional sounds is zydeco, and these infectious beats driven by accordions and washboards are perfect for dancing the night away. Over in Lafayette, the lush outdoor Hideaway on Lee and the charming Blue Moon Saloon host high-energy zydeco and Cajun jams. For a deeper dive into this unique music of the swamp, drop by the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles for three glorious days of Cajun, Creole, and zydeco sounds.

Flavours to Savour

Louisiana has one of America’s most distinct food cultures, with Creole dishes like gumbo and jambalaya not found anywhere else. Needless to say, the fiery flavours found in these creations are sublime and it’s no surprise that 2025 is Louisiana’s Year of Food.

With its rich broth, often featuring a roux base and embellished by juicy shrimp and thick sausage, gumbo is arguably the quintessential Creole dish. If you’re in New Orleans, look no further than no–frills downtown spots like Coop’s Place or head out to neighbourhood joints like the upscale Gabrielle Restaurant who serve a smoky take on Cajun-style gumbo or the dense dishes plated up at Liuzza’s by the Track. And if you’re so enraptured by this unique stew, then learn how to make it at home at the New Orleans School of Cooking.

A Cajun rice dish that originated in southern Louisiana in the 18th Century, Jambalaya is also iconic down here and can include meats, vegetables, seafood and spices in its mouthwatering mix. The Jambalaya Shoppe is dotted all around southern Louisiana and is a good place to start, though make time to visit Gonzales – the ‘Jambalaya Capital of the World. It even has its own Jambalaya Festival every spring.

Remember to make time for sweet treats though, as Louisiana’s beignets are something special. Warm, deep-fried pastries dusted with powdered sugar, these gentle delights are the perfect cafe snack. Open since 1862, the Cafe du Monde is an iconic French Quarter spot to watch the world go by with a beignet and café au lait.

And if you’re here for Mardi Gras, make sure to sample the sweet colourful King Cake as the jaunty floats pass by.

Culture and the Great Outdoors

Louisiana’s diverse cultural heritage is as unique as its landscape. French, Spanish, African, Caribbean and native influences all converge into Cajun and Creole identities and that’s most famously reflected in the state’s sublime cuisine. But don’t miss the great outdoors, as Louisiana’s biodiversity is enchanting too.

Acadiana’s humid moss-cloaked swamps and bayous are one of America’s last wildernesses, and boat tours of these serene and ethereal landscapes are unforgettable, especially if you spot wildlife like American Alligators, beavers, herons, eagles and white tail deer. The Atchafalaya Basin, just east of Lafayette, is a particular haven and several airboat tours depart from here, including McGee’s Swamp Tours and Last Wilderness Swamp Tours.

Road trails through these bayous can be just as inspiring, and the Bayou Teche National Byway tells stories. Running for 183 miles from Arnaudville down to Morgan City, this serpentine route passes by ornate antebellum homes like Shadows-on-the-Teche, tranquil fields of sugar cane, breezy swamps and historic towns packed with friendly cafes, zydeco dancehalls and local museums.

Look out for the region’s lively 400+ festivals too, which often celebrate Louisiana’s local culture. The Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette celebrates the links between Acadiana and the Francophone world, through music, art and food, while the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival in Opelousas aims to preserve Louisiana’s most gleeful music genre. And there’s no better way of learning about the state’s people and heritage than at the various tours, concerts, talks and cultural events held in Vermillionville in Lafayette.

Why Dublin is the surprising city to dig into Picasso’s relationship

Pablo Picasso is coming to the National Gallery. Not the National Gallery that overlooks Trafalgar Square, but the one in Ireland, housed behind a 19th-century neo-classical façade on Merrion Square in the centre of Georgian Dublin. The National Gallery of Ireland hasn’t, as London’s previously did, limited itself to art before the 20th century, and this autumn will host the major new exhibition, Picasso: From the Studio, in partnership with the Musée Picasso in Paris.

The show will be packed with remarkable works from the single most transformative artist of the 20th century. However, Picasso was also among the most troubling artists of the 20th century – particularly for his attitude to women. The charges begin with the painter’s treatment of Fernande Olivier, the first live-in lover in Paris, whom he locked up in their squalid studio apartment. Then Olga Khokhlova, the ballerina wife Picasso subjected to many indignities, among them his affair with the teenager Marie-Thérèse Walter – his junior by 28 years. There’s Walter’s successor as muse and bedfellow, the artist Dora Maar, whom he struck on occasion, and Françoise Gilot, the mistress Picasso couldn’t forgive for writing a book about their relationship, to the extent of disinheriting their children.

Read more: The best museums you should visit in the UK

The Dublin team do not deny there are problems. “Picasso was a tricky person all round,” says co-curator Janet McLean. “His relationships with women were difficult, and sometimes with his children and grandchildren, men and his friends. He would often take what he needed, and then he would move on.”

There is no record of Picasso visiting Dublin, but the new show is a compelling reason to visit a city that, for most Britons, is only a ferry or one-hour flight away across the Irish Sea. The National Gallery of Ireland offers visitors access to an enviable, if little-known in the UK, free-to-see collection. There are works by Goya, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Caravaggio and more, with regular guided tours of the collection at no extra charge.

Read more: The best cheap hotels in Dublin

While you’re in town, cross the River Liffey to the Hugh Lane Gallery on Parnell Square to encounter one of the most audacious modern art installations in Europe: Dublin-born painter Francis Bacon’s London studio, which was relocated here in 1998. Every paint tube and oily rag, even the dust from the floor, has been moved from London. That coup was engineered by Barbara Dawson, visionary director of the Hugh Lane Gallery, and it is women who are behind Picasso: From the Studio. The National’s director is Caroline Campbell, and McLean’s co-curator is Joanne Snrech of Musée Picasso in Paris. Housed in a baroque mansion in the Marais, the Musée embarked on a major reconsideration of its dedicatee in 2023 at the instigation of its female director Sabine Longin. “The idea was to talk about everything that seems problematic about Picasso,” says Snrech. “His relationship to women, his position during the war, his interpretation of non-Western art. To not just go, ‘Picasso treated women badly’”.

Consequently, their exhibition re-thinks how Picasso worked, how the tumbling, apparently endless succession of pictures, sculptures, ceramics and prints – over 50 of which will be in Dublin – were made. Rather than a lone genius in the studio, Picasso’s art came out of a larger creative constellation; he was dependent on networks of people, most of all, perhaps, on the women we see in his work. “It’s a different way of thinking about art history,” says Snrech. “Not focusing just on Picasso but also highlighting the importance of the other people around him; moving away from that genius narrative to something that is more inclusive.”

Read more: Inside the Paris neighbourhoods you should know before visiting

“Picasso has so many collaborations,” says McLean. “When he wanted to do printmaking, the printmakers in Paris set up a studio to accommodate him. There was just this incredible output, hundreds and hundreds of things.” Rather than diminish or falter, this seemed to increase as he grew older. Turning 70, Picasso took up with the ceramic workers of Vallauris on the Côte d’Azur. A trove of the often quirkily humorous pitchers, plates, and figurines that resulted is coming from Paris.

In 2023, on the fiftieth anniversary of Picasso’s death, New York’s Brooklyn Gallery mounted Pablomatic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby, wherein the Australian feminist comic attempted to boot the artist out of the canon. Picasso was “a monumentally misogynistic and abusive domestic authoritarian dictator”. But as the Dublin show will make clear, it’s more complicated than that. Dora Maar was a major artist in her own right; she both photographed Picasso at work on Guernica in the studio and advised him as he created the greatest painting of the 20th century.

Likewise, you might argue that Walter, who haunts the show in works like Portrait of Marie-Thérèse (1937) and the bronze sculpture Head of a Woman (1931-1932) was the co-author of Picasso’s remarkable rebirth in the 1930s. Rather than ask if great art can excuse bad behaviour, the necessary question might be, why haven’t these women been given more credit for Picasso’s work? Either way, go to Dublin and make your own mind up.

Read more: Best luxury hotels in Dublin 2025, reviewed

Picasso: From the Studio, National Gallery of Ireland, 9 October-22 February

The best fiction, non-fiction, and memoir to read this October

The Anthony Bourdain Reader (Bloomsbury) includes “An Exquisite Corpse”, the last, mordant, previously unpublished piece that the television star, bestselling author and acclaimed chef wrote before taking his own life in 2018, when he was 61. This collection features his fiction, essays, graphic novel articles and travel writing. Unsurprisingly, the book contains copious wild antics from a man who says that he spent 28 years “serving dead animals and sneering at vegetarians”.

His admirers will love the book and although there are plenty of entertaining moments, I wearied (after nearly 500 pages) of the repetitiveness of the shtick that underpins tales of a drug-addled past. I preferred his highly original reflections on life in restaurant kitchens. For instance, his quirky short essay “The Purpose of the Hamburger Bun” is spot on: the brioche roll is overrated – and bog-standard ketchup is better than artisan condiment sauce.

Mark Forsyth’s Rhyme & Reason: A Short History of Poetry and People (for People who Don’t Usually Read Poetry) demonstrates yet again that the patriarchy has long tentacles. First World War soldier poets such as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Rupert Brooke have been fêted for more than a century, yet I was surprised to read in Forsyth’s book (Allen & Unwin) that of the roughly 2,000 poets published in Britain in the years 1914-1918, “there were more women than soldiers” and that “their poetry was what soldiers were reading in the trenches”. As Forsyth remarks, “they’ve almost all been edited out of history”.

Finally, my first Christmas present recommendation of the year is for Michael Hogan’s smashing debut novel, The Dogwalkers’ Detective Agency (Penguin). Hogan is a witty journalist, and his warm, waggish tale of a group of murder-solving canine owners in the sleepy coastal town of Framstone is ideal for a dog-loving book lover.

The choices for memoir, novel and non-fiction book of the month are reviewed in full below:

Even though her exalted television characters Waynetta Slob and the teenage oik Perry are truly memorable creations, there is so much more to Kathy Burke than the recurring roles on Harry Enfield and Chums and French and Saunders that made her a household name. Not that celebrity matters to Burke, who dismisses being famous as “embarrassing”.

As I read the printed version of her memoir A Mind of My Own, it was easy to imagine the treat in store for those who listen to Burke’s own narrated audio version, especially when she reads aloud lines such as “walk, crunch, walk, crunch. Lovely”, the evocative way she describes the pleasure of spending the bus fare on crisps when she strolled home as a child. Burke is a London contemporary of mine. She was born in June 1964 in Islington – a mile or so from where I grew up, having been born that same summer – and her anecdotes of places such as Coram’s Fields, Chapel Market and “the dreaded Eastman Dental Hospital on Gray’s Inn Road” are accurate and amusing.

Burke’s mother Bridget died of stomach cancer at just 38, when the future actor was two, and she was raised by a father who was subject to frequent “drunken rages”. It is no surprise that Burke was naughty at school. There are touching stories of her path to acting success – sparked by gaining a place at the celebrated Anna Scher Theatre – which culminated in glory at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997, when she won Best Actress for her work in Gary Oldman’s Nil by Mouth. The story of collecting the prized movie trophy is an absorbing one, ending with “accepting a bellini cocktail from Harvey f***face Weinstein”.

Burke is equally blunt about some of the other people who have crossed her path – the actor Kerry Fox is recalled as a “charmless prick”, a harsh teacher is “a rotten old b****” – although the acerbity is balanced by her warmth towards the many kind souls she has encountered, including Rik Mayall, Donald Pleasence, Minnie Driver and Oldman.

The memoir, which tells a revealing story of her class and her gender in a bygone time, is as forthright as you would expect from Burke, who has never been afraid to speak her mind. One time, when she was performing in a show at Chelsea Army Barracks, she caused a rumpus among the soldiers by saying into the microphone, “Give Ireland back to the Irish.”

There are candid tales of her life in “straight acting” – including as a playwright and theatre director – and she also deals with her own mental health and addiction issues. She notes that when she confessed to fellow thespians about her psychological problems, a friend warned her: “Be careful, Kath, this business doesn’t like people being unwell.” The one area Burke is more guarded about is the turmoil in her private life; she brushes off the emotional scars of bad relationships by quipping: “The odd fling was more than enough.”

I went into the book expecting to like Kathy Burke and came out with a great deal of affection for this generous, unpretentious and shrewd person. Above all, what I really enjoyed about A Mind of My Own was Burke’s fiery spirit, which shines through in every chapter, including the one detailing her interactions with frontman of The Pogues Shane MacGowan. The singer only ever greeted her by saying, “Alright, stupid?” She was not cowed, though, answering, “Yes, thanks for asking, prick.” A mind and mouth of her own.

‘A Mind of My Own’ by Kathy Burke is published by Gallery on 23 October, £22

The housebound writer who becomes obsessed by the late German actor Klaus Kinski in Benjamin Myers’s highly original new novel Jesus Christ Kinski, describes him as a “strange, blonde golem”, something that rings sharply true if you look closely at the 50 or so photographs of Kinski within the pages. His renowned actress daughter Nastassja must surely have gained her looks from her mother.

The novel centres around a one-man show Kinski delivered in Berlin in November 1971 about Jesus (“mankind’s most exciting story”), one that ended in tumult and which marked his end as a stage performer. Myers captures the dark and forceful energy of Kinski, who died in 1991, and his startlingly aggressive and vicious mind. The fictional recreation of his performance at Berlin’s Deutschlandhalle gives Myers the chance to imagine what was going on in Kinski’s head as he delivered his monologue.

Myers offers some respite from the fetid mind of Kinski in two sections about “the author”, set in West Yorkshire during the Covid lockdown. The writer, who has playful echoes of Myers’ own life, is the same age as Kinski was in 1971. The Kinski narrator muses on the morality of writing from the perspective of someone who “almost certainly abused women and children” (including, it was alleged, the German’s own daughter Pola).

This bold, inventive structure and content also give Myers the room to reflect on performance, censorship, mental health, loneliness, cancel culture and what we do with great art made by horrible people, especially in a 21st century in which people revert so easily to indignation.

Myers offers a stunning rendering of the intensity of the crazed Kinski, and although the book is bleak at times (because of his ugly personality), it is also funny. Kinski slates his theatre audiences as a bunch of farting, coughing, smelly, ignorant “sleepwalking bastards”. In one of his internal monologues, his Jesus complex is on full display as he muses that he is “up on the cross for this lot of s***bags”. The audience is presented as a vicarious entity in the novel, getting their kicks from seeing Kinski weep, seeing him broken.

Both Kinski and his “biographer”, housebound by winter snowstorms, reflect on the English character. While the 2021 author describes a “confused and sometimes cruel place called England”, Kinski in 1971 is scathing about a people who have perfected ways of masking their cruelty. “The English hide behind a false veneer of fairness and respectability… they are hypocrites who would slit your throat from behind at the first available opportunity,” he is quoted as saying.

Myers pokes fun at the writing process – “it’s just lonely people typing, punctuated by biscuits” – and his own character’s decision to pick such a “niche” subject for his fiction. The book works because Kinski makes a compelling subject for a novel, even if it’s hard to be convinced of his claims to genius. And despite the heavy subjects in Jesus Christ Kinski, Myers’s novel is much more fun than you might expect. One final tip: read right to the end of the unusual “credits”.

‘Jesus Christ Kinski’ by Benjamin Myers is published by Bloomsbury Circus on 23 October, £18.99

Dublin-born Anne Enright is a dazzling novelist – think of The Green Road, The Booker Prize-winning The Gathering, or Actress – and an insightful essay writer. Attention: Writing on Life, Art and the World brings together Enright’s wide-ranging cultural criticism, literary and autobiographical prose for the first time.

The literary pieces, in a section called “Voices”, include her assessments of titans such as James Joyce, Angela Carter, Toni Morrison and Edna O’Brien, and she brings an original perspective to her appreciation of their work.

The section called “Bodies” features her take on contemporary issues such as the #MeToo movement and abortion, and both articles are full of sharp wit and disarming simplicity. In “Time for a Change”, for example, written in 2018 about Ireland’s referendum on abortion reform, she cites that there had been 63,897 live births in Ireland that year, which she looks at in the context of a respected American study, which estimated that up to a quarter of pregnancies end in miscarriage. She adds, “which means that around 20,000 conceptions could have failed in Ireland last year due to natural causes. If all life is sacred, then all life did not get the memo.”

The most powerful section is “Time”, in which Enright explores her own Dublin upbringing, her marriage and several different periods of her life as a professional author. The highlight is “House Clearance”, a moving, wise piece of reflection on family mortality and nostalgia. Anyone who has had to empty a family home of their dead parents’ possessions will recognise the truth and pain in her account. “Every clearing day, the same fog sets in,” she writes.

I admire Enright’s fiction. Attention confirms the intelligence, compassion and humour of the mind behind the novels.

‘Attention: Writing on Life, Art and the World’ by Anne Enright is published by Vintage on 30 October, £20