Six great reads: great Rob Reiner moments, Ilhan Omar on Trump and disastrous secret Santas

5 days ago 27

1. ‘I could watch the final 30 minutes on a loop till the end of time’: Guardian writers’ favourite Rob Reiner moments
Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men. Photograph: TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy
Rob Reiner’s killing has led to an outpouring of love for a Hollywood career that spanned generations. Here’s a selection of our culture writers’ favourite moments from a filmography that included one of the all-time hot streaks, from This Is Spinal Tap to A Few Good Men. The latter’s endlessly watchable final half-hour is among those moments honoured here.
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2. When Secret Santa goes disastrously wrong: ‘It was the most awful thing – I just wanted to cry’
Please, no more … Composite: Guardian Design; Viorika; siklosi; David Arky
A game of solitaire accompanied by a nasty note, dog food for someone who just lost a puppy … Secret Santa is supposed to be fun, but when it’s not, it can lead to all kinds of trouble, as Lucy Knight discovered.
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3. Rise of the full nesters: what life is like with adult children who just can’t leave home
Illustration: Pat Thomas/The Guardian
In the UK, close to half of 25-year-olds now live with parents who, in many cases, would expect their nest to have long since emptied. Gaby Hinsliff looked at how this dynamic changes families, for both good and bad.
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4. ‘An unhealthy and creepy obsession’: Ilhan Omar on Trump’s attacks
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Photograph: Caroline Gutman/The Guardian

Speaking at a rally-style event in Pennsylvania last week, Donald Trump mocked congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s hijab and alleged that she married her own brother to gain US citizenship. David Smith caught up with the Zen-like US representative from Minnesota as she explained what it’s like to be on the end of threats from the president, as well as direct threats on her life.
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5. Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and ... Liz Truss? Inside the former PM’s audition for Maga
Composite: Guardian Design / Getty / YouTube

Media editor Michael Savage looked at former UK prime minister Liz Truss’s attempts to become a star of the online right – and how her links to the Maga movement in the US are driving her agenda.
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6. ‘We hate it. It’s desecration’: the real cost of HS2
A section of HS2 tunnel near Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Ten years after he first followed the proposed route, the Guardian’s natural history writer Patrick Barkham retraced his steps to see what life was like along the world’s most expensive, heavily delayed railway line.
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