Ashnikko: Manchester Academy – Live Review

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Ashnikko | Amelia MooreManchester Academy, Manchester13th February 2026 Ashnikko brought her Smoochies tour to Manchester Academy, a kaleidoscopic, surreal spectacle that’s become one of the most theatrically ambitious propositions in contemporary pop. She occupies a volatile space in hyperpop – too abrasive to commodify, too self-aware to dismiss as novelty. Sex, power and grotesquerie aren’t aesthetic garnish but blunt instruments, used to drag private conversations into the light. Outside Manchester Academy, amid chants of ‘lesbians! lesbians’, the exchange of…

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Gisèle Pelicot’s powerful interview with BBC

Gisèle Pelicot has told BBC Newsnight's Victoria Derbyshire that her strength comes from her "DNA". Ms Pelicot was at the centre of the largest rape trial in French history. For almost a decade, she had been drugged unconscious by her husband Dominique Pelicot and raped by dozens of men he had recruited on internet chat rooms.She made the remarkable decision to let the world know who she was, waiving her legal right to anonymity, before the trial began.In…

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New band of the day! Housework release debut single

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Brum newcomers Housework hit the track running with Triple Denim, a two minute barrage of anthemic Indie Rock, making a claim for The Cribs crown in one foul swoop reckons Wayne AF Carey… Hailing from the heartlands of grey Britain, Housework is a band of mates who should have given up a long time ago. As the name suggests, their inspirations are rooted in the mundanity of the everyday, but their music cuts through the daily grind. Triple…

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Ancient Lights: Reclamation – Album Review

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Ancient Lights: Reclamation (Grow Your Own) LP | CD | DL Out 13 Feb 2026 Ancient Lights deliver a clever ranting treatise against nationalism, exploring the culture and history of these islands to a punky mix of folk, post-punk and death rock. Nathan Brown says it is both innovative yet instantly familiar. Across this album, Ancient Lights simultaneously celebrate and dismantle popular history and myths surrounding this clump of islands off the west of Europe. It’s highly relevant…

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Rape trial puts Norway’s royal family in unwelcome glare of public

The four rape charges date from 2018, at his parents' official residence, the Skaugum estate outside Oslo, to November 2024, after his initial arrest. One of the four, dating back to 2023, involves intercourse while the woman was asleep. The other three also involve sexual assault while the women were incapacitated, which also counts as rape in Norway. Source link

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‘A vaccine against murder’? Israel split over return of death penalty

Last year, the head of Jewish Power, the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir was one of the few ministers to vote against the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal which saw the last remaining hostages returned in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees – about 250 of whom were serving life or lengthy sentences, many for killing Israelis. He said he was opposed to all hostage agreements. Source link

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