Culture

The Guide #223: From surprise TV hits to year-defining records

In this week’s newsletter: We’ve had our say; now it’s your turn. Overlooked telly gems, unforgettable gigs and albums on repeat – readers share the cultural moments that made their year

The 20 best podcasts of 2025

Can Bill Nighy solve your life problems? Why are comedians moonlighting as detectives? And what happens when an AI steals your heart? This year’s most addictive podcasts …

The best art and photography of 2025

Jenny Saville’s bruising paintings, Andy Goldsworthy’s immersive stones, Lee Miller’s surrealist shots and Diane Arbus’s unforgiving nudes – our critics highlight a spectacular year The best design and architecture of 2025 More on the best culture of 2025

Tom Gauld on the last-minute Christmas rush at the bookshop

Queuing is key …

The Guide #222: From Celebrity Traitors to The Brutalist via Bad Bunny

In this week’s newsletter: Not exhaustive, not definitive and unapologetically subjective: our annual tour of the best TV, music, films, podcasts, games and books of the last year

A Peek at an Alternate Venice

Anne Applebaum went searching for the city the novelist Henry James got to know.

The 50 best albums of 2025

The year’s finest LPs as decided by 30 Guardian music writers – from a slip’n’slide through British club culture to a New York garage rock band in their 20s More on the best culture of 2025

British baker outrages Mexicans with attack on their ‘ugly’ bread

Food bloggers liken Richard Hart to Christopher Columbus for ‘stomping’ on a country that has welcomed him