Conservation can be hard work. But not when it comes to helping these little orange and brown beauties

You’ve almost certainly seen gatekeeper butterflies, even if you don’t know them by name. The gatekeeper is, says naturalist and butterfly enthusiast Matthew Oates , “a charming butterfly; a charming meditation of soft oranges and browns”. Traditionally found in the “ scrub edges ” (the borders between grassland and woods) and at hedge margins, they are frequently seen in suburban and urban areas, near garden gates (hence their name) and at the base of shrubs. The gatekeeper is in no hurry, so you’ll get to enjoy it. “It doesn’t dash about at great speed,” says Oates. “It flops around; both males and females bask a lot.” As a bonus, Oates adds, gatekeeper males are “extremely polite to each other”, unlike lots of other butterflies, which are highly territorial. “They’re gentlemen.”

(Mom+Pop)
Performing, writing and producing everything herself, April Grey pares back her hyperpop electronics for an LP in thrall to 90s pop-R&B, with songs that big stars would die for

April Grey is a US bedroom producer beloved of an impressive range of other artists – experimental pop duo 100 Gecs are fans, so is rapper Danny Brown and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker – but thus far it’s been hard to accurately pin her down. It’s a challenge to sum up the sound of the first album she recorded under the name Underscores, 2021’s Fishmonger, or its follow-up, a concept album based around three young female inhabitants of a mythical Michigan town called Wallsocket: there really was an awful lot going on on both of them. But if you were forced to come up with a shorthand description, you might plump for hyperpop meets emo pop-punk, a sonic cocktail that, as you might imagine, occasionally proved a bit too flavoursome for its own good.

There was no getting around the heavily-caffeinated pop thrills provoked by her best work, but while Wallsocket was bombarding you with distorted guitars, stammering vocal samples, dive-bombing brostep basslines, honking rave electronics, nu-metal riffs, heaving shoegaze textures, gunshot sound effects, vintage video-game bleeps, drums that split the difference between dancefloor pulse and the double-time thunder of hardcore punk, and vocals alternately delivered in a bratty drawl or a full-throated, heavily distorted scream, there were definitely moments when you wished Grey might consider the wisdom of the old adage about less sometimes being more.

The fates of two ostensibly similar online games released this year, Marathon and Highguard, prove that success is becoming close to unattainable

What does success look like for developers of online video games? In 2026, the answer could not be clearer: no one has a clue.

Consider Highguard, 2026’s first big flop. Signs were promising on its launch on 26 January, with a peak of 100,000 concurrent players on Steam – plus those enjoying the game on PlayStation and Xbox, which do not make player counts public. As a free-to-play game, the barrier to entry for Highguard was low. And thanks to a prime advertising placement at the end of December’s The Game Awards – a buzzy spot usually reserved for known hitmakers, not free-to-play upstarts – curiosity was high.

After a 1,088-day wait, a jury acquitted the man Nichols accused. She describes her experience of the system as a complainant – and explains why she went public

• Warning: this article contains graphic testimony

• Charlotte Nichols on her rape trial ordeal – podcast

Sitting in the House of Commons, waiting for the speaker to call her name last week, the MP Charlotte Nichols was doing breathing exercises to try to keep calm. “I was just trying to get myself into the headspace where I could say what I wanted to say without either completely garbling it or just crying or bottling it at the last minute.”

She didn’t bottle it. She stood up, asked MPs to be gentle with her, and then went public with her biggest secret.

• Captain denies relationship had broken down

• ‘There is frustration because last year was amazing’

Virgil van Dijk has said the connection between Arne Slot’s Liverpool and the Kop remains intact and cited the rout of Galatasaray as evidence of what they can achieve by sticking together.

The Liverpool captain took issue with claims that the team’s relationship with supporters had broken down this season and insisted the focus should be on reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2022. Scrutiny intensified after Sunday’s draw against Tottenham , when boos greeted the final whistle at Anfield and Dominik Szoboszlai admitted the team had been affected by the sight of supporters leaving early.

Irish rape crisis charities call display ‘an act of public grooming’ that normalises sexual violence

Rape crisis charities in Ireland have condemned a St Patrick’s Day float that mimicked a sexual assault and had signs saying “Epstein files”.

Rape Crisis Ireland called the display “an act of public grooming” that normalised sexual violence. Politicians branded it a disgrace.

• Trial planned from 2027, potentially in big Asian market

• Uefa rejects call to end league phase ‘country protection’

Uefa hopes to follow in the Premier League’s footsteps and trial a new direct-to-consumer streaming service for Champions League matches in the next television rights cycle.

If implemented successfully the trial could pave the way for games to be streamed more widely via a dedicated platform. Discussions are in their early stages and it is unclear whether the service would be offered free of charge. A major Asian market such as Indonesia or India could be an attractive starting point for UC3, the joint venture set up by Uefa and European Football Clubs (EFC) to manage their competitions’ commercial rights, as it seeks to determine the project’s viability.

Royal Opera House, London
The Ukrainian dancer brings clarity and feeling to the role opposite a smart, subtle performance by Joseph Sissens

A dancer’s debut in one of ballet’s great leading roles is always an event, but it’s particularly notable when that dancer is a first artist – three ranks below principal in ballet’s hierarchy. Marianna Tsembenhoi is clearly being tipped as a future star and the Royal Ballet’s faith in her looks well placed on the basis of her first outing as tragic peasant girl Giselle.

From her first entrance, buoyant across the stage, the Ukrainian dancer (who came to train in the UK in 2017) impresses with her elevation, as if her weight is barely touching the ground. Tsembenhoi’s bright-eyed, girlish Giselle has the lightness of innocence and goodness. She’s technically a very tidy dancer, with long arms that sway like willow branches.

As conflict escalates around the globe responding to security threats is a cost we must bear, but a Labour government will always find the means to stand up against disease and hunger

• Yvetter Cooper is secretary of state for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

In my lifetime, there has never been a period when the scale of global instability and insecurity – and the impact here in the UK – has been so great. Regional conflict is gripping the Middle East ; the Iranian regime is trying to hold the global economy hostage in the strait of Hormuz; and a fresh humanitarian disaster is escalating in Lebanon – all coming alongside the crises in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere.

Britain’s fighter jets are in defensive operations in the Middle East; our carrier strike group has planned deployment to the North Atlantic and Arctic; and as our security services have warned, we are in a constant battle to protect our country, our people, and our economy from state threats and cyber-attacks.