The crypto queen’s rude awakening

Investors called her the ‘goddess of wealth’. Zhimin Qian embezzled more than £5bn in bitcoin, mostly from elderly victims in China, and has been sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison in the UK. But who gets to keep her billions?

By Poppy Sebag-Montefiore

Friday 14 November

Interview

Olivia Ovenden
Richard E Grant: ‘My philosophy is, go for it! Squeeze the pips until they squeak’

The actor has found a vocation playing punctilious eccentrics. Now he is in exalted company for a sobering role in a film about the Nuremburg trials

Richard E Grant: ‘My philosophy is, go for it! Squeeze the pips until they squeak’

Ambush at the BBC

Lily Isaacs
Reproductive rights are legal fact not feminist fiction, whatever Prescott memo says

What’s being tested here is not the BBC’s impartiality but the country’s moral memory

Reproductive rights are legal fact not feminist fiction, whatever Prescott memo says

Gold, sweat and tears

Niamh Rowe
Abuse unearthed in Australia’s ‘fly-in, fly-out’ mines

Lured by TikTok influencers selling a dream of riches in the outback, young Europeans are encountering a culture of sexual harassment

Abuse unearthed in Australia’s ‘fly-in, fly-out’ mines

Cricket

Paul Hayward
Where the heart wants to be: England’s happy Ashes exodus

Thousands are flocking down under with a sun-soaked stadium up ahead

Where the heart wants to be: England’s happy Ashes exodus

Amy Poon

Family style

The scion of a Chinese food dynasty tells the family story through the menu of her new restaurant

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Ambush at the BBC

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An inside job? Robbie Gibb’s campaign to rewire the BBC

Alan Rusbridger

An inside job? Robbie Gibb’s campaign to rewire the BBC
The Prescott memo flunks the impartiality test

David Aaronovitch

The Prescott memo flunks the impartiality test
Political interference at the BBC

The Observer leader

Political interference at the BBC
Truth and trust are in trouble. It’s time for an independent BBC

James Harding

Truth and trust are in trouble. It’s time for an independent BBC

Business

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Raising costs for overseas students won’t help cash-strapped universities

Budget

Richard Lambert

Raising costs for overseas students won’t help cash-strapped universities
‘I’m sorry Dave’: when AI agents go rogue

Tech

Patricia Clarke

‘I’m sorry Dave’: when AI agents go rogue
Wave of British B Corps shows firms can be a ‘force for good’ and still turn a profit

Ethical capitalism

Matthew Bishop

Wave of British B Corps shows firms can be a ‘force for good’ and still turn a profit
Businesses are losing millions by refusing fertility leave

Workplace

Emma Haslett

Businesses are losing millions by refusing fertility leave

Sport

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Premier League crypto sponsors not covered by regulators

Football

Premier League crypto sponsors not covered by regulators
Steven Finn – ‘I was really unkind to myself, telling myself I was useless’

Cricket

Steven Finn – ‘I was really unkind to myself, telling myself I was useless’
Formula E drives culture shift with female talent on the grid

FE

Formula E drives culture shift with female talent on the grid
Rugby finance report urges franchising model to end cycle of debt

Rugby union

Rugby finance report urges franchising model to end cycle of debt

Live in the newsroom

The Observer Book Club with William Boyd

Next Monday, join us in the newsroom or online to hear from one of Britain's most celebrated novelists, live in conversation with our literary editor, Tom Gatti

Book your ticket here

The critics

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Film

Wendy Ide
Edgar Wright’s The Running Man is propulsive popcorn entertainment

This brash, boisterous dystopia, starring Glen Powell, is a cobweb-clearing blast of a movie

Edgar Wright’s The Running Man is propulsive popcorn entertainment

Music

Kitty Empire
Joy Crookes’s quiet courage

The 27-year-old turns her personal and political convictions into soulful songs that are wise beyond their years

Joy Crookes’s quiet courage

Theatre

Susannah Clapp
Faustus in Africa! is a vivid study of colonialism through puppets

William Kentridge’s bold take on Goethe's Faust transplants the story to South Africa

Faustus in Africa! is a vivid study of colonialism through puppets

Theatre

Katherine Cowles
The Hunger Games on stage is all spectacle, no soul

This technically impressive production has a slick, studio feel, but is merely a tribute act to the original story

The Hunger Games on stage is all spectacle, no soul

Books

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Lady Hale’s rescue plan for the legal system

Law

Marina Wheeler

Lady Hale’s rescue plan for the legal system
Why children’s books matter

Children’s books

Penelope Lively

Why children’s books matter
Secrets of a Booker prize judge

The Booker prize

Erica Wagner

Secrets of a Booker prize judge
How to survive an information crisis

Surveillance capitalism

Richard Ovenden

How to survive an information crisis

We Have Notes

The art of crisis PR

This week, Liv and Miranda are joined by a public relations expert to discuss how Netflix is handling the zero-star reviews of All’s Fair and the impact of Lily Allen’s album on her ex and Stranger Things star, David Harbour

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Culture

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The big picture: Cop Shiva’s paean to childhood

Photography

Tara Joshi

The big picture: Cop Shiva’s paean to childhood
Nicôle Lecky: ‘It’s weird when workmen ask what the awards are for’

TV

Olivia Ovenden

Nicôle Lecky: ‘It’s weird when workmen ask what the awards are for’
How Zohran Mamdani captured the hearts of a generation

New York

Megan Nolan

How Zohran Mamdani captured the hearts of a generation
Thanks to AI, nostalgia is not what it used to be

Tech

Róisín Lanigan

Thanks to AI, nostalgia is not what it used to be

Life, etc.

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Fashion

Lamorna Ash
Angela Hill’s great Idea

The photographer, collector and tastemaker turns her passions into a bookshop for stylish magpies

Angela Hill’s great Idea

Recipe

Nigel Slater
Kitchen diary: grilled miso chicken with soy and lemon potatoes

Miso adds a comforting depth to chicken to help keep out the autumn chill

Kitchen diary: grilled miso chicken with soy and lemon potatoes

Family matters

Séamas O’Reilly
This isn’t a parenting advice column. But I have some suggestions

Forget the experts – isn’t it all just common sense?

This isn’t a parenting advice column. But I have some suggestions

Travel

Kat Hill
Travelling to the very top of Norway

The unspoilt and remote Varanger peninsula is an astonishing haven for the natural world

Travelling to the very top of Norway

Great reads

Felix Baumgartner: the highs and lows of a life of extremes

Andrew Anthony

Felix Baumgartner: the highs and lows of a life of extremes
The haunting of Pitcairn Island

Erica Wagner

The haunting of Pitcairn Island
Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring finally gets a name

Vanessa Thorpe

Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring finally gets a name
The Sycamore Gap trial ‘was as if someone had been murdered’

Andrew Hankinson

The Sycamore Gap trial ‘was as if someone had been murdered’

The Puzzle Edit

To celebrate the launch of our latest newsletter, our puzzles editor reflects on the birth of the cryptic crossword in the pages of The Observer

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Newsletters

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Listen

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Andrew Tate is finished
Andrew Tate is finished

6 mins • S1, E1232

Choking in porn banned
Choking in porn banned

7 mins • S1, E1231

Trump’s new nuclear arms race
Trump’s new nuclear arms race

8 mins • S1, E1230

What the renters rights act means for tenants
What the renters rights act means for tenants

8 mins • S1, E1229

Tortoise Investigates

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The Lab Detective
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3 episodes

Lucky Boy
Lucky Boy

5 episodes

Master
Master

7 episodes

Dangerous Memories
Dangerous Memories

8 episodes

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