How close are we to the sci-fi vision of autonomous humanoid robots? I visited 11 companies in five Chinese cities to find out

Chen Liang, the founder of Guchi Robotics, an automation company headquartered in Shanghai, is a tall, heavy-set man in his mid-40s with square-rimmed glasses. His everyday manner is calm and understated, but when he is in his element – up close with the technology he builds, or in business meetings discussing the imminent replacement of human workers by robots – he wears an exuberant smile that brings to mind an intern on his first day at his dream job. Guchi makes the machines that install wheels, dashboards and windows for many of the top Chinese car brands, including BYD and Nio. He took the name from the Chinese word guzhi, “steadfast intelligence”, though the fact that it sounded like an Italian luxury brand was not entirely unwelcome.

For the better part of two decades, Chen has tried to solve what, to him, is an engineering problem: how to eliminate – or, in his view, liberate – as many workers in car factories as technologically possible. Late last year, I visited him at Guchi headquarters on the western outskirts of Shanghai. Next to the head office are several warehouses where Guchi’s engineers tinker with robots to fit the specifications of their customers. Chen, an engineer by training, founded Guchi in 2019 with the aim of tackling the hardest automation task in the car factory: “final assembly”, the last leg of production, when all the composite pieces – the dashboard, windows, wheels and seat cushions – come together. At present, his robots can mount wheels, dashboards and windows on to a car without any human intervention, but 80% of the final assembly, he estimates, has yet to be automated. That is what Chen has set his sights on.

Oil has empowered capitalism, and some of the world’s most exploitative regimes. Move away from it and we can solve some of the key issues we face

I realise this is a serious breach of etiquette. But could we perhaps abandon good manners and contextualise Donald Trump’s attack on Iran? The intense western interest in the Middle East and west and central Asia, sustained for more than a century, and the endless attempts by foreign governments to shape and control these regions, are not random political tics. They are somewhat connected to certain fuel sources situated beneath the ground.

Trump’s war aims are typically incoherent: apparently incomprehensible even to himself. But Iran would not be treated as an “enemy of the west” were it not for what happened in 1953, when Winston Churchill’s government persuaded the CIA to launch a coup against the popular democratic government of Mohammad Mossadegh. The UK did so because Mossadegh sought to nationalise the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company: to stop a foreign power from stealing the nation’s wealth. The US, with UK support, tried twice to overthrow him, and succeeded on the second attempt, with the help of some opportunistic ayatollahs. It reinstated the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1954, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company became British Petroleum, later BP.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Season two of this competition isn’t just enjoyably easy-going TV that leaves you helpless with laughter. It’s also a fascinating insight into comedy as an artform

It could easily have been a fluke. That such a simple, even lame-sounding format was responsible for three hours of the most transcendentally funny television of 2025 might well have been down to an alchemical accident. Spoiler: it wasn’t. Series two of the UK version of this Japanese reality-gameshow is very nearly as sidesplitting as the first.

The format is identical: 10 successful comedians spend six hours in a huge room trying not to laugh or smile. One lapse gets you a yellow card; another gets you ejected. Now you must commentate on the action in separate viewing quarters with the host, Jimmy Carr, and his sidekick Roisin Conaty (who somehow manages to make her ill-defined companion role not feel painfully awkward). Mostly, the comics just chat crap to each other in the hope of making somebody laugh, but there is also a steady stream of interventions. The majority will be called up at some stage to play their “joker”, a specially devised comedy set piece performed – largely – to silence. This tends to be an impressive showcase of their talent and completely excruciating to watch. Every now and then, Carr emerges to dish out conversational prompts and orchestrate head-to-head challenges. There are also a scattering of appearances from special guests, engineered – obviously – to turn those frowns upside down.

Driverless ‘robotaxis’ will be accepting fares in Britain’s biggest city by the end of next year. Can they deal with London’s medieval roads, hordes of pedestrians and errant ebikers? I got in the passenger seat to find out

‘I’m really excited to show you this,” says Alex Kendall, the CEO of Wayve, as he gets behind the wheel of one of the company’s electric Ford Mustangs. Then he does … nothing. The car pulls up to a junction at a busy road in King’s Cross, London, all by itself. “You can see that it’s going to control the speed, steering, brake, indicators,” he says to me – I’m in the passenger seat. “It’s making decisions as it goes. Here we’ve got an unprotected turn, where we’ve got to wait for a gap in traffic …” The steering wheel spins by itself and the car pulls out smoothly.

Riding in a self-driving car for the first time is a little like your first flight in an aeroplane: borderline terrifying for a few seconds, then reassuringly unremarkable. At least, that is my experience. By the time I step out, 20 minutes later, I’m convinced Wayve is a better driver than most humans – better than me, anyway.

In the seven years since their last album, the Scots have faced down dementia and cancer. Now they’re returning with a visceral new sound – and eager to get back to globetrotting with the Cure

To say that James Graham has been through it in the seven years since the last Twilight Sad album would be an understatement. He lost his mother to dementia, became a father, and his own mental health struggles led to the band cancelling a tour with the Cure. The day we talk about the Scottish band’s sixth album, It’s the Long Goodbye, turns out to be the anniversary of his mum’s death. “It’s all right,” says Graham. “It seems like a good day to talk about it.”

Speaking from his home in north-east Scotland on a dark, murky evening, Graham is unflinchingly open about his experiences, often moved to tears as he recounts the last few years. “I was so ill at some points while I was writing these songs that it’s all quite hazy,” he says. “But the moments are coming back to me – of why I wrote a certain song. When I listen to one, I can feel it, ‘Fuck, you were really in it.’”

In a new exhibition, the featured images reflect Britain’s attempts to classify and curb the subcontinent’s population, but they also demonstrate the nobility of their subjects – and the futility of the task

At first, and without the context, someone looking at this collection of 150-year-old photographs of Indian men and women might think they were looking at compelling portraits. The faces are of individuals with piercing eyes and a striking presence.

But context changes everything. The images were taken by British colonialists as part of a great project of photographic ethnography, intended to classify and categorise their subjects.

Untitled (Indian family in Singapore), late-19th century, GR Lambert & Co

US president says ‘extremely important and valuable’ site will be targeted if Iran continues to attack Qatar facilities

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Donald Trump threatened to “massively blow up” the world’s largest gasfield after Israeli strikes on the Iranian site prompted Tehran to step up attacks on energy facilities across the Middle East.

Israel’s decision to target the South Pars gasfield on Wednesday marked a major escalation of the war, heightening fears of significant disruption to international energy supplies.

Now, the total is likely to have exceeded $18bn and counting. Where are America’s war dollars going, in a war that was never declared in the first place?

Month-ahead UK wholesale gas price hits highest level since August 2022 as Donald Trump threatens retaliation

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Gas prices jumped and oil prices rose again after an escalation of attacks by Israel and Iran on gasfields heightened fears of prolonged disruption to international energy supplies.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 8% to $116 a barrel. Crude prices have soared by nearly 60% since US and Israeli attacks on Iran started the war on 28 February.

Cameo videos produced by the Reform UK leader were used to drum up interest in obscure memecoins

• Newly unearthed Nigel Farage videos reveal support for rioter, neo-Nazi event and far-right slogans

Nigel Farage has profited by producing Cameo videos that endorsed or provided support to cryptocurrencies which later collapsed in value.

The videos were discovered by the Guardian within a collection of more than 4,000 clips he has created on the Cameo platform, which allows public figures and celebrities to sell personalised recorded messages to members of the public.