‘A huge relief’: scientists react to hopes of UK rejoining EU Horizon scheme

Expected return also greeted with dismay at UK’s decision to avoid being a net contributor to EU’s flagship programme

Scientists including the physicist Brian Cox have reacted with a mixture of caution, anger and relief that the UK appears set to rejoin the EU’s flagship £85bn Horizon science research programme after a protracted Brexit row.

Sources indicate that an announcement could come in days, possibly next week when Rishi Sunak is scheduled to meet the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, at a Nato summit.

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Succession creator Jesse Armstrong on its thunderous finale: ‘That might be as good as I’ve got’

Season three of the hit show has made even more headlines than usual. We ask its British creator if he’s had enough yet, if actor Jeremy Strong is doing OK – and if his character Kendall is actually Jesus

• Warning: contains spoilers

Yesterday, like much of the rest of the world, I watched the finale of the third season of Succession. And, like much of the rest of the world, I found myself buffeted by one astonishing twist after another – and a gasp-inducing climax that outdid even those of series one and two. Unlike my fellow viewers, however, pretty much the first thing I see after the end credits roll is the face of Jesse Armstrong, the show’s creator, popping up over Zoom and politely attempting to dissuade me from discussing the episode.

Unlike other big TV showrunners – who will happily explain, and sometimes over-explain, every single second – Armstrong prefers to remain hands off. He tries not to read the acres of theorising that Succession inspires. Such post-match analyses, he says, can often feel like a tightrope walk. “There’s a bit of me that just wants to find out what the fuck everyone is saying about the show,” he says from his book-lined study in London. “But you can’t. It wouldn’t be good for me psychologically – and it wouldn’t be good for the creative process of doing the show.”

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‘What a fool’: fellow actors criticise William Shatner’s space flight

Dame Joan Collins and Brian Cox unimpressed by historic trip, saying ‘let’s take care of this planet first’

The Star Trek actor William Shatner’s recent historic space flight saw him boldly go where some fellow actors refuse to follow, as the nonagenarian was labelled a “fool” for taking part in his record-breaking jaunt.

Dame Joan Collins, who once appeared in an episode of the science fiction series, and the Succession star Brian Cox, are both unimpressed by Shatner, at 90, becoming the oldest person to travel into space when earlier this month he flew in a rocket built by the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

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