Royal Opera House, London
There’s a top-notch cast and detailed work from all involved in Jetske Mijnssen’s production that reframes Handel’s opera as a modern family psychodrama.

Handel was at the top of his game when he composed Ariodante, pushing gently at the boundaries of operatic convention, and writing some of his most captivating music. It had its premiere in 1735 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, where the Royal Opera House now stands. Then it was positively demanded that composers and librettists magic up a happy ending from even the most tragic story, sending audiences away uplifted, and Handel duly delivered. However, audiences for the Royal Opera’s new production – surprisingly, its first since that premiere, unless you count a streamed concert during lockdown – might come away with more contradictory feelings.

The director Jetske Mijnssen , making her Covent Garden debut, is not convinced by that forced happy ending – which, after her staging of Wagner’s Parsifal at Glyndebourne this summer, won’t come as a big surprise. Like the latter piece, here again is a dysfunctional royal family. We’re in the modern palace of a besuited, ailing king; the five children playing at weddings around the dining table during the overture reappear as adults, becoming his two daughters and their three suitors.

Royal Opera House, London
There’s a top-notch cast and detailed work from all involved in Jetske Mijnssen’s production that reframes Handel’s opera as a modern family psychodrama.

Handel was at the top of his game when he composed Ariodante, pushing gently at the boundaries of operatic convention, and writing some of his most captivating music. It had its premiere in 1735 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, where the Royal Opera House now stands. Then it was positively demanded that composers and librettists magic up a happy ending from even the most tragic story, sending audiences away uplifted, and Handel duly delivered. However, audiences for the Royal Opera’s new production – surprisingly, its first since that premiere, unless you count a streamed concert during lockdown – might come away with more contradictory feelings.

The director Jetske Mijnssen , making her Covent Garden debut, is not convinced by that forced happy ending – which, after her staging of Wagner’s Parsifal at Glyndebourne this summer, won’t come as a big surprise. Like the latter piece, here again is a dysfunctional royal family. We’re in the modern palace of a besuited, ailing king; the five children playing at weddings around the dining table during the overture reappear as adults, becoming his two daughters and their three suitors.

Royal Opera House, London
There’s a top-notch cast and detailed work from all involved in Jetske Mijnssen’s production that reframes Handel’s opera as a modern family psychodrama.

Handel was at the top of his game when he composed Ariodante, pushing gently at the boundaries of operatic convention, and writing some of his most captivating music. It had its premiere in 1735 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, where the Royal Opera House now stands. Then it was positively demanded that composers and librettists magic up a happy ending from even the most tragic story, sending audiences away uplifted, and Handel duly delivered. However, audiences for the Royal Opera’s new production – surprisingly, its first since that premiere, unless you count a streamed concert during lockdown – might come away with more contradictory feelings.

The director Jetske Mijnssen , making her Covent Garden debut, is not convinced by that forced happy ending – which, after her staging of Wagner’s Parsifal at Glyndebourne this summer, won’t come as a big surprise. Like the latter piece, here again is a dysfunctional royal family. We’re in the modern palace of a besuited, ailing king; the five children playing at weddings around the dining table during the overture reappear as adults, becoming his two daughters and their three suitors.

The prime minister and his counterpart in Denmark want a concerted effort to weaken human rights across Europe. This isn’t pragmatism – it’s cruelty

• Steve Valdez-Symonds is refugee and migrant rights director at Amnesty UK

When Keir Starmer and Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, argue that asylum protections must be rewritten for a new “era”, they are not simply adjusting policy. They are reshaping the moral ground our societies stand on.

Their message is clear: hardening rules so that fewer people receive protection is the way to restore confidence in their leadership. They present this as measured and responsible, even progressive. But what they propose is not a new centre ground; it is a retreat into a politics that regards some lives as less worthy than others.

Steve Valdez-Symonds is refugee and migrant rights director with Amnesty International UK

The prime minister and his counterpart in Denmark want a concerted effort to weaken human rights across Europe. This isn’t pragmatism – it’s cruelty

• Steve Valdez-Symonds is refugee and migrant rights director at Amnesty UK

When Keir Starmer and Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, argue that asylum protections must be rewritten for a new “era”, they are not simply adjusting policy. They are reshaping the moral ground our societies stand on.

Their message is clear: hardening rules so that fewer people receive protection is the way to restore confidence in their leadership. They present this as measured and responsible, even progressive. But what they propose is not a new centre ground; it is a retreat into a politics that regards some lives as less worthy than others.

Steve Valdez-Symonds is refugee and migrant rights director with Amnesty International UK

The prime minister and his counterpart in Denmark want a concerted effort to weaken human rights across Europe. This isn’t pragmatism – it’s cruelty

• Steve Valdez-Symonds is refugee and migrant rights director at Amnesty UK

When Keir Starmer and Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, argue that asylum protections must be rewritten for a new “era”, they are not simply adjusting policy. They are reshaping the moral ground our societies stand on.

Their message is clear: hardening rules so that fewer people receive protection is the way to restore confidence in their leadership. They present this as measured and responsible, even progressive. But what they propose is not a new centre ground; it is a retreat into a politics that regards some lives as less worthy than others.

Steve Valdez-Symonds is refugee and migrant rights director with Amnesty International UK

• Tigers head coach welcomes impact of refereeing changes

• Move to more kicking has ‘opened up the game’

Geoff Parling, the Leicester head coach, has defended the crackdown on escort defenders, saying the impact of refeering changes that promote more kicking has been “pretty positive”.

Parling’s comments come after Ross Byrne attacked recent refereeing changes around contestable kicks on Monday. The Gloucester fly-half argued a potential knock-on effect would be for international coaches to convert second-rows into wings for the next men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027.

• Tigers head coach welcomes impact of refereeing changes

• Move to more kicking has ‘opened up the game’

Geoff Parling, the Leicester head coach, has defended the crackdown on escort defenders, saying the impact of refeering changes that promote more kicking has been “pretty positive”.

Parling’s comments come after Ross Byrne attacked recent refereeing changes around contestable kicks on Monday. The Gloucester fly-half argued a potential knock-on effect would be for international coaches to convert second-rows into wings for the next men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027.

• Tigers head coach welcomes impact of refereeing changes

• Move to more kicking has ‘opened up the game’

Geoff Parling, the Leicester head coach, has defended the crackdown on escort defenders, saying the impact of refeering changes that promote more kicking has been “pretty positive”.

Parling’s comments come after Ross Byrne attacked recent refereeing changes around contestable kicks on Monday. The Gloucester fly-half argued a potential knock-on effect would be for international coaches to convert second-rows into wings for the next men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027.