“The only thing I worry about is that people will forget Hong Kong,” jailed pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong said shortly before being sentenced to a further 10 years behind bars, in letters seen by The Guardian.

The 30-year-old has been imprisoned since 2020 and was due for release in January. But that prospect has been shut down after he pleaded guilty to foreign collusion, his second conviction under Beijing’s national security law. Wong wrote of his fears that, “amid competition and struggles between great powers”, people will “forget the countless ordinary, unknown people in different places who have paid a price for their beliefs”.

What happened to Wong?
Wong is the only activist prosecuted twice under the law, which “has been used to quash dissidence and lock up journalists”, said The Telegraph. It was imposed by Beijing in 2020 after “huge and often violent pro-democracy protests” that “convulsed the international financial hub”, said CNN.

Sentencing Wong this week, High Court judge William Tam said he had used an underground network and sought to “draw the attention of foreign countries” to bolster the cause. 

What challenges lie ahead?
Since the national security law took effect, “civil groups have disbanded, and some independent media outlets have been shut down”, said CNN, and “most pro-democracy figures are either in jail or in exile overseas”.
The movement now faces the challenge of preserving its networks and identity without the street mobilisation that once defined it.

What will happen next?
Wong’s extended sentence reflects how dramatically Hong Kong has changed since the mass demonstrations there in 2014 and 2019. Activism may shift overseas, but diaspora divisions, declining international attention and pressure on activists’ families threaten to hamper the movement. Younger Hongkongers may also develop different ideas about political participation, given the personal and professional risks.

Yet campaigners argue that activism can extend beyond elections and demonstrations: it can preserve collective memory, cultural identity, historical narratives and freedom of expression. Hong Kong’s democratic future looks difficult, they say, but not necessarily hopeless. Its aspirations will not disappear simply because its political organisations have been dismantled.

For the creators of medical drama “The Pitt”, it’s “time to trade scrubs for a suit”, said Vulture. US judges have ruled that the award-winning show has enough “clear and numerous similarities” to 1990s hospital drama “ER” for a court case to proceed.

The “high-stakes legal battle” began before “The Pitt” first aired in the US in 2025, said The Times. The case, brought by Sherri Crichton, the widow of “ER” creator Michael Crichton, is now due to go to a jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Uncredited reboot?
A “gritty depiction of a fast-paced” A&E department, “The Pitt” instantly “revived memories” of “ER”, said The Times, and the allegation is that it’s a rebranded but uncredited reboot.

The judges compared the scripts of each show’s opening episode. They cited similarities in “plot, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, characters, graphic injury detail and sequence of events”, said the BBC.
But claims against Noah Wyle, actor-producer of “The Pitt”, as well as executive producer John Wells and showrunner R. Scott Gemmill, were dismissed. All three were involved with “ER” – Wyle played Dr John Carter on the show – but the judges found no evidence to suggest that they knew they could be breaching Crichton’s contractual rights. They could, however, still be called as witnesses during the trial.

“Bitterness and bad blood”
“At the centre of the dispute is a so-called frozen-rights provision” signed between creator Crichton and Warner Bros. in 1994, before the launch of “ER”, said The New York Times. It stipulated that any publishing relating to “ER”, including theatrical releases, spin-offs and additional works, would be “frozen” until they got his approval. When Crichton died in 2008, that control passed to his widow.

In August 2024, five months before “The Pitt” debuted, she filed a breach of contract action. There had been prior negotiations between her and Wells about a reboot of “ER”, but they “fell apart”, said Deadline. The creators of “The Pitt” claim they “birthed” their idea for the show after that, and are characterising the lawsuit “as sour grapes and a money grab” by the Crichton estate.

The trial could take place “as early as next summer”, said Deadline, “unless the parties settle”. But given “all the bitterness and bad blood”, that seems “unlikely”.

Members of the Lasya Dance Troupe perform in Edinburgh at the launch of the Scottish capital’s upcoming Diwali celebrations. Millions of Sikhs, Hindus and Jains worldwide will celebrate the festival of lights this Sunday.

Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

Worcestershire: Lower House, Far Moor Lane
This remarkable Grade II house dates back to 1560, with period features including an Elizabethan porch and beams reclaimed from 13th century ships. 6 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, swimming pool, outbuildings, garden, parking. £1.4 million; Finest Properties.

Gloucestershire: Longford House, Cheltenham
Charming Grade II Regency white stucco villa dating back to 1833. The property is currently configured as four self-contained flats. 9 beds, 4 baths, 4 kitchens, 6 receps, garden, parking. £2.5 million; Fine & Country.

West Sussex: The Old Vicarage, Bury
An imposing Victorian building set in elegant landscaped gardens overlooking the South Downs. 6 beds, 4 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, garden, swimming pool, parking. £2.5 million; Knight Frank.

London: Archway Studios, Walworth SE17
An award-winning conversion of a former 19th century rail viaduct, imaginatively transformed into a spacious and luminous house by Didier Ryan Architects. Within easy reach of Burgess Park, one of south London’s largest green spaces. 2 beds, 2 baths, openplan kitchen/living room, study, laundry. £1.1 million; The Modern House.

It’s Gaza, stupid
Jason Jones on Al Jazeera
The US midterms were decided by “outrage over Gaza”, writes American human-rights activist Jason Jones. Democrats have taken Congress from a “belligerently defensive Republican Party” that “did the bidding of Israel” and smeared those who criticise that support. The “scandal of the Gaza genocide” has “profoundly reshaped Americans’ attitudes” towards war. We need politicians to stop using “our tax dollars” to finance the “slaughter of innocent people”. And, if those now “entrusted with power” won’t listen, “they too can be replaced”.

We’re still getting the manosphere wrong
Faye Curran in The New Statesman
A report in “The Lancet” suggests we respond to the manosphere by treating it as a “public-health concern” comparable to smoking, writes Faye Curran. But framing this behaviour in such “DO NO TOUCH” terms only makes it more appealing to “mercurial young minds”. We’d do better dressing a public official “in the full regalia of the manosphere” to talk about “a ‘red-pilled Budget’” or “a ‘sigma male’ prime minister”. Our “angry young men will be deleting” X and “picking up Mary Wollstonecraft in no time”.

Why the posh go to Poundland
Arabella Byrne in The Spectator
People assume Poundland’s “core clientele” are “glazed” young mothers and the “shuffling” elderly, writes Arabella Byrne. Well, I’m a “committed” customer, and I “wear a signet ring”. Bargains unite “snob and mob”. Those red lines “slashed theatrically through a Comic Sans pound sign” excite me in ways that “Belazu chickpeas in Waitrose” never could. In my local Poundland store, “trade is brisk”, despite the chain going into administration. It’s “a thing of beauty”, and to lose it “would be a tragedy”.