The controversial sweet that fuels Norwegians
Known as ‘the trip chocolate’, Kvikk Lunsj has fuelled outdoor adventures for generations. So, what makes this chocolate so controversial? It’s started to drizzle across the marsh, but we’re prepared – as we Norwegians say, “there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing”. We’ve just happened upon a patch of cloudberries, an elusive Arctic delicacy that thrives in wet bogs, noting their location so we can come back to pick them when they’ve ripened to orange. And as we huddle under the soft needles of a spruce tree, my friend digs into her pocket and pulls out something no Norwegian would ever leave behind on a trip into nature: a Kvikk Lunsj. Kvikk Lunsj is a four-fingered chocolate bar that’s beloved across Norway and synonymous with outdoor exploration. The snack’s slogan is “tursjokoladen” (“the trip chocolate”), and ads for the wafers often depict hikers spinning a compass, skiers summiting frosty peaks and people drinking water from rushing rivers. Today, roughly 60 million Kvikk Lunsj bars are produced each year – about 11 for every Norwegian – and whether you’re skipping across mountain brooks or striking out in a kayak, no journey into the Norwegian wilderness is complete without one. That’s because Kvikk Lunsj isn’t just a sweet treat; it’s part of our national heritage. Kvikk Lunsj was invented in 1937, but according to its creator Johan Throne Holst, the story actually starts 45 years earlier with a failed hike. Throne Holst, then a young businessman, wanted to show Norway’s stunning landscapes to his German business associate, but they lost their way in the woods outside Oslo. As the pair trudged on, directionless and increasingly hungry, the German complained that their journey would have been salvaged had they packed some chocolate. Perhaps inspired by his colleague’s remarks, two years later Throne Holst bought Freia, a tiny chocolate factory in Oslo, and during the next several decades, grew it into one of Norway’s biggest brands. In the midst of Freia’s rise, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole in 1911, and after revealing that he had packed chocolate to help fuel his journey, many Norwegians began seeking out chocolate to fuel their outdoor pursuits too. Throne Holst saw an opportunity. Recalling his German colleague’s words in the woods, Throne Holst set out to create the perfect crunchy, chocolatey companion for an outdoor excursion – the kind that both the German and Amundsen would have approved of. But when Kvikk Lunsj first launched, it was a flop. “The first version was made with dark chocolate, which was not a hit,” says Sandra Garcia Gabrielsen, Kvikk Lunsj brand manager at Mondelēz Europe Services, which now owns Freia. “It was changed to milk chocolate [almost immediately], which was more appealing”. Ever since, the Kvikk Lunsj experience has started with tearing open a red, green and yellow packet to reveal four brown fingers embossed with tiny storks. You then break off a finger of the milk chocolate-coated wafer with a satisfying snap and bite into the surprisingly light and airy snack, which tastes creamier and less sharply sweet than other international brands – almost like a little meal.
Harry’s tea with Charles could be small but significant step to reconciliation
rince Harry has met his father King Charles at Clarence House in London on Wednesday for their first face to face meeting since February 2024. The clues have been scattered all over the place in recent months. In his BBC interview in May, there was a distinct shift in tone from the prince. After the years of raw, emotional media appearances, the Netflix documentary series, the searing criticism of the royal family in his memoir Spare, this was a different Prince Harry in front of the cameras. “I would love a reconciliation with my family,” he said. “There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore. Life is precious.” Prince Harry had made his position clear. He wanted to see his father but was the King feeling the same way? A photograph in the Mail on Sunday in July showed the media communications team representing Prince Harry meeting in London with the King’s communications director. Two rival camps coming together and the image finding its way onto the front page of a national newspaper. Both sides denied leaking the photo but what it did was show there was a dialogue. A channel of communication between both camps had opened. And there has been a unified silence from both sides in recent days that has also been telling. Neither side would be drawn on a date or time of any reunion. We were making educated guesses on when father and son might meet based on gaps in their diaries and who was planning to be where geographically. In a family fallout riddled with mistrust and rancour, the two camps stayed very tight lipped about the possibility of a meeting. Their mutual silence held.
Wake Up Dead Man review: The ‘funniest and most playful’ Knives Out mystery yet
Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc and Josh O’Connor nearly steals the show in the “darkest” but also “most playful” instalment of the Knives Out franchise so far. Can anyone steal a Knives Out film from the great detective Benoit Blanc? As it turns out, yes, almost. The biggest revelation of Wake Up Dead Man, the third in Rian Johnson’s series of deliciously entertaining mysteries, is that Josh O’Connor, so great at drama, is also an excellent comic. He plays Father Jud Duplenticy, a former boxer turned priest, who as punishment for a violent outburst is sent from upstate New York to a tiny parish in the village of Chimney Rock. It’s a setting that looks as if it has been transported from a screen adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel, with a small neo-Gothic church and adjacent graveyard. It’s exactly the kind of place where too many murders take place. But instead of meeting some kindly vicar, Jud goes to work for Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, played by Josh Brolin as a wild-haired, fiery cynic. It’s not quite fair to say that O’Connor steals the film from Daniel Craig’s Blanc. Craig is a scene-stealer himself With its Gothic atmosphere and deeper themes, Wake Up Dead Man has a darker tone than the previous Knives Out films. Yet it is also the funniest and most playful so far. Along with the usual murder(s) and large glittery cast, it has religion, and a touch of meta in its literary allusions and film references. Johnson has acknowledged wanting to go back to the roots of mystery stories with this installment, citing Edgar Allan Poe, so it’s good to keep in mind Poe’s themes of men haunted by guilt and of creepy burials. But with more assurance than ever, he walks a perfectly balanced line as he borrows old tropes and adapts them. There is plenty of irreverent dialogue here, and rude graffiti on a mausoleum. It’s not quite fair to say that O’Connor steals the film from Daniel Craig’s Blanc. Craig is a scene-stealer himself. Blanc turns up to solve a murder in Chimney Rock with his southern accent and confident swagger, looking more dapper than ever. But it seems that with each Knives Out film he has fewer scenes, and at times he is like an orchestra conductor weaving us through the various characters and possibilities in the ever-twisting plot. Blanc even enlists Jud’s help in solving the murder. There’s no question that Father Jud is the film’s throughline, and O’Connor swerves gracefully from comic to serious. Johnson begins by playing with point of view. We get Jud’s account, requested by Blanc, of the events leading to what Jud calls the Good Friday murder. Using a device he acknowledges is borrowed from mystery novels, he introduces Blanc and us to the congregants, most of them with a cultish devotion to Wicks.
‘It’s still so relevant’: The power of Stephen King’s first – and most disturbing – novel The Long Walk
Written by King in college in the 1960s, The Long Walk imagines young men competing in a deadly marathon for entertainment. A new film version is a reminder of how it anticipated our reality TV age. One hundred teenage boys, selected by lottery from across the US, embark on a marathon with no finish line. Followed by armed soldiers in jeeps and watched by viewers all around the world, they must maintain a pace of 4mph (6.5km/h), and if they drop below the designated speed, they receive a warning. Three warnings and they are killed. The last boy walking gets to choose his own prize. This is the grimly compelling concept of The Long Walk, a remarkably prescient novel that Stephen King wrote between 1966 and 1967, in his freshman year at college. Set in an alternate-history US that cowers under military rule, it was the first book that King penned, but was not published until 1979 – five years after Carrie had splashed onto bestseller lists like a bucket of blood dropped from the rafters. Now, 46 years on, as King turns 78, The Long Walk has finally been adapted into a film, released this weekend. “I read The Long Walk right around the time I was doing I Am Legend [2007] and I fell in love with it,” explains its director, Francis Lawrence, who is no stranger to deadly dystopian contests, having directed the last four Hunger Games films. “It became probably my favourite King book, and one of my favourite books [period].”
What went wrong for Garnacho at Old Trafford?
Alejandro Garnacho could well make his first Premier League start for Chelsea this weekend. The Blues signed the Argentina winger for £40m late in the transfer window. The 21-year-old, who has 16 goals in 93 Premier League appearances, signed a long-term deal at Stamford Bridge that runs through to 2032. Enzo Maresca’s side travel to Brentford on Saturday night (20:00 BST). Right, although Senne Lammens could well make his Manchester Untied debut this weekend, it’s time to look at some of the other new signings who could be turning out for their new clubs. Whichever keeper United select for the Manchester Derby, there is a problem. Lammens has no experience of Premier League football, and its physicality is going to take some getting used to for a Belgian keeper. Bayindir’s flapping at corners is already legendary. Lose Lose.
Which deadline day signing will make the biggest impact?
Simons was linked with many European clubs this summer and represents a coup for Frank – but where will he play at Spurs? Frank is known for his tactical flexibility and has employed two different formations in his first three games in charge – a 5-3-2 in the Super Cup final against Paris St-Germain and his more familiar 4-3-3 in the Premier League. Simons is best suited to the latter, where he would most likely play on the left of Frank’s front three so he can cut inside to use his favoured right foot. The attacker was predominantly used on the left in the Bundesliga last season with 75% of his time on that side of the pitch. He can also play centrally or on the right if needed. However, RB Leipzig’s former boss Marco Rose often asked Simons to play either deeper in a traditional 4-4-2 or more narrowly in a 4-2-2-2 – in a ‘box midfield’ formation which encouraged full-backs to get forward – which suggests he’ll need time to adapt to Frank’s methods. Will Simons star on Saturday? Xavi Simons could be another player who makes his Premier League debut this weekend after he signed for Tottenham from RB Leipzig for £51.8m (60m euros) late in the summer window. The 22-year-old attacking midfielder, who has been chased by several European clubs this summer, said he had “been dreaming of this for a long time” after completing his Spurs medical. Simons scored 22 goals and assisted 24 others in 78 appearances for Leipzig, who he joined on loan from Paris St-Germain in 2023 before signing permanently in January of this year. He has also scored five goals in 28 appearances for the Netherlands, having made his debut at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Spurs are away to West Ham on Saturday (17:30 BST).
Going to the beach’ looks very different in Britain
While a British summer is never a guarantee of hot weather, there’s one thing you can be sure of: Brits will be going to the beach. For centuries, and in all kinds of weather, the British have licked ice creams, strolled piers and dropped coins in arcade games at the seaside. The town of Scarborough on England’s North Sea coastline, widely considered Britain’s first seaside resort, has been welcoming tourists to its restorative spa waters for around 400 years. “The concept of going to the beach for leisure was something that the British invented,” architectural historian Kathryn Ferry, told CNN, in a view shared by many experts. “It’s part of our nation’s story, our island’s story, and there is a sense that it is important for our identity. British people have that need to go to the coast and smell that sea air,” she said. While affection for the British seaside has, much like the tides, surged and fallen over the 20th century, it has been an enduring source of inspiration for artists including the prolific photographer Martin Parr, whose distinctive and radical portraits explore social class and leisure in the north of England in the 1980s, and multidisciplinary artist Vinca Petersen, whose work depicts youth and subcultures at the beach in the 1990s. A combination of illustrations and photographs show the grandeur of classical and art deco designs of the interwar years, through to the post war buildings inspired by the 1951 Festival of Britain, and the concrete brutalism of the 1960s and 1970s. “Seaside resorts were competing with each other, and that meant that if one place had a new facility that was going to give them a step up with tourists in terms of attractions, then lots of other places would follow,” said Ferry, referring to architectural features such as lidos, pavilions, bandstands and distinctive roof shapes commonly found at British seasides. Ferry isn’t the only academic researcher beguiled by these snapshots of another era. A little over a decade ago, Karen Shepherdson, the co-author of a 2019 book on the subject, “Seaside Photographed,” also founded the South East Archive of Seaside Photography, which houses collections of commercial seaside photography dating from 1860 to 1990.
The best looks from the 2025 Venice Film Festival
Italy’s most famous film festival has drawn to a close. The 82nd edition of the Venice Film Festival, which concluded on September 6, presented a showcase of hotly anticipated films such as “Bugonia” by the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, “Frankenstein” by Guillermo Del Toro, and “Jay Kelly” by Noah Baumbach. Sofia Coppola’s first-ever documentary “Marc by Sofia,” which chronicles the life and career of the fashion designer Marc Jacobs, also made its debut at the biennale, although it did not compete for a prize. The red carpet has given us a sneak peek of the new creative direction of several luxury brands, too. Italian actor Alba Rohrwacher wore a custom deep blue satin dress designed by Jonathan Anderson for Dior (his first womenswear collection for the brand is scheduled to debut at Paris Fashion Week in October). Julia Roberts — and later, Amanda Seyfried — wore the first pieces by Versace’s new designer Dario Vitale, who will present his first collection in Milan at the end of the month. Similarly, Louise Trotter’s vision for Italian label Bottega Veneta can already be seen on Jacob Elordi and Vicky Krieps, while Ayo Edebiri wore Chanel designed by the French house’s new creative director Matthieu Blazy.
US death rate dropped back to pre-Covid levels in 2024, CDC report says
The death rate in the United States returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024 as Covid-19 fell out of the top 10 leading causes of death, according to a report published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Covid-19 quickly rose to the third leading cause of death in the US in the first two years of the pandemic, pushing the age-adjusted death rate up to a peak of about 880 deaths for every 100,000 people in 2021. The overall US death rate has fallen about 18% since then, and last year’s 4% drop brought the US death rate down to the lowest it’s been since 2019. There were 722 deaths for every 100,000 people in the US in 2024 – nearly 3.1 million deaths overall – according to the provisional, age-adjusted data from the CDC. Final mortality data may change, but the latest data are based on 99.9% of all 2024 death records received and processed by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics as of June 1, 2025. And despite an unprecedented drop in 2024, drug overdoses and other unintentional injuries were the third leading cause of death in the US for the third year in a row. Covid-19 was the fourth leading cause of death in 2022 and the tenth in 2023, according to CDC data. There were still tens of thousands of Covid-19 deaths in the US last year, but suicide moved up to the tenth leading cause of death – with nearly 49,000 lives lost in 2024. Suicide mortality reached a record high in the US 2022 and has decreased only slightly in the years since. Millions of people have called, texted, or sent chats to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline since mid-2022; about a tenth of those individuals who reached were routed to a specialized subnetwork for LGBTQ+ youth, but the Trump administration ended that service in July. Death rates decreased for most age groups in 2024, the new CDC report shows, but held steady for children ages 5 to 14 and for infants.