Dubbed ‘Britain’s meanest landlord’, Asif Aziz is fighting it out with a tiny cinema that counts Christopher Nolan, Paul Mescal and other Hollywood heroes as fans. How did the capital’s cultural landmarks end up under the thumb of the super-rich elite?

When London’s Prince Charles Cinema has something to say, it declares it with large black lettering across its marquee. Once, during a summer heatwave, it beckoned punters with a blunt: SOD THE SUNSHINE COME SIT IN THE DARK. When its doors were boarded up during the first Covid lockdown it went for a rousing: WE’LL BE BACK. And after the coronation of King Charles: NO, WE ARE NOT CHANGING OUR NAME.

As is clear from the repertory of films on show – David Lynch classics in 35mm, all-night Japanese horror marathons, Sing-a-long-a-Sound of Music and screenings of The Room (frequently with a live Q&A from director Tommy Wiseau) – the cult Leicester Square spot (Quentin Tarantino’s favourite UK cinema) has a unique place in London’s West End. When the cinema found itself facing an existential crisis following a prolonged period of fraught negotiations with its new landlord, passersby only needed to look up to learn that the venue had a fight on its hands. Just three words were pinned to the board: SAVE THE PCC.

A neon sign reflected in a puddle in New York City’s Theater District inspired this enigmatic shot

It had been raining all day in New York City. After meeting a friend in a coffee shop near Manhattan’s Theater District, professional photographer Eric Van Nynatten decided on a spontaneous street photography session.

“The rain had been nonstop, which most people would find messy and chaotic, but I feel it brings out a cinematic quality in the city,” he says. “The wet streets become shiny and reflective, and at night it looks a lot like a painting. I ended up walking down Broadway as evening fell. It’s an area that’s already a visual spectacle – there are all these amazing retro marquees, billboards and neon signs. I spotted this sign reflected in a puddle just off the sidewalk and set up my composition.”

The internet has been divided over the suggestive cover of the pop princess’s new album, but it’s possible some might be missing the point

By all accounts, Sabrina Carpenter is in control.

The 26-year-old singer, who signed a record deal with Disney at 12 and became a star in her teens, worked through 10 years and five albums before Espresso, a cheeky and dementedly catchy single from her album Short n’ Sweet, became the song of summer 2024. She writes or co-writes all of her songs with a signature imprint – saucy, clever, unabashedly horny and in on the joke of being both attracted to and disappointed by men. (“Did you say you’re finished? Didn’t know we started,” she teases in new single Manchild.) A recent Rolling Stone cover profile espoused her intelligence, craftiness and deadpan humor. (Asked which famous ex Manchild is about, she answered, “It’s about your dad.”) She’s taking the now-unusual step of releasing a new album only a year after her breakout for no more reason than she has ideas, feels creative, and wants to – “my brain is sharp, let’s write”, she told Rolling Stone.

The singer-songwriter on a childhood painting disaster, the literary ‘greats’ and her George Clooney crush

Born in south Wales, Marina Diamandis, 39, released her first album, The Family Jewels, in 2010. Her second, Electra Heart, went to No 1 in the UK in 2012 and gave her the hit single Primadonna. Her other albums are Froot, Love + Fear and Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, which featured the Ivor Novello-nominated Man’s World. Last year, she published a poetry collection, Eat the World. Her new album, Princess of Power, has just been released. She lives in California.

When were you happiest?
My late 20s, writing my third record.

Small, huge, camp, Star Trek-themed … weddings have changed beyond recognition, but we’re still reading out the same old Shakespeare sonnets. What to read at a modern ceremony? Plus, leading poets pick their favourites

• Tell us: what poem would you choose to read at a wedding?

I married my wife in October 2022 and, in the lead-up, it was obviously my job to source the wedding poems. I have published seven poetry collections, I read poetry every day, I own more than a thousand poetry books. I should have read through my favourites till I found the perfect fit. But that’s not what I did.

Instead, for some bizarre reason, I sat down at my laptop and furtively Googled the words “wedding poem”. Why do we all do this, poets included? Well, I think, even though we want to express something deeply personal, the word “wedding” makes us all panic and reach for stock texts. Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s How Do I Love Thee? or The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe (“Come live with me and be my love”) or Ecclesiastes 4 (“Two are better than one”).

Unpredictable questions from neurodivergent audience have created perfect interview format for social media age

It is an interview like no other. One which has seen Emmanuel Macron confronted over whether it was right to marry his former teacher and Danny Dyer probed about whether he has a joint bank account with his wife . Celebrities have been caught off guard, or left sobbing and laughing in equal measure.

The Assembly, in which an audience of autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled people ask unpredictable, probing and often remarkably direct questions of a celebrity, has won plaudits and rave reviews since launching in 2022. It has now become an international phenomenon.

The celebrated documentarian’s five-part series charts the decline of Britain’s democracy with a witty, kaleidoscopic selection of archive footage. It begins, of course, with Margaret Thatcher

Hello and welcome to the latest addition to Adam Curtis’s growing compendium of documentaries I have unofficially entitled How Did Things Get So Shit? Let Me Explain in a Weirdly Uplifting Manner. Previous volumes include The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares, The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom, All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace, HyperNormalisation, Can’t Get You Out of My Head and Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone.

Even if you have not had the challenging pleasure of watching, the titles alone should be enough to evoke most of the concerns found therein – the rise of individualism, the fragmentation of old systems, the political vacuums new people and powers have rushed to fill, the death rattle of formerly dependable entities on which western civilisation has traditionally rested and once allowed us to sleep peacefully at night, the creeping destabilisation of all things, and so very much on.

Pompidou Centre, Paris
As the gallery prepares to close its doors for five years, Tillmans is let loose across all 6,000 sq metres of its public library. The results are stunning – and chilling

In September the Pompidou Centre in Paris closes for five years for renovation. The building is nearly 50 years old and needs to be cleared of asbestos, and to reconnect with Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers’ original design after years of architectural accumulations. Many of the departments are already moving into temporary new homes, including the huge Bibliothèque publique d’information, the public library usually based on the second floor. Nearly all of its contents have been emptied out, but before it’s stripped back altogether, Wolfgang Tillmans has been invited to deconstruct it another way. His show, Rien ne nous y préparait – Tout nous y préparait (Nothing could have prepared us – Everything could have prepared us) covers all 6,000 sq metres of the space.

It’s an inspired setting because Tillmans’ work circles around questions of information. He makes documentary photographs but questions the parameters of photographic vision. In his ongoing Truth Study Center he collates newspaper cuttings, photographs, photocopies, drawings and objects on trestle tables, encouraging viewers to consider these elements and their claims to veracity; his installations are always site-specific, and take a nuanced approach to display. Situated in the Bpi, Rien ne nous y préparait – Tout nous y préparait is a meditation on knowledge, how it is organised, and where its limitations lie. “I do trust my eyes, I want to trust observation, study, but for that it is very important that I sharpen my eyes to how I see, how we record, what we capture,” says Tillmans.

An exploration of the financial affairs of Harry Windsor and Meghan Markle. Plus, a shameful and seldom-told story from the aftermath of the second world war. Here’s what to watch tonight

8.30pm, Channel 5
The Sussex Squad may have largely disappeared from British public life, but they still seem to arouse tabloid fury. Hence, this unnecessary documentary on the exiled couple’s financial affairs. The sources of their wealth don’t seem too mysterious: inheritance, a massive Netflix deal and a payout from the publishers representing the Sun newspaper won’t have hurt. But clearly it’s time for another stir of the pot. Phil Harrison