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The Art Capital's Annual CelebrationWith hundreds of world-class galleries, thousands of stunning exhibitions, and countless talented artists, London has a serious claim to being the art capital of the world. Despite challenges like sky-high rents making it difficult for artists to survive and galleries closing at an unprecedented rate, London Gallery Weekend enters its sixth year as a celebration of the city's vibrant art scene.A Weekend of Free Art ExperiencesLondon Gallery Weekend brings together the city's biggest, brightest, and best galleries for a weekend-long art party. The event features talks, walk-throughs, performances, poetry readings, and gigs across the weekend, with galleries staying open late. Best of all, admission to everything is free. While not quite at the level of Berlin Gallery Weekend, which is a genuine international event, London's celebration makes a persuasive statement about what the city's galleries have to offer.Global Art in Every CornerThe exhibitions span the city, featuring artists from every corner of the globe: South American photography, German conceptualism, African portraiture, American minimalism, British satire, and more. Works by giants of modern art share space with shows by little-known upstarts, all taking place in venues ranging from fancy galleries that look like spas to tiny experimental project spaces that feel like hip squats.Curated Routes for Art EnthusiastsFor those unsure what to see, the event offers routes conceived by cultural figures including producer Kelly Lee Owens and fashion designer Erdem Moralıoğlu. To help navigate the dozens of exhibitions, here are 10 must-see art delights that showcase the diversity and quality of London's contemporary art scene.Francis Picabia: Expanding HorizonsFrom early landscapes to later abstracts, this show takes viewers on a journey through the many twists and turns of this hugely important French modernist's wild career. It's basically a mini-Tate retrospective, but free. The gallery is also hosting a literary salon inspired by Picabia – as well as their Roni Horn show next door – on Friday evening.Location: Hauser & Wirth, MayfairDuration: Until 1 AugustAnne Imhof: CitizenStern heavy-metal conceptualist Anne Imhof returns to Sprüth Magers for more gothic explorations of the body. This show features frenetic scratchy paintings, a morose new film, and an installation made of crowd barriers. It's all about control, manipulation, death. It's not light or fun – but it is good.Location: Sprüth Magers, MayfairDuration: 5 June to 1 AugustDominic Watson: Vinegar and PissThis brilliantly weird English artist has filled a south London gallery with a massive galleon made from reclaimed children's playhouses. Step inside and you'll find papier-mâché sculptures of vomiting heads and disembodied limbs in an acerbic, silly, surreal takedown of the UK's descent into intolerance.Location: The Sunday Painter, VauxhallDuration: Until 11 JulySavannah Harris: Gloria'sThis neat, experimental gallery up in north-west London has been transformed into an upmarket cafe named Gloria's – all expensive lattes, cream-coloured walls, and red logos (sound familiar?). Harris is using the space as a chance to show work by outsider artists, alongside her own paintings, in a sharp dig at gentrification and the erosion of opportunities for artists and community social spaces.Location: Harlesden High StreetDuration: 5 June to 26 JulyKeith Piper: Provocative PerspectivesKeith Piper presents thought-provoking work that challenges conventional narratives and explores complex themes of identity and representation. As a significant figure in British contemporary art, Piper's exhibition offers critical insights into social and political issues through his distinctive visual language.Location: Various galleries across LondonDuration: Throughout Gallery Weekend

The Transformative Night in Blackpool Bronzed, with winged tips and doused in Le Male, I clamped the baby pink GHDs to my hair until they sizzled and singed it. Emerging from a cloud of cheap hairspray, I was ready for the dancefloor. I was 18 and had grown up in Blackpool, a place synonymous with hedonism and fun. I came out in high school at the age of 14 and from 16 I studied performing arts at a local college. Underage, I was smuggled into clubs and in my spare time I watched shows in our many beautiful theatres. The bright lights of the illuminations, the showgirls, the feathers, sequins and rhinestones were intoxicating. Blackpool really was – and still is – extraordinary. When the bar closed, a new adventure would begin. One night, as the sun was coming up (and as was I), a drag queen took me back to her place. I didn't know the significance of what I was about to experience, but I was to receive an education no university course could ever match. The drag queen was a Liza Minnelli tribute act. She knew every beat of every Liza film, every concert, every move of choreography. She performed as Liza in all the bars around town. Now I was ordained by being welcomed into her home. This moment could be the plot of a movie with Blackpool as a beautiful backdrop to my coming out/coming-of-age fantasy The Muppet Show That Changed Everything Was I ready to be indoctrinated? Very. She led me to the living room for a VHS screening of what I was told was one of Liza's finest performances. I was expecting Cabaret, the winner of eight Academy Awards, but not on this occasion. She sat me on the sofa and played Episode 414 of The Muppet Show from 1979, with special guest the one and only Liza Minnelli. The premise works so beautifully for exactly the same reason that The Muppet Christmas Carol is so beloved. In that film, Michael Caine gives the performance of his life in a movie almost entirely populated by felt characters, and in her guest episode Liza matches him in commitment. Take the musical number Copacabana she performs: the curtain goes up and Liza is smoking. She is the narrator, the storyteller, in a Funny Face-esque black polo neck that gives a real sense of gravitas to those Barry Manilow lyrics. Moments later, she is Lola, dancing with human-sized muppets. Or in another scene Liza holds Kermit while they sing A Quiet Thing together. Their connection is pure and tender, a thing of simplicity and gentleness. A Career Born from Inspiration As I reflect on this story nearly 20 years later, I am now 10 years sober and while life might well be a cabaret, the decadence of my early youth is firmly in the past. But I think back to this moment, which could be the plot of a movie with Blackpool as a beautiful cinematic backdrop to my coming out/coming-of-age Technicolor fantasy. I didn't know at the time, but this incident set me on the path to my current profession. Four years later, in 2011, I started making cabaret performances in south London at the famed Royal Vauxhall Tavern at nights such as Duckie, where my turns were packed full of wigs and jockstraps, fake blood and mascot costumes. In 2015, I joined the international circuit when I became part of big touring pieces of variety and circus spectacle, showing off in the US, Australia, New Zealand and London's glittering West End. I once performed a 107-hour durational piece in drag at Glastonbury and at the Adelaide fringe, as a teenage girl who wouldn't leave her bedroom. A Lifelong Dedication to Liza's Legacy Ever since that fateful night back in Blackpool in the 2000s, Liza has been a hero of mine. I saw her live in concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 2013. I have a Liza tattoo on my right thigh. Back in 2019, I did an eight-hour performance in an old deconsecrated church in Brighton, dressed as Liza Minnelli, performing her album Results in full, emulating through endurance art Liza's beautiful commitment to performance. Pet Shop Boys, who produced Liza's Results album, even heard about what I was up to and said my performance sounded great. The Enduring Impact of a Single Performance And if you ever see one of my shows, please understand that the technical foundation of my performances isn't drama school training or Stanislavski; it's Liza on The Muppets. Truth be told, I don't know where the drag queen in the story is now. I hope she's OK, but if I did see her I'd say: "Thank you for changing my life." Harry Clayton-Wright's show Mr Blackpool is at the Grand theatre, Blackpool, 20 May.

European carmaker Stellantis has issued a recall for 44,000 vehicles in the UK due to a fault that could result in the cars catching fire. The issue affects certain models across its Peugeot, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Vauxhall, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and Fiat brands, produced between 2023 and 2026.The fault is related to a lack of clearance between the gas filter pipe and a component of the belt starter generator, which could cause water to leak into the engine bay during wet driving conditions. This creates a potential risk of fire in the engine.In response, Stellantis will immediately contact affected car owners to schedule a free appointment with their dealer. This recall comes as the company faces challenges, including a €22bn charge and the sale of a stake in its battery joint venture due to slower-than-expected growth in electric vehicles.The recall is a significant setback for Stellantis, which had previously planned to launch an electric truck, the Ram 1500 BEV. Meanwhile, sales of electric vehicles in Europe have soared, but demand in the US has collapsed following the withdrawal of a consumer tax credit.In contrast, rival Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported a recovery in sales over the past quarter, with a 61.1% jump in sales to 95,300 vehicles. However, quarterly sales were still down 14.5% compared to the same period a year earlier, largely due to a cyber-attack that halted production.