Put out more flags. Dig out the George Cross jester’s hat from behind the sofa. At the end of a Euro 2024 campaign that has seen England’s footballers, questioned, written off, and even described in post-watershed terms by respected broadcasters, Gareth Southgate and his team will now contest the final of Euro 2024 in Berlin on Sunday after yet another thrilling moment of late drama in Dortmund.

The Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins scored the winning goal, playing at his first tournament, on here as a late sub for Harry Kane. With the game poised at 1-1 England and the Netherlands were already staring balefully at the prospect of extra time and beyond that the late-night horror of a semi-final penalty shootout. Watkins had been on the pitch for nine minutes. With his fourth touch of the ball he took a pass from Cole Palmer, another Southgate substitute, turned swiftly and simply hammered the ball low into the far corner.

The BVB Stadion is another of the Rhineland’s huge lankly industrial metal football hangars. In that moment the ground just exploded, a huge wave of noise barrelling down from the flag-draped red and white end.

As the full-time whistle blew shortly afterwards Watkins crumpled and crouched, breathing hard, his own clear still moment of light. This is a footballer who came up through the levels, who was still trying to get his break at Exeter City when Southgate took over as England manager, and who has now added his own mark to England’s baroque tournament history.

Victory here is significant in other ways, not least for the relentlessly resilient Southgate, who has dodged plastic cups and V-signs from his own supporters at this tournament, and who has become a kind of lightning rod for English rage and frustration.

His team will now play in their second successive final in this tournament, extraordinary progress for a nation that had reached one final in its entire history pre-Southgate. Spain will present a daunting obstacle in Berlin. But whatever happens on Sunday, England’s reluctant fill-in for a fill-in now has a fair case as England’s most successful men’s team manager of all time.

From the start the whole occasion felt big, epic, retro, and always somehow slightly out of control. Dortmund was thronging all afternoon with orange shirts, crackling with broken glass under foot, its winding shopping streets haunted by England songs, England wails and drones and chants. Don’t Take Me Home. Phil Foden’s on Fire, and recent addition to the canon Stop the Boats Nigel Farage, heard here echoing around Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof.

England fielded their comfortable armchair formation again, the Southgate security truss, three at the back, with the hugely composed Marc Guéhi returning after suspension. They look happier with that extra defensive body, the box of white shirts tighter. Southgate-ism is control and security, the footballing equivalent of a pensive and reassuring frown.

The talk at this tournament had been about gaps. Gaps in the team. Gaps between the manager, fans, media. But there was a window of light in this game as for half an hour in the first half England’s young midfielders played like princelings.

The Dutch had taken the lead from a quick turnover, Xavi Simons slamming a shot into the top corner past the flailing palm of Jordan Pickford. The noise came in an extraordinary slingshot from that end as the Dutch players ran to their fans.

No matter. England looked perky, fresh, unafraid. They pushed back and were awarded a penalty with 16 minutes gone, made by Bukayo Saka’s intricate, slaloming run. Kane buried the kick to make it 1-1.

The sky above the city had turned a lovely Martian red by now, and for a while Foden, Saka and Kobbie Mainoo had the ball on a string, just zipping about, making things up. It was the nicest, sunniest most liberated half an hour of England time so far in Germany. They can play, these boys.

On the touchline the Dutch manager, Ronald Koeman, sank deep into his chair, flaring his jowls, then rejigged his team, reinforcing the Dutch where England were creating the overloads. And half-time just seemed to draw the life out of the game. The Netherlands set themselves defensively to match England, a kind of mass orange-shirted embrace.

On his touchline, Southgate appeared concerned. The waistcoat is long gone now, glimpsed only in the retro cardboard cutouts brandished by England’s supporters in bars around the town, like a stag-do memento. At this European Championship, Southgate has gone charity pro-am golf weekend: the lattice-weave cream polo shirt, the skinny black slacks. He stood and frowned and waited.

Patience has been a slow-burn virtue at this European finals tournament. And it was Southgate’s two late subs who won the game here.

Arguably this tournament will now stand as his greatest achievement with England, if only because he has had to overcome two additional things: his own tactical mistakes, and also the absurd white noise around him, anti-support, a self-sustaining cycle of bad news.

That toxicity is a function of wider politics, free-floating rage, an extraordinary few years in the country generally. Southgate’s own politics have faded. He seems a little careworn and bruised. He has been a unique public figure over the past eight years, a kind of beacon of centrist dad-ness, the handsome middle-aged man with the courteous, moderate manner.

He has been such an oddly pervasive public figure, so vividly present. What will he do now if this is to be his final tournament? Run the Football Association perhaps, or became the government’s football tsar, the nation’s PE teacher. He could probably spend his time wearing black roll necks and doing TedTalks called Functionalising Your Management Culture Reach.

For now England will face a huge challenge in Berlin on Sunday. But this is an era that has now almost run its course; and with a sense now of a kind of completion.

An Iraqi court has issued a death sentence against one of the widows of the late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, alleging that she was complicit in crimes committed against Yazidi women captured by the militant group.

The ruling comes weeks before the 10-year mark since IS launched a series of attacks against the Yazidi religious minority in the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar in early August 2014, killing and capturing thousands – including women and girls who were subjected to human trafficking and sexual abuse. The UN said the campaign against the Yazidis amounted to genocide.

A statement by Iraq’s judicial council said the Karkh criminal court sentenced the woman for “detaining Yazidi women in her home” and facilitating their kidnapping by “the terrorist Isis gangs in Sinjar district”, the state-run Iraqi News Agency reported. It also said the ruling was issued in accordance with Iraq’s anti-terrorism law and its “Yazidi survivors law”.

The statement did not name the defendant, but two court officials
identified her as Asma Mohammed, who was arrested in 2018 in Turkey and
later extradited. A senior Iraqi security official told the Associated
Press that another wife of al-Baghdadi and his daughter, who were also
extradited from Turkey to Iraq, had been sentenced to life in prison.

The sentences were handed down a week ago but were announced by the judicial council on Wednesday, he said.

Survivors of the IS attacks in Iraq have complained of a lack of accountability and have criticised the decision – made at the request of the Iraqi government – to wind down a UN investigation of IS crimes, including the alleged use of chemical weapons.

At the same time, human rights groups have raised concerns about the lack of due process in trials of alleged IS members in Iraq and have particularly criticised mass executions of those convicted on terrorism charges. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said the convictions are often extracted under torture and urged Iraq to abolish the death penalty.

On 29 June 2014, al-Baghdadi, known as one of the most ruthlessly effective jihadist leaders of modern times, declared the militant group’s caliphate in large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

In 2019, he was killed in a US raid in Syria, dealing a big blow to the militant group which has now lost its hold on all the areas it previously controlled, though some of its cells continue to carry out attacks.

Is it time for a rethink about Gareth Southgate’s substitutions? As the tension rose at the BVB Stadion and extra time beckoned, it was England who found an extra burst when two players who had not been on the pitch long combined to send them through to a first final on foreign soil.

They were all off the bench when Ollie Watkins collected Cole Palmer’s pass, swivelled away from Stefan de Vrij and arrowed a stunning shot into the Netherlands net. Having trailed to a spectacular early goal from Xavi Simons, England had rallied through Harry Kane’s penalty, but they had run out of steam during the second half. When Southgate took Kane off for Watkins, nobody could have imagined the impact the striker would make.

After a day of sweltering temperatures, a torrential downpour that left supporters running for cover not long before kick-off was never going to douse the sense of occasion. With the famous Yellow Wall turned a brilliant shade of orange for the evening, there was no holding back from the Dutch during a blistering opening period.

Structural frailties were evident in England straight away. Seven minutes in, they were slow to react when Marc Guéhi, restored at left centre-back after a one-match ban, headed away a long ball. Declan Rice gathered possession, but he did not sort out his feet and was swiftly dispossessed by Simons.

In a tournament of great goals by wonderkids, here was another one. Simons advanced with one thought in his mind, any doubt banished by John Stones backing off. A few yards outside the area, the midfielder laced a right-footed effort towards the far corner and pretty much stunned Jordan Pickford, who was beaten by the power of the shot despite getting a hand to the ball.

England were behind for the third successive game. Over on the left, Kieran Trippier called for calm. There was no need to panic. England, again arranged in a 3-4-2-1, had looked bright. Jude Bellingham was purposeful and Bukayo Saka was lively on the right again. Phil Foden and Kobbie Mainoo were in the mood for some fun.

As for Kane, he had a point to prove. There was more zip to the captain’s movement, more energy. England sensed a way back when Kane, having pulled away from Virgil van Dijk, tested Bart Verbruggen from 25 yards.

Saka was next to drive forward, wriggling away from Nathan Aké, who was having a torrid time. Desperation taking over, the Dutch defence panicked as the ball reached Kane, who shot over a split second before being caught by a high foot from Denzel Dumfries.

It was a clear foul, albeit one that needed a VAR review, and Kane stepped up to take his first penalty in a tournament since his miss against France. Would he blink again? No chance. Verbruggen guessed correctly, diving to his right, but Kane’s shot was too hard and England celebrated a deserved equaliser.

Now they poured forward, Trippier pushing up the left and Kyle Walker supporting Saka with a stream of overlapping runs. Foden, always in space, was having a splendid game. He almost Lamine Yamal’d in a left-footed shot from 25 yards and was also denied by a goalline clearance from Dumfries.

The Netherlands right-back was having quite the half. There was a warning for England when Dumfries headed a corner against the bar. But the Dutch were hanging on. Mainoo, who took the breath away with one delightful mid-air turn, was running midfield.

Ronald Koeman responded, replacing the hamstrung Memphis Depay and stiffening his midfield with Joey Veerman. A turning point? Southgate has been attacked for his in-game management. Koeman would also change the complexion of his attack at half-time, Donyell Malen making way for big Wout Weghorst, whose first contribution was to clobber Stones.

Southgate had also made a move, the arrival of Luke Shaw for Trippier giving England more balance on the left. Yet there was less urgency at the start of the second half. England had the ball but they were finding it harder to break through the lines, the Dutch more compact with Veerman providing the defence with an extra shield.

It became edgy as the spectacle descended into long spells of sideways passing from England. The ball was no longer finding its way to Saka in space. Bellingham and Foden were probing without success. From a poorly defended free-kick, Pickford made a smart stop from Aké.

England were fading, their bluntness captured by Jerdy Schouten halting Bellingham’s burst down the left. Bellingham, desperate to make an impact, was booked for a clumsy foul. Moments later he failed to gather a huge throw from Pickford.

The sight of Tijjani Reijnders, Schouten and Veerman dictating the tempo felt all too familiar. England needed fresh legs and Southgate reacted after Saka had a goal disallowed for a tight offside against Walker, Foden and a tiring Kane making way for Palmer and Watkins. But still the Dutch pressed and it needed a vital challenge from Guéhi to deny Weghorst.

Cody Gakpo had finally come alive on the left, worrying Walker with his dangerous dribbling. At the other end, a rare England attack ended with Shaw’s cross reaching Palmer. With glory beckoning, he sliced a shot wide.

But Palmer kept his head up. As the 90th minute arrived, he slipped a lovely pass to Watkins. His turn and shot ended the argument. England were on their way to Berlin to face Spain in Sunday’s final. They will not be favourites. But they have depths of resilience that should not be underestimated. After Bellingham’s overhead kick against Slovakia and the penalty heroics against Switzerland, here was the latest act of defiance.

A British army veteran wanted in connection with the death of three women in a suspected crossbow attack has been captured after being found with injuries, police have said.

Kyle Clifford, 26, who is understood to have served in the British army for about a year, was named as a suspect by Hertfordshire police after the deaths of Carol Hunt, 61, and two of her daughters, Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, at a property in Bushey.

Ch Supt Jon Simpson from Hertfordshire police told reporters earlier on Wednesday the suspected murders were believed to be targeted.

Later on Wednesday, a statement from Hertfordshire police said Clifford had been found in north London and received medical treatment for injuries. Police emphasised no shots were fired.

London ambulance service confirmed a man was treated at Lavender Hill Cemetery before being transported to a “major trauma centre”, which could be one of four hospitals in the capital.

On Wednesday afternoon, there was a significant number of police officers at the cemetery, 16 miles from the crime scene and near a property that was searched earlier in the day as part of the manhunt.

Paramedics and ambulances were also at the location. Footage captured from a helicopter showed a man being stretchered out of the cemetery.

Police believe the suspect was known to the victims and no one else is being sought in connection with the investigation.

Sources said that Carol Hunt was found in the hallway of the house with a crossbow bolt in her chest, while evidence of ligatures were found near the victims. One of the victims is understood to have texted her partner, urging them to call the police.

Clifford is believed to have served in the British army for a year, sources have said. The Ministry of Defence has been contacted for comment.

The women are understood to be the family of the BBC’s racing radio commentator, John Hunt. As part of a note sent to BBC Radio 5 Live staff on Wednesday, the organisation described the incident as “utterly devastating”.

The Hunts have another daughter, Amy, who is thought to live in Birmingham.

Police said a crossbow or other weapons may have been used in the attacks, and they are investigating what relationship any of the victims may have had to Clifford.

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, is urgently considering the findings of a Home Office review launched in 2021 to see if tougher crossbow laws need to be introduced.

A source said the victims were not gagged and bound when found, but there were ligature marks around their wrists and face, suggesting they had been and that these were removed. The source added that all of the victims had injuries to their knees.

The Guardian understands that one of the victims called 999 and alerted the police to the incident before the perpetrator fled.

Detectives have appealed for information or video footage and asked the public to report anything suspicious they saw in Ashlyn Close from midday on Tuesday, about seven hours before they found the women.

One source said the women may have been held hostage for hours before police were called.

On Wednesday morning armed police raided a property not far from the cemetery in Rendlesham Road, Enfield, which is understood to have been linked to Clifford’s brother, Bradley, who was jailed for life in 2018 for murder.

Schools in Enfield were placed in lockdown.

DI Justine Jenkins from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit said: “This continues to be an incredibly difficult time for the victims’ family and we would ask that their privacy is respected as they come to terms with what has happened.

“This investigation is moving at pace and formal identification of the victims is yet to take place.”

She added: “Following extensive inquiries, the suspect has been located and nobody else is being sought in connection with the investigation at this time.

“We have had an overwhelming number of calls and would like to express our gratitude to the members of the public who have contacted us.”

Cooper, said she was being kept fully updated on the inquiry into the “truly shocking” deaths.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We keep legislation under constant review and a call for evidence was launched earlier this year to look at whether further controls on crossbows should be introduced.

“The home secretary will swiftly consider the findings to see if laws need to be tightened further.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment against conservative US supreme court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the Democratic congresswoman’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

It follows calls from two US senators, Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden, that the US attorney general should appoint a special counsel to investigate potential criminal violations of federal ethics and tax laws by Thomas.

These are just the most recent protests in Washington circles concerning the two justices, amid accusations of financial corruption over gifts and favors and lack of political neutrality in their work.

Ocasio-Cortez, the high-profile progressive New York representative, said in the statement: “The unchecked corruption crisis on the supreme court has now spiraled into a constitutional crisis threatening American democracy writ large.

“Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito’s pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements constitute a grave threat to American rule of law, the integrity of our democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed.”

Her action was co-sponsored by seven other Democratic House members and will make a splash while having a negligible chance of making meaningful progress in the Republican-controlled chamber.

More details soon …

Reuters contributed reporting

The Irish premier, Simon Harris, has said that a travel ban imposed by Dubai authorities on Tori Towey, an Irish woman who was reportedly charged with attempted suicide, has been lifted.

Towey, 28, a flight attendant from Co Roscommon, was charged with attempted suicide and alcohol abuse after waking up in a police station after an attack, Irish parliamentarians were told.

Dubai authorities had also banned her from leaving the state, the Dáil chamber heard.

Addressing the Irish parliament on Wednesday afternoon, Harris said: “I’ve just been informed that the travel ban has been lifted, that the embassy will take Tori to the airport as soon as she is ready to go and that the embassy of course will continue to follow up on the case, which is still active as of now.”

He thanked the Irish embassy in the United Arab Emirates for their work on the case.

Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Ireland’s main opposition party, Sinn Féin, had raised the case in the Irish parliament on Wednesday for the second day in a row, criticising what she said was the “medieval, grotesque treatment of women” in the United Arab Emirates.

She said she had spoken to Towey and her mother, Caroline, who is with her in Dubai. “[Tori] does not belong to Dubai, she belongs at home in Ireland,” McDonald said.

The taoiseach thanked McDonald and the Roscommon TD Claire Kerrane for raising the “distressing” case. He said the Irish embassy in the United Arab Emirates had been in constant contact with Towey.

“We want Tori Towey back in this country, we want her back home in Roscommon,” Harris said.

“No effort will be spared by us, by Ireland, to make progress on this matter, to get Tori home. She’s not a criminal, she’s a victim of gender-based violence.”

Harris said he had spoken to Ireland’s deputy premier, Micheál Martin, who is the minister of foreign affairs, and Ireland’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

Her aunt Ann Flynn said both were trying to stay positive. “They’re very nervous and can’t wait to get home,” she told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

“It’s really terrible that this has happened to a young woman that was full of life, full of adventure, she loved travelling.”

Radha Stirling, founder of the Detained in Dubai group, said the support of the Irish people and the Irish government had “given them hope and inspiration”. She said the case was due to be heard next week.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was providing “ongoing consular assistance” in the case, as was Ireland’s embassy in the United Arab Emirates.

South East Water has said it needs a cash injection from investors to stay in business as it gears up for a major Ofwat ruling on its future spending plans.

The struggling water company – which serves 2.3 million people across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire – said it is “in discussions with lenders and shareholders regarding additional liquidity”.

The talks are at an “advanced” stage and bosses “expect” to raise the extra funding, but the company has not struck a deal on the investment.

“If it is not possible to raise the additional liquidity, the group and therefore company would not have sufficient liquidity for the going concern period,” it said in a results statement on Wednesday.

It added that “the risk that the funding will not be received constitutes a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the group and company to continue as a going concern”.

South East Water’s parent company, HDF Holdings, is owned by NatWest’s pension fund, an Australian infrastructure investor and a Canadian pension fund.

The company is already on regulator Ofwat’s watchlist for financially at-risk companies, alongside Thames Water and other regional monopolies.

The company’s financial update will be followed on Thursday by a draft verdict from Ofwat on water companies’ five-year spending plans and bill increases to 2030. That will kick off six months of negotiations with Ofwat, before the regulator’s final decision in December.

South East Water has put forward plans that would see spending rise to £1.9bn to maintain and update its infrastructure. Those plans would also involve increasing customer bills by 22%.

The search for funding comes after South East Water’s owners provided a £150m loan to a unit in the utility group earlier this year.

South East Water’s pre-tax loss narrowed to £36m for the year to 31 March, down from £74m the year before. Turnover rose 9% to £281m.

It is also still under investigation by Ofwat for an incident in June 2023 when the company failed to deliver water to thousands of customers for more than a week. The consequences could include a hefty fine from the regulator.

South East Water said: “Since the investigation was launched, we have entered into a constructive and transparent dialogue with Ofwat.

“Our colleagues, contractors, partners and stakeholders have all played a vital role in ensuring we kept the taps flowing for as many customers as possible, even during the extreme weather which impacted on our operations and overall performance in 2023/24.

“Despite all our efforts, there were still some issues during the year and we’d like to apologise to customers who experienced any supply interruptions.”

Detectives believe a triple-murder suspect may have gone on the run armed with a crossbow, after the bodies of three women were found in Bushey in Hertfordshire.

Police have launched a search for Kyle Clifford, 26, and warned he may have a weapon.

Hertfordshire police say they were called to a home in Ashlyn Close in Bushey just before 7pm on Tuesday and discovered three women who had suffered serious injuries.

The women are believed to be related and all three died at the scene.

Police named Clifford in connection with the deaths and said they believed he was from Enfield, north London, about 16 miles from the scene.

Police say they are “actively seeking” Clifford, and have been hunting him since the discovery of the three women.

A spokesperson for Hertfordshire police confirmed to the Guardian that Clifford “may be in possession of a crossbow”.

A major and urgent part of the police investigation is how the three women received their fatal injuries.

Two air ambulances – one from London – along with ambulances and other paramedics were sent to the scene.

Police believe Clifford may be in the Hertfordshire or north London areas. Officers are warning people who believe they have spotted him not to approach him, but to call 999 instead.

They have appealed to anyone who was in or around Ashlyn Close between lunchtime and 7pm on Tuesday to contact them if they believe they saw anything that could help their investigation.

Detective Supt Rob Hall, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, said: “This is an incredibly difficult incident for the victims’ family and we would ask that their privacy is respected as they come to terms with what has happened.

“Whilst we are still in the early stages of this investigation, we are actively seeking Kyle Clifford who we believe could be in the areas of Hertfordshire or north London.

“Given the serious nature of the incident, I would ask anyone who knows where he is to contact police immediately. If you believe you see him, please do not approach him and dial 999 straight away. He may still be in possession of a weapon.

“Our inquires will continue over the coming days to ascertain the full circumstances of what happened, but I would also like to take this opportunity appeal to anyone who was in the area around Ashlyn Close from around lunchtime on Tuesday until 7pm, and believes they may have seen anything that could assist the investigation, to contact us.

“This incident will of course be of concern to local residents. Officers from the neighbourhood policing team will be in the area today so please do speak to them if you need to.”

A spokesperson for East of England ambulance service said: “We were called around 7pm on Tuesday 9 July to a property in Ashlyn Close in Bushey. Three ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, an ambulance officer vehicle, the hazardous area response team, the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance and London Air Ambulance were sent to the scene.

“Sadly, despite the team’s best efforts, three women were pronounced dead at the scene.”

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said on social media: “The loss of three women’s lives in Bushey last night is truly shocking. My thoughts are with the family & friends of those who have been killed & with the community.

“I am being kept fully updated. I urge people to support @HertsPolice with any information about this case.”

A local councillor, Laurence Brass, who lives close by, said: “At 7pm last night a helicopter landed on the lawn in the development I live in, which is 100 yards away from here, but it was an air ambulance, I’m told, and then rumours started circulating about a crossbow.

“The worst thing that’s ever happened in this part of Bushey is a bit of illegal flytipping and then suddenly we get three murders and we’re all a bit shellshocked.

“This is a very traditional, quiet, leafy suburb, we don’t get this sort of thing in this area and I want residents to know that the council will be ensuring that the liaison team is down here and doing everything they can to comfort them and make sure that they are reassured that everything is being done.

“But we’re worried that this guy is still floating around somewhere.”

They might be more used to Rachmaninov and Brahms, but on Wednesday night the London Symphony Orchestra’s musicians will be showcasing their perfect crescendos while playing Cypress Hill’s Insane in the Brain.

The orchestra is making a Simpsons joke from 1996 finally a reality, by playing the US hip-hop trio Cypress Hill’s acclaimed Black Sunday album at the Royal Albert Hall.

The evening will riff on a joke featured in a Simpsons episode, in which Cypress Hill speculated that they had mistakenly booked the London Symphony Orchestra “possibly while high”.

After years of fan pressure, the group has struck a deal for a one-night performance in London, in which the LSO will perform its most famous songs, including Insane in the Brain and I Wanna Get High.

Considered pioneers of the West Coast hip-hop scene in the 1990s, Cypress Hill have sold more than 20m albums worldwide. Their hit Black Sunday album sold more than 3m copies in the US and spent a year in the UK charts.

B-Real (real name Louis Mario Freese) told the BBC: “It’s been something that we’ve talked about for many years since the Simpsons episode first aired. So it’s very special for us. And it’s coming off the heels of our 30th anniversary for our Black Sunday album.

“We’ve played a lot of historical venues throughout our career and stuff like that, but nothing as prestigious as this.”

B-Real added that Cypress Hill had always reached for experimental collaborations as “out-of-the-box artists”, including combining hip-hop with rock or metal or punk or reggae or electronic music.

He added: “We salute the Simpsons because if they had not written that episode, we probably wouldn’t be doing this.”

In the Simpsons episode, titled Homerpalooza, Homer tries to impress Bart and Lisa by going to the Hullabalooza music festival – a play on the Lollapalooza music festival held in Chicago – and hanging out with 1990s rap and rock stars including Cypress Hill and The Smashing Pumpkins.

In the episode, a crew member calls “somebody ordered”, adding “possibly while high … Cypress Hill, I’m looking in your direction”. This is followed by a rendition of Insane in the Brain, complete with the classic orchestral backing.

Cypress Hill have also invited the UK musician Peter Frampton, who features in the episode as the person trying to book the orchestra, although they are still waiting for a reply.

The LSO first violin and board vice-chair, Maxine Kwok, told the BBC that it was an important cultural reference and that “people are beyond excited at the idea of these diverse musicians mixing on the stage”.

She said: “Being a child of the 90s I remember the episode well.”

At rehearsals there have been cultural differences – for example, the LSO understood the word “glock” to mean the percussion instrument the glockenspiel, rather than a gun.

The Simpsons has previously predicted future events, including Trump’s presidency, a tiger attack on the Las Vegas magicians Siegfried and Roy, and the US beating Sweden to win its first Winter Olympic curling gold.

A few years ago, Anna von Rebay gave up her lucrative job in a corporate law firm specialising in art law to concentrate on her passion for the ocean. “All threats to the sea come from humans, who behave as though nature is nothing more than a resource,” says Von Rebay, who works in Germany and Indonesia. “But the ocean can’t stand up for itself.”

Inspired by a rising wave of lawsuits seeking to hold governments and companies to account for climate action, she set up Ocean Vision Legal, a law firm with a unique remit: to litigate on the ocean’s behalf.

“My aim was to motivate people, organisations and states to take legal action to enforce ocean protection,” she says.

She is not alone. Last year, the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said lawsuits challenging government and corporate inaction on the climate breakdown have become an important driver of change. There have been more than 2,500 lawsuits relating to the climate crisis around the world – and many relate to the ocean.

In January, Von Rebay’s firm initiated preliminary proceedings against Germany on behalf of Bund, a German conservation NGO, for issuing fishing licences that allow bottom trawling, a destructive fishing practice, in a marine protected area (MPA) of the Dogger Bank.

One of the largest sandbanks in the North Sea, and home to porpoises and seals, the Dogger Bank is a protected area under the EU habitats directive. There was no environmental impact assessment carried out before permits were issued, Bund alleges.

“We think this is illegal and now the ministry is looking at our objection,” says Von Rebay.

If the case proceeds, it could set a precedent, with implications for other European countries’ licences if they allow bottom trawling in areas protected under the directive. Two NGOs, Bloom and ClientEarth, have already threatened France with legal action over allowing bottom trawling in MPAs in the Mediterranean.

Von Rebay, a surfer, is proactive on the ocean’s behalf. Since Iceland decided to resume whaling last month, she is working on a letter to the Human Rights Council, a UN body, warning that NGOs and others consider allowing whaling to be a potential infringement of the right to a healthy environment.

This month, her firm will launch a collective movement of NGOs and intergovernmental bodies calling for a universal declaration of ocean rights, similar to the rights of nature. It is also looking into the legal implications of deep-sea mining.

Von Rebay, however, is not the only lawyer exploring litigation as a tool against an industry as yet in its infancy but which could pose one of the greatest threats to the oceans. One of the world’s biggest environmental groups, the WWF, announced in May that it is suing the Norwegian government for opening up its seabed for deep-sea mining, claiming that Norway has failed to properly investigate the consequences of such activity.

And there have been other notable successes on behalf of the world’s seas. Perhaps the most significant came in May, when nine small island states won a historic climate case, which ruled that all signatories to a treaty known as the United Nations convention on the law of the sea (Unclos), must do more to protect the oceans from the impacts of global heating.

Together, as the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (Cosis), they had asked the court, the international tribunal on the law of the sea (Itlos), to clarify what was considered marine pollution under the convention.

The opinion found that signatories’ responsibilities to protect the sea extended to greenhouse gas emissions. While it is not legally binding, experts believe the opinion will have a significant impact on how courts rule on such issues in the future.

Payam Akhavan, legal counsel for Cosis, says Itlos has taken a “critical first step” in recognising that what small island nations have been fighting for at annual Cop climate negotiations for decades, is already part of international law.

“The major polluters must prevent catastrophic harm to small island nations, and if they fail to do so, they must compensate for loss and damage,” he says.

Isabela Keuschnigg, a legal officer at Opportunity Green, a non-profit organisation using law to solve climate issues, echoes the view that Itlos will “boost climate lawsuits”.

“There have already been successful challenges which have centred around vulnerable communities that are dependent on the ocean,” she says. She cites the case of the Torres Strait Islanders, a group of eight inhabitants of the low-lying islands threatened by sea level rise, off Queensland, Australia. In 2019, they submitted a complaint to the UN human rights council over Australia’s insufficient climate action. In September 2022, the UNHCR found in favour of the islanders, in a historic win for Indigenous communities.

At Ocean Vision Legal, Von Rebay is confident that people are waking up to the idea of using the law to protect the environment. “There is growing awareness that there are marine protection obligations and we need to start using them,” she says. “This is the beginning.”