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Displaced residents return to southern Lebanon as Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire appears to hold – Middle East crisis live
Ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect at 02.00GMT; Lebanon’s speaker urges people to return to their homesFull report: Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire comes into forceDown to the final half-hour before the ceasefire comes into effect and AFP is reporting strikes on south Beirut after the Israel army’s evacuation warning.“Urgent warning to residents of the Beirut area,” army spokesperson Avichay Adraee had earlier said in a post on X, telling people in the Bachoura area in the city centre to leave, as well as “all residents in the southern suburb area”, specifically in Ghobeiry. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:34:32
PMQs live: Keir Starmer to face Kemi Badenoch and MPs
PM and leader of the opposition to face off in the CommonsWilliam Hague has achieved a rare Tory election victory; he has won the contest to be Oxford University’s next chancellor.The university has released the figures for the final round of voting, where the winner emerged after the final five candidates were ranked using the alternative vote system. The runner up was Elish Angiolini, the lawyer and academic. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:43:32
Storm Conall brings train cancellations and warning of possible power cuts
Rail travel disrupted in southern England after heavy rain, as parts of country still feel impact of Storm BertThe third named storm of the autumn, Conall, has brought more disruption to the UK, with trains cancelled in parts of southern England on Wednesday and the Met Office warning of delays on roads and the potential for power cuts.Up to 40mm of rain fell overnight in parts of south and south-east England and another 5-8mm was expected during the day. The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for London and areas of Essex, Kent, Surrey and West Sussex. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:49:19
Banksy’s Well Hung Lover to be sold with Bristol building it is painted on
Work showing man hanging from window ledge appeared in 2006 on wall of listed Georgian propertyOne of Banksy’s most beloved works is being sold at auction with the Bristol building it was created on.The work, known as Well Hung Lover, shows an image of a man hanging from a window ledge as a cheated rival searches for him and a woman stands by. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:20:20
Counter-terrorism police arrest six in London raids connected to PKK
Kurdish Community Centre in Haringey among properties being searched by officers investigating banned groupSix people have been arrested by counter-terrorism police in London as part of an investigation into the banned Kurdistan Workers’ party, known as the PKK.Four men aged 23, 27, 56 and 62 and two women aged 31 and 59 were arrested at separate addresses during dawn raids in the capital on Wednesday and remain in custody, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:01:59
British mother of Egyptian political prisoner to press Lammy to take action
Laila Soueif is to meet the foreign secretary, who in opposition called for the release of Alaa Abd el-FattahThe British-born mother of an Egyptian political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 58 days is preparing to meet the foreign secretary, David Lammy, to urge him to secure her son’s release.Laila Soueif’s son Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British and Egyptian dual citizen who wrote eloquently about the Arab spring and its aftermath, was jailed for five years for “spreading false news”. He was due to be released in September, but has not been freed. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 06:00:51
Grave exhumed near Northern Ireland border in hunt for IRA ‘disappeared’
Search for Joe Lynskey, who was murdered and secretly buried by IRA in 1972, takes place in County MonaghanA grave south of the Northern Ireland border has been exhumed by experts searching for the body of a former monk more than 50 years after he was killed and “disappeared” by the IRA during the Northern Ireland Troubles.Joe Lynskey, a former Cistercian monk from Belfast who later joined the IRA, was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1972, one of 17 victims who disappeared without trace decades ago. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:38:22
Undercover police officer who deceived women a ‘cruel’ liar, public inquiry told
Belinda Harvey, who had relationship with Bob Lambert, says it is ‘beyond comprehension’ how she was usedAn undercover police officer who deceived at least four women into sexual relationships and fathered a child with one of them is a “cruel and manipulative” liar, a public inquiry has been told.Belinda Harvey, one of the women who had an 18-month relationship with Bob Lambert without knowing his real identity, said it was “beyond comprehension” how the undercover officer had used her. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:27:50
David Coote: FA investigating claims referee discussed giving yellow card
FA says ‘very serious’ allegations being looked at urgentlyCoote denies wrongdoing, says his integrity not in doubtThe Football Association is investigating allegations that the referee David Coote discussed giving a yellow card before a game.The allegations centre on an exchange of messages before and after Coote refereed the Championship game between Leeds and West Brom in October 2019, in which he booked the Leeds defender Ezgjan Alioski. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:14:08
Cambridge University veterinary course could lose accreditation over ‘ethical concerns’
Worries about animal euthanasia and mishandling of complaints from students about racism among concernsThe University of Cambridge’s prestigious veterinary course could be stripped of its professional accreditation after regulators uncovered “ethical concerns” over animal euthanasia and mishandling of complaints from students who experienced racism and discrimination.Investigators from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) said Cambridge’s veterinary medicine course failed to meet 50 out of 77 standards, and the head of department warned students they may not be able to work in the UK without additional qualifications. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 09:27:26
Trump’s return raises questions over future of CIA’s Russian recruitment drive
Intelligence agency has been trying to entice Russians disaffected by invasion of Ukraine but president-elect is likely to want to make an ally of KremlinFor the past three years, the CIA has run an unusually bold outreach programme. It targeted Russians within the country’s government and security services, attempting to turn them into double agents.Slickly produced recruitment videos portrayed cooperation with the US secret agency as the patriotic choice for officials disaffected with Vladimir Putin’s regime and the war in Ukraine. The videos ended with instructions on how to contact the CIA in a secure manner. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 05:00:51
‘Doing it with no partner is easier’: the single women using fertility treatments
A growing number feel single parenthood is liberating and only a sense of ‘shame’ around it is holding women backIt was Covid that gave Amy, 45, the final push to have fertility treatment on her own. “I had been thinking about it for a while, and then with Covid, I thought: ‘I’m never gonna meet anybody.’ And I didn’t really want to be that woman who’s like: ‘Hey, we’ve been on one internet date. Let’s have a baby!”Amy struck lucky with her first embryo transfer and is now the mother of a three-year-old. “I feel very blessed,” she said. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 07:00:54
What are tariffs and why is Trump levying them on Canada, Mexico and China?
Trump is now laying ground for a trade war with the country’s largest trading partnersThere are still over 50 days left until Donald Trump takes office, but he’s already laid the ground for a trade war that could shake the global economy.Trump announced on Monday that he will sign an executive order placing a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico, along with an additional 10% tariff on imports from China, in purported retaliation for drugs and migrants crossing US borders. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 09:00:01
A moment that changed me: at seven, I saw the truth of China’s one-child policy – and felt my parents’ pain
When a classmate said she’d be allowed a brother or sister, I realised what it meant: she might die young. It was a sudden insight into tragedy and traumaOne afternoon in the spring of 1997, as my seven-year-old classmate and I played in a tiny park in our Shanghai neighbourhood, she shared a secret: “I’m allowed to have a little brother or sister.” My jaw dropped. No one my age had a sibling except a pair of twins at school. People used the words “sister” and “brother” to mean cousin. Having siblings was an outlandish, outdated, even shameful concept, something older generations had done before the one-child policy was introduced in 1980.My parents carefully stored our One Child Honorary Certificate, with golden characters on a sleek red booklet, in a bottom drawer, right by my birth certificate. They were good citizens who, by definition, had only one child. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 06:55:52
Dorothea Rockburne – New York great’s first big UK show all comes down to one long, mesmerising line
Bernheim Gallery, LondonNow aged 95, the great polymath had trouble finding the right chipboard in Britain – but this is still a show of disarming simplicity with one stunning standout workSometimes a work gets to you and blows everything else away. It begins with a narrow black line, about the breadth of a pencil, running at waist-height around the walls of the ground floor gallery. The line negotiates the mouldings, runs under a mantelpiece, takes the corners and recesses, makes a turn, gets interrupted by a set of French doors and disappears from view. The line leads us from room to room. Regular, unvarying and relentless, it sometimes leaves a breathy residue on the wall or a build-up of fine graphite dust in the corners and crevices of a window-frame as it passes.Drawn using fine charcoal powder and fixative, the line at times appears to have been incised in the wall rather than just sitting on top of the paintwork. Sometimes it looks like a cut, as if someone has sawn through the entire building, making me think of Gordon Matta-Clark’s chain-sawed buildings. The only other thing in this bare room is Dorothea Rockburne’s 1967 Tropical Tan, a group of four abutted black steel panels leaning against the wall and reaching above our heads. The panels look flat, but each steel sheet is precisely bent on its four diagonals, the angles muted and disguised by a layer of pallid wrinkle-finish paint. The line runs behind the panels, re-emerges on the other side and carries on, oblivious, dragging me with it. Unlike me, the line never hesitates. Even when you can’t see it the line is there, as present as an invisible horizon. It is always with us. Like the line itself, the questions keep on coming. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:12:39
Bone-on-bone agony: the cruel reality of facing a three-year waiting list for a new knee
Before she retired in 2014, Alexandra McTeare had worked for the NHS for 30 years – and always believed in public healthcare. But when she experienced severe pain, she was forced to consider difficult choicesWhen Alexandra McTeare was told she might have to wait three years for knee replacement surgery, she felt desperate. “Because of how miserable your life is, how small it has become,” she says.The problems with her knee started in 2017. “It was painful and would swell up, particularly in the heat.” She would take painkillers and keep her leg elevated when she was sitting down, and did stretching exercises for her muscles. But over the next few years, “it gradually got worse, the intervals between swelling episodes reduced and the pain increased”. It reached a point where it was no longer bearable. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 05:00:50
‘It paid for six months of sandwiches!’ 7 tips for buying the perfect gift voucher
Gift cards can be divisive. But if you choose well, your friends and family will be able to buy or experience something otherwise out of reachWhen Stephen received an M&S voucher from his parents for Christmas, he did what many of us do: shoved it in his wallet and forgot about it. Months later, when buying a sandwich in the shop, he remembered he had it and handed it over.“The cashier took it and, handing it back, said something like, ‘You still have £96-something on your card.’ I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “I continued to use it for incidental sandwiches for a further six months until it ran out. It’s the best Christmas present of my adult life – it just kept giving.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:00:02
‘The constitutional court is easy to crack’: the threats to German democracy go on stage
Legal journalist Maximilian Steinbeis’s play A Citizen of the People shows how easy it could be for a party like AfD to upend the country’s 75-year-old democracyA smile so sweet it will melt your heart, a handshake so earnest it will make you want to buy him a beer, and a stare from deep-set eyes so intense you will tremble for your children’s future: Dominik Arndt has the suave moves and terrifying looks typical of the rightwing politicians that are knocking on the gates of power all over Europe. Specifically, the lanky and youthful actor who plays Arndt, Fabian Hinrichs, looks a lot like Björn Höcke, the Thuringian politician many see as the boss in all but title behind Germany’s ascendant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.But what makes Arndt so unsettling – and the play A Citizen of the People one of the more interesting theatrical contributions to the current political moment – is that he doesn’t speak like a rightwinger at all. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:41:34
Paradise lost? How cruise companies are ‘eating up’ the Bahamas
Another vast tourist resort project promising jobs and prosperity. But critics say such developments imperil the pristine environments they advertiseRead more in this seriesJoseph Darville has fond memories of swimming with his young son off the south coast of Grand Bahama island, and watching together as scores of dolphins frolicked offshore. A lifelong environmentalist now aged 82, Darville has always valued the rich marine habitat and turquoise blue seas of the Bahamas, which have lured locals and tourists alike for generations.The dolphins are now mostly gone, he says, as human encroachment proliferated and the environment deteriorated. “You don’t see them now; the jetskis go by and frighten them off.Joseph Darville is worried that the big cruise lines and developers will ‘come in and eat what’s left of our country’. Photograph: Richard Luscombe/the Guardian Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 06:00:53
The best new Christmas and winter attractions in the UK
From festive markets and light trails to floating saunas and chalet-oke sessions, there’s plenty of wintery fun to be had for all agesThis year, there are plenty of light trails to brighten up the winter gloom. The Northern Light is an immersive light and sound show at the Slieve Donard hotel in Newcastle, County Down, with projections conjuring up the Arctic, an ice cave, the stars and the aurora borealis (£35 adults/£22 children). Cornwall’s Eden Project has an immersive light show that transports visitors to a Christmas party, as well as a new theatrical experience and carousel (from £38 adults/£12 children, selected evenings until 5 January). Christmas at Westonbirt, the national arboretum in Gloucestershire, has been designed by the light trail producers behind Christmas at Kew. Expect neon trees, luminous birds and tunnels of light, plus a Christmas village (from £18 adults/£12 children, 29 November to 31 December). Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 07:00:53
‘Most of these guys had never fired a weapon’: inside the FBI’s early hunt for gangsters
The new book Gangster Hunters recalls J Edgar Hoover and his so-called ‘G-Men’ who took down some of the biggest criminals of the timeJohn Oller’s new book tells how the FBI took down John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde and other celebrity criminals of the 1930s, as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt waged his “war on crime”. In prose fast as an Essex-Terraplane getaway car, Oller recounts and deconstructs the myths that grew around such bank robbers, kidnappers and killers. He also spotlights the agents who chased and caught and sometimes killed the criminals or were killed themselves – names long eclipsed by that of J Edgar Hoover, who led the FBI for 48 years.“Hoover was such a larger-than-life figure and he wanted to keep it that way,” Oller says. “He wanted his agents to be anonymous. If any name was going to be associated with the FBI, he was going to be it. And he pulled it off. That’s the reason none of these guys that I write about have ever been known. They kept it that way.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 09:11:00
My family has grown Britain’s food for 140 years. Here’s what politicians don’t understand about farming | Clare Wise
We’ve cared for our farm through war, pandemic and money worries. The inheritance tax row shows how little the government respects thatClare Wise is a farmer based in County DurhamIf you are familiar with the pangs of parental guilt, then you can relate to owning a farm. Take that gut-wrenching, often irrational feeling, amplify it, and welcome to being a farmer. From the moment you’re born into a family farm, there’s a weight of expectation on you to look after it, to put it before yourself, to uphold your family’s pride. All farm kids know they don’t open presents on Christmas morning until the animals are fed, that parents miss special occasions because cows are calving, and that hopes of a foreign holiday are almost nil, at least on a livestock farm such as mine.Owning a farm is like playing a game of pass the parcel with a valuable gift, but the one who unwraps the present is very much the loser of the bunch. From an early age, it’s drilled into you that the farm, the land and its legacy are things you carry and pass on to your children. We don’t see the farms we inhabit as truly ours: they’re generational assets that produce food for the masses. That is why farmers are putting up a huge fight against the government’s new inheritance tax changes. It’s hard not to feel as though this policy is a land grab by ministers who have no idea about how farming works.Clare Wise is a farmer based in County DurhamDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:00:55
MPs will vote, but there is a better way to decide who has the right to die | Rafael Behr
In an age of cynicism and mistrust, politicians must work harder to involve the public in difficult decisionsWhen MPs vote this Friday on assisted dying, they will be trying to answer two questions folded into one. First comes the ethical choice. Is it ever permissible for one person to help someone else take their own life? Then comes the regulatory challenge. Under what conditions might that permission be granted in law?It isn’t easy to separate those considerations. Sometimes you have to work through scenarios of implementation before arriving at a view on the prior principle. But when legislation is being drafted, the two questions must logically be answered in sequence, not in parallel. When and how are only relevant debates if the answer to the question of whether assisted dying can ever be allowed is yes.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 06:00:52
The ceasefire in Lebanon doesn’t ensure a lasting victory for Israel, but does signal a strategic setback for Iran | Bilal Saab
Hezbollah is still armed and has the potential to attack Israel. But more significantly it has in effect abandoned HamasNow that the dust has settled, quite literally, following the ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel, it is crucial to ask whether this deal will last – because, let’s face it, we’ve been here before.In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel fought viciously for more than a month for reasons not dissimilar to today’s context. By conducting a cross-border raid against Israeli troops, Hezbollah sought to alleviate some pressure on Hamas, which was battling with Israel in Gaza. The operation backfired, triggering a devastating conflict that led to the killing of roughly 1,100 Lebanese and 160 Israelis, and to massive displacement and damage to infrastructure in southern Lebanon. At home, Hezbollah was heavily criticised by most of Lebanese society for its unilateral decision, but, as always, it evaded accountability thanks to its guns.Bilal Y Saab, an associate fellow with Chatham House, is the head of the US-Middle East practice of Trends Research & AdvisoryDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 09:41:15
Prosecuting passengers for pocket change? Rail ticketing in Britain has become an absolute farce | Jonn Elledge
The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, is right: innocent people should never feel like criminals for merely buying a ticketThere are a number of things that made Northern’s attempts to prosecute Sam Williamson for rail fare evasion seem a bit off. One was that he, er, had a ticket – one that was marked “anytime”. There were, it transpired, some limits on when he could use that ticket – his 16-25 railcard magically transformed that “anytime” ticket into a “not any time, actually” one. (There had been no such limits when he’d used it just a week earlier, because it had been summer.) But none of this was made clear at the point when he’d bought that ticket.Then there’s the fact that when Williamson discovered what he described as an “innocent mistake”, he offered to pay the difference. The revenue protection officer – the change from “ticket inspector” is surely telling in itself – who checked his ticket did not allow it. But what really makes prosecution a bit OTT is quite how much revenue Northern had lost through all this: £1.90. You can’t get a coffee for that. No matter. He seemed set to go to court.Jonn Elledge is an author and former assistant editor of the New Statesman Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:03
Labour’s ‘Get Britain Working’ strategy will only make things worse. Here's why | Iain Porter
Instead of bolstering support for those out of work, the government is looking to further erode it. This approach will only make their lives more difficultIf you’re someone with a disability or a long-term health condition who loses their job, the system designed to help you find and stay in work isn’t working. Disabled people’s experience of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is often characterised by distrust, fear and negativity. Those who have tried to move into work have spoken of structural and cultural barriers built into the system. These can include stressful and demeaning assessments, the gnawing fear of being sanctioned, and a lack of positive engagement from the DWP, which offers a poorly tailored employment support.The Labour government has promised to take a fundamentally different approach with its Get Britain Working white paper that was published earlier this week. Speaking about the paper, Keir Starmer said it was time to end the culture of “blaming and shaming” people who haven’t been getting the support they need. Then, in the same breath, he pledged to “slash” the country’s “spiralling” benefits bill as part of his government’s efforts to get more people into work. This harmful rhetoric threatens to sabotage the government’s attempts to reset its relationship with people who are sick or disabled. While the white paper signalled the government’s ambitions, the cuts to benefits it has pencilled in for next year undermine them.Iain Porter is a senior policy adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:29:19
My sister is on hunger strike to free her son Alaa Abd el-Fattah from jail in Egypt. We don’t want her to die | Ahdaf Soueif
The British-Egyptian activist is imprisoned alongside thousands of other political detainees. We’re appealing to the UK government for helpMy sister is 68, and today is her 60th day on hunger strike. This is her latest battle against injustice, and she knows it may be her last.Laila is fighting for the freedom of her son: Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian writer, software developer and democracy activist who is Egypt’s most high-profile political prisoner. Alaa has served two five-year prison sentences. The first for participating in a 15-minute silent protest, the second for reposting a Facebook post about a prisoner who had died in prison.Ahdaf Soueif is the author of Mezzaterra: Fragments from the Common GroundDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:36:05
France has the highest cannabis consumption in Europe. It’s high time to tax it | Alexander Hurst
With the nation’s finances in a parlous state, decriminalisation could raise millions of euros – as well as cut crimeFrance might not be broke, but the state of its public finances is, well, definitely not good. Total debt stands at €3.2tn – 112% of GDP. Interest payments on that debt are the second largest public expenditure after education (which includes everything from crêche, or preschool, to universities) and are higher than the amount spent on defence. And this year’s budget deficit is projected to be 6%, three points above the EU’s 3% limit.If it weren’t for the euro, France might very well be in the throes of a fiscal crisis – as it is, interest rates on some French debt are higher than for Portugal or Spain. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 07:00:52
Can Gwyneth Paltrow save Goop with a bold new vaginal product? | Arwa Mahdawi
Rumours the company is in its death throes underestimate the actor’s talent for business – and the public’s insatiable appetite for kooky wellness gimmicks“VAGINA! VAGINA! VAGINA!” That, in a nutshell (possibly the wrong metaphor), was the key to success for Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand, Goop, for many years: headline-grabbing wacky health advice and weird products that were often vagina-adjacent.Paltrow once spelled out this strategy in a lecture to a Harvard Business School (HBS) class. It was great publicity, she explained, when people mocked Goop for doing things such as urging women to steam their vaginas to balance their hormones; the free PR caused “cultural firestorms” and she could “monetise those eyeballs”. According to a 2018 New York Times profile, Paltrow followed these nuggets of wisdom by cupping her hands around her mouth and yodelling “vagina” three times, as if it were some sort of magical incantation that made money rain down on you. (I’ve tried it at home, it didn’t work for me.) Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:03
The Guardian view on cruise ships: a licence to pollute | Editorial
The environmental harm caused by this shapeshifting, underregulated industry must be tackledLocal pushback against cruise ships in the world’s top tourist destinations is nothing new. More than three years ago, these vast vessels were barred from Venice’s lagoon on grounds of the risk they posed to the city’s historic buildings. This summer, cruise ships in Amsterdam and Barcelona were targeted by protesters, on grounds of chemical pollution but also as part of a wider movement against overtourism (as the negative impacts of huge influxes of visitors have become known). But – as revealed this week in a series of Guardian articles, The real cost of cruises – the environmental and social impact of this fast-growing industry goes way beyond individual cities, and requires action on a global scale.The carbon emissions of a cruise are roughly double that of the equivalent flights plus a hotel stay. The industry is also responsible for a vast quantity of waste discharged directly into the sea, as well as high levels of toxic air pollution in the ports where ships are docked – usually with their engines running. Once seen as the exclusive pursuit of a minority of wealthy retired people, these holidays are now mainstream, with vast floating resorts designed and marketed for families and young adults. The largest ships have up to 20 floors and room for several thousand people.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 18:46:00
The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s tariffs: protectionism is no longer taboo in politics | Editorial
US trade policies since 2016 highlight a broader global retreat from globalisation, driven by geopolitical tensions and shifting economic prioritiesDonald Trump’s broadside against America’s three largest trading partners, with whom it runs a $500bn trade deficit, should surprise no one. Since 2016, both Mr Trump and Mr Biden have departed from established norms in international trade. The two presidencies diverged significantly in approach: Mr Biden emphasised systemic reform while Mr Trump relied on rhetoric and theatrics. Although both administrations faced criticism for driving up costs through tariffs and industrial policy, global events were primarily behind rising prices.Mr Trump’s self-declared fondness for tariffs is closely tied to his ability to authorise them unilaterally, bypassing Congress under claims of national security. This may explain his recent announcement of plans to impose 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% on Chinese imports, unless these countries address alleged issues of illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling. The US president-elect clearly sees tariffs as more than mere policies; they are a calculated means of gaining leverage. By threatening to impose them, Mr Trump is signalling a desire to negotiate – but only on his terms.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 18:46:06
UK and US must halt escalation in Ukraine | Letters
Diane Abbott MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Ayoub Khan MP, Shockat Adam MP, Iqbal Mohamed MP, Adnan Hussain MP, Brian Eno, Alex Gordon, Fran Heathcote, Sophie Bolt and Lindsey German say diplomacy is the only path to peace. Plus, Laurie Farnum on why Russia can’t be trusted and Alex Hetmanczuk on the west’s failure to tackle it earlierWe are deeply concerned about the escalation in Ukraine. In response to British-made Storm Shadow missiles fired into Kursk (Report, 20 November), just days after Ukraine used the US’s army tactical missile systems (Atacms) to attack Bryansk, reports indicate that Russia has now launched intercontinental missiles into southern Ukraine. This rapid escalation seriously threatens an all-out military confrontation with Russia and Nato. The risk of a nuclear attack cannot be ruled out.The British government has to take responsibility for its actions and these terrible consequences. With hundreds of thousands already killed and injured, securing an end to this horrific conflict is crucial. We call on Joe Biden and Keir Starmer to halt this escalation and secure talks with Russia and Ukraine. Diplomacy and dialogue, not military escalation, are the only viable paths to a peaceful settlement in the region.Diane Abbott MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Ayoub Khan MP, Shockat Adam MP, Iqbal Mohamed MP, Adnan Hussain MP, Brian Eno, Alex Gordon President, RMT, Fran Heathcote General secretary, PCS, Sophie Bolt General secretary, CND, Lindsey German Convener, Stop the War Coalition Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 17:29:35
Whistleblowing doctors need better protection | Letters
Wes Streeting’s move is welcome, but the entire law in this area requires revisiting, say Dr David E Ward and Prof Jane SomervilleWe are encouraged to note that Wes Streeting is taking serious steps to stop NHS managers persecuting whistleblowing doctors just because they have raised patient safety concerns (NHS bosses who silence whistleblowers face sack under government plans, 24 November). The unwarranted and widely publicised detriments to some doctors who have spoken up about safety matters over the past 20 years have had serious consequences, despite laws intended to protect them. Trusts must be banned from dismissing doctors who raise patient safety concerns, and obliged to investigate their concerns, which at present are frequently covered up.The employment tribunal system, which some doctors may forlornly engage with to save their careers and livelihoods, is heavily biased against them. If dismissal was banned, most of the massive legal costs borne by the taxpayer would be avoided. In any case, why is the judiciary, which has little or no understanding of patient safety matters, involved if no laws have been broken? The entire law in this area requires revisiting. Mr Streeting has the important task of reviewing the current egregious arrangements. Why are no data formally collected about most of these major issues?Dr David E Ward Retired cardiologist, St George’s Hospital, LondonProf Jane Somerville Emeritus professor of cardiology, Imperial College London Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 17:20:30
Ilkay Gündogan describes Manchester City’s miserable form as ‘inexplicable’
City let slip three-goal lead at home to Feyenoord‘Only ourselves to blame,’ he says of Tuesday’s collapseA baffled Ilkay Gündogan described Manchester City’s form as “inexplicable” after they let a 3-0 lead with 75 minutes gone evaporate into a 3-3 draw against Feyenoord in Tuesday’s Champions League game at the Etihad.An Erling Haaland double and a Gündogan goal put Pep Guardiola’s team in firm control as they looked to end a five-game losing run with a win. But two passing errors from Josko Gvardiol and an ill-judged rush out by Ederson allowed Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Giménez and David Hancko to score for the visitors and salvage a draw, the equaliser coming a minute from the end of regulation time. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:23:33
Noah Lyles: ‘America has a winner’s mentality. That’s the good and the bad’
The Olympic 100m champion plays a starring role in the second season of Netflix documentary Sprint. And he is still as outspoken as everShortly after crossing the finish line in the 200m final at this summer’s Olympics, Noah Lyles collapsed to the ground out of breath. He lingered there, gasping and clutching at his chest for what felt like an age before medics arrived and carted him off the Stade de France track in a wheelchair. Later, Lyles made the bombshell revelation that he had been suffering from Covid for three days. The scene, an Olympic cliffhanger that rivaled only the American’s golden photo-finish in the 100m final days earlier, is among the major inflection points in the 2024 track season offered up for closer examination in the second season of Sprint – the hit fly-on-the-wall series that follows some of the biggest names in the sport and released on Netflix this month.Ultimately, Lyles was able to savor the bronze he won in the 200m – another keepsake to remind him of his personal triumphs over dyslexia, ADD, anxiety and depression. But when he sat down to rewatch the episode dealing with the 200m months later with his fiancee, the Jamaican sprinter Junelle Bromfield, Lyles said he could barely get through it. “Yeah, I’m proud of the moment,” he tells me, “but it’s still so hard to watch because I can only constantly just think what if. What if I didn’t get [Covid]?” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 09:00:01
The Spin | Keep the flame alive: Labuschagne and Kohli can learn from Nick Cave
International sides around the world are now crammed with Test batters who average in the 30sA few years ago I was on a late-morning train from Brighton to London luxuriating in the holy trinity of a quiet carriage and an empty table seat with a working plug socket. I’d done that thing where I’d spread my possessions out in an attempt to make it look like I had company who had perhaps just nipped off to the loo, all the better to ward off anyone from sitting near me. I’m not a monster, the rest of the carriage was completely empty, your honour.With laptop and notebook open I was gearing up to doing some work by attempting this paper’s crossword when a figure clad head to toe in black sidled into the seat opposite. With a mixture of confusion and fury coursing, I snuck a look at the interloper in the reflection of the window. A shock of jet black hair on top of an avalanche of forehead, flared nostrils like two bin lids, sunglasses perched on low slung shirt, more bling on his fingers than Bobby George or even Amol Rajan. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:05:02
Mbappé finds rhythm in preferred position before Madrid visit Liverpool
Frenchman gets another chance to make his mark on the left after ending his mini-scoring drought“The story of my career,” Kylian Mbappé called it, which it wasn’t really and would make his career surprisingly average, but at least he was polite. A little political perhaps, too.After Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory at Leganés on Sunday night, the Frenchman spoke to the club’s TV channel about a game he had started on the left for the first time since his seven-year wait to reach Spain came to a close. He had scored the opener, ending a four-match run without a goal, 21 shots rattled off without scoring, but his position, he said, was not the reason. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:00:54
Frank Lampard edges closer to dugout return as Coventry’s next manager
Former Derby and Chelsea coach to replace Mark Robins‘Next appointment is very important,’ says owner KingFrank Lampard is closing on a return to management with Coventry, 18 months after exiting Chelsea. Lampard is expected to succeed Mark Robins, who was sacked after almost eight years in charge, with the club 17th in the Championship, two points above the relegation zone.Lampard has been out of coaching since leaving his interim role in charge of Chelsea at the end of 2022-23, but the 46-year-old former England midfielder is poised to return to the dugout in a division he knows from his time in charge of Derby, whom he guided to the playoff final in 2019. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:36:27
Khéphren Thuram on father Lilian: ‘It’s a beautiful thing – listening to him makes me grow’
The Juventus midfielder discusses his father’s activism, what Thierry Henry always told him and how Douglas Luiz views the challenge of facing Aston Villa“I don’t know if it was destiny,” says a beaming Khéphren Thuram over a video call from Turin, but all the same he can glimpse a certain poetry in his journey. Born in Italy, the son of the great Juventus defender Lilian Thuram, now running the midfield in those same black and white stripes. “It’s a beautiful story,” he says. “People outside see the romance in it. But I’m just doing my job.”On Wednesday his job takes him to Villa Park in the Champions League, the first time the 23‑year‑old will play competitively on English soil. Not that he will be underprepared. His teammate Douglas Luiz has already briefed him on their forthcoming opponents. “We speak about Aston Villa,” Thuram says. “He told me he had a great time over there, that the fans are great. And I watch a lot of Premier League. It’s going to be a good game.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:00:55
Carla Ward: ‘People hang on Emma Hayes’s every word, and rightly so – she’s the best’
The former Aston Villa manager on helping USA to Olympic glory, pushing herself to the limit and a return to the dugoutFully in “holiday mode”, Carla Ward had enjoyed a few drinks when the surprise phone call came from Emma Hayes. The USA head coach was asking her to come and work for her during a large sporting event taking place in France in July and August. “I’ll be really honest, I’d had a few glasses of wine or a few strawberry daiquiris, I can’t remember which, and I didn’t take it seriously,” the former Aston Villa manager recalls. “I was like: ‘I’ve got a holiday booked, let me see if I can change it.’ And my friend said: ‘What is wrong with you? This is the Olympics!’ – then it dropped in my brain. Emma meant: ‘Come to the Olympics.’”Ward is certainly glad she said yes. The 40-year-old joined Hayes’ backroom team as a scout analysing opponents during a campaign that ended with the US team winning gold in Paris, and speaking in the buildup to the USA’s match against England at Wembley, she recalls an unforgettable learning opportunity. “There was never one doubt in my mind that she was going to win gold,” Ward says of Hates. “Being around the team 24/7, you knew there was an air of calm, there was an air of confidence. People hang on her every word, and rightly so. To see how she delivers messages and creates this environment is sensational. For me, she’s the best in the world.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:00:54
Is there a more internationally capped surname in football than Jones? | The Knowledge
Plus: cup-tied finalists that lose but win a medal, 66 goals in a week and the oldest team with a body part in their nameMail us any of your questions and answers“Curtis Jones is the ninth Jones to play for the England men’s team, after Alf, William, Harry, Herbert, Bill, Mick, Rob and Phil. Do any countries have a more capped surname?” asks Jack Hayward.There are plenty of countries who don’t need to keep up with the Joneses because they went past them ages ago. In one case, they are the Joneses.Williams (Wales) 32Nilsson (Sweden) 35Karlsson (Sweden) 40Singh (India) 40+Jensen (Denmark) 43Davies (Wales) and Johansson (Sweden) 44Nielsen (Denmark) 51Jones (Wales) 54Andersson (Sweden) and Hansen (Denmark) 65Nguyễn (Vietnam) 78+Kim (South Korea) 83+ Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:00:54
Climate denial a unifying theme of Trump’s cabinet picks, experts say
Loyalists selected for important roles have offered staunch support to fossil fuels and downplayed climate crisisDonald Trump’s cabinet picks have been eclectic and often controversial but a unifying theme is emerging, experts say, with the US president-elect’s nominees offering staunch support to fossil fuels and either downplaying or denying the climate crisis caused by the burning of these fuels.Trump ran on promises to eviscerate “green new scam” climate policies and to “drill, baby, drill” for more oil and gas, and his choices to run the major organs of the US government echo such sentiments, particularly his picks relating to the environment, with Lee Zeldin chosen as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Chris Wright as energy secretary and Doug Burgum as interior secretary. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:05
China’s CO2 emissions have peaked or will in 2025, say 44% of experts in survey
Research reflects rising optimism about country’s green transition as it takes leading position on climate actionNearly half of experts surveyed by a climate thinktank believe China’s carbon dioxide emissions have already peaked, or will do so in 2025, reflecting increasing optimism about the country’s green transition at a time when it is being called on to take a leading position on global climate action.According to a report published on Tuesday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a research organisation, 44% of climate experts from academia and industry believe that China’s CO2 emissions will peak, at the latest, in 2025. In last year’s survey, only 21% of experts gave the same response. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 00:01:44
Backroom deals and betrayal: how Cop29’s late $300bn deal left nobody happy
While an agreement on climate finance was eventually reached in Baku, many poorer countries were outragedThe Lamborghini showroom and a Tiffany branch sit at either end of Baku’s long boulevards beside the Caspian Sea. Adorned with grand 19th-century mansions, all plaster nymphs and columned facades, that were built by the first oil millionaires, they are a testament to the enduring power of fossil fuels. Oil has been very good to Azerbaijan.It flows out of the ground here, and gas has seeped out, ignited and burned naturally in the area for so long that the country’s symbol is a flame and its nickname is the Land of Fire. Baku was the world’s first oil town, with wells exploited as early as the 1840s. Ilham Aliyev, the autocratic president, calls oil and gas “the gift of God” to his people. They represent 90% of Azerbaijan’s exports. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 06:00:02
Environmental grants promised to farmers in England frozen
Scheme to fund activities such as hedge-planting paused owing to budget constraints, sources sayGrants promised to farmers in England for planting hedges and cleaning up waterways have been frozen by the government.The capital grants scheme, which was opened by the government to allow farmers to invest in infrastructure such as slurry storage so animal excrement does not go into rivers, has been abruptly paused. Farmers have said this will make it difficult for them to run their businesses in an environmentally friendly way. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 16:07:50
Irregular sleep pattern raises risk of stroke and heart attack, study finds
Variations in time a person goes to sleep and wakes up ‘strongly associated’ with higher risk of negative impactsFailing to stick to a regular time for going to bed and waking up increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and heart failure by 26%, even for those who get a full night’s sleep, the most comprehensive study of its kind suggests.Previous studies have focused on the links between sleep duration and health outcomes, with people advised to get between seven and nine hours shut-eye a night. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 23:30:43
Mother who kept three-year-old locked in a drawer jailed for seven years
Child was found severely malnourished, unable to walk or speak and had never seen daylight before her rescueThe mother of a three-year-old girl who was kept in a drawer and had never seen daylight or another human face has been jailed for more than seven years.The girl was found severely malnourished and unable to walk or speak in February 2023 by a partner of her mother’s who had gone upstairs to use the toilet and heard a noise that sounded like a baby. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 19:30:56
Groucho Club’s licence suspended while Met investigates serious offence
Members’ venue in central London popular with the media and arts world closes as police inquiry explores recent crimeThe Groucho Club has been forced to close as police investigate whether the venue was the scene of a serious criminal offence.On Tuesday Westminster council ruled that the licence of the club, which counts many A-list celebrities among its members, should be immediately suspended for 28 days. A full hearing will then take place. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 22:03:35
Vauxhall owner plans to shut Luton van factory, putting 1,100 jobs at risk
Stellantis says it will shift production from Bedfordshire to plant at Ellesmere Port, CheshireBusiness live – latest updatesThe owner of Vauxhall has announced that it plans to close its van factory at Luton, in a decision that will put 1,100 jobs at risk of being cut or moving location despite the UK government preparing to relax rules on electric cars.Stellantis said it would shift van production from Luton, Bedfordshire, to another factory at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, blaming the UK’s economic conditions and the government’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 22:37:48
Smithfield meat market to close for good after relocation plans voted down
City of London Corporation rejects plan for new Dagenham site and will offer traders about £300m in compensationLondon’s historic Smithfield meat market is to close for good after the City of London Corporation voted to pull out of plans to relocate it and Billingsgate fish market to Dagenham.The corporation, which owns and operates the central London site of the centuries-old market, had earlier this month put on hold relocation plans to a new £1bn site in Dagenham, east London, to review the “financial sustainability” of the planned move. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 18:21:20
Plans to end NHS dental care crisis not working, warns spending watchdog
National Audit Office finds ‘significant uncertainty’ as to whether pledge for extra 1.5m treatments will be fulfilledPlans to end the deepening crisis in access to NHS dental care are failing, leaving patients unable to get treatment, according to a warning from the government’s spending watchdog.The National Audit Office’s (NAO) damning verdict on the “dental recovery plan” prompted patient groups to voice alarm that people’s struggles with decayed teeth represents “a serious public health concern”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 00:01:44
Steve McQueen photography exhibition offers fresh take on history of protest in Britain
Director showcases images of the suffragettes, Kinder Scout trespasses and anti-fascist protests in LondonAfter retelling the story of the Blitz from a new angle, Steve McQueen’s next project is an alternative photographic history of protest and campaigning in Britain, spanning a century from the suffragettes to the Iraq war protests.Resistance will open at Margate’s Turner Contemporary in February 2025, which the gallery’s director said would show how “photography has really acted as a kind of catalyst for change” in the UK. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 06:00:51
RMT claims ‘substantial victory’ after tube pay dispute
Union says lower-paid tube staff will get average pay increase of 4.6% and other improvements in terms A rail union has claimed a “substantial victory” for its members at London Underground after resolving a pay dispute with Transport for London (TfL).The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said it had accepted a pay offer that provided notable improvements in terms and conditions. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:16:24
Government confirms online slots cap and betting levy to fund NHS services
Gambling minister says measures will be ‘instrumental’ in helping those most at risk of addictionBookmakers and casinos will be forced to fund NHS services that tackle problem gambling, after Labour rubber-stamped the previous government’s plans, which also include a cap of as little as £2 on the sums that can be staked on online slot machines.The Guardian revealed on Monday that the government was poised to approve the new “statutory levy”, using proceeds of around £100m a year to fund research, prevention and treatment of gambling harms. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 00:01:43
Aston Martin taps shareholders for cash after latest profit hit; Trump’s trade tariffs ‘threaten economic growth’ – business live
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsTrump’s tariff threat sets stage for bitter global trade warTrump’s tariffs will lead to higher prices in the shops, and weaker currencies for Canada, China and Mexico, explains Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank.Schmieding saysTaken at face value, such tariffs could raise the level of US consumer prices by c1% within a year if we assume that producers and distributors can pass on roughly 70% of higher import prices to consumers at a time of buoyant domestic demand. However, a depreciation of the Canadian, Mexican and Chinese currencies relative to the US dollar will likely absorb a significant part of that impact, perhaps up to half as a back-of-the envelope guess.Trump’s tariff statement is probably merely the opening salvo of a series of tariff threats. But interestingly, he has tied his announcement of extra tariffs on the top three exporters to the US to specific complaints about immigration and drug trafficking. That seems to open the door for negotiations. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:42:24
Trump’s Gorka pick met with outrage: he’s ‘as dangerous as he is unqualified’
Even among a host of TV personalities and alleged sex traffickers, far-right commentator is a step too far for someDonald Trump’s selection of the far-right commentator Sebastian Gorka for a senior national security post has prompted outrage and ridicule over a pick that seems extreme even amid a stream of nominations of conspiracy theorists, alleged sex traffickers, TV hosts and repeaters of Russian state propaganda.Last week, Trump named Gorka deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counter-terrorism. Unlike top national security picks – Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense – the position is not subject to Senate confirmation. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:04
Former ICC chief prosecutor says she faced threats and ‘thug-style tactics’
Fatou Bensouda says she and her family were subjected to ‘direct threats’ while working on the most sensitive casesThe former chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda has said she was subjected to “thug-style tactics”, threats and intimidation while in office.Bensouda, who held the post between 2012 and 2021, said that when she was working on some the court’s most politically sensitive cases she experienced “direct threats to my person and family”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:52:30
Elusive deer spotted wearing high-vis jacket in Canada: ‘Who is responsible?’
‘Double takes’ as British Columbia mountain community tries to figure out how local animal came to don neon jacketIn a town of fewer than 1,000 people, it can be hard to keep a secret. And yet no one in McBride, a mountain community in British Columbia, can figure out how a local deer came to be wearing a zipped-up high-visibility jacket – or why the day-glo-clad cervid has been so hard to track down.The mystery began on Sunday, when Andrea Arnold was driving along the snowy outskirts of McBride on Sunday and witnessed a sight so baffling she slowed her vehicle to a crawl. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:06
Ten years ago Ebola tore through Sierra Leone. Can a vaccine drive stop history repeating itself?
Memories of 2014, when the disease ravaged west Africa, are raw, while risk remains high. This week the first ever nationwide prevention programme begins – and doctors hope it will be enough to fend off another disasterOn a concrete platform set into a steep hill in a Freetown slum, Daddy Hassan Kamara points to the tin-roofed shack behind him. “I was living here with my father, mother, wife, brothers,” he says. “I lost all my relatives inside a month.”Ten years ago, the Ebola virus tore through west Africa, killing more than 11,000 people, including nearly 4,000 in Sierra Leone – around 40% of those infected in the country. When the outbreak began, there was no vaccine. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:00:02
Seoul slows down under blanket of heaviest November snow in 100 years
First day of snowfall this season is heaviest on record, says weather bureauSouth Korea’s capital has been blanketed by what the weather agency said was the heaviest November snowfall since records began over a century ago. It was the first snowfall of this year’s winter.The Korea Meteorological Administration said 16.5cm (6.5 inches) of snow fell by 7am on Wednesday, compared with Seoul’s previous record of 12.4cm on 28 November 1972. It was the heaviest snowfall since records began in 1907, the KMA said. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 07:02:24
Bolsonaro allies nearly launched military coup in 2022, police report says
Senior Brazil military figures backed plot to seize power after Bolsonaro’s election defeat, federal documents allegeBrazil came within a whisker of a far-right military coup and the assassination of a supreme court judge just days before President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took power in January 2023, a federal police report has claimed.The report about the alleged plot to help the rightwing populist Jair Bolsonaro cling to power was made public on Tuesday, and paints a chilling portrait of how close one of the world’s largest democracies came to being plunged back into authoritarian rule. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 21:48:44
ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar junta chief
Min Aung Hlaing accused of crimes against humanity over deportation and persecution of Rohingya minorityThe chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) is seeking an arrest warrant for Myanmar’s military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, for crimes against humanity over the deadly crackdowns against the country’s Rohingya minority that drove hundreds of thousands to flee to Bangladesh.Karim Khan said that “after an extensive, independent and impartial investigation” his office had concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe that the Myanmar junta chief “bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya committed in Myanmar and in part in Bangladesh”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:40:24
Plan to cut Berlin arts budget will ‘destroy’ city’s culture, directors warn
Leading theatre figures warn ‘drastic’ reduction in funding will cause bankruptcy and harm city’s tourism appealPlans to slash Berlin’s culture budget by tens of millions of Euros have led to a huge backlash, with leading venues saying they have been forced to cut performances and others warning they will be pushed into bankruptcy.About 450 institutes that are reliant at least in part on state subsidies, from theatres and opera houses to nightclubs and galleries, have formed an alliance in an attempt to force a rethink over the €130m (£108.6m) cuts. At around 12 to 13% of the current annual budget, they have been described even by those proposing them as “brutal”. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 05:00:49
Fining budget airlines will make flying more expensive, says easyJet boss
Spain’s penalty to carriers for charging passengers for hand luggage and seat reservations called ‘anti-consumer’The boss of easyJet has denounced fines handed out to the airline and other budget carriers for charging passengers for hand luggage and seat reservations as “illegal” and warned the decision will make it more expensive to fly.EasyJet was given a penalty of €29m (£24.2m) by Spain’s Consumer Rights Ministry earlier this month, along with Ryanair, which received the largest fine of €108m, and other airlines including Vueling, Norwegian and Volotea. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:12:06
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers file legal claim alleging substandard prison conditions
Lawyers for the disgraced movie mogul prepare lawsuit accusing Rikers Island jail of negligence and failing to provide adequate medical treatmentHarvey Weinstein’s lawyers have filed a legal claim against New York City alleging he is receiving substandard medical treatment in unhygienic conditions while in custody at the Rikers Island jail complex.The notice of claim – the first step in filing a lawsuit against the city – accuses the facility of failing to manage the former movie mogul’s medical conditions, which include chronic myeloid leukemia and diabetes, and negligence ranging from “freezing” conditions to a lack of clean clothes. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 04:50:13
242 best Christmas gifts for 2024: perfect present ideas chosen by the experts
From Monty Don’s top garden tool to Sali Hughes’s perfect lipstick and Yotam Ottolenghi’s favourite ever present, we asked everyone what they wanted – so you don’t have toStuck for what to buy everyone for Christmas? You won’t be for long … From gifts for fitness fans and gardeners to presents for pets (and their adorable owners), teens and beauty lovers, we’ve got all bases covered.Best of all, they’re hand-picked from the experts themselves: we’ve taken out the guesswork and asked the kids, chefs, cyclists and more to tell us what they actually want this year. Merry Christmas! Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-23 08:11:16
The best robot vacuums to keep your home clean and dust free, tested by our expert
Our writer trialled the most powerful robot vacuums – some of which even mop your floors – and these are the ones he ratesRobot vacuum cleaners take the drudge work out of cleaning your floors and carpets. No more tiresome weekly stints of vacuuming, and no more last-minute panic sessions when you have visitors on the way. Instead, your compact robot chum regularly trundles out from its dock, sucking up dust, hair and debris to leave your floors looking spick and span.Over the past few years, robot vacuums have become much more affordable, with basic units starting at about £150. They’re also doing more than they used to, mopping areas of hard flooring and charging in sophisticated cleaning stations that empty their dust collectors and clean their mop pads for you.Best overall robot vacuum cleaner: Eufy X10 Pro Omni£579 at EufyBest robot vacuum for power cleaning: Samsung Bespoke Jet Bot Combo AI+ £800 at John LewisBest for no-fuss robot vacuuming and mopping: iRobot Roomba Combo J9+£599 at iRobotBest robot vacuum cleaner for small homes and small budgets: Beko VRR61414VB RoboSmart £239 at Currys Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 18:00:36
Surviving Black Friday: what to know ahead of the UK sales
In this week’s newsletter: how to cut through the noise this Black Friday, gifts for fitness fanatics and the top coffee machines for 2024• Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereBlack Friday may be a recent phenomenon, but sales have been a part of British winter for decades – and they’ve always been regarded with suspicion by those who feel they’re above such things. I remember 70s newsreaders chuckling over footage of fights in the Boxing Day sales between women of previously good character, all desperate to grab the last half-price vacuum cleaner. How amusing, and how sad, said the newsreaders’ faces.I don’t share their snobbery. Black Friday can save people an awful lot of money on things they’ve wanted to buy for themselves and others but have struggled to afford during the cost of living crisis. But writing about it is a tightrope. You want to offer sincere, useful shopping advice without coming across like a puppet of commerce, and that’s a tricky path to navigate.Air fryers, heated throws and the world’s best jeans: Black Friday deals on the products we loveChristmas gifts for swimmers: what to buy water babies, from swimming costumes to changing robes and bagsChristmas gifts for runners: the best shoes, socks and vests to buy the running enthusiast in your lifeThe best Christmas gifts for cyclists, from warm cycling gloves and socks to a portable headlampThe best iPhones in 2024: Apple smartphones tested, reviewed and ranked Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 17:08:10
Air fryers, heated throws and the world’s best jeans: Black Friday deals on the products we love
We recommended them in the Filter; now we’ve sifted through all the offers to find the genuinely good discounts on our favourite products Black Friday is still a few days away on 29 November, but stores are already dropping prices to compete for our attention and cash – and they’re offering some delectable discounts on products we’ve recommended in the Filter.We cautioned against getting carried away too early in our guide to not getting ripped off in the sales, because many prices continue to fall until Cyber Monday (2 December). However, some of the most popular items can sell out even before Black Friday comes around. So, if there’s something here you’ve had your eye on, this may be your best chance to grab it for significantly less than you’d normally pay. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-22 18:07:53
Rupert Goold named as next artistic director of Old Vic
Goold says he is seeking new challenge after more than decade in charge at the Almeida theatreRupert Goold is leaving the Almeida theatre after more than a decade in charge to take over at the Old Vic, ending a search for a new leader at one of the UK’s biggest theatrical institutions.Rumours of the move at the top of the British theatre world began circulating this week, after the news in May that the current Old Vic artistic director, Matthew Warchus, would step down from the role in 2026. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 10:49:37
Peter Panto and the Incredible Stinkerbell review – JM Barrie’s fantasy is joyfully upturned
Tron theatre, GlasgowThere are cursory mentions of crocodiles, clocks and boys who never grow up, but Johnny McKnight’s script charts its own course in a hilariously daft productionI have seen regular productions of Peter Pan that treat the death of Tinker Bell more casually than it is handled here by writer, director and star Johnny McKnight. Yes, the fairy’s final moments are over-the-top – not a twitch of a limb unmilked – but it is with some sense of jeopardy that the audience is called upon to bring her back to life. We are delighted to succeed.What I have not seen is a version of JM Barrie’s fantasy that upturns the story quite so cavalierly as this one. Far from the ethereal wisp of light that so enchants Wendy, this fairy is played by McKnight himself as a galumphing dame that is waspish, flirtatious and bold. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:37:37
TV tonight: self-exiles speak out over Iran’s mass anti-government protests
Three people give their views on the country’s supreme leader. Plus: murder isn’t the only problem for Shetland’s detectives. Here’s what to watch this evening9pm, BBC Two“I can’t have any opinions on this; it would be dangerous for me.” “I spit on this old man.” “The reason for all our miseries.” These are the reactions of three people living in self-exile from Iran (they could face imprisonment if they return under the current regime) when shown a photo of the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Together they explain the mass anti-government protests that have erupted across Iran since 2009. Hollie Richardson Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 06:20:51
Your Monster review – Melissa Barrera excels in cheery romance with nice-guy beast
The Scream star shows impressive range in this horror-comedy, where the real peril she faces comes from a much more ordinary manWomen falling for monsters of one sort or another is hardly a new concept, whether it’s Buffy swooning over brooding vampires, Belle getting tingly feelings for the Beast, or Oscar-winning woman and fish-man fable The Shape of Water. It doesn’t always work out very well: witness Geena Davis’s journalist in The Fly, pregnant with a human-insect hybrid, with her erstwhile lover imploring her to carry their baby to term. But at the cheerier end of the spectrum we find this indie horror-comedy starring Melissa Barrera as Laura, a young lady who finds herself unexpectedly enamoured of the hairier part of the dating pool.The monster in question (played with relish by Tommy Dewey) is in fact far less monstrous than the other man in Laura’s life; this is Jacob (a highly plausible Edmund Donovan), who dumps her while she’s undergoing treatment for cancer – and then gives to another actor the role in his play that he not only promised to Laura, but developed with her collaboration. Like many onscreen bad guys, he sees the world through such a relentlessly self-centred lens that he doesn’t actually realise that he’s a villain. Which is of course part of what makes him so villainous. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:04
An Improbable Psychiatrist by Rebecca Lawrence review – doctor turned patient
A brave memoir from a psychiatrist with severe mental illness that describes a failing system from withinThis brave memoir by a psychiatrist who has severe mental illness shows how lost and confused psychiatry and its patients have become. Future readers will be amazed, we must hope, by how poorly we understood and how ineffectively we treated the troubled mind.Rebecca Lawrence has experienced recurrent and horrendous depressions throughout her life, mixed with periods of elevated mood. Despite multiple breakdowns and admissions to hospital, her determination and resilience, alongside the support of her remarkable husband, Richard, enable her to survive and prosper, becoming a consultant psychiatrist and mother of three. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:06
Matlock review – Kathy Bates has spent years waiting for a role like this
An actor of the Oscar-winner’s calibre has deserved better for a long time – and is now front and centre of this legal drama. It’s far more than a spinoff of the 1980s US series … it’s a mystery fuelled by corporate greedMatlock is an almost complete reimagining of the 1980s US legal series, though it does pay tribute to its origins in multiple ways. Those expecting another straightforward drama about lawyers will find that those expectations are largely met during the first episode. But be forewarned: eventually it begins to defy expectations.To say more would be to build anticipation unnecessarily – spoiler alert, Kathy Bates does not turn out to be an alien – but as you amble through familiar territory, you are actually wandering towards a more substantial, more intriguing proposition. It doesn’t reinvent the legal drama, but there’s enough twisting and turning to ensure that it isn’t quite all it appears to be. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 22:00:41
Flex your new visual super skills
We’ve all acquired new design smarts. Now it’s time to make the most of them Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-20 10:47:07
From manifesting to manifestos: Steven Bartlett is spearheading a new approach to achieving your goals
The entrepreneur has teamed up with Adobe Express to promote the benefits of creating your own personal manifestoSteven Bartlett might be a visionary entrepreneur but he’s all-too aware that having vision isn’t enough on its own. As part of a partnership with Adobe Express, the quick and easy content app, he’s now on a mission to show people how to turn their vision into actionable steps with the help of a carefully-conceived manifesto that aligns with their goals and values. Calling it the “Manifest-o Method”, the idea is to provide a framework that can help guide entrepreneurs in their early stages. As he put it in an interview with Adobe: “Manifestation without action is like setting your car’s sat-nav without turning the engine on.”When creating the Manifest-o Method, Bartlett, who is probably best known for The Diary of a CEO podcast and his appearances on BBC Dragons’ Den, drew on his own experience of creating and designing a business manifesto for his podcast company, Flight Studio, using Adobe Express. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-04 15:36:29
‘Time-chunking’ and great design … side hustle experts give their tips for success
Nearly half of us now run a side gig alongside our regular job. Here’s how to make it work …The side hustle has become central to modern living. Nearly 50% of Brits have a side hustle, with nine out of 10 “side hustlers” who are under 34 planning to transition said hustle into a full-time business. But juggling your side hustle with your day job can be tricky even for the most skilled multitasker. So here are some tips for managing multiple gigs without annoying your boss or colleaguesCompartmentalise while cross-fertilising Try to view your day job as a source of inspiration and insights rather than an obstacle to your side-hustle. Your life will feel more coherent and less draining. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-10-21 09:54:16
‘The best personal brands aren’t overly curated’: six dos and don’ts for the jobs market
Personal branding is far more complex than it once was, with evolving tech adding to the possibilitiesPersonal branding has undergone a radical rebranding. The way we showcase ourselves in the workplace and jobs market has been transformed by the tools at our disposal and societal shifts, such as the melding of work and life. Twenty-five years ago, you had a CV and, if you wanted a new job, you updated it and sent it to prospective employers. Your reputation may have enhanced your prospects but, when it came to job hunting, your qualifications and CV were pretty much the only showcase you had.With the internet everything changed – and then changed again with social media and smartphones. Suddenly, you were visible to millions of people on a device they carried around in their pockets. Those same tools gave you the ability to step up from CVs to slickly presented websites and slide decks. And social media gave everyone a platform to build and manage their own personal brand in real time. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-01 13:59:22
How Britons can save on winter sports holidays
From where you choose to ski to self-catering there are deals to be had and ways of stopping costs snowballingWhen it comes to skiing and snowboarding, going to Europe will always be cheaper than flying to somewhere such as the US or Canada – but costs vary massively on the continent. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 07:00:53
I feel deflated by my £336 Virgin hot air balloon ride vouchers
The weather and time have conspired to turn a 30th birthday gift into a nightmare for one readerAt the end of 2022 I was given two Virgin hot air balloon ride vouchers for my 30th birthday that I hoped to enjoy with my partner.We have tried repeatedly to book this experience and each time find there are hardly any spaces available. We managed to secure a booking on two occasions but both times they were cancelled because of the weather. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 07:00:52
Karam Sethi’s recipe for garlic fish tikka with cumin raita
Salmon baked in twin marinades of garlic and red tandoori sauce, with a refreshing, garlicky yoghurt dip on the sideToday’s fish tikka is one of the standout dishes on the menu of our new restaurant, Ambassadors Clubhouse in Mayfair, where we celebrate the rich culinary traditions of undivided Punjab. Lasooni essentially means garlic, which here in roasted form joins forces with a traditional red tandoori marinade to give the fish a smoky, aromatic coating. It’s complemented by a side of refreshing, cumin-spiked raita. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 08:00:53
Health, happiness … and romance? How running could help you find love
It’s a well trodden fact that running with other people is good for camaraderie, safety and our physical and mental wellbeing – but now it seems it’s fertile ground for datingName: Running.Age: People have been doing it since there were beasts to run after and beasts to run away from. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 16:09:38
Sex with my partner was great – until I stopped feeling anything during penetration
I suddenly became unable to orgasm with a lover I previously had no problem climaxing with. It has been 11 months – what should we do?My ability to orgasm from penetrative sex seems to come and go. With some partners, I never climaxed; with others, I was able to climax at the beginning of the relationship and then became unable to; and then there are those with whom I had no issues climaxing. Now, I have suddenly become unable to orgasm from penetration with a partner that I previously had no problem climaxing with. I know people chalk it up to being a mental thing, or stress, but the relationship was great, the sex was great and out of nowhere I just became unable to feel anything during penetrative sex. We have been trying to solve this for 11 months.Is achieving orgasm through penetrative sex really so important to you? Many people see this as an ideal and even (erroneously) consider that there is something wrong with a woman who cannot climax during vaginal intercourse. For most women, though, the main physiological pleasure centre is the clitoris, which is located outside the vagina. So, in order for a woman to have an orgasm during penetration, areas related to the clitoris have to be stimulated; very often, direct clitoral stimulation has to be employed. So, in worrying about the elusiveness of one type of orgasm, you are expecting a great deal of yourself and of your physical sexual response. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 11:56:54
How can I perk up Thanksgiving dinner? | Kitchen aide
Our panel of expert cooks’ ideas include a spicy stuffing, punchy vinegar or mustard, and one great tip for cooking the ultimate turkeyFor Claire Dinhut, author of The Condiment Book, it’s all about staying within the confines of the traditional Thanksgiving menu, but giving each dish some extra zhoosh. The sides are the obvious choice for this: “My family is from Los Angeles,” Dinhut says, “but they’re also half Greek, so our creamed spinach, for example, is always spanakopita-style creamed spinach with feta and dill.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Dinhut also goes by the moniker of Condiment Claire, she also leans on a variety of jars and bottles to perk things up: sure, dijon mustard will bring “brightness and a bit of texture” to mashed potatoes, but why not kick things up a gear and use smoky dijon? “Toast chilli flakes, then combine with mustard [or mayo] to get that extra depth; that also works a charm as a dip for green beans.”Dijon is also a friend to sprouts, Dinhut says: “We go for a slaw at Thanksgiving, with dijon, apple cider vinegar, fresh herbs and salt, to contrast that hearty mash.” Red-wine vinegar, meanwhile, features in Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s family favourite, braised red cabbage: “Toss the cabbage with vinegar and salt, then sweat onions in butter in a large casserole pan until tender,” says the chef/patron of ABC Kitchens in London. Add the cabbage mix, press down, then pour in some red wine and top with sliced apple (pink lady, for preference). Cover and cook until almost dry. Carrots are another Thanksgiving must, though Dinhut breaks from tradition by roasting hers with maple syrup and pumpkin spice blend ( cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves).Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected] Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 14:00:30
Women in the UK: are you planning on having a baby on your own using fertility treatment?
We’d like to hear from women who are having a baby on their own or with someone else using IVF or DIAccording to a report by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the number of UK women who are single and undergoing fertility treatment has more than trebled in a decade.In total, 4,800 women without a partner had in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or donor insemination (DI) treatment in 2022. This represents a 243% increase from the 1,400 single women who had fertility treatment in 2012. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 11:31:46
Share your experience of buying weight loss jabs privately in the UK
We would like to hear from people who have bought weight loss jabs and the adverts they have seenWeight loss jabs like Wegovy and Mounjaro are becoming increasingly prevalent in the UK, and are available from many online pharmacies – including those run by high street companies. Yet concerns have been raised over whether these medications are being advertised or promoted.We’d like to hear from readers who have purchased these jabs privately, to discuss how you chose the pharmacy and your experience of adverts. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 14:56:19
Share your experience of being a celebrity lookalike
We would like to hear from people who have been told they look like a celebrityWith celebrity lookalike contests such as Timothée Chalamet taking place, we’re interested in finding out more about the celebrities you’ve been told you look like.Have friends or family said you look like a famous musician, sports person or Hollywood star? Have you had any experiences of mistaken identity? If so, what happened? We’re also interested in hearing from anyone who has taken part in a lookalike competition. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-25 14:48:44
People across the UK: have you been affected by flooding?
We’d like to hear from people who experienced flooding recently, whether it affected their homes, communities or journeysMore than 200 flood alerts remain in England and Wales after torrential downpours from Storm Bert caused “devastating” flooding over the weekend and a major incident in Wales.Hundreds of homes were flooded, with roads turned into rivers and winds of up to 82mph recorded across parts of the UK. At least five deaths have been reported in England and Wales since the storm hit. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-25 08:57:36
‘We’d rather perish’: protests roil South Korean women’s university over plan to admit male students
Dongduk women’s university in Seoul was set up to help women in a deeply patriarchal society, but a demographic crisis is putting that under pressureSpray paint and protest banners cover the walls and pavements of Dongduk women’s university in Seoul. “We’d rather perish than open our doors,” reads one slogan. Since 11 November, students have staged a sit-in, initially occupying the main building and blocking access to classroom buildings across campus, forcing classes to move online and a planned job fair to be cancelled.The outcry was sparked by plans for some departments to admit male students but have since spiralled into a wider clash over the future of women-only spaces in a country that is grappling with the issue of gender equality. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 23:05:42
Romania election: what next after ultranationalist’s shock first-round victory?
Upset in presidential ballot as frontrunners knocked out and pro-Russian Călin Georgescu comes firstAfter an upset in the first of three crunch votes that could lead to Romania veering towards a more anti-EU, pro-Russian stance, the EU and Nato member state returns to the polls on Sunday for a parliamentary ballot followed, on 8 December, by a presidential runoff.The votes will be closely watched not least in Brussels, which does not want another disruptive, sovereignist influence in the region alongside Hungary and Slovakia, and among western allies, which Bucharest has reliably backed against Moscow. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 13:45:02
Is the China-US fentanyl pipeline really responsible for the US opioid crisis?
Donald Trump’s additional 10% tax on Chinese imports said to be response to China’s failure to curb its flow into USTrump’s tariff threat sets stage for bitter global trade warDonald Trump has said that his favourite word is tariff, which he describes as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary”.So his announcement on Monday that he would be imposing 25% tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada was perhaps to be expected. He also separately outlined “an additional 10% tariff” on imports from China, which – even if enacted – would be well below the 60% rate that Trump had threatened on the campaign trail. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 17:37:03
‘More straight talking’: How Reform UK is gaining support in Wales
Lack of faith in politics is a running theme among voters interviewed by the Guardian, but some believe Farage’s party may be worth a tryCrossing Gwent Square on a cold, crisp day in Cwmbran, married couple Maxine and David Griffin have more in common with each other than they did a year ago.In July, the Brexit supporters voted for the Reform UK party in the constituency of Torfaen; it was the first time they had both voted for the same party. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 17:12:47
How the battle of Claremont Road changed the world: ‘The whole of alternative London turned up’
Thirty years ago, more than 500 activists united to save a street – and their actions marked a major turning-point in the environmental movementWalking through Leyton, in east London, you could easily miss Claremont Road. It is hardly a road at all, but a stubby little sidestreet between terrace houses that ends abruptly in a brick wall. But when it comes to the history of direct action, this could be one of the most significant sites in England. Thirty years ago, in November 1994, the scene here was very different: 700 police officers and bailiffs in riot gear marched into a significantly larger Claremont Road and waged battle against about 500 activists, who were dug in – some of them literally – against efforts to evict them.The activists occupied rooftop towers, treehouses, underground bunkers and even secret tunnels. It took three days to get them all out. In retrospect, the “Battle of Claremont Road”, as it came to be known, was an almost unbelievable event. “I talk about the three C’s that underpin this type of activism: creativity, courage and cheek,” says campaigner Camilla Berens, who was there. “It set the template for the next 20 or 30 years of how to do responsible disruption.” Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 10:00:08
Trump’s talk of tariffs raises fears of hit to economies worldwide
Tariffs on Mexican, Canadian and Chinese goods threaten not just those nations but global economic growthTrump vows tariffs on Mexico and Canada and deeper tariffs on ChinaUS politics – live updatesEuropean companies were wondering whether they had dodged a harmful blow to their US sales after Donald Trump promised to slap trade tariffs on Mexican, Canadian and Chinese goods in social media posts late on Monday.They could congratulate themselves for avoiding the incoming president’s gaze – so far – and watch as he turned his anger on Beijing and Washington’s nearest trading partners. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 11:58:36
Storm Bert offers stark reminder of UK’s underfunded flood defences
Spending shortfall has seen 500 of 2,000 new protection projects abandoned despite growing severity of disastersStorm Bert caused devastating flooding in the UK this week, taking lives and destroying homes and businesses in what has become a frequent occurrence during autumns and winters.Climate breakdown is making these extreme weather events more probable. Extreme rainfall is more common and more intense because of human-caused global heating across most of the world, and particularly in Europe. This is because warmer air can hold more water vapour, and flooding has become more frequent and severe as a result. But floods are also hitting communities with more intensity because of inadequate, underfunded flood defences. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 15:12:01
‘We need a cultural revolution’: femicide victim’s family seek change in Italy
After Giulia Cecchettin was killed by her ex-boyfriend, her sister shook the national conscience when she challenged a ‘society steeped in rape culture’. She is still speaking outJust a day after being told that her sister Giulia was dead, Elena Cecchettin was interviewed on live TV outside the family home in Vigonovo, a small town close to Venice. Floral tributes were tied to the railings behind her, and a torchlight procession attended by thousands of well wishers was under way. But Elena was not looking for sympathy. “Don’t hold a minute of silence for Giulia – burn everything,” she said. “We need a cultural revolution to ensure that Giulia’s case is the last.”On 18 November 2023, Giulia Cecchettin, 22, became Italy’s 105th victim of femicide that year. Her body, with more than 70 stab wounds, was found wrapped in black plastic bags in a ditch close to a lake north of Venice. Filippo Turetta, her ex-boyfriend, confessed to killing the biomedical engineering student, who was just days away from graduating. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 05:00:04
From Egypt to India, five jailed men who feel abandoned by Britain
A media mogul, a computer programmer, a developer, a trade unionist, and a Sikh activist – the prisoners arbitrarily detained abroadThe cases of five British men, held for years without a fair trial, are being highlighted as MPs, families, and campaigners fight for their release and better help for all those arbitrarily detained abroad. Who are the five, and what has happened to them? Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 07:00:04
Kaya Scodelario on Skins, scares and sex scenes: ‘I was called an English rose – it really pissed me off’
She became famous in the late 00s as Effy in Skins, and now she’s back in Netflix drama Senna. She talks about growing up poor in London, why she loves doing action films – and the pitfalls of taking her kids to workAs well as an eight-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter, Kaya Scodelario is the dedicated parent of a 10-year-old French bulldog called Arnie. She is hiding from at least one of them during our video call, and says it’s the dog.She is in the cosy and, crucially, locked spare bedroom of her home in north London, where she sits cross-legged on the floor. The mood is decidedly wholesome, and spiritually a million miles away from the place where audiences first encountered her, on Channel 4’s landmark teen drama Skins. Her character, Effy Stonem – sister to Nicholas Hoult’s Tony – uttered barely a word in series one and two; by series three she was the lead, captivating the boys of Bristol’s Roundview sixth form, not least by challenging them to sniff glue and start fires in return for sex with her. All the while, she was slipping deeper into trauma and depression. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-25 05:00:33
10 years of the long read: Seven stowaways and a hijacked oil tanker: the strange case of the Nave Andromeda (2022) – podcast
As the Long Read turns 10 we are raiding the archives to bring you a favourite piece from each year since 2014, with new introductions from the authors.This week from 2022: In October 2020 an emergency call was received from a ship in British waters. After a full-scale commando raid, seven Nigerians were taken off in handcuffs – but no one was ever charged. What really happened on board? By Samira Shackle Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 05:00:51
The rise of ketamine addiction in the UK - podcast
Journalist Elle Hunt and recovered addict Jack Curran talk about the rise of ketamine use in Britain and its sometimes devastating impactKetamine use in England and Wales has doubled since 2016.The increase, as journalist Elle Hunt explains, is especially notable among young people. And it seems to have taken health services by surprise, with practitioners often unable to provide the right treatment for the particular challenges posed by addiction to ketamine. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 03:00:47
NWSL glory for Orlando and USA head to Wembley – Women’s Football Weekly
Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Megan Swanick, and Tom Garry to round up the NWSL season games and look forward to the big Wembley friendlyOn today’s podcast, the panel reviews the conclusion of the NWSL season, where Orlando Pride were crowned NWSL Champions for the first time in their history. They discuss potential developments in the coming months that could help make the NWSL an even bigger product by 2025, as well as what lies ahead for the iconic Marta, who won her first NWSL Championship at the age of 38.The panel also covers the only game in the WSL over the weekend, where Chelsea maintained their perfect run by defeating Manchester United on Sunday, putting them five points clear at the top of the WSL table. Can Sonia Bompastor’s side be stopped? Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 11:49:29
S8, E10: David Gray, musician
The multi-platinum selling musician David Gray joins Grace this week on Comfort Eating. His breakthrough album White Ladder topped the charts worldwide and sold more than 3m copies in the UK, making it one of the best selling albums of the 21st century. Now with his 13th album, Dear Life, he joins Grace to look back at how music changed his life, the food that sustained a three-decade career and how he avoids playing the celebrity game.If you liked this episode then have a listen to Grace’s conversations with Rufus Wainwright, Guy Garvey and Self Esteem.New episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent will be released every Tuesday Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 05:00:03
The Israeli settlers preparing to move to Gaza – podcast
While Palestinians are fleeing the war, one group of Israelis are planning for beachfront homes on the strip. Bethan McKernan and Ruth Michaelson reportFor weeks people living in northern Gaza, like Dr Mohammad Salha, have been sheltering from a renewed offensive by Israel. Israel has told civilians to leave, and food and humanitarian aid has stopped. Salha is the acting director of the al-Awda hospital – and has stayed behind to treat patients. He says there is only one surgeon left to do life-saving operations in the area, and food, medicines and electricity are vanishingly scarce. He has watched as thousands have fled, including his family. It is not clear when they will be allowed to return or if they ever will.Yet just over the border from Gaza, one group of far-right Israelis have a plan. Settlers from the Nachala organisation have held a conference in the closed military zone of the strip’s periphery to discuss moving into the Gaza Strip and taking over land there, to build their own homes. The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Bethan McKernan, was there and said so were members of the Knesset and cabinet ministers. And, she says, while plans to “re-settle” Gaza are at a speculative stage, the presence of politicians showi how the settler movement has grown in importance and power. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 03:00:08
How having babies became so political - video
The pronatalist movement in the US is gathering pace once again, rekindled by Silicon Valley personalities and hard-right conservatives who are becoming increasingly vocal about whether or not women are having enough babies. But it's not just in the US, some governments in other countries have launched marketing campaigns encouraging people to have more children, while others have offered financial incentives. But while many of these policies claim to be about halting population decline, there are other factors at play. Josh Toussaint-Strauss interrogates efforts around the world to boost birth rates, as well as the underlying political motivations, from bodily autonomy to immigrationBirthrates are plummeting worldwide. Can governments turn the tide?When desperate measures to persuade women to have children fail, it’s time for fresh thinking Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-21 12:33:44
John Prescott: former deputy PM and New Labour stalwart – video obituary
John Prescott, who has died at 86, served as deputy prime minister for more than a decade under Tony Blair, and was seen as a custodian of the Labour party’s traditional values in the face of a modernising leadership. Blair and Gordon Brown led tributes, with Blair telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was 'one of the most talented people I ever encountered in politics' John Prescott, British former deputy prime minister, dies aged 86 Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-21 11:40:20
Mistrust, anger and suspicion of Bill Gates: voices from the UK farmers protest – video
Amid a protest in central London on Tuesday against changes to inheritance tax announced by Labour, the Guardian discovered a mistrust of politicians, fear over the future of UK farming and suspicion of Bill Gates Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-20 14:00:22
Atacms: what are the missiles Ukraine has fired into Russia for the first time?
American and Ukrainian officials have confirmed Kyiv employed US-made Atacms missiles to strike targets within Russia. The Kremlin stated that six missiles were launched at the town of Karachev, with fragments from one reportedly causing a significant explosion.In response, Russia has announced it is adjusting its nuclear doctrine. The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow would interpret any attack against it carried out by a non-nuclear state using weapons supplied by a nuclear state as a joint assault. But what exactly are Atacms, and why has their deployment unsettled Russia so deeply?Atacms: what are the missiles Ukraine has fired into Russia for first time?Russia-Ukraine war live Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-20 16:44:49
Sign up for the Fashion Statement newsletter: our free fashion email
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every ThursdayStyle, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every ThursdayExplore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you Continue reading...
Published: 2022-09-20 11:06:20
Sign up for the Guardian Documentaries newsletter: our free short film email
Be the first to see our latest thought-provoking films, bringing you bold and original storytelling from around the worldDiscover the stories behind our latest short films, learn more about our international film-makers, and join us for exclusive documentary events. We’ll also share a selection of our favourite films, from our archives and from further afield, for you to enjoy. Sign up below.Can’t wait for the next newsletter? Start exploring our archive now. Continue reading...
Published: 2016-09-02 09:27:20
Guardian Traveller newsletter: Sign up for our free holidays email
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays. From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays. Continue reading...
Published: 2022-10-12 14:21:58
Sign up for the Feast newsletter: our free Guardian food email
A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideasEach week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email. Continue reading...
Published: 2019-07-09 08:19:21
Horse trading with Travellers and Romani Gypsies – in pictures
Photographer Sam Wright was warned not to attend a horse fair with his camera. He ignored the prejudice – and found a warm, welcoming community Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-27 07:00:54
Sensory art and grieving royals: photos of the day – Tuesday
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 15:41:48
Pride and protest: a photographic history of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights
Images by Fred W McDarrah feature in a new exhibition that follows key moments of community and liberationThe Manhattan photographer Fred McDarrah came to prominence documenting the Beat movement that overtook Greenwich Village in the 1950s, capturing, among others, Jack Kerouac (who sat for a portrait in McDarrah’s apartment) and one of the earliest photos of a very young and unknown Bob Dylan. It was this portfolio that made his name at the Village Voice, where he would work for an astonishing 50 years, but toward the end of the 1960s McDarrah began to photograph an entirely new movement sweeping over the Village.In spring 1966 at Julius’s Bar, a short walk from the Stonewall Inn, four gay men – Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons and Randy Wicker – engaged in what they termed a “sip-in” in order to challenge a law that made it a prosecutable offense for one man to buy another a drink. It was one of the first salvos in the incipient gay rights movement, and McDarrah was there to see it, perfectly capturing the decisive moment when a bartender – collaborating with the group – placed his hand over the drinks and stated that it was against the law to serve the men. The image is a perfect distillation of the encounter, a moment when customer and bartender are exchanging deep, meaningful looks that say so much more than words. Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 09:04:05
‘Portal to space’: the place where astronauts take off and land – in pictures
Every three months in Kazakhstan, a trio of cosmonauts and astronauts head off to the International Space Station – then return in small capsules. What do the locals make of it? Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-26 07:00:03
Hungary’s most deprived people donate blood plasma to survive – photo essay
The UK-based Hungarian Roma documentary photographer Béla Váradi spent months photographing the lives of blood plasma donors after he realised several old friends saw payment for plasma donation as a way of getting byIn the rust belt of north-eastern Hungary, a new economy is thriving – one built on human blood. Private companies have found a way to profit from the desperation of the region’s most marginalised population, the Gypsies. For many, the act of donating blood plasma has become a lifeline, a grim means of survival in a landscape of chronic unemployment and deprivation.Miskolc, Hungary. One man prepares for plasma donation, while the other shows his bandaged arm Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-25 14:51:57
The big picture: earthbound reality at the International Space Station landing site in Kazakhstan
Andrew McConnell’s shot of a young scrap collector at the remote spot where astronauts return from space captures a curious juxtapositionThe photographer Andrew McConnell first went to Kazakhstan in 2015, to witness what the Earth’s primary space portal looked like on the ground. A particular corner of the remote steppe-land, near a village called Kenjebai-Samai, was where, every three months, astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station fell to earth, having been launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome 400 miles to the south. McConnell had spent much of the previous years working in war zones and was keen to focus on something more life-affirming.He discovered a curious landscape that was both on the frontier of human exploration and unchanged for centuries. Over a dozen visits in the subsequent years, McConnell became used to the rhythm of the landings. He would sleep out on the steppe in a tent with the ground crew of the Russian space agency; on hearing the explosion that heralded the capsule separating in the sky above, they would drive out over the wasteland to meet it as it landed – a vehicle no bigger than a family car.Some Worlds Have Two Suns by Andrew McConnell is published by Gost (£60) Continue reading...
Published: 2024-11-24 07:00:04
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