On December 26, 2004, a massive tsunami killed more than 220,000 people in 14 countries in one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history

Events

Our team of money saving, fashion, beauty and shopping experts will bring you the latest updates from the shops

Economics

Distractions long predated today’s fast-moving online world. Young people may well be discovering new ways of paying attentionMarion Thain is professor of culture and technology at King’s College London and director of the Digital Futures InstituteIn late-19th-century Britain, Londoners could expect to receive up to 12 postal deliveries a day. Letters were often exchanged with the frequency that we imagine only occurred with the advent of email. Today, archives brim with scrawled missives detailing arrangements to meet for dinner that are made first thing in the morning, only to be followed by an argument unfolding in the middle of the day, culminating in a reconciliation and reinstatement of the plan to meet. All before nightfall.We tend to think of the pre-digital era as much the same as now but without our myriad digital distractions, but it was not so. With ink blots and wild fountain-pen trails going up the margins, it is clear these historical writers were dashing off many suc...

Politics

From Bridgerton to Sherwood and Alma’s Not Normal, the actor has lit up our screens all year – and her ‘victory lap’ is only just starting Lorraine Ashbourne has had a massive year. “I know! People keep saying: oh God, Lorraine, get off the telly, we want somebody else,” she says. “But it has been extraordinary.” She kicked things off in January with ITV’s entertaining disaster thriller After the Flood, playing Sophie Rundle’s tough, grieving mother, Molly. As the year went on, she returned to two of her biggest and most significant roles yet, as the former secret spy cop Daphne Sparrow in Sherwood, and Grandma Joan in the wrenching, hilarious second series of Alma’s Not Normal. Has she ended up in such outstanding shows because she’s picky? “Absolutely not. I’ll do anything! I’m a cheap date. It’s just timing that these things have fallen into place.”Right now, Ashbourne is at home in north London. She grew up in Manchester, where she went to drama school. She met her husband, Andy...

Culture

Man Utd play Wolves in the Premier League on Boxing Day and here the five things to look out for in the game.

Sport

Earlier this month, Syrian leader Bashar Assad was ousted after nearly 25 years in power

Politics

Unhealthy seed oils like sunflower, grapeseed, canola, and corn could trigger chronic inflammation in the body

Events

Aged just 19 and on debut on Aussie cricket's biggest stage, Sam Konstas left fans and experts in disbelief with his stunning innings - despite some shocking treatment from Virat Kohli.

Events

Enhance you property during the dark winter months by placing a handful of colourfully potted plants, chosen by experts, in your garden or even right outside the front door

Politics

President reaffirms US weapons support to Kyiv after Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, which Zelenskyy condemned as ‘inhuman’. What we know on day 1,037See all our Ukraine war coverageJoe Biden has asked the US defence department to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, describing Russia’s Christmas Day attack against some of Ukraine’s cities and its energy infrastructure as “outrageous”. “The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardise the safety of its grid,” Biden said. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Washington has committed $175bn in aid for Ukraine.Christmas morning in Ukraine was overshadowed by a massive Russian aerial attack using cruise missiles to target energy infrastructure across the country, which Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “inhuman”. “Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman? More than 70...

Events