47 minutes ago Tim Dowling: my year in numbers (yes, most of them involve the new dog)

I’ve had a topsy-turvy year, but the statistics prove beyond doubt that my chief distraction of 2024 was the acquisition of a small furry menaceAs the year barrels toward its end, I feel in many ways as if I have survived a difficult and challenging period, worse than the year before, and the year before that, if possibly better than anything one dares expect from 2025. But impressions can be deceiving, and I find that when I’m reviewing the year gone it helps to rely on nothing but the latest and most verifiable statistics. Here, then, is my look at 2024 in cold, hard numbers.1 New dogs acquired in 2024. Have I mentioned this at all? I’m sorry, I never wanted to become the sort of person who has a very long answer to the question, “So, how’s your dog?”, but that’s what I am. I also have 250 pictures of the dog on my phone, and I am willing to show you all of them. My only defence is that having a puppy is so time-consuming, the havoc it wreaks so comprehensive, ...

Politics

4 hours ago Hotel review: A faultless location with welcome Irish design touches – why I was Wilde about my city break in London

Hotel review: A faultless location with welcome Irish design touches – why I was Wilde about my city break in London  Irish Independent

Society

17 hours ago Debenhams is selling Ariana Grande's perfume that 'smells expensive' for just £28

The Ariana Grande Cloud perfume is currently on offer at Debenhams. The fragrance has been a hit with shoppers who have left rave reviews about the scent

Economics

18 hours ago Whimpering Rangers fans crown Celtic champions as Hotline clubs together to phone Clement a taxi

Robbie Copeland took your calls after Rangers' defeat to St Mirren plunged them back into crisis mode

Sport

6 hours ago 'I was Whitney Houston's bodyguard... But when she laid her head on my shoulder I was tempted to give up everything': British ex

David Roberts, who first became Whitney houston's bodyguard - and then The Bodyguard, the real-life inspiration for Kevin Costner's character in the movie for which Houston is most famous.

Events

28 minutes ago Multiple Oscar winning film that 'lives up to the term masterpiece' is on TV tonight

The Godfather is still a highly regarded piece of cinematic history and fans of the movie can watch it for free this weekend

Culture

48 minutes ago Evan Dando: ‘I wanted to try heroin because of William Burroughs and Keith Richards’

Arguably the most gifted melodicist of his generation, Dando was the bronzed, blond pin-up boy of Nineties indie rock – before he threw himself heartily and disastrously into a life of sex and drugs. Now two years clean, he catches up with Michael Hann on what he’s been up to since

Politics

16 hours ago 'Say it's carol singers': Love Actually mews house listed to rent for £15,200 a month

The house is on St Luke’s Mews, where Mark (Andrew Lincoln) makes his famous declaration of love to Juliet (Keira Knightley) in Richard Curtis’ film

Society

20 hours ago Ariana Grande's perfume that 'lasts all day' and 'smells expensive' now £28 at Debenhams

Debenhams has reduced the price of the 'beautiful' perfume from Ariana Grande's popular range, with reviewers quick to praise the long-lasting scent

Economics

6 hours ago Missing You on Netflix review: a brainless, satisfying New Year's treat from Harlan Coben

This has all the Coben hallmarks: cliffhangers, gore and juicy revelations

Events

9 hours ago Sylvester Stallone's brutal lesson from Michael Caine after 'low point of life' on film set

Sylvester Stallone was left beaten and broken after filming Escape to Victory, with the Hollywood star admitting his time on the set was one of the 'low points' of his life

Politics

10 hours ago Orchestra that allowed youths to film performances on their phones lets grime rappers Lady Leshurr and Big Dog Yogo into its ranks to boost classical music audiences

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has arranged a concert with two grime artists as part of its continued project to try to appeal to a younger audience.

Events

11 hours ago All the places the Gavin & Stacey cast were spotted dining at while filming in Barry

Not only did the Gavin & Stacey cast film in and around Barry Island, they also visited a lot of local businesses

Politics

13 hours ago Lockerbie: A Search for Truth on Sky – a meticulous and honourable dramatisation of the 1988 atrocity and what happened next

Colin Firth plays the father of one of the victims with careworn decency in this five-part drama about the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and its aftermath

Events

15 hours ago Squid Game 2 reviews: Smash hit Netflix series underwhelms critics who claim latest outing has 'lost its edge' and is a 'thorough letdown'

The South Korean series' first outing back in 2021 swiftly became the streaming service's biggest ever show and racked up a whopping 1.65 billion viewing hours.

Events

17 hours ago ‘Forgotten city’ of Newport takes centre stage in Celtic noir series Ar y Ffin

Twisty crime drama set in ‘unfailingly friendly’ border city that is finally emerging from Cardiff’s shadowThe Welsh capital is often used as a setting for film and television drama, as are the country’s mountains, forests and coastlines, but a city sometimes seen as Cardiff’s poorer relative is starring in a new Welsh-language Celtic noir drama.Newport, with its muddy river and post-industrial landscape, is the backdrop for Ar y Ffin (meaning on the edge or on the border), a twisty tale of a magistrate who uncovers a web of criminality, putting her and her family at risk. Continue reading...

Politics

16 hours ago Sky's controversial Lockerbie drama with Colin Firth receives mixed reviews from critics after families of the victims expressed their anger over TV recreation of deadly 1988 bombing

In 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in south-western Scotland, killing all 259 on board. Another 11 people died when wreckage hit their homes.

Events

18 hours ago Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Louis colour coordinate with William and Kate as they put on festive display in green and blue attire  at Christmas church service

In a symbol of togetherness, the Wales family wore tones of green and blue for Wednesday's Christmas morning service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk.

Politics

16 hours ago Squid Game 2 reviews: Smash hit Netflix series divides critics who claim latest outing has 'lost its edge' and is a 'thorough letdown'

The South Korean series' first outing back in 2021 swiftly became the streaming service's biggest ever show and racked up a whopping 1.65 billion viewing hours.

Events

18 hours ago Prince William's hilarious jibe about Prince Louis delights royal well

The Prince of Wales, 42, officially stepped into father mode as he greeted friendly well wishers following Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church on the Norfolk estate.

Politics

17 hours ago Offenders should be moved to open prisons to tackle overcrowding, says former justice secretary

Former justice secretary David Gauke, who is leading the government’s flagship review of sentencing, said we should make better use of open prisons

Events

18 hours ago The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie audiobook review – a starry whodunnit

Peter Dinklage’s resonant turn as Hercule Poirot gives the beloved writer’s debut a charismatic rebootWhen an army captain, on leave during the first world war, visits a family friend for the weekend at their country pile in Essex, he is hoping for some sunny respite from the frontline. Captain Hastings and John Cavendish are childhood friends, so Hastings is well acquainted with his family, who also include John’s brother Lawrence and their stepmother Emily.The widowed Emily, we learn, has recently married Alfred Inglethorp, an American 20 years her junior, much to the ire of her children who believe him to be a gold digger. One night, Emily is taken ill and cries out from her bed. By the time Hastings and Lawrence arrive on the scene – they are forced to break down the door, as it is locked from the inside – she is dead. The next morning Hastings announces he has called a friend to investigate: a moustached Belgian named Hercule Poirot. Continue reading...

Politics

18 hours ago British schoolgirl, 9, who played a munchkin in Wicked reveals how Ariana Grande saved her when production was halted because she was injured on set

Hattie Ryan, nine, starred as a munchkin in Wicked, which won rave reviews after debuting in November.

Events

20 hours ago Luke Williams absent from Swansea City dressing room before and during QPR win

The Swans boss has spoken after leaving club captain Matt Grimes to lead the team talk

Politics

19 hours ago Most Watched Christmas Television: Here are the 10 shows that won the festive ratings battle in 2024

For the first time ever, all ten Christmas ratings winners had one thing in common.

Events

20 hours ago Sony Pictures CEO blames critics for poor run of Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter

Tony Vinciquerra says ‘the press just crucified’ superhero film

Politics

21 hours ago Send more convicts to open prisons to ease overcrowding crisis in jails and reduce reoffending, urges Labour adviser

David Gauke, the ex-Tory justice secretary who is now leading Labour's sentencing review, claimed the current prisons crisis offered 'an opportunity' for change.

Events

22 hours ago ‘I had to make the vampire as scary as possible’: Nosferatu’s Robert Eggers on how folklore fuelled his film

The director of the latest movie in the bloodsucker tradition explains why he went back to the Transylvanian source for his version of one of cinema’s enduring adaptationsWe are all drawn to archetypal stories. Fairytales, folktales, fables, myths: we tell them over and over again because they always have meaning in our lives. We can always see reflections of ourselves in Hansel and Gretel, Oedipus and King Lear. They can mean different things at different stages of our lives and be interpreted in different ways by individuals sitting in the same audience.Bram Stoker’s Dracula is among them. It one of the most influential novels of the turn of the last century and, along with the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Jesus Christ, among the most adapted works in cinema history. Continue reading...

Politics

21 hours ago Lockerbie: A Search for Justice on Sky – a meticulous and honourable dramatisation of the 1988 atrocity and what happened next

Colin Firth plays the father of one of the victim with careworn decency in this five-part drama about the boming of Pan Am flight 103 and its aftermath

Events

22 hours ago Netflix viewers can't stop watching 'gripping thriller' they 'thought was a parody'

The film has climbed up the charts to an impressive position after being added to the streaming service

Politics

22 hours ago Lockerbie drama is a punch to the gut with a stellar performance from Colin Firth

Controversial five-part series stars Firth as Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the UK’s deadliest terror attack

Events

22 hours ago Gavin & Stacey: The Finale review: We’ll miss these characters – Oh my Christ, they were lush

This Christmas special is about half an hour too long and the script recycles the least interesting elements of what’s gone before, but it still makes for lovely festive telly

Politics

26 hours ago Squid Game season 2 is nowhere near as shocking as the first – but isn’t that the point?

It is impossible to replicate the shock of the first season, and writer Hwang Dong Hyuk does well not to try

Events

23 hours ago Hubris by Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe review – learning from the Neanderthals

Why did we succeeded when other hominins didn’t, and can lessons from our evolutionary past help rein in our destructive impulses?In an institute in Germany, scientists are growing “Neanderthalised” human brain cells in a dish. These cells form synapses and spark as they would have done in a living Neanderthal as she (they are female cells) foraged or breastfed or gazed out of a cave mouth at dusk. That is the spine-tingling opening gambit of a book co-authored by one of the directors of the institute, Johannes Krause, and the information that sets it apart from a host of popular science books that attempt to predict humanity’s future based on our evolutionary past.A mere 90 genetic differences distinguish modern humans, Homo sapiens, from Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis. That’s paltry, given the roughly 20,000 genes that make up the human blueprint, and not all of them affect the brain. Yet those 90 differences could explain why Neanderthals died out, s...

Politics

28 hours ago Yoon Suk Yeol impeachment: court hearings to begin in South Korea over president’s martial law crisis

Yoon’s legal team will attend the first hearing in impeachment review on Friday, the same day that the acting president also faces an impeachment voteSouth Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s legal team are set to attend court on Friday as the constitutional court begins hearings into his impeachment by parliament over his short-lived imposition of martial law,The court has 180 days to decide whether to reinstate Yoon or remove him. In the latter scenario, a new presidential election would be held within 60 days. Continue reading...

Events

23 hours ago How Queen Elizabeth's relationship with 'spare' Princess Margaret differed to Princes William and Harry's... as rift between the royal brothers continues into the New Year

The late Queen Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, have much in common with Princes William and Harry. Each pair was an heir to the throne and a 'spare'.

Politics

23 hours ago Kate Middleton's 'awful' gift from Prince William that he'll never live down

Princess Kate was left utterly baffled after unwrapping a gift from Prince William in the early days of their courtship, and he's admitted that she will 'never let him forget' it

Politics

24 hours ago The stately homes you’ll see on screen in 2025 – from Downton Abbey to 28 Years Later

Next year we’ll see a number of historic UK properties on TV shows, such the real-life Traitors castle in Scotland and the imposing Burghley House featured in Frankenstein – Tamara Hinson has rounded up some the most magnificent, including many you can visit

Politics

25 hours ago ‘It’s full of things that didn’t happen – but it feels right!’ Inside the making of Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown

Starring an Oscar-tipped Timothée Chalamet, James Mangold’s biopic retells Dylan’s electric early career, but it resonates with today’s toxic fame and politics. The creative team explain their process – and what Dylan makes of itBob Dylan is notoriously averse to others poking around in his past – he once suggested the legions of self-styled “Dylanologists” who examine his career in forensic detail should “get a life, please you’re wasting your life”. So when he summoned the director James Mangold to meet him and discuss the Dylan biopic Mangold was making, it had the potential to go badly.The film, A Complete Unknown, was already well under way. A script based on the folk musician and writer Elijah Wald’s acclaimed 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! had been written by Jay Cocks, best known as the screenwriter of Gangs of New York. Timothée Chalamet was slated to star as Dylan: perfect for the role, Mangold suggests, because “he’s thin and wiry and mercurial and super smart and restles...

Politics

26 hours ago Prince William’s 'secret meeting' with Kate Middleton long before they started dating

The Prince and Princess of Wales' love story famously started at St Andrews University in Scotland - but could they have met by chance several years earlier?

Politics