2 hours ago Richard Price: ‘I don’t like to write, I just don’t – it’s too much anxiety’

The US novelist and co-writer of The Wire on why his new book isn’t about cops and robbers, his 80s drug addiction and the authors who have inspired himRichard Price, 75, is a screenwriter and author whose books include the 600-page drug-war epic Clockers (1992), which was filmed by Spike Lee and inspired the HBO crime drama The Wire, co-written by Price. Michael Chabon has called him “one of the best writers of dialogue in the history of American literature”. Born and raised in the Bronx, he lives in Harlem – the setting for his new novel, Lazarus Man, in which four strangers cross paths amid the collapse of a tenement block.The book’s acknowledgments mention its “incredibly long gestation”... I signed the contract to write this 17 years ago; if it was a baby, it’d now be applying to college. I’d just written Lush Life, a sort of panorama of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and I wanted to try to do the same for Harlem, but I’d only just moved there. New York City is 1,000 cities ...

Politics

5 hours ago How a week of weather extremes upended the lives of millions of Americans

The week began with a biting cold snap that hammered much of the U.S., the product of a jet stream that slips out of its usual path more often these days

Society

7 hours ago Uranium prices hit record as thirsty AI data centres add to market squeeze

Industry pressured to build new conversion facilities to cover end of US import waiver and impact of Ukraine war

Economics

35 hours ago AD FEATURE: Get your 2025 off to a spectacular start with tickets to these six Manchester shows

Mark your calendars - there are so many great live experiences to enjoy in the city this year

Sport

52 minutes ago Ukraine captures first North Korean prisoners of war as Russia advances in Donetsk

Ukraine’s security service says the North Korean POWs were ‘irrefutable evidence’ of Pyongyang’s involvement in Russia’s invasion

Events

10 hours ago Netflix fans go wild over '10/10' TV series that had them 'hooked' and tell viewers 'drop everything and watch it'

Viewers have flooded the three million member Facebook group Netflix Bangers with praise, urging everyone to stop scrolling and start binging this series immediately.

Culture

2 hours ago Joe Biden got plenty right at home, but on the world stage he let himself be taken for a fool | Simon Tisdall

In another era, the outgoing president would have made a great cold war leader. Instead, his tenure was dogged by errors, naivety and overcautionIn a week when the US bade a sad farewell to Jimmy Carter, presidential legacies came under particular scrutiny. Yet few presidents are widely remembered beyond their lifetimes, their “historic” achievements even less so. In the 20th century, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon make the truly memorable list. Most of the rest are mere school-book names and dates.Joe Biden’s standing in this unprepossessing pantheon is now being assessed, as he prepares to depart the White House on 20 January. Like his 44 predecessors, he reportedly frets about his “place in history”. All presidents do this. It smacks of vanity. They give valedictory lectures, endow foundations, build libraries, write memoirs. They confuse fame with continuing relevance. Continue reading...

Politics

42 hours ago Take That star Mark Owen and his family forced to flee LA home amid wildfires

The 52-year-old singer, his wife, his three children, and their animals had to immediately evacuate after they awoke to 'helicopters, thick black smoke and winds howling'.

Society

17 hours ago UK's rarest 50p coin rakes in £107 as Brits urged to check their change

A bidding war on eBay has amassed a huge amount of attention - with more of the rogue 50p coins expected to be in the wallets of the nation

Economics

92 minutes ago Kate Garraway 'trying to shift the gloom' after first anniversary of Derek's death

Good Morning Britain star Kate has admitted she is struggling with "a bit of gloom" following the one year anniversary of the death of her husband Derek Draper

Events

31 hours ago Zuckerberg approved Meta’s use of ‘pirated’ books to train AI models, authors claim

Sarah Silverman and others file court case claiming CEO approved use of dataset despite warningsBusiness live – latest updatesMark Zuckerberg approved Meta’s use of “pirated” versions of copyright-protected books to train the company’s artificial intelligence models, a group of authors has alleged in a US court filing.Citing internal Meta communications, the filing claims that the social network company’s chief executive backed the use of the LibGen dataset, a vast online archive of books, despite warnings within the company’s AI executive team that it is a dataset “we know to be pirated”. Continue reading...

Culture

3 hours ago My labia were causing me discomfort so I had them reduced. When I woke the surgeon casually said 'I tightened you up a bit too': In world

The actress, 59, has spent most of her career as a sex object. She tells Sophia Money-Coutts how she's finally living life on her own terms.

Politics

25 hours ago 'Fits like a glove' £7 lingerie giving women confidence 'no matter their size or age'

"As a member of the itty-bitty committee, this style fits like a glove. Totally enhanced my God-given attributes, and made me feel super sexy and desirable. The lift was perfect."

Economics

2 hours ago Jude Bellingham’s dad hits back of the net as firm's assets enjoy huge 1014% increase

Former Non-League footballer and policeman Mark Bellingham, whose 21-year-old son signed for Real Madrid in the summer of 2023 for a potential £112million, owns a firm with net assets which hit £8.1million

Events

3 hours ago My bottom has become flatter with age and I don't pass the 'pencil test'. So can you guess the little secret that's made it look like this again aged 50?

If, like me, you are grown up enough to remember the 90s properly, then the news that big bums are back may take a bit of processing.

Politics

31 hours ago Are you eligible for a Cold Weather Payment? Check to see if YOU can claim £25 as icy blast grips Britain

As a bitter Arctic freeze engulfs Britain, with some communities bracing for heavy snow and -20C temperatures, payments have been triggered in a total of 51 postcode areas.

Economics

2 hours ago UK going ‘backwards’ on online safety, Molly Russell’s father tells Starmer

Ian Russell called on Sir Keir Starmer to act urgently in order to protect young people online.

Events

4 hours ago As resolutions go, Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘nothing in moderation’ is a stinker | Alison Phillips

Between Elon Musk, a free-for-all Facebook and Donald Trump, truth and decency are likely to have a hard time of it in 2025How did we get to a week in which the world’s richest man could label our safeguarding minister and women’s rights campaigner Jess Phillips a “rape genocide apologist”, and the boss of the world’s biggest social platforms could abandon moderating even the most despicable content in the US?Let’s go back 30 years. It’s 1995, cargo pants were slung low, Oasis were riding high. We were all going to Live Forever. And then the New York supreme court ruled against a long-forgotten company called Prodigy, which hosted online message boards. An unknown user had posted a message that the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont (which had inspired The Wolf of Wall Street) had committed fraud. Stratton Oakmont sued for defamation and a crucial question was asked: was the site that hosted the comment responsible for it, in the way a traditional publisher would be for a comment on it...

Politics

34 hours ago DWP confirms exactly how Cold Weather Payments are paid and who is eligible

Cold Weather Payments have been activated this week as the mercury plummets to bitterly cold lows - and people living in these postcodes are entitled to it.

Economics

3 hours ago Mark Wright shares touching gesture from 'one in a million' grandad just hours before his death

The reality TV star opened up about his grandad's sad death at the age of 92

Events

4 hours ago When Michelle Keegan will REALLY give birth to her first child and why it is such a special milestone for her and husband Mark Wright

Michelle Keegan and her husband, Mark Wright are expecting a spring baby as MailOnline can reveal the star is due to give birth in May.

Politics

35 hours ago Man whose £600m fortune was thrown away in a bin bag says 'they have refused to learn' as he's dealt further blow

James Howells lost his court fight to recover the 8,000 Bitcoins from a Newport landfill site

Economics

4 hours ago ‘Most of my work is a response to war’: Colombian artist Doris Salcedo on violence, Trump and her crack in Tate Modern’s floor

The artist, famed in the UK for her extraordinary fissure in the turbine hall, has turned her focus to the climate catastrophe and the plight of migrants, but old concerns about her country remainAs the world turns toward another fractured year, Doris Salcedo, the Colombian artist, is at work trying to fathom how to create a house out of human hair. Salcedo, 65, has long made herself a channel of collective trauma, her art expressing profound anger at political crimes and atrocities at home and abroad – as well as creating imaginative spaces for mourning. Her hair project, she says, comes in response to what she has come to think of as “domicide”: the calculated bombing and destruction of places that people call home.“Most of my work is a response of some kind to war,” she says. “And we have all witnessed – of course for decades in Colombia, but also now in Ukraine and Syria and Sudan and in Gaza – this destruction of houses for the sole purpose of escalating human suffering. In Gaz...

Events

5 hours ago Zuck 2.0: What's really behind Mark Zuckerberg's startling transformation from meek Democrat darling to cage

Mark Zuckerberg sat down with podcaster Joe Rogan for three hours on Friday and barely mentioned his newfound support of President-elect Donald Trump. Could this be Zuck 2.0?

Politics

43 hours ago Bitcoin miner refused access to landfill site to retrieve £598m hard drive, judge rules

James Howells has been fighting Newport council after his former partner accidentally took the hard drive to the rubbish tip in 2013

Economics

7 hours ago King Charles 'will meet Pope Francis and visit Sistine Chapel' when monarch and Queen visit Italy in the spring

King Charles in set to mark Italy's jubilee celebrations by visiting Pope Francis in Rome this Spring in what will be their first meeting since Charles became the monarch.

Politics

4 hours ago Michelle Keegan breaks silence after husband Mark Wright's tragic family loss

Fool Me Once star Michelle Keegan has shared a moving tribute to husband Mark Wright's late grandfather following the 92-year-old's death earlier this week

Events

8 hours ago ‘There are a lot of bitter people here, I’m one of them’: rust belt voters on why they backed Trump again despite his broken promises

Many in Youngstown, Ohio, believe the president-elect will tackle the town’s decline this time. Others are worried about his character flaws. Their concerns help explain how he returned to power – and how his second term might play outThe last time Donald Trump was president, he travelled to Youngstown, Ohio, among the most depressed of America’s rust belt cities, and promised voters the impossible.The high-paying steel, railroad and car industry jobs that once made Youngstown a hard-living, hard-drinking blue collar boom town were coming back, he said. “Don’t move. Don’t sell your house,” he crowed to a rapturous crowd in 2017. “We’re going to fill up those factories – or rip ”em down and build brand new ones.” Continue reading...

Politics

4 hours ago Every British celebrity home destroyed in LA fires as Mark Owen's wife slams trolls

The California wildfires have claimed the homes of multiple celebrities, including Take That star Mark Owen and actor Sir Anthony Hopkins

Events

10 hours ago Nick Frost: ‘I’d like to say sorry to my mum. She was an alcoholic and I spent a lot of time hating her’

The actor and comedian on being a people-pleaser, the benefits of looking after himself, and his celebrity crushBorn in London, Nick Frost, 52, was working in a restaurant when he met Simon Pegg. The pair appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced from 1999 to 2001, and went on to make films such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Paul, which they co-wrote. Frost wrote, produced and stars in the comedy horror Get Away, which is available on Sky Cinema. He lives with his partner in London and has three children.When were you happiest? Now. Five years ago, I started looking after myself a bit more, emotionally and spiritually, and it’s paid dividends. Continue reading...

Politics

5 hours ago Ukraine shows first North Korean soldiers captured alive fighting war for Putin

Two North Korean soldiers have been captured alive and are now helping Ukrainian secret service after being given false Russian identities and drafted in to fight in Putin's war against Ukraine

Events

12 hours ago England’s Lauren Filer: ‘I don’t want to hurt anyone, but to get a few helmets is fun’

The fast bowler says Australia ‘didn’t know who I was’ in the last Ashes but this time around they will be wary of the 24-year-old as she pushes the 80mph barrierIt’s not often that you hear a fast bowler describe themselves as “smiley”, especially not with an Ashes series around the corner. But with days to go until she spearheads England’s attack in Australia, that’s exactly what the 24-year-old Lauren Filer is claiming as her defining characteristic. “I’m a bit too smiley to be the scary fast bowler,” she says. “I tried to stare someone down in South Africa and I laughed because I just couldn’t do it.”Instead, her approach is to “let my bowling do the talking” – as it did, loudly, in last month’s Bloemfontein Test. On the second day Filer sent down two terrifyingly hostile spells with the new ball, reaching speeds of 78mph and twice hitting players on the helmet – an act of aggression rarely seen before in the women’s game. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, but to get a few helm...

Politics

7 hours ago Stop limescale invasion with trick to make toilet bowl 'as good as new'

A member of the Facebook group Hinch Army Cleaning Tips asked for advice on how to get rid of limescale in the toilet bowl, and fellow cleaning fanatics recommended a simple solution

Events

12 hours ago Callum Simpson: ‘Lily would want me to carry on I know I made her proud through my boxing’

Before the defence of his British and Commonwealth belts, the 28-year-old reflects on the tragic death of his sister“I’ve heard her voice in training sometimes,” Callum Simpson says quietly as looks up in his apartment in Dewsbury and remembers his sister Lily-Rae who, just over four months ago, died tragically following an accident on a quad bike at the age of 19. “I hear her when the sessions are hard, especially during running sessions, and her voice will say: ‘Just keep going, keep pushing.’”West Yorkshire looks beautiful on a bitterly cold yet sunlit morning. A new year has just begun, and there is still snow on the ground, but the same raw pain churns though Simpson. The 28-year-old boxer is a composed and impressive man who will defend his British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles against Steed Woodall in Sheffield on Saturday night. It is likely to be a difficult test against a determined domestic rival who has lost only two of 22 bouts – particularly as Simpson and...

Politics

7 hours ago America knows her as the woman set on fire by a migrant on the subway. She was my best friend

Mark Monteyne, 57, who was close friends with Debbie Kawam, said she was a much-loved cheerleader, pancake house waitress and the life and soul of the party before her life took a turn.

Events

13 hours ago What links Selena Gomez, James Bolam and David Jason? The Saturday quiz

From grasshopper pie and Scotch woodcock to Welsh rabbit, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz1 Which film, according to Barry Norman, featured the “oldest bunch of teenagers in the world”?2 What is burned at the culmination of the Up Helly Aa festival?3 Spanish civil war heroine Dolores Ibárruri popularised which slogan?4 Which marine predators have worn dead salmon “hats”?5 The rivers Trent, Don, Calder and Aire are crossed by which motorway?6 Which cathedral is the home of the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe?7 What were famously designed by Humphrey Paget and Christopher Ironside?8 Which US firm is the world’s biggest asset manager?What links: 9 Shirley Bassey; Lulu; Tina Turner?10 Robert Aske; Francis Bigod; Robert Kett; Thomas Wyatt?11 Grasshopper pie; Rocky Mountain oyster; Scotch woodcock; Welsh rabbit?12 Dorney, Bucks; Hadleigh, Essex; Waltham Cross, Herts; Isle of Portland, Dorset?13 N (3); B (3); R (5); Q (9)?14 Bamboo; chrysanthemum; orchid; plum blossom?15 Ja...

Politics

8 hours ago We're already at war and no one in Britain is safe. This is the appalling truth about the threat we face: A chilling warning from Sir Winston Churchill's grandson NICHOLAS SOAMES

The stormclouds forming over the UK are more dangerous than anything we've seen in our lifetime. And if bombs, drones, missiles or rockets begin to fall out of the sky, we have very little to protect us.

Events

14 hours ago Glasgow Subway 'Seat of Dreams' every bit as special as 'Field of Dreams'

Architect Matt McCallum has created an iconic piece of furniture

Politics

8 hours ago Russell Howard looks back: ‘Am I peculiar? You’d struggle to find anyone who does standup who isn’t a bit weird’

The comedian on mining his very large family for material, avoiding the celebrity circus, and being an unashamed standup fanboyBorn in Bath in 1980, Russell Howard is one of the UK’s most successful comedians. He started his career on the standup circuit while studying economics at the University of the West of England in Bristol. Television beckoned; he was headhunted for TV show Mock the Week in 2006, and from 2009 to 2015 had his own show on BBC Three. Howard now has a podcast, Five Brilliant Things, and his new standup special, Russell Howard Live, will be available to stream on his website from 15 January. He lives in London with his wife and their baby son.This photo was a happy memory: I was two and outside my nan and grandad’s house in Midsomer Norton – a place filled with magic. I was playing with my grandad’s cigarettes, and afterwards I’d go and play football with him. He’d probably make his amazing toast later – he used really thick slices of bread and we named it Granda...

Events

14 hours ago Trump, Musk and Zuckerberg have declared war on facts and truth. The pushback must start now | Emily Bell

There is a narrow window. Public media and fair reporting must be supported: the rules must be upheldIn early 2017, Mark Zuckerberg was on what might be termed an “apology tour” of the United States. In the tumultuous few months since Donald Trump won his first presidential victory, the young chief executive of Facebook was reeling from his company’s part in serving US voters Russian disinformation, and widespread accusations that the social media platform had disseminated a vast spray of “fake news”. Fighting a rearguard action, Facebook announced changes to its algorithms, and a major initiative to include “third-party factcheckers” as part of the content moderation efforts.Touring the country, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla, stopped off in Selma, Alabama. They posed for a casual photo outside the offices of the iconic local paper, the Selma Times-Journal. Zuckerberg posted a heartfelt “thank you” to journalists “who work tirelessly and sometimes put their lives in danger to s...

Politics

9 hours ago Mark Wright breaks silence on beloved grandad's death with heartfelt tribute

Former The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright, who is expecting his first child with wife Michelle Keegan, has spoken out following the death of his grandad with an emotion tribute

Events

14 hours ago Californians scrambled to evacuate dogs, cats, horses, even pigs as LA flames closed in

Animal owners in Los Angeles have scrambled to get themselves and their beloved companions out of the way of fast-moving wildfires this week that have incinerated whole neighborhoods

Politics

9 hours ago Illegal ‘bully’ kitten breeders selling pets illicitly on Facebook and Instagram, investigation finds

Exclusive: Undercover investigator was offered kitten imported from Russia for £6,000 by unlicensed trader

Events

22 hours ago How Harvey Weinstein's British former wife stepped out of his monstrous shadow

Moving on after a bitter marital breakdown is never easy. But when your former husband was movie boss Harvey Weinstein finding new love must seem a task of Sisyphean proportions.

Politics

10 hours ago Nurse's 'unhinged' act at patient's bedside that got her sacked caught on camera

The woman, who has not been named, was identified from a clip shared on Facebook.

Events

23 hours ago Two remaining ‘deliberately abandoned’ lynx roaming Highlands captured safely

They were caught by humane traps near the Dell of Killiehuntly, near where the previous two lynx were captured on Thursday.

Politics

11 hours ago Why Mark Zuckerberg turned to Dana White to secure Maga’s favor | Karim Zidan

Zuckerberg’s appointment of the UFC supremo to Meta’s board appears to be a calculated move to solidify ties with Trump through one of his most influential alliesIn the four months since Donald Trump accused Mark Zuckerberg of conspiring against him during the 2020 presidential election and threatened him with life imprisonment, the Meta CEO has gone to great lengths to curry favor with the incoming president.Shortly after Trump’s victory in November, Zuckerberg traveled to Mar-a-Lago to dine with the president-elect and his transition team, even donating $1m to Trump’s inauguration fund. He has also culled Meta’s third party fact-checking program, lifting restrictions on topics like immigration and gender. And this week, Zuckerberg took his efforts to align with the incoming administration a step further by appointing Dana White – the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a close Trump ally – to Meta’s board of directors. Continue reading...

Events

24 hours ago Mark Zuckerberg’s end to Meta factchecking is a desperate play for engagement

As factchecking attempts end, Meta’s platforms will become a wasteland of fake news and misinformationMark Zuckerberg craves one metric more than any other: engagement, the statistic that tracks how long social media users spend scrolling, clicking, commenting, and viewing ads. More engagement, more profit. The Meta CEO will do almost anything to keep users online for an extra two minutes – even, it seems, surrender his websites to a flood of fake news.On Tuesday, Zuckerberg announced that his company plans to fire its US factcheckers and weaken its ability to moderate disinformation on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. This new policy is meant to curry favor with the coming Trump administration. It’s also a desperate attempt to boost engagement across all Meta’s social networks. Continue reading...

Politics

11 hours ago Exact time more snow will hit UK today as cold snap set 'last for weeks'

Snow is expected to batter Britain this afternoon as the bitterly cold weather is expected to last throughout the rest of January - but some key FA Cup matches will go ahead

Events

24 hours ago Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan podcast Biden administration tried to censor memes in surprise episode

Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan that the Biden administration tried to force him to censor a meme about the Covid-19 pandemic in a surprise appearance on the popular podcast.

Politics

12 hours ago He said 'I tightened you up a bit'. BROOKE SHIELDS on the shocking post

The actress, 59, has spent most of her career as a sex object. She tells Sophia Money-Coutts how she's finally living life on her own terms

Events