67 minutes ago Music sounds better with you? How your listening habits affect your love life

Psychologists say that singing, dancing and song preferences play a key role in the viability of romantic relationships“What’s the one thing your readers should do to help them use music to find and catch the partner of their dreams?” asks Patrick Savage, a senior research fellow in psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. “Go to karaoke and sing a duet. Go and sing A Whole New World with Brad Kane and Lea Salonga. That’s the number one recommendation by science. Well, just by me. I don’t have data on this, but from my personal experience, that’s the best.”Given that he is a musicologist, it is perhaps unsurprising that music is a key part of Savage’s relationship with his wife. But his experience with using music as a romantic tool is not unique. Love songs are found across cultures and despite not being a neat category they have historically been most popular – 67% of the top 40 tracks in America between 1960 and 2010 contained love themes. Continue reading...

Politics

25 hours ago Rodrigo Bentancur pictured back home as he poses in touching family photo two days on from worrying on

Bentancur fell to the ground unchallenged during the first half of the Carabao Cup semi-final tie at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and sustained concussion.

Society

8 hours ago 'I cried for hours over Man Utd and Real Madrid deal collapsing – it cost me big'

A Real Madrid legend has revealed how he was on the verge of joining Manchester United but was later left in tears when his move to the Premier League powerhouse collapsed

Economics

2 hours ago Drinking tap water 'could be putting 27million people at greater risk of dementia'

Millions of people who live in 'softer water' areas could be at an increased risk of developing dementia, according to a new study

Events

4 hours ago HMPV virus infected 28,000 people in the US last year alone, worrying research reveals

The 'mystery virus' has sparked fears of another devastating pandemic due to videos of patients being treated in overwhelmed Chinese hospitals circulating on social media

Science

2 hours ago Western civilisation 'is about to collapse for one reason and it's not WW3', expert says

An American author and expert claims that the end of Western civilisation is more likely to be due to the erosion of "free thought" and the rise of cancel culture, and less likely to be global war

Politics

36 hours ago Hotel of Mum and Dad! Number of youngsters living with their parents rises by more than a THIRD in two decades

The trend has been driven by rises in rents and house prices, with young people staying home so they can save for a deposit, according to a study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Society

12 hours ago Devastated Lily Allen checks in to £8,000 per week US trauma clinic as she 'spirals out of control' following collapse of her marriage

Lily Allen has checked into an £8,000-a-week trauma treatment centre after telling friends she was close to a nervous breakdown after the collapse of her marriage.

Economics

3 hours ago Lost and found: a mother and daughter on surviving teenage mental breakdown in the social media age

In an extract from their unflinching memoir, Christie Watson and daughter Rowan Egberongbe recall the post-Covid psychological collapse that fractured their bond, and how social media was both the hero and villain of the hour “Can you collect Rowan, please? It’s pastoral care at the school. We’re just a bit worried about her ... She seems manic.’ Continue reading...

Events

3 hours ago Boris Johnson brands Vladimir Putin a 'f***ing idiot' as he calls on Western leaders to let Ukraine join Nato

Britain's former Prime Minister told the Russian leader there will be 'no more empire', declaring Ukraine and other eastern European countries would never rejoin the 'Russian imperium'.

Politics

27 hours ago Alicia Douvall's incredible transformation: Glamour model who spent £1m on 400 plastic surgeries and bedded Simon Cowell is now the proud head of a natural beauty empire

Alicia Douvall has had more than 400 cosmetic procedures totalling to a self-estimated £1 million.

Economics

12 hours ago Fears tap water could be putting 27 million Brits at risk of dementia: Why drinking 'soft water' could lead to degenerative disease

The first-of-its-kind study suggests people living in 'softer water' areas - around 40 per cent of the population, could be at increased risk due to lower levels of minerals like calcium and magnesium

Events

5 hours ago ‘It’s an enormous emergency’: the doctor saving Sudan’s most vulnerable

MSF medical teams provide vital care in the war-torn country where pregnant women, new mothers and newborns are dying needlessly at alarming ratesDonate to our charity appeal hereIn Sudan, where a war that has caused the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster is in its second year, Dr Javid Abdelmoneim has his own daily struggles, trying to save lives in a place where the health system has all but collapsed.Rockets and bullets have an immediate effect on people caught in the crossfire, but the wider consequences of war are wreaking havoc on the population’s health. Continue reading...

Politics

24 hours ago Tragic downfall of 'bad boy' Goonies Sloth star – from pro athlete to addiction hell

Although he only lived 38 years the sports star packed in a dozen car crashes, nearly being run over by his wife, a near death experience and multiple hero-worthy moments on the pitch

Events

5 hours ago A Real Pain review – Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin spar in sublimely bittersweet Holocaust tour movie

The stars play Jewish American cousins touring Poland in honour of their grandmother in Eisenberg’s sharp, highly personal comedy boasting an Oscar-tipped performance from CulkinIt’s a slip of a thing, clocking in at a tight 90 minutes; a deft, light-footed amalgamation of two potentially formulaic comedy genres: the road movie and the mismatched buddy flick. But the second directorial venture from actor Jesse Eisenberg, which he also wrote and stars in, is considerably more than the seemingly slight sum of its parts. A Real Pain is a whip-sharp comedy driven by the rattling verbal sparring between uptight, neurotic David (Eisenberg) and his outgoing, unpredictable cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin). It’s also a profound character study – a substantial and emotionally nourishing journey that contains, courtesy of Culkin, perhaps the most devastating final shot of any film you will see this year.It’s a notable step up for Eisenberg as a writer-director. His 2022 debut, When You Finish Savi...

Politics

24 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

5 hours ago Premier League disciplinary charges make clubs rush to balance the books

This week PSR swings into action, with past points deductions against Everton and Forest a stark warningThe Premier League will issue disciplinary charges this week against any clubs it deems to have breached its profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) for the 2021-24 accounting period.Under a fast-track process introduced 18 months ago clubs who have recorded losses for the first two years of the reporting cycle were required to submit their accounts for the financial year ending June 2024 to the Premier League by 31 December. The Premier League has given its financial and legal departments 14 days to study the books of those clubs in danger of a PSR breach, and is expected to issue any charges on Monday and Tuesday. Continue reading...

Politics

24 hours ago Social care chiefs warn vital services could be axed if government hikes National Insurance

Some 18,000 not-for-profit social care providers in England offer a lifeline to elderly and disabled people – but bosses fear vital services could collapse if the government goes ahead with plans to increase National Insurance Contributions

Events

25 hours ago Marines armed with machine guns storm the streets... and then all hell breaks loose. A minute

Not a shot fired, not a snowball thrown... if President Donald Trump is genuine in his blustering threats to seize Greenland for the United States, military experts believe it could be easily done.

Events

7 hours ago Simon Schama: ‘Britain is a much more tolerant place now. I’m Mr Sunshine on this’

The historian on taking the social pulse of the nation in his new TV series, why we’re such word addicts, and his fear that the needle in the US is moving towards redSimon Schama, 79, is a writer, television presenter and professor of history and art history at Columbia University in New York. His bestselling, prize-winning books include The Embarrassment of Riches, about the Dutch Golden Age, and Citizens, a study of the French Revolution. His television series for the BBC include A History of Britain, Simon Schama’s Power of Art, and The Story of the Jews. His new series, Simon Schama’s The Story of Us, traces the history of postwar Britain in an effort to locate the origins of the current culture wars and to celebrate the art that has united us in the past.How did you begin thinking about this series?Well, I live most of my time in America, but I come back here often and it always pierces me. I’m heartfelt about it. I wanted to take the social pulse of Britain, and I wanted to lo...

Politics

35 hours ago How overweight children who do not do enough exercise could have a higher dementia risk

A University of Oxford study observed 862 children whose weight was measured from the age of seven and whose weekly physical activity levels were tracked from 11.

Events

9 hours ago I cried all night over Man United star's collapsed move to Real Madrid

Some athletes experience sliding doors moments during their careers that only become clear in hindsight, and one Real Madrid icon had a close shave by dodging a move to Manchester United

Politics

14 hours ago Push for new IVF laws after hundreds of couples trying to a baby left devasted by clinic's sudden collapse

MPs have demanded urgent action following the scandal around Apricity Fertility, which was not covered by existing fertility regulation.

Politics

19 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

25 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

25 hours ago Bring North Sea oil and gas under greater public control, report urges

Common Wealth thinktank warns that communities and taxpayer may have to pick up pieces when production endsNorth Sea oil and gas must be brought under greater public control to avoid a cliff-edge collapse of the industry and secure a sustainable future for workers and communities, according to a report.Under the current private ownership model the inevitable end of North Sea oil and gas production – whether through government action or the lack of viable oilfields – will lead to private companies abruptly abandoning the basin, leaving frontline communities and the state to deal with the social and economic consequences, the authors predict. Continue reading...

Politics

36 hours ago The unusual drink you've never heard of that helps weight loss and diabetes

A study says it can help people "overcome health problems" related to lifestyle-associated diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer and skin problems

Politics