2 hours ago Alive in the Merciful Country by AL Kennedy review – peace of mind meets a monster from the past

This provocative novel contains two narratives: the memoir of an activist starting a new life and the violent manifesto of a spy cop who knew herAnna McCormick, as many people did, is discovering that the first pandemic lockdown is playing havoc with time. Becalmed in her deliberately fortress-like London home with her young adult son Paul, she is simultaneously under pressure – teaching primary school children on Zoom, maintaining her stockpile of tinned goods, attempting to communicate with her mother’s care home – and forced into unnatural, unwanted inaction. As a survivor of domestic abuse, and several other threats to her safety and sanity, she is aware of the immense prize – a sanctuary, a job, meaningful relationships – she has secured, but also of its precariousness. Amid these conditions of unbidden contemplation, she begins to write a sort of memoir.So too does Buster, the shape-shifting, monstrous undercover cop who once infiltrated the OrKestrA, the “merry little band of...

Politics

2 hours ago Horrifying moment Czech restaurant turns into fireball inferno after gas cyclinder exploded

This is the horrific moment a Czech restaurant was consumed by a fireball inferno after a gas cylinder exploded, leaving six people dead. 

Society

22 hours ago State Pension lift in April will not be paid to nearly half a million older people

The Triple Lock will see the State Pension rise by 4.1 per cent from April, but nearly half a million pensioners will not receive the annual uprating

Economics

6 hours ago Friends fans are only just realising 'biggest ever lie told' during hit TV show

A woman has gone viral after she shared a post about how TV shows such as Friends have set people up for failure when it comes to adult life and even friendships

Sport

73 minutes ago Woman uses AirTag to track cat and is shocked when it turns up in unexpected place

A cat owner has left the internet confused after she shared a video of her tracking down her pet on the 'Find My' app - but people were left baffled by how her cat had got so far away

Events

20 hours ago Yearbook photos show Charles Mansion's followers before they joined his killing cult

The Manson Family was a cult of around one hundred disaffected young people led by Charles, who encouraged his followers to murder the rich and famous in Los Angeles in 1969.

Culture

3 hours ago Hospital advertises for nurses to work in corridors caring for patients

It comes amid multiple critical incidents and people wating 50 hours in A&E

Science

25 hours ago Three in hospital and cars burst into flames after s'erious' incident on Scottish road

Three people were taken to hospital after a serious road accident last night which saw two vehicles burst into flames.

Transport

3 hours ago You've been wearing your dressing gown all wrong! People left stunned after discovering the 'correct' way to tie a robe

Taking to TikTok, British creator, Levi-Mariah , shared the 'correct' way to tie robe, guaranteeing a draft-free evening.

Politics

3 hours ago Levante Beach Club, Rhodes: the sporty Greek holiday for people who hate sunbathing

This active resort holiday is pegged as the perfect place for Type 2 fun personalities. Samantha Herbert puts it to the test — seeing how many activities she can fit into seven days

Society

26 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

19 hours ago James Rodríguez is a player out of time who brings his best to international stage | Jonathan Wilson

The 2024 Golden Boot winner flopped at Everton and faded away at Real Madrid but is still a maestro for ColombiaOn Monday, Rayo Vallecano released James Rodríguez on a free transfer. It hadn’t been much of a stay. In four and a half months at the club, he managed 136 minutes of league football. Only once did he start in La Liga. Rodríguez is 33 now. Since he left Everton in 2021, he has started just 37 league games and scored only 10 goals. This is the sixth season in a row in which he has been released on a free transfer as he has drifted from Real Madrid to the team currently 12th in the table, via Qatar, Greece and Brazil. The sense is of a waning career nearing its end.And yet in those three and a half years since his last game for Everton, Rodríguez has played 32 times for Colombia. While at Rayo, he has played 374 international minutes. True, he doesn’t often last a full game, but there are few other indications of decline. As Colombia reached the final of last year’s Copa Amé...

Sport

87 minutes ago Moment LA mountain lions and goats flee to safety from blistering California fires

Videos show wild animals running from the wildfires which have already claimed the lives of around 16 people while burning over 37,000 acres of land and destroying 12,000 structures in its wake.

Events

22 hours ago Couldn’t put it down: David Hurn’s photographs of people reading – in pictures

In 1983 David Hurn met one of his photographic heroes, André Kertész , and jokingly suggested that, when he reached Kertész’s age of 89, he would remake his seminal volume, On Reading. True to his word, the Magnum photographer has now done so. Wherever Hurn travelled as a photojournalist, he took images of people reading books, magazines and, lately, on mobile phones. “One of the things that happens in every country in the world is people read,” he says. “It’s lovely to read – the touch of the paper, the ease of being able to check back a few pages. But we’re at a time now where we’re not quite sure whether, in the future, books on paper are going to disappear.”David Hurn’s On Reading is published by RRB Photobooks (£35) Continue reading...

Culture

6 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

4 hours ago John Swinney says he also intervened to stop Alex Salmond's 'bullying'

The First Minister said he told Salmond his behaviour was "not on" when he was "quite brisk with people".

Politics

14 hours ago The Welsh beach where people scramble to rent exclusive wooden huts for over £2000

The wooden sheds are considered 'treasured assets' and people desperately battle to get to use one for just a year

Society

26 hours ago Half of people with housing costs ‘starting 2025 worried about home or finances’

Housing charity Shelter and bank HSBC UK are urging those with concerns to seek support.

Economics

23 hours ago Chelsea's Marc Guehi transfer stalls as Enzo Maresca forced to delay move

Chelsea are pushing to sign Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi in this month's transfer window, but the defender now looks set to stay at Selhurst Park until at least the summer

Sport

88 minutes ago Court ruling on Belgium’s conduct in colonial Africa hailed as turning point

Verdict of crimes against humanity for kidnap of mixed-race children could pave way for wider justice, activists sayA historic court ruling that found Belgium guilty of crimes against humanity during its colonial rule of central Africa has been hailed as a turning point that could pave the way for compensation and other forms of justice.Belgium’s court of appeal ruled last month that the “systematic kidnapping” of mixed-race children from their African mothers in Belgian-ruled Congo, Rwanda and Burundi was a crime against humanity. The case was brought by five women who were removed from their Congolese mothers as small children between 1948 and 1953, and who now live in Belgium and France. Each was awarded €50,000 (£42,000) in damages. Continue reading...

Events

23 hours ago 'Batwoman' boffin at centre of Covid lab leak theory still doing 'dangerous' virus tests

Millions died, economies were destroyed and years of people's lives were lost to the Covid-19 pandemic – which some blame the Chinese 'batwoman' for bringing into the world

Science

4 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

22 hours ago Eastenders star Patsy Palmer issues update after family evacuated from Los Angeles home

The fires have claimed the lives of 11 people, and burned down more than 10,000 homes

Society

32 hours ago Paradise on a budget: I'm a travel expert and here's how to have a VERY cheap holiday in the Maldives, from £25

The tips come from Kara Wildbur, whose TikTok travel videos have snared her 133,000 followers. Kara tells MailOnline: 'People wrongly assume their trip to the Maldives needs to be expensive.'

Economics

25 hours ago Netflix fans 'stay up all night' to watch 'utterly mesmerising' romcom dubbed 'the best comfort TV you can stream'

The small-screen adaptation of Robyn Carr's bestselling book series first launched in 2019 and follows midwife Melinda 'Mel' Monroe (Alexandra).

Sport

2 hours ago Moira Salmond hits out at those 'determined to damage' late husband's reputation

Widow’s comments follow Nicola Sturgeon’s claim she stepped in ‘many times’ when Alex Salmond was ‘really rough on people’

Events

4 hours ago The Princess of 72nd Street by Elaine Kraf review – charming portrait of an artist in her own world

Kraf’s charming and challenging fourth and final novel, now published in the UK, is narrated by a New Yorker who experiences psychotic episodes“I am glad I have the radiance. This time I am wiser,” begins Elaine Kraf’s 1979 novel – now published for the first time in the UK – in irresistibly intriguing style. The narrator is Ellen, an artist living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where she regularly experiences periods of what she calls radiance, or what the rest of us would call psychosis, mental illness, or detachment from reality.And what “the rest of us” think is part of the problem for Ellen, because the radiances make her happy and she is no threat to anybody. “Fools! No one likes anyone for what they really are.” So she becomes Esmeralda, self-styled princess of 72nd Street. “I am not one of those rulers who is never seen on the streets mingling with the common people.” Continue reading...

Politics

23 hours ago Police release image of suspect after family’s luggage stolen from Gatwick Airport

Police say the victim was with his young family when the suitcase was stolen

Society

32 hours ago Thousands of households can get free cost of living cash worth up to £225

The City of Doncaster Council is offering cost of living support to people who are on a low-income or claiming certain Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits

Economics

2 hours ago Simon Cowell breaks silence on devastating LA wildfires in emotional video

Thousands have people have lost their homes in Los Angeles after unrelenting wildfire tore through the state of California in devastating scenes

Events

6 hours ago Solo traveller feels 'unsettled' after hotel receptionist commits one blunder

A female solo traveller shared her fear after the manager of the hotel she was staying in shared important information about her stay, making her feel rather unsettled

Politics

38 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

34 hours ago PIP payments of up to £737 each month for people with muscle or joint conditions

More than one million people are receiving between £28.70 and £184.30 each week through PIP or Adult Disability Payment for musculoskeletal conditions.

Economics

2 hours ago Kelyan Bokassa's heartbroken mum reveals tragic final message teen wrote on her balcony

Kelyan Bokassa, 14, was tragically killed in front of passengers on the 472 bus in Woolwich, South East London, on Tuesday, just before 2.30pm. A manhunt is underway to find the suspect

Events

7 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

35 hours ago Booking.com scammers con over 500 holidaymakers out of £370k by hacking hotel providers

Scammers have fleeced at least 532 travellers out of £370,000 after hacking their way into hotel accounts - customers then receive emails from a fake account operated by a crime gang

Economics

3 hours ago Fury erupts as celebs including Kim Kardashian accused of 'breaking rules' amid LA wildfires

Los Angeles wildfires continue to cause havoc stateside with 16 people so far confirmed to have died in the blazes

Events

7 hours ago The 10 rules of friendship: show up, go beyond banter, learn the boring details

Writers, therapists and academics give advice on how to make, and strengthen, meaningful bonds with mates and friendsEmma Reed Turrell, psychotherapist, author and host of the podcast Friendship TherapyYou can keep balance in friendship by showing your working out, rather than making assumptions and mind-reading. This might sound like: “I’d like to invite you to a party but I’m wondering if it might not be your thing and I want you to know that you can absolutely say no, or just come for an hour.” That way you get to express your wish and your friend gets to be honest in their choices, rather than people-please you or dodge the question. Look for the ‘both/and’ of a balanced friendship, rather than an ‘either/or’ situation, and negotiate how to both get what you need from your communication styles or time together, rather than create a one-way street in which one of you is always keeping the other happy. Not everyone wants a two-way street in friendship and you might find you get pu...

Politics

36 hours ago Charity launches handy PIP tool to help people make successful claims up to £737

The Turn2us PIP Helper aims to cut through the confusion of the PIP application process, with step-by-step guidance, award estimations, mental wellbeing resources, and essential information

Economics

3 hours ago The medication and illnesses that can make you smell terrible revealed: DR ELLIE

People with obesity, as well as those with kidney or liver disease, are more likely to suffer with bad odour. Some medicines are also linked to the problem.

Events

7 hours ago Méribel: how to stay, ski and party in France's prettiest Alpine resort

Offering excellent skiing, eating and a plethora of 5-star hotels, Méribel is the perfect destination for a winter break

Politics

37 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

4 hours ago Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim slams landlords taking advantage of LA wildfires

Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim said landlords were breaking the law by taking advantage of a natural disaster which has left thousands of people without a place to stay

Events

7 hours ago 'My son's name has sentimental value – but my family tell me it's awful'

A mum-to-be has been left fuming after people pointed out a major issue with the name she has chosen for her son, despite it being a nod to her husband's late grandfather

Politics

8 hours ago What are we paying senior royals for, if not to show up at presidential funerals? | Catherine Bennett

Perhaps grandma’s grudge against Jimmy Carter explains why Edward, 14th in line, was sentThat legendary boozer the late queen mother liked to entertain her guests with an “anti-toast”, in which she drank to people she disliked. One day the names ill-wished were “Tony Benn, Idi Amin and Jimmy Carter”. The benign US president featured in the same list as a mass murderer because, she explained, “he is the only man, since my dear husband died, to have had the effrontery to kiss me on the lips”.This alleged offence was enough for the queen mother to want it remembered, and not as an innocent accident. She believed it was her misfortune, her biographer William Shawcross wrote, to remind middle-aged men of their mothers; she recognised “the glazed look that came over their faces”, and thought this had made Carter reach in for his kiss. “I took a sharp step backwards. Not quite far enough.” So Carter could hardly help becoming aware of the accusation, which “distressed” him. Continue readin...

Politics

4 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

8 hours ago ‘I like to break the rules’: Björk on comedy, darkness and the most flamboyant tour of her career

The musician describes herself as many things: artist, introvert, activist, Scorpio, matriarch, punk, joker, optimist We step inside the multiverse of the incomparable BjörkBjörk is in Paris, and her laptop camera isn’t working. The laptop is eight years old, she explains, and she doesn’t want to replace it, for environmental reasons. “But let’s just say I haven’t exactly been crying about the fact that it doesn’t work.” She is a black square on my computer screen, which feels quite un-Björk-like, somehow, and yet also very Björk-like, too. Even without the visuals, she is instantly familiar. She jokes, she teases, her answers unravel slowly as she weighs up every side of a response, pin-balling between as many angles as she can find.She says she has always felt a bit weird about video calls anyway. “Even when they started, I would find more distance in talking to loved ones, because it’s sort of fake. You see people, but it’s not real. You’re not getting the presence. So maybe it’s...

Politics

5 hours ago Devastated Simon Cowell makes urgent LA wildfire plea in new video message

Simon Cowell has urged people to help victims of the California wildfires, saying he is devastated by what has happened.

Events

8 hours ago At home with Simon Rattle: ‘There are still things I feel are beyond me’

The world-famous conductor, now 70, on family life in Berlin, why music keeps you young and the bleak outlook for the arts in BritainThe instruction was straightforward: “10.30am at home. Coffee and croissants.” Since timing, at least in part, is a conductor’s priority, a visitor feels the pressure – especially with the siren call of coffee – to be prompt. Simon Rattle lives on the edge of Grunewald, the expanse of forest and lakes to the west of Berlin, a haven for the prosperous who built villas there at the end of the 19th century, and a green lung for all Berliners today. I arrive a few minutes early – long enough to take issue with Christopher Isherwood who, in his Berlin Stories, complained about the “expensive ugliness” of the properties here, ranging from “the eccentric-rococo folly to the cubist flat-roofed steel-and-glass box”. Gables and turrets turn suburban houses into small castles, a reminder of Germany’s romantic folklore past. Fairy lights – we meet shortly before C...

Politics

5 hours ago Tributes for 'loving' police officer killed in double tragedy alongside motorist after being struck by lorry at scene of road crash

PC Rosie Prior had been assisting two people from an earlier collision on the verge of the A19 at Bagby near Thirsk when the vehicle struck her.

Events

8 hours ago Sunday with Jo Malone: ‘I’m always wearing four or five different fragrances’

The perfumer and her husband enjoy life in Dubai, with its silk shops, water workouts, large lunches and friends who are like familyUp early? I’m not the earliest of risers, but I live in Dubai and can walk to the beach for sunrise at 6.30am. Other than people, I miss nothing about home – my husband Gary and I feel as if we’re living our senior gap year.Sunday breakfast? A green juice and a red juice but, if I’m hungover, it’s eggs Benedict. Continue reading...

Politics

5 hours ago Sydney synagogue attack condemned as ‘massive escalation’ in antisemitism

Images released by police show two people spray painting synagogue’s fence and building

Events

9 hours ago My partner blames a ‘lack of attraction’ for not wanting sex | Ask Philippa

It’s important that he knows how his actions and words are affecting youThe question My partner and I, both in our early 40s, have been together for 15 months, though this is our second time dating. We briefly dated four years ago, but he ended things via text, which has left me feeling anxious about the possibility of him leaving again. This relationship is important to us and we’ve moved in together while trying to start a family. However, since moving in, I’ve noticed changes in him. He sometimes seems distant and our sex life has diminished. He has struggled with maintaining an erection and attributed it to a “lack of attraction”, which was difficult for me to hear.Given the stress of fertility treatments, I suspect his issues may be emotional or physical, yet he focuses on attraction. He has suggested we reconnect through non-sexual intimacy like holding hands, which I’m willing to try. I also proposed couples therapy, which he’s hesitant about. I feel uneasy, especially when I...

Politics

6 hours ago California fires live: 16 deaths confirmed as flames threaten UCLA campus and worsening winds predicted

Los Angeles county sheriff says death toll expected to rise, with firefighters racing to contain Palisades fireFull report: international crews arrive to battle raging wildfiresPoliticians quibbling as LA burns: Gavin Newsom’s latest beef with TrumpDetails emerge about the LA fire victimsCalifornia attorney general Rob Bonta has warned that it is illegal to engage in price gouging, looting or scamming of any kind and those who do in response to the fires will be held accountable by the law.“We’ve seen businesses and landlords jack up the price,” he told journalists at a press conference yesterday. “It’s called price gouging. It is illegal. You cannot do it. It is a crime punishable by up to a year in jail and fines.” Continue reading...

Events

10 hours ago The town just nine miles away where people are desperate NOT to join Manchester

"The MP said it’s a ‘no brainer’, but I say it’s brainless"

Politics

7 hours ago Who are the victims of LA fires? Everything we know about the residents killed as death toll reaches 16

At least 16 people have been killed in the deadly wildfires still raging across Los Angeles.

Events

10 hours ago Disney worker vanished after wife buried him in garden and blamed daughter, 7

Michael Shaver, 36, from Florida, was reported missing by a friend three years after he was last seen - his wife Laurie Shaver had told people he'd left her for another woman

Politics

7 hours ago Man puts 25 dynamite sticks in mum's suitcase before plane explodes killing all on board

John 'Jack' Gilbert Graham hated him mum so much that he packed her suitcase bound for a flight to Alaska with 25 sticks of dynamite, ultimately killing all 44 people on board

Events

14 hours ago Only people with perfect vision can see ink spillage in busy brainteaser

You've got just 13 seconds to find the minuscule ink spill in this brainteaser to prove you have perfect 20/20 vision. Otherwise, a trip to the opticians might be on the cards

Politics

8 hours ago A Second Act by Dr Matt Morgan review – what nearly dying can teach us about living

In this sequel to his bestseller, Critical, the intensive care doctor draws lessons on the joys of a ‘second life’ from the experiences of patients who have flatlined and been revived“We have two lives,” Dr Matt Morgan writes, before clarifying: “The second begins when you realise you have [only] one.” Sometimes, as the case studies in this book detail, this realisation comes more suddenly and profoundly than most of us can imagine. For more than 20 years, Morgan has been a specialist doctor in intensive care, labouring at the extreme margins of life. Just occasionally, in his day-to-day education in human mortality, he has witnessed what might, in other traditions, be thought of as supernatural events: people whose vital signs have flatlined, but who have returned to tell the tale. The stories in this book – a sequel to his bestselling Critical – are his accounts of those impossible second acts, and his reflections on what we can learn from those lucky few who have experienced both...

Events

18 hours ago Legendary EastEnders villain looks unrecognisable as he takes on chilling new role

Aaron Sidwell looked unrecognisable in the new crime drama movie Fyre Rises as he transformed into a fanatic named Priest. 

Politics

10 hours ago Woman killed Disney worker husband 'for no reason' and buried him in backyard

Laurie Shaver pretended to be the man she’d murdered to cover up the horrific and bloody crime she later blamed on their young daughter in a crime that shocked locals and the entire court room

Events

21 hours ago I saw what Omar Marmoush did after latest Frankfurt goal amid growing Man City transfer interest

Manchester City are intent on taking Eintracht Frankfurt striker Omar Marmoush on a permanent transfer in January - but he is still scoring in Germany for the time being.

Politics

10 hours ago Crimestoppers' most wanted men in London in 2025 including 'child sex offender'

Crimestoppers' most wanted men in London in 2025 including 'child sex offender'  News Shopper

Events