24 hours ago Chinese investors are circling private schools 'like vultures': Education experts' warning as VAT raid on fees means many struggling institutions now face Beijing buyouts

Following Labour's VAT raid on school fees, Chinese investors are circling a host of independent schools across the UK, seeing them as potential investment opportunities.

Economics

9 hours ago ‘A lot of chaos, quickly’: panic grips US music industry as ‘kingmaker’ TikTok faces ban

Labels and artists forced to rethink marketing strategies as viral hit-making app faces possible US shutdown on SundayOn a recent Monday morning, Olivia Shalhoup opened her laptop and steeled herself for a day of meetings. Around 40% of her work as the founder of Amethyst, a marketing and PR agency, focuses on helping musicians navigate TikTok. On this particular day, the fate of the app in the US hung in the balance, with a supreme court ruling looming, and her clients were tense. “The big thing we were talking about in every single call is: ‘What are we going to do?’” Shalhoup said. “To say that TikTok is crucial to artist campaigns right now is an understatement. No one is immune from this.”Since its debut in 2017, TikTok has become a star-making machine, as short-form video content has eclipsed traditional forms of music promotion such as TV and radio. The app has the power to make rising artists into A-listers, propel their ascent to the top of the charts, and turn Magic FM sta...

Events

32 hours ago From Mulholland Drive to Twin Peaks via Lost Highway: all David Lynch’s films and TV shows – ranked

The great American film-maker died this week, leaving behind a body of work unmatched in its seductive strangeness and transcendent mystery. We put it in orderIt is one of life’s eternal mysteries that for the last two decades of his life, no one was willing to fund another feature by America’s greatest film-maker of the time. Almost as much of a mystery was his final completed feature: the evil twin of his previous film, Mulholland Drive. As Laura Dern’s hexed actor segues into the character she is playing, this digitally shot rampage down Hollywood’s boulevard of broken dreams dials up the narrative fragmentation of his late period. It runs the gamut from inspired camcorder surrealism to making-it-up-as-you-go-along incoherence (which is what it was: Lynch shot without a finished screenplay). Continue reading...

Culture

7 hours ago ‘It’s an absolute travesty’: fears for border wildlife as Trump takes office

Environmentalists are braced for new construction on the president’s signature border wall – and the damage that would wreakDuring Donald Trump’s first presidential term, he began an ambitious and costly border militarization program, including the construction of over 450 miles of wall that severed wildlife corridors and fragmented ecosystems in some of the country’s most remote and biodiverse regions. With his second inauguration on Monday, environmentalists are bracing for any new phase of construction that could exacerbate the ecological toll of the border wall.“It’s an absolute travesty and a disaster for border wildlife,” said Margaret Wilder, a human-environment geographer and political ecologist at the University of Arizona, regarding the environmental impact of the existing border wall and the prospect of renewed construction. She said the wall harmed efforts “after many decades of binational cooperation between the US and Mexico to protect this fragile and biodiverse regio...

Politics

33 hours ago Scammer posing as 'Brad Pitt' who duped woman out of £700k now pretending to be another star

A private investigator says they have tracked down a scammer who pretended to be Brad Pitt so they could trick a woman into sending £700,000 - and revealed who they are impersonating now

Economics

22 hours ago US and Turks and Caicos to inquire into failed SpaceX launch leading to debris

Starship test sent orange-glowing shards streaking over northern Caribbean and forced airlines to divert flightsThe US Federal Aviation Administration and officials from the Turks and Caicos Islands have launched investigations into SpaceX’s explosive Starship rocket test that sent debris streaking over the northern Caribbean and forced airlines to divert dozens of flights.“There are no reports of public injury, and the FAA is working with SpaceX and appropriate authorities to confirm reports of public property damage on Turks and Caicos,” said the FAA, which oversees private rocket launch activity. Continue reading...

Events

33 hours ago Bonnie Blue's real name, private school husband and mum's surprise role in sex job

Bonnie Blue's life now is world's away from her 'quiet and reserved' upbringing. We look at the adult star's marriage and the role her family play in her huge empire

Culture

8 hours ago Queen's 'special Princess lessons' for Kate Middleton before she married Prince William

Kate Middleton was given private lessons from the Queen on how to be a royal wife before she married Prince William in 2011, a documentary has claimed.

Politics

33 hours ago Pictured: Landlord who rented out tiny room in her £800,000 London flat for £1,350 a month

Alice Bowmer posted the listing with the hopes of finding someone to fill her bedroom in her flat in Hampstead Heath, north London.

Economics

23 hours ago Private schools face Chinese buyouts as experts warn Labour's VAT raid could force colleges to accept foreign money to stay open

Following Labour's VAT raid on school fees, Chinese investors are circling a host of independent schools across the UK, seeing them as potential investment opportunities.

Events

36 hours ago Stephen Fry celebrates 10th wedding anniversary with husband with first photo together in six years

The notoriously private pair were last pictured together in 2019

Culture

16 hours ago Who spent 40% of last year at the top of the UK singles chart? The Saturday quiz

From the Companions of Artemis to The Rubber-Keyed Wonder, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz1 Who spent 40% of last year at the top of the UK singles chart?2 What Japanese model is the best-selling car ever?3 The Rubber-Keyed Wonder is a film about which computer?4 Which dynasty gave its name to a distinctive jaw?5 Which network televises the proceeding of the US federal government?6 HO and OO are common scales of what?7 Which former English head of state died in 1712, aged 85?8 Which Asian country is known as the graveyard of empires?What links: 9 Helô Pinheiro; Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes; Astrud Gilberto?10 Pastoral; utility; working; toy?11 Benfica; Birmingham City; Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs; County Mayo?12 White (US); Blue (South Korea, formerly); Pink (Argentina)?13 Anne Boleyn; Edith Cavell; Olivia Colman; Diana, Princess of Wales; Elizabeth Fry?14 Companions of Artemis; East Sussex cliffs; Moscow skyscrapers; Tottenham trees?15 Ash; eth; ethel;...

Politics

33 hours ago Pictured: Landlord blasted for renting out tiny room in her £800,000 London flat for £1,350 a month

Alice Bowmer posted the listing with the hopes of finding someone to fill her bedroom in her flat in Hampstead Heath, north London.

Economics

33 hours ago Australian Open 2025: Draper into fifth set with Vukic, Pegula out, Gauff through – live

Updates from the sixth day of tennis at Melbourne ParkBritain’s Fearnley out | Djokovic wins in brutal styleAny thoughts? Get in touch with Katy on emailThere’s been some to-ing and fro-ing on serve over on Margaret Court too as Diana Schnaider went 2-0 up against Donna Vekic only to be broken back just now after a nervy looking double-fault into the net.Can everyone stop getting broken? Continue reading...

Events

25 hours ago Kate Middleton's secret trip to cancer hospital before Christmas: How Princess of Wales returned to thank nursing staff in private festive visit

The Princess of Wales undertook her first solo public engagement in more than a year as she visited the London hospital where she has secretly undergone her own chemotherapy treatment.

Politics

34 hours ago Australian Open 2025: Draper v Vukic, Danilovic beats Pegula, Gauff through – live

Updates from the sixth day of tennis at Melbourne ParkBritain’s Fearnley out | Djokovic wins in brutal styleAny thoughts? Get in touch with Katy on emailThere’s been some to-ing and fro-ing on serve over on Margaret Court too as Diana Schnaider went 2-0 up against Donna Vekic only to be broken back just now after a nervy looking double-fault into the net.Can everyone stop getting broken? Continue reading...

Events

25 hours ago Sam Fender set to make debut in Portugal as Nos Alive 2025 announce huge acts

Indie icon Sam Fender will perform in Portugal for the first time this summer as he joins the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Kings of Leon and Glass Animals at Nos Alive 2025

Politics

35 hours ago I hired private detectives to spy on my lover when he blew out our date. Then they sent a video from his flat with a bombshell revelation: LIZ JONES

He came to my hotel at 9.30pm. He was impressed by the luxury suite with its huge Christmas tree, copper bath, walk-in minibar. I noticed he soon nibbled on the KitKats and Pringles.

Events

27 hours ago Archaeologists unearth remarkable preserved Pompeii bathhouse in ‘once

Spectacular bathhouses used to entertain Pompeiian’s in private home

Politics

35 hours ago Australian Open 2025: Draper v Vukic, Djokovic sweeps through, Gauff wins, Osaka out – live

Updates from the sixth day of tennis at Melbourne ParkJacob Fearnley exits after being given lesson by ZverevAny thoughts? Get in touch with Katy on emailThere’s been some to-ing and fro-ing on serve over on Margaret Court too as Diana Schnaider went 2-0 up against Donna Vekic only to be broken back just now after a nervy looking double-fault into the net.Can everyone stop getting broken? Continue reading...

Events

28 hours ago Timothée Chalamet and Edward Norton take the bus around Rome on A Complete Unknown tour after Hollywood star, 29, got a £65 fine for riding Lime bike into London premiere

The Dune actor, 29, has learned his lesson from this week's Lime bike mishap as he joined his co-star, 55, on a double-decker bus in Rome to promote the new Bob Dylan biopic on Friday.

Politics

36 hours ago Australian Open 2025: Djokovic v Machac, Draper v Vukic, Gauff wins, Osaka out – live

Updates from the sixth day of tennis at Melbourne ParkJacob Fearnley exits after being given lesson by ZverevAny thoughts? Get in touch with Katy on emailThere’s been some to-ing and fro-ing on serve over on Margaret Court too as Diana Schnaider went 2-0 up against Donna Vekic only to be broken back just now after a nervy looking double-fault into the net.Can everyone stop getting broken? Continue reading...

Events

29 hours ago Caldwell family to meet Swinney amid concerns over who should lead inquiry

A public inquiry looking at the police investigation into the murder of Emma Caldwell in 2005 was announced by the Scottish Government in March.

Politics

37 hours ago WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Unseen for 80 years, the secret diary with extraordinary insights into Hitler's private life that will shock the globe

In a world publishing coup, decades after being lost, the discovery of the intimate and horrifying leather-bound journal by the Mail is set to cause a global sensation.

Events

31 hours ago 'Lessons need to be learned': Calls for independent inquiry into demolition of Paisley's Territorial Army Building

Councillor Will Mylet described the demise of the iconic structure in High Street as 'very sad'.

Politics

41 hours ago ‘It’s alarming’: How Ozempic is being misused and worsening eating disorders

Olivia Petter talks to experts who say that people with eating disorders are especially vulnerable to the allure of ‘quick fix’ slimming with diabetes drug semaglutide... and are not thinking about its side effects

Events

31 hours ago Life at the UK's most remote train station where hardly anyone gets on or off

The quaint two-carriage train departs from Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire and offers an awe-inspiring journey through the Welsh countryside - but barely anyone ever gets on or off at one of the stops

Politics

42 hours ago Iran knows my son is innocent, says mother of French man held in Evin jail

Olivier Grondeau was arrested in 2022 and has accused Iran of using him for ‘political blackmail’ against FranceThe mother of a French traveller detained in Iran for two years has said authorities “know he is innocent” but continue to hold him in the country’s notorious Evin prison.Olivier Grondeau, 33, was arrested from his hotel room in Shiraz, in the south of Iran, on 12 October 2022, just weeks into the Woman, Life, Freedom anti-government protests that engulfed the country. The writer, poet and bookseller was in the country as part of a world tour. Continue reading...

Events

32 hours ago Trump’s border policy tore apart many families. Nobody knows what happens to them now

Number of families that are still separated remains unclear, and a previous ruling offers separated families few protections from future deportationIn summer 2017, the Trump administration began quietly separating families at the US-Mexico border. Under the “zero-tolerance” policy formally announced months later, federal immigration authorities removed children as young as four months old from parents or adults who were seeking asylum. The administration didn’t announce any plans for reunification.As Trump 2.0 grows closer and closer, so does the unease of the lawyers and advocates who have spent years locating, representing and reuniting these families. Organizations Justice in Motion, Kids in Need of Defense and the Women’s Refugee Commission, along with the global private law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, formed a court-appointed steering committee after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the 2018 class action lawsuit Ms L v US Immigration an...

Politics

32 hours ago Lost Ella Fitzgerald recordings to be released – including her take on 60s pop

Oakland concert recording from 1967 features jazz standards alongside unheard Fitzgerald versions of the era’s hits, including Alfie and Music to Watch Girls ByLost recordings of a 1967 Ella Fitzgerald concert, including her spin on the era’s pop songs such as Alfie and Music to Watch Girls By, have been rediscovered and prepared for release.The iconic jazz vocalist was recorded live at the Oakland Coliseum, California, in June of that year, but until recently the tapes languished in the private collection of Norman Granz, the late founder of Verve Records. Continue reading...

Politics

32 hours ago West End theatres to dim their lights in honour of Dame Joan Plowright

UK Theatre and Society of London Theatre said they were honoured to contribute to the celebration of her extraordinary career.

Politics

33 hours ago ‘A nice little cameo that Judi Dench hasn’t got her paws on’: Joan Plowright’s screen career blossomed with age | Peter Bradshaw

Her film breakthrough in 1960’s The Entertainer was a harbinger of the calmness and strength she brought as a distinguished character actor – and as her lovable self in Nothing Like a DameJoan Plowright dies aged 95Michael Billington: Plowright was a dynamic forceJoan Plowright: a life in picturesOne of Joan Plowright’s greatest screen performances came towards the very end of her career: a gloriously subtle, lovable appearance on Roger Michell’s documentary Nothing Likea Dame from 2018, with four great dames of the British acting profession – Plowright, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith – assembling like Marvel superheroes at the country home that Plowright shared with her late husband Laurence Olivier to drink tea and swap uproarious anecdotes and sharp observations about the acting profession and the sexism they and their younger colleagues continue to face.The then 89-year-old Plowright, despite her failing health and eyesight, exchanges affectionate badinage with the o...

Politics

33 hours ago Joan Plowright’s agent promised to find role Judi Dench ‘hasn’t got her paws on’

In Nothing Like A Dame, Dame Joan and her famous friends discussed her husband, Lord Laurence Olivier, ageing, and their experiences in acting.

Politics

34 hours ago New Pompeii excavation reveals a large private thermal complex built 2,000 years ago

Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried by ash and lava in 70 AD, has unearthed a new treasure: a private bathhouse built 2,000 years ago

Politics

35 hours ago Zuckerberg is quite the champion of the underrepresented – so long as you’re conservative and live in Texas | Joseph Harker

The Meta boss has ditched his diversity scheme and moved his moderation team. Is he jealous of the attention Musk is getting?Joseph Harker is the Guardian’s senior editor, diversity and developmentWas it just for the PR? That’s what many who care about fairness in the workplace have been asking since Meta, headed by Mark Zuckerberg, announced the scrapping of all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes within the organisation. Days earlier, fast food giant McDonald’s made a similar announcement. Last year, the car manufacturer Ford and Walmart – the largest private employer in the US – also rolled back their diversity programmes.So what’s going on? For years, and especially after the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020, these huge corporations have been saying that diversity is a good thing – that it keeps them in touch with their consumers and thereby strengthens the business, as well as being the morally right thing to do.Joseph Harker is the Guardian’s senior editor, diversit...

Politics

35 hours ago ‘Just call me Joan’: Beloved star of stage and screen Dame Joan Plowright

The widow of Lord Olivier was one of the outstanding actresses of her age.

Politics

35 hours ago How Jeff Bezos can stop the bleeding at the Washington Post | Margaret Sullivan

The paper’s owner should show up – soon – to hold a town hall with the newsroom, answer questions, and take the heatMore than 400 newsroom staffers at the Washington Post pleaded with the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, this week to do something about their beloved paper’s rapid – and very public – decline.“We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent,” an extraordinary letter to Bezos read in part, as first reported by NPR’s David Folkenflik. It was signed by some of the Post’s most respected names, including the investigative reporter Carol Leonnig and the unofficial dean of DC politics writers Dan Balz.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Politics