2 hours ago I tried to escape London for Sri Lanka to write a book — it didn't all go to plan

When Sydney Lima took herself off to write in the South Asian island, she wanted to escape Londoners. Not so simple, she discovered...

Politics

7 hours ago UK interest rate cut a ‘sure bet’ amid faltering economic growth, say experts

The Bank of England’s top economists will meet on February 6 when forecasters predict they will cut the base interest rate to 4.5%.

Economics

30 hours ago 'I want Arsenal transfer target at Liverpool – he's such a talent and technically great'

Arsenal have been heavily linked with a move for Rosenborg midfielder Sverre Nypan in recent months, but Liverpool have been urged to get the jump on their Premier League rivals

Sport

2 hours ago UK wind turbine bursts into flames filling sky with plume of smoke in shocking photos

A fire has broken out at a UK wind turbine today (Sunday, February 2) with crews rushing to extinguish the blaze. No injuries have been reported, an official statement has confirmed

Events

5 hours ago Dancing on Ice 2025: what time is it on ITV and which channel is it on?

Don’t get caught out by the TV schedule this weekend! ⛸

Culture

32 hours ago The island ‘like the Caribbean’ that’s 25C in February and a £123 flight from Manchester Airport

It has white sandy beaches and clear, turquoise waters

Transport

3 hours ago Residents seek answers on future of leisure centre after years of delays

Cardiff Council have said work on the leisure centre will begin in mid-February but residents feel they have been left in the dark

Politics

7 hours ago What’s in season to cook? List of the best foods to eat through February and March

A range of foods are ready to be at their best as we approach the start of spring.

Society

8 hours ago Aldi launches £2.99 LEGO dupe which could be the perfect Valentine's Day gift

Lego fans rejoice, as Aldi has brought out a dupe flower set which is just a fraction of the cost and could wow your partner this Valentine's Day.

Economics

3 hours ago Watch live scene of Philadelphia plane crash site as victims of Learjet55 tragedy named

Watch a live scene of the Philadelphia plane crash site on Sunday (2 February) as victims of Learjet55 tragedy are named.

Events

4 hours ago Kate Middleton has one 'most important job' after cancer treatment says expert

A royal expert has revealed what mother-of-three Kate Middleton’s ‘top priority’ was while she was battling cancer last year – and it's not what you might expect

Politics

19 hours ago I quit my Big Tech job after being horrified by online child abuse I saw. Now I hunt pedophiles

It started five years ago. Roo Powell was working at a tech company and wanted to expose just how many predators lurk online, looking for kids to target.

Society

9 hours ago Amazon shoppers race to buy £24 gadget they call 'better' than an Apple Watch

As February approached, the coming months will be the decider on whether we all manage to stick to those new year resolutions we jotted down at the start of January. If you're struggling to stay motivated with your fitness goals during the dark winter months, it might be an idea to invest in a fitness tracker to help you along, and Amazon shoppers reckon they've found a hidden gem.

Economics

3 hours ago Gang of rogue pigs terrorises village for months by digging up gardens and causing thousands of pounds in damage after escaping farm

Although they are regularly rounded up and returned, the escapes keep happening - with more members of the intrepid herd breaking out and heading for gardens in Garvestone, Norfolk.

Events

4 hours ago Gardeners urged to scatter this strong spice in garden in February for vital wildlife reason

It might sounds strange, but scattering a spice in your garden this February is the perfect way to keep food out for birds - without it being stolen by other animals

Politics

28 hours ago Ryan Giggs shuts down neighbourhood restaurant with 'immediate effect' as furious staff claim they were 'told by text' that they had lost their jobs

Staff at a restaurant owned by former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs have been left bewildered after being told they had lost their jobs over text with 'immediate effect'.

Society

30 hours ago 'I'm a Vinted seller – making three simple adjustments earned me £400 in weeks'

A successful Vinted seller has shared her three top tips on how she started earning hundreds of pounds for selling her kids' old items on the reselling app - and it's easier than you might think

Economics

4 hours ago Get 'richer' Yorkshire puddings by using one common ingredient in batter

Yorkshire puddings are a simple dish to make from scratch and require just a few simple ingredients - but a chef says one common ingredient is essential for success

Events

5 hours ago Watch live: Groundhog Day 2025 as Punxsutawney Phil gives end of winter prediction

Watch Groundhog Day 2025 live today (2 February) as Punxsutawney Phil gives his end of winter prediction.

Politics

34 hours ago Rare gold Kew Gardens coin only released 15 years ago in UK is worth huge £7k

The silver 2009 Kew Gardens 50p coin, featuring the Royal Botanical Gardens' Great Pagoda, tend to be valued at around £250 - but a rare gold version is worth much more

Economics

6 hours ago Here’s a shocking finding, gen Z: democracy isn’t perfect | David Mitchell

According to a new poll, half of our 13- to 27-year-olds can’t see the point of all those time-wasting elections and parliaments. Why do they not know that authoritarianism is worse?The phrase “shocking findings” is hugely overused in the media, which is strange because it’s so clumsy. The word endings nearly rhyme, but not quite, and there’s something infantile about the word “finding” for something you’ve found. Is your lunch your eatings? Did you do any pooings this morning? Always go for a weeing before leaving the house – or building.Most “shocking findings” don’t turn out to be that shocking. The phrase gets deployed to dupe you into reading on and then it’s just some study that’s come out with something predictably depressing. Not this time. Last week, there were some genuinely shocking findings. I’d go so far as simply to call them shockings. Never mind that they were found – that’s not their key characteristic at all. They’re shockings, infuriatings and frankly frightenings...

Events

5 hours ago Nigel Slater’s recipes for celery soup with thyme and parsley, and potato pancakes

It’s time to celebrate celery with a soothing soup, and a nice potato pancake to go with itMost of the soup I make is in an effort to deal with my over-enthusiasm at the shops, a need to tidy up a vegetable rack overflowing with beetroot or leeks. A case of waste not, want not rather than to spotlight a vegetable in season. The results can be good or less so, depending on just how many turnips and swedes I am also trying to get rid of. This week, I made soup simply to celebrate a particularly fine head of celery.I carried it home with my shopping, the celery’s plume of leaves poking pertly from my bag. The soup was good, using the entire head, or at least those stalks I hadn’t torn away and munched raw the moment I arrived home. The like-it-or-loathe-it vegetable was mellowed and sweetened by sour cream and potato. Continue reading...

Politics

10 hours ago Teeth whitening strips 'just like they've been to the hygienist' in Valentine's Day bundle

If you're after a brighter smile, just in time for February 14, aka Valentine's Day, then this could be your saving grace.

Events

6 hours ago ‘Heartbreaking’: Iceland’s pioneering female fishing guides fear for wild salmon

First women working as fishing guides on Laxá River, featured in new film, call for action after farmed fish escapeFor seven generations, Andrea Ósk Hermóðsdóttir’s family have been fishing on the Laxá River in Aðaldalur. Iceland has a reputation as a world leader on feminism, but until recently women have not been able to work as guides to wild salmon fishing for visiting anglers – a job that has traditionally been the preserve of men.The 21-year-old engineering student, her sister Alexandra Ósk, 16, and their friends Arndís Inga Árnadóttir, 18, and her sister Áslaug Anna, 15, are now the first generation of female guides on their river in northern Iceland, and among the very first female fishing guides in the country. Continue reading...

Politics

23 hours ago D Is for Distance review – tender portrait of parents battling for their son’s medication

Only medical cannabis can stop Louis’ epileptic seizures, but the NHS refuses to supply it. Chris Petit and Emma Matthews have turned their fight into a filmThat uniquely valuable British writer and independent film-maker Chris Petit, creator of downbeat classics such as Radio On from 1979 and An Unsuitable Job for a Woman from 1982, may not these days find it easy to get an outlet for his work; this would be appear to be his first feature credit for 15 years. But he and co-director, editor and partner Emma Matthews have emerged with a deeply personal movie: painful, complex, challenging and engaging.Petit and Matthews riff and free-associate on the themes of memory, memory-loss and the moving image on video and celluloid, but at the centre of this is an urgent story from their own lives. In his early teens, their son Louis, now 22, a talented artist and musician, began to have epileptic seizures that wiped out his memories of childhood; some of these were of the type nicknamed “Ali...

Events

7 hours ago Wales breaking news plus weather and traffic updates (Sunday, February 2)

All of the latest news from across Wales and further afield

Politics

25 hours ago Portland police chief apologizes to mass shooting victims falsely said to be armed

Investigation first published by the Guardian proved volunteers at 2022 Black Lives Matter protest were unarmedThe chief of police in Portland, Oregon, acknowledged this week that the force had misled the public about a deadly attack on traffic-safety volunteers before a Black Lives Matter protest in 2022, by wrongly telling the media that the gunman had been confronted by “armed protesters”.In fact, as a visual investigation by the research group Forensic Architecture first published by the Guardian last year showed, the traffic-safety volunteers at the 19 February 2022 protest were unarmed, and trying to de-escalate the rightwing gunman when he opened fire. Continue reading...

Events

8 hours ago ‘Female narcissism is often misdiagnosed’: how science is finding women can have a dark streak too

Research into ‘dark personality traits’ has always focused on men. But some experts believe standard testing misses the ways an antisocial personality manifests itself in womenPicture a psychopath. Who do you see in your mind’s eye? Chances are it’s a man. And chances are your answer would be similar if you were asked to picture a narcissist. From Charles Manson and Ted Bundy to Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump, most famous people we consider psychopathic or narcissistic are male. That’s even the case for fiction – think Hannibal Lecter, Patrick Bateman or Norman Bates.Scientists long assumed that women were simply too wonderful to be significantly psychopathic or narcissistic, and didn’t bother to study the possibility much, according to Ava Green from City St George’s, University of London. But research over the past few decades is increasingly challenging this stereotype, suggesting women can have a dark streak, too. Much like in autism or ADHD, such traits just expre...

Politics

27 hours ago Plastic Lego piece turns up on beach 28 years after it was washed overboard when freak wave hit container ship

The small blue Lego flipper was lost overboard when container ship Tokio Express was tipped by a huge wave during a storm in February 1997 off Land's End.

Events

10 hours ago UK scientist wins prize for invention that could help avert ‘phosphogeddon’

Phosphate, key to food production, is choking waterways, but a new sponge-like material returns it to the soil for cropsIt is one of the least appreciated substances on the planet and its misuse is now threatening to unleash environmental mayhem. Phosphorus is a key component of fertilisers that have become vital in providing food for the world. But at the same time, the spread of these phosphorus compounds – known as phosphates – into rivers, lakes and streams is spreading algal blooms that are killing fish stocks and marine life on a huge scale.It is a striking mismatch that is now being tackled by a project of remarkable simplicity. The company Rookwood Operations, based in Wells, Somerset, has launched a product that enables phosphates to be extracted from problem areas and then reused on farmland. Continue reading...

Politics

32 hours ago Richey Edwards: The mysterious disappearance of the Manic Street Preachers star, 30 years on

The guitarist vanished on 1 February 1995 and is widely presumed to have taken his own life, but a body was never found and there is no definitive proof that he died by suicide. Thirty years later, Ed Power reflects on the rock star whose legacy is one of tragedy and conspiracy

Events

13 hours ago Doctor reveals simple cough and cold remedy made from two kitchen staples

This combination of two ingredients was a well known remedy generations ago.

Politics

35 hours ago Inside Kylie Jenner's Hello Kitty themed 'sleepover party' for daughter Stormi's 7th birthday

Kylie Jenner has begun preparations for her daughter Stormi's bash ahead of her 7th birthday on February 1st. She shared a behind the scenes look at the adorable decor.

Events

14 hours ago Keir Starmer is an 'HR manager not a leader' while Angela Rayner simply 'manipulates people' and is surrounded by union bosses, PM's current chief of staff said

Morgan McSweeney became the Prime Minister's chief of staff in October last year after Sue Gray quit the role.

Politics

38 hours ago Trump White House marks Black History Month while Defense Department declares 'identity months dead'

The Trump White House has issued a proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month around the same time the Defense Department issued guidance declaring “identity months dead.”

Events

15 hours ago Wayne Rooney in demand for next job after Man Utd legend's Plymouth axe

Wayne Rooney is being chased by a number of TV programmes, with Match of the Day keen snap him up, while Sky also rate him highly and this week he offered strong views on Gary Neville’s The Overlap

Politics

38 hours ago Former Fox Sports reporter accuses top executive of sexual assault in lawsuit

Julie Stewart-Binks filed lawsuit on Friday in Los AngelesFormer reporter is suing network and exec Charlie DixonDixon is also co-defendant in separate January complaintA former Fox Sports reporter and anchor filed a lawsuit Friday against the network and top executive Charlie Dixon, saying he sexually assaulted her after coaxing her up to his hotel room to discuss Super Bowl plans in 2016 and was later pushed out of her job for fighting back.Julie Stewart-Binks said in her complaint, filed in Los Angeles county superior court, that she was inspired to speak up after a former hairstylist for Fox Sports filed a lawsuit on 5 January saying a former host had made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward her and that Dixon had groped her. Continue reading...

Events

17 hours ago Groundhog Day 2025: Five things you didn’t know about the February tradition

The first Groundhog Day celebration dates back to 2 February, 1887

Politics

39 hours ago Meet the 'Recovery Agent' braving tower blocks, traveller camps and lock ups to rescue your stolen bike after the police give up... all for just £6.99

Jane Fryer joined 25-year-old Bilal Ali, who is making it his mission to retrieve stolen bikes, on his latest recovery job as figures show that 150,000 bikes are taken in the UK alone on an annual basis.

Events

20 hours ago Lotto results LIVE: Winning National Lottery numbers for Saturday, February 1

We will be bringing you tonight's winning National Lottery Lotto results - live updates below

Politics

21 hours ago Mum reveals 'surreal' Kate Middleton moment after daughter shouted two words at Princess

Princess Kate was about to drive away during a visit to a knitwear factory in Carmarthenshire when three-year-old Lily-Rose piped up, causing Kate to halt the royal convoy and come over to say hello

Politics

21 hours ago JPMorgan’s $4bn delivery of gold bullion adds to fears Trump’s tariffs will reshape global trade

US bank, world’s biggest bullion dealer, says it will deliver raw material against contracts that will expire in FebruaryUS banking giant JPMorgan plans to deliver $4bn of gold bullion weighing more than 937 tons to New York this month, before an anticipated escalation of Donald Trump’s trade-rebalancing tariff moves planned for Saturday.The US bank, the world’s biggest bullion dealer, said it would deliver the hefty raw material, weighed as 30m troy ounces of gold, or 1.875m lbs, against contracts that will expire in February. Continue reading...

Politics

21 hours ago Cycling’s governing body bans carbon monoxide rebreathing on health grounds

Gas can be misused to artificially increase performanceUCI’s ban will come into effect on 10 FebruaryCycling’s governing body has banned the repeated use of carbon monoxide rebreathing that some riders allegedly misuse to artificially increase their performances.Following a meeting of its executive committee on Saturday in France, the UCI said it approved a ban on repeated inhalation to protect the health of riders. The ban starts on 10 February. Continue reading...

Politics

22 hours ago Dad, 37, left 'unable to pick up his baby' and has lost his career after heartbreak

Wesley Jones has lost his dream job and his quality of life

Politics

23 hours ago ‘Humanure’: RHS plans rollout of first compost toilet to fertilise flowerbeds

The horticultural charity’s showpiece garden in Surrey is setting aside an space to test human waste fertiliserFor more than 200 years, gardeners at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) have been reaping the benefits of using compost and manure in their flowerbeds.But until now, they have never had the satisfaction of using compost created from their own human waste. Continue reading...

Politics