70 minutes ago Keir Starmer played the China card in Rio – and sent a message to a hawkish Donald Trump | Simon Tisdall

The PM and other western leaders are cosying up to Beijing. If the president-elect imposes punitive tariffs on Chinese imports, he will give Xi the upper handBoth were lawyers before they became politicians, but that’s where the similarities between Keir Starmer and Richard Nixon end. The former US president resigned in disgrace at the height of the Watergate corruption scandal exactly 50 years ago. Britain’s prime minister may have been unwise to accept free tickets from Arsenal FC – but he’s not in Nixon’s league.Except, perhaps, was there just a touch of Tricky Dicky about Starmer’s meeting with China’s president, Xi Jinping, at last week’s G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro? Watergate aside, Nixon is famous for his groundbreaking 1972 visit to Beijing, which opened the way to normalised r...

Politics

73 minutes ago DAN HODGES: Out of touch Starmer should be talking to furious farmers and freezing pensioners

So, Sir Keir Starmer has finally decided to grace us with his presence. After another week of globe-trotting, he flew back to a sub-zero Britain.

Politics

97 minutes ago Conor McGregor fires homophobic insult at Jake Paul as boxer taunts him over rape case

Conor McGregor sent a vile homophobic message to Jake Paul who taunted him just hours after the UFC star was found to have assaulted a woman in a Dublin hotel

Events

1 hour ago 'I had friends who were DJs, doormen and drug dealers... things escalated very quickly'

Steve Wyatt was drinking 15 pints a day

Events

1 hour ago Fleet of drones is spotted over major US airbase in Britain where they are building facilities to house nuclear weapons

The largest American airbase on British soil was buzzed by drones this week, amid unconfirmed reports that fighter planes were dispatched to intercept the encroaching aircraft.

Events

2 hours ago ‘We live in a climate of fear’: Graphic novelist’s Elon Musk book can’t find UK or US publisher

Darryl Cunningham blames fear of ‘legal consequences’ for reluctance to take on book, now only available in FrenchA biography by a British graphic novelist of Elon Musk is struggling to find an English-language publisher due to feared “legal consequences”.Elon Musk: Investigation into a New Master of the World is the latest graphic novel by Darryl Cunningham, from West Yorkshire. Cunningham, 64, has written and illustrated seven nonfiction books on topics ranging from the 2008 global economic meltdown (Supercrash), to Russian leader Vladimir Putin (subtitled The Rise of a Dictator). Continue reading...

Society

2 hours ago Who are the shellsuit boys in image that captures the 1980s? New Tate Britain show solves mystery

Friends who posed for celebrated photographer Ingrid Pollard in 1989 are reunited for new picture 35 years laterIn 1989, three 15-year-olds, dressed in identical shellsuits and trainers, posed for a photo to commemorate the imminent closure of their south London school. It was one of 24 photos taken that day by Ingrid Pollard, an up-and-coming photographer in her mid-30s, who simply stored the contact prints away in a box at home.“From time to time, I would wonder what happened to those boys, particularly the ones in their shellsuits, because it was a very special photo,” said Pollard, who last month received the prestigious Hasselblad award, the top international photography prize. Continue reading...

Politics

3 hours ago 'Worst of Storm Bert yet to arrive' amid gridlocked roads and cancelled flights

Winds of up to 70mph are set to batter coastal areas and, as temperatures rise on Saturday, melting snow and heavy rain are causing flooding

Events

4 hours ago ‘Worst of Storm Bert yet to arrive’ amid gridlocked roads and cancelled flights

Winds of up to 70mph are set to batter coastal areas and as temperatures rise on Saturday, melting snow and heavy rain are causing flooding.

Events