92 minutes ago Major supermarkets urgently recall Christmas food favourites and issue 'do not eat' warning over safety fears

Causes for concern range from items containing potentially dangerous bacteria like Listeria to meat products shockingly being out on the use by date by a whole month.

Events

2 hours ago With Assad’s fall, Putin’s dream of world domination is turning into a nightmare | Peter Pomerantsev

Complaints about the president are growing among Russian military and business leaders. Now is the time for the west to turn up the heat As Bashar al-Assad fell, Russian nationalist military bloggers turned on the Kremlin. “Ten years of our presence,” fumed the “Two Majors” Telegram channel to its more than one million subscribers, “dead Russian soldiers, billions of spent roubles and thousands of tonnes of ammunition, they must be compensated somehow.” Some didn’t shy away from lambasting Vladimir Putin. “The adventure in Syria, initiated by Putin personally, seems to be coming to an end. And it ends ignominiously, like all other ‘geopolitical’ endeavours of the Kremlin strategist.” These weren’t isolated incidents. Filter Labs, a data analytics company I collaborate with, saw social media sentiment on Syria dip steeply as Assad fell.It was in stark contrast to Putin’s silly claim at his annual news conference last week that Russia had suffered no defeat in Syria. Unlike social med...

Politics

4 hours ago Amid fear of more closures, how one Scottish golf club has secured its future

Winterfield members set to take over day-to-day running of popular East Lothian club

Politics

4 hours ago ‘They can’t sleep can’t speak’: the lifeline offered to Gaza’s traumatised children

War Child hopes to provide a million children in the strip with basic aid and educational and mental health support. It’s their biggest emergency appeal yetDonate to our charity appeal here“They have many symptoms,” says Ibrahim, describing how trauma is manifesting daily in children in Gaza. “Being attached to their parents to the point that they don’t want to leave the place they are in – such as a tent. Severe anxiety and fear. Going to the toilet a lot – involuntary urination, basically.“They don’t want to participate in activities. They can’t sleep, they’re having trouble eating. Sometimes it can escalate to the point where a child becomes catatonic. They can’t speak. They can’t connect to family members because of severe trauma. Some have become very angry, defensive, aggressive. Some also have speech impediments – they can’t talk; they stutter.” Continue reading...

Events

4 hours ago Death is at the heart of Christmas. That’s why we love to tell festive ghost stories | Kate Maltby

It’s a creepy time of year from The Archers to Nosferatu to Mark Gatiss’ Woman of StoneThis Christmas, find some pity for Lynda Snell MBE. Fans of the BBC radio soap The Archers know Lynda as the stalwart organiser of every Christmas panto in the fictional village of Ambridge. This year, she found herself tasked with something more arduous: voice-coaching the hard-living Mick, who had volunteered to play Father Christmas at the local pub, only for the landlords to discover that Mick had a performance voice so rasping and gravelly it was guaranteed to terrify the children.Readers who, like me, are incurable listeners of The Archers will know the solution: Lynda sparkily announced that this year, Ambridge would host a “creepy Christmas” event, allowing Mick to snarl to his heart’s content as Krampus, not Santa, and a range of other Christmas bogeymen. Hilarity, by Ambridge standards, ensued when Lynda found herself scrambling to hide Mick and his demonic horns from the vicar. Continue...

Events

4 hours ago Liverpool players at risk of suspension: Reds duo in immediate danger of ban

Reds in danger of losing two players to suspension in the Premier League

Sport

4 hours ago British Airways Mass Flight Cancellations London Heathrow December 22, 2024

British Airways Mass Flight Cancellations London Heathrow December 22, 2024  LoyaltyLobby

Society

4 hours ago Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi issue urgent recalls on festive foods over safety fears

Tesco, Morrisons, Dunnes and Aldi are among the supermarkets issuing 'do not eat' warnings over a range of items that are being urgently recalled by the Food Standards Agency

Politics

4 hours ago Rudolph’s never going to get a very shiny new role in Santa’s family firm | Torsten Bell

Workers in family-run businesses earn less on average and have fewer opportunities to progress into senior jobsSanta has a great reputation. Generous, jolly, snazzily dressed. But he’s obviously a terrible employer. The elves are entirely unpaid for their gruelling manual labour. Their fixed smiles and constant singing are evidence of a culture of fear. Does anyone believe he’s keeping the Lapland workplace temperature above the Health and Safety Executive’s 16C minimum? And the reindeer’s 24-hour shift this week will be a clear breach of the working time directive.The complete lack of progression (not to mention a highly segregated workforce) is another warning sign. Everyone has been doing the same job for centuries – which works for Santa at the top, but means few opportunities for others to move on up. Continue reading...

Politics

5 hours ago Faced with Trump and Farage, Britain’s natural ally is Europe | William Keegan

The Labour party’s determination to stick to Brexit simply condemns the UK to fight a lone hand against the far-right forces ranged against itThe sight of other world leaders toadying up to the US president-elect – the criminal Donald Trump – and his henchman Elon Musk is distasteful enough, but in the world of realpolitik they probably feel they have no option.The great American journalist HL Mencken did not live to see the fulfilment of his 1920 prophecy that “one day the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron” but he is no doubt turning in his grave. Continue reading...

Politics