78 minutes ago From Charli to Jilly to Moo Deng the hippo: the faces we won’t forget from 2024

Some made a splash in politics, social media, sport or the arts. Others took a brave personal stand. Observer writers and critics pick the names on everyone’s lips this year Continue reading...

Politics

78 minutes ago Prestigious Scottish university forced to rewrite financial strategy after 'substantial' deficit increase

Redundancies ruled out but principal says ‘room for manoeuvre is limited’

Politics

78 minutes ago Joe Newell opens up on inspiring charity work that has helped him cope with 'hardest six months of my time at Hibs'

The honest skipper concedes it has been a tough time for the Premiership side

Politics

78 minutes ago Freddie Flintoff’s net worth, Top Gear crash, model wife and Bullseye reboot

Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff will be back on our screens soon as the England cricket legend is set to present a special episode of Bullseye – a TV show he expressed was his favourite "as a kid"

Events

88 minutes ago King Charles communicates in local language to express solidarity with quake

King Charles has sent his prayers to the people of Vanuatu, a country in the South Pacific made up of 80 islands, after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck, killing at least 14 people

Politics

2 hours ago ‘She should have a bit of me’: the Dutch mothers fighting for their children to carry their surname

Women are challenging the law that prevents them giving their kids both family names without father’s consentWhen 43-year-old Rebecca Lee took her birth mother’s Korean surname, it was a revelation. “I was adopted and got a Dutch name but I never felt completely Dutch,” she says. “When, a few years ago, I first went to Korea, things fell into place. You don’t just go ‘one, two, three’ and change your name, but now I feel more whole.”The entrepreneur from Groningen split from her husband and wants to give her five-year-old daughter “Lee” as part of a double-barrelled surname – but she cannot, under a Dutch law that some women, a leftwing MP and legal experts believe is unfair. Continue reading...

Politics

2 hours ago The Christmas that went wrong: The day was saved by the new friend I’d made on a drunken night out

I was alone in New York during the pandemic, in the aftermath of a breakup and unable to go home. A Korean family taught me to believe in the kindness of strangersLike many Jewish families, the Wolfsons take Christmas extremely seriously. Latkes and smoked salmon are served before homemade cranberry sauce and brussels sprouts. My dad’s hand-painted menorah, which he made during the ceramics cafe boom of the early 2000s, sits proudly underneath the Christmas tree.As such, I had never missed a Christmas with the family – although there had been some near misses. In 2019, we spent Christmas by my dad’s hospital bed after his stroke – us sipping on hospital canteen gingerbread lattes, him having Christmas dinner in the guise of vanilla-scented protein, fed through a tube. In 2020, I saw my family only from six feet away, double-masked and on the doorstep. I delivered presents, but they were not opened for a few days, to let any stray virus dissipate. Continue reading...

Politics

2 hours ago Freddie Flintoff's impressive net worth, Top Gear crash admission, model wife

Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff is set to present a reboot of Bullseye for ITV, and has claimed that the darts-themed quiz show was one of his favourites "as a kid"

Events

3 hours ago The powerful and enduring legacy of a beloved football coach who died at just 28

Alex Meek was just 28 when he died. From something so horrific has come hope, unity, and an unwavering commitment to help others in the same way he did

Sport

3 hours ago King Charles 'deeply saddened' as he sends prayers to Pacific island nation devastated by earthquake

Vanuatu, a South Pacific Ocean nation, has seen 14 deaths and counting and hundreds of injuries after a catastrophic 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck just offshore from one of the country's most populous islands

Politics