44 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

44 minutes ago The Don, London: ‘The expectation was for something warmer’ – restaurant review

The menu here was overseen by Rowley Leigh, but his generous touch in the kitchen is missingThe Don, 20 St Swithin’s Lane, London EC4N 8AD. Starters £14.50–£19.50, mains £22.50–£47.50, desserts £11.50–£12.50, wines from £35The Don in London’s Square Mile is a chilly restaurant. It’s not simply that on this grey November lunchtime, the vent to our left is pumping frigid air into the room, as if they failed to notice the clocks went back weeks ago. It’s also the hard-lined space with the slab-like picture windows looking out on to St Swithin’s Lane. It’s the parquet and the bright lights, the hefty chairs upholstered in a frosty shade of cadet blue, and the desperate attempt to soften everything with a large fern imprint on a taupe wall. The tables are set just far enough apart so diners can plot against their rivals and mutter “your shout or mine” at each other without being overheard. It feels like an overworked TV production designer’s idea of a City restaurant, from which at any m...

Events

45 minutes ago Instant design classic: Barnsbury penthouse is an oasis of calm with pops of colour

Now this is a way to bring some peace and tranquility to your home...

Politics

54 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

83 minutes ago Magdeburg Christmas Market attack: Organisers break silence after horror attack kills five

At least five people are dead and dozens more injured after a car ploughed through a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany in what is being described as a deliberate attack

Events

1 hour ago M&G sues Royal London over client exposure to ‘inappropriately risky investments’

Asset manager demands at least £27mn in damages after buying financial adviser platform from mutual

Events

1 hour 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

1 hour ago Exclusive: photographs reveal first glimpse of uncontacted Amazon community

Automatic cameras in the Brazilian rainforest show images of the Massaco people, who are flourishing despite environmental threatsRead more on this story: New images show Brazil’s uncontacted people are thriving – but with success comes a new threatRemarkable images taken by automatic cameras in the Brazilian rainforest reveal an isolated community that appears to be thriving despite pressure from ranchers and illegal encroachment into the Amazon.The pictures, of a group of men, offer the outside world its first glimpse of the community – and give further evidence the population is growing. The group is known as the Massaco after the river that runs through their lands, but no one knows what they call themselves, while their language, social fabric and beliefs remain a mystery. Continue reading...

Culture

1 hour ago 'My afternoon at London's Culture Mile was the perfect antidote for winter blues'

'My afternoon at London's Culture Mile was the perfect antidote for winter blues'  Romford Recorder

Politics

1 hour ago Pedicabs and photo booths targeted in £70k rogue trader crackdown in London

Pedicabs and photo booths targeted in £70k rogue trader crackdown in London  Wimbledon Guardian

Economics