37 minutes ago Our three little girls vanished into thin air. Then we got a haunting letter

Rachel, 17, Renee Wilson, 14 and nine-year-old Julie Ann Moseley left home at about 10:45am on December 23, 1974, to go Christmas shopping. They have not been heard from since.

Politics

42 minutes ago Notre Dame rose again from the ashes – so too can France’s battered democracy | Alexander Hurst

With the country in stalemate, people have lost faith in government. But citizens’ assemblies show one way forwardWhen Notre Dame burned, something in the flames seemed to speak to the combustibility of our age. Nothing is for ever, the fire said, even those edifices – stone or institutional – that we assume will always be there. In almost every democracy, there are similar forces of backlash and disaffection. The anger is diffuse and the discontents vary, but there is a general agitation that seems to boil down to the feeling that someone should do something.At the moment, France seems to have crystallised this phenomenon in a way that other democracies might draw both warnings and lessons from. Will François Bayrou last longer as prime minister than Michel Barnier? Perhaps. But the basic impediment remains: the country is politically split roughly into thirds (and the “left” is split among itself), with the end result that creating a majority for anything is almost impossible. Con...

Politics

42 minutes ago Almost no one can work out how to remove the ring from the string in tricky brainteaser

A new brainteaser - that 99 percent of people are unable to find the answer to - has been shared to TikTok, leaving puzzle enthusiasts scratching their heads

Politics

60 minutes ago Where homeless people in Greater Manchester can get Christmas dinner in 2024

A number of places across Greater Manchester are offering Christmas dinner for free on December 25

Politics

96 minutes ago Tens of thousands displaced by ethnic violence in northeast India suffer squalid conditions in camps

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in India’s northeast Manipur state since violence erupted last year between the majority Meitei community and minority Kuki-Zo tribes

Events

1 hour ago Christmas wrapping hack without any tape completely blows people's minds

This life hack is a total game changer, and will enable you to wrap your Christmas presents this year with absolutely no tape - and the results look so professional

Politics

2 hours ago Who is the German Christmas market attack suspect? A Saudi doctor and far

Police arrested a 50-year-old man after a car was driven into a crowd of people at a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday night

Events

2 hours ago Elaborate holiday light displays are making spirits bright in a big way

Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow might be enough to brighten some homes this holiday season

Politics

2 hours ago ‘I’m a pain in the backside ... an awkward sod’: Alan Bates on love, justice and the Post Office scandal

He became a household name after ITV turned Britain’s biggest miscarriage of justice into a drama. He reflects on his fight for compensation, turning down an OBE – and getting married on Richard Branson’s island Sir Alan Bates is at home in Llandudno with his wife Suzanne. Or, as he puts it, Lady Suzanne. You might know him better as Mr Bates from the Post Office scandal. He is the man who refused to give up when the Post Office told thousands of subpostmasters that they were inept or corrupt rather than acknowledging they were victims of flawed Horizon computer technology and managerial mendacity. It resulted in the biggest miscarriage of justice Britain has known – more than 900 people convicted of theft or false accounting, 236 jailed, numerous family breakdowns and at least four suicides.For 20 years, few of us knew about the scandal. But gradually his campaign built up steam, thanks largely to his tireless work. In January, ITV turned it into a gripping docudrama, Mr Bates vs t...

Society

2 hours ago Travel news live: Christmas getaway delays as snow hits M62 and trains, ferries and flights cancelled

RAC estimates 22.7 million drivers will hit the roads as people get away for Christmas

Events