5 h. ago UK politics live: Badenoch blasts Starmer and Farage in benefits row as Rayner gives winter fuel U

Angela Rayner has suggested details on when winter fuel payments could be restored to more pensioners could be announced within a few weeks

Politics

5 h. ago American Dirt author Jeanine Cummins: ‘I didn’t need to justify my right to write that book’

Five years after being vilified for exploiting the migrant experience in her bestseller, the author reveals how the backlash inspired her latest novelWhen Jeanine Cummins logs in to our video call, I am surprised to see that the profile picture that pops up before her video loads is the Spanish-language cover of her book American Dirt. I had assumed, given the vitriol that novel attracted when it was published in 2020, that she would be trying to distance herself from it.For the first year after its publication, that was the case, she tells me from a light-filled, bookshelf-lined room in her New York home. “My husband would ask me every week: ‘Knowing what you know now, would you still write it?’” she says, and the answer was consistently: “No, I would not.” Continue reading...

Culture

6 h. ago Angela Rayner piles pressure on Keir Starmer over winter fuel U

The Deputy Prime Minister used a TV interview to suggest pensioners should be told within weeks whether and when they would see their payments restored.

Events

6 h. ago Angela Rayner says she ‘never’ wants to be Prime Minister or Labour leader

The Deputy Prime Minister was asked to rule herself out from the top job after a memo she sent to Rachel Reeves suggesting tax rises was leaked.

Politics

6 h. ago Winter fuel reversal details could come in weeks, suggests Rayner

The Deputy Prime Minister indicated an announcement could be made in the Spending Review on June 11.

Politics

7 h. ago Is Little Disasters based on a true story? Writer opens up on her own 'intrusive thoughts'

Little Disasters is based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Vaughan - and the author has opened up about the personal experiences that inspired the book

Events

18 h. ago MI5 probes Putin link to Starmer arson blitz: Spy chiefs investigate claim that Kremlin ordered attacks over UK support for Ukraine

Although no one was injured in the fires, any suggestion that the attacks on a British Prime Minister had been ordered by the Kremlin would represent an extraordinary escalation in tensions.

Events

20 h. ago Le Bris hails Sunderland’s character in playoff triumph as Wilder questions VAR

Tommy Watson’s 95th-minute goal secured 2-1 victorySheffield United’s Chris Wilder concedes a bitter blowRégis Le Bris said the 19-year-old Tommy Watson’s dramatic stoppage-time winner to clinch Sunderland’s promotion to the Premier League encapsulated a rollercoaster season and suggested team spirit will be key if they are to cope with the step up next season. The French head coach masterminded Sunderland’s return to the top flight after eight years in his first season at the club.Watson, a 73rd-minute substitute, scored in the fifth minute of added time to complete a dream comeback victory after Eliezer Mayenda cancelled out Tyrese Campbell’s well-taken opener. Watson, who joined Sunderland aged eight, will move to Brighton next month after the clubs agreed a £10m deal in April, but the forward gave his boyhood club the perfect parting gift. “We’ll see each other in the Premier League next year, in the big time,” Watson said. Continue reading...

Politics

20 h. ago Archaeologists make chilling discovery inside 'Blood Cave' used for ancient Mayan rituals

Hundreds of human bones found in an underground cave in Guatemala suggest chilling human sacrifices took place there.

Events

20 h. ago Pregnant Vick Hope asks Radio One Big Weekend crowd for baby name ideas ahead of her maternity leave as she prepares to welcome first child with husband Calvin Harris

The presenter, 35, who is expecting her first child with husband Calvin Harris later this year, threw herself open to suggestions while taking to the stage with co-host Jamie Laing.

Politics

21 h. ago Challenge use of ‘nefarious’ news sources, says environmentalist

Mike Berners-Lee tells Hay festival audience to make spread of political deceit more socially embarrassingPeople should confront their family members who read news from “nefarious” sources, suggests the environmentalist Mike Berners-Lee.“Challenge your friends and family and colleagues who are getting their information from sources that have got nefarious roots or a track record of being careless – or worse – with the truth, because we need to make this sort of thing socially embarrassing to be involved in,” said Berners-Lee, the brother of the World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. Continue reading...

Politics

22 h. ago Criminologist reveals 7 things she's learned talking to drug mules and their handlers

Dr Fleetwood, senior lecturer in criminology at City St George's, University of London, and author of Drug Mules: Women in the International Cocaine Trade on how traffickers pick drug mules and what they tell them

Events

24 h. ago Ange Postecoglou makes new reveal about Tottenham future after message to fans

The future of Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur has been in question but Europa League success and his message to fans on Friday night have suggested he sees himself sticking around

Politics

32 h. ago ‘It set me on a new path’: the book that empowered me, by Yulia Navalnaya, Elif Shafak and more

Chris Packham, Katherine Rundell, Kehinde Andrews and other authors speaking at this year’s Hay festival reveal the books that inspired themChosen by Katherine Rundell, author Continue reading...

Politics

33 h. ago Bestselling Chocolat author JOANNE HARRIS on the disgusting quip Harvey Weinstein made to her at the Oscars

Author of multimillion-selling novel Chocolat JOANNE HARRIS talks the day Juliette Binoche turned up at her door and why it's taken two decades to write its prequel

Culture

34 h. ago Trans activists install 'third toilet' on UK Supreme Court steps after controversial ruling

A trans activist group made their stand by placing a "third toilet" on the steps of the Supreme Court - a direct response to the suggestion to make their own "third space"

Events

36 h. ago Germany trumpets its reckoning with its Nazi past – except when it’s inconvenient | Hanno Hauenstein

From a media prize with a dubious pedigree to the horrors of Gaza, the establishment forgets and remembers what suits it bestGrowing up in Germany, we were taught to believe we had done better. Better than our grandparents’ generation, who swept their complicity under a thick rug of silence. Better even than our parents, whose revolts in the late 1960s rarely led to any serious reckoning with the legacy of the Holocaust.Born in the late 1980s, my generation learned about Auschwitz early on. We visited former concentration camps and studied the Nazi regime not as an alien aberration, but as a warning: this is how democracies die. Today, with the far-right AfD and ethno-chauvinism on the rise, that warning has never felt more urgent.Hanno Hauenstein is a Berlin-based journalist and author. He worked as a senior editor in Berliner Zeitung’s culture department, specialising in contemporary art and politics Continue reading...

Politics

36 h. ago UK weather forecast as jet stream 'buckle' could send June temperatures soaring

Forecasts suggest a period of good weather could be on the way for Brits thanks to a potential 'buckle' in the jet stream - meaning the start of June could be a hotter than expected

Sport

46 h. ago Alex Garland set to direct huge video game adaptation for A24

Game’s worldbuilding was written by Game of Thrones author George RR Martin

Politics

47 h. ago Brits 'will turn to illegal options' when disposable vape ban comes into force next week

Brits might turn to the black market for their nicotine hit after the new disposable vape ban, a new survey suggests

Events