42 m. ago Woman plays clarinet during surgery for Parkinson’s – and sees instant results

Denise Bacon, 65, experienced instant improvement in her finger movements as the electrical current was delivered

Politics

94 m. ago The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee review – newly discovered stories from an American great

If we regard this book as literature, it is an unqualified failure. But these juvenile stories and essays shed fascinating light on the repression of Lee’s early lifeWhen a new book is published by a writer dead for a decade, there is always some suspicion that the bottom of the barrel is being scraped. When the writer is Harper Lee, there is also the unpleasant aftertaste of the release of her second novel, 2015’s Go Set a Watchman, which was promoted as a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, when in fact it was a formless early draft. The publication was also surrounded by controversy over whether the aged Lee, by then seriously disabled, had really consented to its publication.This new book, The Land of Sweet Forever, is a much more conventional enterprise: a collection of Lee’s unpublished short stories and previously uncollected essays. No deception is being practised here, and if people want to read the lesser scribblings of a favourite author, it is surel...

Politics

2 h. ago Dare you enter the splash zone? Wet and wild selkie steals the show at Glasgow’s startling arts festival

Take Me Somewhere tucks audiences up in bed, takes them to a last supper and delights with a paddling-pool comedy-tragedy A nurse puts a steadying hand on my back and guides me to bed. She takes off my shoes, dresses me in soft pyjamas and hands me a VR headset. Mum will be along soon to read a bedtime story, she says. ZU-UK’s tender encounter Within Touching Distance is part of Take Me Somewhere, Glasgow’s biennial festival of wild-hearted international performance. With a teddy bear pressed into my hands, this is a deceptively gentle start to my day, which ends with a queering of the Apostles and a greased-up naked man being hand-fed fish.Within Touching Distance is a slow act of care-taking, walking one audience member at a time through the course of a life, from being read a story as a child to clutching a walking frame in old age. Blending the physical with the digital, this smartly choreographed piece fights against technology’s lack of intimacy; when I’m watching “Mum” squeez...

Events

2 h. ago Horoscope today: Your daily guide for Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Read what the stars mean for you today, from Libra to Gemini

Politics

3 h. ago ‘I said goodbye to Heath Ledger at this urinal’: a stroll round Terry Gilliam’s pivotal places

The studio where he crashed the Life of Brian spaceship, the stage where he put on a Faust that caused fights, the pub where he last spoke to Heath Ledger the ex-Python takes a hilarious and evocative stroll down memory laneDown an alley in Covent Garden, on a building that was once a banana warehouse, there is a blue plaque. “Monty Python, Film Maker, Lived Here, 1976-1987,” reads the inscription. It’s easy to miss: the plaque is not at eye level as they normally are, but up on the first floor, almost as if the blue plaque committee lost confidence in their uncharacteristic joke. Or perhaps John Cleese put it up.Terry Gilliam arrives. I like his jacket. It looks like it’s been stitched together from bits of blankets. “Me too,” he says. “I got it 30 years ago in a secondhand store in New York.” We’re going to wander around London, revisiting places that have played significant parts in his career, as he approaches his 85th birthday. Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein and the scandal that won’t go away – podcast

Zoe Williams describes the scandals that have engulfed Andrew, leading to him giving up his titlesOn Friday evening, Buckingham Palace released a statement from Prince Andrew. ‘I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first,’ it read. ‘I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me.’It seemed that Prince Andrew was voluntarily giving up his titles such as the Duke of York, the Knight of the Garter, or calling himself the Earl of Inverness – but perhaps his hand had been forced by the palace, or by his older brother King Charles. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Parkinson's patient played clarinet during brain surgery so surgeons could see and hear the immediate impact of their work

Denise Bacon, 65, experienced instant improvement in her finger movements as the doctors stimulated her brain with an electrical current.

Science

7 h. ago UK's UFO hotspot revealed as tiny town sees more aliens per 100k people than anywhere else

With the UK recording on average around 400 UFO sightings each year, new data has now revealed the best place to spot them, as a quaint Welsh town tops the list

Politics

8 h. ago Retired Parkinson’s patient plays clarinet during surgery – and sees instant results

Denise Bacon, 65, experienced instant improvement in her finger movements as the electrical current was delivered

Science

8 h. ago Horoscope today, October 21 2025: Daily star sign guide from Mystic Meg

OUR much-loved astrologer Meg sadly died in 2023 but her column is being kept alive by her friend and protégée Maggie Innes. Read on to see what’s written in the stars for you today. ♈ ARIES March 21 to April 20 The new moon energises partnerships, from love to work, and you can find fresh...

Politics

9 h. ago Susan Boyle, 64, shows off her new blonde hairstyle as she opts for a chic printed dress and a faux fur stole at the Pride Of Britain Awards

The singer, 64, showed off her eye-catching new blonde hairstyle as she posed on the red carpet at London's Grosvenor House.

Events

10 h. ago Celebrity Traitors star Kate Garraway addresses her 'feud' with Tom Daley after his viral side eye at her 'flabbergasted' catchphrase

Celebrity Traitors star Kate Garraway has weighed in on her 'feud' with co-star Tom Daley after he gunned for as one of the villains of the show.

Politics

10 h. ago Three cases of severe mpox reported in California, health officials say

Unrelated cases mark first time clade I of disease formerly known as monkeypox has spread within US, officials sayThree California residents have been infected with clade I mpox, a more severe strain of the virus formerly known as monkeypox – marking the first time this type of mpox has spread within the US, health officials said on Friday.The unrelated cases, identified in Long Beach and Los Angeles county, involve patients who had not recently traveled abroad. All three were hospitalized and are now recovering, according to the California department of public health. Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago ‘It’s all just wonderful’: minnows Mjällby win unlikely Swedish title for first time

Team from a town with a population of under 1,400Jacob Bergström and Tom Pettersson score in 2-0 winMjällby scored twice in the first half to secure a 2-0 victory at IFK Gothenburg and claim a sensational first Allsvenskan league title for the unfancied club from a tiny fishing village in the south of the country.Jacob Bergström scored with a close-range bicycle kick in the 21st minute and Tom Pettersson poked home a second goal seven minutes later as their side took an unassailable 11-point lead over second-placed Hammarby with three games left to play. Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago Eric Dane to guest star as ALS patient on Brilliant Minds amid health struggles

Dane announced his diagnosis earlier this year

Science

12 h. ago Celebrity Traitors star Kate Garraway addresses her 'feud' with Tom Daley after his dramatic side eye at her 'flabbergasted' catchphrase

Celebrity Traitors star Kate Garraway has weighed in on her 'feud' with co-star Tom Daley after he gunned for as one of the villains of the show.

Events

12 h. ago Girlfriend of Stuart Pearce’s son pays tribute to 'the man I’ll love forever' following fatal tractor crash

A tribute left at the scene of the tragedy by Holly Watts read: ‘I'm so proud of you and of what we have become’

Events

13 h. ago The Guardian view on the price of a prince: what Virginia Giuffre’s story says about palace accountability | Editorial

The Jeffrey Epstein scandal has exposed a constitutional blind spot: royal privilege remains beyond democratic scrutiny. MPs must be able to question powerThe tragic story of Virginia Giuffre raises the question of who governs when royal privilege and public outrage collide. As a vulnerable teenager she was drawn into a world of sexual exploitation by the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Ms Giuffre alleged that Epstein trafficked her and that she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17. He has denied all the claims. Despite previously insisting he had no memory of meeting her, the prince reportedly paid £12m to settle her civil case in 2022. The money was said to have come from his mother, the late queen – who, just six weeks later, was photographed walking beside him at her husband’s memorial service.With a posthumous memoir, Ms Giuffre has brought the issue back into the spotlight. In his calamitous 2019 Newsnight interview,...

Politics

13 h. ago Cravings stop and patients drop 10% of their weight following new therapy that requires no surgery or drugs

Patients undergoing a new weight loss 'surgery' have slashed their cravings and their body weight by more than 10 percent, an ongoing study from researchers in Israel has shown.

Events

13 h. ago Southport attacker’s psychiatrist had not read notes on past interest in Manchester Arena bombing

Six days before the attack, Rudakubana's risk to others was said to be "none"

Events