59 h. ago Post Office reveals busiest day over Christmas season for sending parcels

The company is urging the public to post early to avoid the rush and ensure gifts arrive in time for the big day

Politics

62 h. ago Post Office issues Christmas warning as busiest day revealed

The Post Office has revealed what it expects to be its busiest day of the festive period

Events

3 d. ago Black Friday busiest day of the year so far for retailers, figures show

Spending data from Barclays shows transactions on November 28 reached a 2025-high, up 62% on the average.

Politics

4 d. ago Post Office urges customers to send parcels before busiest day on December 8

Britons are planning on sending more gifts this Christmas compared to last year – up from 20% to 33%, according to a survey for the Post Office.

Economics

4 d. ago Don’t filter your dates by age and hobbies, ask them how they shop | Polly Hudson

Big deal-breakers are all very well, but the seemingly small things often tell in the end. How do they feel about sell-by dates? Will they walk out of a bad film? Not asking will come back to haunt you A friend of mine once declined a date with a kind, funny, clever man because she hated his shoes. When she relayed this to our group of twentysomethings, it didn’t warrant comment or discussion, because it was such a rational decision, which we all would have made. I mean, come on – you can’t go out with someone with bad trainers, can you?Fortunately for the continuation of the human race, today’s daters appear to be a little less fastidious. A recent report on relationships by the dating app Plenty of Fish not only failed to mention footwear, but showed that people are keen to skip the small-talk phase, so weighty conversation topics such as life goals and dealbreakers are now brought up straight away. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Strictly’s Lewis and Katya spotted in ‘tense exchange’ on break from rehearsals ahead of live show

STRICTLY duo Lewis Cope and Katya Jones were seen having tense talks during a brief break from gruelling rehearsals this week.  With the next Strictly Come Dancing live show fast approaching, training week appears to be taking its toll on the celebrity-pro dancer pairings. The talented pair have been practicing the notoriously difficult Rumba -...

Politics

8 d. ago Snow, temperature drops and wind gusts greet Americans on the busiest travel day of the year

This holiday travel period is expected to be the busiest in nearly 15 years

Transport

8 d. ago Snow hits the Midwest and rain in the South: Thanksgiving’s busiest travel day hit with weather woes

This holiday travel period is expected to be the busiest in nearly 15 years

Events

8 d. ago Strictly Come Dancing fans rush to support pro dancer as they're 'replaced'

A Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer was temporarily replaced in training this week

Politics

1 week ago Cole Palmer makes Chelsea training return to raise hopes over Arsenal comeback

Blues talisman takes part in team session at Cobham ahead of Barcelona showdown after fracturing toe in freak accident

Sport

2 w. ago Universal's huge UK theme park to get its own railway station

The new Universal theme park set to come to the UK will even get its very own train station.

Politics

2 w. ago Launch of East West Rail services to be delayed in row over guards on trains

Trains between Oxford and Milton Keynes put back to 2026 partly due to dispute, Chiltern Railways saysThe start of passenger services on the new East West Rail line will be delayed until at least 2026 with no start date confirmed, the operator has said, partly due to a row over guards on the trains.Passenger trains were supposed to come into service between Oxford and Milton Keynes this autumn, the first stage on the new railway along the Oxford-Cambridge arc where the government hopes for rapid economic growth. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Conor McGregor’s coach provides update on UFC comeback: ‘We’re already training’

McGregor, currently serving an anti-doping ban, is eyeing a spot at the UFC’s planned White House event

Sport

2 w. ago What AI doesn’t know: we could be creating a global ‘knowledge collapse’ | Deepak Varuvel Dennison

As GenAI becomes the primary way to find information, local and traditional wisdom is being lost. And we are only beginning to realise what we’re missingThis article was originally published as ‘Holes in the web’ on Aeon.coA few years back, my dad was diagnosed with a tumour on his tongue – which meant we had some choices to weigh up. My family has an interesting dynamic when it comes to medical decisions. While my older sister is a trained doctor in western allopathic medicine, my parents are big believers in traditional remedies. Having grown up in a small town in India, I am accustomed to rituals. My dad had a ritual, too. Every time we visited his home village in southern Tamil Nadu, he’d get a bottle of thick, pungent, herb-infused oil from a vaithiyar, a traditional doctor practising Siddha medicine. It was his way of maintaining his connection with the kind of medicine he had always known and trusted.Dad’s tumour showed signs of being malignant, so the hospital doctors and my...

Politics

2 w. ago Nearly 16,000 violent crimes happened on trains or at railway stations last year in 7% rise that averages 40 a DAY

The revelation comes just two weeks after ten train passengers were attacked in a terrifying knife frenzy in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

Events

2 w. ago Ronni Ancona and Alistair McGowan look back: ‘We would have killed each other if we’d stayed as a couple. Instead, our friendship is eternal’

The comedians on their Bafta-winning sketch show, the reason they split up – and why she reminds him of Diane KeatonBorn in Louth, Lincolnshire in 1969, and raised in Troon, Ayrshire, Ronni Ancona is an actor, writer and impressionist. She studied at Edinburgh College of Art and trained as a teacher before turning to comedy. Born in Evesham, Worcestershire, in 1964, Alistair McGowan studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before becoming an impressionist. The pair met on the London comedy circuit in the 1990s. They co-created the Bafta-winning Big Impression, which aired between 1999 and 2003 and became one of the BBC’s most popular sketch shows. Ancona’s new podcast with Hal Cruttenden – Hal & Ronni in Pieces – is available now. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Nearly 16,000 violent crimes happened at trains or at railway stations last year in 7% rise that averages 40 a DAY

The revelation comes just two weeks after ten train passengers were attacked in a terrifying knife frenzy in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

Events

2 w. ago Watford drivers set for London Congestion Charge hike and EV discounts cut

Watford drivers set for London Congestion Charge hike and EV discounts cut  Watford Observer

Politics

3 w. ago 'Busiest day for Watford to London trains' coming up this week

'Busiest day for Watford to London trains' coming up this week  Watford Observer

Politics

3 w. ago Sicily deserves better than the looming prospect of a giant bridge that will never get built | Jamie Mackay

Troubled waters over the world’s longest suspension bridge are no surprise. The Italian government should be funding public servicesA dozen or so times each day, as Italy’s southbound Intercity rail service arrives in the Calabrian town of Villa San Giovanni, the journey comes to a dramatic halt. The train is decoupled from its tracks, carefully loaded on to the deck of a ferry, and secured in place. The entire cargo then eases out into the Strait of Messina en route to Sicily. Invariably, this 25-minute crossing becomes an impromptu community moment. Passengers abandon their carriages, flocking to the ship’s top-deck snack bar to share freshly fried arancini, trade anecdotes, and admire the vista over Mount Etna’s distant peak, before returning to continue their journey by rail.For tourists and itinerant visitors like myself, the ferry crossing is a charming novelty. For local people, however, it has long been a defining part of their identity. In his 1941 novel, Conversations in S...

Politics