92 m. ago I was enjoying a midnight swim. Then my girlfriend kissed me – and the nightmare began

Seventeen years ago Nathan Dunne was locked out of his body, or at least that’s how it felt. He talks about his battle with depersonalisation disorder – and his sudden fear of waterOn a cold winter’s night, in a “fit of spontaneity”, Nathan Dunne and his girlfriend went for a midnight swim on Hampstead Heath in London. They had been living together for a few months and, although it was dark and chilly, they “had a summer feeling in that first flush of the relationship”, Dunne says. They shed their clothes and waded into the shallows. After diving into the icy water, Dunne’s girlfriend put her lips to his cheek, and as they pulled apart, his life changed beyond all recognition. “It was like being struck. Like something came down,” he says, slicing the air with his hand. “The flip of a switch.”Dunne’s transformation sounds like a fairytale in reverse: one kiss, and his life turned into a nightmare. Seventeen years have passed since that night, and he still mostly explains the change i...

Politics

1 hour ago Pope Leo criticises ‘exclusionary mindset’ of nationalist political movements

During Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square, the pope asked that God ‘open borders, break down walls (and) dispel hatred’Pope Leo has criticised the emergence of nationalist political movements and their “exclusionary mindset”, without naming a specific country or leader.Leo, the first pope from the US, asked during a Mass on Sunday with tens of thousands in St Peter’s Square that God would “open borders, break down walls (and) dispel hatred”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Voices: Chilling red wine actually makes it taste better (yes, really)

I’m not suggesting I came up with the idea of chilling red wine, writes Rosamund Hall, but I love to see that it’s become more mainstream since the days I used to serve it at my east London wine bar

Politics

2 h. ago UK estate overrun by 'wannabe gangsters' as locals don't open door after dark

Residents of a UK estate claim they are scared to open their doors after dark as baclava-clad teenagers reportedly roam the streets 'screaming' and causing mayhem

Events

2 h. ago The chilling ways your alarm clock, photo frames and smoke alarms are spying on you: Secret recordings are on the rise...and it's NOT against the law

EXCLUSIVE: Spy cameras and listening devices hidden in items like phone chargers, photo frames, alarm clocks and pens are available in huge numbers on Amazon and eBay.

Events

2 h. ago The Potato Eaters review – a descent from visceral dread into full

Lazzaretto Vecchio, VeniceOn the site of a hospital for leprosy patients, audience members are invited to wander in near darkness among twitching body bags into a choreographed scene of ritualised tyrannyThere are strong Death in Venice vibes to the setting of Romeo Castellucci’s site specific production at the Venice Biennale Teatro. The show, by the Italian writer-director and his company, inhabits its own island – a long, lizard-like colony. The audience boards a shuttle and skims across the water to arrive at a building that was once a lazaretto – a hospital for leprosy patients. Associations with fatal infection and social isolation are chillingly resonance of the Covid pandemic. But as you wander into this disturbing promenade piece, things turn chilly in more ways than one.The building’s interior is stripped of its skin so that its brick and rafters lie bare, and there is a low electronic rumble of sound along its corridors which is as disquieting as the near darkness. Window...

Politics

3 h. ago Gavin & Stacey icon Ruth Jones' secret life in one of Britain's most remote corners

Ruth Jones enjoys a tranquil 'second' life in one of Britain's remotest corners, a thousand miles away from her home in Wales.

Politics

5 h. ago Looted from Syria, sold on Facebook: antiquities smuggling surges after fall of Assad

Collapse of once-feared security apparatus, coupled with widespread poverty, has triggered a gold rushThey come by night. Armed with pickaxes, shovels and jackhammers, looters disturb the dead. Under the cover of darkness, men exhume graves buried more than 2,000 years ago in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, searching for treasure.By day, the destruction caused by grave robbers is apparent. Three-metre-deep holes mar the landscape of Palmyra, where ancient burial crypts lure people with the promise of funerary gold and ancient artefacts that fetch thousands of dollars. Continue reading...

Culture

5 h. ago Surprising symptoms of 'overlooked' cancer every woman must know

An alarming number of women are unaware of the tell-tale signs of a deadly cancer that kills thousands each year, new research has shown.

Science

5 h. ago Paul McCartney was 'nearly killed' during most chilling encounter of career

Paul McCartney released one of his most celebrated albums on this day in 1973, but recording it proved to be costly as he was 'nearly killed' while working on the record

Events

7 h. ago Travel ban may shut door for Afghan family to bring niece to US for a better life

Mohammad Sharafoddin, his wife and young son managed to make it out of Afghanistan as refugees nine years ago, at one point walking 36 hours in a row over mountain passes

Politics

8 h. ago Fatcat uni boss who told MSPs he didn’t know his own salary spent £47k on luxury foreign junkets

We can reveal Peter Mathieson – who earned £421,667 last year according to the uni’s latest accounts – has racked up thousands on business class travel.

Economics

8 h. ago Keir Starmer’s defence expansion plan 'will bring tens of billions of investment into Scotland'

Military intelligence experts say thousands of jobs will be created as billions are ploughed into key Scots locations.

Economics

10 h. ago How women blighted by cruel back pain may actually have hidden arthritis

Axial spondyloarthritis has long been considered to be a condition more commonly found in men. However, new research suggests that women are just as likely to develop it.

Politics

11 h. ago Two years after breaking down in front of thousands at Glastonbury, Lewis Capaldi is to make his big stage return at this year's festival

Capaldi, 28, will perform in the 'secret slot' at the festival's Pyramid Stage after Alanis Morrisette on the Friday of the five-day festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset later this month.

Politics

12 h. ago Nicole Scherzinger reveals when she will FINALLY tie the knot with fiancé Thom Evans after he popped the question two years ago

The former Pussycat Doll is currently starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber 's Sunset Boulevard musical on Broadway.

Politics

14 h. ago Cloudy skies can’t dim joy as thousands fill nation's capital for World Pride parade

Gray skies and drizzle have given way to sunshine, multicolored flags and celebrations as the nation’s capital hosts the World Pride parade

Politics

16 h. ago Scott Morrison sought advice to obstruct Nauru asylum seekers from accessing abortions, documents reveal

Advocate claims Abbott government was concerned asylum seekers and refugees were using medical transfers as a back door to get into AustraliaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastScott Morrison overrode medical advice in the case of an asylum seeker in offshore detention trying to access an abortion, and had previously sought advice that would effectively prevent access to terminations entirely, ministerial advice reveals.Documents released under freedom of information laws show Morrison, in 2014 as immigration minister, had sought advice to deny the transfer of women to a hospital on the Australian mainland to access termination services before 20 weeks’ gestation. Continue reading...

Events

16 h. ago Thousands of demonstrators march through Rome to call for an immediate end to the war in Gaza

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have marched through the streets of Rome in a protest called by the main opposition parties against the war in Gaza

Events

16 h. ago Huge fire breaks out at Appleby Horse Fair attended by thousands of Travellers

There were no injuries reported in the incident

Events