5 d. ago Shopping centre demolition to unlock massive town centre regeneration in Greater Manchester town

The huge makeover has been earmarked for years

Economics

6 d. ago Inside Floris London: Creating a Bespoke Perfume at Britain's Oldest Perfumery

Inside Floris London: Creating a Bespoke Perfume at Britain's Oldest Perfumery  1883 Magazine

Politics

6 d. ago Vibrant Scottish town home to 14th century castle and Scotland's only balloon festival

The town’s biggest attraction each year is the Balloon Festival, which has been running since 1999.

Politics

1 week ago Demolition of shopping centre approved to create ‘one of Britain’s biggest inner town’ development spaces

Crompton Place will take a year to be demolished and leave behind a space facing Bolton town hall bigger than two football pitches

Economics

1 week ago Police remove sign calling for motorists to 'beep if you think Starmer's a w****r'

Locals have said the sign created the 'loudest dual carriageway in Britain' before it was brought to the attention of police.

Events

1 week ago The ‘big church move’: Swedish town begins to roll historic building 5km

Kiruna Kyrka’s slow journey is part of effort to stop town being swallowed by Europe’s biggest underground mineAfter eight years of planning, an estimated cost of 500m kronor (£39m) and an early morning blessing, a church in northern Sweden began a slow-motion 5km journey on Tuesday to make way for the expansion of Europe’s biggest underground mine.The 672-tonne Kiruna Kyrka, a Swedish Lutheran church inaugurated in 1912, is to be slowly rolled to its new home over two days, at a pace of half-a-kilometre an hour. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Demolition of shopping centre will see new walkway ‘surrounded by hoardings’ link two town centre areas

The demolition of Crompton Place in Bolton will leave a vast flattened area opposite the town hall until it's redeveloped

Economics

2 w. ago We used AI to analyse three cities. It’s true: we now walk more quickly and socialise less | Carlo Ratti

Fifty years ago, people socialised very differently in public spaces. Clever design could reverse this unwelcome developmentCarlo Ratti is the director of Venice’s 2025 Biennale ArchitetturaSomething is thinning in public space. Pavements are still crowded. Parks still bustle. But if you look more closely – or, better still, if you measure it – the texture of our interactions has changed.Together with colleagues at Yale, Harvard and other universities, we used AI to compare footage of public spaces from the 1970s with recent video in the same locations in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. The findings are striking: people walk faster, linger less, and are less likely to meet up. That’s no surprise in a world where phones, Netflix and AI companions are luring us away from real-world spaces and real-world friends. Yet, if technology is part of the problem, it may also be part of the solution. By using AI to study urban public spaces, we can gather data, pick out patterns and test ne...

Politics

2 w. ago The rise and fall of no go zone factory site labelled 'Rochdale's Chernobyl'

Life working inside the Turner Brothers factory that went from the town's biggest employer to an abandoned wasteland

Politics

2 w. ago Kingsmill owner agrees to buy Hovis in £70m deal paving the way for Britain's biggest bread brand

Britain's biggest bread brand is on the brink of being created after Kingsmill's owner agreed to buy rival Hovis Group.

Economics

2 w. ago I'm a veterinary nurse, and here's what Scots dog owners need to know about summer insect bites

Britain’s warm and wet summer has created ideal conditions for buzzing bugs, but while these insects might be a minor nuisance to us, they could pose a serious hazard to our four-legged friends here in Scotland.

Politics

3 w. ago OpenAI in talks on share sale that would price it at more than Musk’s SpaceX

If transaction goes ahead value of ChatGPT developer would rise to $500bnBusiness live – latest updatesOpenAI is reportedly in early talks about a sale of shares held by current and former employees that would price the ChatGPT developer at half a trillion dollars, overtaking Elon Musk’s SpaceX in valuation.If the transaction goes ahead, the value of the San Francisco-based company would rise by about two-thirds, from $300bn (£225bn). The valuation would exceed that of Musk’s rocket company, which is currently worth $350bn and is reportedly circling a $400bn price tag in a new fundraising. Continue reading...

Technology