43 m. ago ‘I can’t waste this’: Michael Sheen on his riskiest role yet – saving Wales’s national theatre

When funding cuts closed National Theatre Wales, the actor saw it as an emergency, and set about building a replacement. As its first show comes to the stage, he explains his plan to bring big productions back to his homelandSince Thornton Wilder wrote Our Town in 1938, it is said that not a day has passed when the Pulitzer prize-winning show hasn’t been performed. “Every time I read it, I come away with the feeling of having been woken up,” says Michael Sheen, star of the upcoming touring production of Wilder’s play about a close-knit community in small-town America. “With this urgent sense of ‘I have to not waste this.’”Transposing the heart of the American classic to Wales, this new production also marks the launch of Welsh National Theatre, a hugely ambitious company formed – and financed – by Sheen in response to the collapse of the former National Theatre Wales. “Opening night is going to be more than just the opening night of a play,” says Russell T Davies, the show’s creativ...

Events

44 m. ago Inside Enzo Fernandez's stunning new mansion with WAG after Wanda Nara love triangle

Enzo Fernandez and his Argentine WAG showed off their lavish new London mansion after a whirlwind few years filled with drama and a high-profile love triangle

Politics

82 m. ago Dad, 35, dies after being hit by cop car on 999 call near London tourist attraction as devastated wife pays tribute

A DAD has died after being hit by a cop car on a 999 call near a London tourist attraction as his devastated wife pays tribute. David Clark, 35, was struck down in the early hours of hours of January 7 in Southwark. His wife, Celene Clark, has released a heartbreaking tribute saying her "heart...

Events

84 m. ago Why a Chinese ‘mega embassy’ is not such a worry for British spies

Politicians are raising the alarm, while MI5 quietly welcomes the prospect of Beijing’s new London facilityWhile there has been no shortage of politicians eager to raise concerns about China’s proposed “mega embassy” near the Tower of London, the espionage community quietly takes a different view, arguing that concerns about the development are exaggerated and misplaced.The domestic Security Service, MI5, is already quietly welcoming the prospect of rationalising China’s seven diplomatic sites to one, but a more significant argument is that modern technology and the nature of the Chinese threat means that, in the words of one former British intelligence officer, “embassies are less and less relevant”. Continue reading...

Politics

96 m. ago Taiwan detains journalist over alleged military leaks to China

A TV reporter and current and former army officers are accused of exchanging military information for payments

Events

2 h. ago Man United's ban for Kai Rooney and why dad Wayne has been told he can't watch him play

Kai Rooney is following in his father Wayne's footsteps at Manchester United's academy

Politics

2 h. ago London is officially the best food destination in the world in 2026 – here’s why

London is officially the best food destination in the world in 2026 – here’s why  Time Out Worldwide

Politics

2 h. ago Roman Britain: Sifting through remains in the 'London lasagne'

Roman Britain: Sifting through remains in the 'London lasagne'  BBC

Politics

2 h. ago The South London neighbourhood named 1 of 'coolest' in world where people still visit after moving out

The South London neighbourhood named 1 of 'coolest' in world where people still visit after moving out  MyLondon

Politics

2 h. ago It’s so toxic at Spurs even West Ham were shocked: Frank’s race looks run | Jacob Steinberg

Saturday’s visiting fans know a thing or two about being a dysfunctional club but the level of hate inside Tottenham’s gleaming home surprised even themIt comes to something when the level of discontent at Tottenham had people who have spent all season watching West Ham wondering if it was all a bit much. There were cries of mutiny whenever Guglielmo Vicario tried to play out from the back, jeers at half-time and, of course, sustained boos when another home defeat for Thomas Frank’s nervous wreck of a team ended with one last cross from Djed Spence drifting sadly out of play in the ninth minute of added time.At times it felt like not knowing how to leave the room after accidentally walking in on a bitter row between a warring couple. How is anyone supposed to function in such a poisonous atmosphere? Somehow, the malaise at West Ham felt mild by comparison. At least the anger in east London tends to be focused mainly at the board for the failure to kick on since swapping Upton Park f...

Events

2 h. ago Iran cannot be bombed into democracy. But it can be helped to find its way there | Simon Tisdall

Independent media, civil society, the rule of law – these are the things that Iranians truly need. And there are ways for the west to help secure themSoon after becoming president in 2017, Donald Trump ordered an attack on an Islamic State (IS) underground complex in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. The strike involved the first-ever use in combat of a GBU-43 massive ordnance air blast (Moab) “bunker buster” bomb – the US’s most powerful conventional weapon. The bombing killed about 90 insurgents but failed to crush IS. It also made zero long-term difference to the US’s losing battle with the Taliban.Yet that was not the point. Inexperienced Trump, who had famously avoided military service, was keen to show he was in charge, a commander-in-chief unafraid to make tough calls and send troops into harm’s way. He craved a big bang – a spectacular demonstration of unmatched US power. Like a teenager who unexpectedly obtains the keys to the family gun cabinet, he could not resist the tem...

Events

2 h. ago London firms hit with £6.7m of illegal worker fines in just six months

More than a third of the companies fined were restaurants

Economics

2 h. ago ‘Robin Hood’ activists who targeted Crown Jewels plan London Waitrose raids

Group vows to 'clear out' supermarkets in Robin Hood-style raids against inequality

Events

3 h. ago Businessman, 21, runs company spreading across London 4 months after being shot in crossfire

Businessman, 21, runs company spreading across London 4 months after being shot in crossfire  MyLondon

Events

3 h. ago Kai Rooney's Man Utd ban and why he told his dad Wayne he's not allowed to watch him play

Kai Rooney is following in his father Wayne's footsteps at Manchester United, but the teenage striker has faced several challenges

Politics

3 h. ago Prince Harry 'forcing King to choose between him and William' with impossible decision

It has been claimed that Prince Harry "desperately wants" his father King Charles to join him at the Invictus Games next year - but one royal expert predicts it could pose a huge problem

Politics

4 h. ago London leaver: 'My £400k Glastonbury home cost a third what I sold for in Camberwell'

Katie Young says swapping south London for Somerset offered an affordable new start post divorce

Economics

4 h. ago Prince Harry v the Daily Mail: high stakes trial could have profound effects on UK media

Royal will join a group of notable figures in his action against the tabloid and its stablemate, the Mail on Sunday, in a trial expected to last nine weeks On Monday morning, Prince Harry’s legal war with the Daily Mail, one of the British media’s most formidable forces, will finally come to trial in court 76 of the high court in London.The prince is joined in his action by some of the most recognisable figures in British life: the singer and songwriter Elton John and his husband, David Furnish; actors Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost; Doreen Lawrence, a Labour peer whose son Stephen was murdered in a racist attack; and former politician Simon Hughes, who once ran to lead the Liberal Democrats. Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago Sleep, stress and sunshine: endocrinologists on 11 ways to look after your metabolism

Hormones impact almost all of our bodily functions, from skin, to the gut, to our moods. Here, experts on hormonal and metabolic health explain how to stay well“Most people would like to have more energy and be leaner,” says Prof David Ray, an endocrinologist at the University of Oxford who also provides NHS services. “There is a connection between how we choose to live, what our bodies look and feel like, and the hormones that are going around the body. What endocrinologists deal with is disorders of either a lack of hormones, or too much of a hormone.” Continue reading...

Politics

5 h. ago The pub that changed me: ‘It was a refuge from teenage pressures – and a portal to excitement’

At the Faversham there was thumping house music, projections of lava lamp bubbles, and bottles of K Cider. Rave culture had hit Leeds, and my friends and I plunged inI can mark out stages in my life by the pubs I’ve been to – and I started early. My grandparents used to take me to the Sandford Arms across the road from their house in Leeds on a Saturday afternoon to play the jukebox – and since I remember records like Boney M’s Rivers of Babylon this must mean I was about four. My other grandparents, meanwhile, actually ran a pub in the city centre. Their days usually started with my grandad, who did not have the bonhomie of a natural landlord, groaning to my grandmother: “You open up, Kath, I can’t face it!” Continue reading...

Events