45 h. ago A&E waits fuel 4,000 attacks on NHS staff a year: One worker is attacked every two hours in 'tinder box' hospitals as nurses face violence and gun threats

Middle-class patients and their families are among those driven to rage by long waits and dehumanising care in corridors, the Royal College of Nursing said.

Events

66 h. ago Environment groups are too white and middle class, says green boss

Asad Rehman (pictured), who became the first person of colour to lead Friends of the Earth this week, said more needed to be done as he pledged to develop a diverse movement.

Events

9 d. ago The Confessions of Samuel Pepys by Guy de la Bédoyère review – sex and the city

Newly decoded extracts from his diaries expose the celebrated 17th-century diarist and naval administrator as a rapacious sexual predatorSamuel Pepys’s diary, which covers 1660 to 1669, is regarded as one of the great classic texts in the English language. Words spill out of Pepys – 1.25m of them – as he bustles around London, building a successful career as a naval administrator while navigating the double trauma of the plague and the Great Fire of London. Historians have long gone to the diary for details of middle-class life during the mid‑17th century: the seamy streets, the watermen, the taverns and, as Pepys moves up the greasy pole, the court and the king. Best of all is his eye for the picturesque detail: the way, for instance, on the morning of 4 September 1666, as fire licks around his house, Pepys buries a choice parmesan cheese in the garden with the intention of keeping it safe.Not all of the diary is in English, though. Quite a lot of it is in French (or rather Frangla...

Politics

9 d. ago The Confessions of Samuel Pepys by Guy de la Bédoyère review – journal of a predator

Newly decoded extracts expose the celebrated 17th-century diarist and naval administrator as a rapacious abuserSamuel Pepys’s diary, which covers 1660 to 1669, is regarded as one of the great classic texts in the English language. Words spill out of Pepys – 1.25m of them – as he bustles around London, building a successful career as a naval administrator while navigating the double trauma of the plague and the Great Fire of London. Historians have long gone to the diary for details of middle-class life during the mid‑17th century: the seamy streets, the watermen, the taverns and, as Pepys moves up the greasy pole, the court and the king. Best of all is his eye for the picturesque detail: the way, for instance, on the morning of 4 September 1666, as fire licks around his house, Pepys buries a choice parmesan cheese in the garden with the intention of keeping it safe.Not all of the diary is in English, though. Quite a lot of it is in French (or rather Franglais), Latin, Spanish and a ...

Politics

9 d. ago Rewilding group to assess possible return of white storks to London

Citizen Zoo to map habitats in the capital and consult boroughs and the public about reintroduction of the birdsAn urban rewilding group is seeking the public’s views on the potential return of white storks to London as part of a project to see if the birds could make a home in the capital.White storks could once be seen flying in Britain’s skies and building their huge nests on roofs and in trees, but they disappeared centuries ago as a breeding bird as a result of hunting and habitat loss. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Middle class families could be hit with soaring water bills under Labour's new plan to subside the costs for Britain's poorest households

The proposed national social tariff is due to be presented to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a review of the water industry on Monday.

Society

3 w. ago Trump offers regulatory relief for coal, iron ore and chemical industries

President Donald Trump is granting two years of regulatory relief to coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturers and other industries as he seeks to reverse Biden-era regulations he considers overly burdensome

Politics

4 w. ago Kew’s Palm House to shut for renovations as part of push towards net zero

The project, which also includes renovations to the Waterlily House, is not expected to start until 2027.

Events

4 w. ago The middle class shoplifters pushing up prices for honest customers: How affluent thieves who 'feel like they're owed something' are pinching luxury goods

Dame Diana Johnson, Labour's policing and crime minister, has issued a stark warning to wealthier thieves, insisting 'there will be consequences' regardless of their background.

Economics

last month Killer in the nest: how young storks are being strangled by plastic

Researchers in Europe found everyday plastics, especially farmers’ baler twine, being used by the birds as a building material and entangling their young. It is a problem that affects other species too, say experts in the US, UK and ArgentinaOn a late spring morning in the farmlands of southern Portugal, Dr Marta Acácio set her ladder against a tree and began to climb. Four metres up, she reached the giant white stork nest that was her goal. She knew from telescopic camera shots there was a healthy looking chick inside – and now she wanted to ring it.But when Acácio, an ecologist from University of Montpellier in France, tried to scoop up the chick, it would not come away: it was tethered to the nest by a piece of plastic baler twine. She turned the chick over and recoiled: its belly was a mass of maggots. Continue reading...

Events