8 h. ago English councils pay private landlords millions in incentives to house homeless families

Exclusive: Data gathered by Generation Rent shows 37 councils spent £31m in 2024-25 in one-off payments to individual landlordsCouncils across England are increasingly spending millions of pounds a year in incentive payments to private landlords to persuade them to house homeless families, with campaigners describing it as a “senseless waste of public money”.Data gathered by the campaign group Generation Rent via freedom of information requests showed that 37 councils spent more than £31m on one-off cash payments to private landlords on 10,792 occasions in 2024-25. Continue reading...

Society

14 h. ago Labour's vow on free childcare is at risk of collapse after raid on National Insurance, Education Secretary warned

In a letter to the Education Secretary, 27 leading organisations representing children, parents and childcare providers said families face being let down without urgent action.

Events

19 h. ago Federal judge temporarily blocks US from deporting children to Guatemala

Washington judge says 10 unaccompanied children cannot be deported for at least 14 days as legal process unfoldsA US judge at least temporarily blocked the government on Sunday from deporting a group of Guatemalan children who had crossed the border without their families, after their lawyers said the youngsters were loaded onto planes overnight and in violation of laws affording protections for migrant kids.Attorneys for 10 Guatemalan minors, ages 10 to 17, said in court papers filed late on Saturday that there were reports that planes were set to take off within hours for the Central American country. But a federal judge in Washington said those children couldn’t be deported for at least 14 days, and after a hastily scheduled hearing on Sunday, she enforced that they needed to be taken off the planes and back to the Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities while the legal process plays out. Continue reading...

Events

21 h. ago Rylan Clark has already talked about having children with new boyfriend

TV and radio host Rylan Clark has revealed he's already had 'the talk' with his new funfair worker boyfriend as he opens up on his love life in a rare admission

Politics

26 h. ago Israeli airstrikes and gunfire have killed 18 around Gaza City, local officials say

Toll includes 13 people trying to get food near distribution point, as Israeli cabinet to discuss next stages of offensiveIsraeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 18 people in and around Gaza City, local health authorities said, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet prepared to discuss plans to seize the city.Residents of Sheikh Radwan, one of the largest neighbourhoods of Gaza City, told reporters the area had been under Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes throughout Saturday, overnight and on Sunday morning, forcing many families to flee.With Reuters and Agence France-Presse Continue reading...

Events

27 h. ago Photos show displaced Palestinians fleeing the northern Gaza Strip

Displaced Palestinians are fleeing the northern Gaza Strip with their belongings, as the Israeli military presses on with its operations. Families are moving south in search of safety.

Culture

41 h. ago Sally Phillips: ‘I saw Hugh Grant and I screamed. I was surprised he was human

The comedian and actor on what she has learned at clown school, showing her Austin costar Michael Theo around London and the weirdest thing she has done for loveWhat do people approach you about most: Smack the Pony, Bridget Jones, Alan Partridge or shoving cake into Alex Horne’s armpits?I profile them as they come up. If it’s a man about my age, it would normally be Alan Partridge. If it’s a man in his 30s, it might be Taskmaster or Veep. If it’s a woman, it’s harder to tell. Smack the Pony seems to be having a revival among women in their 20s but it could easily be Bridget Jones and Miranda. It’s starting to happen with Austin, too, which seems to be something that families watch together. Continue reading...

Politics

2 d. ago Billie Piper demands 'urgent action' for Palestinian children as she asks fans to 'spare a thought' for youngsters 'starved and traumatised' in Gaza

The 42-year-old actress shared a statement on Instagram highlighting the contrast between her own time with her children and the suffering faced by families in the conflict.

Events

3 d. ago Strictly Come Dancing's Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink reveals secret dance background

Strictly Come Dancing star Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has revealed that he's 'out of his comfort zone' heading into the competition - but has some familiarity with the dance world

Politics

3 d. ago MAFS UK star 'mortified' after getting completely naked on TV ends in heartbreak

Dating Naked UK is back with more twists and turns, and one familiar face has been left 'mortified' after his second chance at finding love ended as soon as it started

Politics

3 d. ago Orphan review – László Nemes’ fable of resentment and rage in post

This always interesting film-maker displays impressive technical control in this painful, sombre story about a boy who meets the father he never knewAfter the spiritual ordeal of his Holocaust movie Son of Saul, and his complex, nuanced drama about prewar Budapest, Sunset, Hungarian director László Nemes comes to Venice with a valuable, interesting picture: another painful, sombre story from 20th-century central Europe composed in his familiar sepia visual palette, and executed with impressive technical control.Set in the aftermath of Hungary’s failed uprising against its Soviet masters, it is a story about sons rebelling against fathers, but also about coming to terms with (or having to swallow resentment at) the reality of a new order of power – just as the Hungarian people had to come to terms with Moscow’s rule and with finding their proud spirit of independence stigmatised as quasi-fascist. With no support for their self-determination, Hungarians in 1956 were orphaned by the ti...

Politics

4 d. ago Blood Orange: Essex Honey review | Alexis Petridis’s album of the week

(RCA)Gorgeous melodies ground Dev Hynes’s questing fifth album, via dancefloor rhythms, indie pop and languorous funk – and cameos from Lorde and Zadie SmithDev Hynes’s fifth studio album as Blood Orange opens with a series of unexpected musical juxtapositions. The first track, Look at You, starts out with softly sung vocals over a cushion of equally soft synthesiser chords, before stopping dead, then re-emerging as almost an entirely different song: harmonies over guitar chords strummed so lazily you can hear the plectrum hitting each individual string. The second, Thinking Clean, offers a piano over pattering hi-hats: there’s something anticipatory about it, like an intro that’s about to burst into life, but when it does – complete with dancefloor rhythm – the song swiftly falls apart. The piano becomes increasingly abstract, before everything gives way to scrabbling, apparently improvised cello.It’s a lot to cram into six minutes, but anyone familiar with Blood Orange’s back cata...

Events

4 d. ago Coronation Street fans make same observation as Betsy Swain in 'car accident' with two familiar faces

It's been teased that the teen will be involved in a car accident involving two of her pals in the ITV soap

Politics

4 d. ago Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice is suspended 6 games by NFL, person familiar with decision tells AP

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice has been suspended for six games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, according to a person with knowledge of the decision

Politics

4 d. ago Theme park to hold Scotland's first ASN festival with 'joyful spaces' for families

Natalie Chateau, from Eaglesham, is the driving force behind the festival for families with children who have additional support needs

Politics

5 d. ago White House threatens sex education funds unless states nix references to transgender people in curriculums

The Trump administration sent a letter demanding states, territories and DC ‘remove all references to gender ideology’The Trump administration has told US states and territories they will lose federal funding for their sex education programs if they do not remove references to transgender people.In letters sent to 46 states, territories and Washington DC on Tuesday, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) demanded they “remove all references to gender ideology” within 60 days or risk losing funding from the Personal Responsibility Education Program, or Prep. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Jet2 makes big change for families including new baggage allowance rules

Jet2 is making big changes for families travelling with young children including new baggage allowance rules for the likes of prams and car seats

Politics

5 d. ago Irvine care home celebrates Marymass Festival with residents and families

HC-One Scotland’s Fullarton Care Home in Irvine joined in the town’s historic Marymass Festival with a joyful celebration for residents, relatives, and colleagues.

Society

5 d. ago These briefcases are the definition of quiet luxury (and have been featured on Succession and The White Lotus)

SHOPPING: Shoppers will be all too familiar with the struggle of finding a bag or briefcase large enough to hold all of your essentials and comfortable enough to commute with, that's also stylish.

Events

5 d. ago Ruth by Kate Riley review – a very different kind of candour

This unusual debut explores the inner life of a woman in an insular American religious communityInspired by the author’s own experience, Kate Riley’s debut novel depicts one woman’s life in the US chapter of an international Anabaptist sect. “The Brotherhood” is an insular and reactionary society founded by German emigrants. All property is held in common and centrally rationed in “a constantly recalibrating state of voluntary poverty”; collectivity is so rigidly enforced that even the family unit is considered a potential threat, with youngsters periodically rehoused in different families. Women (“sisters”) are assigned dowdy dresses in order to repress desire, and merely humming a tune is a guilty pleasure. This bleak way of life is rendered in a series of episodic dispatches, and the title character’s inner life is imparted in a free indirect third person as she grapples with doubt, shame and boredom.Ruth is knock-kneed and clumsy, prone to malingering and fixated on la...

Politics