35 h. ago Revealed: House of Lords members have given £109m to political parties

Conservatives benefit most from donations provided either before or after peers secured their seatsCash before honours: the Tory donors made peers who barely speak in LordsPeers who sat in the House of Lords during the last parliament have given a combined £109m in political donations, almost £50m of which was contributed before they secured their seats.A group of 20 super-donors – all male – have given more than £1m each.Nearly £48m came from donors before they joined the Lords, with 91% of that sum going to the Conservatives.Donations after joining the Lords were split more evenly, with 42% given to the Conservatives, 33% to Labour and 25% to the Lib Dems.The top three donors were David Sainsbury, with £25m to Labour and the Lib Dems, and the Conservative supporters Anthony Bamford with £10m and Michael Farmer with £9m. Continue reading...

Politics

35 h. ago Best seat in the house: writer Geoff Dyer on why sitting in a corner is so satisfying

The author always sits in the corner of a room but doesn’t understand why. Do some people crave the solace of the corner more than others? He finds clues to the compulsion in his upbringing – and in artIt can take a surprisingly long time to become conscious of something that has been a feature of one’s life for as long as one can remember. I was 66 before I realised that I had always liked sitting in a corner. This revelation occurred in a restaurant while I was waiting for a friend. I’d got there right on time – I’ve known for more than 40 years that I have a mania for punctuality – and after being shown to a corner table I took what was obviously the best of the two seats on offer: the one in the corner. When I was growing up my mum said that if a man was out with a lady he should always walk curb-side; was there a version of this whereby the gentleman should always let the lady have the corner seat and sit with his back to the interior equivalent – the foot traffic – of the open...

Politics

38 h. ago Welcome to Upper Lawn, the 60s Wiltshire retreat of brutalism’s first couple

Pioneering architects Alison and Peter Smithson’s no-frills glass box near the ruins of a grand 18th-century folly was an experiment, a second home and a ‘fairy story’ – all of which awaits whoever buys it next Upper Lawn is a weekend retreat in Wiltshire built by the late architects Alison and Peter Smithson for themselves and their family and used by them from 1959 to 1982. It’s a place of obvious delight, thanks to a garden enclosed by old stone walls in which it stands, a clump of grand old beech trees just outside, and broad views of sweeping countryside beyond. The house itself is a well-proportioned, thoughtfully detailed, somewhat rustic glass box that makes good use of the transparency and openness that modernist building methods made possible. It’s also a work of less obvious riches, a material diary of building and dwelling, a three-dimensional essay on the passage of time. Now it is being put up for sale by its owners for the past 23 years, the graphic designer Ian Cartl...

Politics

53 h. ago House Republicans unveil spending bill boosting defense and trimming all else

Strategy is not likely to earn Democrats’ votes, so Trump is leaning on Republicans to force it throughUS House Republicans unveiled a spending bill Saturday that would keep federal agencies funded through 30 September, pushing ahead with a go-it-alone strategy that seems certain to spark a major confrontation with Democrats over the contours of government spending.The 99-page bill would provide a slight boost to defense programs while trimming non-defense programs below 2024 budget year levels. That approach is likely to be a non-starter for most Democrats who have long insisted that defense and non-defense spending move in the same direction. Continue reading...

Politics

56 h. ago This land is your land: leaf portraits of Ecuador’s female farmers – in pictures

In the Zuleta community in Ecuador, farming is about more than just sustenance: it is about cultivating a deep relationship with the land based on ancestral knowledge. In her travels in the region, Colombo-Ecuadorian photographer Yinna Higuera collaborates with rural women, who in exchange share their understanding of medicinal plants and give her leaves from their gardens. In her Traces series, which has been shortlisted for a Sony world photography award, Higuera uses chlorophyll printing to superimpose the women’s portraits on banana leaves, vegetables and herbs. “Each of these women has a unique story,” she says, “yet they all share a profound bond with the land. Through these portraits, my goal is to make their strength and wisdom visible, honouring their role as stewards of the earth.”Traces is shortlisted in the creative category, professional competition, Sony world photography awards 2025. Exhibition at Somerset House, London, 17 April to 5 May, worldphoto.org Continue read...

Politics

65 h. ago Streaming: Steven Soderbergh’s Presence and the best haunted house films

The director’s witty supernatural thriller joins Psycho, Hereditary, The Brutalist and more – films in which buildings are characters in their own rightThe first more-or-less horror movie in the lengthy, genre-skimming career of director Steven Soderbergh, Presence is a film about grief, trauma, familial dysfunction and abusive masculinity. But it’s also, to a significant and compelling extent, about property. Beginning with a family’s first viewing of a handsome Victorian home in an unidentified stretch of suburbia, the film never ventures outside its walls for the next 85 minutes, as the ensuing chills make us consider the merits of that purchase. Wittily and unnervingly shot from the perspective of the restless spirit roaming its halls, it’s a haunted house film in which much of the tension feels determined by the shape and flow and light and shade of the house itself. It’s a while since I’ve seen a film where I could quite so exactly draw the floor plan of its primary location, ...

Politics

3 d. ago Financial expert exposes the 'brutal truth about buying a house in 2025'

It is common knowledge that buying your first home in the UK is - for most people - tough

Economics

3 d. ago As the youngest peer in the House of Lords, I have a bold plan for this place. Abolish it – me included | Carmen Smith

I came here a year ago because Plaid Cymru seeks to protect Welsh interests. But I think Labour should keep its vow and scrap this chamberWhen I took my seat in the House of Lords almost a year ago, I pledged to campaign for the abolition of my job. Our second chamber has become a gated community of more than 800 members, making it the second largest legislative chamber in the world, topped only by China’s National People’s Congress. The House of Lords casts a shadow over parliament, and its unelected peers have a huge influence on the laws that get passed.Last March, I joined the second chamber representing Plaid Cymru. Aged 28, I was the youngest member of the chamber, and the youngest ever life peer. Plaid Cymru doesn’t believe that an unelected chamber should form part of our democracy, but we do believe that we should have a seat at the table wherever decisions affecting Wales are being made. Since taking my seat in the Lords, I have been clear about my desire to change the sys...

Politics

4 d. ago Couples fight about housework. Couples divorce about housework. Surely it would be easier if men just did more housework? | Lucy Clark

Dividing household tasks fairly and upending some gender norms along the way is good for everyoneMany moons ago, when I was much less cynical than I am now, I wrote a story for a newspaper about a marriage in which the man stayed home to look after the kids and household while the woman stayed in her higher-paying job.It was a financial decision that made obvious sense for this couple - they’d both had good jobs but had together decided her career was the more promising in the long term, so he stepped back because they wanted an at-home parent while the kids were little, and because they could afford it. It was deemed “newsworthy” in a soft kind of way, because in the 1990s it went well against the norm – it was a good illustration of what was possible when you start with a negligible gender pay gap, mutual disrespect for gender norms, and ego-free assessment of which career is best going to provide for the family unit. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Household Support Fund 2025: will the HSF continue after March 2025

As the March deadline approaches, UK families are left wondering what’s next 🏠

Politics

4 d. ago DJ Funk, trailblazing Chicago ghetto house producer, dies aged 54

Charles Chambers was a key innovator in dance music, speeding up beats and adding raunchy lyrics, and inspiring Daft Punk and JusticeDJ Funk, the producer who coined the term “ghetto house” and was one of the Chicago scene’s key innovators, has died aged 54.His death was confirmed by close friend and collaborator DJ Slugo, who announced the news via a post on Instagram. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago North Lanarkshire Council sets out plans to invest £90.6m in housing improvements for 2025/26

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Capital Programme focuses on key improvements.

Economics

5 d. ago Share how your experience of housing may have affected your political views

We’re curious to hear whether the ways in which people have experienced housing have affected or even changed their outlook and politics, and if so, howAs housing – the lack, cost, and quality thereof – continues to dominate political agendas globally, we’re keen to hear how the experience of housing may have affected people’s politics and general views.Has your experience of housing been rather positive or negative? Has housing been a problem that has shaped other parts of your life, or have you experienced housing that has provided opportunities? Have you experienced housing only as a consumer, or also as a business? Have any of these or other experiences changed your political thinking or values, your habits or your outlook on the world? Tell us. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago AP files amended complaint against White House over press pool ban

White House adviser’s quote included in suit: ‘The AP and the WHCA wanted to f--k around. Now it’s finding out time.’The Associated Press amended its complaint against the Trump administration on Monday, including in its epigraph a punchy quote from an anonymous White House adviser: “The AP and the White House Correspondents Association wanted to f--k around. Now it’s finding out time.”The unnamed White House adviser’s quote came about during an exchange on 25 February 2025 and was first reported by Axios last week. Continue reading...

Society

6 d. ago Astrologer reveals 'luckiest' day to buy a house in 2025, according to the stars

Inbaal Honigman said the day is the most fortunate day to complete on a property purchase

Science

8 d. ago Every council in UK handing out £500 payments to help with food, energy and more

The Household Support Fund has been extended until the end of March, 2025, with each council setting its own applications deadline

Economics

9 d. ago UK gives royal welcome to Zelenskyy after White House meltdown

King Charles to hold official audience for Ukrainian president as show of support after Trump clashKing Charles will hold an ­official audience at Sandringham with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday as the UK and EU demonstrate their “unwavering” ­support after his humiliation at the hands of Donald Trump and JD Vance in the White House.Keir Starmer will also host European heads of government and the leaders of Canada and Turkey at a special defence summit aimed at presenting a united front on the Ukraine crisis. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago The Leopard in My House by Mark Steel review – finding the funny side of living with cancer

The comedian reflects on mortality and the new course his life has now taken in this warm account of his cancer diagnosis and treatment There are enough cancer memoirs to fill a small bookshop, with bookcases for all the affected body parts. It can feel churlish to apply critical faculties to this of all subjects, but if there is a high bar for the genre, then it’s one Mark Steel clears like Dick Fosbury on a good day.Sporting metaphors are a feature of The Leopard in My House, a new entry in the “throat” section by the comedian, broadcaster and campaigner. While waiting for a radiotherapy appointment in the basement of a London hospital, Steel meets Jules, an army general. As the treatment weakens them, they resolve to take the stairs rather than lift back up to ground level. “We’d describe the previous day’s climb as ‘set off at a good pace but only the first stage of the Tour de France. By the third week it was ‘two sets and a break down with a heavily bandaged ankle, but determi...

Politics

1 week ago Albanese sidesteps questions on Trump as he backs Zelenskyy after White House confrontation

Australian PM pledges support for Ukraine president after explosive White House meeting – but declines to directly comment on US president’s approachGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese has reiterated Australia’s support for Ukraine after a fiery meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – but declined to comment directly on how the confrontation might affect Australia’s relationship with the US.US military support for Ukraine hangs in the balance and talks over a minerals deal deteriorated after a disastrous interchange at the White House that also included the US vice-president, JD Vance. The US president claimed his Ukraine counterpart was not “ready for peace” and accused him of “gambling with world war three”, before Zelenskyy left the White House early.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago House prices rise for sixth month running ahead of stamp duty increase

Nationwide Building Society predicted a house sales jump in March, followed by a period of weakness following stamp duty changes.

Politics