3 h. ago Bad Friend by Tiffany Watt Smith review – refreshingly frank portraits of female friendship

A social and personal history that refuses to gloss over the rage, envy and hurt that form part of every close bondFalling out with a friend can feel oddly shameful. Romantic relationships are meant to have passionate highs and lows, but by the time you reach adulthood, you expect your friendships to have reached some kind of equilibrium. I have this image in my head of myself as an affectionate, devoted friend – but sometimes I examine my true feelings towards the women who are closest to me and feel shocked by my own pettiness. It is embarrassing to be a grownup but still capable of such intense flashes of rage, and envy. When my friendships become distant or strained, I wonder why I still struggle to do this basic thing.Bad Friend represents a kind of love letter to female friendship, but doesn’t gloss over how difficult it can be. Tiffany Watt Smith is a historian, and this book is a deeply researched study of 20th-century women’s relationships, but the reason for writing i...

Politics

18 h. ago I found an old letter. What it said changed how I think about love

Holding onto keepsakes isn’t holding onto the past, and moving on doesn’t have to mean completely forgetting the old flames who helped form us. Helen Coffey takes a trip down memory lane and thanks her former self for having the foresight to preserve her romantic souvenirs

Politics

25 h. ago Don’t throw away love letters and mementos from exes – you’ll regret it

Holding onto keepsakes isn’t holding onto the past, and moving on doesn’t have to mean completely forgetting the old flames who helped form us. Helen Coffey takes a trip down memory lane and thanks her former self for having the foresight to preserve her romantic souvenirs

Politics

28 h. ago Why I still keep love letters and mementos from exes – and you should too

Holding onto keepsakes isn’t holding onto the past, and moving on doesn’t have to mean completely forgetting the old flames who helped form us. Helen Coffey takes a trip down memory lane and thanks her former self for having the foresight to preserve her romantic souvenirs

Politics

32 h. ago Moment female prison officer 'twerked' for leering inmate after flirting with him on video filmed on mobile phone through jail cell bars

EXCLUSIVE: Footage circulating online shows the UK prison officer, who has not been named, being told to 'show me that batty' by a prisoner.

Events

5 d. ago Prison guards handed £10million in payouts in last 5 years over violent inmate attacks

Some 202 prison officers injured by inmates have been handed Ministry of Justice payouts since 2019/20 – totalling £10.3 million and averaging at £51,000 per person

Economics

1 week ago Manchester Arena families in ‘disbelief’ that ‘evil’ Hashem Abedi was able to attack prison officers

Inmates in high-security units banned from kitchens after prison officers attacked by Manchester Arena bomber with hot oil and blades

Events

1 week ago Ban inmates from cooking after Hashem Abedi assault, says prison union

Chair of prison workers body says copycat incidents must be prevented after attack by convicted terroristThe union representing prison officers has said inmates should be banned from cooking in jail, with staff fearing copycat incidents after the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber attacked three officers at HMP Frankland.Hashem Abedi, a convicted terrorist who was jailed for life after helping his suicide bomber brother Salman Abedi carry out the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, is alleged to have set upon staff with hot cooking oil and improvised blades. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago My father threw out my box of memories then took his own life. How can I move on? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Your sadness at losing reminders of happier times may have been heightened by the traumatic loss of your dad• Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a problem sent in by a readerNot long before the Covid pandemic, my dad threw out my cardboard box of mementoes that I had stored in his garage for “safekeeping”: years’ worth of personal journals, Polaroids and photos with no negatives, love letters, all of my degree essays, reams of teenage poetry, etc – the classic priceless time capsule stuff that one looks forward to revisiting one day.It was one of his final acts before taking his own life, so it was a double whammy of bereavement in which my first loss was buried by the second. And, with the pandemic arriving shortly afterwards, it stayed buried for further years as, again, I was distracted by something else serious happening. But once that had passed, the original grief returned with a vengeance and has become an abiding sorrow that’s been difficult to shake off: the feeling tha...

Politics

1 week ago Tanning salon fined thousands for exposing customers to risk of burns

The judge said some users of the tanning shop were 'vulnerable members of society who should have been properly looked after'

Events

2 w. ago Mayor, 72, is convicted of stalking after bombarding barmaid with letters professing his undying love... but he was sending them to the wrong woman

Police were left in no doubt who they were from as Graham Roberts, 72, included his business card, confirming him as first citizen of Whitehaven, Cumbria.

Events

2 w. ago 'It's like I never left' – Jota sends Celtic fans a love letter as winger targets climbing yet another 'mountain'

Jota's won it all before and he's back to do it again in Glasgow's east end

Events

3 w. ago Female prison officer who filmed cell sex with lag made wild plans for his release

Linda De Sousa Abreu, 30, shot to global infamy when she was featured in a viral video clip of a female prison officer having a steamy affair with an inmate in his cell

Events

3 w. ago New York to release some prison inmates early over shortage of guard staff

New York state prisons will release some inmates early because the system does not have enough corrections officers, weeks after the state fired more than 2,000 guards who went on strike over poor working conditions

Events

3 w. ago Tom Hanks' son Chet recreates Forrest Gump as movie star makes appearance

Chet Hanks was joined by his famous father on the set of his latest music video which is a love letter to the iconic 1994 film, Forrest Gump - the film which won Tom Hanks an Oscar

Politics

3 w. ago 'Flirty' prison officer and inmate exposed as burned love letters found by cops

Niamh Lloyd began working at the category B jail when she was just 19, but her supervisors noticed she was 'displaying flirtatious behaviour', particularly towards career criminal Lee Makin

Events

3 w. ago ‘Dangerous’ inmate locked up indefinitely for attempting to kill prison officers

Aklakar Rahman, 38, repeatedly made attempts to wound or kill prison officers, the Old Bailey has heard.

Events

3 w. ago Yukimi: For You review – sweet solo debut for Little Dragon singer

(Ninja Tune)Yukimi Nagano’s first record without the Swedish synth-pop band is a light but pleasurable affairIt seems barely credible, but next year is Little Dragon’s 30th birthday. Although Yukimi Nagano has fronted the Swedish electronic dance act since she was at school, For You is her first solo album. Strength-through-suffering gem Break Me Down is an excellent lead single – a filigree of a pop song freewheeling on Yukimi’s enticing, airy vocal. Its summery drift is shared with neighbours Make Me Whole and Runaway, riffing confidently on 70s soul and 90s nu-jazz, love letters to hope in uncertain times.Winter Is Not Dead’s Björkish marriage of minimal electronics and layered harmonies is delicious, as is No Prince’s vocal crescendo and Peace Reign’s pendulous bassline, curling its fingers around the guts of the song. Walk-on parts for Nagano’s sons and father feel mildly indulgent. Still, she says that “when songwriting is personal, it also becomes very accessible, because we’...

Politics

4 w. ago Female prison officer, 22, told inmate lover she was with him for 'the thrill'

Niamh Lloyd, 22, met the career criminal, Lee Makin, while working as a prison officer at Forest Bank jail in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Events

4 w. ago Dad's body found in woods with wife’s legs in river after they're hacked up with scissors

Chandler Halderson snapped when his college and work lies were exposed leading him to chop up his loving parents and burn their heads in the family fireplace

Politics