2 h. ago Do YOU think anyone can outclass Princess Diana or Prince Philip? Royal author reveals the only royal to do it

Princess Diana and Prince Philip shared their crowd appeal and common touch with members of the public - traits which one royal expert says another member of the family also possesses.

Politics

2 h. ago Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie review – the joy of the hatchet job

Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse? An influential theatre critic finds out in this smart story of #MeToo-era revengeWhen Jesus is pressed to condemn the woman taken in adultery, he says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” No one does, and a lesson in critical generosity is learned. Judge not, that ye be not judged.Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse – casting the first stone? Is it worse when the reviewer is male and the artist female? That’s the starting point of this entertaining and very timely debut novel from Charlotte Runcie, an arts journalist who, as a young intern, was lambasted on stage by a successful standup to whom she’d given a bad review.There was an interactive customer feedback device propped up on the bar. Tell us what you think of our service, it said, and underneath there were two buttons you could press: an angry red face or a smiling green one. Excellent or worthless, nothing in...

Society

2 h. ago One of the best Stephen King film adaptions of all time is airing on TV tonight

The iconic 77-year-old author has over 80 films based on his legendary work

Culture

3 h. ago Things to know about Iran's supreme leader as he faces his greatest test

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, crushed internal threats during more than three decades in power

Politics

4 h. ago LA protests: US court allows Trump to keep control of California national guard while lawsuit proceeds

Appeals court in San Francisco extends pause on district judge ruling that president called troops into federal service unlawfullyA US appeals court has let Donald Trump retain control over California’s national guard while the state’s Democratic governor proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Republican president’s use of the troops to quell protests and unrest in Los Angeles.A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US circuit court of appeals on Thursday extended a pause it had placed on US district Judge Charles Breyer’s 12 June ruling that Trump had called the national guard into federal service unlawfully. Continue reading...

Events

4 h. ago How true populists should think about Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’

There is a position between the old Republican guard and budget fairyland

Politics

4 h. ago Sig Sauer, faced with lawsuits over a popular pistol, gets protection in New Hampshire

Faced with mounting lawsuits over a popular pistol, New Hampshire-based gunmaker Sig Sauer has gotten protection in the form of a new state law that makes it harder to take the manufacturer to court

Events

4 h. ago ‘You’d never make Slumdog today’: Danny Boyle on risks, regrets and returning to the undead

In 28 Years Later, zombies maraud over a Britain broken by more than Brexit. Its director discusses cultural baggage, catastrophising – and why his kids’ generation is an ‘upgrade’The UK is a wasteland in Danny Boyle’s new film. Towns lie in ruins, trains rot on the rails and the EU has severed all ties with the place. Some residents are stuck in the past and congregate under the tattered flag of St George. The others flail shirtless through the open countryside, raging about nothing, occasionally stopping to eat worms. You wouldn’t want to live in the land that Boyle and the writer Alex Garland show us. Teasingly, on some level, the film suggests that we do.Boyle and Garland first prowled zombie Britain with their 2002 hit 28 Days Later. It was an electrifying piece of speculative fiction, a guerilla-style thriller about an unimaginable world. Since then we’ve had Brexit and Covid, and the looming threat of martial law in the US The story’s extravagant flights of fancy don’t feel s...

Events

4 h. ago Appeals court sides with Trump on National Guard deployment in LA

An appeals court ruled President Trump has the authority to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles

Politics

5 h. ago Brits issued £640 fine for buying items from certain places in Spanish city

In a brutal new crackdown, Spanish authorities are said to be imposing hefty fines for tourists found to be buying souvenirs and other items from certain types of street vendors

Economics

5 h. ago A climate crisis, a ballot, and a chance at a new life in Australia

World-first agreement that creates a visa in the context of climate change stirs hope among young people in TuvaluOn the sandy shores of Vaiaku, as coconut trees sway gently in the breeze, Tekafa Piliota sits in his small classroom and dreams of becoming a doctor. The 13-year-old, who lives in Tuvalu’s capital Funafuti, knows that would mean leaving his homeland. There aren’t any universities in the small Pacific island nation, which lies between Australia and Hawaii. The country has another problem: it is predicted to be one the first countries to become uninhabitable due to rising seas.“I would like to go to Australia to study. There is higher ground in Australia, and it might be safer during natural disasters,” Piliota says. Continue reading...

Events

10 h. ago Judge blocks Trump plan to tie states’ transportation funds to immigration enforcement

States argued US transportation secretary lacks authority to impose conditions on funding appropriated by CongressA federal judge on Thursday blocked Donald Trump’s administration from forcing 20 Democratic-led states to cooperate with immigration enforcement in order to receive billions of dollars in transportation grant funding.Chief US District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, granted the states’ request for an injunction barring the Department of Transportation’s policy, saying the states were likely to succeed on the merits of some or all of their claims. Continue reading...

Events

10 h. ago Man arrested after showing up at Memphis mayor’s house with Taser, duct tape and rope in car, police say

The arrest in Tennessee comes just days after the murders of a state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota and the wounding of another and his wife.

Events

12 h. ago BBC EastEnders fans 'work out' how Kat Moon will reunite with Zoe after Alfie's abrupt exit

EastEnders fans are convinced that one resident will expose Alfie Moon's latest lie after he left the country to track down Kat Slater's estranged daughter Zoe Slater

Politics

12 h. ago Man attacked police officer and attempted to fire taser at him

The police officer needed hospital treatment after Mark Workman, 44, used the weapon to repeatedly attack

Events

12 h. ago Predator, 66, who posed as an Uber driver and had a 'rape kit' with a balaclava and Viagra in his car is found guilty of kidnapping and sex crimes

Graham Head, 68, was found with a 'rape kit' consisting of latex gloves, condoms, Viagra tablets and a balaclava in his car when he was arrested in November 2022.

Events

13 h. ago Flood report shows how authorities must act to prevent further devastation

Details of how dozens of homes were submerged on New Year's Day published

Events

13 h. ago Gennaro Gattuso seeks ‘family’ ethos in bid to avoid World Cup unthinkable

Hero of 2006 World Cup was second choice behind Claudio Ranieri and has not had a successful career as managerGennaro Gattuso said all the things he was expected to say at his first appearance as Italy manager. He talked about the need to restore enthusiasm to an Azzurri side whose morale has been dented by recent setbacks, as well as that sense of shared purpose that bonded him to teammates in the World Cup-winning side of 2006.The word he kept coming back to was “family”, insisting: “That’s the most important thing, more than tactics or formations.” His is not a vision of paternalistic authority but of a group close enough to speak hard truths to each other’s faces. Continue reading...

Politics

13 h. ago EastEnders' Kat and Alfie split 'sealed' as major clue hints at explosive truth reveal

It was the end of a dramatic week in EastEnders tonight as viewers watched on as Alfie headed off to Barcelona to find Zoe - but fans have 'worked out' how his lies will be exposed

Events

13 h. ago JK Rowling transgender controversy: Which celebrities have criticised Harry Potter author and who supports her?

As Sir Stephen Fry joins critics of JK Rowling’s trans views, The Standard takes a look at who is with her and who is not

Culture