37 m. ago Voices: My friends don’t make any effort with me now they have kids

The Independent’s agony aunt Victoria Richards is here to help. Email dearvix@independent.co.uk for advice on love, work, family and relationships

Politics

96 m. ago The Institute review – this is how you butcher a Stephen King novel

Flimsy characters, zero fun and the replacement of dread with upsetting scenes of child torture: this show strips out every bit of the author’s geniusMe, I’m always in the mood for hokum. You can serve it to me at any point on the largest platter you have and I will grab my hooey knife and absurdity fork and start shovelling. But, like any chef, you have to know what you’re doing. You have to make some effort, have the basic ingredients assembled in the right proportions and send it out from the kitchen hot, steaming and looking delicious. Tepid hokum, bland hokum – well, that ain’t no hokum at all.And so to the latest Stephen King adaptation, this time by Benjamin Cavell and directed by Jack Bender (Lost, From, Under the Dome – the latter another King tale) of the horror master’s 2019 novel The Institute, travelling to our screens under the same name. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago DWP says it will review Universal Credit, PIP and other benefit claims

DWP has published a new report

Politics

3 h. ago Meta argues its AI needs personal information from social media posts to learn ‘Australian concepts’

Tech giant said posts from Australian Facebook and Instagram users were ‘vital learning’ about ‘concepts, realities, and figures’Meta has urged the Australian government not to make privacy law changes that would prevent the company using personal information taken from Facebook and Instagram posts to train its AI, arguing the AI needs to learn “how individuals discuss Australian concepts”.In a submission to the Productivity Commission’s review on harnessing data and digital technology, published this week, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp argued for a “global policy alignment” in the Albanese government’s pursuit of privacy reform in the AI age. Continue reading...

Politics

9 h. ago Love Island fans left in tears as heartbreaking scenes unfold between male Islanders

Love Island fans were left in tears during tonight's episode as Cach was seen breaking down in tears over Toni's shock recoupling decision during last night's episode

Politics

9 h. ago Rogue builder who left a trail of misery ordered to pay back £71k

Paul Atkinson, 46, fleeced his customers out of £150,000 after failing to finish any work and would make subtle threats when customers wrote bad reviews.

Economics

9 h. ago India beat England by four wickets: first women’s cricket ODI – as it happened

India beat England by four wickets in Southampton to take 1-0 lead in the ODI seriesIndia review for LBW against Beaumont! This looks close. Continue reading...

Politics

10 h. ago How Madonna's daughter Lourdes was behind Gwyneth Paltrow fallout that sparked Hollywood feud, book reveals

The real reason Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna's once-tight friendship fell apart centers on Madonna's treatment of her daughter Lourdes, a new bombshell biography claims. 

Culture

10 h. ago India beat England by four wickets in first women’s ODI – live reaction

Updates from the series opener in SouthamptonRead today’s edition of The Spin | And mail JamesIndia review for LBW against Beaumont! This looks close. Continue reading...

Politics

10 h. ago Channel 4’s new digital channel A Comedy Thing to launch with four fresh shows

The new channel, which will launch on July 21 on YouTube, comes after the debut of the broadcaster’s food channel Channel 4 Served earlier this year.

Culture

10 h. ago Pogacar crashes and protester disrupts finish on chaotic stage 11 of Tour de France

Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen claims win in ToulousePogacar falls 6km from end but quickly back on bikeIn a chaotic climax to stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse, Tadej Pogacar crashed at speed before remounting to finish, an anti-Israel protester ran on to the finish line, and the Norwegian Uno-X team’s Jonas Abrahamsen took his first Grand Tour stage win.As Abrahamsen sprinted towards the finish with his final breakaway companion, Mauro Schmid, a male protester, wearing a white T-shirt bearing the slogan “Israel out of the Tour”, jumped the barriers and ran on to the road, before being rugby-tackled by a Tour official, Stephane Boury. Continue reading...

Events

10 h. ago Pogacar crashes and protester disrupts finish on chaotic Tour de France stage 11

Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen wins in ToulousePogacar falls 6km from end but quickly back on bikeIn a chaotic climax to stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse, Tadej Pogacar crashed at speed before remounting to finish, an anti-Israel protester ran on to the finish line, and the Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen took his first Grand Tour stage win, for Uno-X.As Abrahamsen sprinted towards the finish with his final breakaway companion, Mauro Schmid, a male protester, wearing a white T-shirt bearing the slogan “Israel out of the Tour”, jumped the barriers and ran on to the road, before being rugby-tackled by a Tour official, Stephane Boury. Continue reading...

Events

11 h. ago National Crime Agency cop jailed for stealing Bitcoin from dark web drug dealer

Paul Chowles stole 50 Bitcoin which had been seized by police

Events

12 h. ago Detective at National Crime Agency who stole bitcoin worth £60k during probe into Silk Road is jailed

Paul Chowles, 42, secretly took the cryptocurrency from the operator of the underground Internet marketplace following his arrest, in May 2017.

Events

12 h. ago Tim Burton's Oxfordshire home with three private islands goes on sale for £4.5 million

Mill House was once owned by Helena Bonham Carter’s great-grandfather, PM Herbert Henry Asquith, who bought it in 1917 as accommodation for his guests

Economics

12 h. ago Pogacar crashes and protester disrupts sprint finish on chaotic stage 11 of Tour de France

Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen claims win in ToulousePogacar falls 5km from end but quickly back on bikeChaos reigned on stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse as the defending champion, Tadej Pogacar, crashed and an anti-Israel protester ran on to the final straight. Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen claimed the stage win ahead of second-placed Mauro Schmid of Switzerland.A male protester wearing a ‘Israel out of the Tour’ T-shirt ran on to the home straight, as two frontrunners sprinted for victory, before he was restrained by a security officer. The protester, who was also waving a keffiyeh, was about 50m from the finish line. Israel is represented on the Tour through the Israel-Premier Tech team, but no Israeli riders are in the race. Continue reading...

Events

12 h. ago Physician associates should ‘never be used to replace doctors’ – Streeting

Wes Streeting pledged to implement in full the findings of a review which said physician associates must not diagnose patients.

Politics

12 h. ago Girls gone bad: Lena Dunham’s Too Much is just not good enough

The creator of the seminal HBO hit has followed up with an underbaked Netflix background watch, a crushing disappointment for her ardent fanbaseThere is one TV show that has been enjoyed most often, and most reliably, among my cohort in New York: Girls, the seminal HBO dramedy about Brooklyn’s downwardly mobile and highly self-important creative class of the 2010s. Though a cultural lightning rod when it aired from 2012 until 2017 – its whiteness, convincing narcissism, frank sexuality and frequent nudity all catnip for the cresting blogosphere and cyclical moral panic – Girls has rightfully settled into its status as one of the best television series of the 21st century, a foundational text for millennials as well as a biting satire of solipsistic, Obama-era striving. (Although viewers too young to remember it as anything other than canon now see the girls’ flailing – their freedom to wear terrible prints, listen to Vampire Weekend and be earnest – as something to be envied rather ...

Politics

12 h. ago 'Huge 80s star stages astonishing comeback after shock realisation about world'

The godfather of alternative comedy Alexei Sayle has lost none of his Marxist zeal or rage against the establishment – and says his firebrand act is needed more than ever to resist what he calls an “assault on free speech and comedy”.

Events

13 h. ago Former National Crime Agency officer stole bitcoin from dark web drug dealer

The former intelligence officer stole 50 Bitcoin before sending it to a cryptocurrency ‘mixing’ service

Events