32 m. ago Westlife announce 25th anniversary world tour with UK and Europe 2026 dates

Celebrating 25 years, the band will play cities including Manchester, London, Birmingham and Belfast

Politics

39 m. ago Tom Lockyer signs for new team two years after cardiac arrest during Premier League match

Tom Lockyer has made his return with Bristol Rovers, penning a one-year deal, nearly two years after suffering a cardiac arrest whilst playing a match for Luton

Politics

47 m. ago England face Ashes mountain but international rugby league set for long

England face Australia in a first Ashes series for 22 years, starting at Wembley on Saturday, and the whole sport may about to be given a lift.

Sport

59 m. ago Grooming gang survivors risk becoming pawns in a political game that is no place for vulnerable people | Gaby Hinsliff

The chaos surrounding the inquiry stands as a warning: this is what happens when collapsing trust in public institutions, combined with point scoring, leads to paralysisIn the early hours of the morning, the cars would pull up outside the Bradford children’s home where Fiona Goddard lived as a teenager.Staff were worried about the men coming to collect her – records show she was felt to be “at high level of risk from unknown males” – but the policy was not to go to the police unless a child’s behaviour became concerning or she was seen being actively “dragged into a car”.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Events

59 m. ago Chess: Fide to ‘discipline’ Kramnik over Naroditsky cheating allegations

The Fide president, Arkady Dvorkovich, said that Kramnik, who is accused of unfounded allegations against Naroditsky, will be referred to its ethics disciplinary committeeFide has responded to the death of Daniel Naroditsky by promising to take faster action over allegations by former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, which were made without significant evidence.The Fide president, Arkady Dvorkovich, announced on Wednesday that the case will be referred to its ethics and disciplinary committee, which has the power to ban players for life. The omens for that are not promising. A similar referral of the Magnus Carlsen v Hans Niemann episode at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup took more than a year, and produced just a €10,000 fine for Carlsen and no other penalties. Continue reading...

Politics

74 m. ago Tottenham XI vs Everton: Confirmed team news, predicted lineup and injury latest for Premier League

Spurs remain without a host of players for Merseyside trip as defensive issues continue

Politics

80 m. ago Lily Allen: West End Girl – a gobsmacking autopsy of marital betrayal

(BMG)Allen’s first album in seven years traces the fallout from an open relationship, but as well as being cathartic and candid, these stylistically varied songs have melodies that sparkleIt is seven years since Lily Allen last released an album. No Shame was Mercury-nominated and far better reviewed than 2014’s Sheezus – not least by Allen herself – but it was also her lowest-selling album to date. You could have taken that as evidence pop had moved on. In Britain, 2018 was a year that the well-mannered boy/girl-next-door pop of George Ezra, Jess Glynne and Ed Sheeran held sway; Allen seemed symbolic of a messier, mouthier era. Afterwards, Allen stepped away from music, concentrating instead on what you’d have to call a diverse portfolio of interests, including acting, podcasting, launching her own sex toy and selling photographs of her feet to fetishists on OnlyFans.But pop has a habit of developing in a cyclical way. When Olivia Rodrigo brought Allen on stage at Glastonbury in 20...

Politics

99 m. ago Strong Scottish contingent heading to Spain in DP World Tour card quest

Two Open Silver medal winners among players flying Saltire in Q School Second Stage

Politics

1 hour ago World media reacts to Rangers in 'sporting crisis' after Brann slaughter as Danny Rohl faces 'sack' taunt

The 36-year-old was appointed on Monday and his first game in charge didn't go to plan in Norway

Events

1 hour ago A Mind of My Own by Kathy Burke review – a brilliant, blunt and beautiful memoir

The actor on being called ugly, telling Johnny Rotten to F-off, and striking gold at CannesKathy Burke’s mother, Bridget, died of stomach cancer when she was 18 months old; she writes that it made her “feel dead famous” in her community. She was raised by her older brothers, John and Barry, who were 10 and eight when it happened, and sometimes by their father Pat, an alcoholic for many years, violent with it, who struggled to care for his family. Pat and Bridget had moved to London from Ireland, and the Burkes lived on an estate in Islington, where the other families played a vital role in raising and feeding the children. On his deathbed, in 1994, Pat asked Kathy to do two things: to give up smoking, and to write more. It has only taken her 30 years, she says, but she’s finally done the latter.The entertainment industry is top-heavy with people from middle-and upper-class backgrounds who have a limited understanding of lives that don’t resemble th...

Science

1 hour ago Down Cemetery Road to Jimmy Carr’s Am I the A**hole? The seven best shows to stream this week

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson team up in the cracking new thriller from Slow Horses creator Mick Herron, and Jimmy Carr’s new comedy will draw gasps by the minute. Plus: there’s a new Witcher!When a gas main explodes in a quiet Oxford street it initially comes as a merciful respite from the awkward dinner party being hosted by Sarah Tucker (Ruth Wilson). But soon, the fallout from the explosion becomes more disconcerting. Sarah (by day, a bored art historian) turns detective when an attempt to deliver a card to a child injured in the blast drags her into a conspiracy; soon she’s in cahoots with Emma Thompson’s spiky PI Zoe Boehm and getting entirely out of her depth. As befits a thriller adapted from a novel by Slow Horses creator Mick Herron, it’s an enjoyably astringent, increasingly nervy mixture of edgewalking intrigue and unsentimental, pitch-black humour. Apple TV, from Wednesday 29 October Continue reading...

Transport

2 h. ago Why Man United legend Wayne Rooney is unable to watch his son Kai play football

There's one reason why Wayne Rooney has been told he's not allowed to watch his son play for Manchester United

Politics

2 h. ago I bet Hibs £1million man is now a starter as fans breathe a sigh of relief – Tam McManus

Thibault Klidje has had a slow start since his record breaking move to Easter Road but Tam sees a real player

Economics

2 h. ago Man Utd have discarded the four players Wayne Rooney wanted the club to be built around

Some of the stars Manchester United have allowed to leave in recent years were once earmarked to be the future by none other than Wayne Rooney

Sport

3 h. ago Sports betting is a booming business. The FBI's NBA probe is putting it in the spotlight

The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone

Events

3 h. ago ‘It’s scary how many St George’s flags there were’: Blood Orange on coming home to Essex and mourning his mother

After grief brought Dev Hynes home, he reconsidered the county that shaped him. The result is a masterful new album – made with a little help from Lorde and Zadie SmithDevonté Hynes is telling me how he came to be living back in his childhood home in Ilford, east London, at the age of 37, after his mother had fallen ill. “It was a surreal experience,” he says of the sudden move from Brooklyn, where he makes music as Blood Orange, to sleeping in the bedroom where he once put up posters of David Beckham and the Smashing Pumpkins. “Physically, you’re bigger: your shape has changed. But the space is the same. The memories are the same.”Hynes came back to England to be by the bedside of his mother in hospital, and stayed at home a while after she died in 2023. This tragic disruptionproduced his fifth full-length release, Essex Honey, a clear contender for album of the year. It’s a record grounded by grief but fizzing with the memory flashes that came with returning home to the edge of Es...

Events

4 h. ago Sisters 'key' players in £67million debt plot over insolvency avoidance

Joanna Seawright, 54, who lives in Dumfries, and Karen Mortimer, 67, who now lives in Tenerife, were instrumental in a scheme allowing struggling firms to wind up without facing massive liabilities.

Economics

4 h. ago Shock Ruben Amorim decision might have caused Man United transfer exit

Manchester United could be set to lose one of their players during the January transfer window.

Events

6 h. ago I visited one of the UK's most famous pumpkin patches — it's brilliant for Halloween

Halloween is a big deal in the UK, and one of the most famous pumpkin patches is Tulleys' Pumpkin Farm, which plays host to a pumpkin festival each year

Politics

6 h. ago Mountain Warehouse shoppers love £90 padded coat reduced to £40 so much they buy several colours

"Very warm and lightweight to wear and ideal for wearing to and from work"

Economics