89 m. ago A Minecraft Movie review – Jack Black and Jason Momoa star in seriously cobbled

Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess’s adventure based on the world’s favourite video game feels like one big cash-inIt’s a curious choice of title. A Minecraft Movie implies that this cynical intellectual property-rinsing exercise is one of numerous film adaptations of the enduringly popular sandbox video game. Perhaps there’s an alternative out there, a sharper, smarter, funnier version of a Minecraft movie. One with actual jokes. Or, God forbid, there may even be a worse iteration, although that’s hard to imagine. What becomes clear is that one of the key elements in the game’s popularity – the latitude it affords gamers to create their own experience – is a big stumbling block for any film adaptation of Minecraft.In the absence of a single fixed storyline the screenplay can follow, A Minecraft Movie has a cobbled-together feel, borrowing a device from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – and, in Jack Black, a star – and superimposing an all-purpose quest-for-an-artefact structure o...

Politics

1 hour ago Gogglebox star Helena Worthington's life away from show – from unique secret skill to partner

Helena Worthington is best known for being one of the stars of Gogglebox, but away from the Channel 4 show, she has a very different life with her partner and son

Events

2 h. ago Melania Trump’s secret to getting through hard times? Love (actually)

The first lady spoke about (wait for it) diversity as she presented awards to courageous women from around the worldLet’s take a quick break from the increasingly dreadful news for a little check-in, shall we? So how are you holding up right now? How are those stress levels? Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Popular Easter Eggs recalled in major supermarkets as shoppers issued warning

Two batches of the Easter treat by a popular brand have been recalled after a potential health risk was discovered with customers urged to check their purchases and return if necessary

Events

3 h. ago British woman who went to Syria 'to join ISIS' could win back UK citizenship from camp that holds Shamima Begum as court says she should have more time to plead her case

Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd deemed the woman a risk to national security for her allegiance to the Islamic terror state ISIS.

Events

3 h. ago Meta and Pinterest make secret donation to Molly Russell charity campaigning for online safety

The tech giants are thought to have handed a lump sum to the Molly Rose Foundation, which campaigns for internet safety in memory of schoolgirl Molly who took her own life in 2017

Politics

3 h. ago Anne Hathaway's ageless beauty! Hollywood icon looks younger than ever at 42 as she leaves fans in awe... but what's the secret to her youthful complexion?

Throughout all of her Hollywood stardom, Anne, now 42, has barely aged a day and still looks almost identical to her red carpet days in the early 2000s.

Politics

4 h. ago Modernised NHS app could lead to better and faster care for patients – Streeting

The comments come as a 10-year-plan for the health service is being developed, as ministers look to overhaul and reshape the NHS.

Science

4 h. ago Beautiful European city still 22C in April with £1 pints and £23 flights from UK

Sunny, stylish and super affordable, this city in Albania offers 22°C days in April, £1 pints and flights from the UK for just £23. Is this Europe’s best-kept secret?

Economics

4 h. ago The secret weapon GMP is using to crackdown on illegal bikes in Wigan

A mission to clamp down on anti-social motorbiking is returning to the borough

Events

5 h. ago EastEnders star steps back from soap after securing role in surprising new show

Star will be off screens for a ‘few weeks’ to pursue new opportunity

Politics

6 h. ago Molly Russell: Meta and Pinterest ‘make secret donations to schoolgirl’s charity’

A charity was set up in Russell’s name after she took her own life aged just 14

Politics

6 h. ago I went on a blind friendship date with five total strangers after being matched by a personality algorithm

ELLY BLAKE: I stumbled across Timeleft on Instagram. A glossy-looking advert promises me the chance to 'meet new people over dinner'. In the pursuit of 'trying new things' I sign up.

Politics

6 h. ago ‘Too sticky. Too saucy. Too weird’: could I persuade my son to eat the food of my heritage?

Before she became a mother, Samantha Ellis secretly judged other parents who let their children subsist on white bread and pesto-pasta. And when her son was born she couldn’t wait to share the Iraqi Jewish food of her ancestors. Unfortunately, he had other ideas My family takes food very seriously. So seriously that when my mother’s family left Iraq in 1971, limited to 20kg of luggage each, they found room for not one but two rolling pins. The truth is that, having used the rolling pins, I think they were right. Born in England, I grew up on my father’s stories, too, of going to a Baghdad street stall to buy hot samoon, Iraqi bread shaped like a teardrop, with a puffy middle and a crunchy crust, with amba (mango pickle) oozing out of it. But he left Baghdad even earlier, in 1951, in a mass airlift along with most of Iraq’s Jews. I grew up in Britain, homesick for a place I’ve never been to, and will probably never see. There are now just three Jews left in Iraq.Scattered across the ...

Politics

6 h. ago Trump administration eviscerates maternal and child health programs

Alarm over ‘the health of the nation’s children’ follows federal workforce cuts by health secretary RFK JrMultiple maternal and child health programs have been eliminated or hollowed out as part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) layoffs, prompting alarm and disbelief among advocates working to make Americans healthier.The fear and anxiety come as a full accounting of the cuts remains elusive. Federal health officials have released only broad descriptions of changes to be made, rather than a detailed accounting of the programs and departments being eviscerated. Continue reading...

Politics

6 h. ago The cover up that kept Britain's worst nuclear disaster secret despite fears it could have been as bad as Chernobyl

It was Britain's worst nuclear disaster, but it is likely you have never heard of it. Unlike Chernobyl in Ukraine, Windscale in Cumbria is not vivid in the public imagination.

Events

7 h. ago Marketing’s ‘woke’ rebrand has ultimately helped the far right | Eugene Healey

Our industry must reckon with how we’ve trivialised activism by turning it into comms strategy – only to abandon itNobody likes to admit we need marketing, but the discipline has always been necessary to match people with the products and services that fulfil their needs and desires.It started simply enough, with us focusing primarily on brands’ features and tangible benefits. But as consumer society evolved, we moved on to symbolic benefits: identities, lifestyles. Finally, we began selling values: an ideology that hit its zenith between 2015 and 2022 in the era of “brand purpose”.Eugene Healey is brand strategy consultant, educator and creator Continue reading...

Economics

7 h. ago Virginia Giuffre's secret book details how her life changed forever when she met her dream man Robbie who helped her cast off the shackles of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Now they're at WAR...

Virginia Giiuffre still recalls the first time she laid eyes on her now estranged husband - and moment she told Jeffrey Epstein she was leaving him for the rugged Australian martial arts expert.

Events

8 h. ago Royal twist as Charles dragged into Prince Andrew Chinese 'spy' scandal as Palace speaks

Prince Andrew and his former adviser Dominic Hampshire travelled to Windsor twice in secret to meet with the King, new reports into the Chinese 'spy' scandal have revealed

Politics

8 h. ago Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for butternut squash with noodles

A tom-yum style bowl bursting with aromatic Thai flavoursThis is probably a middle-aged thing, but it only takes something small to make my day. Usually, that’s bumping into a friend on the school run, spotting a cheeky green parakeet in the tree-tops or lighting a few candles at dinner in the evening. When it comes to food and today’s recipe, however, I rather childishly like to say the words “noodle soup” out loud, as if my mouth is pursing in anticipation of the noodles. I love using a whole butternut squash in a dish – that is where a cook’s satisfaction lies. And, for my sins, I adore slurping the noodles out of the bowl. Continue reading...

Politics