7 d. ago BBC Strictly star Tasha Ghouri opens up about split from Love Islander

Strictly Come Dancing star Tasha Ghouri has opened up on her love life, admitting that she is ready to start dating again after her split from her ex-boyfriend Andrew Le Page.

Politics

7 d. ago Love Island's Olivia Hawkins 'ready for a relationship' as she joins another dating show

Olivia Hawkins is looking for romance once again and has turned to Celebs Go Dating in the hopes of finding that special someone after her two failed Love Island stints

Politics

2 w. ago This is how we do it: ‘Even after 11 years we have sex every day, and three times isn’t unusual’

Mariana and Owen felt sexually frustrated in previous relationships, but are having the ride of their lives nowHow do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymouslyOur sexual relationship is intertwined with our love for each other. It’s our love language Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Woman knocks on ex's door after suspicious feeling and whole world crumbles

Alice thought she was rekindling a lost romance when she reconnected with Mark, a childhood friend. Instead, she became the victim of a devastating romance fraud

Politics

2 w. ago ‘We need to reclaim these words’: Inside England’s first romance

Saucy Books in London has become the go-to destination for romance readers – but fans say misogyny is stopping the genre getting the recognition it deservesWhether you want a brooding billionaire, a queer awakening, a dragon rider (yes, really) or an old-fashioned enemies-to-lovers tale, there’s a romance novel for everybody at Saucy Books.England’s first romance-only bookshop opened last week in Notting Hill, west London, instantly becoming a go-to destination for readers and turning into a meeting spot for like-minded folk to share their love stories. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago I’m glad we have rules. I just don’t expect people to follow them | Dave Schilling

On traffic safety or foreign policy, I get through life by assuming the worst – and occasionally being pleasantly surprisedRules are great. I think most of us over the age of five will agree that having them is preferable to not. Perhaps there are a few stragglers out there reading this who would love to cosplay a lesser sequel of The Purge, swinging baseball bats at strangers and urinating in the street, but I would imagine you are in the minority on that. Rules are the backbone of what we have left of society. I’m not happy about where we are, but I don’t make the rules. At least not yet. I just need to host a popular reality show – then my political career can really take off.A recent interaction has me reflecting on this. I was wandering over to my local coffee shop one morning, off a wide boulevard where motorists scream through intersections like the car from Ghostbusters late for a particularly aggressive haunting. A crosswalk, with accompanying yellow yield light, was recent...

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2 w. ago ‘If you love adventure but not tourists’: readers’ favourite wild places in Europe

Readers revel in extraordinary landscapes from black sand deserts in Iceland to haunting forests in Poland, spotting wolves, bears and honey buzzards along the way• Tell us about a trip to Turkey – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucherThe Julian Alps are mostly in Slovenia, but I have gone on many trips to the little known Italian portion of this mountain range to visit old friends in the ski town Sella Nevea. The scenery is awesome: pointed white, limestone peaks above deep and mysterious pine-forested valleys. The books of mountaineer Julius Kugy romantically describe this large wilderness, the obscurity of which amazes me. Nature is abundant with various large mammals, bird life and flora. If you love alpine adventure but don’t like tourists then seek it out, there’s nobody there!Paul Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago McVitie's give classic chocolate bar 'exciting' new rebrand for summer

It's the British biscuit brand we all know and love but some of us might not be ready for the shake-up

Politics

3 w. ago Andy Murray: ‘I don’t have any plans to go to Wimbledon. I don’t go to watch tennis as a fan’

Double champion unlikely to be at SW19 this year but is enjoying helping out Britain’s next generation of tennis playersAndy Murray has always had a way of creating alchemy on a tennis court. But, even in retirement, he is discovering new tricks. For more than an hour he has little kids from West Byfleet junior school transfixed as he coaches them through the joys of mini-tennis. There are swings and wild misses, gentle advice and high fives. In fact Murray is so locked in, he even makes his familiar power-exhale noise while he gently lifts the ball over a tiny net.In short, he is a natural – even if he doesn’t quite see it that way himself. “I think they were just buzzing to get a few hours out of the classroom to be honest,” he says, typically self-effacing, as he chats during a quick break. “But it’s great. I love seeing kids on a tennis court having fun.” Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago I’d lost my childhood love of reading – but rediscovered it when I set aside my iPhone | Adrian Chiles

You can keep your ebooks. There is no better way to engage with words than through a paperbackEverything changes so everything can stay the same. In the beginning I read a lot. I read paperback books. The Famous Five, the Secret Seven and all that stuff. I had – have, actually – all 21 Famous Five books. They’re in paperback, apart from the fifth one, Five Go Off in a Caravan, which is in hardback. A present from my nan. Nice. But I preferred paperbacks. I’ve never seen the point of hardbacks. They’re unwieldy, harder to hold in bed, especially under the sheets when I was supposed to be asleep.In my teens I raced through Agatha Christie, Alistair MacLean and the like, and Reader’s Digest too, countless editions of which were lined up beside every toilet in the house. Then schooling started interfering with my tastes and I got into Thomas Hardy in a big way, and other big thick, proper paperback novels. After my A-levels I went cycling in France with a mate, which was a miserable exp...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘I don’t have rules’: cooks on making perfect porridge at home

Stewed apples with sultanas, brown sugar and butter, or honey, bananas and chia seeds. Here’s how the pros add crunch and sweetness to their cooked oatsGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailThe cookbook author Elizabeth Hewson cherishes her winter breakfast routine. She creeps downstairs before sunrise, while her husband and children are still sleeping, to make herself a bubbling pot of porridge.“It’s that small moment of peace before the day gets going,” she says. “The rhythm of standing at the stove stirring is one of those quiet rituals that I love.” Continue reading...

Society

3 w. ago Meet Love Island's four bombshells ready 'to stir things up' in villa

Two guys and two girls are ready to turn heads

Events

3 w. ago Love Island star Shaughna Phillips stuns fans with before and after weight loss photos

Former Love Island contestant Shaughna Phillips has been getting herself summer ready with a strict fitness and diet plan - leaving fans gasping over her impressive transformation

Culture

3 w. ago My perfect holiday reading, by Bernardine Evaristo, David Nicholls, Zadie Smith and more

Authors including Michael Rosen, Samantha Harvey and Rutger Bregman reveal their books of the summerSummer reading: the 50 hottest books to read nowThe 10 best audiobooks for summerZadie SmithFor me summer reading is about immersion. Three novels fully absorbed me recently. Flesh by David Szalay is a very smart and stylish novel about the 1%, filtered through the life of a Hungarian bodyguard/driver in their midst. Cécé by Emmelie Prophète (out 23 September) vividly depicts the slums of contemporary Haiti via a very online young sex worker who lives her best life on Facebook. Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie features a series of unforgettable women trying to work out what love means. The summer read I’m looking forward to myself is Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, a true original.David NichollsI would recommend two books, 800 pages and a shade under 150, depending on what you can carry. Helen Garner’s collected diaries, How to End a Story, are frank, gripping and rev...

Events

4 w. ago These evangelical men saved sex for marriage – they weren’t well prepared

Scores of Christian men have been raised on ideas of abstinence and ‘purity’ – what does that mean for their sex lives later on?Like many people, reaching the age of 40 inspired Matt to do some self-reflection. He had achieved many hallmarks of adulthood: a college degree, a career he enjoyed, and two beloved dogs. But he’d never had a relationship, or even a sexual partner.This weighed heavy on him; he craved the experience of a deep romantic connection and wondered how it might feel to be in love. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski review – some of the best sex scenes I’ve read this year

In this page-turning romance, teenage sweethearts reunite as thirtysomething womenSex is notoriously difficult to write. Some authors avoid it entirely; even those who have been called great can come a cropper. Which is why I want to start this review by saying that the sex scenes in Ordinary Love are some of the best I have read this year, and that Marie Rutkoski has a facility for writing physical intimacy that can elude even some of our most gifted authors. Her voice has been compared to that of Sally Rooney. I don’t see much of that in this novel beyond a Rooneyesque ability to write sex well, but that is a talent worth noting.Ordinary Love is a queer romance that tells the story of Emily and Gen, teenage sweethearts who break up in college and reunite in their 30s, their paths having diverged dramatically. Emily marries Jack, who is wealthy and emotionally abusive. When she sees Gen again, she is in the process of leaving him for the second time (the novel opens with ...

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