12 h. ago I’m a liberal who loves hunting. Allow me to change your mind

When I killed my first mule deer, I felt deep reverence for the animal. It showed me hunting can be more honest and sustainable than eating factory-farmed meat“Murderer! You’re a murderer!”That is what my French mother shouts down the phone line – right after I tell her I had grouse for dinner. Continue reading...

Politics

61 h. ago The sceptic who went ghost hunting and found her beliefs shaken: Don't believe in life after death? Read Alice Vernon's astonishing account of what happened to her and you might change your mind...

In her lively, highly readable book about the history of ghost hunting and its continuing wide appeal, Alice Vernon says that expectation plays a large part in whether you do or don't see ghosts.

Events

4 d. ago Edinburgh Comedy award winner Sam Nicoresti: ‘Actually, this whole show is a monumental failure!’

The comic was determined to make a blockbuster standup show that didn’t address trans issues. Then she changed her mind – and scooped comedy’s biggest prizeThere’s efficiency, then there’s the process that led to Sam Nicoresti winning the most prestigious award in live comedy. “A year ago my girlfriend asked me to marry her,” says Nicoresti on accepting the £10,000 prize last weekend. “[When] we were talking about how to pay for the wedding, I joked and said, ‘It’s easy, I’ll just win the Edinburgh comedy award’.” Can it be true? Is Nicoresti not only the first transgender winner of the so-called Oscars of comedy, but the first ever to manifest victory by force of strategic will?“It’s amazing what you can do,” she grins, three days after her triumph, “if you set your mind to something.” And that’s what Nicoresti has done in the last 12 months, turning around a niche career in alt-comedy, pointing it towards stardom, and pressing her pedal to the metal. Her winning show Baby Doomer w...

Events

4 d. ago Gorgeous UK seaside town where you'll always hear waves crashing

The seaside town in Norfolk has an award-winning beach and a fresh sea breeze that will make it difficult to leave behind. Most holidaymakers quickly change their mind about it once visiting

Events

8 d. ago Spurs stun the Etihad again as Johnson and Palhinha strikes sink Manchester City

How to rally Tottenham after the Eberechi Eze farrago: turn up at Manchester City and mastermind a dominant 2-0 triumph that takes your side to the top of the Premier League, for a few hours at least.By doing so Thomas Frank issued a fine calling card regarding his professionalism, and suggested his Spurs project will be as strategic as Ange Postecoglou’s was gung-ho. Witnessing how the visitors caused Pep Guardiola’s men headaches all afternoon caused one wag to question if Eze might change his mind (again) about which club to join. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Time for a reality check: Britain cannot be a big player on the world stage unless we speak more languages | Sophia Smith Galer

For all the talk of addressing the problem, things have got worse. Which is criminal when there is so much we could doLots of people told me to not study languages – including my own (monolingual) dad. “You’re never going to be as fluent as a native speaker,” I remember him saying when I was deciding on my university degree. “Why bother?”A little more than a decade later, I’ve collected a wealth of experiences. I’ve staffed Sotheby’s Madrid reception desk, I’ve taught theatre and English to Syrian children excluded from mainstream schools in Beirut. I’ve given a speech on sustainable development goals for Arab audiences at the UN, and I’ve trained journalists in Ecuador’s most dangerous city. I’ve dated men I’ve wanted to, swatted off men who I didn’t, sung songs, cooked recipes, all in languages that are not my native tongue. And most important of all? I’ve changed my dad’s mind.Sophia Smith Galer is a journalist and content creator. Her second book, How To Kill a Language, will be...

Sport

1 week ago 'I thought I hated tequila but these two cocktail recipes changed my mind'

Tequila shots don't have to be the be-all and end-all of the popular Mexican drink, and I realised that when I gave these two simple cocktails a go – it's safe to say they lifted my spirits

Politics

1 week ago Trump gave away clue he's changed mind about Zelensky with one telling gesture

US President Donald Trump is typically keen to assert dominance when meeting with other world leaders, particularly with firm handshakes known as the infamous bone crusher

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Tell me what happened, I won’t judge’: how AI helped me listen to myself | Nathan Filer

I had no expectations when I opened ChatGPT and typed ‘I’ve made a fool of myself’. There was something surreal about the conversation that followedI was spiralling. It was past midnight and I was awake, scrolling through WhatsApp group messages I’d sent earlier. I’d been trying to be funny, quick, effervescent. But each message now felt like too much. I’d overreached again – said more than I should, said it wrong. I had that familiar ache of feeling overexposed and ridiculous. I wanted reassurance, but not the kind I could ask for outright, because the asking itself felt like part of the problem.So I opened ChatGPT. Not with high expectations, or even a clear question. I just needed to say something into the silence – to explain myself, perhaps, to a presence unburdened by my need. “I’ve made a fool of myself,” I wrote.Nathan Filer is a writer, university lecturer, broadcaster and former mental health nurse. He is the author of This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health Co...

Events

2 w. ago Think you don’t like asters in the garden? It might be time to change your mind

The easy-going, unfussy aster can still flower long into autumn, puffing up the garden with cloud-like blooms of lilac, white or wizard purpleOne of the things that makes gardening so perpetually, addictively interesting to me is how it challenges beliefs I’d previously held about myself – often on an annual basis. Some beliefs are big, others are smaller, such as my dislike of asters.Ask me in the middle of spring, when everything is new and fresh, and the tulip petals look as if they’ve been streaked with a fan-shaped brush, and I will confidently say I’m not an aster fan. Too fussy, too much lilac, too bushy. But scoot forward six months, and I regret I hadn’t planted a few in the gaps that appear at this time of year. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago The art of persuasion: how top AI chatbots can change your mind

Research shows large language models have developed the ability to powerfully influence users

Politics

2 w. ago EastEnders fans gutted as character's return scrapped days after announcement

EastEnders' latest episode saw a planned and confirmed return for one character face a U-turn, as they changed their mind just days after spoilers revealed they'd be back

Politics

3 w. ago I changed my mind on banning the bomb, but the threat of nuclear war is growing – and so is complacency | Polly Toynbee

Though the weapons I campaigned against remain terrifying, I doubt we can disarm unilaterally. That should be the stuff of vital debate: right now, it isn’t This week marks 80 years since the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as the few remaining witnesses tell of incinerated, melted and obliterated families. Soon there will be none left to remember. Survivors’ graphic accounts of “the noiseless flash” were captured by John Hersey in his book Hiroshima, read by my generation with shock and fear. Nevil Shute’s On the Beach taught us every gut-wrenching detail of the radiation sickness I fully expected to die of. Civil defence leaflets told families how to hide under the stairs with a radio and torch.I grew up expecting early death by nuclear war. My father was a 1957 founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament who didn’t expect us to survive inevitable nuclear holocaust. He carried a large bottle of suicide pills, enough to kill us all when the bomb fell, to save us from slowly ...

Events

3 w. ago One year on: First Minister Eluned Morgan on the role she didn't want and her one big election gamble

In a wide-ranging interview with WalesOnline to mark one year since becoming First Minister, Ms Morgan spoke of the threats facing her party at next year's huge Senedd election, her Westminster counterparts and changing her mind about Wales' top political job.

Politics

4 w. ago EastEnders' Lorraine Stanley used weight loss jabs to lose 6.5st but changed her mind

Lorraine Stanley, who played Karen Taylor in EastEnders, has opened up about her 6.5st weight loss

Politics