12 h. ago India suffer humbling defeat but rise and fall in fighting spirit is biggest worry | Simon Burnton

With first Test against England in the balance the tourists revealed another of their plentiful flawsThe day started with drama and tension and later, for a while, they returned. But the period in between was in its own way equally intriguing, a phase that exposed in the tourists a deficiency not of quality, but of spirit. This turns out to be a team whose shoulders suffer from such severe premature drooping someone should invent some kind of blue pill to deal with it.They started with spirits high and performance levels to match, Jasprit Bumrah from the Kirkstall Lane End and Mohammed Siraj coming up the hill from the other, lines and lengths unerring. Ben Duckett hit the third ball for four, after which seven overs passed before the next boundary. Continue reading...

Events

20 h. ago Air India blow as five passengers suffer horrifying symptoms on London flight

Nine people from flight Air India flight 130 from London to Mumbai suffered with nausea and dizziness, which was believed to have been caused by a decrease in cabin pressure

Politics

6 d. ago Brit soldier's fight for life after Thailand holiday fall as medical bills rise to £75k

Liam Gibson, 21, fell at the Na Muang Waterfall 2 in the Ko Samui District area of Thailand on April 12. He spent two hours waiting for a rescue operation and then five hours having life-saving surgery that left him bleeding out

Economics

6 d. ago UK house prices fall at fastest pace in four years after stamp duty rise

Annual house price growth halves to 3.5% in April as temporary tax relief ends

Politics

8 d. ago Oil prices rise and US futures fall as Israel urges residents of Iran's capital to evacuate

Oil prices have resumed their upward climb and U.S. futures are lower after Israel's military issued an evacuation warning to 330,000 people in Iran's capital Tehran

Politics

1 week ago US Open: Rory McIlroy makes cut as defending champion DeChambeau bows out at Oakmont

Northern Irishman’s birdie on 18th secures placeBig names tumble out as DeChambeau finishes on +10Clubs were thrown but the towel was not. Rory McIlroy battled Oakmont’s treacherous setup and his own frustrations to survive for the weekend at the 125th US Open. As McIlroy clung on, high-profile exits from Pennsylvania included the defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Dustin Johnson, Joaquin Niemann, Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry. In epitomising how Oakmont can mess with the mind, Lowry earned a one-stroke penalty after lifting his ball on the 14th green while forgetting to mark it. The Irishman could only laugh and, to be fair, did.McIlroy’s day began with two double bogeys inside three holes. By the 12th, the Masters champion flung his iron 30 yards down the fairway in anger at a loose shot. Five holes later, McIlroy broke a tee marker after cracking it with his three-wood. Yet amongst this was admirable fighting spirit; McIlroy fired an approach shot to within 4f...

Politics

1 week ago The Kardashians of history: why are we so obsessed with the Mitford sisters?

They were impossibly glamorous, fatally flawed and turned up at every significant moment of the 20th century, but underneath it all is a highly relatable family drama – without the infamous friendsThe rise and fall of the Mitford sisters is like one of those earthquakes we’re due on a regular rotation: eight years out from Gucci’s much-documented Never Marry a Mitford jumper, four years after the BBC drama The Pursuit of Love, a new TV show appears fortuitously to bring them back into the public consciousness again.Here they come, out of the mists of time, the seven children of a minor member of the House of Lords: Nancy, of course, the author of Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love and probably the most famous in her own right; followed by Pamela, the least famous and fond chiefly of chickens and horrible men; then Tom, the only boy, with a weakness for the Nazis and, as far as history is concerned, no personality. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago South Africa v Australia: World Test Championship final cricket, day three – live

Updates from the third day of the WTC final at Lord’sRead the latest edition of The Spin | And email GeoffThis is mine, with the Australian perspective on Pat Cummins’ remarkable day, and what influence a certain member of the nouveau landed gentry might have had.Here’s Simon Burnton with the press conference reporting, where David ‘Bedding In’ Bedingham is upbeat about knocking off the Aussies. Continue reading...

Sport

1 week ago Kagiso Rabada lays down marker of excellence with fiery spells for South Africa | Simon Burnton

Teammates say he is the world’s best bowler and judging by his first-day display against Australia he is not far offGiven there was a certain scepticism in advance of this game about South Africa’s suitability for a place in this final, their spot having been secured through a run of good results, mostly at home, in short series that notably did not involve either of the two sides currently ranked ahead of them, perhaps they needed an early marker of excellence, a demonstration of merit. Fortunately they had just the man.At 10.30am the pre-match pyrotechnic mist cleared with Kagiso Rabada at the nursery end, ball in hand. Perhaps Usman Khawaja’s personal fog lingered a while longer, the first ball of the day zinging past his outside edge and sending the Australian opener into survival mode. Rabada started his day with a maiden, and then another, and then another. Khawaja faced every delivery, including a couple more that he barely survived. And then, two balls into Rabada’s fourth o...

Events

3 w. ago Francesco Acerbi the symbol of Inter Milan’s bid for Champions League glory

Veteran defender’s fighting spirit epitomises what Simone Inzaghi’s experienced Inter are all about

Sport

3 w. ago Emma Raducanu in 'cold' moment with opponent after humbling French Open defeat

Emma Raducanu was humbled in her second round match against Iga Swiatek, winning just three games, with a cold moment at the net spotted by former player Annabel Croft

Politics

3 w. ago The revealing inside account of how Baroness Bra came undone: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone

Director Erika Jenkin's documentary builds to an infamous confrontation with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, with the Glasgow businesswoman squirming under questions about the PPE scandal.

Politics

4 w. ago Jamie Oliver turns 50: the 10 defining moments from the celebrity chef's rollercoaster career

Jamie Oliver has seen empires rise and fall, cookbooks sell in their millions, and TV shows blossom over the past 25 years

Politics

4 w. ago Weather rollercoaster for Brits as mercury to rise then fall

The mercury is set to rise this weekend, warm enough to enjoy a barbecue at around 27C, before the temperature falls dramatically - then rise again over a few days

Politics