22 h. ago Inside fight against black market cigarette trade as cops tackle network of shops illegally flogging fags for £5 a pack

SLOWLY prising away a kick board at the bottom of some shelves, the police find exactly what they are looking for. Dozens of cartons of brightly packaged cigarettes, which are being sold illegally in the UK. They are often flogged for as little as £5 a packet and show none of the graphic warnings smokers...

Economics

30 h. ago ‘We can never forget’: the fight for answers as displays of black US soldiers removed from Dutch cemetery

Relatives fear removal is part of ‘same virus affecting the US’, as historians and politicians say it coincided with Trump’s DEI purgeA white marble cross marks the final resting place of Julius W Morris, private first class in the US army, who died in April 1945.But at the cemetery where he lies in Margraten, a village in the south of the Netherlands, a new battle has begun over the quiet removal of two display panels about African American soldiers, like Morris. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Shops found hiding illegal goods behind false wall and fridge

Officers seized illegal tobacco and cigarettes after visiting premises in Colwyn Bay and Llandudno last week

Events

3 w. ago Four easy and cheap ways to keep your home drier to fight off black mould

CONDENSATION build-up in your home at this time of year can cause issues that hit you in the pocket. Humidity makes rooms feel colder, costing you more in heating, and can also provide conditions for problematic black mould to grow. Here are some easy and cheap ways to keep your home drier. WINDOW VAC: Condensation...

Politics

4 w. ago West London shop that paid illegal worker in food loses licence

JK Off License in Ealing was caught following an immigration raid

Economics

4 w. ago Boots: the Netflix sleeper hit that’s a stunning indictment of military homophobia

This word-of-mouth sensation’s scenes about the US marines’ treatment of homosexuality are incredibly powerful. Until it throws in a weird food fight and starts trying to become an Orange Is the New Black-style comedy dramaOne of the pitfalls of the streaming era is that so many shows seem to go unheralded. Last week, Netflix’s Boots looked likely to be one of them, slipping into the submenus without making a noise. However, thanks to unbelievably positive reviews (“The best new TV show of the fall” said USA Today) and frothing word of mouth, the military drama is now the third most-watched show on the platform. With every passing hour, it seems as though Boots is destined to become the next Squid Game-style breakout. So, with all that said, is it actually any good?The answer: kind of. Boots is an adaptation of Greg Cope White’s 2015 memoir The Pink Marine, detailing his time in the US military in 1990, a few years before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell became the service’s official position ...

Events