59 m. ago Millions of people getting extra up to £1,400 in banks from today

An estimated three million people will benefit from the change that comes into force from April 1

Economics

69 m. ago April Cruel Day: Millions of Londoners hit with £400 rise in annual utility and council tax bills

Across London, average increases in council tax, water and energy will cost households around £400 a year

Economics

75 m. ago Trumpism is sinking democratic values. It’s Starmer’s job to steer the UK back to safety | Polly Toynbee

US tariffs hit this week just as other costs start to bite in Britain. To meet these challenges, Labour will finally have to changeThe prime minister may pretend to “like and respect” Donald Trump, but elsewhere in parliament anti-Americanism is running hot. In a Lords debate on obesity last week, Labour’s Lord Brooke suggested imposing 25% tariffs on “American products which are causing us difficulties – Coca-Cola, Pepsi, KFC, McDonald’s”. The government replied that the US is an “indispensable ally”. That craven attitude may be politic today – right until it fails tomorrow.The outlook for Britain and other countries is bleak. Wednesday is “liberation day”, when Trump’s tariffs will hit a range of goods likely to send global economies tumbling. There is near-zero expectation that Britain’s genuflections will save us from the same punishment as the rest. As for Trump demanding no VAT on US imports to the UK, that’s extorting with menaces a benefit denied to our own producers. Even i...

Politics

1 hour ago Bank of Japan survey says big manufacturers gloomier as Trump tariffs loom

A survey by Japan’s central bank has found a decline in business sentiment among large manufacturers for the first time in a year, partly because of worries about U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs

Economics

2 h. ago Pension Protection Fund vows to boost UK investment if allowed to grow

Britain’s £32bn lifeboat scheme wants to drive consolidation in defined benefit sector and increase infrastructure spending

Economics

2 h. ago The wrestler with nine lives: how Saraya survived alcohol, abuse, injury and a leaked sex tape

At 18, Saraya-Jade Bevis had a rags-to-riches signing that took her from Norwich to the largest wrestling promotion in the world. A few years later, she hit rock bottom. Here is how she started overIt’s hard to know where to start with champion wrestler Saraya-Jade Bevis. Do we start in the same place as her memoir, at rock bottom aged 25 when a sex tape of Bevis taking part in a threesome was leaked and went viral? At that time, Bevis was suspended from wrestling, addicted to alcohol and, she says, snorting so much cocaine that her nose was spraying out blood.Or do we start with her childhood in Norwich, raised by a family of wrestlers, ex-cons and alcoholics, living in a council house where, she says, the rent was always due and dinner might be mashed potato sandwiches. The childhood sexual abuse that she had kept hidden for most of her life? Her rags-to-riches signing at 18 to WWE, the largest wrestling promotion in the world? Her new life in the US, when she was enjoying success...

Events

2 h. ago Brit visits Spanish city in one day for £100 and is back in UK before midnight

Crossing into the continent doesn't need to be a costly affair, as one traveller confirms as she filmed her entire day in Spain and even made it home in time for bed

Economics

2 h. ago UK weather to be hotter than Spain as Brits to bask in 20C heat all week

The UK is set to be hotter than Spain's Costa del Sol this week as Brits continue to bask in temperatures warmer than 20C amid the mini heatwave-style weather for some time yet

Society

2 h. ago Half of Scots opposed to 'reckless' scheme to allow prisoners out of jail early

MSPs passed a law meaning those sentenced to under four years in prison will now be released after serving 40 per cent of their time behind bars.

Events

4 h. ago Virginia Giuffre's lawyer speaks out after Prince Andrew abuse accuser is '4 days from death'

Virginia Giuffre, whose dying wish is reportedly to see her children one last time, is understood to have been involved in a crash, and has kidney failure among other injuries

Events

5 h. ago I read Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez and it made me laugh and cry at the same time

Say You'll Remember Me is out now - but be prepared to both laugh and cry at least once while reading it

Politics

5 h. ago Mikel Arteta 'failed' his player after giving green light to Arsenal transfer exit

Emile Smith Rowe will return to the Emirates for the first time since leaving Arsenal last summer as he prepares to play against his boyhood club with Fulham - with Mikel Arteta previously admitting he had regrets over his exit

Sport

5 h. ago NASA astronauts: Finger of blame pointed after stranded SpaceX explorers debacle

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams spoke to reporters for the first time since they were ferried home from the International Space Station - following their nine-month saga

Technology

6 h. ago DWP warning to pensioners as they risk missing out on monthly payment unless they do this one thing

The Department for Work and Pensions oversees a means-tested benefit known as Pension Credit, which is designed to boost the income of those aged 66 and over on a tight income

Events

7 h. ago Decarbonising home heating at risk from weakened policies, think tank warns

Two key policies to drive up heat pump installations have been beset by delays or softened by ministers over time, researchers said.

Events

7 h. ago Real reason new Doctor Who companion was chosen for TARDIS role

Former Miss Newcastle Varada Sethu battled to become an actress and says that she and Ncuti Gatwa play time-travellers who 'really are equals'

Politics

7 h. ago ‘Woke’ criticism of Doctor Who proves show on right track, says its newest star

Varada Sethu joining series as Doctor’s latest companion, marking first time Tardis team is wholly people of colourCriticisms that Doctor Who has become too “woke” prove the series is doing the right thing by being inclusive, its new star Varada Sethu has said.Sethu plays the Doctor’s latest travelling companion, Belinda Chandra, in new episodes airing next month. With Ncuti Gatwa returning as the Doctor, the pairing marks the first time a Tardis team will comprise solely people of colour. Continue reading...

Culture

7 h. ago 'Before getting gastric bypass I hated holidays because I couldn’t fit in the plane seat’

The largest ever clinical trial compared obesity operations in 1,346 NHS patients, and one explains: "I felt everyone was looking at me all the time because of my size"

Politics

8 h. ago Brits face huge changes to driving tests with waiting lists expected to increase

The average waiting time for driving tests increased to a whopping 20 weeks in February, a significant increase from the 14-week average in the previous year, leaving thousands of learners waiting for a test

Politics

9 h. ago Twitter: Breaking the Bird review – how all the hate speech flooded in

This film shows how a ‘hallucinogenically optimistic’ vision descended into the hellscape we know today. Young, confident men really should not rule the internet It turns out that Mike Judge’s supposed sitcom Silicon Valley was a documentary after all. My bad, as the people young and in touch enough with the world to have known this all along may still say.Twitter: Breaking the Bird is a 75-minute CNN film chronicling the rise, fall and possibly end of the social media site that was launched by a group of eager young things in 2006 amid a widespread belief – at least in the Valley – in the power of the internet to remake the world in radically better ways. This, a co-founder or two has come to consider since, may have been a “hallucinogenically optimistic” view. Well, we were all young once. Although that feels – and in no small measure because of Twitter – like a very long time ago. Continue reading...

Events