44 m. ago The Hunger Games: On Stage review – thundering fight to the death in a dazzling dystopia

Troubadour Canary Wharf theatre, LondonEye-popping visuals and a strong lead performance energise Matthew Dunster’s production – but the emotion gets lost amid the actionA luminous bow hovers in the darkness as if suspended in the sky while the arena-like stage is filled with smoke. A figure emerges: Katniss Everdeen, the girl from District 12 in Suzanne Collins’ post-apocalyptic universe, played by Jennifer Lawrence in the film franchise. With her appearance, the 74th Hunger Games begin – and no special effect is spared.Closely following the plot of Collins’ first book in the young adult series, and the Lionsgate film of 2012, Matthew Dunster’s production is a grand-scale manifestation of dystopian Panem. It is a place in which the haves and have-nots are divided into districts, and in which children are pitted against each other as “Tributes” in a deadly TV gameshow, forced to kill for prime-time entertainment. The last one standing wins the prize of survival. Continue reading...

Sport

75 m. ago High blood pressure rates in children nearly doubled in 20 years, global review finds

Poor diet, inactivity and obesity believed to have caused hypertension for millions of under-19s around the worldThe rate of children and teenagers living with high blood pressure globally has nearly doubled because of a toxic combination of unhealthy diets, mass inactivity and soaring levels of obesity, according to the largest review of its kind.Experts said 114 million children who have developed hypertension even before reaching adulthood were facing potentially deadly and lifelong harm, including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and a myriad of serious health complications. Continue reading...

Events

3 h. ago I saved pregnant woman world saw hanging out Bataclan window now we’re like siblings, says survivor on 10th anniversary

TWO rock fans will today mark ten years since the day they met – when one of them saved the other’s life in the most terrifying setting imaginable. As gun-wielding IS terrorists rampaged around them massacring 89 people at Paris’s Bataclan music venue, a pregnant woman identified only as Charlotte clung on for life to...

Events

4 h. ago Backlash and body horror: The story of Alpha, the most misunderstood film of the year

The acclaimed French director behind icky masterpieces ‘Raw’ and ‘Titane’ shocked festival audiences this summer by returning with an emotional drama about death and illness. But the initial response was silly, argues Sophie Monks Kaufman, who chats with filmmaker Julia Ducournau and star Tahar Rahim

Events

4 h. ago Christmas Karma review – Dickens adaptation has as much Yuletide spirit as a dead rat in the eggnog

Gurinder Chadha’s leaden update of the hardy seasonal chestnut with Kunal Nayyar is joyless and nausea-inducingKeen though I always am to indulge any and every new riff on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, and keen also to hear from Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha, this cynically Christmassy movie is leaden, unconvincingly acted and about as welcome as a dead rat in the eggnog. It’s the worst Christmas film since last year’s Red One, in which Dwayne Johnson played the head of security for Santa Claus and more or less had us all rooting for anyone who could beat up Father Christmas.In this one, Big Bang Theory star Kunal Nayyar lifelessly and joylessly plays a Scrooge variant called Mr Sood, part of the Ugandan south Asian community expelled by Idi Amin in his childhood, and embittered by early poverty. An early romance soured because of his obsession with money, and he has become a grasping and unpleasant old guy in London (cue stock footage of the London skyline) in the ra...

Events

6 h. ago Shamima Begum 'should be allowed UK return' after six year controversy, review says

A bombshell report into Britain's counter-terrorism policy has concluded that Shamima Begum should be allowed back into the UK after the 26-year-old was stripped of her British citizenship

Politics

7 h. ago Iceland Airwaves review: This music festival will restore your faith in humanity

With mostly emerging acts from over 20 countries, Iceland Airwaves isn’t about the size of the headliners, it’s about the experience. And that’s exactly what makes it one of the best festivals in the world

Culture

7 h. ago I swapped my expensive blender for this one £480 cheaper and it makes soups in seconds

I've been using a blender for almost 10 years for souping, smoothies and purees, but as its performance began to dwindle, I wanted to try out a more affordable model

Economics

7 h. ago DWP issues update on plans to review benefit claimed by 1.4m people

Carer's Allowance is a benefit offered to those who care for someone for at least 35 hours a week

Politics

7 h. ago ‘I swapped my £600 blender for this £110 one and it makes perfect soups in seconds’

Beauty and wellness editor Laura Mulley put this multitasking blender to the test to see how well it whizzed up her favourite winter soups – and it's currently on sale

Economics

8 h. ago ‘Every account is slightly different’: who were the real Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday?

A new book, Brothers of the Gun, explores the unlikely friendship between a complicated lawman and a cursed gamblerThere’s a famous line from a John Ford western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Mark Lee Gardner is a leading historian of the old west whose new book, Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone, concerns two major figures in such history. He doesn’t like Ford’s line.“Every historian uses it, they just beat it to death,” Gardner says cheerfully, by video from Bozeman, Montana. Continue reading...

Politics

8 h. ago Canada pushes to join Eurovision: ‘This is about protecting our identity’

Country explores taking part in the glitzy song contest as it distances from the US and seeks to deepen ties with EuropeWhen Canada released its federal budget this month, much of it was standard fare, from the plans to downsize the public service to the boost in defence spending.But one line tucked in the nearly 500-page document has captured imaginations on both sides of the Atlantic: a mention that the government is working with Canada’s national broadcaster to explore participation in the Eurovision song contest. Continue reading...

Politics

8 h. ago Roads set to be widened with plan for 200m turbines in Welsh village

Legal advice given to councillors said if they refused they could be exposed to a judicial review with potential costs of £100,000

Politics

9 h. ago Newsboy’s horseracing tips for Thursday’s two meetings, including Sedgefield Nap

Newsboy fancies his nap, Blue Topaz, to sparkle at Sedgefield and also hopes Lunar Orbit can score on the same card and complete his Daily Double

Politics

9 h. ago Could Shamima Begum return to UK under Labour? Independent review says she should be saved from 'Britain's Guantanamo' camp in Syria

Begum is currently living in a detention camp in Syria after she fled her home in east London at the age of 15 to join Islamic State in 2015.

Politics

12 h. ago American influencer claims Meghan Markle's $64 candle was sold without a WICK in scathing review

Link Lauren, from Texas, recently reviewed new products from As Ever's holiday-inspired collection during a segment on his podcast Spot On with Link Lauren.

Politics

13 h. ago The Running Man review: What in the Schwarzeneggers were they thinking?

Edgar Wright’s reboot of the much-loved 1987 Arnie film is fun but a little thin

Events

13 h. ago Predators review – grimly compelling look at reality TV revenge hunt for child abusers

David Osit’s documentary takes a disturbing look at the televised shaming served up by the hit show To Catch a PredatorIt’s too soon to know for sure, but this may end up being ranked as one of the best nonfiction films of the year. At least let’s hope lots of people get to see this, even if it’s a mistake because they meant to buy a ticket for Predator: Badlands. Instead of an alien hunter with gnarly teeth, this offers a profoundly troubling meditation on our collective thirst for revenge – or at least the kind of bizarre performance art version of revenge as served up by reality TV show To Catch a Predator, a US series that ran from 2004 to 2007 and which featured weekly footage of paedophiles and would-be paedophiles being duped, shamed and arrested.Predators’ director David Osit, at first just an offscreen voice but eventually a fully seen (in every sense) presence, explains that he used to watch To Catch a Predator avidly as a young man. Every episode was roughly the same: a m...

Events

14 h. ago DWP timeline for PIP eligibility changes for new and existing claimants

PIP reforms have been put on hold until a comprehensive review of the benefit has been completed.

Politics

14 h. ago Elizabeth Hurley, 60, flaunts ripped muscles in tiny orange bikini

Elizabeth Hurley left very little to the imagination as she lounged around the pool, topping up her tan in a very small bikini while showcasing her impressive muscles

Politics