61 m. ago UK retail sales slump in May after ‘dismal’ month for supermarkets

The Office for National Statistics said the total volume of retail sales fell by 2.7% in May – the biggest drop since the end of 2023.

Economics

74 m. ago Developing countries ‘need more debt relief’ to fund education and health

Research warns poorer governments prioritising debt payments over essential development spendingDeveloping countries need a fresh round of debt relief, to prevent money urgently needed for health and education being diverted to creditors, according to a major new report commissioned by the late Pope Francis.The Jubilee report, produced by a panel of experts chaired by Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, argues for debt restructuring, along the lines of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC). Continue reading...

Economics

74 m. ago Arson, sex shops, livestreamed funerals: Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman on the wild stories in her southern gothic rock

Wednesday’s picaresque yarns have resulted in the alt-rock album of the year. At home in North Carolina, their leader explains why she likes things ‘a little bit scary’ – and what’s next after her split from bandmate MJ LendermanTo step into Karly Hartzman’s home is to see the contents of her brain shaken out. There is a fireplace mantel covered in dolls and figurines; a wooden rack filled with cassette tapes; an old doll’s house filled to the brim with fabric scraps; a few overflowing bookshelves. As the 28-year-old leader of the indie-rock band Wednesday greets me at the door, she realises a few new additions have just landed through the letterbox, some books about the history of hardcore and punk: she has been listening to both a lot and is eager to educate herself.Hartzman is a collector by nature, a habit that is also at the heart of her songwriting. Equally inspired by the southern rockers Drive-By Truckers and the shoegaze greats Swirlies, Wednesday’s sound combines heartfelt...

Politics

74 m. ago From LA to Paris, the populist right hates cities – and it’s fuelled by a sense of bitter defeat | Andy Beckett

LA was once a conservative stronghold; now the military is occupying it. Liberal cities have become targets for politicians looking to stir up their voters elsewhereFrom Los Angeles to London, Istanbul to Warsaw, cities are making rightwing populists angry. Their liberal elites, immigrants, net zero policies, leftwing activists, globalised businesses, expensive transport infrastructure and outspoken municipal leaders – all are provocations to populist politicians whose support often comes from more conservative, less privileged places.Three years ago the founders of national conservatism, the transatlantic ideology on which much of modern rightwing populism is based, published a statement of principles. One of these, surprisingly little noticed at the time, declared with some menace: “In those [places] in which law and justice have been manifestly corrupted, or in which lawlessness, immorality, and dissolution reign, national government must intervene energetically to restore order....

Politics

2 h. ago UK lawmakers to vote on allowing terminally ill adults to end their lives

British lawmakers are set to vote on whether to back a bill to help terminally ill adults end their lives in England and Wales

Politics

2 h. ago Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie review – the joy of the hatchet job

Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse? An influential theatre critic finds out in this smart story of #MeToo-era revengeWhen Jesus is pressed to condemn the woman taken in adultery, he says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” No one does, and a lesson in critical generosity is learned. Judge not, that ye be not judged.Is giving an artist a one-star review an act of abuse – casting the first stone? Is it worse when the reviewer is male and the artist female? That’s the starting point of this entertaining and very timely debut novel from Charlotte Runcie, an arts journalist who, as a young intern, was lambasted on stage by a successful standup to whom she’d given a bad review.There was an interactive customer feedback device propped up on the bar. Tell us what you think of our service, it said, and underneath there were two buttons you could press: an angry red face or a smiling green one. Excellent or worthless, nothing in...

Society

2 h. ago Grenfell: Uncovered review – heartwrenching account of avoidable tragedy

Bleak, enraging documentary combines firsthand accounts of the disaster with appalling record of official negligenceThe 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London which caused 72 deaths is now the subject of Olaide Sadiq’s heartwrenching and enraging documentary, digging at the causes and movingly interviewing survivors and their families, whose testimony is all but unbearable. At the very least, the film will remind you that when politicians smugly announce they wish to make a bonfire of regulations, they should be taken, under police escort if necessary, and made to stand at the foot of the tower. As for the housing secretary at the time of the tower’s refurbishment, the abysmally arrogant Eric Pickles, he was made a life peer in 2018.With the very considerable help of the housing-issues journalist Peter Apps, the film shows how the horror was created by a perfect storm of incompetence, mendacity, greed, and (that heartsinking phrase) systemic failure. The local council were keen to spruc...

Politics

3 h. ago UK households urged to soak flowers in vases in 80p liquid immediately

Cut flowers sitting in vases are at risk of dying early as the overbearing heat threatens to shorten their life-span - that's unless you take extra precautions

Politics

4 h. ago ‘You’d never make Slumdog today’: Danny Boyle on risks, regrets and returning to the undead

In 28 Years Later, zombies maraud over a Britain broken by more than Brexit. Its director discusses cultural baggage, catastrophising – and why his kids’ generation is an ‘upgrade’The UK is a wasteland in Danny Boyle’s new film. Towns lie in ruins, trains rot on the rails and the EU has severed all ties with the place. Some residents are stuck in the past and congregate under the tattered flag of St George. The others flail shirtless through the open countryside, raging about nothing, occasionally stopping to eat worms. You wouldn’t want to live in the land that Boyle and the writer Alex Garland show us. Teasingly, on some level, the film suggests that we do.Boyle and Garland first prowled zombie Britain with their 2002 hit 28 Days Later. It was an electrifying piece of speculative fiction, a guerilla-style thriller about an unimaginable world. Since then we’ve had Brexit and Covid, and the looming threat of martial law in the US The story’s extravagant flights of fancy don’t feel s...

Events

4 h. ago Elon Musk savages White House 'snake' behind sinister move that led to First Buddy's fall out with Trump

Sergio Gor, who feuded with Musk during his time atf DOGE and reportedly killed Musk's preferred nominee for NASA administrator, is accused of not being vetted before taking the job.

Politics

4 h. ago DWP breaks down Pension Credit barriers to help people claim £4,300 boost

A successful new claim for Pension Credit can unlock access to help with housing costs and Council Tax bills.

Economics

4 h. ago Victims of illegal puppy trader open up on heartbreak of desperate attempt to save dogs

New owners fell in love with defenceless pups and were immediately faced with a desperate fight for life - and huge vet bills.

Events

7 h. ago Trust has never been so difficult in this week's crime fiction: Believe by S. M. Govett, What the Night Brings by Mark Billingham, This House of Burning Bones by Stuart MacBride

A legal psychological thriller, poisoned doughnuts and the latest outing for DI Logan McRae feature in this week's round-up of the latest crime fiction.

Events

7 h. ago JoJo Siwa gushes over boyfriend Chris Hughes and quips they've already discussed marriage as she admits she 'wishes he was with her' after she flew home to the US

The Dance Moms star, 22, is back in America after spending two weeks with the Love Island star at his home in the UK, where the pair finally confirmed their romance following weeks of speculation.

Politics

7 h. ago CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Outrageous: This Downton Abbey with added fascism is frightfully unconvincing

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Set in the gilded world of the British aristocracy, all country houses and glittering debutante dances, it's the story of the six ultra-privileged Mitford sisters.

Politics

7 h. ago Cruel eczema makes my face swell up and covers my body in a raw rash. Then I discovered the game

You know how it goes. You look amazing when no one's around, but the second you need to leave the house, your skin has a meltdown. And in my case, I mean an eczema flare-up of epic proportions.

Politics

7 h. ago The 'Farminator' who rounds up illegal migrants: Farmer reveals he dealt with 5,000 stowaways on his land and says Keir Starmer 'treats them like royalty'

Chris Gadsden, 70, hit the headlines ten years ago as he collared hundreds of suspected stowaways sneaking into his fields in Bedfordshire.

Events

7 h. ago Pensioner is hit with £24,000 electricity bill... and ordered to pay back £2,000 a WEEK

Lin Lawler, who owns Grange Farmhouse in Hainford, Norfolk, uses the five-bedroom house and adjoining annex as a holiday rental for just over 100 days a year.

Economics

9 h. ago Assisted dying law faces crunch Commons vote as MPs switch sides

The relatively narrow majority of 55 from the historic yes vote in November means every vote will count on Friday.

Politics

9 h. ago Exhibition launched to mark 250th anniversary of the birth of JMW Turner

Display at Petworth House, West Sussex, explores link between artist and the landscapes that inspired him.

Politics