14 h. ago Leave betting alone & stop spending billions on migrant hotels, punters blast as planned tax rise threatens high street

THOUSANDS of bookmakers will disappear from high streets if Chancellor Rachel Reeves puts up sports betting tax in the Budget — risking countless jobs. MPs from across the political divide warn a huge tax hike will cripple the industry and millions will no longer be able to go to shops — where the average bet...

Economics

3 w. ago Enjoying the implosion of the Tories? That’s understandable – but completely wrong | Zoe Williams

The world’s most successful democratic party is in a death spiral of its own making – leaving no bulwark between the moderate and truly far rightThere have been times in living memory that Conservative leaders have sounded almost sensible on the surface – and times where they have sounded animal crackers, yet were still adored by their party. This is not either of those times. Kemi Badenoch left the crowd unmoved when she addressed her conference, even as she threw out the red meat of migrant-baiting she thought they wanted. It’s not so much that they’d all woken up with a renewed sense of humanity; more that they didn’t believe she’d ever be in a position to deliver it. It was, in effect, fake vegan meat. Tories hate that. One senior Conservative apparently called it a “New Orleans funeral”: noisy, energetic, but still a goodbye.What next for the group with a decent case to make for itself as the most historically successful democratic party in the world? Some are having another sq...

Politics

3 w. ago Coronation Street's Lucy Fallon addresses soap future in 'much harder' admission

The 29-year-old actress joined the ITV soap as Bethany Platt in 2015 and recently returned from a maternity leave break

Events

3 w. ago Coronation Street leaves stars 'in tears' as fans say they 'deserved better' and hail legend

Coronation Street fans were left in tears after a legendary character made a swift exit on Wednesday night with some saying she deserved a better goodbye to the cobbles

Politics

3 w. ago Sigur Rós and the London Contemporary Orchestra review – crashing waves of refined harmony

Royal Albert Hall, LondonPerhaps the band that can best justify a mid-career gig with classical backing, the extra heft of the orchestra adds power to the Icelanders’ beautiful crescendosOn Sigur Rós’s most recent album Átta, their first in a decade, the group reversed course from the intriguing industrial experiment of its predecessor Kveikur and returned to safe ground – leaning back into the grand orchestral crescendos that defined their best-loved work, as glacial in pace as they are in beauty. It makes sense, then, that the USP of their current tour is a collaboration with a different set of classical musicians in every city.Though mid-career-band-joined-by-orchestra sets so often enlist classical musicians to fill the holes left by fading creativity, leaving awkward blends between the two parties, that’s not the case tonight. The Icelanders meld seamlessly with the London Contemporary Orchestra, musically and visually, with both camps all in monochrome, mingled together under ...

Events

4 w. ago The One Show's Alex Jones says 'better safe than sorry' after leaving fans 'with questions' in health update

The presenter had a procedure performed just hours before fronting the BBC talk show

Politics