2 h. ago Rapist who attacked three women in West Lothian and Falkirk caged

Kevin Malloy, 39, has been caged for nine years.

Events

54 h. ago Mandrake – the rural life sim that lets you befriend a river and eavesdrop on the dead

Failbetter’s beguiling take on country life has its comforting routines but slowly reveals a richer and stranger life than you expectWith dulcet Welsh tones, an actor bearing an uncanny aural resemblance to Michael Sheen introduces players to the world of Mandrake. The village of Chandley is “small” and “complicated”, he says warmly. “Everyone’s got their own story.” The action cuts between cosy, wooden cottages and a moss-covered forest filled with folkloric creatures. We see the protagonist, a horticulturist wizard “steeped in the green and growing arts”, returning home and tending to an abundance of vegetables. Some you’ll find in your local supermarket; others are of a decidedly more magical variety.As a rural life simulation, Mandrake is odder and more beguiling than most. It possesses the same undeniable allure as classics such as Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, inviting players to slip into the seasonal flow of crop cultivation, countryside exploration and conversations with...

Events

63 h. ago The secret to living to 100: Lifestyle habits from the world's 'Blue Zones'

It's one of the wealthiest countries in the world - with one of the best healthcare systems. But experts say Britain is lagging by one crucial metric: life expectancy.

Politics

3 d. ago ‘I don’t expect to live a normal life’: how a Leeds teenager woke up with a Chinese bounty on her head

After speaking out about the suppression of Hong Kong’s protests, Chloe Cheung was targeted by Beijing, followed on the street and abused online. Yet she remains defiantIt was Christmas Eve 2024 and 19-year-old Chloe Cheung was lying in bed at home in Leeds when she found out the Chinese authorities had put a bounty on her head. As she scrolled through Instagram looking at festive songs, a stream of messages from old school friends started coming into her phone. Look at the news, they told her.Media outlets across east Asia were reporting that Cheung, who had just finished her A-levels, had been declared a threat to national security by officials in Hong Kong. There was an offer of HK$1m (£94,000) to anyone who could assist in her arrest or capture. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Holidays are a ‘valued and realistic’ part of later life, says pensions body

Pensions UK includes holidays in its retirement living standards, which help people understand what kind of lifestyle they may expect in later life.

Politics

8 d. ago UK State Pension: current age may increase to 80 as experts forecast reforms

Rising life expectancy could mean working longer or paying more into your pension 🕰️

Politics

9 d. ago Progress by Samuel Miller McDonald review – humanity’s greatest myth?

A spirited skewering of the idea that things can only get better takes us from the Book of Genesis to neoliberalismEverything is in decline, argues the geographer Samuel Miller McDonald. Democracy and free speech are in freefall. Inequality is soaring, with the 1% scooping up ever-larger shares of global wealth. These days, the US has a Gini coefficient – the most common international measurement of inequality – on a par with slave-owning Ancient Rome. Maternal mortality rates for American millennials are three times higher than those of their parents’ generation – and this in the world’s richest society.Global life expectancy is falling. So, too, are food standards. Outside a few bourgeois sourdough enclaves, real bread has vanished. In its place we get mass-produced, spongy, tasteless “pseudo-bread” – as Guy Debord lamented in The Encyclopedia of Nuisances. In an earlier age, there would have been bread riots. Now? Just muted indigestion. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Life expectancy of women in west Africa is 59. Those over 60 were asked

Women across west Africa have a life expectancy of 59. In a rare project, Sylvia Arthur set out to give voice to those who have lived beyond expectation, whose experiences have been largely overlookedAddra* insists that his aunt, Anyessi Dossou, does not have a story to tell. “She’s just an old woman who’s never left the village,” he says, as he guides us along dirt tracks in fading light to her home in Avlo, Benin.When Dossou, in her early 80s, emerges from her room in the compound house she shares with generations of her extended family, the conversation begins hesitantly. “I told you,” Addra says. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Well, no, you don’t have to have children’: what African women over the age of 60 have learned about life

Women across west Africa have a life expectancy of 59. In a rare project, Sylvia Arthur set out to give voice to those who have lived beyond expectation, whose experiences have been largely overlookedAddra* insists that his aunt, Anyessi Dossou, does not have a story to tell. “She’s just an old woman who’s never left the village,” he says, as he guides us along dirt tracks in fading light to her home in Avlo, Benin.When Dossou, in her early 80s, emerges from her room in the compound house she shares with generations of her extended family, the conversation begins hesitantly. “I told you,” Addra says. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Poetry pulled me out of the abyss’: keeping culture alive in Kharkiv – picture essay

Eastern Ukraine’s biggest city is unsettlingly close to the Russian border and vulnerable to missile strikes, but there is a determination to maintain a cultural life, and a poetry festival is testament to the resilience and creativity of its peopleThe city of Kharkiv, just 18 miles from the Russian border, is a paradoxical mix of tended-to and broken. Public sculptures are wrapped and coddled in sandbags to protect them from missiles. Flowerbeds in parks are punctiliously maintained. The life of the streets is several notches quieter than you would expect from a European country’s second city – and yet, bookshops, coffee shops and restaurants are open and doing a steady business.People browsing the books at Pochaina market Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Amber warning issued as Storm Floris set to bring 85mph winds

The Met Office has warned that those who live in the affected areas could expect "injuries and danger to life" from large waves and beach material being thrown onto sea fronts, coastal roads and properties

Events

4 w. ago Darren McGarvey joins coalition Health Equals demanding government action as new data reveals stark regional divide in life expectancy

Award-winning author Darren McGarvey joined Minister Ashley Dalton and MPs from across the political spectrum yesterday to demand urgent government action on health inequalities that are cutting lives short by up to 16 years in some parts of the UK.

Politics

4 w. ago Wrexham's transfer power sparks frustrated statement from opponents with more signings to come

Wrexham are preparing for life in the Championship next season and expected to bring in several new players, but one manager is not happy to be compared to them

Politics