23 h. ago Reform UK council candidate 'called for Chris Whitty to be strung up' and praised golliwog toy as 'cute'

Adele Taggart, who is hoping to be elected to Durham County Council on 1 May, is the latest Reform candidate to face scrutiny over their past social media comments.

Events

40 h. ago Max Romeo was a great social commentator, railing against inequality and discord

The reggae singer best known for War Ina Babylon and Chase the Devil was most productive in the febrile political climate of 1970s Jamaica, but his influence remains undimmedJamaican reggae artist Max Romeo dies aged 80Max Romeo, who died on Friday aged 80 from complications related to a heart condition, was one of Jamaica’s most celebrated vocalists; critiquing the island’s pervasive class divides and wealth disparities with a distinctive tenor, he denounced punitive US foreign policy and detailed the turbulence of world affairs.Best known for War Ina Babylon, a playful commentary on the factionalism that blighted Jamaican society during the mid-1970s, and Chase the Devil, on which he vowed to banish Satan to outer space, Romeo enjoyed repeated chart success in Jamaica during his long and varied career. Collaborating with the Rolling Stones in the early 1980s, he later opened a recording studio at his home in the Jamaican countryside, helping a younger generation of artists to come...

Politics

3 d. ago BBC Strictly Come Dancing fans make demand as professional line

One former dancers' admission dominated the comments section of a social media post

Politics

8 d. ago Celebrity Bake Off fans disgusted by 'nightmare fuel' pie deemed show's 'most repulsive' creation

Tonight's episode of The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer had some fans taking to social media to comment on one particularly gruesome-looking pie.

Politics

2 w. ago Social media is awash with ‘heteropessimism’. Do young women really think so poorly of men? | Rachel Connolly

The cliche of the loutish, emotionally inadequate boyfriend is everywhere. The truth is more complicatedHow is the ideal heterosexual girlfriend supposed to behave? This played on my mind after I watched Companion, a film about a loutish millennial man named Josh with a robot girlfriend named Iris. Iris was designed to be the perfect girlfriend, and so she regards Josh with total devotion and admiration, and prioritises their relationship above all else. She has a head full of fake memories, such as the one of the day they met, when they were both in the same supermarket and he clumsily upended a display of oranges, sending them rolling across the floor. This caught her attention. She has been programmed to regard this as the best day of her life.Like so many things you watch and read now, Companion is intended to reflect a familiar trope back at the viewer in an exaggerated but unchallenging fashion. It’s a pantomimed version of a wildly imbalanced heterosexual relationship, a port...

Politics

2 w. ago Immigration officials look to collect social media handles from those seeking benefits. Is this new?

U.S. immigration officials are asking the public and federal agencies to comment on a proposal to collect social media handles from people applying to benefits such as green cards or citizenship, to comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump

Politics

2 w. ago Amanda Owen fans all say same thing as Our Yorkshire Farm star poses with rarely seen son

Our Yorkshire Farm star Amanda Owen shares rarely seen picture of her son Sidney who fans believe is identical to the TV star as they inundate social media with comments

Politics

2 w. ago Woman 'runs to show boyfriend' giant crisp and everyone says the same thing

The snack scoffer shared her super-sized find on social media forum, Reddit sparking a flurry of comments from people impressed with how it managed to stay in tact

Politics

2 w. ago Milos Kerkez drops major transfer hint amid Liverpool interest: 'My agent is on'

Liverpool fans have filled left-back’s social media accounts with comments urging him to make move to Anfield

Politics

2 w. ago Instagram and Facebook DOWN as users can't post comments or load social apps

Hundreds of complains flooded downdetector shortly after 12:30pm, with the majority of users saying they're unable to load Instagram comments or post to both apps

Technology

3 w. ago Duckett says England losses in ODI and Champions Trophy ‘hurt me so much’

Opener insists results matter despite comments in IndiaDuckett clarifies social media posts on Jasprit BumrahBen Duckett has said England’s humbling experiences in India and at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan “hurt me so much” and that he hopes they can make amends this summer.England have lost 10 out of 11 white-ball matches since the turn of the year, including all three at the Champions Trophy to finish bottom of their group, triggering the resignation of Jos Buttler as captain. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Geyse joins Gotham FC on loan after unhappy spell at Manchester United

Brazilian forward said she had felt ‘lonely’ at WSL clubUnited say ‘wellbeing’ at heart of club’s decision-makingThe Brazilian forward Geyse has joined Gotham FC on loan from Manchester United. The move comes after the player described feeling “lonely” and being in agony after coming on as a late substitute in Manchester United’s 2-0 victory over Leicester earlier this month in a social media post.Her comments came on the same evening that Geyse’s agent claimed United had tried to loan her to other clubs while she attended her brother’s funeral in January. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Ella Baron on Adolescence and the dangers social media pose to teenage boys – cartoon

Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Keir Starmer praised Adolescence. Now he needs to show he’s learned from it | Gaby Hinsliff

The government balked at protecting children from the perils of social media. TV has made the issues plain; now politics must do its jobIt’s the story every parent of teenagers I know has been watching horrified through their fingers. The Netflix drama Adolescence starts with armed police breaking down an ordinary front door to arrest a 13-year-old boy for murder, in front of his bewildered parents. Though initially it seems there must have been some terrible mistake, Jamie’s Instagram account soon yields clues that all the adults – police, parents and teachers alike – had initially blundered past, oblivious.Though talk of misogynistic “manosphere” influencers such as Andrew Tate hovers over the storyline, this isn’t really a story of radicalisation. What it skewers is the feeling of growing up very publicly in a world where sending nudes risks them instantly being shared round the class and everyone automatically films playground fights on their phones, and how that intensifies dan...

Politics

3 w. ago Louise Hunt's tragic tweet after finding 'strength' to end Kyle Clifford relationship

In the days before her murder, Louise Hunt, daughter of BBC racing commentator John Hunt, shared a social media post about 'women who leave' toxic relationships

Events

4 w. ago ‘Will Freya find a lovely birthday gift for mummy?’: why the Sylvanian Families movie is the anti

The trailer for the new film about the dainty woodland creatures will wash over your brain like a warm 70-second bath. Does every toy movie need to be an Oscar-worthy social commentary?This Easter, a new movie based on Sylvanian Families will be released into cinemas. If you’ve been keeping up with films based on toys for the last decade or so, then you’ll be forgiven for feeling a modicum of dread upon hearing this news. Because ever since Barbie took a billion dollars and found itself nominated for a bunch of Oscars, a toy movie isn’t allowed to be a toy movie any more. It has to be an auteur-driven toy movie; one that also functions as a commentary about the capitalist machinations that drive the toy industry.It’s everywhere. In 2022, Emily V Gordon and Jon M Chu announced that they were making a Play-Doh movie that would be about “creativity, imagination, and the purpose of art”. JJ Abrams is making a film based on Hot Wheels that he describes as “emotional and grounded and grit...

Politics

4 w. ago Have you ever been tired enough to put your shoes in the microwave? This is my world: welcome! | Nell Frizzell

While writing my book, I asked on social media for stories from parents suffering extreme sleep deprivation. It was hilarious – and frighteningSleep is a feminist issue. Or should I say, lack of sleep is a feminist issue. During a particularly thickly cut bout of tiredness, when my son was a newborn, I became so convinced that my tiny, milk-stained baby had rolled out of my arms and somehow, unfathomably out of the room, into the night outside that I started crawling along the floor of our hallway, in the dark, sobbing. The fact that the boy couldn’t yet roll over, was in his cot, and the door was closed, while my partner snored like a mechanical digger beside him, could not penetrate the exhausted fug of terror that had enveloped me after weeks, months of broken, fluttering, barely snatched rest.Whether it’s waking up every 45 minutes to feed a screaming baby, making shopping lists while roasting under the duvet in an insomniac hormonal flush, staying up past midnight to clean the ...

Politics