71 m. ago Garden owners warned to 'avoid stepping on frosty grass' over winter

Treading on a frosty lawn can increase your chances of a certain issue, but BBC Gardeners' World says there may be an easy solution if you need to access your garden via the lawn

Events

86 m. ago Key US panel to vote on changing infant hepatitis B vaccine recommendation

ACIP vote follows two postponements and contentious meeting and comes as RFK Jr pushes for vaccine delayAfter a delay and an unusually contentious meeting, a federal vaccine advisory panel was expected to vote on Friday whether to change the longstanding recommendation that all newborns be immunized against hepatitis B.The first day of the meeting of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) on Thursday was marked by heated debate over restricting access to the hepatitis B vaccine for infants and a decision to defer the vote by a day to give members more time to review the wording. The panel, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to use vaccines, had twice before postponed the vote. Continue reading...

Politics

1 hour ago Composting for your garden? This ancient method requires minimal effort

Digging a trench alongside your vegetable bed is an easy way to dispose of food and plant waste, and enrich soil for next year’s cropsOn a visit to our friends’ house recently, the subject of food waste came up. They haven’t got a tucked-away spot to set up a compost bin or heap in their garden, and their local council doesn’t collect. They had put their effort into bokashi composting in the past, but with a baby on the way I suspect they’ll have more than enough to do without taking on the added responsibility of caring for a bucket of fermenting kitchen scraps.But as they’re already accustomed to burying their bokashi-ed vegetable peelings, it got me thinking about how low effort and high impact trench composting can be for those without room for a larger system. Trench composting is the simple process of putting your compostable matter – fruit and vegetable waste, plant material from the garden, grass clippings, leaves, etc – into a trench near where you’re planning to ...

Politics

2 h. ago Keep rats out by mixing vinegar with powerful natural item that 'irritates them'

Rats and mice are a common problem in many homes, but experts recommend using vinegar to help deter them - and it is most effective when combined with another natural ingredient

Politics

2 h. ago Neighbours' panic over homeowner's plan to build house in garden

Councillors approved the three-bedroom house after 16 objections were received, with a hedge-cutting solution proposed for parking

Society

2 h. ago 'Drab' town centre office block will be turned into flats with a roof garden

It's close to a magistrates' court and that was a worry for the courts service

Politics

2 h. ago Melody’s Echo Chamber: Unclouded review – an enchanted, balmy garden of dreampop

(Domino)Blooming strings, mellifluous guitars and airy vocals make Melody Prochet’s fourth album a calming place to visit – even if there’s a lack of standout tracksFrench musician Melody Prochet, AKA Melody’s Echo Chamber, never struggles to find a supporting cast. Her self-titled 2012 debut was produced by Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. On second album Bon Voyage (2018) she teamed up with Swedish psychedelic rock band Dungen, whose guitarist Reine Fiske popped up again on 2022’s Emotional Eternal and now features on Unclouded. Prochet’s fourth album is produced and partly co-written by composer Sven Wunder, and its dizzying array of contributors also includes Josefin Runsteen (opulent strings) and DJ Shadow collaborator Malcolm Catto (percussive fizz).Still, somehow Prochet retains her own singular vision. Borrowing a title from a quote by Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki – “You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is go...

Politics

3 h. ago Review: Singin' In The Rain is made for Manchester's weather

Playing in the Royal Exchange's round certainly makes for a 'wet and wild' production

Politics

4 h. ago BBC SSO 90th Anniversary Concert, Glasgow review: 'profound insights'

This was a concert of of seriousness and vision, but - for a birthday party - perhaps a little light on celebration, writes David Kettle

Politics

4 h. ago Laura Cannell: Brightly Shone the Moon review | Jude Rogers' folk album of the month

(Brawl)The violinist sets out on her darkest exploration of yuletide yet, giving a murky and melancholy twist on familiar Christmas standardsTraditional music finds its popular, cosy home in the carol, despite the uncanniness that surrounds the nativity story, and the fraying thread back to the past that each winter brings. A veteran explorer of the season (in 2020’s sparkling Winter Rituals EP with cellist Kate Ellis, and 2022’s starker New Christmas Rituals, with amplified fiddle-playing from André Bosman), Laura Cannell sets out on her best and darkest journey yet here, exploring the time of year when, as she writes on the liner notes, “joy and heartache try to exist together”.Named after the line in Good King Wenceslas before the cruel frosts arrive, Brightly Shone the Moon begins at the organ – a nod to Cannell’s childhood Christmases in the Methodist chapels and churches of Norfolk. Cannell’s fiddle then quivers around the 16th-century folk melody of O Christmas Tree/O Tannenb...

Politics

5 h. ago Serial killer imprisoned women as sex slaves and forced them to eat victims' bodies

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Gary Michael Heidnik, who was known as the 'Butcher of Philadelphia', was a serial rapist and murderer who kept multiple women as sex slaves in his basement torture chamber

Events

5 h. ago Serial killer kept sex slaves in torture dungeon and forced them to eat victims

WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: Gary Michael Heidnik raped and tortured six women in a hidden torture chamber in his basement, killing two and forcing the survivors to eat the remains

Events

5 h. ago With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration isn’t fun, enjoyable or even aspirational

None of us mere mortals will ever have a Christmas like this, but we can endure Meghan’s Netflix special as numbing content in the background of our holiday season

Politics

9 h. ago Horror as teen dies in fireworks accident after neighbours hear 'boom' like 'a bomb'

A 17-year-old boy has died after suffering severe burns in a tragic fireworks accident in his garden in a Los Angeles neighbourhood on Wednesday night when neighbours heard a "boom" that sounded "like a bomb"

Events

12 h. ago The 'longest garden' in Britain: House for sale for £600,000 has land big enough to land a plane in

The three-bed home, situated at Little Downham, near Ely in Cambridge, features a 500ft-long garden.

Economics

15 h. ago Eternity film review: This sweet and funny romcom is a wonderfully warm watch with delightful performances

ETERNITY (15) 114mins ★★★★☆ LOVE never dies, right? Well, it seems that is the case in this charming romcom about the afterlife. This is a story about the eternal love between Joan and Larry, a warm, bickering couple who have been married for 60 years. We first meet them at the end of their lives,...

Events

18 h. ago ‘A little less cool’: Spotify’s listening age feature stirs delight and dismay

Some users jump generations in expanded Wrapped review while Taylor Swift tops UK streams for third yearIt has given some in middle age dubious hope that they have their finger on the cultural pulse. Meanwhile, some younger users have been told their listening habits suggest they are well into retirement.Spotify has confected a wave of intrigue over what our musical preferences suggest about our vintage, with its “your listening age” feature causing delight and consternation. Continue reading...

Politics

19 h. ago Harry Dunn's mum gives emotional reaction after Foreign Office failings exposed

Charlotte Charles told the BBC said there is "comfort" in "knowing that going forward things should change" after an independent review found officials did not treat her son's death outside a US military base case as a crisis

Events

20 h. ago David Hockney at Annely Juda Fine Art: 'The greatest living painter

Artist Daniel Lismore visits Some Very, Very, Very New Paintings Not Yet Shown in Paris to find Hockney at the peak of his powers

Politics

21 h. ago Dusk slashes 'comfy and stylish' garden sofa from £624 to £176 in incredible deal

One shopper said this garden set it so comfortable that they 'fell as sleep on it after work'.

Economics