60 m. ago Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan audiobook review – love and conflict in Sri Lanka

The civil war transforms a young trainee doctor’s life as she copes with her feelings for a Tamil Tiger in last year’s Women’s prizewinning novelBrotherless Night opens with 16-year-old Sashi Kulenthiren, who hopes to be a doctor like her eldest brother, making tea when the kettle slips out of her hand, causing her to pour boiling water on herself. When a neighbour, K, hears her screams, he rushes over to help, cracking raw eggs over the scalds to soothe the pain. “So I began as K’s patient though he ended as mine,” Sashi reflects.Set in 1980s Sri Lanka, VV Ganeshananthan’s coming-of-age novel – which won the 2024 Women’s prize for fiction – is an epic and hard-hitting tale of family and survival as it documents life during the civil war between Tamil separatists and the Sinhalese majority that lasted three decades. Before fighting breaks out, Sashi’s most pressing problem is whether she will pass her exams at school. But soon violence and kidnapping become the norm, communities are...

Events

2 h. ago Cal review – grieving Helen Mirren superb in compassionate Troubles romance

Mirren won best actress at Cannes in 1984 for her role as Marcella, who forms a relationship with John Lynch’s Cal – a man complicit in her husband’s murderPat O’Connor’s Northern Irish movie from 1984, adapted by author Bernard MacLaverty from his own novel, holds up very well for its rerelease; better in fact than most of the movies and TV drama made about and during the Troubles. It has an unhurried, thoughtful and very human quality; Helen Mirren won the best actress award at Cannes for her performance here and in fact it is very well acted across the board by a blue-chip cast.Mirren plays Marcella, a woman from a Catholic background, married across the sectarian divide to a reserve police officer murdered at his parents’ farmhouse by an IRA man who had bullied a bewildered local guy into being his getaway driver; this is Cal, played by the gauntly intense John Lynch. Cal lives with his widowed father; a gentle performance by Donal McCann, who was Gabriel Conroy in John Huston’s...

Events

2 h. ago Government Spending Review 2025: Economy shrinks as NHS spending surges and struggling councils miss out

From a surprise economic slump and warnings of a “National Health State”, to council funding concerns, a 74 per cent house price surge, and rising Tesco sales - here are today’s top UK business stories.

Politics

4 h. ago Love Forms by Claire Adam review – the power of a mother’s loss

Forty years on, a Trinidadian woman has never stopped looking for the daughter she gave up for adoption, in a quietly devastating novelClaire Adam’s 2019 novel Golden Child was her debut, but it felt like the work of a master. It was tender, ravishing, shattering – you believed every word of it. The book had an effortless narrative authority that most first-time novelists would kill for.Love Forms is every bit as alive and convincing, and returns us to Trinidad, with its potent fizz of colour, heat and political instability. But unlike the earlier book, it’s also set partly in south London – the writer’s own home turf – and has a mother, rather than a father, at its heart. Continue reading...

Politics

4 h. ago Deep Cover review – Bryce Dallas Howard leads improv actors into London’s underground

Howard, Orlando Bloom and Nick Mohammed star in an entertaining odd-trio crime caper with turns by Sean Bean and Paddy Considine Producer and screenwriter Colin Trevorrow has co-created this amiable, high-concept action comedy about three hapless improv actors dragooned into going into deep cover to bust a drug ring. It’s entertaining, though I think some of the cast understand comedy better and more instinctively than others. It’s set in London (though Trevorrow might originally have imagined it set in LA or New York) and the credit is shared with his longtime writing partner Derek Connolly, and also with Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen, the funny British double act known as the Pin, who also amusingly appear as two squabbling coppers with a Mitchell and Webb energy. The director is the talented Tom Kingsley, who has a substantial TV career and with Will Sharpe got a Bafta nomination in 2012 for the dark comedy Black Pond.Bryce Dallas Howard plays Kat, an American actor whose caree...

Events

5 h. ago Rachel Reeves seized her moment – whatever the future brings, Labour’s economic course is now set | Martin Kettle

The chancellor is no mere technocrat: her spending review revealed a visceral commitment to social and economic mobilityThe consensus has long been that the 2025 spending review would be a defining moment for Keir Starmer’s government. For once, the consensus proved spot-on. The government’s main priorities were set out on Wednesday in a blizzard of Commons announcements from Rachel Reeves, some economically substantive, others more for show. The upshot is that the shape of the British state, as Labour intends it, is now decided until the eve of the next election.There are further crossroads still to come, some of them major, as the years covered by the review unroll. Taxes are likely to rise, probably as soon as the autumn budget, to pay for Reeves’s big ticket boosts on Wednesday for defence, health and housing. Council tax could rise too, with possibly dramatic results. The review’s emphasis on capital spending means current spending could be squeezed again, perhaps heralding pay...

Economics

6 h. ago Confessions of a Parent Killer review – a grisly tale of the murderer who lived with her mum and dad’s corpses

This look at Virginia McCullough tells a deeply strange story. Unfortunately, it also leaves the viewer in suspense about her motive for so long it feels horrifically manipulativeWell, what do you think a 90-minute documentary entitled Confessions of a Parent Killer is going to be about? That’s right, well done! It’s the story of a murder by an (adult) child of her parents. Virginia – Ginny – McCullough killed her mother, Lois, and father, John, and confessed immediately to police when they raided her home in 2023 that she had done so four years previously. The twist was that she had been living with their bodies ever since. “She was weird at school,” says a childhood friend. “But not ‘kill your parents and hide the bodies’ weird.”You can probably tell from such unimpeachably phlegmatic commentary that this case occurred in England. Great Baddow, Essex, to be exact, and the film paints a portrait of quintessential small-town, almost-rural life in these sceptred isles that has gone u...

Events

12 h. ago Flight 149: Hostage of War review – a tale so staggering you couldn’t write it

This excellent documentary tells the tale of a BA plane’s Kuwait stopover just as Saddam Hussein invaded. It’s a crucial tale of a four-month nightmare that is barely believableIf it were a work of fiction, the story of Flight 149 would probably be deemed too horrifying – or too unbelievable – for television. Indeed, as a documentary interspersed with dramatic reconstructions, at points it is almost unbearable to watch. But it is a crucial piece of work: a one-off film that goes deep into a bizarre and increasingly hideous ordeal to ask how and why it happened.On 2 August 1990, a British Airways plane carrying nearly 400 passengers and crew from London to Kuala Lumpur touched down for a scheduled stopover in Kuwait. Those on board knew nothing of the unfolding Iraqi invasion of the country and the brutality Saddam Hussein was inflicting on his neighbours (this would, of course, soon lead to the Gulf war). British Airways maintains that it, too, was unaware of what was taki...

Events

15 h. ago The Guardian view on Labour’s spending review: the chancellor tightened belts and loosened seams | Editorial

The government offers capital investment and fiscal prudence but real-terms department cuts and grand promises could strain political credibilityBrexit’s ghost haunts a Labour spending review intended to lay the foundations for a second term. Its headlines echo the twin themes of the referendum campaign: control immigration, fund the NHS. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said she would end the use of hotels for asylum seekers “in this parliament” saving £1bn a year, while NHS spending will rise by 3% a year. Ms Reeves framed it as a politics of security and compassion. Yet it reads as Brexit’s populist promises, filtered through Westminster orthodoxy.The risk is that this is all slogan and very little solution. The asylum savings are speculative, and the annual increase in NHS budgets is below its historical average. There are also real-terms cuts or essentially flat budgets for key departments such as transport, education and local government. The Home Office faces cuts deeper than a...

Politics

16 h. ago Labour promised people we would rebuild Britain – and that’s what we’re doing | Keir Starmer

This week’s spending review marks a new stage in the mission of national renewal, built on the foundations laid last yearKeir Starmer is the prime minister of the United KingdomThe mandate we received from the British people could not have been clearer. First, we had to stop the chaos and return Britain to economic stability. Second, we had to turn the page on Tory decline with clear Labour choices. Third, we were instructed to rebuild our country.Wednesday’s spending review turbocharged that rebuilding. It is an investment in Britain’s renewal, so working people have more money in their pocket, more pride in their community and more hope for their children’s future. It’s what people voted for. An NHS cutting waiting lists, with care closer to the community. Wealth and opportunity no longer hoarded by only a few towns and cities. Continue reading...

Politics

17 h. ago Treasury minister dismisses claims spending review will lead to autumn tax rises – UK politics live

Darren Jones says such claims are ‘incoherent’ and the government is allocating money that has already been raisedSpending review: key points at a glanceGreen party MPs and activists joined a protest outside parliament today saying the government should use the spending review to announce a wealth tax. In a post on social media, Adrian Ramsay, the party’s co-leader, said:We expect the chancellor to take another axe to public spending today: decline by design from a govt that refuses to tax wealth to properly fund our overstretched public services & support the most vulnerable. We need to invest in a secure & fairer future. #TaxExtremeWealth Continue reading...

Politics

18 h. ago Reeves pledges funds for northern rail but London left short | Spending review 2025

Reeves pledges funds for northern rail but London left short | Spending review 2025  The Guardian

Economics

19 h. ago Reeves says use of hotels for asylum seekers to end ‘in this parliament’ – UK politics live

Chancellor delivers spending review, claiming asylum move will save £1bn and says health spending represents a record cash investmentSpending review: key points at a glanceGreen party MPs and activists joined a protest outside parliament today saying the government should use the spending review to announce a wealth tax. In a post on social media, Adrian Ramsay, the party’s co-leader, said:We expect the chancellor to take another axe to public spending today: decline by design from a govt that refuses to tax wealth to properly fund our overstretched public services & support the most vulnerable. We need to invest in a secure & fairer future. #TaxExtremeWealth Continue reading...

Politics

19 h. ago Spending review 2025 – live: Reeves criticised for ‘fantasy’ plan as economists warn tax hikes ‘very likely’

Chancellor Rachel Reeves insists she will never have to repeat last year’s Autumn Budget, when tax rises were announced

Events

20 h. ago Spending review: Reeves vows to ‘renew Britain’ with big rises for NHS, housing and defence

Chancellor pledges to end spending on asylum hotels, as she contrasts Labour investment with Tory austerityUK politics live – latest updatesSpending review 2025: key points at a glanceFive charts underpinning Rachel Reeves’s decisionsRachel Reeves has pledged to “renew Britain” with a spending review prioritising health, defence and more than £100bn for long-term capital projects, despite leaving some key areas facing a tough squeeze on funding.In a speech to the Commons setting out Labour’s priorities up to the next general election, the chancellor said her investment programme would be felt in all corners of the country, while decrying austerity as a “destructive choice”. Continue reading...

Politics

20 h. ago Spending review 2025: Key takeaways after Rachel Reeves announces government budgets

The Independent looks at what is in the spending review, and, crucially, what is not

Politics

20 h. ago Spending Review 2025 LIVE: Rachel Reeves pledges billions more for NHS and social housing... but Met police cash row looms

Chancellor announces extra £29 billion per year for the NHS and vows to end use of asylum seeker hotels

Economics

21 h. ago Spending review 2025 – live: Reeves vows to end asylum hotels by next election in £600bn budget plan

Chancellor promises review will boost ‘Britain’s renewal’

Economics

21 h. ago Spending review 2025: What’s in and what’s not after Rachel Reeves announces government budgets

The Independent looks at what is in the spending review, and, crucially, what is not

Politics

21 h. ago Reeves says use of hotels for asylum seekers to end ‘in this parliament’ and NHS spending to rise 3% a year – UK politics live

Chancellor claims asylum move will save £1bn and says health spending represents a record cash investmentSpending review: key points at a glanceGreen party MPs and activists staged a protest outside parliament today saying the government should use the spending review to announce a wealth tax. In a post on social media, Adrian Ramsay, the party’s co-leader, said:We expect the Chancellor to take another axe to public spending today: decline by design from a govt that refuses to tax wealth to properly fund our overstretched public services & support the most vulnerable. We need to invest in a secure & fairer future. #TaxExtremeWealthSenior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection.One of the 25 attendees said the first minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership...

Politics