20 h. ago Do we think enough about parents who care for sick or disabled children – and how not to make things harder? | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Mina Holland’s book about parenting her seriously unwell daughter sheds light on the situation faced by so many, and the complicated psychology at playWhen you have a baby, especially if you’re in an antenatal class, or friends or family members have a child of about the same age, there is a feeling that you’re all in it together, at least at first. For me this big, life-transforming event might have felt intensely personal, but the shared connection with other new parents, who were also learning on the job, not to mention the books – Your Baby Week By Week, The Wonder Weeks – can trick you into thinking that the path is a predictable one.From hourly feeds and wake-ups to sleeping through the night, breast- and bottle-feeding to solids, crawling to walking, maternity leave to nursery to school, the journey may have slightly different scenery, but the impression given is that ultimately it ends up in the same place. Continue reading...

Society

3 d. ago Simple July task gives gardeners a 'second flush of flowers' this summer

A timely trim can rejuvenate early-flowering perennials, giving a garden a new lease of life in the height of summer, horticultural experts say

Politics

6 d. ago Hot diggity dog: Joey Chestnut regains title in New York hotdog eating contest

Leviathan of competitive eating fires up Nathan’s Fourth of July event after yearlong ban for promoting rival wienersJoey “Jaws” Chestnut reclaimed his title at the annual Nathan’s Fourth of July hotdog eating contest on Friday, cementing his status as the undisputed all-time champion of hotdog consumption.A rerun of Jaws was the blockbuster attraction in Coney Island this Fourth of July holiday, but not the classic Steven Spielberg movie enjoying a new lease of life on the 50th anniversary of its release. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Joey Chestnut to make Coney Island’s summer as hotdog champion returns

The leviathan of competitive eating returns for Nathan’s Fourth of July hotdog eating contest after year’s ban for promoting rival plant-based wienersA rerun of Jaws will be the blockbuster attraction in Coney Island this Fourth of July holiday, but not the classic Steven Spielberg movie enjoying a new lease of life on the 50th anniversary of its release.The jaws here belong to Joey Chestnut, the undisputed all-time champion of hotdog consumption, and a leviathan in the world of competitive eating that has grown as a sporting spectacle to the point where it is a regular fixture on ESPN. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago The huge neglected Welsh seaside town mansion that's about to have a new lease of life

Plans to turn Gardenhurst in Penarth into apartments have finally been approved, paving the way for new life to be breathed into the Victorian manor house

Politics

2 w. ago The ‘most underrated’ thriller of the 1990s taking Netflix by storm

Intense film is finding a new lease of life 30 years on

Events

3 w. ago ‘Most underrated’ thriller of the 1990s takes Netflix by storm

Intense film is finding a new lease of life 30 years on

Events

3 w. ago MI6 has appointed its first female leader. What took it so long? | Zoe Williams

From politics to business, the determination to exclude women is purely emotional – a fact that remains as unspoken as it is obviousMI6 has never had a female head in its 116-year history – until now. How fitting that the first woman should be called Blaise Metreweli. That forename has it all: derring-do (courtesy of Modesty Blaise), onomatopoeia, modernity.Metreweli will take over in the autumn as C, the real-life version of M from James Bond. She currently runs Q branch, MI6’s technology division, which apparently is named after the Bond quartermaster. No fictional Q has ever been female, but in real life at least two women, including Metreweli, are thought to have held the role. M can be male or female, except now they succeed or fail by how much they resemble Judi Dench, so all of them, including the incumbent, Ralph Fiennes, are de facto female. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The drumbeat of doubts over Lucy Letby's conviction has grown so loud that justice now demands an urgent resolution

When Lucy Letby was sentenced to 15 full-life terms there was at least the consolation that justice had been done. Or had it?

Politics

3 w. ago ‘They were inseparable’: family’s anguish at wait to bring Air India victims home

Relatives of Pooja and Harshit Patel, who were visiting from Leicester, want to cremate them together but have faced painful wait for identificationIn the ramshackle, cramped lanes of Ambika Nagar in the Indian city of Gujarat, everyone spoke of Pooja and Harshit Patel with pride. The couple had done what none of their relatives or neighbours had managed to achieve before; they had moved abroad, settling among the thriving Gujarati diaspora community in the British city of Leicester.Their lives in Leicester, where the couple had moved so Pooja could complete her business masters degree – later getting a job at Amazon alongside Harshit – seemed unimaginably glamorous to their relatives and close-knit community back in India. Pooja would call her mother, 58-year-old Chandra Mate, at least three times a day with tales of British life and to show off her latest outfits, spinning in front of the mirror. Continue reading...

Society

3 w. ago Netflix gives forgotten ITV series about British icon a new lease of life

Netflix viewers are loving the drama

Culture