5 h. ago Dumfries hotel named Scotland's best new spa at Hotels of the Year Scotland awards

The Cairndale Hotel also landed the award for Best Hotel in the South West at the Hotels of the Year Scotland Awards

Events

7 h. ago New fast ferry service from Swansea to South West England explored

A maritime company is involved and a consultation has been launched. The vessel would be powered by a combination of electric batteries charged by renewable energy and locally-produced alternative fuels such as green hydrogen

Politics

14 h. ago A new start after 60: I got divorced – and became a sex therapist

I spent a year in shock after my marriage collapsed. Then I realised how much pleasure I could wring out of lifeAs part of her training to be a counsellor, Jill Le Jeune gave a presentation about sex. Her group had worked with people who had experienced trauma, low mood, suicidal ideation. “And everyone was very comfortable around these difficult subjects,” she says. But talking about sex made them squirm. “I thought: actually, I’d rather talk about sex than suicide.” She decided to specialise in the subject and, at the age of 60, started to practise as a sex therapist.But why? “There was a curiosity,” she says, sitting in her office in Clapham, south-west London. Continue reading...

Politics

15 h. ago Carolina fires updates: Emergency declared in North and South Carolina as wildfires force evacuations

A blaze near Carolina Forest, a community just west of tourist spot Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, stretched across 1,600 acres

Events

22 h. ago Group of 80 burly Brits shed 73 stone in just one year after doing the same thing

The MAN v FAT footie club in Sutton, south-west London helped a group of 80 overweight players shed a whopping 1,000 pounds of excess flab - or 73 stone - across 2024

Politics

22 h. ago Carolina fires updates: Wildfires burn in Myrtle Beach area threatening homes and forcing evacuations

A blaze near Carolina Forest, a community just west of tourist spot Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, stretched across 1,200 acres

Events

25 h. ago The Americas review – Tom Hanks’ beautiful new nature series pretends the climate crisis doesn’t exist

This look at the wildlife of the American continent is vast, grandiose and awe-inspiring. But its approach to nature is so cosy it’s the eco equivalent of wearing blinkers and sticking your fingers in your earsIt does seem a little spoiled to be critical of a documentary as gorgeous as The Americas, a vast, grandiose Tom Hanks-narrated nature series which explores territory from New England to the tip of Patagonia. But we are living through an extraordinary glut of nature television, and the pool of previously unfilmed and unfilmable natural world scenes must surely be getting smaller. This 10-parter talks up its credentials as something new and different: five years in the making, gathered over 180 separate expeditions, capturing discoveries which have never been on camera before, the most expensive unscripted project ever made by NBC (via BBC Studios). Why, then, does it feel so familiar, and occasionally even tepid?This is nature television that is best enjoyed with your brain cl...

Events

3 d. ago Weather tracker: six cyclones swirl simultaneously in southern hemisphere

Bianca, Garance and Honde churn across Indian Ocean as Alfred, Rae and Seru spin through south-west PacificAn uncommon meteorological event unfolded on Tuesday when six named tropical cyclones were active simultaneously in the southern hemisphere, several in close proximity to one another.Three developed in the south-west Pacific. Severe Tropical Cyclone Alfred formed on 20 February in the Coral Sea to the north-east of Australia, reaching an intensity equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on Thursday with sustained winds of 105mph (170km/h) and gusts at about 140mph. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago 'Toddler' rave could be coming to a park in south west London

Raver Tots would be held as part of a weekend of events in Old Deer Park in August

Politics

5 d. ago All eyes on Wandsworth: why the London Borough of Culture 2025 is the place to be

Loyal locals rave about their leafy south-west London home

Politics

1 week ago Analysis shows nine in 10 areas facing maximum council tax rise in England

Just 15 councils are planning increases below 4.99%.

Politics

1 week ago Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone review – these incredible children offer a sliver of hope

This often-distressing BBC documentary follows astonishing kids working as TikTok chefs and hospital porters – and shows their determination to smile in the face of unimaginable horrorThe children of Gaza will be its future, if they are able to remain there. Starting several months into Israel’s bombardment and continuing right up until the recent ceasefire, London-based directors Jamie Roberts and Yousef Hammash made their documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone by remotely instructing two local cameramen, Amjad Al Fayoumi and Ibrahim Abu Ishaiba, as they captured life inside the “safe zone” – an ever-changing, ever-dwindling area in the south-west of Gaza, designated by Israel as the place where displaced Palestinians should reside. That the cameras predominantly follow children has an unexpected double effect: it makes the film’s many deeply distressing moments all the more unbearable, yet it tinges them with some sort of hope.The kids are led by 13-year-old Abdullah, who acts...

Events