8 h. ago Why nuclear war is closer than ever: That's the chilling verdict of historian SERHII PLOKHY who reveals the FORTY countries which could blow the world apart... and the timebomb that could trigger ash

I was born and have lived my entire life under the threat of universal extermination that followed that summer's day in 1945 when, in the New ­Mexico desert, the first nuclear bomb was exploded.

Events

17 h. ago New shock study finds around one in five people living in the UK were born abroad

It analysed revised immigration data published this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and found that around 19.6 per cent of the UK's population was born abroad.

Events

3 w. ago Wives, mothers, fighters, activists: the millennial women keeping Ukraine going

Born into an independent Ukraine, the lives of these young women changed for ever when Russia invaded their country, forcing them to shoulder huge burdens of responsibilityPhotographs by Julia KochetovaUkraine is increasingly a country held together, behind the military lines, by women. Those in their 30s – millennial women born into an independent Ukraine, raised in economic turbulence and thrust into adulthood on the wave of revolution and war – are shouldering huge burdens of responsibility. They are fundraising for the army, or sometimes serving in it. They are running civil society organisations, advocating for their country abroad and becoming activists.At the same time, unlike their male counterparts who are forbidden from leaving the country and are eligible for conscription, they have choices – to join the army, or not; to stay in the country, or not. For some, the question of whether to have children, when the war shows no sign of abating, looms large. For many of them, ex...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘It’s been a cesspit, really, my life’: war photographer Don McCullin on 19 of his greatest pictures

At 90, McCullin has spent seven decades recording conflict and tragedy – while escaping snipers, mortar fire and capture. He reflects on pain, pride and regretWar photographers are not meant to reach 90. “Fate has had my life in its hands,” says Don McCullin. Over his seven-decade career covering wars, famines and disasters McCullin has been captured, and escaped snipers, mortar fire and more. How does it feel to be a survivor? “Uncomfortable,” he says. No wonder he finds solace in the beautiful still lifes he creates in his shed, or in the images he composes in the countryside around his Somerset home.McCullin is proud of escaping the extreme poverty he was born into, and the interesting and adventurous life he has lived, but he says the accolades – including a knighthood in 2017 – make him uneasy. “I feel as if I’ve been over-rewarded, and I definitely feel uncomfortable about that, because it’s been at the expense of other people’s lives.” But he has been the witness to atrocity,...

Events

3 w. ago Pensioners can claim winter heating payments worth up to £305

You will be eligible for the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment if you live in Scotland and you were born on, or before, September 21, 1959

Economics

3 w. ago Forward prize names poets Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie its first joint winners

Judge of prestigious award says two best collection winners ‘address the urgent challenges of our time’Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie have been named joint winners of this year’s Forward prize for best collection, one of the UK’s most prestigious poetry awards, marking the first time in the prize’s history the honour has been shared.Ravinthiran, who was born in Leeds to Sri Lankan Tamil parents and now lives in the US, was recognised for Avidyā. The collection is described as having emerged from “journeys of great personal significance, and out of a migrant sensibility tied to three different countries”. The Canadian poet Solie shared the prize for Wellwater, a “self-interrogative conversation with a culture in crisis and a natural world on the brink”. Continue reading...

Events