5 h. ago Kylie Minogue gets her – and Amazon’s – first Christmas No 1, with Xmas

Exclusive song for online retailer prevents a hat trick of Christmas No 1s for Wham!, as Kylie becomes first woman to secure UK No 1 singles in four different decadesKylie Minogue has scored her first UK Christmas No 1, and eighth No 1 single overall, with the song Xmas.She beat competition from Wham!’s mega-streaming Last Christmas, which has been Christmas No 1 for the past two years: it was last week’s chart-topper but drops to No 2. Also in the race was Lullaby from the charity campaign Together for Palestine, which reached No 5. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Nostalgic pictures that show a Scottish Christmas from the decades gone by

Scottish Christmas nostalgia is shaped by festive lights, familiar seasonal scents, and families coming together over traditional treats

Politics

8 h. ago ‘I was abandoned as a baby on Christmas Eve – 80 years later I found the brother I never knew existed living a mile away’

John Moore was abandoned as a baby on Christmas Eve 1944. Decades later, a Christmas present helped unravel the mystery and led him to his half-brother

Politics

4 d. ago Pictures show scale of devastation in Welsh town where residents are staying in hotels

The town hadn't flooded for decades but now, days before Christmas, folk here are beginning a long rebuild

Politics

7 d. ago Vandals cut down Christmas tree that has stood in village for more than a decade just hours after its lights were switched on

Durham Police believe the tree in Shotton Colliery was felled deliberately between 10pm and 11pm on Wednesday, December 10.

Politics

8 d. ago Ho, ho, Hamburg: bringing the flavours of a true German Christmas market home

From glühwein to lebkuchen, bratwurst to stollen, recreating the delicacies I sampled in the city’s festive markets is wholly achievable. Plus, a new digital cookbook for a good cause• Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, FeastWithout wanting to sound tediously Scrooge-like, the German-style markets that have become seasonal fixtures in many British cities over the last few decades never make me feel particularly festive. What’s remotely Christmassy – or German – about Dubai-chocolate churros and Korean fried chicken, I grumble as I drag the dog (who enjoys all such things) around their perimeters.Hamburg’s markets, however, which I was myself dragged around last weekend, are a very different story. For a start, the city has many of them, mainly fairly small – and some, such as the “erotic Christmas market” in St Pauli, with a particular theme. What they all have in common is the range of food and drink on offer though let’s gloss hurriedly over the phallic gingerbread shape...

Politics

9 d. ago Mum's mad Christmas house is like 1960s time capsule thanks to 1,000 vintage decorations

Lisa Watts has spent over three decades collecting more than 1,000 vintage Christmas decorations from the 1960s and 1970s, and has decked out her home to resemble a festive time capsule

Politics

9 d. ago Mum's bonkers Christmas house is like stepping back to the 1960s

Lisa Watts, 53, has spent over three decades collecting more than 1,000 vintage Christmas decorations from the 1960s and 1970s, transforming her Cardiff home into a festive time capsule

Politics

1 week ago R&B Xmas Ball review – Toni Braxton melts hearts and Boyz II Men blow minds on trip back to the 90s

OVO Wembley ArenaWith additional sets from Dru Hill and Joe, this revue is a little too nostalgic and lacks the advertised festive spirit – but the vocal prowess on show is undeniableAll of the artists on the lineup for the second annual R&B Xmas Ball – Dru Hill, Joe, Toni Braxton and Boyz II Men – have Christmas albums from the last two decades, but rather than putting a twist on carols or crooner standards, this is an evening that merely uses Christmas as an excuse for a night out to hear earnest, heart-rending 90s R&B.Dru Hill deliver classic R&B in matching outfits, as their 2000s music videos – as seen on kebab shop TVs nationwide – play out behind them, while a set of mostly slow jams from Joe sets the stage for Braxton. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Inside the popular Swiss ski resort made famous after Christmas music video was filmed there DECADES ago

Forty years since its 1984 debut, fans still flock to the video's snowy Swiss filming location, Saas-Fee, for themed scavenger hunts, karaoke and seeing the iconic chalet for themselves.

Culture

2 w. ago The ‘magicians of glass’ who have created luxury Christmas decorations for decades

The entire production process is described as a ‘closely guarded trade secret’

Politics

2 w. ago Dad captures his daughters walking down each Christmas morning for 30 years

Jess Emery shared a compilation of videos taken each Christmas morning at same house for three decades, in an adorable festive tradition

Politics

3 w. ago £1.85 Cadbury treat that disappeared for a decade is back for Christmas 2025

They made a welcome return a couple of years ago and it looks like they're here to stay

Economics

4 w. ago Extinction Rebellion protester climbs Christmas tree destined for Trafalgar Square

A climate activist threatened to bring a decades-long tradition to a halt - after scaling the annual Christmas tree gifted by Norway to the UK right at the moment it was being felled.

Events