4 h. ago Stacey Solomon reveals what 'made her cry' on family holiday with Joe Swash

The couple jetted off to Turkey for some time off with their children

Politics

39 h. ago 'Quirky' fruit cake recipe is made and ready to bake in under an hour

This simple yet delicious fruit cake recipe is easy to follow and perfect for a hot summer's day. And a creamy element makes it even more unforgettable than your typical cake slice

Politics

3 d. ago Why do family holidays turn me into a sulky teenager again? | Nell Frizzell

It is August, so therefore I find myself in the midst of an intergenerational trip – and somehow unearthing a personality I thought I’d shed decades agoI am not one for aphorisms. I grew up with a water-stained copy of a dictionary of quotations by the toilet and, for the most part, by the toilet is where these things belong. But there is one saying by the American philosopher and yoga teacher Ram Dass that has always cheered me: “If you think you’re enlightened, go and spend a week with your family.”I have no idea if Ram Dass really said this. Just as I’m not sure if the Dalai Lama ever said: “Don’t let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace.” Or whether Oscar Wilde believed the words he put into the mouth of Lord Illingworth in A Woman of No Importance: “Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.” But as someone in the middle of a family holiday, I can certainly attest that any delusions about maturity, le...

Politics

3 d. ago Of course Mark Zuckerberg is still doing good works – he’s just switched up the definition of ‘good’ | Emma Brockes

Who has the time to help underprivileged children when you have a pickleball court and a president to attend to?If you put it in a novel – a ham-fisted satire of tech overlord hypocrisy, say – it would look too contrived to fly. But here we are, absorbing a story from the New York Times this week in which Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are discovered to have been running a private school out of their compound in Palo Alto, California, in violation of city zoning laws. More pertinently, the school of 14 kids, which includes two of the couple’s three daughters, is less than a mile from the school for low-income families that the couple founded in 2016. Guess which school the world’s second-richest man and his wife are shutting down?Say the word “zoning infraction” to a certain stripe of American and the effect is equal to using “queue jumper” on a Briton, but of course the broader point here isn’t one about permits. (A spokesperson for Zuckerberg and Chan told the newsp...

Politics

3 d. ago Teenage girls making TikToks: Philippa James’s best photograph

‘My daughter and her friends are part of the smartphone generation. The more time I spent with them, the more I learned about the darker side of their mobiles’This started as a project with my daughter and her friends, who are all part of the smartphone generation. They were 14 years old at the time and I wanted to learn more about the relationship they had with their mobile phones. In 2022, a study by Ofcom showed that nine out of 10 children owned one by the time they reached the age of 11, and that 91% of them used video platforms, messaging apps and social media by the age of 12. I spoke to my daughter and her friends about how they use their phones and the negative reputation that surrounds teenagers and their screens. They told me the positives as well as the negatives, such as how social media can raise confidence as well as knock it down.I asked if I could photograph them. There was very little direction from me and – rather than photographing them in a controlled portraitur...

Culture

3 d. ago Tyson and Paris marry for third time in emotional ceremony in France alongside their seven children

Tyson Fury and wife Paris have renewed their vows and married for a third time in an emotional ceremony in the South of France, alongside their seven children

Politics

3 d. ago Tyson and Paris Fury marry for third time in emotional ceremony in France alongside their seven children

Tyson Fury and wife Paris have renewed their vows and married for a third time in an emotional ceremony in the South of France, alongside their seven children

Politics

3 d. ago 'I was raped at 8, a mum by 10, married at 11 and had six children aged 17'

A child herself, Sherry Yvonne Johnson first gave birth when she was just 10 and was raising six children by the time she turned 17 — her own mother made her marry her rapist.

Events

5 d. ago Time this week children should not be allowed to play outside

The UK is set for another heatwave this week and the NHS has issued advice on when children should not be allowed to play outside - and when parents should worry

Politics

6 d. ago Tim Minchin looks back: ‘Entertainers say we want to change the world, but really we just enjoy being clapped’

The comedian on his sickly childhood, what made him leave his home town and his Matilda-induced anxietyBorn in 1975 in Northampton and raised in Perth, Australia, Tim Minchin is a musician, comedian, actor, writer and director. Starting out in musical theatre, he turned to comedy in 2003, winning the 2005 Perrier best newcomer at the fringe. In 2008, the Royal Shakespeare Company commissioned him to write music and lyrics for a stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda – it has since won seven Olivier awards and four Tonys. He is married with two children and lives in Sydney. His new album, Tim Minchin Time Machine, is out now. Matilda the Musical is playing in the UK and Ireland.As photos were so rare in the 80s, compared with now, there’s a formality to my physicality here. I look proud, but as I didn’t like primary school, I would have been unhappy that it was time to go to class. I found the whole school experience very scary. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago I thought we’d entered the age of body positivity. Then came ‘shrinking girl summer’ – is everyone getting smaller except me?

It’s been the year of weight-loss drugs, with celebrities seemingly disappearing before our eyes. For those of us left behind, it’s both a torment and a temptation. Spoiler alert: I tried the jabs, tooIt is a balmy evening in early July. I have finally managed to get both of my small children to sleep and I am engaging in what has become a new and unhealthy ritual: scrolling through Instagram and trying to work out which of the people behind accounts I once followed for their body positivity content are now taking weight-loss drugs. I take a break from scrolling to pinch layers of fat between my thumb and middle finger, willing them – as I have since I was a child – to disappear. My fingertips trace the folds of skin that have appeared between my hips and ribs since my youngest son was born last summer, then over the raised red zigzags that have emerged all over my tummy since I first began growing children in 2021.By the time my partner has made his way up to our room, I am sobbing...

Politics

1 week ago Parents, don’t panic – healthy screen time for children is possible, if you follow these few simple tips | Kaitlyn Regehr

Yes, the huge firms pushing unsuitable content must be regulated. But until they are, adults can model the positive use of techDr Kaitlyn Regehr is the programme director of digital humanities at University College LondonThis summer the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, announced he was considering a two-hour “screen time” cap on children’s use of social media apps – a proposal that is not just insufficient, it’s outdated.Though appropriately placed at the start of the summer holiday – a time when kids’ screen time can increase, along with the onus on parents to ensure the safety of such engagement – Kyle’s announcement is linked to somewhat stale screen time guidance. We should indeed be thinking about moderating time on screens, but the proposed cap addresses only the quantity of consumption, not the quality. Fortunately, as someone who lectures on digital literacy (and is a mother), I can tell you there are some ways to push back and create healthier habits for children this summ...

Society

1 week ago Man spends 24 hours in Metaverse and discovers empty hellscape with screaming McDonald's

YouTuber Globert spent 24 hours in the Metaverse and discovered that most people in the online virtual reality game were children who spend their time at 'MetDonald's'

Politics

1 week ago 9 things you could do in the 90s that you can't today, including lost theme parks

Whether you grew up in the 90s, were enjoying the single life or had children of your own, it is a time many remember fondly.

Politics

3 w. ago 'I'm a Love Island star but I'd rather my own children go on another ITV show'

Love Island star Alex Bowen has opened up about his time in the villa and whether he'd let his children follow in his footsteps and appear on the popular ITV2 dating show

Culture

3 w. ago Drug smuggling siblings caught at UK airport with £5m of cocaine after mum recruited them

Farzana Kauser, 54, used five of her children to smuggle drugs from Cancun in Mexico through to Birmingham Airport. Two of the children were teenagers at the time of the offences

Events

4 w. ago Kimberley Walsh reveals 'sweet' bond between Girls Aloud kids after adorable moment

EXCLUSIVE: Kimberley Walsh has opened up about the bond between her three sons and Cheryl Tweedy and Nadine Coyle's children after they spent time touring with Girls Aloud

Politics

4 w. ago Save £50 on a family trip for 3 to Legoland Windsor this school holiday with limited time offer

The offer is available for a limited time only and lets you take two children and one adult, or two adults and one child, to the family-friendly Legoland theme park

Economics

last month 'Isn’t it time that Trafford schools were for Trafford children?'

Grammar schools in south of borougjh under fire

Politics

last month Schools will give pupils an extra WEEK off over half term so 'families can go on cheaper holidays'

One headteacher, James Gosden, said ten minutes has been added to days at North Walsham High School in Norfolk to make up the time. But critics say children's education will suffer.

Politics