33 h. ago Don’t sugarcoat this: Starmer’s government is weak and may perish. Here are my five steps to recovery | John McDonnell

After so many avoidable mistakes, of course people are angry. But with the far right looming, we need action not despairJohn McDonnell is the MP for Hayes and Harlington. He was shadow chancellor for Labour from 2015 to 2020The Labour party is facing one of the most dangerous moments in its history, possibly an existential threat. Not only is it adrift in the polls, losing one council byelection after another, and with a leader whose popularity has plummeted; but the main threat comes from the xenophobic hard right in the shape of Reform UK.Labour has to wake up to this threat and seize the moment. It must take five basic steps to recovery:John McDonnell is the MP for Hayes and Harlington. He was shadow chancellor for Labour from 2015 to 2020Sign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading, and more Continue reading...

Politics

60 h. ago The Two Roberts by Damian Barr review – lost story of a gay art duo

The lives of Scottish artists Bobby MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun, who found love and fame and lost it all, are vividly reimaginedWhat if the protagonist of a novel was not a single person but a couple? Damian Barr takes on this challenge, and he’s found a historic couple who make the ideal source material. Working-class Scottish artists Bobby MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun were rarely apart after they met in 1933. They lived and worked together, became famous together and then declined into desperate squalor together – even poorer than when they began.Barr knows what it’s like to conquer Glasgow from a small, working-class town on its outskirts; he knows what it’s like to find yourself feted for your portraits of the place you’ve left irrevocably behind. His memoir, Maggie and Me, was a hard-hitting yet rambunctious tale of growing up gay near Motherwell under Thatcher, uneasily aware that the woman who pushed his parents deeper into poverty also taught him that the ruthless ex...

Politics

4 d. ago Woman sparks parenting debate after revealing stranger's kid stained her $200 jacket... Whose side are YOU on?

When Julia Austin, 36, from Los Angeles, posted a rant about it on TikTok, claiming that she felt like the child's mother should have offered to pay for her messed-up coat, it lead to a massive debate.

Politics

9 d. ago Burning Man 2025 weather as more storms and 'unhealthy' chaos predicted

The opening of the week-long annual festival was delayed by the 'strongest storm in Burning Man history' and forecasts predict more dangerous weather to come

Events

3 w. ago Parents of woman who died in Texas flooding file lawsuit saying campground had ‘history of dangerous flooding’

The lawsuit accuses the campground of placing ‘guests in a known floodplain with a history of dangerous flooding’

Events

3 w. 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 w. ago 'Sister planned to wear white on my wedding day but was foiled by cunning plan'

A woman has shared how her parents demanded her sister walk down the aisle in a wedding dress at her wedding - so she and her husband came up with a plan to get the ultimate revenge

Events

4 w. ago US hunter reportedly killed by buffalo during expedition in South Africa

Asher Watkins, 52, of Texas died while tracking 1.3-ton Cape buffalo on a hunting trip in the country’s Limpopo provinceAn American game hunter was killed by a buffalo he was stalking during a hunting expedition in South Africa over the weekend, according to multiple reports.Asher Watkins, 52, of Texas, died on 3 August while tracking a 1.3-ton Cape buffalo in South Africa’s Limpopo province, according to a statement from Coenraad Vermaak Safaris (CV Safaris), the company that organized the hunting trip. Continue reading...

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