17 h. ago Peers call for new whistleblower law to prevent another Post Office scandal

A cross-party group of peers backed a change in the law as campaigners say a gap has allowed some of the UK's biggest scandals to escalate

Society

53 h. ago Democrats decry reported dismissal of NSA director Tim Haugh

Dismissing Haugh, who headed the US Cyber Command, puts the country at risk at a time of ‘unprecedented cyber threats’, congressional Democrats sayTop congressional Democrats on Thursday protested against the reported firing of Gen Tim Haugh as director of the National Security Agency (NSA), with one lawmaker saying the decision “makes all of us less safe”.The Washington Post reported late Thursday that Haugh and his civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble, had been dismissed from their roles. Haugh also headed US Cyber Command, which coordinates the Pentagon’s cybersecurity operations. The Post report cited two current US officials and one former US official who requested anonymity. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago TSB customers urged to switch to NatWest or First Direct after news

Personal finance experts have also urged customers to look at the benefits of the Post Office for banking

Economics

3 d. ago The ‘office siren’ is over: why gen Z are succumbing to dull workwear

Young people are ditching the corporate cosplay in the office as they try to style it safe in uncertain timesOnly someone who has never truly experienced the existential dread that comes with holding down a soulless 9-to-5 would ever romanticize corporate life. And yet, this time last year, fashion influencers were doing just that. The “office siren” trend was all over TikTok and headlines in Vogue and InStyle. Sirens, we’re told, wore skintight pencil skirts, collared shirts unbuttoned to show ample cleavage, and maybe a pinstripe vest to tie it all together. It was corporate Barbie cosplay, with nods to a submissive Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary, or Betty Boop moonlighting as a call center employee.Office sirens were celebrating returning to the office post-pandemic while signaling a secret freakiness (one channeled well by Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, in which she played a Lean In feminist CEO who enters into a kinky office romance with a much younger intern and can’t stop adjusti...

Politics

7 d. ago Rewind and be kind: what happens if you do one act of kindness every day?

When Bernadette Russell decided to perform one good deed every day for a year, it made a difference to the world around her but also had a big impact on her own lifeIt has been nearly 14 years since a chance encounter with a stranger in a post office changed Bernadette Russell’s life forever. The date was Thursday 18 August 2011. For weeks, on the news, as a series of riots broke out across cities in England, Russell had been inundated with images of young people in hoodies looting, pillaging and setting buildings on fire.Now, standing in front of her at her local post office counter in Deptford, south London, was a young man in a hoodie. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago ‘Sad’ justice not yet delivered, says journalist who exposed Post Office scandal

Rebecca Thomson, who led the original investigation into the faulty IT system while working for Computer Weekly, has been made an OBE.

Society

9 d. ago Nothing for Gavin & Stacey? The sheer number of omissions in the TV Baftas is ridiculous

From the Barry-Billericay finale to Wolf Hall, Pachinko and Nobody Wants This, there are far too many cruelly overlooked shows this year. But the even bigger problem? Bafta’s Adolescence issue• Stalking saga Baby Reindeer leads 2025 TV Bafta nominationsThe latest Bafta TV awards again show the range of talent across UK television. Though drama characteristically dominates, the shows with most nominations – Rivals, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Slow Horses and Baby Reindeer – represent a range of genres and source material (from real events via a 36-year-old Jilly Cooper bonkbuster to a solo theatre show) suggesting that the 2025 voters have largely avoided historical snobbery, long a problem in these prizes.The awards also continue a belated honouring of overlooked talent. After improbably having to wait until last year for his first main Bafta nomination, David Tennant gets a rapid second, for his thrilling turn as a Richard III of the TV industry in the raunchy Cooper adaptation Ri...

Events

9 d. ago Welcome to Britain's kindest village: Volunteers run shop, library and post office, pub is locally

Residents of Trawden in Lancashire run their own community centre, pub, shop and post office and hold regular friendship meetings for the elderly in what must be Britain's kindest village.

Politics

9 d. ago Controversial Netflix hit Baby Reindeer dominates Bafta TV Award nominations – full list

‘Mr Bates vc the Post Office’, ‘Rivals’, and ‘Slow Horses’ have also been recognised

Events

1 week ago Men make twice as much as women from selling clothes and goods online

The average male seller is making £1,047 per year, compared to £424 made by the average female seller.

Politics

1 week ago ‘It’s a bit like PTSD’: Cambridgeshire villagers react after mystery killing of alpacas and sheep

Residents say they are still ‘shocked and horrified’ after farm animals shot dead in East HatleyThe last time Mick Marshall can recall a crime happening in Hatley, John Major was still the prime minister. “We got broken into in 1996 and that’s it. That was a long time ago,” he said.The 81-year-old runs the Hatley Shop and Post Office with his wife, a quaint little shop shrouded in green shrubbery. The Cambridgeshire village, which is hidden up a long country road lined with small farms, is so quiet that some days Marshall nary serves a soul. “Sometimes we don’t have any customers, sometimes it’s two or three,” he said. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Post Office scandal Horizon victim blasts 'torture' of waiting for compensation after 'derisory' offer

Former sub post master David Farry lost hundreds of thousands of pounds due to the Post Office's Horizon software scandal, and was eventually forced to sell his property

Events

1 week ago Outlander fans spot crucial missing character in returning post saying 'how could you forget'

The official Outlander page shared a post about characters who returned for season seven but it appears that they missed out one crucial person.

Events

1 week ago Keir Starmer blow as damning report says he must do better for Post Office Horizon victims

In a rare intervention the cross-party Business and Trade Committee has called on ministers to 'reflect and advise' on its response to the Horizon scandal and take steps to speed up payments

Events

1 week ago High profile inquiries ‘show bodies must act on early warning signs’ – watchdog

Inquiries such as those into Grenfell and the Post Office IT scandal highlighted the need to act more quickly, a committee has found.

Events

1 week ago Post Office scandal victim still 'begging for help' despite ITV drama clearing his name

Post Office scandal victim Lee Castleton has opened up about his latest lawsuit against the Post Office and Fujitsu and how he's still "begging for help" to clear his name

Events

1 week ago F1 Chinese GP RESULT: Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc set to be disqualified in huge Ferrari blow

Follow updates from the Shanghai International Circuit with Ferrari set to lose both drivers from the official classification in a major shock post-race

Politics

2 w. ago Adolescence reveals a terrifying truth: smartphones are poison for boys’ minds | Martha Gill

When a Netflix drama highlights how online influencers can turn a teenager into a killer, it’s time to rethink social mediaEvery so often, a television drama comes along that has the power to change things. Last year, it was ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, in which the plight of subpostmasters was rendered with such success that it actually hastened in real-world legislation to compensate them.And now we have Netflix’s Adolescence, which looks at the online radicalisation of young boys by men’s rights activists (MRAs) such as Andrew Tate. Last week, Keir Starmer told the Commons he had been watching the series with his family and that it portrayed an “emerging and growing problem” that needed to be tackled. Now MPs are examining ideas to address the issue with greater urgency.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Contin...

Events

2 w. ago Former subpostmaster ‘needs vindication’ as he takes legal action

Lee Castleton is suing the Post Office and Fujitsu.

Politics

2 w. ago New Callander Post Office location opens doors after period of temporary service

The new spot at a firewood store in the town's Main Street will offer a six-day service.

Society