57 m. ago David Stratton, esteemed Australian film critic, dies aged 85

The international cinema expert was beloved for his film reviews, particularly on television with Margaret PomeranzDavid Stratton’s closing credits: ‘I’ve done the best I could’David Stratton, the revered Australian film critic and beloved co-host of television programs The Movie Show and At The Movies with fellow critic Margaret Pomeranz, has died aged 85.Born in the English town of Trowbridge in 1939, Stratton was sent to live with his grandmother in Hampshire during the second world war. An avid filmgoer, she took Stratton to the cinema almost every day, which changed his life. In the 2017 documentary David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, Stratton said he watched “at least one” film he hadn’t seen every day, and had seen more than 25,000 films in his life. Continue reading...

Events

67 m. ago Eight things we learned from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s marathon New Heights podcast

If you don’t have a spare two hours to listen to Swift talking about The Life of a Showgirl on her boyfriend’s podcast, we did it for youTwo years ago, American footballer Travis Kelce famously used the New Heights podcast – which he hosts with his brother Jason – to announce that he wanted to date Taylor Swift. This was after he failed to get her attention at her Eras tour show at Arrowhead Stadium, home to his team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Somehow, it worked: he managed to get the girl. Continue reading...

Politics

72 m. ago How to get to Oasis at Dublin Croke Park by train, tram, walking and car for reunion tour 2025

Everything you need to know about getting to Croke Park for Oasis

Politics

77 m. ago Nicola Sturgeon’s immense political talent is undeniable. The nationalism was the problem | Martin Kettle

Many of her admirers gloss over her desire to break up the UK as Scotland’s first minister. But in her open and touching memoir, it plays a starring roleNicola Sturgeon was – and still is – important, talented, personable and, to many, inspirational. She was also extremely lucky and often wrong, sometimes seriously so. There are examples of all these qualities in her newly published memoir, Frankly. Sturgeosceptics should concede at once that it contains much that is fascinating, especially about her relations with her charismatic mentor turned vengeful enemy Alex Salmond. Starry-eyed Sturgies should equally admit she made several deep and lasting errors that have left behind a divided nationalist party and movement.The book is more open and touching about private issues than most political memoirs, although Sturgeon deploys these qualities selectively. Many of the intimate reflections are about being a woman in politics. Other memoirs by female politicians – including those of Marg...

Politics

77 m. ago Rachel Roddy’s recipe for almond and cherry biscuits | A kitchen in Rome

If a fig roll married a bakewell tart, their offspring might well end up looking like these rustic, fruity and nutty Puglian biscuitsSimilar in principle to fig rolls, biscotti di ceglie consist of pastry wrapped around a filling of jam, so they have an irregular and extremely rustic cube form. Known locally as u’ piscquett’l, these biscuits are typical of the town and commune of Ceglie Messapica in the province of Brindisi in Puglia. Ceglie Messapica is also part of the southern reaches of the Murgia, a karst topographic plateau sometimes called the backbone of Puglia, with remarkable agricultural biodiversity, including 40 local varieties of almonds, including tondino cegliese. Like many visitors to the area, we bought a packet of biscotti di ceglie from a bakery in Ceglie Messapica, although this was years ago, when the band my partner plays with toured in Puglia every summer and when we consumed every regional treat in a claustrophobic Fiat van.Unlike the great fig roll, however...

Politics

77 m. ago Wildly incoherent, utterly flummoxing, blissful: how And Just Like That rewrote the rules of TV

The Sex and the City spinoff – which ends this week – is so bizarre it has barely made sense as a television show. Unless you think of it as an attempt to redefine the whole genre Sex and the City’s divisive spin-off And Just Like That is set to end after three bizarre seasons and a deluge of critical contempt, with bemused fans losing it on Reddit, and articles about how the programme became a hate watch. There has been little heartache in the discourse after the announcement of the show’s demise, the general consensus being: good. But to these people, I say – you’re wrong! But also, I understand. There is always an element of fear in contemplating change, in engaging with the rapid advancement of modernity, and I would like to make the case for And Just Like That being a product of exactly that.It feels analogous to a comment a friend of mine once made during a conversation about the best oven pizzas, when someone posited Dr Oetker pizzas as a contender: “It’s delicious, it’s some...

Politics

77 m. ago ‘No country is safe’: deadly Nordic heatwave supercharged by climate crisis, scientists say

Historically cool nations saw hospitals overheating and surge in drownings, wildfires and toxic algal bloomsThe prolonged Nordic heatwave in July was supercharged by the climate crisis and shows “no country is safe from climate change”, scientists say.Norway, Sweden and Finland have historically cool climates but were hit by soaring temperatures, including a record run of 22 days above 30C (86C) in Finland. Sweden endured 10 straight days of “tropical nights”, when temperatures did not fall below 20C (68F). Continue reading...

Events

77 m. ago Horoscope today: Your daily guide for Thursday, August 14, 2025

Read what the stars mean for you today, from Leo to Gemini

Politics

78 m. ago How to make a classic Battenberg cake with almond, jam and marzipan

This retro teatime favourite is easier to bake than it looks. Food writer Jane Dunn shares her step-by-step guide to mastering the iconic pink-and-yellow sponge, sandwiched with apricot jam and wrapped in marzipan

Politics

78 m. ago Manchester United can do something they haven't done for five years with new £194m attack

Man United have spent almost £200million on new signings to strengthen their attack ahead of the 2025/26 season.

Economics

78 m. ago A level grade boundaries 2025 for WJEC, AQA, OCR and other exam boards

Students can see how many marks were needed to achieve each grade for WJEC and other exam boards

Politics

78 m. ago She flew into Manchester Airport to 'celebrate her birthday', it ended in horror

Aimee Betro took part in a plot to attack a 'rival family'

Events

1 hour ago Kerry Katona breaks down as she reveals heartbreaking words that caused Ryan Mahoney split

Kerry Katona broke down in tears on E4's Celebs Go Dating: The Relationship Expert as she recalled the moment her ex-fiancé Ryan Mahoney told her he didn't think he loved her anymore

Politics

1 hour ago Popular town 'on the brink' as hundreds of cruise ships bring tourists flooding in

Kotor, a coastal town in Montenegro, is a hugely popular tourist destination - but its soaring visitor numbers are reportedly beginning to have a negative impact

Events

2 h. ago As Ukraine battles to hold lines, Trump may find Putin difficult to persuade

Despite huge numbers of casualties, Russian leader believes he is slowly winning war – so he can afford to string talks outFor Ukraine, the break in the frontline is unfortunately timed. Lightly armed Russian saboteur groups – three on one count – cut though Ukrainian positions in the Donbas countryside east of the key junction at Dobropillia. Though one group has been eliminated, as of Tuesday two were thought to remain at large – and although their numbers are small for now, perhaps 20 to 30, the breach is significant.At the beginning of the year it was safe to visit Dobropillia, which had become a bustling market centre busy with soldiers and locals, nearly 15 miles north of the frontline in Pokrovsk. But since then the town, where once busy supply roads from Pokrovsk to Kramatorsk split, has come under sustained attack with glide bombs, while FPV (first person view) drones strike targets on the move. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago ‘We popped the baby in a flowerpot!’ Anne Geddes on the beloved photos that made her famous

Her whimsical, instantly recognisable pictures swept the globe in the 1990s. Yet she has rarely been treated with reverence. As she prepares for her first big retrospective, she discusses the secrets of her 40-year careerWhen Anne Geddes began shooting her famous photographs, she soon learned she would need a backup baby – or 20. “Connecting with a child who considers you a stranger is high stress,” she says. “I remember trying to shoot one baby sitting in a tank of water, surrounded by waterlilies. It took five babies to make it work. One of them was even called Lily, but she was not having a bar of it. She looked at me as if to say: ‘You think I’m getting in that water?’”She describes the practicalities of one of her best-known shots, 1991’s Cabbage Kids. It shows twin brothers Rhys and Grant with cabbage-leaf hats on their heads, each sitting in an upturned cabbage, turning to one another with mild alarm. Geddes’ assistant had tied a balloon to a piece of string, lowering it...

Culture

2 h. ago London museum tells forgotten story of African and Indian troops in second world war

National Army Museum’s Beyond Burma exhibition examines stories of soldiers from Britain’s coloniesThe forgotten story of African and Indian troops who fought in south Asia against Japanese forces during the second world war and who have largely been omitted from the official history is to be brought to life in a London exhibition.The National Army Museum’s Beyond Burma: Forgotten Armies show includes rare items from Indian and African soldiers who toiled in some of the harshest conditions seen anywhere during the conflict. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago Spanish people know deadly heatwaves are now an annual event. So why are our politicians in denial? | María Ramírez

We need everyday solutions like ‘cool banks’ and shaded areas, as well as serious policies on emissions. The government must step upGrowing up in Madrid, intense summer heat was nothing unusual. I quickly learned always to cross the street in search of shade, and never to be caught out in the sun at 3pm. But as a child in the early 1980s, I never felt dizzy after spending more than a few minutes outdoors, nor did I struggle to study or sleep at home because of the heat. Back then, air conditioning was a rarity, something only Americans had. But we were fine: the stuttering fan in my mother’s Ford Fiesta was enough to keep us comfortable on holiday escapes from the capital.What is happening in Spain now goes far beyond discomfort. More than 1,500 deaths have already been linked to heatwaves this summer alone. Public-sector workers are collapsing from heatstroke on our city streets. Entire communities in the Madrid suburbs have been devastated by wildfires. On Monday, 198 weather stat...

Politics

2 h. ago Sticky end? The British pudding faces extinction, English Heritage warns

Not just boiled or steamed desserts in danger, charity finds, households also rarely make fruit pies and crumblesAt the end of the 17th century a French travel writer who crossed the Channel was clearly impressed by the sweet, comforting treats offered to him, declaring with relish: “Ah! What an excellent thing is an English pudding!”More than three centuries on, English Heritage has sounded the alarm that the good old British pudding is facing extinction. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago A level results 2025 grade boundaries for AQA, OCR and Edexcel exam boards

A-Level, T level and BTEC results are being released today across the country

Politics