11 h. ago QUENTIN LETTS: By the time she reached the lectern, Dame Andrea

On a day of dizzying politics, nothing quite topped Dame Andrea Jenkyns's arrival on stage at Reform's party conference.

Politics

16 h. ago She was the authentic voice of the snarling Left, but as we now know, the Red Queen was a woman of gluttonous appetites with little between the ears: QUENTIN LETTS

Amid a Cabinet of dull mumblers, Angela Rayner was the eye-flashing exception. Sir Keir Starmer praised her 'working-class background' but actually that wasn't so rare, even in the modern Labour party.

Politics

23 h. ago Amanda Anisimova overcomes early woes to topple Naomi Osaka and reach US Open final

American wins 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 win to book Aryna Sabalenka finalVictory puts Anisimova into her first title decider at Flushing MeadowsMore than an hour into her first appearance in the semi-finals of the US Open, Amanda Anisimova still could not find the court. Under suffocating pressure on one of the most significant occasions of her career, unforced errors sprayed indiscriminately from her racket and she unloaded her considerable frustration on her support team.After all that she has been through on and off the court, however, Anisimova did not reach this stage just to fall apart. From her desperate start, Anisimova gave an exhibition of her growing mental toughness as she emerged from a bruising, tension-filled battle around 1am with a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Naomi Osaka after two hours, 56 minutes to reach the final of the US Open for the first time in her career. Continue reading...

Politics

38 h. ago QUENTIN LETTS: With a voice as soothing as the Psycho soundtrack Bridget Phillipson was dispatched to defend Mrs Rayner

As is the way in political scandals, a Cabinet colleague had to be 'sent out' to defend the stricken minister on the morning round of broadcast interviews.

Science

54 h. ago Anisimova gains revenge for Wimbledon by beating Swiatek to make US Open last four

American beats Polish rival 6-4, 6-3 to make semi-finalsMeeting with Karolina Muchova or Naomi Osaka up nextAmanda Anisimova conjured the performance of her career on Wednesday afternoon in New York, banishing the ghosts of her Wimbledon nightmare with a sensational 6-4, 6-3 quarter-final victory against Iga Swiatek in 1hr 36min. Less than eight weeks after she had been double-bagelled by the Polish star in the final at the All England Club, the 24-year-old American struck back with fearless ball-striking and nerveless resolve to reach her first US Open semi-final.Swiatek, a six-time major champion and the 2022 US Open winner, looked intent on reprising the script when she broke immediately to extend her personal run to 13 consecutive games in the rivalry. But Anisimova struck back on her third break point, finishing with a thumping forehand overhead that drew a roar from the Arthur Ashe crowd and ensured this would bear no resemblance to the rout in July. Continue reading...

Politics

63 h. ago QUENTIN LETTS: For Kemi, here was a prize opportunity. All she had to do was rub their noses in it and Mrs Rayner would be a goner, surely. But no, Kemi goofed it

What a difference a comeuppance makes. Angela Rayner, Westminster's most careless taxpayer, entered the Commons. A full House was hushed, stunned.

Politics

3 d. ago QUENTIN LETTS: His jagged, gapped teeth had shades of Hannibal Lecter. Better watch out

The new supremo is Zack Polanski, 42, a smooth-talking vegan and ex-Lib Dem hypnotherapist who used to tell women they could think their way to a bigger bust.

Politics

4 d. ago QUENTIN LETTS: Yvette Cooper's parliamentary speech was a public emergency edict delivered by Play School presenter

Yvette Cooper's tactic, in the face of smouldering civil unrest about asylum hotels, was to wobble her head and adopt a damp, disapproving tone. Public-emergency edict delivered by Play School presenter.

Politics

4 d. ago Netflix’s Hostage star Mark Lewis Jones reveals the one thing that ‘nailed’ role for him

Reach Screen Time spoke exclusively to Hostage actor Mark Lewis Jones about the Netflix show

Events

4 d. ago Netflix star teases ‘difficult’ role in Suranne Jones thriller Hostage

Reach Screen Time spoke exclusively to Mark Lewis Jones about his 'tricky' role in Netflix's Hostage

Events

4 d. ago Hostage star on taking on 'tricky' role in Netflix series they 'thought about a lot'

Reach Screen Time spoke exclusively to Hostage actor Mark Lewis Jones about the Netflix show

Events

6 d. ago 'Amazing' 4K TV from TCL reaches lowest ever price for a limited time

Amazon has cut the price of a well-reviewed 4K TV to the lowest ever price

Politics

7 d. ago After the Hunt review – Julia Roberts faces a dilemma in Guadagnino’s muddled campus accusation drama

Venice film festivalLuca Guadagnino’s latest – also starring Ayo Edebiri and Andrew Garfield – is clenched in its own sense of relevance, as a desire to find complexity in a scandal at Yale becomes a noncommittal jumble of ideasLuca Guadagnino misfires with this bafflingly overlong, overwrought #MeToo campus accusation drama from screenwriter Nora Garrett, broadly in the tradition of David Mamet’s Oleanna or Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things. It is worryingly muddled and contrived, perhaps in need of further script drafts to excavate a clearer and more satisfying drama inside.Julia Roberts and Ayo Edebiri star, with Andrew Garfield and Michael Stuhlbarg in supporting roles; they are all doing their considerable best, each frankly hampered by the unfocused and uncertain characterisation in the material itself, which, by the time it finally reaches its coda-finale of confrontation, is almost bizarrely inert, anticlimactic and incoherent. The movie is clenched with its own sense of con...

Events

9 d. ago Extra bus to be introduced in bid to stop Dumfriesshire schoolkids being stranded at side of road

Pupils trying to get to Wallace Hall Academy have been having difficulty getting on buses as they are already full by the time they reach their stop.

Transport

1 week ago Starships are meant to fly: SpaceX’s rocket finally launches after setbacks

Test flight comes after explosive failures raised doubts over founder Elon Musk’s goals to reach Mars and moonThird time was the charm on Tuesday for the launch of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket after the launch had been scrubbed two times in as many days.The stainless steel behemoth, 403ft (123 meters) tall, lifted off from the company’s Starbase in southern Texas at 6.30pm local time (2330 GMT), to loud cheers from engineering teams, a webcast showed. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Toy air fryer will be a Christmas bestseller, John Lewis predicts

Fries and chicken drumsticks are included – or young cooks might prefer a mini-me Ooni pizza ovenThe air fryer has rapidly become a must-have kitchen appliance, so it was only a matter of time before the craze reached toy town, with a chic wooden version tipped as a Christmas bestseller.If you are thinking it’s too soon to mention Christmas, it’s hard to disagree. But with the school summer holidays almost over (or already over for some) and the UK weather forecast signalling a “band of heavy rain”, retailers are starting festive campaigns. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago The genius of trees: how forests have shaped humanity, from chocolate cravings to our ability to dream

Since our early ancestors came down from the canopy, we may think we have learned how to live without trees. But our lives remain intertwined in incredible waysOnce upon a time there was a girl who lived in a tree. She had deep-set brown eyes and brown hair. She ate fruit – orange mangosteen and black juniper berries – crunched on nuts, sucked on sweet grasses and chewed juicy leaves, and dug up tubers and roots, knowing which ones were good, and which were hard or poisonous.Sometimes, she followed the trails that crisscrossed through the grass, but much of the time she clambered through the broad crowns of the trees, reaching up for branches and feeling the texture of the bark against her hands, balancing against the trunks and springing along boughs. At night she tucked herself into the fork of several branches and curled up to sleep, watching stars like diamonds and branches against the sky. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Emma Raducanu ends long wait for US Open victory as dominant British star reaches second round for first time since stunning 2021 triumph

MATTHEW LAMBWELL IN NEW YORK: Raducanu was into the second round after thrashing Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara 6-1, 6-2.

Politics

2 w. ago Gangs of London’s Lucian Msamati teases new Netflix show Hostage with Suranne Jones

Reach Screen Time spoke exclusively to Lucian Msamati about working with Suranne Jones

Events

2 w. ago Netflix's Hostage star Lucian Msamati teases 'tough' scenes in Suranne Jones drama

Reach Screen Time spoke exclusively to Lucian Msamati about the tense thriller

Events