10 h. ago Brown bins fees could rise to £65 in South Ayrshire as council faces £15 million budget gap

Burial and cremation fees could also increase along with 24 separate price changes.

Economics

12 h. ago Check for Council Tax discount and possible refund of up to £850 this Christmas

Nearly half a million households in Scotland are receiving a discount on their annual Council Tax bill.

Economics

15 h. ago Reform likely winners of ALL mayoral elections postponed by Labour as Farage says 'monstrous' decision has left councils millions out of pocket

Analysis of polling data suggests Nigel Farage's party was on course to win the mayoralties in Hampshire and the Solent, Greater Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk and Sussex and Brighton.

Politics

33 h. ago Number 10 rejects ‘dictator’ claims amid row over mayoral election delay

Critics have accused Labour of ‘cancelling democracy’ after the Government suggested four votes could be pushed back to 2028.

Politics

34 h. ago Starmer warned he will ‘squander trust’ with mayoral elections delay

Former local government minister Jim McMahon has hit out at the decision to postpone mayoral elections after Reform compared the PM to a dictator

Events

36 h. ago Mayoral elections delay confirmed by minister amid ‘affront to democracy’ claims

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed said the Government is ‘minded’ to push mayoral elections in four areas planned for next year back to 2028.

Politics

36 h. ago Nigel Farage to hold mystery emergency press conference to address the UK today

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has branded Labour 'despots' as he prepares to set out his party's opposition strategy to postponed mayoral elections in Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Hampshire

Politics

36 h. ago Ruth Langsford brands Loose Women 'dangerous' after decision left son 'fuming'

It’s not the first time Loose Women star Ruth Langsford has admitted to being challenged by her son, after reflecting on a previously embarrassing moment

Politics

43 h. ago The snail farm don: is this the most brazen tax avoidance scheme of all time?

Terry Ball – renowned shoe salesman, friend to former mafiosi – has vowed to spend his remaining years finding ways to cheat authorities he feels have cheated him. His greatest ruse? A tax-dodging snail empireIt is a drizzly October afternoon and I am sitting in a rural Lancashire pub drinking pints of Moretti with London’s leading snail farmer and a convicted member of the Naples mafia. We’re discussing the best way to stop a mollusc orgy.The farmer, a 79-year-old former shoe salesman called Terry Ball who has made and lost multiple fortunes, has been cheerfully telling me in great detail for several hours about how he was inspired by former Conservative minister Michael Gove to use snails to cheat local councils out of tens of millions of pounds in taxes. Continue reading...

Politics

45 h. ago Honolulu to settle lawsuit over police shooting of Micronesian teen for $1M

Honolulu’s city council has authorized a $1 million settlement for the family of a 16-year-old boy shot and killed by police in 2021

Events

49 h. ago Labour expected to postpone mayoral elections by two years amid continued Reform poll lead

The Independent has seen briefing notes from officials suggesting that mayoral elections will postponed from 2026 to 2028

Politics

60 h. ago ‘The Mamdani effect’: wealthy New Yorkers show renewed interest in Miami’s Billionaire’s Beach

Sales spike at the Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and Cipriani as luxury buyers weigh moves from ManhattanThere is a short stretch of prime waterfront real estate in Miami that has come to be known as Billionaire’s Beach. It contains a mix of famous old art deco hotels such as the Delano and Raleigh, both undergoing extensive upmarket refurbishments, and the construction of exclusive new residential tower blocks with high-end apartments running into the tens of millions.It is here on the sun-filled shores of South Beach, more than a thousand miles from the chills of a Manhattan winter, where realtors and developers are beginning to see the first shoots of what they call the “Mamdani effect”: the predicted exodus of wealthy New Yorkers in the wake of socialist democrat Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor. Continue reading...

Society

2 d. ago Tourist issues grim warning after a temporary tattoo in Thailand leaves him with blistering facial injury that only got worse

A tourist's late-night decision in Bangkok turned into a painful ordeal that left him fearing he'd scar his face forever.

Events

3 d. ago Arne Slot admits Mo Salah is 'unhappy' and Liverpool must do without him after next week

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has admitted Mohamed Salah was left 'unhappy' with his decision as the Reds prepare to navigate the coming weeks without him

Politics

4 d. ago How progressives are taking over swing states – and driving fear into Democratic elites

Left-leaning challengers in the Rust belt are throwing chaos into a divided party struggling to rebuild after Trump’s winIn the run-up to last month’s mayoral election in Dayton, Ohio, candidate Shenise Turner-Sloss found herself up against it.Her opponent, mayor Jeffrey Mims, was a 78-year-old local Democratic party doyen who had served on school boards and teachers’ unions in the city for decades. His campaign budget was three times hers and an incumbent hadn’t been unseated from the mayoral role in the city for over a decade. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago The US love of football is reaching new levels. Just look at Arsenal super

The New York mayor-elect’s devotion to a north London club shows how the global game is winning hearts across the USBryan Armen Graham is the deputy sport editor of Guardian USWhen Zohran Mamdani made an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show last week, the newly elected mayor of New York was expecting the typical nimble rundown of politics, jokes and conversational detours. What he wasn’t expecting was Ian Wright suddenly filling a phone screen with a congratulatory video. The former England and Arsenal striker saluted him on “what you’ve achieved”, urged him to channel that “winning energy” into the job ahead before signing off with a nod to the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta. Mamdani cheesed guilelessly as it played before finally blurting out: “I love this man.”For a moment, the incoming mayor of the most powerful city in the United States was simply another geeked-out Arsenal obsessive left weak by one of his childhood heroes. And in that moment lies something revealing about how...

Sport

4 d. ago Millionaire businessman at war with council after erecting ELECTRIC FENCE around his £44.5m Notting Hill mega mansion without permission... because his wife 'is scared of foxes'

David Walsh infuriated his council and neighbours by installing an electric fence around his £44.5million Notting Hill mansion without planning permission.

Economics

6 d. ago Ashes legend left bankrupt after 'bad decisions' died skint with nothing in will to family

An ex-England bowler, who was part of a successful Ashes series, had built up financial issues before his death

Events

6 d. ago Rugby fans, players and bosses left stunned by 'worst decision in history'

Dragons v Leinster ended in huge controversy after a decision that seemingly went against what we normally see

Sport

7 d. ago 'I bought M&S Christmas turkey but now I'm questioning the baffling price'

A shopper was left questioning their decision after they pre-ordered their Christmas turkey from M&S, as they shared their concern in a post online where they shared what they'd spent

Politics