2 h. ago Starmer’s authority under fire as Labour MPs threaten biggest revolt yet in crunch vote on benefit reforms

Ministers hope that the PM’s partial U-turn will be enough to win over sufficient Labour rebels to pass the Government’s welfare changes when MPs vote on Tuesday

Events

2 w. ago 'My voice annoys thousands of people every day, that makes me laugh'

Alison Parsons was paid to record 26 phrases that regularly wind people up

Politics

3 w. ago Salman Rushdie warns people are 'too eager to prohibit speech they disapprove of' as acclaimed author cautions against 'slippery slope' of cancel culture

The Satanic Verses author, 77, warned of the 'very slippery slope' of cancel culture and urged to 'trust the audience to be able to make up their own minds'.

Events

3 w. ago Still Game star first made people laugh with his impersonations at school in Lanarkshire

Gavin Mitchell is best known for his role as Boabby the Barman.

Politics

3 w. ago ‘Our fantasy of love has to do with need and dependency’: Melissa Febos on her year of celibacy

Febos’ life flourished while taking a year off sex and dating. In a new memoir, The Dry Season, the author explores the strong hold romance had on herWhen Melissa Febos decided to be celibate for a year – after what she describes as a “ravaging vortex of a relationship” and “five other brief entanglements” – she felt “pretty self-conscious and kind of weird”. But other people’s reactions surprised her.“I thought people were going to laugh at me or be like, that sounds boring, but so many people would lean in and either get this eager look on their face or this sort of dreadful look on their face, and they would say, ‘Oh, I think I should probably do that too,’” she says.
“I had no idea how many people had been in relationships for their whole adult life.” Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Salman Rushdie says he is 'over' knife attack as author reveals 'important moment' he returned to New York lecture stage where he was repeatedly stabbed

Sir Salman Rushdie says 'I'm over it' following the horrific knife attack which has now seen the crook jailed.

Events

4 w. ago Salman Rushdie reveals moment he thinks writers will be ‘screwed’ by AI

Author also said he is ‘over’ the knife attack that left him blind in one eye

Events

4 w. ago Salman Rushdie says AI won’t threaten authors until it can make people laugh

Author tells Hay festival AI has no sense of humour but when it writes a funny book ‘we’re screwed’Salman Rushdie has said that authors are safe from the threat of AI – until the moment it can create a book that makes people laugh.Speaking at the Hay festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, Rushdie said he had “never tried AI” and liked to pretend it didn’t exist. Continue reading...

Events