23 h. ago Spice Girl Mel C, 51, flaunts her chiselled abs and biceps as she flexes her muscles in a clip to announce her latest song release Sweat

In the clip, Mel posed in various positions as she wore a red and grey Bondi Active gym set, consisting of £54 Flutter shorts and a £42 scoop neck bra.

Politics

26 h. ago Sam Fender releases new song with Elton John, one day after Mercury prize win

John plays twinkling piano part in new song Talk to You, and says he ‘truly loves’ the Geordie singer-songwriterSam Fender has released a new song with Elton John entitled Talk to You, the day after winning the 2025 Mercury prize for his album People Watching.It features a twinkling piano line laid out by John, amid Fender’s full-bodied guitar-led songwriting. Fender sings on the chorus “Just wanna talk to you / Wanna talk with my best friend / Wanna let go of everything that I carry”, and has said the song is about: “the end of a long relationship – about the regret, the mistakes and the lessons that come with it. It’s that feeling of losing your best friend, and coming to terms with that. I was playing around with the riff and thought, ‘What I need is a really good pianist’, and then, ‘Hmmm, I wonder who I can call?’ And of course, who better than Elton John?” Continue reading...

Politics

27 h. ago Who won the Mercury Prize 2025? Sam Fender wins top music prize for album People Watching

Sam Fender beat out the likes of Pulp, CMAT, Fontaines D.C., Jacob Alon and more to win the 2025 Mercury Prize.

Culture

27 h. ago Sam Fender’s six best songs, ranked: from The Borders to Will We Talk?

With news that the Geordie artist has won the Mercury Prize, we rank his best songs

Politics

28 h. ago Sam Fender reveals how he plans to celebrate Mercury Prize 2025 win

Sam Fender has won the Mercury Prize 2025 for his third album, People Watching on Thursday (16 October).

Politics

29 h. ago The state of Taylor Swift's friendship with Blake Lively revealed after singer released song about 'cancelled' pals

This comes after fans speculated that Lively is the subject of or, at the very least, partially the inspiration for Swift's song Cancelled off her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.

Politics

31 h. ago Sam Fender dedicates Mercury Prize 2025 to 'mentor' as singer

Local lad Fender beat competition from Britpop band Pulp, post-punks Fontaines DC and Irish singer CMAT

Politics

31 h. ago Brandi Carlile: ‘Joni Mitchell has this grave in Hollywood – sometimes she’ll go there and have lunch’

The country-rock star is as unguarded and open as she’s ever been on her eighth studio album, ‘Returning to Myself’. She speaks with Mark Beaumont about her ‘wild, magical’ upbringing, her stormy but ‘life-affirming’ collaborations with Elton John, and her pivotal role in bringing Joni Mitchell back to music

Politics

32 h. ago Sam Fender didn’t need his Mercury prize win – but he earned it with his incisive social realism

They could have given the award to an album that wasn’t already a huge hit – but Fender’s blend of kitchen-sink drama and stadium choruses is expertly done‘You can expect all the usual excitement,” offered host Lauren Laverne at the start of this year’s Mercury prize ceremony. It’s the kind of thing people hosting awards shows are duty-bound to say, but the use of the word “usual” suggested she was diplomatically overlooking last year’s event, which – through no fault of the album that won, English Teacher’s This Could Be Texas – had all the excitement of a wake.The Mercury had lost its corporate sponsorship, necessitating what host Annie Mac called “an intimate celebration of this year’s shortlist”, in the same way that an estate agent might call a flat with the shower next to the cooker “cosy”. Continue reading...

Politics

37 h. ago Pop superstar Elton John’s fashion company is mired in £3.5m debt after partnership with high street chain flops

SIR Elton John’s glasses firm owes a whopping £3.7million, latest figures have revealed. The Rocket Man star’s glasses are available via his website and at high street giant Specsavers. However, the firm that receives cash from the sale of the eyewear has substantial debts. Accounts for Elton John Optical Company Ltd show that it is...

Economics

37 h. ago Sam Fender wins the 2025 Mercury Prize for his album People Watching as shocked star admits he 'did not expect' it

The singer, 31, toom home the presitigous award at the ceremony in Newcastle on Thursday, the first time the ceremony has been held outside London.

Events

39 h. ago Sam Fender wins the 2025 Mercury Prize with third album People Watching

Rock singer-songwriter won the prestigious music award in a homecoming triumph just a stone’s throw from where he was raised, in North Shields

Politics

39 h. ago Sam Fender wins 2025 Mercury prize for his album People Watching

Geordie singer-songwriter’s album reached No 1 on the UK album chart and led to a series of stadium-sized concerts this summerSam Fender is the winner of the 2025 Mercury prize, for his chart-topping album People Watching.Announcing the award, Sian Eleri, BBC radio DJ and one of the judges on the judging panel, said the album was characterised by “cohesion, character and ambition. It felt like a classic album, one that will take pride of place in record collections for years to come”. Continue reading...

Politics

42 h. ago Mercury Prize Awards 2025: Who is CMAT? Irish singer tipped to beat Sam Fender

Irish singer-songwriter CMAT emerges as the frontrunner for Best Album at the Mercury Prize Awards in Newcastle tonight with her third record, Euro-Country

Events

47 h. ago 'I was on Celebrity Traitors and I know who will take all the prize money'

A Celebrity Traitors star believes they know who will win the £100,000 cash prize

Politics

47 h. ago Voices: There’s one very good reason Trump should never win a Nobel prize

The Nobel committee has made some controversial choices in the past, but Trump’s demolition of US climate and aid policies should rule him out whatever else he might achieve, writes Roger Harrabin

Politics

49 h. ago Irish TikTok sensation favourite to win Mercury Prize 2025 for album of the year

CMAT has had social media in a frenzy with her witty country style songs, but now her talent has brought her to be nominated to win a mercury prize and critics believe she's the leading contender

Politics

52 h. ago Mercury Prize 2025: Irish acts favourites to win at this evening’s ceremony

The event is set to take place for the first time outside of London as the Mercury Prize heads to Newcastle this evening.

Politics

53 h. ago England have their best chance of winning World Cup since 1970 – and Tuchel is the key | Barney Ronay

This new realistic, pragmatic approach, with no snags or celebrity bodge-jobs, means that this time could be the oneWe’re on our way. We are Tom’s 26. This time, more than any other time, this time. We’re going to find a way. Find a way to get it right. This time. Well, maybe. Next time is also good. And the time after that. You don’t like this time? We have other times. Hey, Spain are pretty good right now aren’t they.There is an entire multilayered history of Englishness in the basic tone and mood of English World Cup excitement. It is easy to forget that when the 1982 squad, AKA Ron’s 22, released the song This Time, a tortured paean to finally erasing their own ancestral agony, England had actually won the World Cup only 16 years earlier. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Lauryn Hill pays tribute to ‘genius’ collaborator D’Angelo after his death at 51

Sir Elton John, Paloma Faith and Justin Timberlake were among those posting tributes.

Events