8 h. ago I went searching for the grandmother I never met. Under a tree where she once sat with Leonard Cohen, I broke | Gina Chick

When adoption laws changed in Australia, we discovered her name: Charmian Clift. I felt instant recognition. This explained everythingGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailWhen I was young, I had no idea that my mother was such an extraordinary woman. She was just my mother, swirling in and out of the house, singing to her jonquil bulbs, tripping over the animals I rescued, all while reading five books at once. If she was in the kitchen, my sisters and I hid downstairs as she clattered and crashed all the saucepans and swore like a sailor at the latest ruined batch of biscuits.She wept at whatever devastation the nightly news delivered into the lounge room. She loved and was loved in return by my father, Douggie. She birthed four babes, grew the surviving three into formidable women and instilled in us a fierce belief that there was nothing we could not do. Continue reading...

Politics

10 h. ago Woman approached casket to say goodbye to mum at funeral when her eyes suddenly opened

When the family of Helen Mercer went to view her body and say their final goodbyes in Chicago, Illinois, they were horrified when her eyes popped open because her body was not properly embalmed

Politics

11 h. ago ‘Hands Off’ protests begin across US to oppose Trump agenda – live

More than a thousand events expected in a show of defiance against US president’s ‘authoritarian overreach’Hundreds of protesters gathered in central London on Saturday as part of global demonstrations against Donald Trump’s administration. Crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square with banners that read “No to Maga hate” and “Dump Trump”. The rally is one of hundreds of so-called “hands off” demonstrations around the world – including in cities across the US, Paris and Berlin. The movement has been organised by more than 150 groups, including civil rights groups and trade unions. Among the protesters in London was Clarke Reinstein, 73, from Rhode Island, who told the PA news agency he was “disappointed in my fellow Americans” over the election of Donald Trump. “I’ve been in London for two months and I like being over here because people think a little differently,” he said, adding, “They made a mistake over Brexit – but they didn’t fall over like the Americans have.” A 37-year-old woman ...

Politics

12 h. ago Man 'exposing himself' around Bridgewater Canal as police issue urgent warning

Greater Manchester Police have launched an investigation to identify a man who allegedly exposed himself around the Bridgewater Canal in Astley, Wigan, on March 28

Events

13 h. ago No forgetting my encounter with two giants of the stage | Tim Lewis

Old pals Ewan McGregor and Michael Grandage prepare for their new play, My Master Builder, by chuckling about everything that could go wrong and hasFor today’s Observer New Review I had the not-exactly-onerous assignment of spending an hour with the actor Ewan McGregor and director Michael Grandage, as they prepared to put on a new play, My Master Builder, in London’s West End. The two men go way back, and mostly they were cracking each other up with knockabout old stories – much of which there wasn’t room for in my article. McGregor recalled one of his first roles on stage, as Orlando in As You Like It, and how when Simon Callow – multiple Olivier and Bafta award winner – played the part in 1979, he walked out on stage at the National Theatre only to promptly forget the first line of the play.“If you’re a woman and you’re about to have a baby, everybody tells you nightmare stories about childbirth,” said McGregor. “And when you’re an actor about to do a play, everybody tells you te...

Politics

13 h. ago Woman pays £80 for abandoned Heathrow Airport suitcase and 'things got very interesting'

TikToker, Becky's Bazaar shared a video of the haul she found inside a suitcase that was left unclaimed at Heathrow Airport to see if it was worth what she paid for it

Economics

13 h. ago Woman horrified as date makes cannibal confession – then does something unexpected

A woman has shared her dating experience after she matched with a man on a dating app who made a terrifying confession to her while they were on their first date

Politics

13 h. ago 'Bloke made cannibal confession on our first date – then did something unexpected'

A woman has shared the story of her worst ever date, during which the man she was with confessed a 'creepy' secret fantasy to her - and that wasn't the only red flag either

Politics

14 h. ago Mum and daughter terrified after man repeatedly leapt from bushes and took top off

Reece Stutt, 26, regularly harassed a woman and her daughter as they walked to school, by repeatedly jumping out of the bushes and taking his top off. He has now been sentenced

Events

15 h. ago Woman 'taken by aliens' in 'abduction of century' says how to tell if you have been too

Alien abduction stories have been circulating for decades, with some people claiming they were taken by extraterrestrials and subjected to strange experiments on board their spaceship

Politics

15 h. ago 'Guy made cannibal confession to me on our first date – I was so creeped out'

A woman has recalled a disastrous date that started out okay but descended into chaos when the man told her all about his 'creepy' fantasy - and made her run for the hills

Politics

15 h. ago Woman unmasks dad as evil killer as she solves cold case murder of teen 30 years on

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: The mutilated body of 17-year-old Melanie Road was found by a milkman and his 10-year-old son and sparked a nationwide manhunt, but her killer was only caught three decades later

Events

15 h. ago Woman detained in US for 3 weeks under new travel rules says she was 'naive'

Rebecca Burke, 28, was trying to cross from Canada to the USA but did not have the right visa

Politics

16 h. ago David Bailey's son Sascha: The seven words my girlfriend said which made me understand my plan to transition was madness

Sascha Bailey has opened up for the first time about the words his girlfriend Lucy said that made him realise that transitioning into a woman was 'madness'. 

Politics

16 h. ago Woman 'broken but still breathing" opens up on on five year campaign of abuse

Two months into the relationship Evans was jailed after he was found guilty of being in charge of a car while over the alcohol limit.

Events

16 h. ago British woman who went to Syria 'to join ISIS' could win back UK citizenship from camp that holds Shamima Begum as court says she should have more time to plead her case

Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd deemed the woman a risk to national security for her allegiance to the Islamic terror state ISIS.

Events

17 h. ago Horror as mum impaled and left hanging by arm after trying to climb school fence

A woman, 37, became impaled on a school fence after she attempted to climb it.

Events

17 h. ago Sara Pascoe: ‘I still identify as an infertile, childless woman’

The standup used to joke about not having kids, but then she had IVF and found herself an ‘eroded’ mother of two. Now she’s back with a show about motherhood in her 40s – but don’t expect any cute parenting storiesMy favourite Sara Pascoe joke is her imaginary riposte to people asking if she’s going to have kids. They mean well, these prying parents – they just don’t want her to miss out on a life-enhancing experience. The thing is, the comedian has had some life-enhancing experiences of her own. “But I have never, ever said to anybody: ‘Oh, have you been on QI? Ahhh, you should go on QI!’” she insists, settling into her archly patronising pep talk. “No I didn’t think I wanted to be on QI until I was on QI, and then it was like I looked back and my entire life had been leading up to me being on QI. Yes it’s very tiring being on QI, but it’s so worth it. I just wouldn’t want you to leave it too late and they’ll have stopped making it!”As a skewering of smug, insensitive acquaint...

Politics

17 h. ago Heartbroken mother tells woman who killed her son, 14, when she jumped red light 'You've not once said sorry

A heartbroken mother faced the woman who killed her son when she jumped a red light in court yesterday, telling her, 'You've not said sorry you never even called 999'.

Events

17 h. ago ‘Peering into the eyes of the past’: reconstruction reveals face of woman who lived before Trojan war

Digital technology reveals ‘incredibly modern’ royal who lived 3,500 years ago in kingdom associated with Helen of TroyShe lived 3,500 years ago – but facial reconstruction technology has brought a woman from late bronze age Mycenae back to life.The woman was in her mid-30s when she was buried in a royal cemetery between the 16th and 17th centuries BC. The site was uncovered in the 1950s on the Greek mainland at Mycenae, the legendary seat of Homer’s King Agamemnon. Continue reading...

Society