69 h. ago Lexus RX review: Big enough to live in, good enough to live with?

Lexus claimed to be the founder of the luxury-focused SUV scene when it launched the RX back in 1998 and now the fifth-generation model boasts a choice of powertrains, including a plug-in hybrid option, for the first time in its history

Politics

7 d. ago New Zealand halt Scotland fightback just in time as stunning late try kills history bid stone dead

Gregor Townsend's men were 17-0 down at the break but fought back to level only for late brilliance to deny them

Events

9 d. ago 200 year old Scottish bakery up for sale in scenic market town

What’s thought to be Scotland’s oldest bakery is up for sale for the first time in its 200 year history.

Economics

1 week ago BBC Shetland filming locations as real life village is transformed for fictional hamlet

Shetland is back for series 10 and for the first time in its history the show took over a real-life village and transformed it into a fictional one

Politics

1 week ago ‘‘I can quiz for 17 hours a day!’: how Émilien became Europe’s greatest ever gameshow winner

The 22-year-old history student spent almost two years on a popular French quiz show – becoming a multimillionaire in the process. He discusses the importance of curiosity, frugality and 10-11 hours sleep a nightBeing a TV general-knowledge quiz champion is a funny kind of fame, because random strangers want to test you on all sorts of trivia. “Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street, a car slows, the window goes down and someone screams: ‘Capital of Brunei?’ I answer and they drive off – it’s amusing really,” says Émilien, a 22-year-old history student who this summer became not only the most successful French gameshow contestant of all time, but the biggest gameshow winner in European history and the world record-holder for the most solo consecutive appearances on a TV quizshow.And everyone, of course, wants to know how he did it. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago The 'Boring Billion' wasn't so boring after all! Period previously known as the dullest time in our planet's history actually created the conditions for LIFE, study reveals

Earth's 'Boring Billion' created the conditions for complex life to exist, report scientists at the universities of Sydney and Adelaide.

Science

2 w. ago Beavers return to Highland glen for first time in 400 years in ‘moment of wildlife history’

The release of beavers to the Highland location has been heralded as a ‘moment of wildlife history’

Politics

2 w. ago Forward prize names poets Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie its first joint winners

Judge of prestigious award says two best collection winners ‘address the urgent challenges of our time’Vidyan Ravinthiran and Karen Solie have been named joint winners of this year’s Forward prize for best collection, one of the UK’s most prestigious poetry awards, marking the first time in the prize’s history the honour has been shared.Ravinthiran, who was born in Leeds to Sri Lankan Tamil parents and now lives in the US, was recognised for Avidyā. The collection is described as having emerged from “journeys of great personal significance, and out of a migrant sensibility tied to three different countries”. The Canadian poet Solie shared the prize for Wellwater, a “self-interrogative conversation with a culture in crisis and a natural world on the brink”. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Trump told Pence ‘you’ll go down as a wimp’ in January 6 phone call, book says

Book cites Pence’s notes from call with Trump, who called vice-president a ‘wimp’ if he certified Biden’s 2020 victoryOn the day that his supporters attacked the US Capitol because his 2020 re-election run ended in defeat, Donald Trump called his vice-president at the time, Mike Pence, and told him he would go down in history as a “wimp” if he certified the election result, a new book says.Those details were revealed on Sunday when ABC News published a preview excerpt of an upcoming book by its political correspondent Jonathan Karl. The book, titled Retribution, cites Pence’s notes from the 6 January 2021 phone call with Trump, who was purportedly trying to shame his vice-president into refusing to certify Joe Biden’s victory weeks earlier in the White House. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago The Blue Jays flipped the World Series script on baseball’s biggest spenders

Toronto’s nine-run eruption turned an alleged mismatch into a statement, showing the Dodgers’ empire of excess can be thwarted by patience, contact and beliefBefore the first pitch of the 2025 World Series on Friday night, it had been 32 years and one day since the greatest day in Toronto Blue Jays history and the last time that the franchise hosted a World Series game.On 23 October 1993, outfielder Joe Carter hit the second ever walk-off home run to clinch a World Series championship on a pitch that was being thrown to Philadelphia Phillies catcher Darren Daulton. On 24 October 2025, the first Blue Jays home run hit in a World Series game since Carter’s was by outfielder Daulton Varsho, whose father, Gary, named his son after his former Phillies teammate Darren Daulton. Two innings later, outfielder Addison Barger hit the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, the keynote of a nine-run sixth inning, which was the highest-scoring World Series inning since 1968. Continue...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘I hate that they show my bum in the first scene!’ David Duchovny on poems, podcasts – and his TV comeback

Playing Fox Mulder made him a global phenomenon then he walked away to save himself. As he stars in killer-nanny thriller Malice, David Duchovny talks art, his beef with Gillian Anderson – and being murdered by Jack WhitehallHalfway through our hour-long conversation, David Duchovny slumps in his seat a little then gently chastises me. “I got tired while you were talking,” he groans. In fairness, I had been talking a lot, but only because I was trying to list everything he’s managed to do in the past year.There’s his podcast, Fail Better, in which he’s wrung incredibly candid interviews from notoriously reticent stars like Alec Baldwin and Robert Downey Jr, more on which later. There’s his book of poetry, About Time, which came out last month. There’s his History Channel show Secrets Declassified With David Duchovny. As we speak, he’s just finished an eight-date tour, where he performed songs from the three folk-rock albums he’s released over the last decade. We are ostensibly here ...

Culture

3 w. ago ‘Still work to be done’: Iceland marks 50 years since Women’s Day Off protests

President says country is not free from feminist backlash being seen around worldIceland is the only country to have closed the gender gap by more than 90%, according to the World Economic Forum, and, for the first time in its history, every national leadership position – including president, prime minister, bishop and police chief – is now held by a woman.But as people go on strike on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary of “kvennafrí” (“Women’s Day Off”) strike, the protest that kickstarted a global equality revolution, the Icelandic president warned that her country was not immune to gender-related “red flags” and a global “backlash” against feminism. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Icelandic women urged to strike on Friday to mark 50th anniversary of seminal protest

President, who will join ‘Women’s Day Off’, says Iceland is not free from feminist backlash being seen around worldIceland is the only country to have closed the gender gap by more than 90%, according to the World Economic Forum, and, for the first time in its history, every national leadership position – including president, prime minister, bishop and police chief – is now held by a woman.But as people go on strike on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary of “kvennafrí” (“Women’s Day Off”) strike, the protest that kickstarted a global equality revolution, the Icelandic president warned that her country was not immune to gender-related “red flags” and a global “backlash” against feminism. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Black History Month is a reflection of the political moment, so how do we revamp it?

The aim is to address systemic and institutional racism but those efforts need the space to expand not shrink• Don’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereIt’s Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. Over the years, an event that started out as a celebration and reminder of history, culture and the connections between global Black communities, has taken on a corporate feel, expanding to include events where Black people are paid to talk to white audiences about “unconscious bias” and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The wave has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what raising awareness is for. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Extremely rare bird spotted in part of Scotland for first time

An extremely rare water bird has been spotted in a part of Scotland for the first time.

Politics

3 w. ago Scottish wildlife: 'Rare' glossy ibis bird spotted on Scottish nature reserve first time in its history

Glossy ibis have been appearing in “never-before-seen numbers”.

Politics

3 w. ago Thiago deepens gloom at West Ham as Brentford triumph amid fan protest

Perhaps it was inevitable that Brentford’s first away win of the season would come in the Premier League’s unhappiest and least intimidating ground.The many West Ham fans who displayed their displeasure with the board by boycotting this fixture had the right idea. They could celebrate their decision not to subject themselves to an unspeakably abysmal performance from Nuno Espírito Santo’s muddled team. West Ham, who have started a league campaign with four successive defeats at home for the first time in their history, were shambolic. They created nothing, made bizarre substitutions, defended terribly and had accepted their fate long before Mathias Jensen, with Brentford’s 22nd shot of a horribly one-sided contest, made it 2-0 deep into added time. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Thiago deepens gloom at West Ham as Brentford triumph amid fan boycott

Perhaps it was inevitable that Brentford’s first away win of the season would come in the Premier League’s unhappiest and least intimidating ground.The many West Ham fans who displayed their displeasure with the board by boycotting this fixture had the right idea. They could celebrate their decision not to subject themselves to an unspeakably abysmal performance from Nuno Espírito Santo’s muddled team. West Ham, who have started a league campaign with four successive defeats at home for the first time in their history, were shambolic. They created nothing, made bizarre substitutions, defended terribly and had accepted their fate long before Mathias Jensen, with Brentford’s 22nd shot of a horribly one-sided contest, made it 2-0 deep into added time. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Why do the clocks go back in autumn? The history of daylight saving time, including its wartime origins

The origin story has links to golf, insect collecting and Coldplay’s Chris Martin

Events

3 w. ago ‘A punch in the face’: Germany’s dash for gas raises questions over climate targets

Plans for a fossil fuel project in Wadden Sea nature reserve have angered local people and campaigners, as political enthusiasm for renewables wanesPeering out on a clear day from the windswept dunes that dapple the north-western tip of Germany, on a gull-shaped island in the Wadden Sea nature reserve, tourists hoping to spot seals may soon see a dark metal platform rise out of the water.The planned structure is one of several fossil fuel projects that Germany is pushing to build despite a legal deadline to stop polluting the atmosphere with carbon emissions in 20 years’ time. The joint Dutch-German venture, which received the green light from regional authorities last month, seeks to extract 13bn cubic metres of gas from just outside a protected area at the marine border between the two countries. Continue reading...

Society