26 h. ago Indonesia protests: president scraps lawmakers’ perks in bid to calm tensions

Six people have now died in nationwide protests, forcing Prabowo Subianto to remove perks include a housing allowance worth 10 times the minimum wageIndonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has pledged to revoke lawmakers’ perks and privileges, including a controversial $3,000 housing allowance, in a bid to ease public fury after nationwide protests in which six people have died.Flanked by leaders of eight Indonesian political parties, Prabowo told a televised news conference in the capital, Jakarta, that they had agreed to cut the housing allowance and suspend overseas trips for members of parliament. It was a rare concession in response to mounting public anger. Continue reading...

Events

50 h. ago SARAH VINE: This tawdry bid to drag the Queen into Brexit brings back unpleasant memories for  me...

Given the degree of respect and affection in which she was held by the British people, to have voiced a preference would have inevitably swayed public opinion.

Politics

5 d. ago One City Is Punishing People Who Don’t Use Headphones on Public Transportation

One City Is Punishing People Who Don’t Use Headphones on Public Transportation  Fodors Travel Guide

Politics

5 d. ago Should people be fined for not using headphones on public transport? Have your say

A new Transport for London campaign has got people talking

Politics

5 d. ago British people are terrified of noise on public transport – but we desperately need it

As Sadiq Khan encourages Londoners to put their headphones on in a bid to stop disturbing other passengers, Olivia Petter makes a case for keeping them off

Events

6 d. ago London Underground and bus passengers urged to stop one 'annoying' habit that others hate

The Mayor of London will launch a campaign on today encouraging people to use headphones when playing music on the capital's public transport network

Politics

7 d. ago London mayor rolls out campaign on people blasting music on public transport

Posters will begin appearing on the Elizabeth line reminding travellers not to play music out loud or to have conversations on speaker mode.

Politics

7 d. ago Should people be fined for playing music on public transport? Take our poll and have your say

After the Tories 'copied' the Lib Dems' plan to introduce fines for 'headphone dodgers' who play music out loud on public transport, we want to know your thoughts on the idea

Politics

7 d. ago People across Dumfries and Galloway asked to open garden gates for charity

Scotland's Gardens Scheme has launched its Open for Good campaign to encourage people to open their gardens to the public.

Politics

8 d. ago Meghan Markle 'placed status above reality' and struggled to separate her own image from Suits character, claims royal author as season two of With Love, Meghan, is set to be released

For many people, Meghan Markle's public persona can be divided into two halves. But according to royal author Tom Bower, it is not so easy for the Duchess herself.

Politics

9 d. ago Seven people wanted after public order offence outside Cardiff McDonalds

Police have released images of the people they want to speak to after the incident in Queen Street

Politics

1 week ago ‘I dream about toilets, I admit it’: the man on a mission to improve Britain’s loos

Poor accessibility, questionable hygiene, scattered needles and budget cuts the UK is in the midst of a public toilet crisis. Thankfully, Raymond Martin is fighting backThe first thing Raymond Martin looks for in a toilet, he says, is cleanliness. Does the tissue paper on the floor mean this public lavatory has failed his inspection? “You have to understand that it’s a working toilet, it’s now mid-afternoon – a few bits of tissue on the floor is neither here nor there,” Martin says. “If there were cigarette packets, bottles on the floor – that I’d be worried about.” We’re in Knutsford, Cheshire, and Martin is on a toilet-inspection tour of the north and west of the UK. He’s just come from the Lake District and Blackpool. When we part ways in a couple of hours, he’ll head on to Wales to inspect the public conveniences of Pembrokeshire.Do people laugh when Martin, who is managing director of the British Toilet Association (BTA), tells them he does toilet inspections? They do, he says....

Events

1 week ago Labels showing calories you burn walking upstairs appear on public steps in Korea causing outrage as people say it will 'trigger eating disorders'

London-based Sussanah was in Busan when she noticed that the steps in a public area were marked with the amount of calories a person would lose by climbing each one.

Events

1 week ago ‘Liam Gallagher is funnier than most standups!’: Is comedy the new rock’n’roll – or vice versa?

Oasis’s tour gobbled up Edinburgh audiences while fringe comics put on shows about Britpop and Arctic Monkeys. The music industry and the funny business could be more entwined than ever‘Comedy is the new rock’n’roll!” This line, variously attributed to a defunct listings mag, a member of the Comedy Store Players and Janet Street-Porter, became common currency in the 1990s, when comedy gatecrashed arenas with Newman and Baddiel’s maiden Wembley gig in 1993. Had the art of making people laugh eclipsed – in size, public enthusiasm, cultural cachet – the art of making people groove?It feels like a quaint conversation in light of the arrival of Oasis’s mega-tour in Edinburgh this month, which triggered panic among standups at the gazumping of their fringe audience. But has comedy returned to playing second fiddle to its sexier, better-loved big brother? Or are such distinctions meaningless in a cultural landscape unrecognisable from the 1990s? Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago We used AI to analyse three cities. It’s true: we now walk more quickly and socialise less | Carlo Ratti

Fifty years ago, people socialised very differently in public spaces. Clever design could reverse this unwelcome developmentCarlo Ratti is the director of Venice’s 2025 Biennale ArchitetturaSomething is thinning in public space. Pavements are still crowded. Parks still bustle. But if you look more closely – or, better still, if you measure it – the texture of our interactions has changed.Together with colleagues at Yale, Harvard and other universities, we used AI to compare footage of public spaces from the 1970s with recent video in the same locations in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. The findings are striking: people walk faster, linger less, and are less likely to meet up. That’s no surprise in a world where phones, Netflix and AI companions are luring us away from real-world spaces and real-world friends. Yet, if technology is part of the problem, it may also be part of the solution. By using AI to study urban public spaces, we can gather data, pick out patterns and test ne...

Politics

2 w. ago Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet's 'distance' explained as split rumours continue

Hollywood power couple Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet have been under everyone's watchful eye since they first started dating; now people can't help but notice their lack of public appearances both on and offline..

Politics

2 w. ago The hospitals with the LONGEST waiting lists revealed: As 7.37million people wait for routine treatment, the Government is slammed for 'misleading' public on NHS figures

More than 7.37million treatments-relating to 6.23million patients- are now in the queue for ops like hip replacements, official data revealed today.

Politics

2 w. ago Golf for them, grind for us: Trump, Vance and the hellish US holiday divide | Arwa Mahdawi

While American workers battle burnout and ‘infinite workdays’, the men at the top are living the endless vacation dreamYou know what the problem is with the US? Nobody wants to work any more. People feel entitled to cushy jobs with fat salaries and unlimited holiday time. And by “people” I mean American politicians, who seem to treat public office as an excuse for endless vacations. Because the president and vice-president are technically always on duty, there’s no official holiday policy – and it rather feels as if they are taking advantage of this.Take the vice-president, JD “OOO (out of office)” Vance. When he’s not inspiring memes or threatening to deport menswear influencers, he always seems to be off on a jolly. So far this year, the man has been skiing in Vermont, shut down bits of Disneyland for his family’s use and apparently raised the water level of a river in Ohio for a kayaking trip. Now, the Vances are summering in the Cotswolds. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Newlyweds look back at wedding photo and realise there's huge A

An A-lister was spotted in the background of a newlywed couple's wedding snaps, with members of the public delighted to see the Oscar-winner out photobombing people

Culture

3 w. ago Calls for direct Edinburgh ‘adventure’ bus route amid strong survey demand

A survey of over 1,000 people has revealed strong demand for a direct public transport link between Edinburgh City Centre to an ‘adventure sports hub’ in Ratho.

Politics