7 h. ago Thatcher was born 100 years ago and her reign feels a lifetime away. Why is her effect on the country still so huge? | Martin Kettle

The battles she fought as prime minister in the 1980s belong to the past. Today’s politicians need to learn that she is not the answer to contemporary problemsYou have to be approaching your mid-50s or older to have been of voting age during Margaret Thatcher’s period as prime minister. Only a third of those of us alive today were adults when she finally left Downing Street in November 1990. The proportion who remember the 11 years that Thatcher spent in Downing Street is even smaller.For at least the other two-thirds of Britons, Thatcher’s is a name from the past, and little more. The fact she would have been 100 next Monday only emphasises the large gulf that now separates her era from this one. Yet the centenary could be a helpful moment all the same. It could provide a contemporary chance to reflect on what she really means – and does not mean – for modern Britain. Continue reading...

Politics

34 h. ago Kenny McLean dreaming of Scotland qualification hattrick as veteran hopes new heroes will emerge in World Cup push

The Norwich midfielder has delivered some huge moments for his country in recent years

Politics

8 d. ago Nicole Kidman's huge monthly income revealed as she divorces Keith Urban

Court documents filed for the showbiz couple's divorce shine a spotlight on the huge earnings of the Hollywood A-lister and the Grammy-winning country music star

Politics

9 d. ago ‘Laughing at a libertarian crypto dragon? That rules’: Brennan Lee Mulligan on how Dungeons & Dragons took over the world

The games master has accrued millions of fans and sold out Madison Square Garden with his shows where he plays D&D live with guests. He’s still ‘bewildered’ by the success“If anyone were to tell me that getting a job as a full-time cast member on a sketch YouTube channel would lead to playing Dungeons & Dragons at Madison Square Garden, then that person is either a time traveller or the biggest liar on the planet,” says Brennan Lee Mulligan.The comedian, professional games master and host of the popular streaming show Dimension 20 is speaking ahead of his first trip to Australia, where he will be touring a live game of Dungeons & Dragons at huge venues around the country, including the International Convention & Exhibition Centre in Sydney and Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne. Titled Endless Dungeon, the show will see the LA-based performer teaming up with local comedians including Tom Cardy, Demi Lardner and Jordan Raskopoulos to create an improvised game of D&...

Politics

1 week ago Namibia sends hundreds of soldiers to help battle huge wildfire in Etosha National Park

Namibia has sent more than 500 soldiers to help battle a huge wildfire that has burned across 30% of the country’s best-known national park

Events

1 week ago John McGinn kickstarts Aston Villa’s season with victory against Bologna

At last, a first win of the season for Aston Villa. They made harder work of it than they might have done against limited opponents, and there were rather more nervous moments than there probably should have been, but a win’s a win, and after the start to the season Villa have had, that’s the most important thing.It is only just over five months since Villa Park last hosted European football, but it feels a lifetime ago. That was the Champions League quarter-final as Villa mounted a rousing fightback against Paris Saint-Germain that, although it fell short, rattled the eventual champions. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump’s UN rant revealed his true priorities – and Britain should watch out | Martin Kettle

Less than a week after his state visit, the president launched a surprise attack on the UK – and sent a clear signal about US powerTrying to pin down the real Donald Trump is a mug’s game. Doubtless, some will have persuaded themselves that the real Trump was the one we saw in Windsor a week ago, fawning over the royals, treating Keir Starmer with respect, and claiming that Britain and the United States were two notes in the same chord. Well, maybe.Perhaps the more plausible version was actually the one who went to the United Nations this week. This Trump went not to fawn but to boast and trash, whingeing about everything from the UN’s supposed failure to back his claims to have ended seven “un-endable” wars, to its refusal to award him a renovation building contract – “I said at the time that I would do it for $500m, rebuilding everything, it would be beautiful” – for its New York headquarters complex.Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised ...

Politics

2 w. ago Chappell Roan review – pop’s patient princess triumphantly takes the throne in New York

Forest Hills stadium, New YorkThe star claims she wasn’t ‘feeling 100’ for her Queens stadium show, but it was hard to see any fatigue as she carried the crowd through her dazzling setlistTime feels evermore like a ludicrous concept in 2025, but it especially collapses when considering the career of Chappell Roan. The Missouri-born pop artist languished in up-and-coming mode for years – I first learned of her prismatic gay club anthem Pink Pony Club via a friend’s recommendation in 2020 – only to experience one of the swiftest ascents into the mainstream I’ve ever witnessed. Just 18 months ago, she was still playing 2,000-cap amphitheaters in mid-sized cities; by summer’s end, she drew the largest crowd (more than 100,000) that Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival has ever seen. Her rise was so vertiginous – viral Tiny Desk, Grammys best new artist, festival undercard to headliner, international chart takeover – that she feels lifetimes away from the artist I saw, stunned by her own zeit...

Politics

3 w. ago I know many are deeply opposed to Trump’s visit. But Keir Starmer doesn’t have that luxury | Martin Kettle

The choice for governments around the world is clear: engage, or fall beneath the US president’s wheel. For now, Britain must do the formerHas any visiting leader ever seen so little of Britain or the British as Donald Trump is doing this week? The absurdly unrepresentative version of the country offered up to the US president on his second state visit on Wednesday was a Windsor parody, a Potemkin version of this country, glistening with protocol and polish, amid a lavish reenactment of the British monarchy’s invented traditions. Just about the only thing that was authentic was the rain.But here’s the unalterable and underlying thing. None of that really matters. What matters is that Trump is the most powerful leader in the world. Despite all the Trumpian shocks, the US and Britain remain allies. Business can and should be done between them. So the opportunity for face-time with Trump, in circumstances designed to soften him up with flattery and engage him over this country’s own pr...

Politics

3 w. ago How Mpox revealed an epidemic of untreated HIV in Sierra Leone – as Trump’s aid cuts begin to bite

The impact of the US slashing foreign aid on the country’s Mpox response has likely been huge, activists on the ground tell Rachel Schraer

Politics

4 w. ago Huge country estate once home to Poundland founder now on market for £5 million

The seven-bedroom mansion boasts an indoor pool, games room, bar and massive dressing room

Economics