17 h. ago The three toxic friends I've cut out of my life this year, by ABIGAIL PARKER. I blocked and ghosted them. But now I'm ready to tell you

The older I am, the more I think that love is the only thing that ­matters. But as I look with affection at all my Christmas cards on the mantelpiece there is a small cloud on my horizon.

Events

21 h. ago Pregnant woman slashed open in horrifying attack as she flees holding her intestines

WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT: Brave mum-to-be escaped with her life after woman tried to cut unborn baby from her womb with box cutter

Events

4 d. ago Princess Diana's desperate last Christmas spent alone with measly reheated meal

Princess Diana's life was cut tragically short when she was killed in a car accident in 1997 - and her very last Christmas was especially bleak, spent alone without her boys

Politics

6 d. ago Beckham family row hits new low as Harper is cut of Brooklyn's life

Brooklyn Beckham and his wife Nicola have cut his whole family out of their life, blocking them all on social media - but his little sister Harper has been tragically caught in the crossfire

Events

1 week ago Aria Thorpe: Images of tragic young life cut short at 9 as boy, 15, charged

Little Aria Thorpe, 9, had celebrated her birthday just days before she was stabbed to death at a house in a quiet street in Weston-super-Mare just 10 days before Christmas

Events

1 week ago Brown university shooting: hunt for suspect resumes as victims named – live updates

Tributes paid to two people killed as authorities search for a gunman who also injured nine others in Providence, Rhode Island, on SaturdayMore tributes to Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov came from the American Uzbekistan Association, who said he “was known for his sharp intellect, kind heart, and quiet willingness to help anyone in need”.The association wrote on Instagram, praising his “humility and compassion” as well as his “curiosity, discipline, and generosity”.More than a gifted student, Aziz was a beloved son, brother, and friend. He had a future filled with promise, and his life was cut short far too soon. His passing has left an immeasurable void in the hearts of his family, friends, classmates, and the broader Uzbek American community. On behalf of the American Uzbekistan Association, we extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Mukhammad Aziz’s family during this time of unimaginable grief. We stand with them in mourning and are grateful to all who have offered prayer...

Events

2 w. ago DR MAX PEMBERTON: I've seen so many patients hurt by toxic family and narcissistic friends at Christmas. Here's exactly how to protect yourself...

There's a particular patient I think of every December. She came to see me years ago because she was dreading Christmas. Specifically, she was dreading her sister-in-law.

Events

2 w. ago Ella McCay review – James L Brooks returns with a sorry mess of a movie

Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Albert Brooks, Rebecca Hall and Woody Harrelson are among the stars lost in the writer-director’s baffling misfireElla McCay, a new comedy drama written and directed by James L Brooks, feels like a relic, and not just because it’s set, seemingly arbitrarily, in 2008. Broadly appealing, well cast, neither strictly comic nor melodramatic, concerning ordinary people in non-IP circumstances, it’s the type of mid-budget adult film that used to appear regularly in cinemas in the 90s and aughts, before the streaming wars devoured the market. Even its lead promotional image, turned into a life-size cardboard cut-out at the theater – Emma Mackey’s titular Ella in a sensible trench coat, balancing on one foot as she fixes a broken block heel – recalls a bygone era of films like Confessions of a Shopaholic, Miss Congeniality or Little Miss Sunshine, that would now go straight to streaming.To be clear, I miss these types of movies, and want to see more of them. I ...

Politics

2 w. ago Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy review – fear and loathing in New York

This sharp, bleak debut satirises the current cultural moment through the life and loves of a cynical young writerThere is a long tradition of stories about artists that are also about the question of how to represent life in art; novels about artists with toxic female friendships are more unusual.Enter Anika Jade Levy’s slim and sharp debut Flat Earth, which shares its title with a film made by a woman whom Avery, the narrator, identifies as her best friend. Frances is a rich and beautiful twentysomething who becomes a “reluctant celebrity in certain circles” after her film, “an experimental documentary about rural isolation and rightwing conspiracy theories” in the modern-day United States, premieres to critical acclaim at a gallery in New York. Avery, meanwhile, is struggling to write what she describes as “a book of cultural reports”. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago I quit being a 'mumfluencer' because my toxic 'friends' were so cruel

I am in a hotel events room. It's packed with a bunch of mum influencers (including me) who have been invited to a book launch.

Events

3 w. ago Book lovers rush to buy Kindle with up to '12 week battery life' amid 35% cut

This refurbished e-reader could be an ideal Christmas present for a loved one who is always surrounded by books.

Politics

3 w. ago SARAH VINE: This mum is making the equivalent of a £113k salary through benefits. The system's broken... and her story shows so clearly where the blame lies

When I was a child there was a saying, now no longer very much in vogue: cut your coat to suit your cloth. In other words, live life according to what you can afford.

Economics

3 w. ago The single injection that means you could come off statins for LIFE: Experts hail 'fabulous' breakthrough that permanently cuts cholesterol... and may mean an end to difficult statin side

A one-off shot of a new drug could cut high cholesterol levels for life. The 'game-changing' drug works by switching off a gene involved in the production of so-called 'bad' cholesterol - or LDL.

Politics