23 h. ago Fox’s new game show makes people guess what Trump’s been up to. Somehow I can’t see the joy in that | Dave Schilling

What Did I Miss? features a smarmy host quizzing sequestered contestants on the headlines. But politics is not funny any moreThe classic television game show is one of the simplest pleasures available to the sedentary, socially maladjusted people we used to call “couch potatoes”. An average Joe is required to perform a task – ranging from answering a trivia question or spinning a large, colorful wheel to keeping a hand on a Toyota Land Cruiser for as long as possible – in exchange for the possibility of winning a cash prize (or a truck). For the viewer, there is the satisfaction of believing, perhaps falsely, that you could win the prize if you were in the contestant’s place. Maybe you identify with that contestant and actively root for their success. Or perhaps you just want to see some poor bastard shot out of a cannon, like on TBS’s dearly departed series Wipeout. Whatever your pleasure might be, it’s not an uncommon or esoteric one.We watch game shows because they are basic huma...

Politics

1 week ago Musk thinks Trump’s pal Navarro is a ‘moron’. Who are we supposed to root for here? | Dave Schilling

Tariffs have driven a wedge between Trump aides in an administration that hates expertise. I suppose boys will be boysI would like to dispel some rumors right up front. One, I did not receive a PhD in business from Harvard Business School. Hopefully this doesn’t make you think less of me, but I felt it necessary to be honest. Second, I did not even attend Harvard. I thought about it once; hopefully, thinking about something isn’t illegal yet.My point is that I am no elitist snob begging for your subservience. I’m a simple man, just trying to salvage the last of my meager wealth during the great trade war of 2025. I know absolutely nothing about global economic policy. As such, I must be worth listening to.Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Donald Trump's economic war on world with 60 countries in firing line from new tariffs

Countries around the world have been the targets of Donald Trump's tough new tariffs with 60 of the 'worst offenders' facing heavy charges, potentially pushing the world towards recession

Economics

1 week ago Trump boasts other countries are 'kissing my ass' as his trade war tariffs hit stock markets, firms and jobs

FTSE 100 in London and Asian stock markets take another pounding with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 5% as Trump’s tariffs against 60 ‘worst offender’ nations come into effect

Economics

1 week ago ‘Explosive' trade war tariffs spark falls in global markets but Trump claims: 'I know what the hell I'm doing'

FTSE 100 in London and Asian stock markets take another pounding with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 5% as Trump’s tariffs against 60 ‘worst offender’ nations come into effect

Events

1 week ago Global markets fall as ‘explosive' trade tariffs kick in, but Trump claims: 'I know what the hell I'm doing'

FTSE 100 in London and Asian stock markets take another pounding with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 5% as Trump’s tariffs against 60 ‘worst offender’ nations come into effect

Politics

1 week ago Trump defiant as explosive tariffs kick in sparking more markets chaos: 'I know what the hell I'm doing'

Asian stock markets take another pounding with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 5% as Trump’s tariffs against 60 ‘worst offender’ nations come into effect

Events

1 week ago 'I know what the hell I'm doing': Trump defiant as explosive tariffs come into effect sparking more markets chaos

Asian stock markets take another pounding with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 5% as Trump’s tariffs against 60 ‘worst offender’ nations come into effect

Events

2 w. ago What is up with car door handles these days? | Dave Schilling

Why is everything computerised, automated or impossible to turn off these days?I believe, deep in my soul, that car companies’ number one goal in life is to ruin the experience of driving. I don’t have any direct evidence of this conspiracy to rob us of the pleasure of the open road, other than the cacophony of beeps, blips, bloops and blops that greet us in the latest models. Oh, and the screens. Every year, they try to find a new place to glue a touchscreen in a car, like Pizza Hut hunting for more orifices to stuff cheese into one of their pies.Everything is computerized, automated or impossible to turn off. According to surveys of new-car buyers by the market research firm Strategic Vision, satisfaction with car controls plummeted by 23 percentage points in the last nine years. The whiz-bang gizmos foisted on the North American car buyer have devolved from the glorious, life-saving back-up camera to gesture controls that allow you to turn an invisible knob to crank up the volume...

Politics

3 w. ago Notes on chocolate: more Easter eggs, because these are quite special

Sometimes you just want to splash out on something a little more luxuriousI really think this has to be my last column on Easter eggs, don’t you? One egg had sat on my sideboard for a few weeks. I didn’t hold out much hope for it, but it was wolfed down in two sittings (not just by me) with a strong recommend from my testers to ‘write how good it is’, so here you go: Coco Chemistry’s Large Milk Honeycomb Crunch egg, £25. (A dark chocolate version is also available.) This is not a craft-chocolate egg by any stretch, but maybe that’s not what people need all the time.Melt has two cute eggs, one is just milk and in very simple packaging with a cardboard bunny cut out. The idea is that you paint it and it comes in two sizes, from £14.50. The Breton eggs are beautiful to look at yet expensive at £69.99 each – but they are a hefty 700g and would easily satisfy a large group. We tested the pistachio and kataifi one – milk chocolate, pistachio, caramel blond chocolate and caramelised kataif...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump is offended by a painting of himself. For once, I get where he’s coming from | Dave Schilling

We all know what it’s like to be horrified by our own image. In the president’s case, he looks like a large baby in a suitWhile his friends are getting messy in the group chat, Donald Trump simply has more important things on his mind. Namely, himself. The United States’ war plans are being divulged to journalists like gossip on a second-rate Real Housewives spinoff, but the focus of the American president is squarely on a painting of himself that he doesn’t care for. Trump posted on Truth Social, his personal squawk box for various grievances, that he takes umbrage with a depiction of his face in the Colorado state capitol.The painting depicts Trump as full-faced, cherubic and without wrinkles. He almost looks younger, like a large baby in a suit. A boss baby, if you will. You might assume that at 78, Trump would jump at the chance to shave a few years off his face, but sadly, it seems he’d prefer to look like he was lit by the director of photography from Nosferatu. Continue readi...

Politics

4 w. ago Colorado state capitol caves and removes Trump portrait after complaints from riled president

The request to remove Sarah Boardman’s 2019 oil painting was said to have come from Republican state legislators

Politics