48 m. ago The Brightening Air at the Old Vic review: this slice of 1980s Irish life is hilarious and achingly moving

Conor McPherson is a singular writer and a phenomenal director

Politics

61 m. ago Can ghd’s new wave wand help me achieve effortless mermaid hair?

The tool promises beachy, tousled locks with less frizz and more shine

Politics

2 h. ago What would you put on your financial bucket list? LEE BOYCE on trying to prepare for his 40s in good time

I have two years until I turn 40 - and my attention has turned to creating a bucket list, which includes a financial category.

Politics

2 h. ago The Great Gatsby at the Coliseum: 'a little empty beneath the razzmattaz'

The award-winning Broadway musical version of Fitzgerald’s novel hits London as a lavish spectacle but lacking heart

Politics

3 h. ago Bad Friend by Tiffany Watt Smith review – refreshingly frank portraits of female friendship

A social and personal history that refuses to gloss over the rage, envy and hurt that form part of every close bondFalling out with a friend can feel oddly shameful. Romantic relationships are meant to have passionate highs and lows, but by the time you reach adulthood, you expect your friendships to have reached some kind of equilibrium. I have this image in my head of myself as an affectionate, devoted friend – but sometimes I examine my true feelings towards the women who are closest to me and feel shocked by my own pettiness. It is embarrassing to be a grownup but still capable of such intense flashes of rage, and envy. When my friendships become distant or strained, I wonder why I still struggle to do this basic thing.Bad Friend represents a kind of love letter to female friendship, but doesn’t gloss over how difficult it can be. Tiffany Watt Smith is a historian, and this book is a deeply researched study of 20th-century women’s relationships, but the reason for writing i...

Politics

4 h. ago Kashmir attack: Indian army chief to visit Srinagar as UN urges ‘maximum restraint’

UN calls for tensions between India and Pakistan to be resolved peacefully as relations plunge to lowest level in years following deadly shootingIndia’s army chief was set to lead a high-level security review in Srinagar on Friday, days after militants opened fire on tourists in Indian-held Kashmir, killing 26 civilians in one of the worst such attacks in years.The brazen assault, carried out in a mountain meadow near Pahalgam, has derailed prime minister Narendra Modi’s claims of restored calm in the restive Himalayan territory and sent tensions soaring between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. Continue reading...

Events

4 h. ago Josh Barrie reviews the bar at Bistrotheque: Life before Eating With Tod

Here is a bar perfect for a peaceful Sunday afternoon wine, writes Josh Barrie

Politics

4 h. ago Self Esteem’s third album A Complicated Woman adds theatre to literate lyrical snark

Rebecca Lucy Taylor returns with a fiery new album exploring fame, dependent partners and empowerment

Culture

5 h. ago Flintoff review – so traumatised he can’t even speak to his ex

The story of the former cricket prodigy and car crash survivor Freddie Flintoff is fascinating but this documentary shows he has such extreme PTSD that he keeps slamming the shutters downFreddie Flintoff is numb. As the 98-minute Disney+ documentary Flintoff begins, we find its subject sitting in a hospital room. He can’t feel his lip, the one that was torn from his face in a nightmarish car accident on the Top Gear track in 2022. But more than that, he is mentally checked out. As one doctor after another tells him that he is recovering well and looking good, he stares at the ground dejectedly. He just wants everyone to stop sugarcoating everything and tell him the truth, he says. What he wants to hear is that he looks like “a fucking mess”.Flintoff was designed as the big unveiling of the new, post-accident Freddie Flintoff. His days as a cricketing prodigy are over and so, it seems, are his days as a permanent light entertainment fixture. He is older, slower and more reflective. H...

Events

9 h. ago PETER HOSKIN reviews Clair Obscur Expedition 33: Ooh la la! Welcome to the fancy French game where beautiful people battle Belle Epoque monsters

This is an extraordinarily beautiful game, in everything from its expansive landscapes to the nuances of its characters faces.

Sport

9 h. ago CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Penelope: Eat berries, hug trees and take your iPhone... The Gen Z guide to survival

If you can't imagine yourself being profoundly moved by a teenage girl weepily hugging a giant redwood tree in a forest, you're not going to like Penelope much.

Events

9 h. ago VERONICA LEE reviews The Great Gatsby: Dazzling, but not the greatest Gatsby

Marc Bruni's dazzling production of The Great Gatsby opened on Broadway last year and now - with a mostly British cast - bursts into life in the West End.

Politics

10 h. ago Gorillas in Our Midst by Alan Toyne: So cute! Until a baby gorilla becomes a toddler, that is .

When, as former zookeeper Alan Toyne learned the hard way, they start ripping things apart (including you). His new book tells what life is like raising gorillas.

Politics

10 h. ago A locked door thriller for April: The Secret Room by Jane Casey, The Other People by C. B. Everett, This Is Not A Game by Kelly Mullen

Geoffrey Wansell reviews the best Crime fiction out now.

Politics

11 h. ago Online streamer busted for carving ‘KICK.COM’ into historic Grand Canyon landmark

Exclusive: ‘The damage caused by carving this inscription into the rock is permanent and cannot be undone,’ according to a National Park Service affidavit reviewed by The Independent

Transport

12 h. ago Trump Revolution: 100 Days That Changed the World has no answer to Trump’s chaos

With fresh outrages issuing from the White House on an almost hourly basis, this Channel 4 documentary struggles to find its bearings – and that may be exactly as the president’s strategists intended it

Politics

12 h. ago Review: Flying British Airways Business Class from Los Angeles to London

Review: Flying British Airways Business Class from Los Angeles to London  Business Traveler USA

Transport

12 h. ago Katherine Ryan reveals she was 'mugged off' by Stephen Hawking as she recounts wild party at Jimmy Carr's house

The comedian, 41, shared the rather surprising story as she recounted how Jimmy used to have 'Gatsby-esque' style bashes which all the stars were invited too.

Society

13 h. ago US federal agency texts Barnard College employees to ask if they’re Jewish

Employees received text from EEOC on personal phones linking to survey asking if they are Jewish or IsraeliEmployees from Barnard College received text messages this week from the federally run Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on their personal phones linking to a voluntary survey asking recipients if they are Jewish or Israeli and whether they have been subjected to harassment or antisemitism.The text, which was reviewed by the Guardian, states that the civil rights agency is “currently reviewing the employment practices at Barnard College” and invites current and former employees to complete the linked survey. It is not clear how many college employees received the survey, but it appears to have been sent to a sizable portion of the faculty and other staff. Continue reading...

Politics

15 h. ago ZIIP Dot review: Can this gadget heal my hormonal acne breakouts?

The doughnut-shaped device was created to treat and calm blemishes

Politics