6 h. ago Voices: ‘Church offers a sense of community’: Independent readers have their say on Gen Z’s turn to Christianity

Our community share their views on Gen Z’s growing interest in Christianity – from hope that young people are seeking meaning and community, to concerns over the rise of politicised religion and fear of faith being used for control

Politics

26 h. ago Pope Francis was the people’s pontiff. His successor must be too

As cardinals prepare to choose a new pope, they must not replace a moderniser with a traditionalist – and Pope Francis’s successor must be bold enough to finish what he started

Politics

31 h. ago Archbishop of York voices support for parish following ‘hate crime’ on church

Archbishop Stephen Cottrell said he was ‘deeply saddened’ a church building and gravestones were daubed with offensive graffiti.

Events

5 d. ago The Next Day by Melinda French Gates review – Melinda on life, before and after Bill

The philanthropist offers sensible advice about moving on and ditching perfectionism, but you get the impression she is struggling to take it herselfMelinda French Gates is a woman who seemingly leaves little to chance. From girlhood she would write down goals for herself to reach, and she was just as driven at college and in her early career at Microsoft, where she famously met and married its billionaire co-founder Bill Gates. The couple divorced in 2021.There is a small, sad moment in her memoir The Next Day where she writes of happily gaining weight in pregnancy because it was the first time she’d felt so free “from perfectionism the crushing relentless societal pressure to look a certain way”. Only well into middle age, when a friend gently questions her constant self-improvement projects, does she wonder whether in her conscientiousness she had “missed opportunities to embrace spontaneity, lean into the unexpected”. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Lavender 'flowers more' and grows healthier with three natural scrap items

Lavender plants are often associated with serene summer days, offering a sense of tranquillity with their fragrant aroma - and there's a way to make them even healthier

Politics

2 w. ago How scandal rocked the internet’s knitting community: ‘Not a week goes by without drama’

Faked deaths. Fat-shaming. Stolen design patterns. How did an ostensibly wholesome pastime become a hotbed of feuds and conflict? Newfound knitter Kate Ng digs into the strange world of ‘KnitTok’ and beyond

Events

2 w. ago Judge blocks Trump from dismantling agency that funds community groups in Latin American countries

A federal judge agreed on Friday to block the Trump administration from dismantling an independent agency that distributes grant money to community development groups in Latin American and Caribbean countries

Politics

2 w. ago Independent councillor joins Labour run Merthyr Tydfil Council cabinet

Councillor Declan Sammon of the Dowlais and Pant Community Independents will have responsibility for transformation, governance, and social partnership

Politics

3 w. ago Pharmacies to provide more frontline health services after £3bn funding boost

After a year of negotiations between pharmacies and Tory and Labour governments, health minister Stephen Kinnock described the new deal as an important step in fixing ‘a broken pharmacy sector’

Economics

last month ‘I was sexualised, patronised and ridiculed’: how Charlotte Church survived the tabloids to become an earth mother

Charlotte Church has lived her life in the full glare of publicity, rising from child star to tabloid target. Now, happier and more free than ever, she’s found her feet – and her voice – at her healing retreat in the Welsh valleysWhen Charlotte Church arrives, she starts to cry. “I break down,” she says, “every time I reach here. It’s the first thing I do when I set foot on this soil.” It’s a two-hour drive from her home in Barry to The Dreaming, the retreat centre she opened in 2023, a pilgrimage across Bannau Brycheiniog and into the myth-steeped hills of the Elan Valley in Powys, central Wales. “Two to three weeks,” she’s explaining, icy ground crunching underfoot, “is the longest I can stay away before I start clucking. As I get closer, I feel myself relaxing, a calm coming over me, my nervous system resetting.” That bodily response, she’s sure, is physiological. Tears stream. “This land holds me like nothing else. It feels like coming home; I’m enveloped here.”It’s early Januar...

Events

last month These six things that wash up on our beaches can kill and harm your dog

Beaches offer a sensory paradise for dogs, but can also pose a number of dangers that owners should be aware of

Events