7 h. ago We hid in the bathroom as bombs fell on Kyiv. Is this Trump’s idea of peace?

In the early hours of 24 April the realisation dawned: Putin will get a deal that humiliates Ukraine – or continue to slaughter our civiliansDay 1,156 of the invasion; 24 April 2025. Thirty hours after the end of Russia’s fake “Easter ceasefire”. It is 6.21am: feeling anxious, I call my father. He is travelling by train from the western part of Ukraine to Kyiv, due to arrive in 40 minutes. He picks up the phone, and from his cheerful tone I gather that he has not yet heard the news. I ask if the train is running late. My father says everything is fine, he can already spot familiar places in the Kyiv region. He wants to know why I doubt the arrival time. I tell him that sadly Russia has been shelling the country all night long. In Kyiv, I say, we have lived through one of the worst nights. “I’m jumping in a taxi,” I add. “I’ll see you soon.”Those who survive shelling often imitate the sounds of explosions when they talk about the experience. I instantly think of this when an early mo...

Politics

7 d. ago 'I tried Papa Johns' viral garlic bath bomb and it did something awful to bathroom'

Papa Johns has launched an 'unhinged' scent of bath bomb that I was so curious to try - but after plonking it in the bath, I was soon having regrets and literally gagging

Events

1 week ago Attorney general dodges question on Trump proposal to jail US citizens in El Salvador

Trump proposed that ‘homegrown criminals’ should be deported, an idea that experts say is clearly illegalThe US attorney general declined on Tuesday to say whether Donald Trump’s suggestion of removing US citizens to El Salvador was legal, in alarming remarks about what experts think is an obviously illegal idea.Trump proposed the idea on Monday in the Oval Office during a visit with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, who has been accepting people deported from the US and imprisoning them in a gigantic facility notorious for human rights abuses. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago RANALD MACDONALD: Night Camilla pinched Frasier's bottom... and other uproarious tales from the smoke

As a 90-something former Tory government whip, Baroness Trumpington was not everyone's idea of a typical cigar smoker.

Events

2 w. ago Trump's reckless tariff policy and determination to cut taxes means he will have to borrow trillions at a time when the interest rate on government debt is spiralling

Trump's economic policies may seem like a great idea to those he's surrounded himself with in the White House - but to sensible people they threaten to send inflation spiralling and make us all poorer

Politics

2 w. ago Trump says he ‘loves’ idea of sending American ‘wiseguys’ to prisons in El Salvador

Experts say there’s no legal basis for sending Americans to prisons in foreign countries

Events

3 w. ago What will Trump do when his tariffs backfire? | Nils Pratley

The US president’s tariffs are almost certain to have dire consequences and he is not impervious to market decline or public opinionSo much for the idea that “liberation day” would free financial markets from their fear of the unknown. Publication of precise tariff rates, went a cheerful line of advance thinking, would at least allow investors to assess the probable trade effects on the basis of hard information. True optimists clung to the idea that Donald Trump would not wish to risk a truly severe market reaction.That narrative was blown apart when the president reached for his pub-style display of wares. This really was a case of going back to the tariffs rates of the 1920s or 1930s. Not even the penguins of Heard Island and the McDonald Islands were spared. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump has abandoned the idea of diplomacy in the Middle East | Jo

The administration has proposed no realistic settlement, leaving a void for Netanyahu. This is foolishness gone wildWhen I wrote an opinion piece for the Guardian a few months ago, anticipating Donald Trump’s foreign policy regarding the Middle East, I made a big mistake.I thought that there would be diplomacy involved, even if it was ill-conceived. Instead, the complete lack of diplomatic rendering in this administration’s foreign policy is already pointing in dangerous directions, especially regarding Israel, the Palestinians, Jordan and Egypt. Saudi Arabia, the sleeping giant that’s in a key position to provide a roadmap to a fair resolution for both Israelis and Palestinians, seems to be sitting on the sidelines now. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump welcomes idea of running for a notional third term against Obama: ‘I’d love that’

In a hypothetical, and nearly impossible, third-term matchup the president said he’d ‘love’ to run against Obama

Politics