9 m. ago Driving with part of your car dirty could land you with £5,000 fine

According to car experts at Number 1 Plates, thousands of drivers could be unwittingly putting themselves at risk of a careless driving charge, simply by ignoring one basic responsibility most assume is harmless.

Economics

1 hour ago Clouds of toxic 'vape wake' assault you on every street. And there's a serious health risk from breathing it in

Simon Mills on why he's had enough of the sickly-smelling cigarette substitutes - and what doctors warn are the risks of breathing in the sweet secondhand smoke

Events

2 h. ago Major recall launched for contaminated hand soap over infection risk for shoppers

A product from Turkey known as the Elbow Grease Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner has been recalled over fears it could cause infection or irritation if it comes into contact with skin

Events

2 h. ago Donald Trump's bizarre 'Golden Dome' plan that will cost billions

Donald Trump's plans have drawn to other failed defence concepts, such as Reagan's much maligned 'Star Wars' system, and would potentially cost billion if actually built

Politics

2 h. ago Hammersmith and Fulham Council under fire as own report warns road changes put cyclists at risk

Hammersmith and Fulham under fire over road changes that its own reports say endanger cyclists.

Events

3 h. ago Income tax cuts and jobs at risk due to trade war, Donohoe says

Government plans for tax cuts may have to be postponed due to the threat of a global trade war, the finance minister has said.

Events

4 h. ago Anthony Gordon 'unable to walk properly' as Thomas Tuchel issues injury update

England have been hit with an injury worry ahead of their second World Cup qualifier against Latvia on Monday evening with Thomas Tuchel having now spoken out on his potential starting XI

Events

4 h. ago The truth about cholesterol: 12 things you need to know – from eggs to weight to statins

What is good and bad cholesterol? Should you remove fat from your diet? And what about shellfish? Experts explain it allHigh cholesterol can cause heart problems and strokes – but levels can creep up without showing any symptoms. This is why, if you’re over 40, you should be getting your cholesterol checked every five years. It’s a simple enough concept, but, like alcohol and other things that could be slowly, invisibly damaging our bodies, cholesterol can feel a little abstract, hovering in the background less urgently than everything in the foreground of a busy life.It doesn’t help when myths are flying about online, such as eggs being unhealthy because they contain cholesterol. Or when some fringe scientists and proponents of low-carb and high-fat diets dramatically downplay cholesterol’s significance in heart disease – arguing that sugar is a bigger risk to our health, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Nor does it help us laypeople that there are so many different ways t...

Politics

5 h. ago Probe into potential exploitation in university loans system under way

It follows a Sunday Times probe which reports students with ‘no academic intent’ are suspected of fraudulently claiming millions of pounds.

Politics

7 h. ago MH370 expert reveals key to solving mystery of airliner disappearance amid new search

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 vanished in March 2014 with several potential theories put forward since, with search teams believing they may finally have the key to finding it

Events

8 h. ago Hand soap product recall issued over fears it could cause infection

The Government's Office for Product Safety and Standards has issued an alert about the potentially dangerous hand soap

Politics

10 h. ago Thank you Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor – how my 1990s teenage self found somebody to love

In her new book, music writer Kate Mossman looks back at her favourite type of encounter – interviews with charismatic, ageing, male rockers. Here she remembers the band – and specifically drummer – who electrified her as a girl growing up in NorfolkI am of a generation that had no name: we slipped down the crack between the spotty cheek of gen X and the well-moisturised buttock of the millennials. We are the last generation that will wow our grandchildren by explaining that we came of age completely without the internet. We wrote letters through secondary school; we replaced these with email when we got to university and wrote 15,000-word screeds to one another, which we still keep in files in our Hotmail accounts. Some of us ended up internet dating, but I have far more friends who settled down with their first or second love. We are neurotic, and depressive, but we didn’t know it until recently.The thing we do share with those who came after is that when it comes to music, we and...

Events

10 h. ago ‘Bold but significant risk’: Fifa pulling out all the stops to sell Club World Cup

With ticket sales slow and concerns over burnout, football’s governing body is battling to win hearts and mindsThis week president Donald Trump convened a prayer meeting in the Oval Office. Gathered around the Resolute desk, constructed from the timbers of a British naval vessel, a series of pastors laid their hands on the president’s thinning hair and prayed for his success. The only other item on the desk? The enormous intricate bauble that will serve as the trophy for Fifa’s Club World Cup.That Trump should like the look of an object lacquered in 24-carat gold plating, and designed by the New York jewellers Tiffany & Co, is not perhaps a huge surprise. But its prominent position on the world’s most consequential desktop will surely also have been welcomed by the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, who left the trophy with Trump this month on his visit to the White House, a week after Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Continue reading...

Events

11 h. ago Why decolonise Shakespeare when all the world’s a stage for his ideas on injustice? | Kenan Malik

The trend for cultural reappraisal could risk upholding the very ideas it aims to dismantle‘My quarrel with the English language,” James Baldwin wrote in his essay Why I Stopped Hating Shakespeare, had been “that the language reflected none of my experience.” And so “I condemned him as one of the authors and architects of my oppression”.Then, he “began to see the matter in quite another way”: “Perhaps the language was not my own because I had never attempted to use it, had only learned to imitate it. If this were so, then it might be made to bear the burden of my experience if I could find the stamina to challenge it, and me, to such a test.”Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago ‘I’ve been getting 100 messages a day’: Church of Scientology accused of intimidating UK critics

Campaigners face online attacks, claims of criminality and complaints to employers. The Church says it’s the victimAlex Barnes-Ross, a marketing director from east London, regularly posts YouTube videos criticising Scientology. In some of them, the former Scientologist, 29, describes his experience of joining aged 15 and becoming its London director of book sales. In others, he talks about his mental health struggles after signing a “billion-year” contract devoting himself to the organisation – only to be kicked out a few years later, labelled a “potential trouble source”.Other videos scrutinise its finances and ask questions about alleged mistreatment at Narconon UK, a Scientology-linked rehab facility investigated by the Observer last year. Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie review – let it be the new gold standard in Beatles studies

The author’s brilliant account of Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting relationship challenges myths, finds new meanings in their music, and even throws up a few surprisesIt is a strange and beguiling experience to find music you have had in your head since childhood reveal new and unsuspected shades of meaning 50 years later. Beatles songs aren’t like most pop songs; instead of fading, they take on a richer colour and nuance, not least because new generations of fans inquire more deeply into what previous listeners might have overlooked or simply misunderstood. One twist of the kaleidoscope and a song we thought we knew suddenly sounds even better than it did the first 100 times we heard it.This is the effect of reading Ian Leslie’s brilliant study of the Beatles’ music, a book that offers not only a lesson in listening (again) but an enthralling narrative of friendship, creative genius and loss. At its centre is the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and the ...

Events

14 h. ago Scots couple given wrong council tax band refunded £4k after 10

Tens of thousands of Scots could be in the wrong band and potentially in line for payouts worth thousands of pounds.

Economics

14 h. ago Family of boy with rare cancer warn Scots parents are forced to choose cash or kids

Victoria McDonald and Andrew Rae's son Calum was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma but the dad Andrew was forced to return to work and leave Victoria at Calum's beside to pay their bills.

Events

14 h. ago AP PHOTOS: China's evolving punk scene draws a new generation of fans

Young fans, some sporting spiky mohawks, slam-danced and stage-dived as the music blasted into the night. One wore a metal-studded jacket with what looked like vintage Sex Pistols buttons.

Culture

17 h. ago Monty Don names one flower first to bloom in summer and you must plant it now

According to Monty Don, you must plant this particular flower soon or risk missing out on a stunning display that could be the star of your garden this summer.

Politics