87 m. ago ‘No one makes money from them’: with MTV channels switching off, is the music video under threat?

Five MTV channels will close at the end of the year in the UK, leaving just one – which mostly plays reality TV. And with budgets pinched, directors say they are strugglingThe launch of MTV, in 1981, ushered in a new era of music. Showing music videos 24 hours a day, the television channel redefined artist marketing and launched the careers of artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna, whose public personas became inseparable from the gripping, frequently controversial clips they produced to be played on the service.Now, that chapter of music history appears to be drawing to a close, with MTV’s parent company Paramount announcing last week that its five dedicated music channels in the UK – MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live – will cease broadcasting after 31 December. (The flagship MTV channel, which broadcasts reality programmes such as Catfish, The Hills and Geordie Shore, will remain in operation.) Continue reading...

Culture

1 hour ago Race riot grandad Peter Lynch took own life after breaking prison rules, inquest hears

Lynch died two months after being jailed following riots outside a hotel housing asylum seekers last summer, where he was at the front of a mob, shouting 'scum' and 'child killers' at police

Events

2 h. ago Pushy parents are ‘biggest problem in sports performance’, say psychologists

Unsportsmanlike conduct in grassroots football and on the sidelines at school events is on the rise. How can parents support their child in the right way?Pushy and shouty parents are the “biggest problem in sports performance”, sports psychologists have said, amid growing concern that pressure and abuse is hampering competitive sport in the UK.This week parents were banned from attending sports events at a number of south London primary schools due to “concerning behaviours”, including abuse towards officials and children and creating “too much pressure around performance and winning at all costs”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago ‘There were stoats in kitchen cupboards’: AI deployed to help save Orkney’s birds

Stoats have been an existential threat to Orkney’s rare birds but technology is helping to eradicate themAt first, the stoat looks like a faint smudge in the distance. But, as it jumps closer, its sleek body is identified by a heat-detecting camera and, with it, an alert goes out to Orkney’s stoat hunters.Aided by an artificial intelligence programme trained to detect a stoat’s sinuous shape and movement, trapping teams are dispatched with the explicit aim of finding and killing it. It is the most sophisticated technology deployed in one of the world’s largest mammal eradication projects, which has the aim of detecting the few stoats left on Orkney. Continue reading...

Politics

2 h. ago Can you actually fool AI to push your resume to the top of the pile?

Recruiters are locked in a technological ‘arms race’ with desperate jobseekers — and secret instructions targeted at hiring robots are the latest trick, Io Dodds reports

Politics

2 h. ago Hong Kong superstar has last laugh after 50,000 Aussies ‘boo’ him to start of £10m race

Ka Ying Rising cemented his place as the world’s number one racehorse with victory in the Everest at Randwick in Sydney in front of a record crowd

Economics

3 h. ago The Duchess of Scandal... who is now plain old Sarah: Fergie's humiliating downfall as King makes moves to 'protect' her daughters

The York title was perhaps late Queen Elizabeth II's most significant gift to Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, but a series of high-profile scandals have brought the previously dukedom into disrepute. 

Politics

3 h. ago ‘Indecency has become a new hallmark’: writer and historian Jelani Cobb on race in Donald Trump’s America

In a new essay collection, the dean of Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism makes a compelling argument that everything is connected and nothing is inevitable about racial justice or democracy“From the vantage point of the newsroom, the first story is almost never the full story,” writes Jelani Cobb. “You hear stray wisps of information, almost always the most inflammatory strands of a much bigger, more complicated set of circumstances.”The dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York could be reflecting on the recent killing of the racist provocateur Charlie Kirk. In fact, he is thinking back to Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American student from Florida who was shot dead by a white Latino neighbourhood watch volunteer in 2012. Continue reading...

Politics

3 h. ago Gaza’s children needed a ceasefire – now they desperately need the aid that will keep them alive | Alison Griffin

The youngest and most vulnerable have suffered extreme mental and physical trauma. We can help – but we must be granted immediate accessAlison Griffin is head of conflict and humanitarian campaigns at Save the Children UKIn the last few days, we have seen celebrations alongside cautious optimism about a future for Gaza without bombs and bullets. This much needed pause in hostilities is providing children with the chance to sleep without the fear of drones above their heads, airstrikes on nearby buildings or fires breaking out in their tents. Families in Gaza are slowly returning to their neighbourhoods and trying to salvage what they can of their lives from the rubble.But crucially, what they are still not currently getting is full and sustainable access to aid supplies and vital services. This is about fundamental basic rights for children in the occupied Palestinian territory, which we have been demanding and advocating for since 1953.Alison Griffin is head of conflict and humanit...

Society

3 h. ago Council tax in this London borough could go up again next year

The council said it faces a £53 million funding gap and ‘difficult decisions’ to make

Economics

4 h. ago Budget airline plane plummets towards sea moments after take off

The Airbus A320 aircraft in Italy suffered a "serious incident" shortly after the plane took off from Sicily's Catania Airport

Events

4 h. ago Investigation launched after budget airline jet almost dives into ocean moments after takeoff

A pull-up warning message was triggered after the plane leaving Catania airport flew dangerously close to the sea

Economics

4 h. ago New Zealand v England: first men’s T20 cricket international hit by rain – as it happened

Rain washes out the first match of the series at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch3rd over: England 14-1 (Buttler 9, Bethell 2) Buttler gets a single off the first ball but Bethell can’t get off strike. Some free flowing shots go straight to the fielders and the pressure starts to rise. Play and a miss! Henry moves one off a length late and it is wafty-woo from Bethell. There we go – a tuck off the hip for two gets the youngster off the mark, that’ll settle him down a bit. Just three off the over.2nd over: England 11-1 (Buttler 7, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell gets an early visit to the middle. Don’t mention the A word! He starts with two dots, a play and miss and a thick outside edge. Good over from Duffy and New Zealand have the better of the early exchanges. Continue reading...

Events

5 h. ago New Zealand v England: first men’s T20 cricket international abandoned due to rain – live

First T20 called off after Christchurch deluge Series remains 0-0 with two matches to play3rd over: England 14-1 (Buttler 9, Bethell 2) Buttler gets a single off the first ball but Bethell can’t get off strike. Some free flowing shots go straight to the fielders and the pressure starts to rise. Play and a miss! Henry moves one off a length late and it is wafty-woo from Bethell. There we go – a tuck off the hip for two gets the youngster off the mark, that’ll settle him down a bit. Just three off the over.2nd over: England 11-1 (Buttler 7, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell gets an early visit to the middle. Don’t mention the A word! He starts with two dots, a play and miss and a thick outside edge. Good over from Duffy and New Zealand have the better of the early exchanges. Continue reading...

Society

5 h. ago The world's most endangered animals revealed in breathtaking pictures

It's no secret that certain species of animal are under threat on our planet Wildlife photographers have captured poignant images of some of these animals - and the results are breathtaking.

Politics

5 h. ago Doctors warn of alarming rise in patients demanding 'Ozempic feet' treatments as sudden fat loss leaves them struggling to walk

Blockbuster weight loss drugs like Ozempic can cause a surprising side effect in your feet, doctors say leaving users struggling to walk.

Events

5 h. ago Trigger Point season 3 to explore 'addiction' as Lana battles PTSD

Vicky McClure is back as Lana Washington in the third series of Trigger Point, which will see the bomb disposal expert battle with her past as she tries to protect the city.

Events

5 h. ago Budget airliner plummets towards sea at 300mph in 'serious incident' after take off

The Airbus A320 aircraft suffered a 'serious incident' shortly after the plane took off from Catania Airport in Sicily, Italy coming within 200 feet of the sea whilst travelling at just under 300mph

Events

6 h. ago ‘A glimpse of genius’: what do unpublished stories found in Harper Lee’s apartment tell us about the To Kill a Mockingbird author?

When she died, the writer left behind a cache of notebooks and manuscripts. Her biographer reveals what they tell us about her unlikely rise to literary stardomWhen To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the summer of 1960, it seemed to have sprung from nowhere, like an Alabamian Athena: a perfectly formed novel from an unknown southern writer without any evident precedent or antecedent. The book somehow managed to be both urgently of its time and instantly timeless, addressing the era’s most turbulent issues, from the civil rights movement to the sexual revolution, while also speaking in the register of the eternal, from the moral awakening of children and the abiding love of families to the frictions between the self and society.But no writer is without influences and aspirations: Harper Lee had, of course, come from somewhere and worked tremendously hard to become someone. It was only because she did not like talking about herself that her origins seemed so mysterious, and i...

Events

6 h. ago 4 Rejections, 1 bribe: The true, chaotic story of The Beatles breaking the US

They conquered the world and even today remain the biggest band in music history but behind the seamless story of Beatlemania, the Fab Four’s rise to global fame was a lot more complex and fraught

Politics