A group of men at the club who hope the male-only rule will change have nominated a set of possible new members
Seven women with leading positions in the British establishment have been nominated as prospective female members of the Garrick in the event that the club agrees to change its rules so that women are able to join.
The classicist Mary Beard, the former home secretary Amber Rudd, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman and the new Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika are among the first names to have been put forward to the club as possible future members.
Continue reading...Only survivor after vehicle falls and catches fire is eight-year-old taken to hospital with serious injuries
An eight-year-old child was the sole survivor after a bus carrying 46 people fell from a bridge in South Africa into a ravine and caught fire.
The child, who has not been named, was taken to hospital with serious injuries, the transport ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.
Continue reading...Judges issue unanimous decision and say Palestinians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance
The international court of justice has ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access of food aid into Gaza, where sections of the population are facing imminent starvation, in a significant legal rebuke to Israelas claim it is not blocking aid deliveries.
A panel of judges at the UNas top court, which is already considering a complaint from South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, issued the ruling after an emergency measure in January obliging Israel to admit emergency aid.
Continue reading...Former PMas meeting with President Maduro, in capacity as hedge fund consultant, is under further scrutiny
Labour is demanding answers over what the party said was apotentially serious improprietya by Boris Johnson after it emerged that the former prime minister met the Venezuelan president in his role as a consultant for a hedge fund.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, said in a letter to Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister and Cabinet Office minister, that there were concerns that Johnson may have breached the ministerial code.
Continue reading...Mohamed Mansour, a Conservative senior treasurer, is one of several surprise recipients of honours
A businessman and former Egyptian government minister who donated APS5m to the Conservative party last year has unexpectedly been given a knighthood on the recommendation of Rishi Sunak.
Mohamed Mansour, a senior treasurer of the Conservative party for just over a year, was one of several surprise recipients of honours on Thursday, with the citation saying it was given for business, charity and political service.
Continue reading...Swedish researchers say inflammation caused by obesity is likely to increase risk of developing conditions such as MS
Children who are obese may face more than double the risk of developing multiple sclerosis as adults, a study suggests.
MS can affect the brain and spinal cord, causing a range of potential symptoms including problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance. It is a lifelong condition that can sometimes cause serious disability.
Continue reading...Eva Tennent, whose operations were scheduled in Edinburgh, has Rett syndrome and advanced scoliosis
A 10-year-old girlas spinal condition has become inoperable after her planned surgery was cancelled seven times in six months, her mother has claimed.
Eva Tennent suffers from Rett syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects brain development, and has advanced scoliosis that causes her spine to twist and curve to the side.
Continue reading...The 37-year-old man from Totton, near Southampton, was arrested on suspicion of seven offences
A man has been arrested by police investigating the discovery of 50 dead hares that were scattered in front of a community shop in a Hampshire village.
The dead mammals, along with a barn owl and a kestrel, were found dumped outside Broughton community shop on 15 March.
Continue reading...Maxine Peake and Sarah Schulman among signatories of open letter asking singer to withdraw from contest
More than 450 queer artists, individuals and organisations have called on the UKas Eurovision contestant, Olly Alexander, to boycott this yearas competition in solidarity with Palestine.
The actor Maxine Peake and the novelist and playwright Sarah Schulman are among the signatories of the open letter calling on the singer to withdraw from the contest in May due to the conflict in Gaza.
Continue reading...Afghan regimeas return to public stoning and flogging is because there is ano one to hold them accountablea for abuses, say activists
The Talibanas announcement that it is resuming publicly stoning women to death has been enabled by the international communityas silence, human rights groups have said.
Safia Arefi, a lawyer and head of the Afghan human rights organisation Womenas Window of Hope, said the announcement had condemned Afghan women to return to the darkest days of Taliban rule in the 1990s.
Continue reading...Dan Dafydd, who accidentally ordered 80 cases of eggs, aims to raise APS20,000 for the RNLI by Easter Sunday
For a small shop owner on a small island as far as mistakes go, Dan Dafyddas was a pretty big one leaving him with quite a dilemma: how do you get rid of 80 cases of Easter eggs when you meant to order only 80 eggs?
For Dafydd, the owner of Sinclair General Stores on Sanday, one of the Orkney islands (population approximately 500), the 720 eggs were enough to feed everyone almost twice over. A few too many even for those with a sweet tooth.
Continue reading...Mayoral races may be important indicator of Starmeras political momentum as party seeks to turn 20-point national lead into results
If a telltale sign of a politicianas confidence is how willingly they expose themselves to direct media scrutiny, then the likely narrative of Mayas local elections was on full view on Thursday in Dudley.
While Rishi Sunak had followed his Conservative launch speech last Friday with the strictly controlled and limited format of a brief TV clip, Keir Starmer answered journalistsa questions for about 40 minutes, covering everything from council spending to Angela Rayneras tax affairs.
Continue reading...Scotland could become first part of UK to offer terminally ill adults assistance to end their lives if Holyrood approves bill
A new bill to legalise assisted dying in Scotland has been published at Holyrood by the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, in a fresh attempt by supporters to get the measure enacted for the first time in the UK.
Continue reading...Photos of French presidentas three-day trip to Brazil to reaffirm countriesa partnership delight internet observers
If the official photos are anything to go by, Emmanuel Macronas three-day trip to Brazil has been more romantic getaway than international diplomacy.
The French president, who ended his tour of the South American country on Thursday with a state visit to the capital, BrasAlia, prompted online hilarity after the publication of photos showing him being particularly chummy with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz InA!cio Lula da Silva.
Continue reading...(Parkwood/Columbia)
Straying far beyond its original country concept, the musicianas eighth album straddles the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the blues a and Becky with the Good Hair via Dolly Partonas Jolene
American Requiem, the opening track of BeyoncA(c)as eighth studio album, is many things. It offers a touch of state-of-the-nation address a aCan we stand for something? Now is the time to face the winda a and a sprinkling of the kind of vague but apparently personal lyrics that send social media into a frenzy of decoding: what are her afatheras sinsa that BeyoncA(c) has apparently acleanseda herself of? Who are the afairweather friendsa for whom she claims to be planning aa funerala?
Itas also a loud statement of what you might call BeyoncA(c)as bona fides. She is, she avers, athe grandbaby of a moonshine man [from] Gadsden, Alabamaa who furthermore has roots in Louisiana. aThey used to say I spoke too country,a she protests, adding: aWhat could be more country than that?a
Continue reading...After overseeing a transformation of the National Portrait Gallery he will need to draw on that experience in his new role
Nicholas Cullinan, who has been appointed as the new director of the British Museum, was seen as the favourite for the job due to his reputation in the art world as an energetic leader.
As the director of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) since 2015, the 46-year-old art historian and curator oversaw the most ambitious redevelopment in the institutionas history, a APS41.3m refurbishment and rehang of its collection.
Continue reading...The Derry Girls actor is funny to her bones in this sitcom about mental health and long-term friendship. Itas full of lovely touches, if not enough nuance
In the opening episode of Big Mood, struggling playwright Maggie (Derry Girlsa and Bridgertonas Nicola Coughlan) is on a mission. And on a scooter. But that was an expensive mistake, so she gives it away to a passerby. She needs her best friend Eddie (Itas a Sinas Lydia West) to take the day off work, running the bar her late dad left her, and come with her to her old secondary school, where she has been invited to make a speech about her career in the theatre. Maggie is hoping to meet her old history teacher, Mr Wilson, on whom she developed a passionate teenage crush after he saved her from lecherous maths teacher Mr Phillips. aBecause he wouldnat shag a child!a she beams, full of blissful memory. aWow,a says Eddie. aWe should nominate him for a Pride of Britain award.a
Off they go, and a parade of increasingly manic hijinks ensue. Which is very much expected sitcommery until Eddie asks, as they escape the now chaos-filled school, if Maggie is, well, manic. And she is. She has bipolar disorder, and has stopped taking her meds because she canat write while sheas on them. Thus, we find ourselves in this bleaker territory for the rest of the six-episode series, which explores the limits of a decade-long friendship between the two women as the pressures of post-20s life start to mount. aI fix problems a you have them,a says Eddie cheerily at the start. But no relationship can survive such a state for ever.
Continue reading...Godas Ghostwriters by Candida Moss aims to shine a light on the contributions to Christianity by imprisoned workers
Enslaved people wrote the Bible, carried the messages of the apostles and spread the word of Jesus around the Roman empire, according to a shocking new book by the theology professor Candida Moss. Godas Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible argues that apostles and early Christians used enslaved scribes, secretaries and messengers to write the New Testament and shape the very foundations of Christianity.
aThe overwhelming literary and archeological evidence shows that this kind of work was done by enslaved or formerly enslaved people,a says Moss, the Edward Cadbury professor of theology at the University of Birmingham. Scholars think only about 5-10% of Romans were literate: the very wealthy a and the people they enslaved.
Continue reading...As Nenaas 99 Red Balloons turns 40, we look back at the best continental foreign-language songs that achieved cross-Channel success
Shuffling French Euro-disco with vocals in Spanish and a melody line worthy of a John Barry spy thriller theme, El Bimbo might be the apotheosis of the 70s aholiday hita, brought back from the continent as a souvenir like the musical equivalent of a straw donkey. Still, far better than 1974as other big holiday hit, Y Viva EspaA+-a.
Continue reading...One wants to fix the second chamber. The other would scrap it and bring in the aDanish systema. Can they meet halfway?
Hartley, 73, Worthing
Occupation Retired architect
Continue reading...The star of The First Omen takes your questions on working as a chimney sweep, finessing his perfect sandwich a and hoping to die in a hail of bullets
Thereas an argument that youare the person James Bond matures into: women still want to sleep with you and men want to be you. Whatas your secret? MarcoPoloMint
I have no idea. I donat get out much and I donat identify with whomever theyare talking about. I did used to quip that I could be James Bondas grandfather and Iave always wanted to say: aThe nameas Nighy. Bill Nighy.a Iam very happy to hear, but itas a bit of a stretch for me to grasp.
When you were younger, you travelled to Paris to write a book, but never completed it. Will you ever dust down your great unfinished novel to realise your literary ambitions? VerulamiumParkRanger
I had a very romantic idea a I was a walking cliche in my 20s a of running away to Paris to write the great English short story. The pathetic thing is that I went and stood in the TrocadA(c)ro, outside the Shakespeare and Company bookstore and under the Arc de Triomphe, hoping to catch some vibes. I sat down for an hour in front of a blank page and drew a margin, like at school, for the teacheras remarks, but the doorbell went or the phone rang and that was the end of my literary career.
An accurate gut feeling can be hard to distinguish from overreaction, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. But thereas probably a good reason you feel this way
My boyfriend and I have been together for five years now, and for the most part things have been really good. But lately Iave been noticing some stuff thatas got me really confused and frustrated. First of all, heas been really distant, like heas always got something on his mind but wonat tell me. And when I try to talk to him about it, he brushes it off like itas nothing. Plus, heas been cancelling plans at the last minute, which is not like him. Itas like heas avoiding spending time with me.
But hereas the real issue: I caught him red-handed flirting with some other girl on social media! I trust him, but this is making me second-guess everything. I donat know whether to confront him about it or just keep quiet and hope it blows over. I just canat decide between wanting to salvage what we have and not wanting to be played for a fool. And to top it all off, Iam scared that if I bring it up, itall just lead to a huge fight and make things worse. So please help, what should I do?
Continue reading...If Thames Water collapses in the weeks ahead, there is only one smart, long-term response: public ownership
aC/ Adam Almeida is a senior data analyst at the thinktank Common Wealth
The question mark over the future of Britainas largest water supplier, Thames Water, has put its 16 million customers across London and south-east England a myself included a in an uncertain position. While water will still keep coming out of our taps, the price of these financial woes will probably be borne by customers and taxpayers. Meanwhile, Thames Wateras shareholders have spent the last three decades benefiting from the companyas massive financial gains. If ever we needed an example of the risks of selling essential infrastructure to investment firms, this is it.
Auditors warned in late 2023 that the debt-laden company could run out of money by April if shareholders did not inject it with much-needed cash. Now investors are saying they wonat provide Thames Water with APS500m of emergency funding, leading to speculation that the company will be temporarily renationalised.
Adam Almeida is a senior data analyst at the thinktank Common Wealth
Continue reading...Sir John Mitting will rule on whether undercover officers broke the law by deceiving women like me. Yet heas a member of a male-only club
Those of us involved in the so-called spy cops scandal have followed with interest the recent media coverage of the men-only Garrick Club and its membership list of high-profile individuals. It is not news to us that senior judges and powerful men in the security services have been members. Included among the elite was the chair of the public inquiry into undercover policing, John Mitting. Since his appointment as inquiry chair in 2017 we have been calling this out, as we believe it is an obvious conflict of interest a yet our concerns have predictably been ignored.
The inquiry had been established two years earlier by the then prime minister, Theresa May, as a direct result of investigations by women like me into the disappearances of our ex-partners, and the subsequent revelations of their true identities as Metropolitan police undercover officers. The abuse of women, and institutional sexism in the police, are fundamental to understanding the significance of this inquiry.
Alison is one of eight women who first took legal action against the Metropolitan police over the conduct of undercover officers and a founder member of Police Spies Out of Lives. A core participant in the public inquiry into undercover policing, she is one of the authors of Deep Deception a The Story of the Spycop Network by the Women who Uncovered the Shocking Truth
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
There have been no changes since the ex-mogulas conviction as lawmakers fail to pass regulations to protect the public
There is a palpable feeling of relief in the cryptocurrency industry. Evangelists are preaching the good news that the industry has been purged of the Sam Bankman-Frieds, the Alex Mashinskys, the Do Kwons and the Changpeng Zhaos of the world. They proclaim that crypto can finally ascend from its purgatorial, awild westa days to become a respectable sector of the financial world blessed by regulators and speculators alike.
That exultant attitude has contributed to surging cryptocurrency prices, which surpassed previous all-time highs in the weeks leading up to Bankman-Friedas sentencing of 25 years in prison on Thursday.
Continue reading...If the high-rollers surrounding the disgraced FTX founder had any qualms about taking his money, they didnat show it
Later today, a man who has recently turned 32 will be hauled in front of a Manhattan judge. Already convicted of huge fraud, he knows heas going to prison. The only question is for how long. If the US government gets its way, he will not emerge before his 80th birthday.
This is the final disgrace of Sam Bankman-Fried. The judge, politicians and the worldas press will declare him one of the biggest swindlers in American history. They will note how within three years he built a marketplace for digital currencies, or crypto, that was worth around $32bn a and made himself the worldas richest person under 30. Still it wasnat enough. He spent perhaps $8bn of his customersa savings on luxury homes, risky investments and whatever else took his fancy.
Continue reading...Small venues are the heart of our musical culture. Hereas my two-pronged plan to keep that heart beating
Grassroots venues are the foundation upon which the mighty British music industry has been built, fuelling the phenomenal level of talent this small island has produced. Yet while successive governments have shouted about how they are a shining demonstration of the countryas creativity, the very same people have cut funding and opened the cultural sector to the most brutal market logic. Alongside government neglect, small venues across the country also face rising trade costs, pressure on disposable incomes, greedy property developers, post-pandemic changes in attitudes to communal experiences and the continuing shift towards an increasingly screen-based lifestyle.
I cut my teeth DJing and dancing in small venues up and down the country, from my earliest experiences at Christieas, in Sutton a when Iad head home after Carl Cox finished up as I had to be at school the next day a to a 10-year weekly Monday residency at Bar Rumba in Soho and many formative nights at the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham. There are countless more a far too many to list them all. If it werenat for these backrooms, I would not be where I am today as a DJ. Nor would I have encountered (and still do!) those voices that push the culture forward and bring energy and positive momentum to our world.
Gilles Peterson is a DJ, broadcaster and founder of Brownswood Recordings
Although there are significant financial and emotional benefits to returning to the nest, it should be a choice
The 2021 census already confirmed it: more adult children than ever are still living with their parents. But the Financial Times has recently revealed just how drastically the scales have tipped: about 40% of 18- to 34-year-olds now live with their parents, making it the most common domestic arrangement for this age group. Previously, it was living as a couple with children.
Itas not just an epidemic of Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum a Iave moved back home twice since graduating in 2018, and I know plenty of young well-to-do professionals who have felt obliged to do the same, or not moved out at all. There are also plenty of people who are unable to live in their family home due to distance and perhaps wish they could.
Continue reading...The term evokes cosiness, affordability and community. But itas being used as a cynical marketing ploy
What makes a neighbourhood restaurant? The phrase itself is evocative, bringing to mind the types of local trattorias or ocakbaAlarA+- or tavernas that punters return to regularly. The definition might vary from person to person, but surely a neighbourhood restaurant is defined by some combination of its longevity in the community, an accessible feel and affordable prices.
Over the past six months, though, I have seen the aneighbourhood restauranta label deployed constantly in PR emails previewing a very different sort of establishment. The aim, I imagine, is to evoke a sense of cosiness and community a but thereas something off about it.
Lauren OaNeill is a culture writer
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