Exclusive: London mayor says allegations about Reform leader had summoned memories of his own past
Sadiq Khan has spoken of his dismay at Nigel Farage’s “desperate” denials of allegations of teenage racism as he described how his experience as a child had shaped his life.
The mayor of London said testimony from more than 20 individuals who made allegations about the Reform leader had summoned memories of his own past.
Prosecutors cite ‘significant evidential developments’ in decision to end criminal case against Romanian boys
Prosecutors have dropped charges against two Romanian teenagers who were accused of raping a schoolgirl in Ballymena – an allegation that triggered race riots in Northern Ireland.
The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) on Friday cited “significant evidential developments” in its decision to end criminal proceedings against the boys, aged 14 and 15.
After their mother died intestate, boys reject the claim that documents presented by her lawyer and carer represent her final intentions
An unsigned will has emerged as the crux of the battle over Virginia Giuffre’s estate.
Details of the document surfaced on Friday as hearings began at Western Australia’s supreme court where her sons, her longtime lawyer and her former carer are all vying for control of the assets.
Trio given leave to stay in their abandoned convent near Salzburg until further notice, church officials say
Three octogenarian nuns who gained a global following after breaking out of their care home and moving back to their abandoned convent near Salzburg have been given leave to stay in the nunnery “until further notice” – on condition they stay off social media, church officials have said.
The rebel sisters – Bernadette, 88, Regina, 86, and Rita, 82, all former teachers at the school adjacent to their convent – broke back into their old home of Goldenstein Castle in Elsbethen in September in defiance of their spiritual superiors.
Exclusive: Hardship grant applications to the Royal Literary Fund, including unseen letters by Doris Lessing and a note from James Joyce saying that he ‘gets nothing in the way of royalties’, show authors at their most vulnerable
Tobacco, swiss roll, Irish whiskey, Guinness and monkey nuts: that’s the diet followed by one of the foremost poets of the 20th century.
Dylan Thomas’ grocery bill is among a trove of famous writers’ personal documents and letters – many of which are as yet unseen by the public, and have been exclusively shown to the Guardian – discovered in the case files of a literary charity.
UK had been pushing to join €150bn Safe fund, a loan scheme that is part of bloc’s drive to rearm Europe
Keir Starmer’s attempt to reset relations with the EU have suffered a major blow, after negotiations for the UK to join the EU’s flagship €150bn (£131bn) defence fund collapsed.
The UK had been pushing to join the EU’s Security Action for Europe (Safe) fund, a low-interest loan scheme that is part of the EU’s drive to boost defence spending by €800bn and rearm the continent, in response to the growing threat from Russia and cooling relations between Donald Trump’s US and the EU.
Influential Michelin-starred chef who championed using local ingredients and developed a simple, elegant style of cooking
The pioneering chef Skye Gyngell, who has died of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare skin cancer, aged 62, was the first Australian woman to win a Michelin star, an early supporter of the slow food movement, and a champion of charities such as StreetSmart and the Felix Project.
Gyngell was a quiet radical. She came to public attention when she opened the Petersham Nurseries Café in south-west London in 2004. Until that point, she had been honing her own distinctive cooking personality that emphasised the quality of ingredients and the simplicity of their treatment and presentation. Her dishes were light, graceful and deceptively simple, but were founded on a serious understanding of how flavours and textures worked together, sometimes in surprising ways.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier travels to Basque town for remembrance ceremony marking ‘terrible crimes’ of 1937
Eighty-eight years after Luftwaffe pilots took part in the most infamous atrocity of the Spanish civil war, Germany’s president has visited the Basque town of Guernica to honour the victims of the Nazi bombing and to urge that the “terrible crimes” committed there are never forgotten.
Hundreds of civilians were killed and hundreds more injured on 26 April 1937 when planes from the German Condor Legion, operating alongside aircraft from fascist Italy, spent hours bombing Guernica on market day. Adolf Hitler had loaned the Luftwaffe unit to Gen Francisco Franco’s nationalist forces to help them in their coup against the republican government, and to allow Nazi Germany’s pilots to practise the blitzkrieg tactics they would later use in the second world war.
Labour can proudly say this was a budget for working people – that is, if your job happens to be prime minister
Thanks to Labour’s incredible Black Friday deal, breaking manifesto policies is buy-one-get-one-free. As part of its all-promises-must-go drive, it’s ditching its flagship policy giving the right to claim unfair dismissal from day one of employment. Employers will now have up to six months to summarily sack workers who don’t pan out – unless they’re the government, in which case people have to wait till 2029.
The employment rights bill was drawn up and championed by Angela Rayner, who resigned in September following a series of discoveries about her tax affairs. Weird to think that Rayner could easily have been in the I’m a Celebrity camp right now. The former deputy PM reportedlygot pretty far along in her discussions with ITV in terms of booking a spot on the current series of the fauna-testicle-based format, and could at this very moment have been giving us her Queen Over the Water/Queen in the Jungle Shower for 80 minutes of primetime a night. But in the end, Rayner seems to have concluded – or had it concluded for her – that there wouldn’t be a way back to frontline politics if she took that particular leave of absence.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
A year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar On Tuesday 2 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back at another extraordinary year, with special guests, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at guardian.live
R360 has delayed the launch of its global franchise league by two years until 2028 amid doubts over its ability to recruit players and the viability of its commercial model.
The rebel league, which was scheduled to run a truncated 12-week season starting next October featuring eight men’s franchises and four women’s teams, is understood to have advised players who have signed pre-contract agreements that they are now null and void, and therefore they are free to sign elsewhere. In an email to players on its books and others who have expressed interest, R360 board member Stuart Hooper said the delay would “strengthen its integrity”.
Religious leaders’ ‘powerful prophetic and moral compass’ comes to fore amid ICE arrests, teargas and violence
For weeks, Chicago has been at the center of the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security officials have arrested 800 people as of 1 October, while also using violent tactics such as body-slamming and deploying teargas in residential areas.
Amid the raids and arrests, which have created a pervasive sense of fear, faith leaders have stepped up, putting themselves on the front lines of resistance.
Shaped by lockdown and two Trump presidencies, gen Z are grappling with a lot in love, dating and the bedroom
The sex lives of gen Z are of great interest – to politicians, to parents, to influencers and dating app executives and to you, apparently. Are gen Z so lonely they are falling in love with AI robots? Are they forming polycules across the US? Are they having enough sex? Are they having sex at all?
Gen Z is defined roughly as young Americans aged 13 to 28. This generation came of age with information about sex readily available to them, for better (the internet provides both sex education and community) and arguably for worse, too (in 2022, 54% of US teens reported first seeing online pornography at age 13 or younger). They are more likely to embrace non-traditional identities and are progressive on issues such as abortion rights and same-sex marriage – especially gen Z women.
François Ozon’s handling of classic novel draws both praise and criticism, including from the author’s daughter
More than 80 years after it was published, Albert Camus’s L’Étranger remains one of the most widely read and fiercely contested French books in the world.
Until now, few attempts have been made to adapt the novel, published in English as The Outsider, for television or cinema: it is considered problematic and divisive for its portrayal of France’s colonisation of Algeria.
Iran among nations under restrictions issued by Trump
Snub for Washington event deemed ‘unrelated to sport’
Iran are to boycott next week’s World Cup draw in Washington after the president of the country’s football federation was denied a visa to enter the United States.
A spokesperson for the Iranian football federation (FFIRI) described the decision to reject the visa application as “unrelated to sport” and the move raises the prospect of Iran withdrawing from the tournament altogether.
US attorney for DC says charges upgraded to murder in first degree after national guard member dies; US president says he will ‘permanently pause’ migration from ‘third world countries’
West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey reaffirmed his support for the state’s National Guard members deployed in Washington, DC.
“When you have these terrorists, when you have these evildoers, you’re not going to back down when they go after our servicemen and women,” Morrisey, a Republican, told CNN.
I’m devastated to learn of the passing of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, a member of the West Virginia National Guard. She was only twenty years old.
As families across the nation come together today to celebrate Thanksgiving, let us take a moment to think of those in West Virginia who have been plunged into unimaginable grief.
The Canadian PM’s breakthrough oil deal with Alberta cost him a cabinet minister and will still face stiff opposition
When the people of the Haida nation won a decades-long battle for recognition that an archipelago off the coast of British Columbia in Canada was rightfully theirs, it was a long overdue victory.
Scientists say urban raccoons’ shorter snouts and calmer reactions to people mirror traits found in domesticated animals across species
Raccoons living wild in cities in the United States are beginning to show physical changes that resemble early signs of domestication, according to a recent study.
The study found that urban raccoons had developed shorter snouts than rural raccoons, with the research produced by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and published in Frontiers in Zoology.This is an example of a physical trait that appears across domesticated animals that have adapted to living in close proximity to humans over long periods of time,along with other traits such as smaller teeth, curlier tails, smaller brains and floppier ears.
Workers say the firm’s ‘warp-speed’ approach fuels pressure, layoffs and rising emissions
More than 1,000 Amazon employees have signed an open letter expressing “serious concerns” about AI development, saying that the company’s “all-costs justified, warp speed” approachto the powerful technology will cause damage to “democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth.”
The letter, published on Wednesday, was signed by the Amazon workers anonymously, and comes a month after Amazon announced mass layoff plans as it increases adoption of AI in its operations.
Wiegman has had to rejig defence and captaincy for a Wembley friendly with China that should pose new challenges for Lionesses
When England welcome China to a sold-out Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon, it will mark the sixth meeting between two nations who have been on different trajectories in recent years. The marketing has focused on the clash of continental champions – England as the holders of the European Championship and China as the winners of the 2022 Asian Cup – but there has since been a change in fortunes between the two.
The widening gap was evident the last time they met, at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, when England put six past the Steel Roses to progress to the last 16. It caught the eye not only because of the score but because of a bold tactical change from Sarina Wiegman – a switch from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2 – to deal with the absence of Keira Walsh. It kicked the Lionesses’ campaign into life and they made the final, while China exited, registering their worst finish at the tournament.
The skin-lightening industry is booming, while at the same time there has been a surge in cancers and irreversible skin damage among women of colour using unregulated products. But this is not a new story. The dangers of skin-lightening products have been well documented for years, so how is this still happening? Josh Toussaint-Strauss digs into the long history behind the practice of skin lightening, and how the beauty industry has used messaging rooted in classism and colonialism to sell its products, as well as investigating what unregulated products are doing to the skin
Hollywood megastars hit Leeds this year to make Tinsel Town, a feelgood festive comedy about panto. The 24 star, Rebel Wilson and more talk about their addiction to Greggs sausage rolls – and epic brawls with Danny Dyer
Twenty-odd years ago, I binged a TV series on DVD for the first time. At my mate’s house in a village outside Harrogate, I was glued to Jack Bauer shooting his way through 24. We probably only made it to episode six before surrendering to sleep for school the next day.
Fast forward to the start of this year, and photos are all over the local news of Kiefer Sutherland out and about in nearby market towns Knaresborough and Wetherby. The real Jack Bauer in Yorkshire! He and Rebel Wilson are in the area making Tinsel Town, a British Christmas film about pantomimes. By March, I am invited to a Leeds studio, where they are filming, and find Sutherland dressed as Buttons on a stage. His glittery eyeshadow shimmers as he smiles and dances to Katy Perry’s Roar with the Cinderella cast. He repeats this showstopper scene about 15 times. It’s a surreal full circle moment; I half expect him to pull a pistol out on the ugly stepsisters.
Beauty and the Beast or Wolf Alice? Queen Marie Antoinette or Count Arthur Strong? Come and behold: the holiday season offers stage, film, music and art that’s worth singing about
The 12 Beans of Christmas Touring to 19 December
Last year, character comedians Adam Riches and John Kearns joined forces for an archly silly tribute to crooners Michael Ball and Alfie Boe. Now Riches is back with another leftfield celebrity riff as he gives his Game of Thrones-era Sean Bean impression (as seen on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and his Edinburgh show Dungeons’n’Bastards) a yuletide twist. Rachel Aroesti
Ben Stokes’s batters must realise the aggressive option doesn’t always mean attacking Australia’s bowlers, and if they don’t, it could be all over in Brisbane
It’s not over yet. There is still hope. Before the Ashes started I had plenty of it, because of England’s fantastic array of fast bowlers and because I felt they had improved on their crash‑bang‑wallop, one-size‑fits‑all approach to batting. Then the series got under way, and while the bowlers did their bit, the batters failed badly. After the two-day humiliation in Perth they are inevitably under the microscope – but while everyone is questioning England’s approach, how much are they challenging themselves?
I based my optimism on some of what I had seen over the summer. In the first innings against India at Lord’s Joe Root and Ollie Pope put on 109 runs at almost exactly three an over, staying calm and building a foundation that eventually won their side the match. I watched that and admired the way they had refined their attitude, becoming more adaptable to the match situation, the surfaces they were playing on and the challenges presented by the opposition – in that case, in particular, the need to negate the brilliant Jasprit Bumrah.
Connexion
