Party’s former leader in Wales admitted taking payments to make statements in favour of Russia
Nigel Farage is facing calls to investigate and root out links between Reform UK and Russia after one of its former senior politicians was jailed for 10 years for accepting bribes from a pro-Kremlin agent.
Keir Starmer said Farage had questions to answer about how this happened in his party. Nathan Gill, a former leader of Reform UK in Wales, admitted taking payments to make statements in favour of Russia.
Chuck Schumer says Trump’s remarks amount to calls for ‘execution of elected officials’ as president also says he and Zohran Mamdani will ‘get along fine’ in meeting
Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House oversight committee, has sent a letter to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, urging the justice department to release the complete trove of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, despite the newly launched investigation into several Democrats’ ties to the late sex offender.
“There is already a concern President Trump will attempt, on dubious legal grounds, to exploit a provision which allows DoJ to withhold information relevant to ongoing investigations,” Garcia wrote.
To prevent a future pandemic we’d need agile leadership, smart decision-making, humility and trustworthiness. How does one build those into a political system?
It feels as though a collective amnesia has set in around Covid-19. We all just want to move forward and pretend it didn’t happen. But, as the saying goes, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
On 20 April 2020 I tweeted, “At what point will the British public realise what has happened over the past 9 weeks?” On Thursday, the Covid inquiry published its module 2 report on the political response to the pandemic. The answer finally to my tweet, more than five years later.
Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh
Fit Forever: Wellness for midlife and beyond
On Wednesday 28 January 2026, join Annie Kelly, Devi Sridhar, Joel Snape and Mariella Frostrup, as they discuss how to enjoy longer and healthier lives, with expert advice and practical tips.
Book tickets here or at guardian.live
Shumeet Banerji was away during crucial discussions that led to resignation of director general and BBC News chief
A member of the BBC’s board has resigned after stating he was cut out of the discussions that led up to the shock resignation of its director general, Tim Davie.
As little as a decade ago it would have been unthinkable that an American institution such as Disney would have chosen to hitch its wagon to F1
The remarkable nature of the transformation in Formula One’s fortunes in the United States could not have been better illustrated than by the incongruous sight of Mickey Mouse and an assortment of his Disney pals leading a gang of enthusiastic fans on a walk down the pit lane at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
F1 successfully hosting a race in Sin City and the US now boasting three sellout meetings is testament to the sport’s burgeoning prosperity. For all of the somewhat surreal edge of seeing Donald Duck and Goofy outside garages, the fact Disney has chosen F1 as a partner is indicative of the sea change the sport has brought about in a market it has long coveted.
Record scorer for Norway’s age-group sides discusses his World Cup hope, being frozen out at 15 and fake tickets heartbreak at Anfield
Liverpool against Aston Villa on 18 January 2014. It was impossible to measure the excitement in an seven-year-old from Norway making his first pilgrimage to Anfield. Inside was the promise of watching his favourite player, Daniel Sturridge, and the rest of a freewheeling side throwing everything at a title push. But as Sindre Walle Egeli and his family reached the turnstiles, the cruelest of realities dawned.
“It’s not a good memory,” Walle Egeli says. “We showed up, ready to go, and it turned out we’d got fake tickets. I don’t know what happened, maybe my parents bought from some shady people. It was heartbreaking.”
The autumn budget will mop up some damage, but the true source of the economic crisis is clear. The government should now fix it – don’t hold your breath
Imagine a family stuck in a house that constantly floods. The carpets are soaked, the walls damp. It’s always cold, no matter how much they turn up the heating.
The family try everything. They promise to replace the sodden carpets and find new, innovative ways to warm the house. Someone with a laptop wonders if AI might be the answer. But no one ever looks upwards and says: maybe we should just repair the giant hole in the roof.
In this week’s newsletter: When the video-sharing site launched in 2005, there were fears it would replace terrestrial television. It didn’t just replace it – it invented entirely new forms of content. ASMR, anyone?
Barely a month goes by without more news of streaming sites overtaking traditional, terrestrial TV. Predominant among those sits YouTube, with more than 2.5 billion monthly viewers. For people my age – a sprightly 28 – and younger, YouTube is less of an app or website than our answer to radio: the ever-present background hum of modern life. While my mum might leave Radio 4 wittering or BBC News flickering in the corner as she potters about the house, I’ve got a video essay about Japan’s unique approach to urban planning playing on my phone. That’s not to say I never watch more traditional TV (although 99% of the time I’m accessing it through some other kind of subscription streaming app), but when I get home after a long day and the thought of ploughing through another hour of grim prestige fare feels too demanding, I’m probably watching YouTube. Which means it’s very unlikely that I’m watching the same thing as you.
When Google paid $1.65bn for the platform in 2006, (just 18 months after it launched) the price seemed astronomical. Critics questioned whether that valuation could be justified for any video platform. The logic was simple – unless YouTube could replace television, it would never be worth it. Nearly two decades on, that framing undersells what actually happened. YouTube didn’t just replace television – it invented entirely new forms of content: vodcasts, vlogs, video essays, reaction videos, ASMR and its heinous cousin mukbang. The platform absorbed new trends and formats at lightning speed, building what became an alternative “online mainstream”. Before podcasters, TikTokers, Substackers and even influencers, there were YouTubers.
The holidays are around the corner. As we get ready to mix, mingle and carouse, I think it’s important to set the record straight on something: small talk is great!
People love to complain about small talk. On Reddit, people say it’s “painful”, “dishonest” and “a chore”. Some of my own friends have called it “boring” and “exhausting”. A 2016 Wired article titled “Small talk should be banned” argued that idle chit-chat “does not build relationships and does not make us happier”, but persists because “we actively seek the lowest common denominator”. Instead, the authors suggest deeper conversation topics, such as: “What is your relationship with God?” or What is something you fear in life?”
Numbers taking languages at A-level and beyond has been falling for decades, although Duolingo says young people are using its app more than their elders
Universities are blaming a “societal shift” for the axing of dozens of foreign language degrees and even entire departments, citing a lack of demand among students – but can years of study be easily replaced by AI or online translation tools?
Not so, according to Michael Lynas, the UK country director for the Duolingo language app, who argues there is no good substitute for the hard graft of learning a language as a way of seeing another country’s culture from the inside.
Ukraine could be forced into an agreement but plan as it stands seems too bizarre for Zelenskyy to sell to his public
We’ve been here before: the Trump administration announces a roadmap towards peace in Ukraine that seems to be dramatically skewed towards Moscow’s demands; Volodymyr Zelenskyy gets on the phone to alarmed European allies; they quickly call Trump to message him that the whole idea is unworkable; the plan quietly dies. Rinse and repeat.
This time it feels a bit different, however. Reports on Friday suggested the US has threatened that if Ukraine does not sign a hastily concocted peace plan, Washington could withdraw intelligence-sharing and other support critical to the Ukrainian war effort.
Former French president complains about noise in extract from A Prisoner’s Diary, to be released next month
Nicolas Sarkozy is to publish a book next month called A Prisoner’s Diary detailing his 20 days in jail.
The book was announced 11 days after the former French president was released from prison while he appeals against his conviction for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Charismatic Stone Roses and Primal Scream musician acclaimed for some of the most memorable bass lines in indie music
The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut album, released in May 1989, became a benchmark British record by blending anthemic, 1960s-evoking melodies and chiming guitar work with what Rolling Stone’s David Fricke described as “the blown-mind drive of British rave culture”. While John Squire took care of the band’s Byrds-like jangling guitar, it was Mani, who has died aged 63, who played the powerful, hard-edged bass lines that put the rocket fuel into tracks such as She Bangs the Drums and This Is the One. The first sound you hear on the disc is his bass emerging, both tantalisingly and menacingly, through the sonic fog at the start of I Wanna Be Adored.
It was a mixture that helped redefine the band’s home city of Manchester as “Madchester”, a place that had magically become “baggydelic”, through a club-indie crossover scene that emerged out of venues such as the Hacienda and included the similarly genre-straddling Happy Mondays.
The Boy Is Mine pair were joined by guests such as Kelly Rowland, Fat Joe, Ciara and Tyrese for a sometimes strange, sometimes soaring throwback night
Supposedly feuding for over 25 years might be bad karma, but it’s great for ticket sales. Of course, Brandy and Monica aren’t actually fighting, they just did such a good job of pretending to hate each other on their 1998 duet The Boy Is Mine that the world has been convinced of it ever since. The R&B legends have taken pains to point out that their relationship is harmonious in multiple interviews leading up to this 32-date co-headline tour, even making fun of the drama in a recent Dunkin advert that featured them fighting over a frappe.
Happily, Brandy and Monica’s sisterhood also means they’re playing their biggest venues in decades. After emerging on stage from a vintage elevator wearing sunglasses and scowling expressions, the duo launches into a kind of sing-and-dance-off, trading places and performing a trio of classics apiece as the other watches with disdain. It’s a knowing nod to their purported rivalry that begins to take on the feeling of a variety segment, which isn’t helped by the trimming of songs like What About Us? and Like This and Like That to 90 seconds apiece. Even so, their camaraderie shines through as Brandy quickly breaks character to sway and sing along to Monica’s Don’t Take It Personal (Just One Of Dem Days), a showcase for her slightly raspy, soulful vocals during which she winds her hips and aims gun fingers at the audience.
Manchester United centre-forward out for a ‘few weeks’
Mbeumo and Diallo in line for Afcon trip in December
Ruben Amorim has revealed Benjamin Sesko’s knee injury will rule him out of action for “a few weeks” but Manchester United’s head coach is hopeful the striker can return before he loses Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Sesko sustained the injury after coming on as a substitute in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham prior to the international break. Asked how long the 22-year-old will be out of action, Amorim said: “He’s going to stay a few weeks out. I don’t know how long, but he’s not that serious. We have to be careful with him. He’s going to recover, he’s feeling better. So in a few weeks, I expect to have Ben.”
Ryan Cornelius was arrested in 2008 over a bank loan and will be 84 years old when he is due to be released
A Dubai bank is instrumental in the long-running detention of the 71-year-old British businessman Ryan Cornelius, who is serving a 30-year sentence that will keep him in jail until he is 84, his brother-in-law claims.
Recent accounts show the Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), which claims to be the trailblazer in championing Islamic values in banking, is on course to make more than $2bn in profit this year.
Worn by everyone from Tyler, the Creator to Cole Palmer and Joe Wilkinson, duffels are back in demand
It’s the coat most associated with a beloved children’s character, so it makes sense that the duffel is a familiar sight in playgrounds across the country. But this year it is also – once again – quietly enjoying a moment on grownups.
In the Christmas advert for Waitrose, comedian Joe Wilkinson wears a duffel coat while in the supermarket with Keira Knightley. Footballer Cole Palmer wore one in 2024’s Burberry campaign, subtitled “It’s Always Burberry Weather”, and Tyler, the Creator wears a short one in the recent video for Darling, I.
Gregory Aymond testified in archdiocese bankruptcy case, which will determine how much compensation survivors receive
The New Orleans Roman Catholic archbishop, Gregory Aymond, has apologized to a group of survivors who have claimed they were abused by clergymen as children.
“I know you have been through a lot of pain,” he said on Thursday in a federal courtroom while looking directly at survivors Tim Trahan and Richard Coon.
Maciej Konieczny claims Europe’s sole supplier, in Poland, sends much of its production to US, which exports it for use by Israel
Europe cannot supply enough TNT to defend either itself or Ukraine largely because its monopoly supplier of the explosive is contracted to send much of its production to the US, which then exports it for use by Israel in Gaza, a Polish MP has claimed.
Maciej Konieczny, a member of the leftwing Razem party, said the Polish company Nitro-Chem, owned by the Polish Armaments Group, could not keep up with demand partly because it had signed successive contracts to supply TNT to the US, where it is used in bombs supplied to Israel.
President has chosen white men for key posts at expense of women and people of colour, Brookings Institution finds
Donald Trump has assembled the least diverse US government of the 21st century, filling the corridors of power with white men at the expense of women and people of colour, research shows.
Nine in 10 individuals confirmed by the Senate in the first 300 days of the second Trump administration were white, according to the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington.
André Corrêa do Lago issues plea to preserve Paris agreement with countries far from reaching agreement on scheduled final day
An informal stocktake plenary is now underway [see live feed at the top of the blog]. Here the presidency will update parties on the state of the negotiations.
My colleague Damian Carrington will be keeping across the main developments.
Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect, are scheduled to meet at the White House this afternoon in an encounter between two ideologically opposed leaders with conflicting visions for the nation’s largest city.
The meeting marks the first face-to-face discussion between the combative Republican president and the defiant democratic socialist who secured a commanding electoral victory last month with over 50% of the vote. The meeting comes after months of back and forth, with Trump only recently having called Mamdani a “communist lunatic” while the incoming mayor has pledged to “Trump-proof” New York City and accused the administration of pursuing policies designed to punish the metropolis.
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