News Update Today, Breaking News | Read Now

Up to 90% of young people in Taiwan have myopia but eye experts say the growing global trend can be reversed In the final days of their eight-week bootcamp, dozens of young Taiwanese conscripts are being tested on an obstacle course. The men in full combat kit are crawling underneath rows of razor wire and through bunkers as controlled explosions blast columns of dirt into the air. Pink and green smoke blooms in a simulated gas attack, requiring the conscripts to quickly don gas masks so they can rush the zone. But it’s here where many of them pause, stopping the assault drill to spend precious seconds removing their glasses so the masks will fit. The conscripts mostly look to be in their early 20s. Statistics suggest that means anywhere up to 90% of them have some degree of myopia, otherwise known as shortsightedness. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/sPxvbCm

A cold reality hit us in Washington. Zelenskyy was being forced to buy hope of survival by people who have no care for our freedom It’s warming up in Kyiv. The temperature has risen from -5C to 4C. Sometimes, the sun peeps through breaks in the clouds, but Kyivites are not much cheered by the sunshine. They are not watching for signs of spring as they usually do at this time of year. The atmosphere in the city and in the country as a whole has been one of nervous expectation. This was not an expectation of an end to military action or the signing of a peace treaty with Russia – nothing so specific. Indeed, it was not at all clear what we were waiting for, but it was something connected with Donald Trump and the change in US policy towards Ukraine. Clarity emerged at today’s macabre theatre at the White House: handshakes, a thumbs up and some fist pumps from the US president, before Trump sat side by side with Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss a minerals-for-war-support deal and to humil...

Washington’s day of historic diplomacy involved two alleged rapists and then the prime minister of Britain. It said everything about our new era Shortly after Keir Starmer arrived in Washington to fight for the future of Europe, two men who make a mockery of everything he stands for touched down on American soil. The toxic YouTube influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have spent years under investigation in Romania on charges of rape and human trafficking, which they deny, Andrew is now wanted by British police over allegations of rape , and both brothers for tax evasion in this country. But to MAGAworld they are martyrs, unjustly persecuted abroad for the crime of saying what they think on the internet. Their triumphant homecoming to Florida, following reported US diplomatic pressure on the Romanian government to lift its travel ban, sends a signal to aggrieved young men who voted for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris that the president has not forgotten them . There could hardly have...

The prime minister must handle Donald Trump with tact, but without flinching from a duty to confront falsehoods in the president’s worldview It is hard to set expectations ahead of a summit with no useful precedent. British prime ministers have visited the White House before and in a wide variety of geopolitical contexts, but never has the hosting president been hostile to the transatlantic alliance. Never before could it be said that Washington’s foreign policy regarding European security was closer to a Moscow line than a London one. Conventional platitudes about a “special relationship” and common values are of little use to Sir Keir Starmer in handling Donald Trump. History is not irrelevant, but on matters of substance – most urgently, a settlement to end the war in Ukraine – Mr Trump is behaving more like a mafia boss than a statesman. His method is to demand tribute in exchange for protection. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/XqDAj08

Labour’s ‘pragmatism’ isn’t neutral – it locks the party into fiscal caution, reinforcing stagnation and fuelling the very instability it seeks to avoid Politics is about choices. Some are forced on governments by circumstance. Others are self‑imposed. Labour’s decision to cut the aid budget to “pay” for increased defence spending is firmly in the latter category. It is also wrong – forcing the world’s poor to pay for Britain’s safety. This is a false economy. Cutting aid will make the world more unstable, not less. The very crises that fuel conflict – poverty, failed states, climate disasters and mass displacement – will only worsen with less development funding. Labour’s logic is self‑defeating: diverting money from aid to defence does not buy security; it undermines it. The numbers tell the story. Despite government attempts to inflate the amounts involved, the extra £5bn‑£6bn for defence is tiny relative to Britain’s GDP. The UK could easily absorb this through borrow...

Asteroid 2024 YR4 had reached a 3.1% likelihood of impact but further data has rendered it negligible It was a discovery that lead to panic-inducing headlines: a giant asteroid found to be hurtling towards Earth that , while unlikely to wipe out life, could do some serious damage. But now the world can breathe a sigh of relief. After the odds of a future collision rose earlier this year , the likelihood of an impact is now so low as to be negligible. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/HoC5ZAG

Campbell Scott, a senior director at Fico, was reported missing while in Nairobi for a three-day conference Police searching for a British businessman missing in Kenya have recovered a body, found in a sack in scrubland about 60 miles from Nairobi, reports said. Campbell Scott, 58, a senior director at the data analytics company Fico, went missing on 16 February after arriving in the Kenyan capital to attend a conference at the JW Marriott hotel. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/mx4hBdg

The victorious CDU leader is likely to be more proactive on the European stage. He will also need to forge broad alliances at home to see off the far right Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), has a reputation for being blunt. On Sunday evening, as it became clear that the CDU had won the snap election triggered by the outgoing Social Democrat chancellor, Olaf Scholz, he did not disappoint. “For me,” said Mr Merz in a post-election television debate, “the absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.” As recently as a fortnight ago, such a statement from a German chancellor-elect would have been inconceivable. But these are new and extraordinary times. A convinced transatlanticist , Mr Merz has previously played down the dangers to western unity posed by Donald Trump. But crude electioneering on behalf of the extreme right Altern...

‘Best and the worst’ of Newcastle on show in 4-3 victory Saudi owners to make decision on new stadium this week As the final whistle blew at St James’ Park and Nottingham Forest’s players collapsed to the turf in despair, Eddie Howe looked simply bemused and confused. Shortly afterwards Newcastle’s manager said that, even though his team had won 4-3, he felt as if they had lost one of the most extraordinary Premier League games of the season. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/y3zhjmp

There has been talk in recent weeks about the rising levels of anxiety at Liverpool, a drop-off in their performance levels. Look at the number of draws, people have said. Is this a wobble? The club have won one league title since 1990 so a few nerves ought to come as standard. And yet at the home of the soon-to-be-deposed champions, when Liverpool had to win to clamp one hand firmly on the Premier League trophy, to take advantage of Arsenal’s shock home loss to West Ham on Saturday, there was only assurance; a never-in-doubt result. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/tlxhJDo

Trent Dalton had a crush on his sophisticated colleague Fiona. The lead singer of his favourite band helped him find the words to tell her Find more stories from The moment I knew series here On 10 January 2000 I started my first job in journalism at the Brisbane News. I was 20 years old, a starry-eyed rube from suburban Bracken Ridge who didn’t even know what a flat white was. On my first day my editor had the rest of the journos join us at a cafe to welcome me to the team. That’s when I met Fiona. Fi. She’d been out on assignment and arrived late; the only seat left was right next to me. She was so natural and warm in the way she chatted with me. What was just polite small talk felt to me like an enormous show of generosity; like a light shining on me. She also reminded me of my childhood screen crush Toni Pearen. I was instantly taken with her. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/yuNGvh6

A lack of conviction in front of goal and defensive problems were evident in the Nations League draw in Portugal For at least 15 minutes on Friday night, almost everyone watching England’s Nations League game in Portimão could sense that a goal for Portugal was coming. Everyone except, it seemed, Sarina Wiegman. Jess Carter had replaced Lucy Bronze as a ­precaution at half-time but the head coach felt no need to make another substitution until the 84th minute. By then the damage was done, and the Lionesses were hit by an all-too-familiar feeling of ­frustration after a game they knew they should have won. In isolation, a draw away against a Portugal team ranked 22nd in the world would be a touch ­disappointing but not cause for great alarm. The problem, though, is that it is not an outlier, and three themes have ­continued to crop up in the past 18 months: England’s inconsistency, their profligacy in front of goal and the concerning ease with which ­opponents are creating chances ag...

Germany is experiencing a political shift that is alarming many citizens. The photographer Fabian Ritter has spent years documenting the rise of the far-right AfD party and more extreme groups. Recent events illustrate the growing tension In the run-up to Sunday’s election in Germany the political climate has become more heated. There have been attacks on politicians and campaign workers, and election posters have been destroyed. Many felt unsettled or even threatened after Friedrich Merz, the leader of the centre-right CDU, proposed a bill to tighten immigration control that had the backing of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland. Björn Höcke, the AfD’s leader in Thuringia and head of its nationalist wing, speaks at the Domplatz in Erfurt during the party’s final campaign event before state elections, 31 August 2024. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ZoLy54O

Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/5BAKcE6

As Donald Trump persists with a monstrous proposal to remove Palestinians, the immediate need is to prevent fresh conflict The pain and damage wreaked in the last 16 months will reverberate through families, communities and the Middle East for decades to come. On Thursday, the bodies of two young children and their mother, and that of an 83-year-old peace activist, were returned to Israel by Hamas. They were kidnapped in the 7 October 2023 raid in which the militants killed around 1,200 Israelis and others. Around 48,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war in response. It was always feared that the ceasefire deal, which has brought desperately needed respite for Palestinians in Gaza and the return of Israeli and foreign hostages, would be fleeting. The six-week opening stage is due to expire on 1 March. The talks on the more complicated second stage have yet to begin, more than a fortnight after th...

As Europe innovates to boost defence without public service cuts, Britain clings to fiscal restraint – an unaffordable risk in an unstable world When settling wars rewards lawlessness, displaces populations and fuels lasting grievances, the result is more war. That was the former foreign secretary William Hague’s verdict on Donald Trump’s approach to peacemaking, drawing lessons from the Balkans, the second world war and the Middle East. A more insecure world will require Britain to increase defence spending. The UK currently could not sustain major troop deployments in Ukraine, undermining the idea it could provide Kyiv with “ security guarantees ”. This is a dilemma faced across Europe, leading the EU to see deficit-financed defence spending as the answer. In contrast, Britain remains seemingly bound by economic orthodoxy, prioritising fiscal discipline over borrowing. The UK Treasury has apparently asked unprotected public services – excluding health, education and defe...

US talks with Russia over Ukraine’s future, like the president’s prescription for Gaza, highlights how business and foreign policy merge The Trump administration did not take red lines on Ukraine to its talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday: it cares about the bottom line. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, underscored that when he said the two sides would create a team, not only to support Ukraine peace talks but also to explore the “incredible opportunities” to partner with Moscow geopolitically “and, frankly, economically” that might result. Kyiv and other European capitals are still reeling at the full extent of Donald Trump’s cynicism when it comes to world affairs, and callous disregard for the people caught up in them. But it should be no surprise that business dealings were high on the agenda. Vladimir Putin would dearly love to end his country’s economic isolation. Russia is making the case that American energy firms and others could profit handsomely by doing bu...

Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2MEWyrL

The US president’s bullying of allies and partners is short-termist and will boost Beijing’s power, not Washington’s Donald Trump’s return to the White House is so far proving more nightmarish for US allies and friends than adversaries. China certainly doesn’t relish a trade war with the US, but it was better prepared than others for Mr Trump’s tariffs , and both sides appear to be leaving room for a potential deal. And, though China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is poised for worse to come, the second Trump term is bringing Beijing opportunities as well as problems. International respect for the US plummeted under his last administration. As the US president turns the screws on long-term partners, China is looking to take advantage. Colombia quickly caved to Mr Trump on the matter of migrant returns, but China’s ambassador has been celebrating the “best moment” in relations between Bogotá and Beijing. Under pressure from the Trump administration, Panama announced that ...

As improving United beat Crystal Palace 3-1, supporters would like to see the minority co-owner at WSL games As the John Denver song Take Me Home, Country Roads rang around Leigh Sports Village, after a seventh league victory in a row for a team second in the table, the most reliable source of positivity at Manchester United right now is surely their women’s team. This week marks the first anniversary of the formal completion of Ineos’s acquisition and at the latest home victory for the women’s team the jury was still out among fans regarding Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s impact on the Women’s Super League side. The generally optimistic mood, though, is somewhat at odds with the gloomy feel across much of the rest of the club amid the latest reports of a further 200 job losses . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3X7U4lH

Photographer William Yang and Scott had been in a long-distance relationship for 15 years. Then a family tragedy brought them closer together Find more stories from The moment I knew series here In 1996 I was riding high as a Sydney-based photographer exploring sexual and cultural identity and touring the world with my photographic slideshow performances. I was used to having admirers – groupies not so much. I was on tour in Brisbane when members of a gay and lesbian alliance made a group booking and invited me to a party after my show. One of the members, Scott, was assigned as my chaperone. He was tall, handsome and youthful. In the taxi back to my hotel after the party, I asked Scott if he wanted to visit me the next day. He said yes. As I got out of the taxi, I held his finger as a goodbye gesture. It seemed a tenuous connection. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/aIF9Brw

The Parasite director delivers an intriguing yet baffling sci-fi epic, featuring panto gnashing bad guys played by Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette The Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho has delivered his first movie since the Oscar-winning Parasite six years ago, and it’s a great, big, slightly soft-edged sci-fi-fantasy. Adapted by Bong from Edward Ashton’s novel, it stars Robert Pattinson as a bio-clone menial worker of the future, condemned to eternal life, or eternal death, being repeatedly killed in the service of a space-exploration corporation, doing fatally dangerous jobs and then reincarnated. It’s a broad-brush futurist satire on the theme of Elon Musk-type tech bros who say that whining about the environment is for libtards because we’re all shooting off for space really soon, where there have to be viable planets somewhere, and any current alien inhabitants are expendable — as indeed are the working humans who are getting us out to new worlds. Mickey 17 is something in the style ...

The one-time defiance and solidarity of publications across the political aisle is strained as outlets cave to Trump’s threats In 1971, the Nixon administration asked for a court order to stop the New York Times from publishing further stories about the so-called Pentagon Papers – documents that showed the US government had escalated its Vietnam war efforts even as it was acknowledging privately that it could not win the war. A temporary restraining order – the first time the US press had been restrained prior to publication – was granted. Knowing she could be sued, jailed and could even have faced financial ruin if her own paper followed suit, the Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham, decided that the Post, which had copies of some of the Pentagon Papers, would publish anyway. As immortalised in the 2017 film The Post , Graham – who had previously described herself as shy and insecure – took a deep breath and told her editors: “ Let’s go. Let’s publish! ” Continue reading...

Global immunisation programmes are under risk as the US slashes its aid programme and the UK considers cutting funding It is easy to become so used to scientific and social advances that we take them for granted. But sometimes we should pause to celebrate – to feel genuine awe – at the wonders that we have seen. Amid all the wars, the disasters and the crimes of the last half century, we have witnessed nothing short of a miracle. Vaccination, in addition to clean water, sanitation and improved nutrition, has been one of the greatest contributors to global health. It is responsible for much of the astounding fall in child mortality, which plummeted by 59% between 1990 and 2022. It has saved more than 150 million lives, mostly of infants, since the Expanded Programme on Immunisation was launched by the World Health Organization in 1974. Initially designed to protect children against diseases including smallpox, tuberculosis, polio and measles, the scheme has since been e...

The US president wants to end this war – and is happy to do so on Russian terms Ukraine and its European allies braced for the worst when Donald Trump won a second term. But the scale of his surrender to Russian aggression has still shocked them. On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin’s nearly three years of isolation by the west was broken by his 90-minute, “highly productive” conversation with Mr Trump. Joe Biden called the Russian president a murderous dictator; Mr Trump praised Mr Putin’s mounting aggression towards Ukraine as “genius” , days before the full-scale invasion of 2022. Now, two great powers plan negotiations – without regard for Ukraine, Europe or even Mr Trump’s own Ukraine envoy. Forget territorial integrity. The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, described a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders as “unrealistic” and “an illusory goal”. Forget Ukrainian membership of Nato: “I don’t think it’s practical … I’m OK with that,” Mr Trump declared. Forget US support: it will...

Street art will mark 60 years since US civil rights leader’s trip to Smethwick shortly before his assassination It was a moment that united the US civil rights movement with the anti-racist movement in Britain, helping to change the country – and to mark its 60th anniversary it will be commemorated with a mural. On 12 February 1965, the black American activist Malcolm X visited Smethwick, in the West Midlands after what is remembered as the most racist election campaign the UK has ever seen . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/c7gJp9L

Temporary nationalisation isn’t guaranteed to deliver shock needed, but upgrading operations is priority lost in legal drama Will the high court allow Thames Water to load another £3bn of debt on to its already unsustainable pile of £19bn? Will the company appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority to try to bag bigger bill rises than the pre-inflation 35% permitted by the regulator? Does special administration, AKA temporary nationalisation, loom at the end of the end of next month? Answers to the first two questions should emerge in the next week. In the meantime, here comes a subplot that in other circumstances would be the main event: Ofwat will investigate whether Thames has breached its obligations by failing to deliver environmental upgrades on time. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IQ0HTR

Chef Kirk Haworth impressed judges by ‘taking his classical training and inventively adapting it to a vegan diet’ A vegan restaurant in London has become the first in the UK to be awarded a Michelin star. Plates London, located on Old Street, serves a fully plant-based menu and chef Kirk Haworth impressed judges by “taking his classical training and inventively adapting it to a vegan diet”, Michelin said. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/UPqJ4Hd

Helge Lund is too closely tied to share price failure and BP’s inability to carry its investors with it BP chief says it will ‘fundamentally reset’ amid threat of activist investor Here – maybe only for another two weeks – is how BP describes the progress of its current strategy: “Since we set out our strategy in 2020, our track record of delivery has given us increased confidence as we invest in BP’s transition and the energy transition,” boasts the website . That message will soon be deemed non-operative, one suspects. The shoddy share price says the stock market doesn’t have “increased confidence” in BP’s current approach, and it sounds as if the board doesn’t either. The strategy will be “fundamentally reset” on 26 February, chief executive Murray Auchincloss said on Tuesday , and there will be “a new direction for BP.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/WdJ4R7x

The US president’s tariffs pose as worker protection, but they’re a smokescreen – his bluster trades US credibility for a $4.6tn tax-cutting giveaway to the rich In 2020, Donald Trump scrapped the North American free trade agreement, replacing it with the “ United States Mexico Canada agreement ”, which he bragged was “the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial” trade deal ever. That agreement between the three nations explicitly bans tariff hikes beyond what was agreed. Yet, on his return to the White House, Mr Trump immediately threatened steep levies on goods from Canada and Mexico – the US’s key allies – retreating only after they made token concessions on drugs and illegal immigration. Now, he’s vowing fresh steel and aluminum tariffs, a direct hit on Canada. Mr Trump is exploiting presidential emergency powers to push these tariffs with no real constraints. The bottom line is the US is breaking its word. Friends, such as the EU and the UK , as well as opponents like China a...

Club’s record scorer nets in 3-1 win against Leicester Chelsea through to last eight with 4-1 rout of Everton Khadija Shaw made her return to action for Manchester City, scoring their third goal in a 3-1 win against Leicester, after she sat out their midweek League Cup semi-final against Arsenal to protect her mental wellbeing after racist and misogynistic abuse received online. City released a statement on Tuesday condemning the abuse of their record goalscorer after City’s 4-3 defeat by Arsenal in the Women’s Super League last weekend and announcing it was being investigated. On Thursday night it was confirmed Shaw had withdrawn from the squad for the League Cup tie against Arsenal. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/o9NkUhd

2nd ODI: India, 308-6, bt England, 304, by four wkts India captain clinches series with 49th international hundred England will enter the Champions Trophy this month after four consecutive one-day international series defeats, their latest confirmed by the relentless blade of Rohit Sharma. Questions about Sharma’s future have piled up in recent weeks, as would be the case for any 37‑year‑old player out of nick. But a one-day series at home is a radically dif­ferent challenge to a Test tour of Australia, and the aura of a white-ball king remains. Sharma struck a 90‑ball 119, his 49th international hundred, as India hunted down a target of 305 in Cuttack with four wickets and 5.3 overs to spare. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/d1vyehI

Patrick Mahomes can become the first quarterback to win four titles before turning 30 while Saquon Barkley has a shot at breaking the postseason rushing record A spectre of inevitability hangs over New Orleans in the final run-up to America’s high holy day. The Kansas City Chiefs, having spent the past half-decade as the National Football League’s most dominant force, are on the verge of something never before seen: a third successive Super Bowl title. Theirs is a kind of supremacy that feels almost unnatural in the modern NFL, an era defined by salary caps and roster churn and parity-by-design, where success is intended to be fleeting in the best interests of the revenue-sharing collective. Yet here they are again, winners of 17 games so far and one more from a three-peat no team in the six-decade Super Bowl era has even come within 60 minutes of accomplishing. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/usH0x19

Proceeds from sale of 1714 instrument will be used to fund scholarships for violinists at New England Conservatory A Stradivarius violin crafted in 1714 sold for $11.25m (£9.1m) at a New York auction on Friday, missing the world record for a musical instrument that some predicted it might break, but still securing a solid financial future for a new generation of performers. The 311-year-old instrument, listed by Sotheby’s of Manhattan as “ a masterpiece of sound ”, once belonged to the celebrated 19th-century Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, a close friend of the composer Johannes Brahms. It was gifted to the New England Conservatory in 2015 following the death of its most recent owner, a former student, Si-Hon Ma, with the understanding it would one day be sold to fund musical scholarships. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/9kKHRlq

Supermodel alleges ‘concerted deception’ by fellow trustee kept her in dark over running of Fashion for Relief The supermodel Naomi Campbell has claimed she knew nothing of the extensive financial misconduct and mismanagement at the anti-poverty fashion charity she created and sat on the board of for more than five years. Campbell was disqualified from running a charity in May 2024, before the publication of a devastating watchdog report that revealed a trail of administrative chaos , misuse of charity funds, and chaotic record-keeping. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/lm4w05W

The rest of the world has largely ignored the horror of this conflict, but will find its effects ripple outwards As Sudan approaches its third year of civil war, the dynamics are suddenly shifting. Sudan’s military, which launched a major offensive against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in September, made swift progress in Gezira state, and in recent days has abruptly and unexpectedly regained ground  in Khartoum. Whether it has truly turned the tide – as key backers appear to believe – has yet to be seen. Even if the capital can be fully retaken and secured, reconstructing the devastated city would be an immense task. The RSF might well entrench themselves elsewhere; this may further spur their ferocity in the western region of Darfur. Meaningful negotiations between the warring parties look even more distant. There is still less prospect of a return to civilian politics, overthrown in a coup by the partnership of the army chief, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burh...

The US’s former allies must not normalise or legitimise the president’s lawless concept of international deal-making Nothing about Donald Trump’s notion that Gaza should come under US control makes sense according to established laws and norms of international relations. But the current White House regime despises the old way of doing things and intends to reshape the world so drastically that restoration of a pre-Trumpian order will be impossible. The absurd incoherence of Mr Trump’s proposal that the US “take over” Gaza doesn’t make it any less sinister. The requirement that 2.2 million Palestinians be forcibly resettled in neighbouring Arab states amounts to unambiguous endorsement of a criminal atrocity – ethnic cleansing. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/qtW5C3K

Sir Keir Starmer’s caution has yet to persuade voters, while discontent fuels a resurgent right that thrives by boosting anti-immigrant, climate-sceptic views Over the past 15 years, British politics has been defined by the tension between ideals and practicality. The right has dominated theory, bolstered by a supportive press, yet struggled in execution. Meanwhile, Labour has become pragmatic but uninspiring, clinging to a “leftwing” label while prioritising competence over vision. That may not be a flaw in itself, but polling suggests it isn’t winning over voters. Yet Labour’s poor standing hasn’t benefited the Tories. Broken by their time in office, the Conservatives appear to be fading into irrelevance. They failed to address capitalism’s central flaw: that without government intervention, wealth accumulates for those at the top while many feel abandoned below. Instead, Tory chancellors pursued austerity policies, deepening social division and fuelling the discontent that led t...

Cuts could jeopardise the quality of the experience at the charity’s castles and ruins Reports that English Heritage, the charity that runs more than 400 state-owned buildings and monuments, plans to reduce its staff and opening hours as part of a cost-cutting drive should worry anyone who cares about the nation’s culture. These castles, ruins and other sites play an important part in people’s lives – particularly on weekends and holidays, when treasured memories are made. The value placed on access to these historic places can be seen from the fact that more than 1.3 million people are members. Stonehenge has 1.5 million visitors annually. It and other jewels in the charity’s crown will be left alone by the accountants. Winter closures are planned only at less-favoured sites where visitors are sparse, bosses have said. But given that membership, visitor and volunteer numbers are all up, it is concerning that the charity is so short of money that it may cut nearl...

Case sparked nationwide public debate about whether his actions were proportionate Tony Martin, who rose to prominence when he shot dead a teenage burglar in his home more than 25 years ago, has died aged 80. Martin served three years in jail after he interrupted Fred Barras, 16, and Brendan Fearon, 29, when they were burgling his home in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, in 1999. The farmer shot at them – killing Barras. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/5e1HmwV

Gas can be misused to artificially increase performance UCI’s ban will come into effect on 10 February Cycling’s governing body has banned the repeated use of carbon monoxide rebreathing that some riders allegedly misuse to artificially increase their performances. Following a meeting of its executive committee on Saturday in France, the UCI said it approved a ban on repeated inhalation to protect the health of riders. The ban starts on 10 February. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/aThSRz7