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Tottenham into FA Cup last four after shootout win over Manchester City

Becky Spencer was the hero of Tottenham’s stunning penalty shootout win over Manchester City to send them into the FA Cup semi-finals. Spencer saved two of City’s five spot-kicks, against the England duo Alex Greenwood and Chloe Kelly, with Spurs converting all but one to seal victory. Mary Fowler’s early goal – rewarding the City manager, Gareth Taylor, for her rare start – looked like it would be the difference. It was City’s 11th goal without reply against Spurs this season, but the home team had learned from their three previous meetings, and Bethany England’s 96th minute goal to force extra time and then penalties was well deserved. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ylpEHjb

Ageless Anderson’s 700 milestone only enhanced by England’s suffering | Taha Hashim

Claiming landmark wicket during drubbing by India is fitting for a player who is still oddly full of fighting spirit You could find a fun little fact wherever you looked. On commentary as Jimmy Anderson celebrated his milestone moment was his old pal Graeme Swann, who began his Test career five years after the quick and retired a decade ago; in-between that the off-spinner became one of England’s greatest bowlers. Alastair Cook, who made his Essex debut after Anderson’s first World Cup campaign, paid his tributes in the TNT studio. “What he’s done is a joke,” said the former England captain. Sat next to Cook was Steven Finn, who had a fine fast-bowling career himself, taking 125 Test wickets before the knee played up; Anderson took 156 before Finn’s first game and has 237 since his last. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/XMnykLE

What lies beneath: the hidden caves buried under Auckland back yards

Rich history to 200 caves – from housing a secret printing press to widow’s shelter – as steps taken to protect the ‘sacred’ sites Hidden behind a tropical garden in the affluent Auckland suburb of Mount Eden is a subterranean secret – a cave opening from the ground like the yawning mouth of a giant. “People come down here and drop their jaws,” says its owner, Sean Jacob, who stands in the centre of the quiet rock chamber. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Y6PvMID

UK Insolvency Service seeks up to 15-year director ban for Lex Greensill

Government agency issues disqualification proceedings after inquiry into failed finance firm Greensill Capital The Insolvency Service has begun legal action to have Lex Greensill disqualified from running companies for up to 15 years after the outcome of an investigation into the directors of his failed finance firm. The government agency said it had issued disqualification proceedings on behalf of the business secretary against the former Australian sugar farmer, who founded the Greensill group of companies. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/U78C9ur

The Lonely Londoners review – supreme staging of Sam Selvon’s Windrush story

Jermyn Street theatre, London A tremendous cast capture the hope and despair of life in the ‘mother country’ in this powerful adaptation of the 1956 novel Lyrical and loosely structured, Sam Selvon’s 1956 British Caribbean novel does not readily lend itself to the stage. It is also a tricky proposition to bring his “big city” tale to life in a space as snug as this subterranean venue. So the power of this production, adapted by Roy Williams and directed by Ebenezer Bamgboye, is all the more startling. Selvon’s sprawling story about Windrush-era arrivals in London is given a small-scale expressionist treatment with a cast of seven sitting across the stage, postcodes flashing up in a glare of lights. The stripping down is counterintuitive but inspired. At Jermyn Street theatre, London , until 6 April Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/diMnBQq

British Isas are a gimmick that won’t move the dial

Given the options available, Hunt’s scheme to encourage people to invest in UK firms could hardly be more modest British Isas ‘to encourage investment in UK firms’ Budget: key points at a glance It was a good week to announce a British Isa, one could argue. Another two mid-sized UK companies, the haulier Wincanton and the telecoms equipment group Spirent Communications, are falling to foreign buyers, causing fresh agonising over how the unloved UK stock market has become a bargain bin for overseas predators. A British Isa, goes the theory, will incentivise UK investors to prefer UK companies over the excitements of US tech stocks or S&P 500 tracker funds. Here’s the problem. The chancellor’s design for a British Isa could hardly be more modest. He has created a £5,000 allowance, with the same Isa tax advantages, to be invested in purely UK assets (precise definition to follow after a consultation). That’s on top of the existing £20,000 maximum, where investors are free to r

‘I have big ambitions’: Bridgerton’s Charitha Chandran on her West End shocker – and building solar-powered factories

One minute, she decided to try acting. The next, she had a plum role in Netflix’s Regency hit. And now she’s blazing into the West End. But that’s not nearly enough for this unstoppable star with a first class degree in PPE For a select group of actors, the pandemic was not the worst but the best of times, offering breakout triumphs that were the direct result of the rest of the world being shut in with nothing but the telly for company. Charithra Chandran is among them. After making her debut in Amazon’s teen spy series Alex Rider in 2021, she went on to play one of two Indian sisters who took the Regency “ton” by storm in the second season of the Netflix hit Bridgerton . While she is thankful, she is not naive. When I suggest that hers is a whirlwind success, given that she only landed her first job in 2020, she looks horrified and instantly protests: “I don’t think that at all. I think the complete opposite.” We’re sitting in a London cafe, close to the flat Chandran, who looks mu