United Kingdom

In his work, and in his life, Joseph Roth chronicles the old order that was swept away in the first half of the 20th century According to Joseph Roth his earliest memory was of watching his mother give away his cradle to a woman he’d never seen before. She “holds it to her chest, as though […]

Such is Liverpool’s immense musical heritage that the city is not overshadowed by its most famous sons Liverpool makes its own mythology. In February 1967, the Beatles released the double A-side Penny Lane/ Strawberry Fields Forever, not only creating a new paradigm for Britishness in pop on one side and all but single-handedly creating psychedelia on […]

Boris Johnson “paid entirely” for his wedding, Number 10 has insisted, following scrutiny of his finances. Johnson and Carrie Symonds married in a private ceremony at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday and plan to have a larger celebration next year when Covid restrictions are likely to be relaxed. His spokesperson also confirmed the couple spent two days […]

Gender bias means that the history of art has been written by men, about men. But there are some signs that the tide is finally beginning to turn It’s been 50 years since the pioneering feminist art historian Linda Nochlin posed the provocative question ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’ – a ground-breaking […]

The job of the Covid-19 vaccination programme is not yet “done”, an immunisation expert has said as scientists are split on whether the Government should press ahead with the final stages of easing social restrictions later this month. Professor Adam Finn, of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said there are still many […]

It's not Matt Hancock that should be facing calls to resign - it's the prime minister

An NHS worker who has spent the pandemic helping save lives on a Covid-19 ward says Priti Patel’s immigration plans will see refugees like her turned away from the UK. Mariam, from Eritrea, is determined to help people and has been working exhausting 12-hour shifts in a Leeds hospital assisting coronavirus patients, sometimes four days […]

Global health leaders have announced new names for Covid-19 variants using letters of the Greek alphabet. Experts working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) developed the labels for variants which are often colloquially named after the places where they are first detected. Many variants of Sars-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid-19 – have been […]

Carrie Johnson rented three “decoy” dresses to ensure extra secrecy surrounding her wedding to the prime minister on the weekend, it has been reported. Along with the white dress the former Carrie Symonds wore for the ceremony, she hired three other outfits from a favourite eco-fashion business, My Wardrobe HQ, without saying she would be […]

A new national flagship, the successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, will promote British trade and industry around the world, Boris Johnson has said. The vessel will be used to host trade fairs, ministerial summits and diplomatic talks as the UK seeks to build links and boost exports following Brexit. It will be the first […]

Allowing the health secretary to keep his job after committing a “minor” breach of the ministerial code could give “carte blanche” for further rule-breaking at the top of government, Labour has said. A probe by Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, found that Matt Hancock was guilty of a “technical” breach of the […]

Theatre reviewer TIM WALKER sees an old favourite returning to the stage after lockdown The Mousetrap St Martin’s Theatre, London ***** There was a lot of talk of a new kind of theatre emerging after the lockdowns – edgier, more relevant and representative – but maybe, after a traumatic experience, there’s something to be said […]

Was 18th century Scotland visited by people from the frozen north? RICHARD LUCK picks over the accounts of the men who might have made it all the way from Greenland. History is filled with tantalising theories of human endurance and exploration. Could the Vikings have crossed the Atlantic, for instance? Could Polynesia have been populated by migrants who crossed the […]

As club football’s strangest season comes to an end, photographer Stuart Roy Clarke shares images of fans taken during the pandemic I started The Homes of Football photography series more than 30 years ago as a love letter to this country, yet I knew that the Germans and Scandinavians and latterly the Americans revere our […]

It's a no-brainer that Yvette Cooper would offer much-needed leadership in the shadow cabinet

Labour is wasting its time trying to shock the public about Boris Johnson's low standards, it needs to focus on setting its own agenda.

The spread of English as a narrative language now includes the Asian island nation. Singapore, the large island off the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, is separated from the mainland by the Johor strait which is less than a nautical mile wide at its narrowest point. A number of fascinatingly different mother tongues have […]

Celebrating a dreamlike cult British take on the American road movie… with German influences We begin in a flat in London. We end on a train to nowhere somewhere in the south west. In between times, a man half-heartedly investigates his brother’s suicide, listens to some very good music, takes a detour with a nice […]

Its 10-year anniversary has just passed unheralded, so what did we learn from another divisive single-issue poll? When the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum rolls around in 2026, it’s a fair bet it will pass amid much clamour. The celebrations – and the criticism – are likely to be loud. Yet the ten year anniversary of another […]

Leading pollster PETER KELLNER offers his analysis of why so many centre-left parties are floundering, and where their best hopes now lie Are the glory days over for social democracy? Do voters now take for granted the great progressive reforms of the post-war era – pensions, education, healthcare, social insurance etc – and see no […]

WILL SELF on the V&A’s new show: Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser The front of my face felt heavy and swollen while a screed hovered in the mid-distance. “Grab a hedgehog and aim it towards one of the hoops.” It read: “Don’t throw the hedgehog, just open your hand.” I tried doing this, but the hedgehog went high. […]

A serving government official writes anonymously about how the administration’s mounting scandals, and its response to them, is creating a crisis for Whitehall. The civil service is in deep, deep trouble. Not because the knives are now out for the tiny numbers of senior civil servants who are discovered taking second jobs. Not because prime ministerial […]

Prince William’s angry condemnation of the BBC following the revelations about the way Martin Bashir secured his interview with Princess Diana has underlined just how much the future monarch has been shaped by his mother’s death There was a cold, dignified anger in Prince William’s response to the investigation into the BBC’s handling of Martin […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock committed a “minor” but undeliberate breach of the ministerial code, the prime minister’s ethics adviser has concluded. Lord Geidt, an independent adviser on ministerial standards, said that by failing to declare that a family firm he held shares in won an NHS contract there had been a “technical” breach. Hancock declared […]

This all-English Champions League final between Man City and Chelsea is no guarantee of success at the Euros Beware the siren song telling us England will rule the playing fields of Europe in the coming weeks.  It is true that the Premier League is where the money is, and that two English clubs contest the […]

Boris Johnson “unwisely” allowed the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat to go ahead without “more rigorous regard for how this would be funded”, his new adviser on ministerial standards has said. Lord Geidt, the new adviser on ministerial standards, released his first report on ministers’ interests on Friday, after months of delay. He found […]

Mitch Benn rounds up the worst of another week in politics, including Priti Patel, Grant Shapps and Ivanka Trump

Former MP and veteran campaigner George Galloway has announced he is running in the forthcoming Batley and Spen by-election with the explicit aim of ousting Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party. Galloway, who was expelled from Labour in 2003, said he is standing as a candidate for his Workers Party of Britain in […]