Reform councillor blames Conservatives and Labour for collapse of care homes sale
The collapsed deal means the homes are in danger of being closed down
By Admin
‘It was overwhelming’: Katie Leung on Harry Potter, sudden fame, insecurity – and starring in Bridgerton
As a teenager, the actor landed her first ever job in the blockbuster film series. The experience was fun – but also led to horrendous online abuse. Now she’s back, playing a tough and surprising matriarch in the Regency smash hitSome actors might have been a little put out to audition for the role...
The 15 best Xbox Series S/X games to play in 2026
This now venerable hardware remains an ideal platform for classics such as Minecraft and daring experiments from the brightest new developersNow surely approaching their twilight years, the Xbox Series S and X machines nevertheless still have plenty to offer both new and veteran owners. We have sele...
What’s to like? Why you can hate Timothée Chalamet’s character and still love Marty Supreme
Chalamet’s nogoodnik ping-pong hustler character is the latest in cinema’s rich history of protagonists with shabby morals. So why the backlash?In the new hit movie Marty Supreme, the story is pushed forward by how lead character Marty Mauser keeps making messes then, rather than cleaning them up, m...
‘I’d never told the same joke twice!’: the explosive rise of Ayoade Bamgboye, Edinburgh’s best new comedian
The Londoner from Lagos wowed the fringe with a show about language, family and cross-cultural identity. She talks about dread, dreams and her bid for ‘controlled chaos’Before her first Edinburgh fringe run last summer, Ayoade Bamgboye put a question to her comedy friends: “How do you debut?” She re...
The Oak and the Larch by Sophie Pinkham review – are Russia’s forests the key to its identity?
How billions of trees left their mark on an empire’s psyche – shaping ideological and literal battles up to the present dayWhen Sophie Pinkham opens her fascinating book with the claim that “Russia has more trees than there are stars in our galaxy”, it might seem as though she is merely using a poet...
Labyrinth review – Jim Henson and David Bowie make beguiling magic in charmingly eccentric 80s classic
Jennifer Connelly plays a teenager having whimsical Alice in Wonderland-ish adventures in this 1986 family fantasyRevived for its 40th anniversary, this is one of the most beguilingly eccentric and charming family movies imaginable. Jim Henson’s fantasy adventure mixes human actors, unmistakably Hen...
Huge £405m Derby tram network proposed by transport group could 'rejuvanate' city centre
It aims to connect the city with four tram lines - and also connect with Nottingham's NET
This, My Second Life by Patrick Charnley review – an astonishing debut of recovery
Drawing on his own near-death experience, the author finds a powerful intensity in this tale of a young man’s convalescence in a Cornish village“I had to pick through the wreckage, blind at first. I had to find all the pieces of me, scattered all around, and put them back together, one by one.” Foll...
Back to the Past review – everybody’s still gun-fu fighting in time-travel sequel
Louis Koo is the modern-day cop still trapped in the Qin dynasty in this cinematic reprise of the hit 2001 Hong Kong TV seriesTime-travel stories were briefly in the crosshairs of the Chinese censors in the early 2010s, because of how they potentially subverted “official” history. It’s not clear if...
TV tonight: Dawn French and Mark Heap’s hilarious new sitcom
A widower has one hell of a secret in Simon Mayhew-Archer’s side-splitting series. Plus: the mysterious death of Laci Peterson. Here’s what to watch this evening9.30pm, BBC OneA super-funny new sitcom created and written by Simon Mayhew-Archer (producer of This Country and Such Brave Girls) and dire...
Focus / Culture - 11 hours ago
Art could save your life! Five creative ways to make 2026 happier, healthier and more hopeful
Engaging in creativity can reduce depression, improve immunity and delay ageing – all while you’re having funFor some reason, we have collectively agreed that new year is the time to reinvent ourselves. The problem, for many people, is that we’ve tried all the usual health kicks – running, yoga, med...
Focus / Culture - 11 hours ago
Beast Games season two review – this mindless, vibeless reality show is like Squid Game meets Love Island
Is this big-money challenge cruel? Yes. But it’s mainly just tedious to watch these immature players and their teenage machinations as they battle for cashThe first season of Beast Games – the big-money reality challenge masterminded and hosted by internet personality Jimmy Donaldson, better known a...
Focus / Culture - 11 hours ago
Rosalía’s Lux is more than epic Catholic pop – it grapples with a world fraught with complexity and crisis | Carlos Delclós
Behind its lavish ‘nun-core’ aesthetic, the Spanish star’s hit album pushes us to think beyond good and evil – to see that we contain multitudesI went into Lux primed not to like it. Not because I doubt Rosalía’s virtuosic talents or her intense intellectual curiosity, but because the album’s promot...
Focus / Culture - 11 hours ago
Frank Dunlop was a theatrical visionary and the Young Vic is his enduring legacy | Michael Billington
The director, who has died aged 98, permanently changed the landscape of British theatre by creating the Young Vic – and it reflected his own energetic and ever innovative nature Frank Dunlop, who has died aged 98, never got the credit he deserved during his lifetime. He was a populist pioneer and g...