
We asked you what you most wanted to put to our Guardian columnist. You responded in droves, querying her ‘beef’ with Burnham, who she thinks is this generation’s Hugh Grant, and what she really thinks about Richard Osman ...
• ‘There is light at the end of this tunnel. But the tunnel is filled with sewage’: an exclusive extract from Marina Hyde’s new book
What are your bunker plans?
James, Portugal
Masses of things to read, incredible food and an unethical doctor with an insane war chest of interesting pills. The second that bunker door closes, the doors of perception are opening.
Will Restore gain more traction by the next election and genuinely split the rightwing vote?
Natasha, London
They won’t split it in some 50‑50 way, but they could peel off a bit more from Reform’s right flank. Nigel Farage is looking vulnerable. In the Woody Allen film Deconstructing Harry, Robin Williams plays an actor who literally goes out of focus. Having once been sharp and clear, his nervous system is so shot that he becomes a physically blurred and imprecise distortion of himself. Metaphorically, something similar has happened to Farage in recent months.
There’ll be exhaustion, love tinged with occasional rage, even moments of black humour. But my mum would want me to tell you: don’t be afraid
My mother’s house looks exactly as she left it.
Two novels sit by the armchair, their pages neatly marked for book group. Pinned to the noticeboard is a shopping list in only slightly shaky writing, with “FRUIT!” in urgent capitals, and “make soup” underlined. The sole outward signs of something missing are her cats twining needily around me – loneliness having finally overcome their innate horror of visitors – and the one thing I can’t bear to look at, which is the empty hospital bed marooned bleakly in the sitting room. Delivered by social services when it was deemed she could no longer manage stairs, it is now stripped bare, awaiting collection. Another family will be needing it.
Have a baby and the world falls over itself to offer advice. But losing a parent remains a private, bewildering, lonely affair
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Tapestry’s loan to UK is just another chapter in the love-hate relationship that has spanned the centuries since it was created
Five British prime ministers ago – and six French ones – when Emmanuel Macron first confirmed that France would return the Bayeux tapestry to Britain after 1,000 years, he told an audience at Sandhurst and Theresa May – the No 10 seat-warmer of the day – that when it came to France and Britain there were “two things that nothing can change, be it a vote or a political decision: our history and our geography”.
It was January 2018, 18 months after the UK had voted to leave the EU, and relations between the near neighbours were not good. The French political establishment had been shocked and angered by Brexit; personal relations were frazzled, and cross-Channel government contacts measurably dwindling. This was not a rupture that a piece of embroidered medieval linen, however perfectly it represented that tangled history, was going to solve on its own.
Continue reading...Has your cat been gaining weight and staying out at night, only to arrive home reeking of marijuana? These are just some of the signs that a neighbour is trying to entice them away ...
When Amy’s cat, Sid*, first started spending more time away from home, Amy* put it down to wanderlust. A former street cat, Sid had landed on his feet in her leafy London suburb, but still retained his free-roaming sociability. When Sid began disappearing for up to days at a time though, Amy worried. She put a tracker on his collar to find out where he was going. She didn’t expect to discover him a few doors up the road.
Sid is roaming – but most of the time, for entire afternoons and even sometimes overnight, he is with Amy’s neighbour. “He is in her house, constantly, all the time,” she says. This is not a coincidence. Sid might not be getting six dinners, like his famous namesake in Inga Moore’s 1990 children’s book, but the neighbour is certainly spoiling him, as she recently let slip to Amy’s partner. “She’s feeding him organic chicken!” Amy says indignantly.
Continue reading...Danielle Gillam-Kirton claims police botched investigation into her parents’ deaths in Spain and is demanding answers
When Danielle Gillam-Kirton’s parents, Pete and Fran Gillam, were killed in July’s Spanish wildfires, she felt her nightmare could get no worse. The much-loved couple had built their home in Bédar in Almería after retirement, becoming part of a tight-knit community. Fran, a former headteacher, loved to organise quiz nights to raise money for the local school and the couple enjoyed playing padel at a nearby sports club.
Spanish police told Gillam-Kirton that the vehicle in which her parents died had been “inspected meticulously” and no possessions had been found. But Gillam-Kirton, an assistant headteacher from Nottinghamshire, was sure her parents must have been wearing their wedding rings when they died.
Continue reading...Girl bands from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are going global with their fusion of traditional and modern sounds
“We all know that music is a universal language,” says Maloi Ricalde from Filipina girl band BINI, which mixes tropical pop with traditional songs, English with Tagalog, and silver knee highs with pastel colours.
“Incorporating Filipino language, Filipino culture, Filipino sound, into our music, it really gives identity and meaning to our music,” Ricalde tells the Guardian.
Continue reading...Traffic on A20 in and out of port grinds to halt as Kent police say they are in attendance and engaging with group
A large group of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas have blocked the road at the port of Dover in Kent, forcing closures in both directions.
Kent police said they were aware of the protest, which the Port of Dover described as a “public order incident”. Officers were in attendance and engaging with protesters, they said.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation reveals targeting of World Central Kitchen convoy was result of widely used military tactic
• Death on the road to Rafah: the night the IDF targeted World Central Kitchen aid workers
Seven aid workers killed in an airstrike in Gaza were marked as targets under an Israeli military practice of establishing guilt by association, a Guardian investigation shows.
A top Israeli military prosecutor announced last month that he would not pursue criminal proceedings for the April 2024 incident in which drones fired missiles at three clearly marked World Central Kitchen (WCK) cars soon after they had escorted a food aid delivery to Gaza. Three British humanitarian workers along with an Australian, a Palestinian, a Pole and a dual US-Canadian national were killed.
Continue reading...Farage, who had earlier suspended two close aides, had his keynote speech interrupted multiple times by protesters on Friday
Robert Jenrick is set to unveil a major tax-cutting pledge at Reform UK’s conference today, as the party seeks to shift the focus back to its economic agenda.
PA has the following report:
The party’s treasury spokesman is expected to tell the final day of the Reform conference in Birmingham that he would increase the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 within the first 100 days of taking office.
The threshold has been set at £12,570 since 2021 and is due to remain there until 2031.
Continue reading...Scale of deportations made public for first time amid criticism of hardline approach to UK citizens
Sweden has confirmed 458 British citizens have been deported or forcibly removed by police since Brexit.
It is the first time the scale of the deportations of citizens who failed to secure residency in Sweden post-Brexit has been made public and comes amid mounting criticism of a cruel and hardline approach to Britons who had chosen to make the country their home before Brexit.
Continue reading...