Anniversary kit marks 120 years of fixture England to wear their traditional white England’s Six Nations finale in Paris on Saturday could descend into farce with France set to wear a special edition pale blue kit that threatens to clash with the white strip worn by Steve Borthwick’s side. Fabian Galthié’s side have confirmed they will don the anniversary kit, which is significantly lighter than their traditional blue strip, for a match that marks 120 years of rivalry between France and England. It is understood, however, that England will still wear their traditional white kit despite the potential for a clash. Match officials are also understood to have given both kits the green light. Continue reading...

Champion Chase first benefits from Majborough howlers Irish rider Queally accuses De Boinville of ‘horrific’ abuse Il Etait Temps survived a slip after jumping the last to land an incident-packed renewal of the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday, on an afternoon when the drama was not confined to the closing stages and Nico de Boinville, one of the sport’s top jockeys, was accused of “horrific” abuse before the start of the opening race by an Irish amateur having his first ride at the meeting. De Boinville, who was riding the well-fancied Act Of Innocence, and Declan Queally, who is both the trainer and rider of the Grade One-winning I’ll Sort That, could be seen exchanging words as a tightly packed field of 21 runners jostled for position before the start of the Turners Novice Hurdle. Continue reading...

Readers respond to an article by John Lanchester and a report on gen Z’s views on marriage I enjoyed John Lanchester’s article on the generation gap (Did baby boomers eat all the pies? John Lanchester on the truth about the generation gap, 8 March). As a university lecturer, I spend a lot of time in class unpicking statistics and received wisdom, including narratives such as intergenerational rivalry, which is more complex than it first seems. I often feel that we are too shortsighted in our intergenerational discussions. As a gen Xer, I’ve often discussed my experiences as a young adult, which, as Lanchester points out, share many parallels with today’s gen Z. In heritage management classes, I ask students about their parents and grandparents. We compare experiences with those of the first and second world war generations, then that of our great-grandparents. Mine were born in 1879, were lacemakers in Essex, had a pea field, made turnip dollies and sent their sons to Haberdashers’ School in London to better themselves. Continue reading...

Alan West recalls a high-level meeting prior to the Iraq war. Plus letters from Spencer Hines and Margaret Squires At the final meeting prior to the invasion of Iraq between UK chiefs of staff (of which I was one), the then prime minister Tony Blair, the defence secretary, senior Ministry of Defence officials and the foreign secretary, in the Old War Office building in March 2003, I asked what the plans were for phase four of the war that was about to start (ie what were the plans for actions after we had won). We were told by the prime minister that the Americans had this all in hand. I asked if we could see their plans and was told we would. I saw nothing before or after the war started. Beating Iraq was clearly going to be relatively easy – what happened then was much harder and not clear. The same seems to be true of Donald Trump’s war against Iran. Alan West Labour, House of Lords Continue reading...

When I heard ‘Rachel’ answer the helpline number in her metallic voice, my soul felt as empty as the batteries of my malfunctioning car Something went wrong. The car charger wouldn’t work. Terrible, enervating, life-shortening faff ensued. It was to do with the wifi to which the car was linked having to be changed. I find this stuff so boring that I have been known to simply slump to the floor and fall into a deep sleep. But this wasn’t an option, as I had to drive miles to work and my car’s batteries were as empty as my soul. I’d already been on the road for five hours listening to Antony Beevor’s history of the second world war. Man’s inhumanity to man is so very disappointing, even more disappointing than a malfunctioning EV charger on a wet and windy day. I resolved to dig deep. The human spirit would prevail. If only I could find another human to help me out. Continue reading...

It is hard to believe that attacks which started on 28 February can have had such a huge impact on oil that must have already been in the country, says Graham Judge Hilary Osborne (UK households that use heating oil face ‘frightening’ surge in bills over Iran war, 10 March) highlights that rural households are facing huge rises in the price of something that is a necessity. Sadly, not all the rises can be laid at the door of Donald Trump and his foolish war. Some of the increases are simply down to unashamed profiteering. On 2 March (48 hours after the war started) I had to pay 86.6p per litre of oil. This was 10p higher than the price on Friday 27 February. Continue reading...

Long Covid | Mother’s advice | Newspaper influence | Measuring Manhattan | Scuba diving I was surprised to see that your article (The Covid-19 inquiry is sounding a clear warning. If it’s not heeded, yet more lives will be lost, 5 March) speaks of those who suffered during the pandemic in the past tense, and does not mention the hundreds of thousands, like myself, who still suffer from long Covid. It is a devastating condition that is too often forgotten when the pandemic is discussed. Meanwhile, long Covid clinics are underfunded and many have closed. To many, the pandemic must feel like a nightmare that is thankfully in the past. For me, it never ended. Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink London • I remember two pieces of advice from my mother (My mother’s best advice: learn to raise one eyebrow at the world, 11 March). Always air your underwear. And never marry a clergyman – she had and I did! I still keep to the first and have never regretted ignoring the second – 60th anniversary this year. Felicity Randall Fakenham, Norfolk Continue reading...

Company also launches tools to spot scammers as Thai police arrest 21 people Meta disabled more than 150,000 accounts and Thai police arrested 21 people in a sweeping international crackdown on south-east Asian criminal scam centers that targeted people around the world, the social media company said Wednesday. The operation was led by Thailand’s Royal Thai police anti-cyber scam center, alongside the FBI and the US justice department’s scam center strike force, with Meta investigators acting on intelligence shared in real time by law enforcement. Continue reading...

Despite rare act of multilateralism, there is no guarantee the IEA’s release of 400m barrels from reserves will depress prices IEA orders largest ever release of stockpiled oil to reduce crude price How the Iran conflict could affect energy prices – video explainer When the global economy was still in the grip of the devastating 1970s oil crises, exposing the chokehold exerted by a few important oil states, the International Energy Agency (IEA) was created, in the hope of limiting future shocks. Almost half a century on, the IEA’s 32 members have drawn up plans to hit the emergency button, for only the fifth time in its history. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of residents and tourists have left UAE since the US and Israel started bombing Iran two weeks ago, leaving beach bars, malls and hotels eerily empty In the playground of the rich, nobody wanted this war. For decades, Dubai built itself up as a sanctuary of unadulterated consumerism visited by tourists the world over. But now, the city in the United Arab Emirates faces an existential threat, as the war between the US and Israel and Iran has shaken the foundations of the “Dubai dream” that so many foreigners had bought into. Continue reading...

There was time for Kemi to embarrass herself again as she explained how we were both at war and not at war Taxi for Kemi. It’s only a matter of time before Tory MPs start thinking the unthinkable and hand their leader her P45. It could be happening even now. This week’s prime minister’s questions can only have concentrated a few minds. Buyer’s remorse has long since passed. Some have now moved through the five stages of grief. First there was the denial. Despite evidence to the contrary, Kemi was doing better than expected. It didn’t matter that she had taken the Tories from the high 20s to the mid-teens in the opinion polls. She was destined for stardom. It was just a matter of the country keeping up with her brilliance. Continue reading...

What have we learned from release of files relating to former peer’s appointment – and sacking – as UK ambassador to Washington? UK politics live – latest updates We now have the first tranche of documents promised by the government connected to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington – 147 pages from a mass of information believed to total in the hundreds of thousands. Mandelson has previously denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers have said that he does not intend to make any further statement at this time. Here is what we have learned from the files – and what we do not yet know. Continue reading...

The third big screen adaptation of the BookTok-loved author’s novels is ludicrously plotted yet slickly made and easily consumed Nearly two years on, it seems we’re still futilely chasing the high of summer 2024. Charli xcx’s hedonistic Brat-era mockumentary just flopped on the big screen. Espresso still plays at the grocery store but doesn’t hit the same. Kamala Harris is maybe considering a run for something. And the movie It Ends With Us, the glossy adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel that became a somewhat surprise late-summer blockbuster, refuses to die. That film, directed by Justin Baldoni and starring Blake Lively, should have been a Hollywood success story: a deceptively sharp melodrama that proved that frankly sentimental, female-led, 90s-style studio fare could still draw audiences to cinemas, that schlocky BookTok material need not necessarily beget schlocky movies and that Lively could appeal to the Target demographic. Nevertheless, it cast a dark shadow. The legal mudslinging over Baldoni’s alleged sexual harassment on set has tainted primarily her reputation, and extinguished any box office glow. (Lively v Baldoni – her case, not his, as the latter was dismissed – will go to trial in May.) And then there’s the inevitable pipeline of follow-ups with near-guaranteed diminishing returns, the first of which, a dreadful grief / love quadrangle / YA mess called Regretting You, threatened to kill the buzz for CoHo adaptations entirely last October. Continue reading...

⚽️ Champions League news from the 5.45pm GMT kick-off ⚽️ Live scores | Today’s Football Daily | Follow on Bluesky Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of the first leg of the Champions League clash between Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal in Germany. Arsenal, runawayish leaders in the Premier League, are strong favourites to reach their third consecutive Champions League quarter-final. That’s happened only once before, between 2007-08 and 2009-10, and would be another marker of their undeniable progress under Mikel Arteta. While Arsenal topped the league stage with a perfect record of eight wins from eight, Leverkusen finished 16th and had to go into the playoffs. They won that pretty comfortably, beating Olympiacos 2-0 on aggregate, but they are a long way from the glories of two seasons ago. Tonight is a chance to hit the heights again. Continue reading...

Strike that killed at least 175 people, most of them children, reportedly due to targeting mistake by US military planners Minab school bombing: a visual guide A preliminary US military investigation has reportedly determined that Washington was responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school in February that killed scores of children. According to the New York Times, quoting unnamed US officials and others familiar with the initial findings, the investigation has concluded that the strike on 28 February on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building was the result of a targeting mistake by the US military planners. Continue reading...

Experts share tips on dressing as the most authentic version of yourself and avoiding the draw of the latest microtrends How would you define your personal style? Is it cottagecore? Tomato girl? Whimsigoth? Quiet luxury? Maybe you don’t know what these terms mean (congratulations) and maybe you do (my condolences). Like unwelcome nose hairs, new microtrends seem to sprout from the depths of social media every other week. In some ways, their pervasiveness has made style seem more accessible than ever. They reduce aesthetics to mathematical equations that you can solve by buying up a bunch of fast fashion. By the time these cheap, mass-produced items dissolve into microplastics – which they will, quickly – other aesthetic trends will have replaced them. Continue reading...

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Maritime insurer fends off criticism over cancelled policies and sharp price rises Middle East crisis – live updates There is a price for everything: even the cost of insuring a ship travelling through the strait of Hormuz. Donald Trump’s proposals for the US to provide political risk insurance for seaborne trade in the Gulf might have given the impression a lack of cover was the reason why traffic through the key waterway has almost halted. Continue reading...

Newly released documents suggest Foreign Office may have begun to brief Mandelson before vetting was completed UK politics live – latest updates Peter Mandelson was offered a highly classified briefing from the Foreign Office as US ambassador before he finished the formal vetting process, newly released documents reveal. The documents were released after the Conservatives forced the disclosures about the appointment of Mandelson, who was sacked in September last year because of his close association with the sex offender Jeffery Epstein. Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! If any single moment sums up Igor Tudor’s thus far short but ignominious reign as Tottenham’s interim head coach, it was the sight of the Croatian pointing to his temples as he urged his players to maintain their composure against Atlético Madrid in Madrid on Tuesday. Composure? What composure? Spurs were 3-0 down after 17 minutes and the players in question were watching their goalkeeper trudge disconsolately from the pitch after suffering the public humiliation of being replaced for being rubbish. Studiously ignored by his manager, the crestfallen 22-year-old was followed down the tunnel by a trio of more senior players eager to console their mate. Only Tudor knows why João Palhinha, Conor Gallagher and Dom Solanke weren’t making themselves useful out on the pitch but his decision to leave all three seasoned professionals on the bench for a Bigger Cup tie that always had the potential to become the stuff of nightmares is just one of many inexplicable calls the Croatian has made since replacing Thomas Frank. Are we looking at the shortest Tudor reign since Lady Jane Grey?” – James Vortkamp-Tong. I watched Tottenham’s dire game and noticed their current interim manager has the initials ‘IT’ on his jacket. Taking other Stephen King novels into account, wouldn’t MISERY be more appropriate?” – Nigel Sanders. Imagine a bearded leader who callously throws a young person to the wolves because of their foolhardy desire to radiate power on a Europe-wide stage. This could only be a Tudor regime” – Mark McFadden. I was shocked on my way to work this morning to see a huge poster for an upcoming London theatrical comedy extravaganza, featuring a tall man in completely inappropriate footwear splayed on the floor while a balding manager type looks on helpless. Apparently it’s called Kinsky Boots?” – James Maltby. This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions. Continue reading...

Group lodged application in 2021 but had to overcome accounting issues and reputational concerns Revolut can finally launch as a fully-fledged UK bank after a five-year wait for regulatory approval. The fintech said it has received the all-clear from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) for a full banking licence, allowing it to offer accounts for retail and business customers. Continue reading...

St Martin-in-the-Fields, London Peter Whelan conducted a performance of Bach’s oratorio that was full of driving cinematic excitement and touching humanity Some believe that the narrator of Bach’s St John Passion – the tenor who sings the Evangelist, the voice of the gospel-writer himself – is telling the story as one who witnessed the events firsthand; some say that’s impossible. But the urgency that the conductor Peter Whelan drew from the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in this performance was certainly something to reinforce the idea. Perhaps drawing on his operatic experience, Whelan’s feel for the music’s drama was evident from the opening moments, with the violins digging deep into their turbulent, restless accompaniment. The scene having been set, when this music returned later in the same movement it was more reserved, which built the tension even further. This was typical of a performance that played up the almost cinematic aspects of the work – the way in which Bach takes us directly into the midst of the courtroom and then cuts away for a moment of contemplation in an aria or chorale. Continue reading...

In a survey of 1,000 professional women, more than half said they felt less motivated to progress in their jobs than they did two years ago Name: Promotion burnout. Appearance: Disturbingly feminine. Continue reading...

Danish IT supplier Netcompany is new title sponsor Team to be called World Tour and have a new kit Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Grenadiers cycling team will be renamed and rebranded with a new lead sponsor and new kit before the start of this year’s Tour de France in Barcelona on 4 July. The Guardian understands that while Ratcliffe and Ineos head of sport, Dave Brailsford, will retain ownership and management of the team, the new title sponsor of the World Tour cycling team will be Danish IT supplier Netcompany. Continue reading...

We take a look at the best images from day three of the Games, including curling, cross-country skiing and ice hockey Continue reading...