Acclaimed musician, composer and bandleader who was one of the most significant figures in the history of British jazz As Ronnie Scott’s Old Place – the original basement club on Gerrard Street in London’s Chinatown – prepared to close its doors for the final time on 25 May 1968, the last musicians to take the stand were the 10 young members of Mike Westbrook’s Concert Band. Recruited from a variety of backgrounds, they formed the vehicle with which their leader had begun to demonstrate his gift for slotting together elements of jazz from various periods and styles, filtering them all through his own sensibility to produce something thoroughly stirring, definitely contemporary and highly original. A capacity audience had queued all the way from the club’s entrance to Shaftesbury Avenue, and stayed on at the end to applaud the work of a musician on his way to becoming one of the most significant and productive figures in the history of British jazz. Continue reading...
Researchers say ‘magic mushrooms’ can help with traumatic symptoms, but urge caution as states expand access Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox After three combat deployments in Afghanistan, during which he suffered traumatic brain injuries from concussive blasts, army ranger Jesse Gould developed post-traumatic stress disorder and said he “drank almost every night to cope”. In times of hardship, veterans sometimes turn to “medication and talk therapy, but it tends to be more of a maintenance program than actually overcoming it”, Gould said, but added that at age 38, “I was still very young. I didn’t want to be on medication the rest of my life.” Continue reading...
Your guilty-pleasure, late-night snack, minus the guilt, in nine easy steps. Let’s be honest, fried chicken is one of those things that’s almost always good, but making it yourself has the benefit of allowing you to be sure of the provenance of the meat. Where fast-food restaurants tend to rely on pressure fryers for a juicy result, at home I brine the meat first using buttermilk – its slight acidity will also have a tenderising effect. Double win. Prep 5 min Marinate 4 hr+ Cook 40 min Serves 2-3 Continue reading...
A young Albanian woman’s escape from al-Hawl offers rare hope – but as the camp empties many are left stranded, prompting urgent calls for repatriation For weeks he hovered near Turkey’s border with Syria hoping for good news. In early February, Xhetan Ndregjoni got word of what he was waiting for – his niece Eva was on her way after escaping the squalid desert camp in Syria where she had been held without charge since she was a child. “I don’t have the words to describe that moment,” Ndregjoni said of their reunion. Continue reading...
TikTok users increasingly say the app has steered them toward diagnosing medical problems not yet identified Malina Lee, a 31-year-old wedding baker based in San Antonio, Texas, joined TikTok during the Covid pandemic lockdowns in 2020. Like many people at the time, she was bored and began using the platform to pass the time and advertise her business. She didn’t expect a cancer diagnosis. Four years after Lee joined the app, a commenter with the username “PickleFart” told her that her neck looked asymmetrical in a way that could suggest she had a goiter – an enlarged thyroid gland – and that she should get it checked out. The anonymous amateur clinician turned out to be right – Lee had thyroid cancer, received treatment quickly, and, less than a year later, was cancer free. Continue reading...
From Vance’s interest to Trump’s commitment to disclosure, administration’s fascination with UFOs has experts feeling close to evidence of aliens Like most politicians, Donald Trump did not campaign on the issue of space aliens. But 15 months into his second term, UFO enthusiasts have been buoyed by the Trump administration’s apparent fascination with extraterrestrials, with one expert claiming the human race has “never been closer” to being presented with hard evidence of aliens. After a largely alien-free first 12 months, the president has committed himself to UFO disclosure in 2026. In February, Trump directed various departments to release “government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life”, and the White House took the unusual step of registering domain “aliens.gov” in March, setting pulses racing among believers online. Continue reading...
Football updates from Sunday’s top-flight fixtures Email Daniel | Premier League table | Football Daily Generally speaking, I quite enjoy having ADHD, which I appreciate is a peculiar place to begin a Clockwatch. But one time I absolutely hate it is when I’m watching a Roberto De Zerbi team, knocking the ball about at the back backwards, forwards and side to side until the opposition lose the will to live and do exactly what they know he wants them to do, pressing his defenders just to get things moving. For those who struggle with impulsivity and sensation, frustration and concentration, this turns an antidote – football – into a poison – also football. Such is the beauty of the game. And we can be certain that even the most inattentive, antsy and compulsive Spurs fan will be delighted to suffer such behaviour if it keeps them in the Premier League – a situation looking less likely by the day. If it’s not Mohammed Kudus suffering a setback it’s West Ham slapping Wolves, the cosmos seeming rounding on the club and with good reason; years of parsimony, arrogance and mismanagement have brought us to here, here being 13 in 2026 of which they’ve lost eight and drawn five, scoring 13 and conceding 27. Rarely, if ever, has a plight been so comprehensively earned. Continue reading...
Arcola theatre, London Writer Ken Ludwig’s heartfelt and funny romcom draws the audience into every step of Jack and Louise’s developing affection, their longing deepened by physical separation This epistolary story of two people looking for love is the ultimate antithesis to the modern-day dating app. Set in a time when a message was less a flighty ping away, more as slow as the postal service, it is a delightful romcom through letters. It features Jack (Preston Nyman) and Louise (Eva Feiler), who begin writing to each other because family members think they might make a match. It is 1942, Jack is a military doctor tending to burns and amputations while Louise is a dancer trying to break into Broadway musicals. It goes from stiff opening courtship to a chalk-and-cheese meeting of minds and then develops into a genuine relationship, all without either having met, the first date forever being deferred because Jack can’t get leave, or Louise is in a touring show. Continue reading...
Two-time grammy nominee was one of Bollywood’s most versatile and celebrated voices The Indian singer Asha Bhosle, whose voice defined Bollywood music through the 1970s and 80s, has died aged 92, her family said. The two-time Grammy nominee had been admitted to hospital in Mumbai with complaints of “extreme exhaustion” and chest infection. Continue reading...
Officials said many killed at popular tourist site were young, with more people reported injured or missing At least 30 people, many of them young, have died and dozens more are reported to have been injured after a crush at a mountaintop fortress in northern Haiti that is a popular tourist spot. Jean Henri Petit, the head of civil protection for the country’s Nord department, said the incident took place on Saturday at Citadelle Henry – also known as Citadelle Laferrière – a large 19th-century fortress built shortly after the Caribbean country’s independence from France, which was packed with students and visitors. Continue reading...
Last year’s drop may reflect rising unemployment and improved right to request flexible working, experts say The number of workers in Great Britain taking their bosses to employment tribunals over remote working fell last year for the first time since Covid hit, with a tightening labour market making some more reluctant to leave roles despite return-to-office mandates. There were 54 employment tribunals decided in England, Scotland and Wales in 2025 that cited remote working, according to an analysis of records by the HR consultants Hamilton Nash: down 13% compared with 2024. Continue reading...
It’s a high-wire act and the risk of an embarrassing failure can weigh heavily – but that’s no reason to avoid writing about sex, argues Black Bag author Luke Kennard Are straight male writers scared of writing about sex? If you read modern fiction it’s hard to conclude otherwise. Maybe we’re worried that the very presence of a sex scene in our book would feel somehow exploitative or gratuitous. Or maybe we feel our gender has simply said enough on the subject so we should shut up. Women writing about straight relationships don’t seem as nervous. In fact, sex is often a central element of narrative, and of nuanced portrayals of masculinity; from the slow-burn tenderness and awkwardness of intimacy in Sally Rooney’s work, to the surreal celebrations of and lamentations for the erotic in Diane Williams’s extraordinary short stories. Continue reading...
New technologies of reproduction are plundering the art world – and getting away with it In 2026, its easy to see why generative AI is bad. The internet has nicknamed its excretions “slop”. The CEOs of AI companies prance about on stage like supervillains, bragging that their products will eliminate vast swathes of work. Generative AI requires sacrificing the world’s water to feed its hideous data centres. Around the globe, chatbots induce schizophrenic delusions and urge teens to kill themselves – all while turning users brains to mush. Who could have predicted this? Artists, that’s who. Continue reading...
Use of interns by Plum Sykes, an ex-assistant of Anna Wintour whose family owns a Yorkshire estate, reignites debate about creative industries She is said to have been the inspiration for a character in The Devil Wears Prada and was a personal assistant of Anna Wintour, so Plum Sykes knows a thing or two about the arduous and often unglamorous life of being a fashion industry intern. But that recognition does not, it appears, extend to paying her own interns a fair wage. Or, indeed, any wage at all. Continue reading...
A mass movement defending immigrants has slowed the Trump administration’s abuses Resistance, in physics, is the force that hinders the flow of charged electrons as they zigzag from point to point. Resistance doesn’t stop the flow of electricity. Instead, it causes heat. Popular resistance works the same way. It obstructs and slows the government’s business, creating political heat and slowing it further. Continue reading...
The ‘Council of Andrews’ started as a bit of fun – but has led to friendships, financial help and even fiances… It’s a rough time to be called Andrew. In recent years, notorious figures such as Andrew Tate and the former prince have dominated the headlines, giving us a bad name. Even the CEO caught up in that Coldplay scandal was an Andy. It’s been a bad run. As an Andrew myself, I wanted to unearth some better representatives, so I recently set out on a mission: to find some fellow Andrews doing good in the world. That’s how I stumbled upon thousands of Andrews at once. Continue reading...
Exclusive: closures are part of pledge by Labour to end all use of hotels for asylum seekers by end of this parliament The Home Office is to announce the closure of 11 asylum hotels this week as part of its pledge to close all hotels by the end of this parliament. The use of hotels to house asylum seekers has been controversial since it became widespread at the start of the Covid pandemic. Anti-migrant protesters have staged demonstrations outside the hotels, claiming asylum seekers are living a life of luxury in the hotels. Continue reading...
A university researcher and a property manager may have found (some) common ground on leaving the EU – but what about affordable homes? • Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how Graham, 76, Pangbourne Occupation Property manager Continue reading...
Rodney Harrison formed taskforce that later identified Rex Heuermann as a suspect in the string of New York murders Rodney Harrison was not in the courtroom in Riverhead on New York’s Long Island last week when serial killer Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty to the murders of seven women and volunteered that he’d also murdered an eighth. But as the New York police department’s former chief of detectives, who was brought in to be police commissioner of Suffolk county – the area where Heuermann had dumped his victims – it was Harrison who pulled together a taskforce that came to crack the case. Continue reading...
As World Bank and IMF chiefs gather in Washington the Iran war is driving up energy prices, fuelling inflation and making voters impatient The world’s finance ministers and central bank governors gather in Washington this week for the half-yearly meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, with the global economy in a perilous spot. Not since the foundation of the Bretton Woods institutions late in the second world war have global conflicts triggered this much economic turbulence. The volatile 1970s come close. But the US-Israeli war on Iran, coming so soon after the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, take the prize. Continue reading...
York Hall, London Directed with gangsterish overtones by Mark Ravenhill, the tempered musical weight of this lean production of the Strauss classic brings greater focus on the roles’ contrasting dramas The programme bills it “Strauss’s MOST DANGEROUS opera”. The company’s website advertises a “20th-century palate cleanser”, which – given the work’s relentless intensity – is presumably a joke, But perhaps they’ve earned it. Strauss’s Salome is the latest venture from Regents Opera, the wildly ambitious fringe company that last year mounted Wagner’s entire Ring cycle in a historic East End boxing venue with an orchestra of only 18 musicians, to against-the-odds critical acclaim. Back in York Hall, Regents Opera has now mustered a 24-piece ensemble. Seated at the far end of the space from most of the audience and playing a custom arrangement by Nigel Shore, the orchestra sounded somewhat defanged. Despite conductor Ben Woodward’s seemingly boundless energy, there was no possibility of capturing Strauss’s most luxuriant string textures with so few players and the contrast between the score’s vast climaxes and its creepiest, emptiest moments was limited. What emerged instead was an unusual degree of clarity – not to mention a built-in balance aid for the singers, who also benefited from a 20-metre head start on the instrumentalists thanks to the runway-style stage protruding through the audience. Continue reading...
The king has the chance to offer some tough love. Perhaps he could start with a speech to Congress about the Trump administration’s reckless trajectory It will be a definitive moment for King Charles III and the British monarchy. And for better or worse, it could help salvage UK-US relations after Donald Trump insulted Keir Starmer. In the public high point of his state visit, the king will mount the rostrum in the US House of Representatives on 28 April to address a joint session of Congress. Of all the British monarchs in the 250 years since US independence, only his late mother, Elizabeth II, was afforded this rare honour – and her accomplished 1991 performance brought the house down. This time could be more tricky. Times have changed, as has the land of the free, and the biggest change is Trump. He will not be present on Capitol Hill when the king speaks, but his dark shadow lurks everywhere. Trump will undoubtedly portray Charles’s attendance at a separate White House state banquet as a royal endorsement of his person and policies. And it is precisely this galling prospect of a presidential propaganda coup that has led most people in Britain to oppose the visit. Starmer, in contrast, hopes it will set the badly soiled “special relationship” back on track. Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...
Health secretary says failure of peace talks ‘disappointing’ and that UK-US relations have undoubtedly been strained Middle East crisis – live updates Wes Streeting has criticised Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Iran as “incendiary, provocative and outrageous”, and called the failure of US-Iran peace talks “disappointing” but said the success of future negotiations was necessary “in all of our interests”. “As ever in diplomacy, you’re failing until you succeed,” the health secretary told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News. “So while these talks may not have ended in success, that doesn’t mean there isn’t merit in continuing to try.” Continue reading...
Updates from 11am BST start across the grounds Sign up for the Spin | Mail Tanya or comment BTL Arrive at Old Trafford just in time to see three balls before the rain swirls down. The second new ball is due this morning at The Oval, where Rishi Patel’s century has been vital in Leicetershire’s stout resistence. Continue reading...
Studying on different continents is a challenge for Veronika and Fabio … Can their young love go the distance? • How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously There have been days when we’ve been on the phone for 10 hours at a stretch When I’ve flown back to see her, we’ve tried to make up for lost time Continue reading...