A review of Trump’s bold promises about immigration, the economy, the US’s standing in the world and much more There was no debate about record crowd sizes this time. With the temperature plunging to 27F (-3C) and a wind chill making it feel far colder, Donald Trump’s second inauguration was held in the rotunda at the US Capitol in Washington on 20 January 2025. The great and the good of the political elite were there, including former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama and outgoing president Joe Biden. So were tech oligarchs such as Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. At 12.10pm, they listened intently as Trump began a half-hour-long inaugural address. Continue reading...

Full VAT on meat products could cost EU households as little as €26 a year but cut impact by 3-6%, says paper The environmental impacts of meat consumption could be rapidly and cheaply reduced if governments applied full VAT on products such as beef, pork, lamb and chicken, a study has shown. Depending on how the additional tax revenues were redistributed, such a change could cost households as little as €26 (£23) a year, while cutting ecological destruction by between 3% and 6%, the paper found. Continue reading...

Prosecution over death of Quinto Inuma Alvarado seen as test of ability to curb attacks on environmental defenders Five men are due to go on trial on Tuesday over the killing of an Amazonian Indigenous leader, in a legal case that could test whether Peru can hold perpetrators accountable for violence linked to illegal logging and drug trafficking in one of the world’s most dangerous regions for environmental defenders. The Kichwa tribal leader Quinto Inuma Alvarado was killed on 29 November 2023, after repeatedly denouncing illegal activity within his community’s territory. Continue reading...

Bananas contain nutrients, but rotting peel smells and attracts fruit flies The problem Do you ever finish your smoothie, look at the peel and think: “Surely this could feed something?” You are not alone: social media is full of claims that soaking banana skins in water makes a fertiliser that will give you bigger leaves and better blooms. The hack Put banana peels in a jar of water, leave them to sit, then pour the liquid on your plants. Bananas do contain potassium and small amounts of other nutrients. The snag is you have no idea how strong it is or what’s missing. Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch may look like a stronger leader now, but Jenrick is a dangerous rival – he knows where the Conservatives have been going wrong Any assessment of the long-term impact of Robert Jenrick’s defection on the Conservative party must start with what you think he represents – not merely the what of his views, and his popularity with the party grassroots, but the why of them. Is he merely a talented opportunist, a snake in the Tory Eden who was leading it astray? Or was he trying to answer the challenge of the moment, which many of his former colleagues simply preferred to ignore? Henry Hill is deputy editor of ConservativeHome Continue reading...

In China, marriage and birth rates have hit record lows and many people are living in isolation. Is the Are You Dead? app just a practical response to this – or something more troubling? A few days before Christmas, after a short battle with illness, a woman in Shanghai called Jiang Ting died. For years, the 46-year-old had lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Hongkou, a residential neighbourhood that sits along the Huangpu River. Neighbours described her as quiet. “She rarely chats with people. We only see her when she goes to and from work, and occasionally when she comes out to pick up takeout,” said a local resident interviewed by a Chinese reporter. Her parents long deceased, Jiang had no partner or children to inherit her estate. Her lonely death sparked a debate in Chinese media about how society should handle the increasing number of people dying with no next of kin. For Xiong Sisi, also a professional in her 40s living alone in Shanghai, the news triggered uncomfortable feelings. “I truly worry that, after I die, no one will collect my body. I don’t care how I’m buried, but if I rot there, it’s bad for the house,” she says. Continue reading...

Today’s rumours are playing the long game As the vultures circle the Tottenham misery hole, there’s talk that Liverpool want to pluck Micky van de Ven from Thomas Frank’s injury-ravaged and form-deficient squad. Weekend whispers had it that Liverpool were preparing a £78m bid for the Dutch defender, though a move would be likelier in the summer. By way of return, and more immediately, Spurs have shown interest in luring Curtis Jones from Anfield and Juventus could be in for Liverpool’s Federico Chiesa for a fee of around £13m-£17m. Gabriel Jesus could be on the move from Arsenal back to Palmeiras, where the striker began his career. The Brazilian, though, says he wants a new deal with the Premier League leaders, after an injury-ravaged period, but a move could happen in the summer if not now. An Emirates Stadium arrival could be Federico Dimarco. The Italian outlet Tuttosport reports “genuine interest” from the Gunners in the Inter full-back, whose deal at San Siro ends in June next year. Continue reading...

Government stresses deal was previously welcomed by US as Starmer’s chief secretary insists diplomacy with Trump is working Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, repeatedly claimed towards the end of 2024, after the UK government first announced its deal to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, that what was then the incoming Trump administration would not accept it. He ended up looking a bit daft when, at a meeting with Keir Starmer in February 2025, President Trump said he thought the deal was “going to work out very well” and when the US confirmed it was happy with the deal a few weeks later. American approval was crucial at that point because the US is the main user of the Diego Garcia airbase it jointly runs with the UK. In response to Trump’s U-turn on the Chagos Islands, Farage said this morning: Thank goodness Trump has vetoed the surrender of the Chagos islands. Paying to surrender the Chagos Islands is not just an act of stupidity, but of complete self sabotage. I’ve been clear and unfortunately on this issue President Trump is right. Keir Starmer’s plan to give away the Chagos Islands is a terrible policy that weakens UK security and hands away our sovereign territory. And to top it off, makes us and our NATO allies weaker in face of our enemies. Continue reading...

Ivan Sautkin films efforts to help residents abandon their frontline homes, as well as a pensioner acting as a spy for the Ukrainian army from the Russian border There is a scene in this Ukrainian documentary in which a woman gruffly shrugs off the offer of evacuation from her property on the frontline. Her son has put in the request to the volunteer humanitarian team ferrying civilians to safety in the east of the country. But she is caring for her brother, who is paralysed, the woman protests – and what about her German shepherd? As explosions boom terrifyingly close, a volunteer patiently explains that his team will carry her brother to the minivan – and don’t worry, bring the dog. Eventually, the woman agrees to leave, brusquely wiping away a tear. Director Ivan Sautkin is a film-maker by trade and served as a volunteer on the evacuation team. A Poem for Little People is his one-man film; Sautkin is behind the camera, recording everything. These are no interviews, explainers or voiceovers (which admittedly makes it hard to follow at times). The leader of the volunteers is Anton, a cool head under the heaviest fire. The trauma is raw, the situations desperate – in one, volunteers drive an elderly woman out of harm’s way, but as they bump along cracked, potholed roads, they question if they are doing the right thing putting her through the agonising journey. Continue reading...

In this larky autofiction, the ups and downs of creative life are cartoonishly dramatised as the writer becomes an action hero Rob Doyle’s previous novel, Threshold, took the form of a blackly comic travelogue narrated by an Irish writer named Rob. In one episode before Rob becomes an author, we see him as a sexually pent-up teacher abroad, masturbating over an essay he’s marking. That the scene is an echo of one in Michel Houellebecq’s Atomised (once named by Doyle as the best book from the past 40 years) hardly lessens our discomfort, and it’s hard not to feel that our unease is precisely the point. “Frankly, a lot of my life has been disastrous,” he once told an interviewer – which might not be quite as self-deprecating as it sounds, given that Doyle has also argued that “great literature” is born of “abjection” not “glory”. The autofictional game-playing continues in his new novel, Cameo, but instead of self-abasing display, we get a perky book-world send-up for the culture war era, cartoonishly dramatising the ups and downs of creative life. It takes the form of a vertiginous hall of mirrors centred on gazillion-selling Dublin novelist Ren Duka, renowned for a long novel cycle drawn on his own life, the summaries of which comprise the bulk of the book we’re reading. Duka’s work isn’t autofiction à la Knausgård: hardly deskbound, still less under the yoke of domesticity, he leads a jet-set life of peril, mixing with drug dealers, terrorists, spies, and eventually serving time for tax evasion before he develops a crack habit, a penchant for threesomes in Paris and – perhaps least likely of all – returns to his long-forsaken Catholicism. Continue reading...

A Giant on the Bridge, performed by a ‘Scottish indie folk supergroup’, draws on dozens of interviews about the confines former prisoners experience on the outside When we talk about crime and punishment, the notion of homecoming is often absent but decarceration and re-entry are critical aspects of the justice system. These subjects are at the heart of A Giant on the Bridge, the singer-songwriter Jo Mango and the theatre-maker Liam Hurley’s urgent piece of gig-theatre, which premiered in 2024 and heads out on tour across Scotland next month. It was born from a research project, Distant Voices: Coming Home, that revealed dire statistics for the number of people who come out of prison and then go back in again, says Mango. “Research showed that the process is often less about the individuals and more about societal and structural issues – whether they can get a job when they come out, whether they have any family left who are there to support them.” A Giant on the Bridge emerged as “a kind of way of writing an essay about what we learned”, Mango says, but using songs co-written by people who have lived experience of the prison system. Continue reading...

US president says on social media that Britain’s decision to cede islands to Mauritius is ‘act of total weakness’ Donald Trump has suggested Britain’s decision to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is among the reasons he wants to take over Greenland. The US president, who is travelling to Davos in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, made the claim as he ramped up his rhetoric on acquiring the Arctic territory. Continue reading...

The Number of the Beast lights up an unforgettable scene in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple thanks to director Nia DaCosta expertly blending ‘craziness and romance’ There were laughs of surprise around me in screen three of the Everyman in Muswell Hill, north London, as 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple drew to its conclusion. Without giving too much away for those who haven’t seen it, Ralph Fiennes dancing semi-naked among piles of human bones to Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast is not how you expect one of our greatest thespians to deport himself on screen. “Alex Garland chose that song,” says the film’s director, Nia DaCosta. “He wrote it into the script. And you can’t get better than that in a film about satanists.” Continue reading...

The laws, in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, establish a national buyback, stop the importation of some firearms and tighten background checks Parliament has passed some of the most significant changes to Australia’s guns laws since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. Spurred by last month’s Bondi beach terror attack, the new laws will toughen background checks and fund a national gun buy-back scheme. Continue reading...

For all the golden moments, rewatching coverage from 40 years ago was a lesson in how much things have improved Forty years ago this month, the Pet Shop Boys track West End Girls topped the charts. Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton and Chelsea were locked in a four-way battle for the title. And Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on Wogan. Terry: “This new film you’ve made, Commando: it’s very violent isn’t it?” Arnie: “Actually, it’s low-key. I only kill around 100 people.” How do I know this? Because Facebook’s algorithm serves it to me daily. Terrifyingly, it understands me better than I understand myself. A half-forgotten goal, race or innings? That is my sugar-salt-fat magic. An old Top 40 chart or TV listing? My double‑strength nicotine patch. Continue reading...

While the famous penalty technique is the ultimate act of showmanship, the cost of failure is too high to justify Being too smart for your own good is usually drummed out of children before they leave school but sometimes people cannot help themselves. The Panenka penalty, successfully executed, offers the limited benefit of making a goalkeeper look silly and the taker a genius but Brahim Díaz is the latest to learn the cost of what happens when it goes wrong. Díaz was given 15 minutes to consider what to do with his spot-kick after the ludicrous levels of drama in the Africa Cup of Nations final. Maybe this was his undoing: being able to ponder every option, from the rudimentary to the artistic, until deciding to replicate Antonin Panenka’s creation with what could, and should, have been the last kick of the tournament. Continue reading...

In a country plagued by underdog status and a sport fraught with a history of racism, misogyny and homophobia, this adaptation has reimagined what’s possible I grew up in a hockey town where there was no escaping Canada’s beloved sport. Our suburban streets doubled as rinks; the choppy slap of tennis balls reverberating against hockey sticks a constant sound. As pre-teens, my friends and I would put on lip gloss and tight jeans to hang out at the Friday night junior hockey games. I still find comfort in the sound of skate blades slicing across ice and that sweaty, chemical odour of public arenas. My experiences are not unique in a country with a 95-year-old broadcast institution called Hockey Night in Canada. Rachel Reid, the Nova Scotian author of the queer hockey romance Heated Rivalry, grew up a hockey fanatic, more interested in playing the game than ogling boys. Jacob Tierney, who wrote and directed the TV adaptation of Reid’s 2019 bestseller, was raised in Montreal, where the Canadiens (or the Habs, as the team is affectionately known) are considered sacred. Sue Carter is a Toronto-based freelance writer and arts worker Continue reading...

Live updates from all the action at Melbourne Park Dramatic day two marred by retirements | ">Email Katy And here’s Jack Snape on that big disappointment for Joint. At 19, though, there’ll be many more chances for the US-born Australian, who was the first home player seeded in the women’s singles since Ash Barty four years ago: Maya Joint has vowed to return to the Australian Open stronger, after the top-ranked local in the women’s singles draw crashed out in the first round on Tuesday with a straight sets defeat to Czech teenager Tereza Valentova. Valentova made the most of an inconsistent display from the 30th seed, winning 6-4, 6-4 in 92 minutes. Continue reading...

Shops, restaurants and hotels particularly hit by slowdown in hiring, as unemployment remains at 5.1% Business live – latest updates The number of employed people in the UK has fallen again, particularly in shops, restaurants and hotels, reflecting weak hiring, while private sector wages grew at the slowest rate in five years, official figures show. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the number of employees on payrolls fell by 184,000 in December compared with a year earlier, to 30.2 million. Continue reading...

US president says UK’s plan to hand over the islands to Mauritius is among the ‘long line’ of reasons why Greenland has to be acquired Donald Trump links Greenland threats to Nobel snub as EU trade war looms The US president, Donald Trump, has suggested Britain’s decision to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is among the reasons he wants to take over Greenland. In a Truth Social post, he said the UK’s plan to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is an “an act of GREAT STUPIDITY”. He said: Shockingly, our “brilliant” NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness. These are International Powers who only recognize STRENGTH, which is why the United States of America, under my leadership, is now, after only one year, respected like never before. Continue reading...

Forget draughty bunk rooms and awkward social encounters, hostels now provide home comforts and a sense of community private rentals will never match ‘Penguins? In Snowdonia?” I asked incredulously. “That’s right!” came the enthusiastic reply from our newest hostel companion. We were standing in the large kitchen of The Rocks hostel in Capel Curig, a village in the north-east of Eryri national park (Snowdonia), chatting amiably while waiting for our teas to brew. “Head up Moel Siabod to the lake, and that’s where the penguins are. You’ll see a sign warning about feeding them,” he said. “But even if they’re hiding and you don’t see one, it’s one of the best walks in the area.” Continue reading...

From charity workers to synchronised swimmers via a young lad having tea with his nan, these people all inspired award-winning photographs Continue reading...

The cinema chain didn’t warn me clearly when I went to see Avatar: Fire and Ash that I needed to register my number plate I parked at Cineworld in Chichester to watch the new film Avatar: Fire and Ash. It is more than three hours long and, when I returned to my car, I’d received a penalty charge notice (PCN) for overstaying. I’d watched the previous two Avatar films there without a problem. Continue reading...

World is short of a million midwives, report finds, with adequate access potentially saving 4.3m lives a year A global shortage of nearly a million midwives is leaving pregnant women without the basic care needed to prevent harm, including the deaths of mothers and babies, according to new research. Almost half the shortage was in Africa, where nine in 10 women lived in a country without enough midwives, the researchers said. Continue reading...

We are in 1942 Stuttgart – though the sight of modern wheelie bins says otherwise – as a woman at a facility dedicated to breeding Aryan babies tries to smuggle two Jewish children to safety This second world war-set drama should not be confused with a famous unrealised film project of similar name. That one is the Holocaust-themed feature based on the novel Wartime Lies by Louis Begley that Stanley Kubrick tinkered with for years before finally abandoning; Suspiria director Luca Guadagnino is now rumoured to be trying to get it off the ground. Like the Kubrick/Guadagnino, this Aryan Papers, written and directed by ultra-low-budget film-maker Danny Patrick (The Film Festival, The Irish Connection), takes its name from the Nazi-issued certificate, also known as the Ariernachweis, which people were compelled to carry during those dark times to prove they weren’t Jews, Roma or from another persecuted minority. Apparently, Kubrick abandoned his Aryan Papers in part because he feared it wouldn’t do as well at the box office if it came out after Schindler’s List – just as Full Metal Jacket appeared to have been eclipsed by Platoon. Fortunately for Guadagnino, no matter if and when his Aryan Papers comes out, he will have little to worry about with regards to Patrick’s film, a work that with any luck will be forgotten by next week. Like the embarrassingly bad comedy The Film Festival (AKA The Worst Film Festival Ever), this is a shockingly poor effort on just about every level, from the inept, back-of-a-beer-mat script, the lazy use of obviously not-German, non-period-proofed locations (a modern plastic wheelie bin is visible in several shots), to the frankly insultingly bad acting throughout. Continue reading...