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Chancellor mulls ANOTHER raid on holidays as ‘Airbnb lets could be treated as second homes instead of businesses’
The Government is considering taxing short-term holiday lets as second homes, meaning they could face council tax instead of business rates. The review follows concerns that some owners use small business relief primarily to reduce tax, while opponents warn the change could raise costs, reduce available accommodation and increase prices for holidaymakers. In England, holiday…
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TV tonight: more zombies get an ass-kicking in The Walking Dead spin-off
Tonight’s television highlights span returning dramas, comedy and unconventional factual programmes. The offerings include a new series of The Walking Dead: Dead City, Joe Lycett’s pub-based comedy, a cosy murder mystery and several season or relationship finales. Key details include Maggie and Negan’s renewed conflict in apocalyptic New York; a programme about affordable homes featuring…
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‘He was making history, not copying it’: the greatest Gordon Parks photographs
A new exhibition, Gordon Parks: Voices in the Mirror, marks the 20th anniversary of the Gordon Parks Foundation by celebrating Parks’s photography and wider artistic legacy. People who knew him, including relatives of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X and prominent artists and activists, describe how his images revealed the humanity of his subjects and continue…
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Wellwishers donate nearly £80,000 to devastated family of Noah Woods after tragic three-year-old’s body was pulled from pond
Three-year-old Noah Woods from Brantham, Suffolk, was found dead in Decoy Pond on Wednesday after going missing on Tuesday. Noah, who was non-verbal, partially deaf and awaiting an autism assessment, had run away from a relative near a playground and vanished down an alleyway towards woodland. The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of community support,…
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‘We demand the truth’: Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee lead calls for proof of life of disappeared Eritrean writers
More than 180 writers, including Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee, have renewed calls for proof of life from 12 Eritrean writers detained without trial since a 2001 crackdown on independent media. Organised by PEN International, the letter urges President Isaias Afwerki to provide verified information about their whereabouts, health and survival, highlighting the…
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Royal Society slams UK.gov science shake-up
The UK government has restructured its science policy apparatus by abolishing the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and moving science responsibilities to the new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), a move that Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, has condemned as “quite a big mistake”. Nurse argues that…
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Brit who has seizures since violent mugging now fights for life after having a fit during family holiday to overcome the trauma and smashing his head
Paul Grant, a 43-year-old British man, is fighting for his life in a Spanish hospital after suffering a severe seizure during a family holiday in Lanzarote. The seizure caused him to hit his head against a wall in his hotel room, resulting in catastrophic head injuries requiring emergency surgery. This incident is particularly tragic because…
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Two men throw punches at each other during flight from Bangladesh to London, with one man losing his T-shirt during the brawl
Two passengers fought aboard a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight from Sylhet to London after an argument reportedly escalated over seating. Video showed the men exchanging punches and grappling, while fellow passengers tried to separate them; cabin crew eventually restored order. The incident alarmed other travellers, including children and elderly passengers. One passenger’s T-shirt was ripped…
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Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? review – Jarvis Cocker’s wit and warmth upstage the hits
The film documents Pulp’s return to touring after a decade-long hiatus, featuring concert footage from two sold-out O2 shows in London. The documentary interweaves these performances with autobiographical reflections from Jarvis Cocker, archive footage, and interviews, chronicling the Sheffield outsiders’ unlikely journey from Cocker’s teenage ambitions in 1978 to their status as national treasures. Their…
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Baka Beyond: Sing the World Awake review – powerful Cameroonian vocals burst through fussy arrangements
British folk musicians Su Hart and Martin Cradick have released “Sing the World Awake,” their first album in 12 years continuing a 30-year collaboration with Cameroon’s Baka people. The project features field recordings from a new generation of Baka singers and is rooted in an ethical partnership that splits royalties equally and supports the community…