Maria Costigan remembers following the ambulance. It was weaving the same path as she was through Canberra’s suburban sprawl. It was a route Maria had taken countless times to drop in on Tara Costigan, the niece she loved like a daughter. Her sense of foreboding grew with each shared turn. The paramedics and Maria both … Read more
As England’s white-ball teams were letting go of the two World Cups they held at the start of last winter, Moeen Ali was the one guy acknowledging the need to start again. It was time for the next generation to step up, the vice-captain said with typical self-effacing honesty, and now, aged 37, he has … Read more
Our economy is broken. Our public services are in crisis, from the NHS to the dozens of local councils facing bankruptcy. Our industries are in crisis as infrastructure collapses, from transport and water to the electricity grid. From Port Talbot to Aberdeen, tens of thousands of workers face job cuts from an unjust “transition to … Read more
The back-to-school landscape is often categorised by celebrities humblebragging about how their bad grades had no lasting impact on their eventual amazing life. “I think of Jeremy Clarkson,” writes the head teacher author of Exam Nation, “ritually tweeting every exam season about how he failed his A-levels and he’s done all right.” On the one … Read more
It had been a sweltering morning picking cherries beneath plastic polytunnels in July when Ilyas finally lost his temper at the farm where he was working in Kent. “We could hardly breathe in there,” he said. “It was very difficult to work because the weather was very hot.” It was his first day harvesting the … Read more
The Venezuelan opposition leader and former presidential candidate, Edmundo González, has gone into exile in Spain, dealing a bitter blow to opponents of the country’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro. Early on Sunday, Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, announced González was on his way to Spain having boarded a Spanish air force plane in Caracas. … Read more
BBC The first passenger to enter the station, Amit Kumar, said he was “so lucky” A new £340m public transport hub has opened in the centre of Belfast with the start of bus services. Translink has estimated the new Grand Central Station will cater for up to 20 million journeys a year. The Europa bus … Read more
Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned in my life – certainly of those that apply to being a parent – is the need to give free rein to a child’s ambitions. My son has just turned six and, as with most kids, what he wants to be when he grows up changes with … Read more
‘Magical,” “special,” a “total badass”: step forward Kamala Harris, the 59-year-old dynamo who has rebranded her country at lightning speed, offering it up as a nation synonymous with optimism, hope and patriotism. For the rest of us, Kamala’s gift is her joy and vibrancy – and the way she is smashing it just months away … Read more
At Liverpool town hall on Tuesday, a public inquiry will begin into the tragic deaths and collapses of babies eight years ago at the Countess of Chester (CoC) hospital for which the former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder. One of the inquiry’s principal aims is to give … Read more