We were sitting under a giant sweet chestnut at the top of a steep field tumbling down to the River Dart, like a rivulet of mercury winding north to Totnes and beyond to Dartmoor, whose crooked granite tors look like approving thumbs. Greenfinches chirred and a song thrush went through its dial-up modem repertoire. A … Read more
It’s a safe bet that no leader outside the United States is following its current election more closely than Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy – and with good reason. If Kamala Harris wins the US presidential election in November, she will almost certainly continue Joe Biden’s policy toward Ukraine, but if Donald Trump returns to the … Read more
The US stock market has been on a tear over the past two years. The S&P 500 has increased by roughly 40% since Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021 and, along with the Dow Jones and Nasdaq, is repeatedly setting new records. Moreover, the dollar has strengthened sharply against every major currency, while the … Read more
Peva Levy, often called the “godfather” of Teahupo’o, has witnessed his home town change from remote fishing village to surfing mecca in a matter of decades. Levy was a child of the ocean. He grew up swimming and fishing and was one of the first to bodysurf the “secret” wave beyond the reef, a dangerously … Read more
The contest to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader may seem like an argument between corpses in a tomb. The candidates are yesterday’s rejects. Not even the hysterical headline-writers of the Tory press can bring themselves to hype the race as they would in the triumphalist years. The infantile tabloid screams of “Boris this” or … Read more
BBC The BBC named Matthew White as a suspect in the 1993 murder A suspect in the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence told police he had a “girlfriend” who was a child, but no action was taken against him, the BBC can reveal. The lawyer representing Stephen’s mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, says the latest findings … Read more
Almost two months to the day after she became stranded in no man’s land in Nicosia, Mimi wants to go home. In her case, home means Cameroon, not the Republic of Cyprus, which lies meters away, or any other place in Europe. “I’ve seen everything here, snakes, rats, you name it and now I just … Read more
EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Rishi Sunak has pledged to remain Conservative Party leader until arrangements are in place for selecting his successor, following the party’s worst election defeat in its parliamentary history. Here we look at some of those who might decide to throw their hat into the ring when the party’s leadership election gets going. Kemi Badenoch … Read more
Keir Starmer will promise to build enough offshore wind over the next five years to power 20m homes, by using taxpayer money to develop parts of the seabed owned by the royal family. The prime minister will announce details of the government’s energy generation company, known as Great British Energy, during a visit to the … Read more
When Paris’s gigantesque, city-centre Olympic Games opening ceremony begins on Friday night, with boats full of athletes gliding side by side down the River Seine in a configuration not seen since the days of King Louis XV, there is more at stake than France’s global image. The president, Emmanuel Macron, who has promised the Olympics … Read more