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My life seemed to fall apart in 2020. But having nothing to lose meant I was free to pursue my passion Continue reading...

Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s comments come after Stella Creasy was reprimanded for bringing her infant sonMPs should be allowed to bring their babies with them to parliamentary debates, the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has said.In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, he said that it should be up to the chair of the debate to decide whether the presence of a baby would cause any disruption. Continue reading...

Leona Peach was reported missing from Newton Abbot area on 20 DecemberPolice in Devon are ramping up a search for a 12-year-old girl who vanished from her home eight days ago, missing Christmas celebrations with her family.Devon and Cornwall police said there were growing increasingly concerned for the welfare of Leona Peach, who was reported missing from the Newton Abbot area on 20 December. Continue reading...

One of the city’s most wanted, Peter Wainaina was given a second chance and used it to turn his life around and help others find different path out of povertyAt the entrance of Kibagare, a slum in Nairobi’s outskirts, boots of dead gangsters dangle from electricity wires that hover over ramshackle homes of wood and iron sheets.With little state protection from crime, angry local people will often take the law into their own hands and beat an offender who is caught in the act, sometimes to death. Continue reading...

As he releases new album The Boy Named If, the veteran songwriter will answer your questions on his decades-spanning careerNext month marks the return of one of the UK’s most enduring and versatile singer-songwriters: Elvis Costello, whose new album with his band The Imposters, The Boy Named If, is out on 14 January. Alongside the release, he’ll answer Guardian readers’ questions, which you can post in the comments section below.Initially rooted in the righteous anger of the punk scene and the populism of pub rock, Costello has been a fount of strident, melodious songwriting since his breakthrough in 1977. Oliver’s Army, Pump It Up and I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea are defining moments in the new-wave era, while ballads such as Alison remain equally celebrated. Continue reading...

Admirably uncompromising depiction of what may or may not be its hero’s subconscious is intensely realised but not all that much fun to watchBy turns fetid and febrile, pyretic and putrid, and all things hot and sticky, this unique avant garde work is the result of a collaboration between writer-director Stefan Lernous and his colleagues at Abattoir Fermé, a theatre company based in the Belgian Flemish-speaking city of Mechelen. It has a plot, of sorts: there’s a guy named Dave (Tom Vermeir, caked like everyone else in the film with white make-up that makes him look like a zombie) who looks after his family’s supposedly empty hotel, an elaborate set full of rooms encrusted with mould, grot and dead stuff, all of it in the process of mulching down into one sludgy, semi-organic mass. Perhaps the title is a clue that this is all taking place in some para-aquatic terrain, which would explain the abundance of tridents and fishtanks and other watery kit.Anyway, Dave is not entirely alone; this soggy hell has other people in it. There is an unseen neighbour who is watching some extremely noisy porn with whom Dave communicates via shouts. A young woman named Nora (Anneke Sluiters) who insists on renting a room; another husky-voiced woman (Ruth Becquart) in fleshy pantyhouse who complains that she’s bored with “fingerbanging” herself all day. Dave’s angry shouty mother (Tania Van der Sanden) is on hand, and Dave’s dead Aunt Lucy (Dirk Lavryssen) who seems to have died on a sofa some time ago, her altered state only noticed when Nora takes a closer look. Later, there are wild parties, autopsies in the kitchen, and a whole lifetime for Dave lived inside a glass case with a pretty strawberry blonde and a football team’s worth of ginger kids. Continue reading...

Home secretary tells officials to look at possible ways to strengthen controls on weapons in wake of Christmas Day arrestA review into crossbow ownership has been ordered by the home secretary just days after a 19-year-old man was arrested at Windsor Castle on Christmas Day allegedly carrying the weapon.The Metropolitan police are investigating a video, which has been linked to the suspect, which appears to show a masked figureholding a crossbow and saying they want to “assassinate the Queen”. Continue reading...

After one too many rainy nights waiting for the bus, I decide to face my ultimate fear. Can I learn to drive, despite a disastrous attempt in my teens?It has been 10 years since I last stalled a car. I was 18 and drifting across several lanes of an A-road roundabout while my driving test examiner gripped his seat. It was my second attempt at taking the test and my brain had turned into sweaty spaghetti. As I casually cut in front of an HGV, the examiner gasped and demanded I take the next exit. I mirrored, signalled and manoeuvred, found a safe space to pull up, and promptly stalled metres from the curb.I failed – of course I did – and didn’t get back in the driver’s seat in a hurry. I finished school and went to university, always deferring the prospect of booking another test. Years passed, priorities shifted, and even though I kept telling myself that driving is a scourge on the environment, a decade of scrounging lifts from my friends and family has taken its toll. Continue reading...

Daily cases in Australia top 11,000 for first time; more positive cases after Sydney lab testing error; ‘sacred’ SCG Ashes Test to go ahead, NSW minister says; Queensland reports 1,158 cases, scraps day five testing requirement after Brad Hazzard criticises ‘tourism testing’. This blog is now closed

Licence application of Missionaries of Charity is rejected on Christmas day amid a wave of anti-Christian sentimentThe Indian government has blocked Mother Teresa’s charity from receiving funds from abroad, just days after it faced a police investigation for “hurting religious sentiments of Hindus” amid rising intolerance towards Christians in India.The Missionaries of Charity, which was started by Mother Teresa in 1950 and runs a network of shelters across India led by nuns to help the poor, was denied the licence to continue to receive funds from abroad, cutting the charity off from vital resources. Continue reading...

After time in a children’s home, then jail, I got a break that helped me turn my life around and become a writer. Shamefully, I am a walking, talking anomalyMy first time at rock bottom came early. I was an infant when my mum fled with me and my brother to a refuge, to escape violence at home. This period of fear was brief, but it left an indelible mark. The chaos and trauma from these years manifested in my flailing limbs during desperate temper tantrums, in which my mum would hear every epithet I could think of while her whole bookcase crashed down our stairs.For as long as I can remember, I have been told that there is something wrong with me, that I am different, naughty, need help; and that chemicals would make me better, make me good. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the medicalised term for my condition, which proved incompatible with mainstream schools, where pirouetting in maths class like a drunk gymnast was not appreciated. Continue reading...

From a factory in China to an English beach, rubber dinghies are acquired by people-smugglers to transport desperate people

Government struggling to persuade councils to find permanent homes for those who have arrived since AugustAbout 12,000 Afghan refugees will begin 2022 in UK hotels as the government struggles to persuade enough councils to find permanent homes for the new arrivals, the Guardian has learned.Of the 16,500 people airlifted from Afghanistan to the UK since August, “over 4,000 individuals have either moved into a settled home or are in the process of being moved or matched to a suitable home”, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Continue reading...

Owners worried about the climate cost of traditional pet food are switching to crickets, mealworms and black soldier fliesFirst there was recycling, then cutting down on flights, now feeding your pets insects is the latest lifestyle choice to help tackle climate breakdown.Environmentally minded pet owners are choosing to feed their animals meals made out of crickets, mealworms and black soldier flies in an attempt to curb the huge carbon emissions produced by raising livestock for traditional, meat-based diets. Continue reading...

From Morgan’s on-set wobbly to Meghan’s Oprah bombshell, TV prompted countless shocking moments this year. Here are the biggestYes, we have chosen the best television of the year. Yes, we’ve celebrated how great TV can be at its finest. But where were the prank calls? The flouncing presenters? It’s time to turn our attention to the shocking, infuriating and stupid incidents that plotted the way through our television year. Here are the most controversial TV moments of 2021. Continue reading...

The party is riding high in polls and could complete a seismic shift in Irish politics in three years’ timeJust 30 years ago the IRA was bombing Downing Street, launching three mortar bombs at No 10 while John Major presided over a cabinet meeting.In 2021, Sinn Féin, the political party associated with the IRA for much of the Troubles, has moved into pole position to lead the Irish government in what could be the biggest shake-up of the state’s politics since its foundation 100 years ago. Continue reading...

Author won the prize in 1985 for her first novel, The Bone People, which was described as a ‘unique example of Māori magical realism’Acclaimed author and poet Keri Hulme, who was the first New Zealander to win the Booker prize, has died aged 74.The reclusive writer, who won the prestigious literary prize in 1985 for her first novel The Bone People, died on Monday at her home in Waimate in New Zealand’s South Island. Continue reading...

No walk-in PCR tests available in England for a few hours due to ‘high demand’; French PM announces new measures

Unite union criticises ‘excessive’ figure while Labour says ‘Tory waste’ letting down taxpayersThe Ministry of Defence (MoD) has come under fire after revelations that it has spent almost £13m on hire cars for staff this year.A freedom of information (FoI) request by PA Media also showed that the Department for Transport spent more than £1.1m in the year to October, while other departments have spent tens of thousands of pounds. The total figure from responses to the FoI request was more than £14.2m. Continue reading...

Nancy Meherne is determined to keep surfing as long as she can ‘do a little jump’ to get on the wavesNancy Meherne lives a simple life by the sea, gardening and riding the soft, mellow waves at Scarborough Beach just a couple of blocks from her house.The 92-year-old’s now pumice-like board was made in New Zealand in the 1970s by a factory that churned out gumboots and other rubber and foam products. Continue reading...

Guardian Australia’s summer wrap of brilliant and juicy writing selected by our lifestyle editorWelcome to Five Great Reads, our daily summertime wrap of brilliant journalism and juicy writing, selected by me, Alyx Gorman, Guardian Australia’s sandals, sex and sandwiches editor.This has either landed in your inbox, in which case thank you for your leap of faith in subscribing; or you’ve stumbled across it some other way. If you fall into the latter category and like what you see, put your email in this little box to hear from me again.Sign up for Five Great Reads Continue reading...

No extra curbs for New Year’s Eve, with prime minister to put emphasis on personal responsibility

Porsche stopped on M25 so badly damaged its bumper was ‘literally bouncing out of the boot’A police officer said he was “honestly shocked” to see a motorist had driven for more than 30 miles along the M25 in a car so badly damaged its rear end was hanging off.PC Serge Hadfield, from Surrey police, stopped the car near Cobham on Sunday after a member of the public called the police. Continue reading...

Hunt Saboteurs Association accuses Avon Vale hunters of resorting to violence during Wiltshire eventClashes have reportedly broken out between hunters and protesters during a tense Boxing Day meet in Wiltshire.Video footage shared on social media appeared to show punches being thrown from both sides as mounted riders moved through Lacock village, near Chippenham, for the annual Avon Vale Boxing Day hunt. Continue reading...

Announcement that there will be no new restrictions in England before new year puts it at odds with rest of UK

Man, 19, held after sudden death reported at home in Livingston, ScotlandA teenager has been arrested after two people were found dead in a house in West Lothian on Boxing Day.Police Scotland said a sudden death was reported at a home at Raeburn Rigg in Livingston late on Sunday. Officers found a man and a woman dead inside the property. Continue reading...

Tehran is keen to verify US sanctions have genuinely been liftedAn eighth round of talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal has begun in Vienna, with Iran saying participants have been largely working from an acceptable common draft text and that its team was willing to stay as long as it takes to reach an agreement.The Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said he wanted the focus of the coming round of talks to be on how Tehran could verify US sanctions had genuinely been lifted. The landmark 2015 deal, from which Donald Trump withdrew the US, had lifted sanctions on Iran in return for controls on its civilian nuclear programme. Continue reading...

Student unions should keep their memory alive, writes Peter van den DungenThe ruthless campaign by the Chinese government to extinguish all memories of the massacre at Tiananmen Square has now resulted in the removal of the sculpture from the campus of the University of Hong Kong (Outcry as memorial to Tiananmen Square victims removed from Hong Kong University, 23 December). Since many of the countless victims were students, it is appropriate for universities elsewhere to ensure that their bravery and martyrdom is not eradicated from history.University student unions in the UK, not least at those institutions with many Chinese students, should keep their memory alive by renaming their building or part of it. This is what several did following the murder by the authorities of the black South African anti-apartheid student activist Steve Biko. The Steve Biko Bar at Bradford University closed in 2005 but the student union building at Manchester University (which has the largest student union in the UK) is still named after him. No doubt the chancellor of Oxford University, Chris Patten – who was the last British governor of Hong Kong – will be sympathetic. There is also plenty of space for the erection of a memorial near the Chinese embassy in central London.

The beloved anti-apartheid hero will lie in state for two days in Cape Town before a funeral on 1 JanuaryThousands of South Africans will pause to remember the anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Sunday aged 90, every day this week as bells are rung at churches across the country for 10 minutes at noon.Tributes to Tutu, described as the “moral compass” of his country, have poured in from around the world since his death in a Cape Town care home, as a series of events commemorating his life and achievements begin. Continue reading...

Some farmers see a vicious pest that should be shot on sight, others a native species that plays a vital role in Australia’s ecosystem.In one of our best episodes from the Guardian Australia Reads podcast in 2021, Adam Morton looks at the conflicting views of what to do about the dingoYou can read the original article here: ‘Dingoes were here first’: the landowners who say letting ‘wild dogs’ live pays dividends.You can find every episode of Guardian Australia Reads here, or subscribe by searching for Guardian Australia Reads wherever you get your podcasts Continue reading...

Masoumeh Torkpour, held since fleeing Iran in 2011, given accommodation in Melbourne hotel after being freed but told she must find new home

After easing of restrictions in mid-October, positive result rate hovered at 0.5% or below

‘Something’s gone horribly wrong with our son’, father reportedly says, as video appears to show figure talking about assassinationThe father of a man arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle allegedly in possession of a crossbow has reportedly said “something’s gone horribly wrong with our son”.The Metropolitan police are investigating a video, which has been linked to the 19-year-old suspect, who was arrested on suspicion of breach or trespass of a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon and was subsequently sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Continue reading...

Analysis: the Tories are arguing against further restrictions – but what do scientists think works best to prevent the spread of Covid?

Years of fighting mean children as old as 10 have never been to school. Khaled Ziad’s images document a generation whose entire future is at risk

Indoor and outdoor gatherings restricted in size with leisure facilities closing in several states

Spanish officials hail ‘historic’ deal to limit arrivals to maximum of three vessels a day at Mallorca portOfficials in the Balearic Islands will seek to limit cruise ships to a maximum of three vessels a day at its largest port, in a deal described as the first of its kind in Spain.The regional government said in a statement that arrivals at Palma in Mallorca would be limited when possible to three cruise ships a day, one of the vessels allowed to be a mega-cruise liner carrying more than 5,000 people, starting in 2022. Continue reading...

Body of woman believed to be in her 20s was found at property in Newham on Boxing DayA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the death of a woman in east London.Metropolitan police officers were called to Earlham Grove in Newham just before midday on Boxing Day following concerns over the welfare of a resident. Continue reading...

Exclusive: British cheesemaker says Brexit and subsequent trade deals have cost his firm £270,000A British cheesemaker who predicted Brexit would cost him hundreds of thousands of pounds in exports has called the UK’s departure from the EU single market a disaster, after losing his entire wholesale and retail business in the bloc over the past year. Simon Spurrell, the co-founder of the Cheshire Cheese Company, said personal advice from a government minister to pursue non-EU markets to compensate for his losses had proved to be “an expensive joke”.“It turns out our greatest competitor on the planet is the UK government because every time they do a fantastic deal, they kick us out of that market – starting with the Brexit deal,” he said. Continue reading...

Who released a triple citrous concoction at 50 East Ida B, Wells Drive? Who, following a repast of peas, fell asleep in a wicker hamper? Who followed Giggs and preceded Cavendish? Only 177 more to go, in the famously fiendish quizEditor’s note: the King William’s College quiz has appeared in the Guardian since 1951. These days, the quiz is no longer sat formally; instead it is sent to the schoolchildren and their families to tackle over the Christmas holiday. In other words, you are allowed to Google! However, the questions are constructed to make that a less than straightforward strategy. Good luck!General knowledge paper, 2021-22, No 117, sat by the pupils of King William’s College, Isle of Man Continue reading...

Law would have prevented companies outside the EEA from holding a controlling stake in Polish media companiesThe Polish president has vetoed a media ownership law that critics said was aimed at silencing the US-owned news channel TVN24.“I am vetoing it,” Andrzej Duda said in a televised statement, after the EU and the US heavily criticised the law. Continue reading...

Mudassar Kadir said ‘zero progress’ made since he and his family arrived at Dubai refugee centreAn Afghan former BBC journalist who managed to flee the Taliban has been stranded in a refugee camp for months because of delays to a resettlement scheme promised by the UK government.Mudassar Kadir* is the only one of 14 former BBC employees to have escaped Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in August. The other 13 remain in hiding in fear of their lives. Continue reading...

The British actor, whose messages to Depp regarding the latter’s wife Amber Heard were publicised during a trial in 2020, has commented on the processThe actor Paul Bettany has spoken for the first time about having the text messages exchanged between himself and Johnny Depp concerning Amber Heard read out at Depp’s libel trial.Bettany, who is currently promoting A Very British Scandal, told the Independent it was “a really difficult subject to talk about” and said he was concerned doing so would “just pour fuel on the fire”. Continue reading...

My tank was empty. No matter how much I willed myself to carry on as normal, my body and mind resisted. It was time to stop runningWhen my older brother died, the first thing I thought about was work. I had just moved to New York from London, so my family had to break the news over the phone, grappling with my grief while still sucker-punched by their own. But if you had asked me at that moment, I would have told you there was no grief.Instead, I immediately began thinking about which editors I was going to have to let down. What work might fall by the wayside for ever? I quickly calculated the upsides of my “time off”. At least I would have more time to spend on that long article that was due. Then I thought about going for a run. Or shouting at somebody. Mostly, I thought about getting off the phone. It was all an inconvenience. Had my family – always so keen to remind me of where I had come from and who I was never going to get to be – just passed on this news to ruin my day? Continue reading...

Boris Johnson likely to face pushback if he decides latest hospital data shows need to tighten restrictionsCabinet ministers remain sceptical of further Covid curbs as Boris Johnson prepares to receive his post-Christmas briefing on the state of the latest wave before making a call on additional restrictions in England.The prime minister delayed any new cabinet summit on restrictions until after his regular data briefing with England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty – expected to be knighted in the new year honours – and the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance. Continue reading...

The Canadian film-maker died suddenly at the weekend according to his representativeJean-Marc Vallée, the Canadian director best known for his work on Matthew McConaughey drama Dallas Buyers Club, has died aged 58.Vallée’s representative, Bumble Ward, said he died suddenly over the weekend in his cabin outside Quebec City. His two sons survive him.Jean-Marc stood for creativity, authenticity and trying things differently. He was a true artist and a generous, loving guy. Everyone who worked with him couldn’t help but see the talent and vision he possessed. He was a friend, creative partner and an older brother to me. The maestro will sorely be missed but it comforts knowing his beautiful style and impactful work he shared with the world will live on. Continue reading...

Yury Dmitriyev’s term increased to 15 years on charges supporters say are punishment for exposing Soviet-era crimesA Russian court has increased a jail sentence for the Gulag historian Yury Dmitriyev to a total of 15 years on charges his supporters say are punishment for his work exposing Stalin-era crimes.Supporters say Dmitriyev, 65, is being targeted because of his efforts to expose the horrors of the Soviet era under Joseph Stalin. Continue reading...

Courageous and absorbing film follows three young men in the resistance movement in the Democratic Republic of the CongoChronicling what was supposed to be the final chapter of Joseph Kabila’s presidency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this is a stark and gripping portrait of a country in the throes of a major political crisis. At the centre of these monumental events are Christian, Jean-Marie and Ben, three young Congolese men who are passionately fighting for democracy, yet in their differing ideologies also embody the fractures that exist inside the resistance movement against Kabila’s unconstitutional clutch on power.Jean-Marie, who like Ben was once jailed and tortured by the police, has faith in UDPS, the opposition party led by Étienne Tshisekedi, and trusts them to call for a fair and legal election once Kabila’s term comes to an end. In contrast, Christian considers the UDPS’ peaceful approach to be ineffective compared with direct protests, which sometimes end in deadly clashes with the armed forces. Much of the film captures the raw energy of these demonstrations: choking tear gas; shaky, frenzied cinematography; the threatening sound of bullets. The frantic breathing of the cameraman is audible as he too runs away from the police. Continue reading...