Documents released by Sage reveal bleak picture amid high number of cases of the Omicron variant

Aotearoa’s wild landscapes are world-famous but spectacular views are not confined to the walking trails – long-drop toilets also boast incredible panoramasBe it the crest of an icy mountain peak, the depths of the dense native bush, or the slopes of sleeping volcanoes, New Zealand’s wild and remote landscapes are coveted by outdoor enthusiasts the world over. But what really sets the country’s nature apart from the rest is what is at one’s disposal when nature calls – spectacular loos with views.These scenic spots – small, remote, and lacking in plumbing – are a curious quirk in New Zealand’s landscape, and offer up some of the best panoramas in the country. Continue reading...

Blast at branch in industrial area of city also leaves 16 injured as cause is investigatedAt least 15 people were killed and 16 others injured in an explosion on Saturday at a bank branch in Karachi’s industrial area, police said.A senior police officer said the blast at a branch of Habib Bank Ltd, Pakistan’s largest lender, could have been caused by a gas leak. Sarfaraz Nawaz also told reporters that the building appeared to have been constructed over a sewage drain. Continue reading...

Omicron cases are soaring, experts want curbs and Boris Johnson is dithering. Sound familiar?

The doctor turned comic and bestselling author on writing children’s books, hiding useful facts in disgusting jokes and how bad at Scrabble he isAdam Kay, 41, trained as a doctor and worked for the NHS for six years before quitting to become a writer and comedian. Both his memoirs, This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor and Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas, were bestsellers, with several million copies sold, making him the first author to have simultaneous No 1s for hardback and paperback nonfiction titles. He turned both books into hugely successful standup shows. Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas is touring the UK and a BBC Two series of This Is Going to Hurt, adapted by Kay and starring Ben Whishaw, is coming in 2022. He has also started writing children’s books, publishing Kay’s Anatomy last year and, in September, Kay’s Marvellous Medicine.What made you want to write children’s books?

A Peruvian author fears her adopted home is far from an apology for its Latin American abusesThe Plaza Mayor, where tourists gather to drink steep beers and feast on overpriced paella, may be better known. So may Puerta del Sol, where locals ring in the new year by eating a grape on each of the 12 chimes.But Madrid’s Plaza de Colón, a 25-minute walk from these spaces, has come to play its own special part in the social, political and historical life of the capital – and the rest of Spain. Continue reading...

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has declared a ‘major incident’ to help the capital’s hospitals cope with a surge in Covid-19 cases caused by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.Khan said the step would allow for closer coordination between different public agencies, after the UK reported the largest 24-hour rise in new cases since the pandemic began

Unearthed Oxford Union article by prime minister made passionate case for sculptures’ repatriation to AthensThe extent of Boris Johnson’s U-turn on the Parthenon marbles has been laid bare in a 1986 article unearthed in an Oxford library in which the then classics student argued passionately for their return to Athens.Deploying language that would make campaigners proud, Johnson not only believed the fifth century BC antiquities should be displayed “where they belong”, but deplored how they had been “sawed and hacked” from the magisterial edifice they once adorned. Continue reading...

Scotland Yard says 27-year-old held on suspicion of child neglect following blaze in Sutton will return to police station in JanuaryA woman who was arrested after a fire that killed four young children has been bailed.The 27-year-old, who was arrested on suspicion of child neglect following the blaze in Sutton, south London, on Thursday, will return to a police station in mid-January, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...

Games with bizarre rules played with our families during the holidays hold strong memories. Here, celebrities recall some of their finest momentsIt was the last week of my junior high school, so probably June 1974. After the summer I would be heading to senior school. The last week was pretty relaxed and one of our science teachers suggested we bring in board games and the like, since there was no actual teaching to be done. Continue reading...

UK stars Olivia Colman, Idris Elba and Benedict Cumberbatch are all in demand with US directors. We look at whyA sensitive, geeky youth, stuck on a lonely cattle ranch, might understandably yearn for a kindly uncle figure; someone to confide in, or be mentored by. But the companionship actor Benedict Cumberbatch offers his brother’s stepson, Peter, in the widely Oscar-tipped western Power of the Dog is a very long, precarious horse ride away from anything avuncular.In fact, Cumberbatch’s portrayal of the emotionally thwarted Phil Burbank is a study in twisted misery. In one early scene, Burbank notices some fragile paper flowers the teenager has made to decorate a dinner table at his mother’s canteen. But, instead of praising them, “Uncle Phil” is driven to publicly sneer. Continue reading...

The Doctor Who actor on her R&B obsession, the magic of Matt Haig and the Wagamama dish she has three times a weekMandip Gill, 33, was born in Leeds to a Sikh family and grew up on the estate where her parents owned a newsagents. She studied acting at the University of Central Lancashire and worked in theatre before landing her debut TV role as homeless teenager Phoebe McQueen in Hollyoaks. After leaving the Channel 4 soap three years later, she appeared in Cuckoo, Casualty, The Good Karma Hospital and Love, Lies and Records. Since 2018, she has starred in Doctor Who as the Doctor’s companion Yasmin Khan. Continue reading...

Traditional open-air singing and wassailing plans abound to keep spirit of Christmas alive in Britain this yearClad in mittens and bobble hats, carol singers are moving back to traditional open-air performance this Christmas in response to health concerns. A string of scheduled professional and amateur choral concerts will now take place outside, while many streets are organising door-to-door carolling for charity.Last year, group singing of any kind was deemed unsafe and, as Covid social restrictions return this December, singing alfresco has emerged as one of relatively few sanctioned communal activities. Continue reading...

Flower growers fear end of the UK’s £100m industry as Covid and border restrictions lead to lack of seasonal workersMillions of daffodil stems will be left to rot in the fields this spring, as growers face a critical labour shortage that they fear could spell the end of the entire industry.“If we can’t recruit more pickers, there won’t be a daffodil industry left. The situation is very grim,” said James Hosking, of Fentongollan Farm, near Truro in Cornwall. Continue reading...

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has committed thousands of dollars in support for the Tasmanian city of Devonport where five school children were killed in a jumping castle accident. 'I want to extend our deepest sympathies to the five families in particular who have lost those precious young ones and we think also of the families of the three who are still in a terribly critical condition,' Morrison said. 'We think of the entire community that is just heaving with sorrow.'

Lengthy tailbacks on M20 heading to Dover and at entrance to Channel tunnel follow change of rules on Friday nightA rush of passengers travelling to France to beat the country’s ban on UK tourists has led to a knock-on effect on freight traffic, resulting in long queues of lorries.There were lengthy tailbacks on the M20 motorway in Kent heading to Dover and at the entrance to the Channel tunnel on Saturday. Continue reading...

Lord Geidt asked what steps he will take after WhatsApp messages show Boris Johnson was in contact with a Tory donorBoris Johnsons’s adviser on ministerial interests has been contacted by a parliamentary committee over allegations that he was misled by the prime minister over the funding of the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.In a letter to Lord Geidt, the crossbench peer who took up the adviser role in April after his predecessor resigned, MPs ask what steps are open to him if he believes he was misled during his inquiry into the handling of the work at the flat. Continue reading...

Cases doubling every 1.5 to three days if there is community transmission but clinical severity of variant unknown

Dozens die after super typhoon pummels southern and central regions of the countryAt least 33 people have been killed in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, official tallies showed on Saturday, with a charity reporting “alarming” destruction on islands that bore the brunt of the storm.More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai ravaged the southern and central regions of the archipelago, knocking out communications and electricity in many areas, ripping off roofs and toppling concrete power poles. Continue reading...

Lord Dodds says UK ‘falling into line’ with EU and retreating from commitment to trigger article 16The government’s retreat from its hardline position in negotiations with the EU over Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland has elicited a furious response from the most senior unionist in the House of Lords.Lord Dodds, the former deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist party, has issued a veiled threat of “action” unless it restores the option of pulling the plug on the Northern Ireland protocol by using the article 16 process. Continue reading...

Shaped by her father’s early life in apartheid South Africa, the actor brings political awareness to all of her roles, from Black Mirror and The Morning Show to the new BBC thriller The Girl BeforeAs those of us who have spent more time than usual at home over the last couple of years will know, those four walls can be a sanctuary, prison or, at times, both. Beautiful, monolithic and eerily empty, the house in the new BBC/HBO drama The Girl Before is definitely both. “The house,” says Gugu Mbatha-Raw with a laugh, “is the real star.” At one point in the first episode, Mbatha-Raw’s character Jane appears to have developed an intense relationship with it, caressing its smooth stone and glass.In The Girl Before, adapted from the bestselling psychological thriller by JP Delaney, Jane passes a rigorous vetting process before being allowed to rent this minimalist dream home. In return for cheap rent, she has to agree to around 200 strange and stringent rules set by the architect and owner. “No books?” she says, incredulous, when the estate agent reels off some of the stipulations (no pictures, no ornaments, “no children, obviously”). Jane will be watched, her every move and metric monitored, even her moods influenced, by the technologically advanced house and its creepy creator. She soon finds out that she is the second tenant – and she makes a chilling discovery about the first, Emma (played by Jessica Plummer). Continue reading...

At this time of year, manufacturers have a few new tactics to get us to buy less for more moneyGetting value for money might not be your prime goal when buying Christmas presents but if you are planning to snap up chocolates or sweets for the ones you love, it pays to check what you are going to get for your cash. That fancy box or tub may come at a cost (financial and environmental) – and, contrary to appearances, it might mean fewer treats for the recipient, not more.We’ve all heard about “shrinkflation”, where companies sneak through price rises by shrinking pack sizes, but when it comes to festive confectionery, it’s important to be wise to the other packaging tricks that manufacturers and retailers maybe hope we won’t notice. Continue reading...

Minister’s comments come days after Boris Johnson warns Russia of ‘significant consequences’It is highly unlikely that Britain or its allies will send troops to defend Ukraine if it is invaded by neighbouring Russia, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said.US intelligence claims that Russia has stationed about 70,000 troops near the border of Ukraine and has begun planning for a possible invasion as soon as early next year. Continue reading...

This is the final episode of Red Summers, a 360 video series by artist Bayeté Ross Smith covering the untold American history of racial terrorism.After the first world war, Black laborers moved to northern towns like East St Louis, Illinois, trying to escape Jim Crow in the south. In 1917, members of the White American Federation of Labor went on strike – and the company responded by hiring Black workers.Angry white workers began attacking Black people in the city. Eventually this leads to white mobs firebombing houses with Black families inside, while others outside waited to shoot and kill them. Historians estimate between 39 and 150 Black people were killed in the East St Louis riots.Just months later, another race riot in Houston broke out after member of the all-white Houston police department arrested a high-ranking soldier in an all-Black army regiment – a group that had recently returned from war. Only the Black soldiers were penalized Continue reading...

The Pogues frontman on vanity, a horrible heckle and why he became a vegetarianBorn in Kent, MacGowan, 63, won a scholarship to Westminster school, but was later expelled. In 1982, he became frontman of the Pogues; the band’s albums include Rum Sodomy and the Lash and If I Should Fall from Grace with God. MacGowan co-wrote the song Fairytale of New York, which he performed with Kirsty MacColl; released in 1987, it remains a festive classic. He has launched his own line of merchandise on his website. He lives in Dublin with his wife, the writer Victoria Mary Clarke.Which living person do you most admire, and why?

One tray or pan is all you need for these three dishes: braised cod with winter tomatoes, fennel and caperberries; a baked basmati dish with lots of oniony punch; and parsnips roasted with black pepper and parmesanOne-pot or one-pan cooking is great for all sorts of reasons. Not only does it save on the washing-up, but it also leads to really tasty dishes, because all the different flavours have the time to come together and really mingle, rather than meet for the first time on the plate. Which makes it a win-win particularly right now, what with all the hosting we’ve got to come.UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from OcadoUK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado Continue reading...

Actor’s achievements helping others embrace deaf identity and pursue passions on own termsAmid all the noise, glitter and razzle-dazzle, the most iconic moment of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing took place in complete silence. The music paused for several seconds while deaf actor Rose Ayling-Ellis and her dancing partner Giovanni Pernice continued to glide elegantly across the floor.

In November, Guardian writer Tim Jonze joined half a million others taking part in National Novel Writing Month. Could he get to the end – and would it be any good?The story goes that Peter Cook was at a party in the 1980s when a friend came up to him and declared that he was writing a novel. “Oh really?” the comedian replied. “Neither am I.” Many of us think we have a novel inside us, if only we had the time to write it without work, childcare and Wikipedia articles about the world’s most unusual deaths getting in the way. Some of us even give it a go: painstakingly crafting 600 words or so, before tweaking it repeatedly, fiddling with the font for a bit and then throwing the laptop out of the window.That person was me. I could never get beyond a few hundred words because whenever I read back the faux-literary waffle I’d put on the page I’d think, “Well, that’s clearly not as good as Cormac McCarthy,” and give up. Earlier this year I took a sabbatical from work and decided to use that time to write a novel, seriously this time. I was amazed by how much I got done: I cleared out the cellar, sorted the garden and watched two seasons of Succession. But the novel never got beyond the planning stage. Clearly, I needed a kick up the arse. Continue reading...

If Omicron threatens to disrupt your plans, don’t panic – here’s a guide to making the best of it

He has made a career out of winding people up in everything from The Office to his Golden Globes speeches – but is the comedian’s bark worse than his bite?Ricky Gervais’s assistant leads me past a huge, empty room to the top floor of an office above a shop on a swanky London high street. Gervais is sitting behind a desk at his computer in another huge, empty room, and looks as if he’s just squatted the place. There is nothing that suggests this is his office, except for the branded mugs sitting on his desk; one shows his face, the second says Tambury Gazette, the fictional newspaper where Gervais’s character, Tony, works in his hit Netflix series After Life.As soon as he sees me, he swings his legs off the floor and on to the desk. I expect him to say, “Right, shoot”, as his fabulous fictional creation David Brent might have done, but he reins himself in. It’s 20 years since Gervais made his name with The Office, and it’s often been difficult to know where Brent ends and Gervais begins. Continue reading...

Daily infection numbers jump in North America and Australia, while French prime minister likens spread of Omicron variant to ‘lightning’

Readers are encouraged to donate via other means after annual phone calls to journalists are hit by rise in Covid casesThe annual telethon for the Guardian and Observer’s charity appeal has been cancelled due to the rise in Omicron cases and renewed advice from the government to work from home.The 2021 charity appeal is focused on the fight for climate justice, supporting four charities that fight to protect the rights and livelihoods of communities hit by extreme weather events caused by the climate emergency.Donations can be made online by credit card, debit card or PayPal, or by phone on 0151 284 1126. We are unable to accept cheques. Continue reading...

It’s been a year bookended by travel restrictions, but our writers still found plenty of fabulous destinations, both at home and abroadI spent September travelling around Sicily alone, mostly on foot, and I wanted to flop on a beach before going home. I settled on Cefalù on the north coast, because of its rare combination of sandy beach and medieval town – and it was love at first sight. I had heard that the tiny town gets unpleasantly packed in summer, but by late September there was just a lively buzz. Cefalù seemed a distillation of everywhere else I had been: Sicily in miniature. I gazed up at the mosaic-bright Christ Pantocrator in the twin-towered Arab-Norman cathedral. I came face to face with Antonello da Messina’s enigmatic Portrait of an Unknown Man, a masterpiece in the unassuming (and empty) Museo Mandralisca. I climbed La Rocca, a huge crag that looms over the town, to a fourth- or fifth-century temple and ruined castle. Continue reading...

2021 provided a glut of memoirs, deep dives and tell-alls about American politics in an age of Covid and attacks on democracy itself. Which were the best – and most alarming?If in recent years American politics books have been noted mainly for ephemera, in 2021 the winds of history began to blow open the doors – occasionally to devastating effect. The advent of a new administration loosened tongues and made documents more readily available as some sought redemption, justification or simply fame.Such books illustrate the truth that one cannot keep a thing hidden and generally share certain characteristics that convey the ring of truth. They report bitterly angry outbursts by Donald Trump, staff reeling from dysfunction, chaos and the pressures of a campaign in a pandemic. They frequently recount interviews with Trump himself. They contain sufficient profanity to make sailors blush. Continue reading...

Admirers of vilified aristocrat say they hope series will allow her to be ‘seen in a different light’It took the judge more than three hours to read out his damning judgment at the end of one of the longest, most expensive and toxic divorce cases of the 20th century.Margaret, the Duchess of Argyll, was, he declared with contempt, “a highly sexed woman” who was not “satisfied with normal relations and had started to indulge in disgusting sexual activities to gratify a debased sexual appetite”. Continue reading...

NSW’s 2,482 new Covid cases the worst total of any Australian state or territory since pandemic began; Queensland records 31 cases

US ‘deeply troubled’ by the bill, which tightens foreign ownership rules, arguing it will weaken press freedomPoland’s parliament passed a media bill that detractors say aims to silence a news channel critical of the government, in an unexpected move that will stoke concern over media freedom and reopen a diplomatic dispute with the US.Critics say the legislation will affect the ability of news channel TVN24, owned by US media company Discovery Inc, to operate because it tightens the rules around foreign ownership of media in Poland. Continue reading...

Rosie, 22 charity worker meets Ella, 24, civil servantRosie on EllaWhat were you hoping for?

Instructing our kitten to use the cat flap was hard enough … even before it was terrified by two foxes having very loud sexIt is a frosty morning and I am standing in the kitchen in bare feet, holding the door open for the cat. The cat dips its head low, studying the world across the threshold.“Faster, pussycat,” I say. The cat sniffs at the cold air swirling in from the garden, but does not move. I begin to close the door very slowly, in a bid to create a shrinking decision window. In the space of two months the kitten has grown into a tall-eared, spooky-looking thing that I sometimes find standing on my chest staring down at me in the dead of night, its nose a millimetre from mine. It doesn’t fear the dog or the tortoise, but it’s still pretty wary of outside. Continue reading...

Half of UK adults receive booster vaccine; Ireland will also face 50% capacity limit on events

Makeshift vessels got into trouble attempting to make crossing from France to the UKMore than 130 people have been rescued after their makeshift vessels became stranded in the Channel as they tried to reach Britain from France, French authorities said.Two navy vessels and two lifeboats brought the 138 refugees back to shore after authorities were informed on Thursday that “many boats trying to cross the Channel were in trouble”. Continue reading...

People left without basics such as toothpaste and sanitary products after Home Office axed supportThousands of trafficking victims who had government support payments removed in the midst of the pandemic are entitled to back payments that could run into millions of pounds, following a high court ruling that found the policy to be unlawful.Its decision came after the Home Office removed financial support in July 2020 for trafficking victims who had claimed asylum and were being accommodated in hotels. Continue reading...

PC Harry Chandler’s dismissal comes after chat found during IOPC search of another officer’s mobile phoneA Metropolitan police officer has been dismissed for using a racial slur in a mobile phone message to a colleague.The slur was revealed during an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) regulator into the sharing of photographs of the murder scene of sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman in Wembley, north London, in June 2020. Continue reading...

Critics describe Sunday’s vote as ‘illegitimate’ as Beijing tightens its crackdown on dissent and pro-democracy movement is wiped outDays before Hong Kong’s legislative council election, 15 months after it was supposed to be held, former legislator Ted Hui is on the phone from Adelaide railing against the government. In the southern Australian city he is far from the Hong Kong warrants for his arrest and instead in a place where, unlike many of his former colleagues, he can speak freely.“For the Hong Kong people there are not many choices now but to accept illegitimate elections. The parliament is going to be a rubber stamp for Beijing and this election carries no democratic element at all.” Continue reading...

The singer entered the plea to ‘avoid the inconvenience’ of a high profile court trial. Neither will do jail time or pay any finesBritish rock icon Rod Stewart and his son have pleaded guilty to battery in an assault case stemming from a New Year’s Eve 2019 altercation with a security guard at an exclusive Florida hotel.Court records released on Friday show that the singer and his son, Sean Stewart, 41, entered guilty pleas to misdemeanor charges of simple battery. Continue reading...

Sharon and Darren Greenham charged with manslaughter of George Arthur Hinds after blast caused by severed gas pipeA couple has been charged over the death of a two-year-old boy in a gas explosion.Sharon Greenham, 51, and Darren Greenham, 44, are accused of the manslaughter of George Arthur Hinds. Continue reading...

Social media groups are buzzing with display ideas, and one woman says she’s been ‘pandemic decorating’ since July

My mother, Clare Royce Spaventa, who has died aged 87, was an economist who worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome and then as a researcher at Cambridge University. When marriage led to a new life in Italy, she chose to focus less on her promising career for the benefit of her family.Fiercely intelligent, Clare was one of the few women of her generation to be admitted to Cambridge, where she read economics (1952-55). She went on to Stanford, then to work for the FAO in Rome around 1958, before returning to Cambridge as a researcher. It is during this second time there that, through Amartya Sen, she met Luigi Spaventa, also an economist. They decided to get married in great haste, in 1962 – there was no internet then, and phoning and travelling were extraordinarily expensive. Continue reading...