Tis the season for novelty hits, charity records and, now, songs about baked goods. But though everyone wants a festive No 1, they rarely stay up longer than the tinselFor a nation so obsessed with the Christmas No 1 – as much part of the festive season as overboiled sprouts and Lynx Africa – Britons are awfully sanguine about what they put at the top of the charts each year. Since the chart began in 1952, only 12 Christmas No 1s have had some clear and unambiguous connection to the season: two of them have been versions of Mary’s Boy Child and three have been Do They Know It’s Christmas?While we have our platonic ideals of what a Christmas No 1 should sound like – somewhere between Mariah Carey and Slade and slathered in sleigh bells – the history of UK Christmas No 1s tells a different story. The Britain reflected in our seasonal chart toppers is one that is nostalgic, silly and generous. And it is inconstant: at Christmas, Britain wants only something to make it feel good, and is happy to cast its December favourites aside the minute it’s New Year’s Eve. Continue reading...

Draft safeguards would mark major development in women’s rights as China faces calls for gender equalityChina is considering strengthening its laws on women’s rights to provide more robust protection against gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.The draft regulations come amid the rise of a nascent #MeToo movement in China, which activists say has been hampered by the country’s strict regime of censorship and oppression against all signs of dissent. Continue reading...

States call for the vaccine booster interval to be shortened as New South Wales records 3,057 new cases

When I was a child, my GP father took us to visit lonely patients in hospital each Christmas Day. I was so grateful to see the care he was given in returnMummy, when Grampy’s burnt will there be fireworks?” my six-year-old demanded. My heart sank as I realised I’d made a terrible job of explaining cremation. We were racing down the motorway so that Abbey and her older brother could see their grandad – my father – one final time. But it was only a few weeks after Bonfire Night. Abbey’s one frame of reference for setting people alight was the guy that had so enthralled her on the school playing field, going up in a blaze of sparks and cinders.As soon as we arrived – on an icy Christmas Eve in 2017 – the children stampeded into the dining room where Dad lay on a hospital bed being drip-fed morphine, yellow with jaundice and skeletal. I’d worried that the sight of him might frighten them. But no. “Grampy!” they squealed as they raced to his bedside. Abbey instinctively leant downwards to kiss his forehead, while Finn took the bare bones of Dad’s hand in the plumpness of his, and gently, tenderly, squeezed them. Tinsel and fairy lights twinkled around them. He was too weak to speak, but Dad’s eyes danced with pleasure. My heart cracked as I watched his face – so very gaunt, stripped bare by cancer – glow with an unmistakable smile. Continue reading...

Rebrand of Foreign Office’s development arm, seen as effort to rival China’s loans, will shift aid to private sector, warn NGOs and unionsThe British government has been accused by NGOs and trade unions of “chasing colonial post-Brexit fantasies” at the expense of the world’s poorest as they urge Liz Truss to keep aid focused on poverty reduction rather than geopolitical manoeuvring.In a joint letter to the foreign secretary, the group criticises the rebranding of the UK’s development investment arm, which will see the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) become British International Investment (BII) next year. Continue reading...

Tricked into boarding a plane back to Kigali and allegedly coerced into confessing, the high-profile exile faces 25 years in prison, but his family are determined to keep up the pressureThe children of Paul Rusesabagina, the imprisoned Rwandan opposition figure, are only able to speak to their father for five minutes once a week. Even then the Rwandan authorities listen into the phone call.Tricked into boarding a private plane in Dubai and flown to Kigali, the 67-year-old Rusesabagina – who came to international attention after his life-saving acts were depicted in the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, set during the country’s genocide in 1994 – was given what his family says was a show trial and jailed over allegations that he had been a founder and leader of a terrorist group. Continue reading...

The night of the party, I put my heartbreak aside. With nothing to lose, I walked up to a man and told him he was the most handsome one in the roomIn a warehouse in Ladywood, Birmingham, with a papier-mache spine down my back and breath like a dustpan, I walked up to a man and said, without any preamble: “You are the most handsome man at this party.”It was December 2004, the theme of the party was dinosaurs and, being a fan of puns, I had decided to go as a thesaurus. In my little room in Lupton Flats – the cheapest halls of residence at Leeds University at the time – I’d sat on the floor, beside my single bed, and patiently glued down layers of paper into a string of points. Reluctant to sacrifice my actual thesaurus, I had rooted around my reading list for another book, eventually choosing The French Lieutenant’s Woman. Listening to Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions and drinking PG Tips, it had taken me at least two hours to make the dinosaur spine, which would attach around my neck like a backwards pendant. Slipping it on and looking in the mirror, I wondered if anyone would even notice me. Continue reading...

An immaculate social satire featuring scabrous character studies, a murder-mystery and a shocking revenge scene

The foreign secretary, now chief negotiator with the EU, wants ‘a comprehensive solution’The UK’s newly appointed chief post-Brexit negotiator, Liz Truss, said she would speak to her EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič, on Tuesday amid renewed calls to rip up the controversial Northern Ireland protocol.The cabinet minister, who is also the foreign secretary, said she wanted to negotiate “a comprehensive solution” to the agreement, which requires post-Brexit checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain. Continue reading...

Cabinet Office can investigate ‘credible allegations’ on other gatherings, but PM says photo of staff shows work meetingBereaved families have accused Boris Johnson of showing “flagrant disregard” for the public as ministers struggled to explain the justification for a wine and cheese event in Downing Street at the height of lockdown.A Cabinet Office inquiry into other alleged government parties in breach of Covid rules could be expanded after the Guardian published an image showing the prime minister alongside his wife and up to 17 staff in the Downing Street garden in May 2020. Continue reading...

Japan has resisted calls for abolition of the capital punishment, and the latest executions are the first under the new prime minister, Fumio KishidaJapan has hanged three men in the country’s first executions for two years, media reports said on Tuesday, amid criticism of its use of the death penalty.The Kyodo news agency said the justice ministry had identified the men as Yasutaka Fujishiro, 65, who murdered seven of his relatives in 2004, and Tomoaki Takanezawa, 54, and Mitsunori Onogawa, 44, who were convicted of killing two employees of a pachinko parlour in 2003. Continue reading...

Statement came as CBS said Noth will no longer be part The Equalizer ‘effective immediately’ following allegations by two womenThe leads of Sex and the City’s recent reboot And Just Like That have responded to sexual assault allegations made by two women against their fellow castmate, Chris Noth.Cynthia Nixon – who plays Miranda in the series and its reboot – shared a statement on social media, signed by herself, Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie) and Kristin Davis (Charlotte). Continue reading...

Border had been set to reopen to visitors and visa holders coming from Australia from 17 JanuaryNew Zealand has announced a suite of measures to strengthen its defence against the Omicron variant, including pushing back the start of its quarantine-free border reopening to the end of February.

Calls for urgent aid as some residents remain without drinking water and food in the aftermath of Typhoon RaiThe death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has surged to 375 , as desperate survivors pleaded for urgent supplies of drinking water and food.The Philippine Red Cross reported “complete carnage” in coastal areas after Super Typhoon Rai left homes, hospitals and schools “ripped to shreds”. Continue reading...

British monarch will stay in Windsor instead of going to Sandringham as usual; European Medicines Agency gives green light to fifth vaccine

Following leaked accounts, union’s new general secretary says possible ‘significant loss’ must be investigatedUnite is launching an independent inquiry into how the building costs of a hotel and conference centre in Birmingham spiralled into a “potentially significant loss” for the trade union.The inquiry follows reports at the beginning of the year of leaked accounts seeming to indicate that the union had overspent on the 170-room hotel and 1,000-person conference centre. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson caught between scientific advisers and his sceptical cabinet over action on Omicron

Boris Johnson says it was a meeting of ‘people at work, talking about work’ during lockdown last yearThere have been a series of explanations as to why Boris Johnson, his wife and 17 other people were photographed with wine and cheese in the Downing Street garden during the Covid lockdown in May last year.Johnson’s spokesman on Friday, after sources told the Guardian and Independent about the event:In the summer months Downing Street staff regularly use the garden for some meetings. On 15 May 2020 the prime minister held a series of meetings throughout the afternoon, including briefly with the then health and care secretary and his team in the garden following a press conference. The prime minister went to his residence shortly after 7pm. A small number of staff required to be in work remained in the Downing Street garden for part of the afternoon and evening.As we said last week, work meetings often take place in the Downing Street garden in the summer months. On this occasion there were staff meetings after a No 10 press conference. Downing Street is the prime minister’s home as well as his workplace. The prime minister’s wife lives in No 10 and therefore also legitimately uses the garden.I think there’s a lot of exhausted people, and they, as people do in work, were having a drink after the formal business had been done.This shows colleagues who were required to be in work, meeting following a press conference to discuss work … It was not against the regulations for those individuals to have a drink outside working hours, but still discussing work.This is where I live, it is where I work. Those were meetings of people at work, talking about work. Continue reading...

Monarch moves traditional festivities for second year in succession due to concerns over Covid

Twelve kidnapped in October, including an infant and small child, walked hours by moonlight to safetyKidnapped missionaries in Haiti found freedom last week by making a daring overnight escape, eluding their kidnappers and walking for miles over difficult, moonlit terrain with an infant and other children in tow, according to the agency they work for.Ransom money was raised to pay for the release of the missionaries who were abducted on 16 October, but a dozen of them managed to flee, navigating by the stars to reach safety, Christian Aid Ministries said on Monday Continue reading...

First doses of protein-based Nuvaxovid are expected to be used in new year after European Medicines Agency gives go-ahead

Alaa Abd El-Fattah gets five years for ‘spreading false news’ and lawyer and blogger get four-year termsA leading figure in Egypt’s 2011 uprising, his lawyer and a blogger have been served lengthy prison sentences in a Cairo court, in a move that observers have branded a further blow to human rights.An emergency court on Monday sentenced activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah to five years in prison on charges of “spreading false news”. Human rights lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer, formerly Abd El-Fattah’s counsel, and blogger Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim were both sentenced to four years in detention on the same charges. Continue reading...

Schreiber was convicted last week of killing landowner and attempted murder of his own motherAn aspiring artist convicted of murdering one of the UK’s wealthiest landowners and attempting to murder his mother has been jailed for a minimum of 36 years.Thomas Schreiber, 35, killed Sir Richard Sutton, 83, in a knife attack at the multimillionaire’s country estate in Dorset during Covid lockdown restrictions in April. He also injured Anne Schreiber, 66, so badly that she remains in hospital eight months later. Continue reading...

New manager of the Ship Inn on small Cumbrian island will need to accept a few odd conditionsWanted: someone with experience running a pub, a love of isolation and a willingness to mark their appointment by sitting on a throne and having beer poured over their head.A council has begun one of the UK’s most unusual local government recruitment processes while seeking someone to run the Ship Inn on Piel Island, off the coast near Barrow-in-Furness. The downside might be the uncertain weather, or the isolation, or the long hours. On the upside, you can watch seals and birds, enjoy stunning sunsets and, if you have self-esteem issues, know you really will be a king or queen. It would sort of be official. Continue reading...

Proposal to UN for TDF troops to return to Tigray in exchange for an arms embargo on Ethiopia and an end to aircraft attacksTigrayan forces at war with Ethiopia’s government have pledged to withdraw from neighbouring regions in the north of the country in a sudden step towards a possible ceasefire after more than a year of brutal conflict.Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) outside Tigray have been ordered to return to the region in a “decisive opening for peace”, wrote Debretsion Gebremichael, the head of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), to the United Nations in a letter dated Sunday. Continue reading...

Free or subsidised antigen tests would send a ‘market signal’ to global suppliers, businesses say

The decisive victory reflects Chileans’ revolt against a threadbare welfare system and a society systematically stacked in the favour of the richAt the age of 14, Gabriel Boric – the great-grandson of a Croatian migrant and an avid reader of Marx and Hegel – formed a city-wide student union in the Chilean city of Punta Arenas.At 21, and by then a law student, he led a campus sit-in for 44 days in Santiago, Chile’s capital, to oust a senior professor accused of plagiarism and corruption. Two years later, in 2011, he was elected figurehead of a massive student rebellion against profiteering private universities, and in 2013 became a congressman for his remote home region. Continue reading...

US-born singer-songwriter Wang Leehom accused of infidelity and emotional abuse by Lee JingleiThe highly successful Mandarin-speaking singer-songwriter Wang Leehom has issued a public apology to his ex-wife after a high-profile family row that has gripped the Chinese-speaking world.In a lengthy social media post on Friday, Lee Jinglei accused Wang of emotional abuse, lack of care for his family, infidelity and solicitation of sex workers. Continue reading...

I rewatched Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s monstrous and lovable creation after my mother died in lockdown. The show gave me space to live and grieveFleabag isn’t really the person who got me through 2021. To confess the truth (and now the Hot Priest is saying “Kneel!” in your head, isn’t he?), she also got me through 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and half of 2016, when the show first aired. It’s been an intense few years. Which is precisely why only a show about a self-sabotaging, black-humoured, grief-stricken, sex-obsessed, charismatic and broken nihilist would do.However, 2021 has been different. It’s the first year I’ve rewatched Fleabag since my mum’s death. She died last June in the midst of lockdown. She had breast cancer, just like Fleabag’s mum, whose farts sounded either like “a door opening” or a “suspicious duck”, and who also died. My mum was ill – with a remission in the middle that was like the sun coming out – for eight long years. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s monstrous/lovable creation (whom she plays with such startling acuity that I actually felt betrayed when I discovered her own mother was alive) was my (evil) spirit guide through much of the darkness. Now she walks with me on this newly laid, even longer road through the wilderness of grief. I can think of no better companion. Continue reading...

Commissioner’s stance underlines difficulty of task facing Liz Truss as she steps into David Frost’s briefA senior EU official has said she does not expect the bloc to strike a migration deal with the UK because of disputes over the Brexit agreement.Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs, said EU member states had “limited” appetite for an agreement with the UK to manage asylum seekers and migrants, citing concerns over the post-Brexit trade deal and the Northern Ireland protocol. Continue reading...

Spokesperson says wine-drinking was within rules and it is impossible to tell if people were 2 metres apart

Meagre turnout for West Side Story shows that these days, the way to cash in on intellectual property is via sequels and rebootsSo far, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story hasn’t had audiences pirouetting and finger-clicking their way to cinemas. There are plenty of reasons why; the main one relating to a certain global pandemic. But one explanation that keeps being proffered is that viewers are simply sick of remakes – and it’s not entirely wrong. Hollywood still has no qualms about bringing back its vintage franchises, of course. But as the imminent returns of The Matrix, Scream, Top Gun, Indiana Jones, Hocus Pocus and Legally Blonde demonstrate, the fashionable way to cash in on a venerable intellectual property is to hire as many of the original cast members as you can and to pick up where you left off. Sequels are in; remakes are out.Remakes, lest we forget, were once central to the cinematic landscape – hardly more remarkable or disreputable than a new theatrical production of an old play. When The Maltese Falcon came out in 1940, it was the third adaptation of the same book within a decade. Some Like It Hot? Pinched from a 1951 German farce, which was in turn pinched from a 1935 French one. Hitchcock’s 1956 classic The Man Who Knew Too Much? A total rip-off of Hitchcock’s 1934 classic, The Man Who Knew Too Much. Continue reading...

Lawyers for disputed president, Nicolás Maduro, criticise overturning of appeal court decisionMarathon legal efforts by Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó to gain control over €1.6bn (£1.3bn) of gold reserves held by the Bank of England have come closer to success after the UK supreme court ruled that Britain unequivocally recognises him as head of state.Although the supreme court referred the case back to the commercial court to study the issue further, it added that it did not believe the UK court could recognise rulings by Venezuela’s highest court, the supreme tribunal of justice (STJ), which has already declared Guaidó’s efforts to gain control of the assets unlawful. Continue reading...

His ancestors were among the tens of thousands who left Croatia for Patagonia in the 19th centuryLike many in his home city of Punta Arenas, Gabriel Boric is of Croatian descent. His father’s ancestors were among the tens of thousands of Croatians who left their homeland at the end of the 19th century to travel to Chilean Patagonia in search of new opportunities. Many others sought fresh starts in neighbouring Argentina over the same period.Chile is now home to one of the largest Croatian diasporas in the world, with an estimated population of between 200,000 and 400,000 people of Croatian descent. Continue reading...

David Frost says his resignation as Brexit minister was over policy not Boris Johnson's leadership.In his resignation letter (pdf) Lord Frost cited two policy issues he said had prompted his resignation: Covid restrictions, and the 'current direction of travel' in terms of taxation and regulation, generally. But many commentators thought he was being disingenuous and that a dispute over Brexit policy was the key factor

Spectacular lava flow which drew hundred of thousands of tourists goes quite shortly after a record-breaking runAuthorities in Iceland have officially declared the country’s longest volcanic eruption in 50 years over. The spectacle drew hundreds of thousands of tourists to witness its lava flows.“It’s been three months since lava last came out, so this eruption is now considered over,” said Bryndís Ýr Gísladóttir, specialist in natural hazards at the Icelandic Meteorological Institute (IMO). Continue reading...

Gabriel Boric, a leftwing former student leader, will become Chile’s youngest president after storming to a resounding victory in a run-off vote against his ultra-conservative far-right opponent, José Antonio Kast.With nearly 97% of the vote counted, the 35-year-old claimed 55.8% to take a 12 percentage point lead over Kast, who quickly accepted his defeat and called Boric to congratulate him.

When you are an actor, you never say no to great work. But when I finally reached Accra, and walked on its red earth, I knew I would be back there soonMy Christmas memory begins in early summer 2004, on day two of rehearsals for Stuff Happens, David Hare’s brilliantly funny, heartbreaking excoriation of what took us to war with Iraq in 2003. I get to play Condoleezza Rice in Nick Hytner’s stunning production; Shostakovich, elegantly pointed chair action and top-of-the-range acting!Of-the-moment politics, while playing the thrillingly enigmatic “Condi” on the National Theatre’s Olivier stage, with an audience hungry for answers … heaven. Continue reading...

Judge says TV presenter proved Laura Murray’s post had caused serious harm to her reputationThe television presenter Rachel Riley has been awarded £10,000 in damages by a high court judge after suing a former aide to Jeremy Corbyn for libel.Riley, 35, the numbers expert on the Channel 4 show Countdown, sued Laura Murray over a tweet posted more than two years ago. Continue reading...

Leftist former student has vowed to unite country and tackle poverty and inequalityGabriel Boric has vowed to unite Chile, fight “the privileges of the few” and tackle poverty and inequality after winning a decisive victory over his far-right opponent to become the South American country’s youngest premier.The 35-year-old leftist former student leader won 56% of the vote in Sunday’s second-round presidential election, cruising past his ultra-conservative opponent, José Antonio Kast, who took 44.2%. Continue reading...

Pharmaceuticals firm says third dose of its Covid vaccine increases antibodies against variant by 37-fold

In this extract from his new memoir Devil in a Coma, the alt-rocker recalls how Covid-19 put him in hospital for months this year – and gave him a series of hallucinogenic visionsI had been feeling weak and sick for a few days and then woke up one morning completely deaf. My equilibrium shaky, and my mind in a surreal, psychedelic dream state, I lost my footing at the top of the stairs. Head over heels over head, I knocked myself out on the windowsill as I crashed down the narrow staircase at my house. Bang. My wife was out horseback riding for the day, and I came to hours later still unable to hear a thing, unable to move, two huge opened welts on my head and my knee not supporting any weight.For two days I tried to get from stairwell to couch, with no success. I could not move, nor could my wife support my 200lb body, so I lay suffering on some blankets on the hard floor. My ribs were cracked, my spine bruised, battered and sore, and my already chronically messed-up knee gone again, as if some tendons were ripped or a ligament severed. My leg was useless. Every attempted breath was a battle, no matter how hard I tried to take a natural one. Though I refused to go to hospital my wife finally called an ambulance behind my back and I was wheeled out of my yard on a gurney. I eventually ended up in intensive care, unable to draw oxygen, and was diagnosed with some exotic new strain of the coronavirus for which there was no cure, of course. I was put into a medically induced coma, none of which I remembered. Continue reading...

Thomas Hitzlsperger, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Roque Júnior are three of the 219 judges on the panel for our 10th listIt is that time of the year again when we prepare to present our list of the 100 best male footballers in the world. This will be our 10th list and notable football figures such as Luiz Felipe Scolari, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Roque Júnior joined the judges’ panel for the anniversary.Former players such as Javier Zanetti, Franky Vercauteren and Emre Belozoglu also join a selection of coaches, broadcasters, reporters, correspondents and editors from around the world to form a knowledgable and truly global jury. Continue reading...

A Catholic president, a cake, an inconvenient ship and a very clever tennis player: all this and more in trivia expert Bobby Seagull’s news quiz of the year• Try our kids’ quiz and bumper Saturday quiz, too Continue reading...

Former student leader Gabriel Boric claims 55.8% of votes counted to defeat far-right opponent José Antonio KastGabriel Boric, a leftist former student leader, will become Chile’s youngest president after storming to a resounding victory in a run-off vote against his ultra-conservative far-right opponent, José Antonio Kast.With nearly 97% of the vote counted, the 35-year-old claimed 55.8% to take a 12 percentage point lead over Kast, who quickly accepted his defeat and called Boric to congratulate him. Continue reading...

A Narrabeen woman has died after one of these severe storms delivered dangerous winds that felled trees and stripped roofs from houses

PM to discuss Omicron outbreak with premiers at national cabinet; refugee activist Shane Bazzi lodges appeal against Dutton; SA premier says state has ‘about 100’ new cases; Queensland records 59 new cases; no Covid-19 deaths in Victoria, 1,302 new cases with testing sites under pressure; NSW records 2,501 new local cases. Follow all the day’s news

Mass tourism had brought the archipelago to the brink of ecological catastrophe. Now Thailand hopes to make it the standard bearer for a sustainable tourism model as the country reopens to visitors after the Covid shutdown Continue reading...

We had been looking forward to watching unlimited television, but the set was on the blink. Then came a knock at the door …On Christmas Eve, a cheque arrived from our father so that our mother could get presents. She laughed bitterly and ripped it up.“But what will we thank him for?” cried my sister. Continue reading...

What a ride! The huskies and I were travelling as one – who knew such magical transport existed? More than anything I’ve tried, this experience has stayed with meI have a dream: that dream is to ride a dog like a horse. That isn’t possible. But I’ve heard the next best thing is possible, which is why I’m freezing in a field in Tewkesbury. Gloucestershire may not be Lapland but it’s where you can try mushing, organised by Arctic Quest. Single-handedly charioteering a sled powered by huskies? Sounds like a Christmas miracle to me. I gape in awe, as countless lupine beasts emerge from a trailer, yelping with excitement. It’s a few weeks before Omicron gathers strength, and I’m here for one last shot at feeling free.Vickie Pullin – a superb candidate for nominative determinism – set up Arctic Quest, and is a former world champion dog-sledder in four divisions, an achievement never equalled. (You have to be driven to get into husky sledding, ironically.) She has 36 dogs in total, all smaller than I imagined, total cuties with names like Azera, Frappe, Mocha and Cino. It would sound like a sitcom premise, were it not for Pullin’s no-nonsense demeanour. “The blue-eyed, fluffy husky thing? Hollywood PR,” she snorts. Continue reading...