
I remember him as a racist, obnoxious bully, and his allegation that other ex-Dulwich boys and I are liars tells me he hasn’t changed
The new year has delivered a new position from Nigel Farage on the multiple and detailed accounts of his alleged racism and antisemitism during his time as a pupil at Dulwich College.
We had outright denial when the Guardian first published its investigation. As further witnesses came forward, we had excuses: it was “banter”, there wasn’t any malice involved and any such abuse was never targeted at an individual.
Rickard Berg is a musician, music producer and composer
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Continue reading...My Flemish giant bunny loved chomping on carrots, computer cables and my skirting board – and being walked on a leash. When I suffered a medical emergency, she jumped into action
The first time I saw a Flemish giant rabbit was at TruckFest in Peterborough in 2002. Among a sprawling maze of stalls at the East of England showground, I was led into a tent filled with the biggest rabbits I’d ever laid eyes on. I’d never heard of Flemish giants before, but I knew then that I needed one. I couldn’t have predicted in that moment that one of these beautiful creatures might save my life.
Dory was a baby when I met her, but even as a bunny she was already bigger than most normal-sized rabbits. We brought her home in a cat carrier, but she soon outgrew it. By the time she was fully grown, she weighed nearly 10kg, and I was walking her on a leash like a dog.
Continue reading...It was only right that huge disappointments like Severance and The White Lotus went away empty-handed … but they were far from the biggest kick in the teeth – for UK TV fans more than most
To look purely at the winners, last night’s Golden Globes proceeded exactly as expected. Adolescence swept the board, because of course it did, for all the reasons you already know off by heart by now. The Studio was similarly successful, on the basis that it is simultaneously funny, about the entertainment industry and one episode was literally about the Golden Globes. All deserving winners.
But when you dig into the nominations, things become less clearcut. The White Lotus went into the ceremony with six nods, and came away empty-handed. Five of those nominations were bundled into just two categories – best supporting male actor and best supporting female actor – which meant that the maximum awards it could have won was three. But, still, to come away with none isn’t great.
Continue reading...From 46-minute jams to MTV video hits, here are the freedom-loving Dead guitarist and singer’s finest songs about ‘rainbows of sound’ and ‘enjoying the ride’
• Bob Weir, co-founder of rock group the Grateful Dead, dies at age 78
• Alexis Petridis: ‘Bob Weir was the chief custodian of the Dead’s legacy’
• Aaron Dessner: ‘I’ll never forget playing with him’
The Dead’s love for the road is in evidence on this segment from That’s It for the Other One, the four-part opening track of their second LP, Anthem of the Sun. A rare Bob Weir-penned lyric details the Dead’s youngest member being busted by the cops “for smiling on a cloudy day” – referencing a real-life incident when Weir pelted police with water balloons as they conducted what he took to be illegal searches outside the group’s Haight-Ashbury hangout. It then connects with the band’s spiritual forebears the Merry Pranksters by referencing Neal Cassady, driver of “a bus to never-ever land”. The song later evolved into The Other One, one of the Dead’s most played tunes and a launchpad for their exploratory jams – as in this languid, brilliant version at San Francisco’s Winterland in 1974.
Continue reading...We evolved to like energy-dense foods such as honey, but modern diets tend to include too much sugar. Here’s how to make sure you eat the right amount, at the right time
Sugar tastes great for good reason: we evolved to like it, back when honey was a hard-to-get, energy-dense treat and we spent half of our time running around after antelope. Now that it’s much easier to get and we don’t move as much, that sweet tooth is working against us: many of us are consuming far too much of it, and suffering from poor health as a result. But is there anything specifically bad about it beyond it providing too many calories and not enough nutrients?
“When we taste sugar, the body starts reacting the moment sweetness touches the tongue,” says Dawn Menning, a registered dietitian who works with health app Nutu. “The brain recognises it as a quick source of energy and activates the reward system, releasing the feelgood chemical dopamine that makes it so appealing.” Interestingly, not everyone tastes sugar in exactly the same way – in 2015, researchers compared different types of siblings’ perception of sugar and sweeteners, and found that identical twins were more similar to each other in their sweet taste perception than fraternal twins or non-twin siblings. They concluded that genetic factors account for about 30% of the variance in how sensitive people are to sweet tastes – but it’s unclear whether that actually affects how much we eat.
Continue reading...Part-time team’s victory over Crystal Palace caps phoenix-like revival after club was wound up and sold on Rightmove
When Macclesfield FC players return to their day jobs on Monday, the part-time squad of PE teachers, podcasters and property developers will add one more title: giant-killers.
The Cheshire market town club pulled off the greatest shock in FA Cup history, knocking out the Premier League team Crystal Palace and becoming the first non-league opposition to beat the cupholders since 1909.
Continue reading...‘Given he was sacked for his dodgy tax affairs, this was never going to happen,’ says source
Zahawi says he accepts that the Conservatives are to blame for some of the problems facinng the country.
Since leaving parliament, I have been reflecting on the successes and failures of my old party’s time in government, and I rue the timidity, even at times the weakness, with which we try to deal with the problems of the country.
My analysis is that a huge culprit is the over-mighty bureaucratic inertia that now dominates and runs the country, that has taken control of swathes of the economy and, with barely a shrug of the shoulders, restricts the individual liberty of each and every one of us.
So it is time for another glorious revolution to get us back to a fully sovereign parliament.
Britain needs Reform.
My own party, and by definition to some extent me personally, should share some blame for the continuation of the Blairite constitutional vandalism and our failure, to coin a phrase, to take back control from the rich powers of the unelected bureaucracy.
Continue reading...Ofcom investigating site under Online Safety Act, with a de facto ban among possible punishments
The UK media watchdog has opened a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s X over the use of the Grok AI tool to manipulate images of women and children by removing their clothes.
Ofcom has acted after a public and political outcry over a deluge of sexual images appearing on the platform, created by Musk’s Grok, which is integrated with X.
Continue reading...Government responds to Trump’s remarks and says it will work with Denmark to step up dialogue to ensure its defence through Nato
The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is to travel to Paraquay on Saturday to sign the controversial Mercosur trade deal with a group of Latin American countries this Saturday.
The deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uraguay and Paraguay was adopted by member states on Friday, ending 25 years of negotiation and months of wrangling with member states over the final compromises.
Continue reading...Internet blackout hampering efforts to verify if violent crackdown has blunted movement’s momentum
Iran’s foreign minister has claimed the situation in the country has “come under total control” as authorities carry out a brutal crackdown against the nationwide protest movement.
Abbas Araghchi made the comments to foreign diplomats in Tehran, without supplying evidence.
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