Watch as Lorraine Kelly admits she was "terrified" after abseiling down the mast of a 25-metre mast on Friday (27 June), just weeks after the star’s keyhole surgery.
While Copenhagen’s fortunes grow alongside rise in Swedish commuters over 16km bridge, benefits for Malmö are proving less obvious
After 19 years of commuting to Denmark from Sweden,Helen Sjögren is so used to crossing the bridge that she identifies as Scandinavian rather than Swedish. The researcher at a Danish pharmaceutical company lives in the Swedish university town of Lund with her three children but has become accustomed to Danish working practices, and the idea of working in Sweden is now difficult to imagine.
“Because I’m Swedish, colleagues would expect me to behave like a Swede,” she said, referring to their reputation for seeking consensus. “So I would be seen as rude – too direct to fit in Sweden.”
The new Brad Pitt F1 movie offers a glossy exhilarating ride but its 1960s predecessor Grand Prix goes beneath the bonnet
‘Let’s try to get the season off to a good start, shall we? Drive the car. Don’t try to stand it on its bloody ear.”
Have you watched the movie? It’s about a rule-breaking American Formula One driver, the kind who blows past blue flags and crashes into his own teammate. You must have heard of it. They shot it in real race cars, across some of the most prestigious circuits in the world. It even had contemporary world championship drivers making notable cameos on the track.
England, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands are the teams to beat but the tournament in Switzerland will be incredibly tight
You only have to wind the clock back two full major-tournament cycles, to Euro 2017, and there were no fully professional women’s leagues in Europe. Thanks to increased investment in the women’s game, there are now more than 3,000 full-time female players across the continent, and that professionalisation is why my overriding feeling about this summer’s Euros is that the quality is going to be so much higher than we have seen before. And it will be so tight.
In Spain, England and Germany there are three strong favourites who are all capable of going on to win it and I would add the Netherlands to the top four. I was so impressed when we [the United States] played the Dutch in December. They will need everybody fit but, on their day, they are a top side. Beyond that, this tournament is going to show the prowess of the Nations League, which was introduced since the most recent Euros, and the impact that tournament is having on equality.
Saucy Books in London has become the go-to destination for romance readers – but fans say misogyny is stopping the genre getting the recognition it deserves
Whether you want a brooding billionaire, a queer awakening, a dragon rider (yes, really) or an old-fashioned enemies-to-lovers tale, there’s a romance novel for everybody at Saucy Books.
England’s first romance-only bookshop opened last week in Notting Hill, west London, instantly becoming a go-to destination for readers and turning into a meeting spot for like-minded folk to share their love stories.
In this week’s episode of TravelSmart, Independent Travel is exploring the Indian Ocean, diving into two of the most popular idyllic beach getaways: the Maldives and Mauritius.
The world has been too optimistic about the risk to humanity and planet – but devastation can still be avoided, says Timothy Lenton
Timothy Lenton is a professor of climate change and Earth system science at the University of Exeter. He started working on tipping points in the 1990s, making him one of the first scientists in the world to study this form of planetary risk. In an upcoming book, Positive Tipping Points: How to Fix the Climate Crisis, he argues the Earth has entered an “unstable period” but humanity can still prevail if we can trigger positive social and economic tipping points to reverse the damage that has already been done. On 30 June, he will host a global conference on tipping points.
“The kids are really not happy about it, because they have that last name. And so do I, legally!,” his co-starring wife Kaitlin Olson previously joked.
From Summoner’s Rift to Scotland’s other national drink, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
1 What is celebrated, mathematically, on 14 March and 22 July? 2 Which form of Chinese originated in Guangzhou? 3 Summoner’s Rift is the main battleground in what game? 4 What is advertised as “Scotland’s other national drink”? 5 Which archipelago is home to Norway’s polar bears? 6 Which activist was arrested in Rochester, NY, in 1872 for voting? 7 What was the first martial art to become an Olympic sport? 8 Which organ produces insulin? What links:
9 Dominic McLaughlin; Jamie Parker; Daniel Radcliffe? 10 Riviera’s second city; goddess of victory; Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight? 11 Star patterns; time travel in Hill Valley; piano; neo-Nazi code? 12 Lime Rickey; Arnold Palmer; Shirley Temple; Virgin Mary? 13 Political Wife (Sarah Vine); Politician (Rory Stewart) Professional Footballer (Paul Merson); Boy (Robert Webb)? 14 Ghost; Lordi; Pussy Riot; Sleep Token; Slipknot? 15 Ancelotti; Enrique; Guardiola; Happel; Heynckes; Hitzfeld; Mourinho?
Move over Julia Davies and Sharon Horgan – this devastating, ruthless sitcom is basically the British psyche on a screen. It’s just the medicine
I love watching real-life siblings on-screen. They bring a knotted history to every interaction, the way they look at one another, or don’t. They may love each other; they’re definitely stuck with each other. Daisy May and Charlie Cooper were the last to bottle such contradiction; I’m delighted we now have Such Brave Girls (BBC One, Wednesday 2 July, 11.40pm), returning for a second series, in which creator Kat Sadler stars alongside her sister Lizzie Davidson. Cattier than Longleat, it features some of the most savage writing on TV, and makes me yowl with pleasure.
It’s about traumatised women making terrible choices. Bear with. The ever-excellent Louise Brealey plays Deb, whose husband abandoned his family 10 years ago after popping to the shop for teabags. In financial trouble, she spends her time trying to lock down relations with drippy, slippery widower Dev, played by Paul Bazely, explicitly for his big house. Single-mindedness has made her grim, grasping and less maternal than a stressed hamster. Bad news for daughters Josie and Billie, who give off the stench of joint captivity, and have split into twin coping strategies: one depressed and passive, the other overconfident, bullish and equally lost.
As celebrations become more lavish, those invited face higher costs. Here’s how some people juggle spending and expectations
By the time Layla had paid for flights, booked a hotel, bought a dress and contributed to the honeymoon fund, her friend’s wedding had cost her more than £1,600 – and it is just one of three she is attending this summer.
With more couples planning bigger celebrations – often with multiple events, and with some away from home, guests are left footing ever bigger bills.
The vampire slayer’s tenacity and independence freed me from the judgment and violence of my conservative relatives – and now my mum appreciates me for who I am
I was 10, cross-legged on the floor of my parents’ living room in Newcastle, bathed in the blue light of a TV. The volume was set to near-silence – my dad, asleep in another room, had schizophrenia and frontal lobe syndrome, and I didn’t want to wake him. Then, like some divine interruption to the endless blur of news and repeats, I stumbled across Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show may have been barely audible, but it hit me like a lightning bolt.
Before Buffy, life was like a pressure cooker. I secretly yearned for a more alternative lifestyle, but even wearing jeans would have been a big deal in my family. I had an assisted place at a private school as my parents were quite poor. Mum would say: “If you don’t study, we’ll have to put you in the other school, and you’ll just get beaten up.” It sounds like fear-mongering, but she was right: the students in the local school were known to beat Pakistani people up every Shrove Tuesday. So I dedicated my life to working hard.
Music executives have condemned Irish rappers and Keir Starmer says appearance is not ‘appropriate’, but 100 musicians have signed letter in support
Kneecap will be taking to the Glastonbury stage on Saturday afternoon in front of a packed crowd eagerly anticipating what could be one of the most controversial sets in the festival’s history.
The Irish rap group are performing at 4pm on the West Holts stage, amid criticism from music industry executives and from the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who said it was not “appropriate” for the band to perform.
As white South Africans arrive in US to escape ‘unjust racial discrimination’, many progressives feel angry at Trump’s portrayal of them as victims
For some white Afrikaner South Africans, Donald Trump’s offer of refugee status in the US has been seen as a godsend. For others, it has provoked anger and frustration that they are being falsely portrayed as victims of a “white genocide”, 31 years after their community’s own oppressive minority rule ended.
In February, Trump signed an executive order claiming Afrikaners, who make up about 4% of South Africa’s population, or about 2.5 million people, were victims of “unjust racial discrimination”. The order cut aid to the country and established a refugee programme for white South Africans. The first group arrived in May.
Loyalists hope for boost after apparent victory, but political divisions and 7 October security failures still loom large
When Benjamin Netanyahu described the opportunities for peace that Israel’s successes in its brief war with Iran might bring, supporters took him at his word.
“This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm,” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said on Thursday in a pre-recorded statement.
The Prince and Princess of Wales sparked outrage by allowing their cocker spaniel to breed, in an age when so many pets need rehoming – but, says Charlotte Cripps, proud owner of a pedigree golden retriever, I wouldn’t let a nervous and leaky rescue dog in the house
For Labour backbenchers, the welfare rebellion was a triumph: with the growing possibility of this being a one-term government, and with little prospect of ministerial advancement, MPs have concluded they have nothing to lose by standing up for what they believe in, says Andrew Grice
Forever young Brad Pitt breaks all the motor racing rules, while the final series of the dystopian Korean thriller welcomes a mysterious new contestant. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
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