If Richard III wasn’t a child-killer, he was just another boring medieval monarch
I can’t make my mind up whether to be irritated or amused by the devotion shown to King Richard III. His sorry claim to fame is that…
Britain must lead from the front on Russia
President Putin has conjured up a crisis in Ukraine which presents the West with only bad choices. Thus far we’ve avoided the worst outcomes, but the British…
Myopic politicians are wilfully blind to the truth about green energy
In June 2011, 18 months before going off to serve Her Majesty in another capacity, former energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne made a remarkable speech…
President Xi and the CCP may soon find themselves in hot water over omicron
King Canute rebuked his flattering courtiers by showing them that he could not turn back the tide. China’s leader Xi Jinping appears to believe that he can…
We have every reason to be hopeful about 2022 and the years ahead
If 2021 opened fearfully, with the public locked down in their homes to control a virus that seemed to have the entire world at its mercy, it…
Ignore the hysteria: 2022 will be the year we get back to normal
As is my custom, I will devote this first column of the new year to negative predictions: things that will not happen in 2022. First must be…
The disturbing truth about avocados – and other food swaps you need to make now
For climatarian Donna Collins, 38, it was a documentary that made her change the way she ate for ever. ‘It just highlighted how damaging modern farming is…
Death of the swimming pool – is it the end of another great British institution?
The tradition of going to public swimming baths dates back centuries. Roman baths provided the model for the bath houses that emerged in Britain from the 17th…
‘I embarked on the renovation from hell… then discovered I was pregnant with triplets’
Be careful what you wish for. When Amy Balfour and her husband Victor decided they needed more space after the first lockdown, they stumbled across a charming…
Why ‘conscious dressing’ is the uplifting secret to jazzing up your January wardrobe
Brora Fair Isle wool tank top, £115, and cord trousers, £159, broraonline.com; Jigsaw wool-blend bouclé Ember coat, £260, jigsaw-online.com; Dune Greatness loafers, £90, dunelondon.com; T-shirt, Alyson’s own…
Ian Maxwell: My sister Ghislaine subjected to outrageous six-month wait for sentence
Mr Maxwell said that his sister had been scapegoated for Epstein’s crimes and that her close friendship with the Duke of York had made her an obvious…
Finland says it could join Nato despite Russian pressure
Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö on Saturday reiterated his country’s right to join Nato if it wants to, in a dismissal of Russian demands for no further expansion…
‘We’re struggling to survive,’ say Lebanese being punished for drugs hidden in fruit
This struck a heavy blow to one of the few sectors of Lebanon’s import-dependent economy to remain productive. Lebanon’s beleaguered farmers – who grow citrus, bananas, pomegranates…
Polar Bears forced to migrate from America to Russia because of climate change
The latest data on polar bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea – which stretches across the top of America and Canada – shows a 40 percent population…
Eight incredible hotels to book for a wild adventure in 2022
The last two years have been frustrating for those afflicted by wanderlust. Jetsetting exploits have been possible at times, but a combination of lockdowns, closed borders, flight…
How our favourite holiday destinations changed in 2021
Tourism has proven to be a massive boon for the country – and helped with the protection of the gorillas. And the pandemic has not stopped development….
How the holiday island of Bali survived two years without mass tourism
“If the airport closes, Bali will die.” This dire prediction – uttered in March 2020 by one of the thousands of tourism workers who lost their jobs…
‘A spa detox week in Italy showed me that I do actually have a reset button’
“This is a load of tosh,” I thought to myself until the doctor told me that my biological age was nine years younger than my actual age….
The inside story of Dubai’s latest obsession
In winter, the heat is bearable, but it’s still more comfortable to cycle at night. As hazy wisps of sunset fade like glowing embers, monstrous dunes loom…
What Vera Lynn was really like behind closed doors
Above: one of Lynn’s sketchbooks from the 1930s. She was taught by Arthur Segal, a Romanian artist who fled Nazi Germany. His school in north London encouraged…
Clive Myrie’s New Year quiz: 100 questions to test the whole family
Hello and a very happy New Year to you all. I’m now entering my second year as the host of Mastermind and I can’t wait to meet…
The four best debut novels to read in 2022
CS Lewis’s adage that we read to know we are not alone may have become a banal observation, but being inside a character’s interior struggles while they…
Would Your Majesty prefer a beaver or a giraffe? History’s strangest diplomatic gifts
A Giraffe from the Governor of Egypt to the King of France in 1826 Giraffes were a popular diplomatic gift in the renaissance. Lorenzo de’ Medici was…
Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan: ‘This has been the worst year of my life – and the hardest’
“Sure,” says Dornan. “You wear it, and it shapes you, and colours you forever, to lose your mother at such a young age, and life will never…
How a 557,000-word, ‘woke’ Harry Potter fanfic took on JK Rowling
The magical world of Harry Potter extends far beyond the original books written by JK Rowling. With films, plays, spoofs, theme parks and more than a million…