Ukraine-Russia evening briefing: Five developments as maternity hospital destroyed
Good afternoon. Boris Johnson has condemned a reported Russian strike on a Ukrainian hospital as “depraved”, as he vowed to step up support to the beleaguered Ukrainian…
Australia floods: National emergency declared as delivery driver becomes latest to die
Accused of banning television cameras during visits to flood-affected communities in northern New South Wales, he said he wanted to protect the privacy of those he spoke…
‘We need chocolate for the children’: mayor’s simple recipe to make young Ukrainian refugees smile
For Uliana Popova, 40, keeping her two children’s minds off the horrors of their home in Kyiv is now a draining undertaking. Their flight from the besieged…
Screw removal allows US to send ‘classified’ Stinger missiles to Ukraine
The US military has circumvented security concerns by removing a handful of screws from Stingers, allowing them to send the antiaircraft missiles to Ukraine. The Biden administration…
Home Office staff direct Ukrainian refugees trying to get to Britain to a visa centre that no longer exists
One British citizen, Joe from Hampshire, who has flown to Poland to help get his mother and niece into the UK, said: “On the phone the Home…
Frozen in time: Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance found in Antarctic more than 100 years after it sank
“Without any exaggeration, this is the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen – by far,” said Mensun Bound, a marine archaeologist and the director of exploration…
Montenegro? The overlooked ski destination with hardly any tourists
Our goal after four leisurely hours on foot was Konoba Lipovo, a cheese farm run by Milijanka Puletić and her family, where we were served a mountain…
Finally, the death of Covid red tape on our holidays (if you’re vaccinated)
The last pieces of tedious Covid holiday bureaucracy are on the way out as Greece, Belgium and the UK plan to scrap their passenger locator forms this…
How the Caribbean’s ultimate playground for the super-rich is reinventing itself
Rosewood has gently refreshed the 66 bedrooms and suites, turning to the same architects and designers that originally created the hotel’s interiors, adding splashes of colour with…
The British golden age of cruise travel is back: Inside Cunard’s first ship in a decade
Cunard’s “outstanding levels of service” would be retained, Mr Powell insisted. “Everything is based on a foundation of Cunard’s White Star service, our signature experiences such as…
How bullying music fans made one author’s life hell
Ultimately, it didn’t really matter. Before I even finished my book, his estate – who I always hoped, and still do hope, would support the book –…
Russian World: the dangerous doctrine driving Putin’s destruction of Ukraine
The idea was taken up by Putin, who used it as an arm of his foreign policy from 2012. The Russian World, he argued, was a “family”…
The cloud hanging over Christopher Nolan’s explosive Oppenheimer biopic
“I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.” That line, from the epic Hindu poem Bhagavad Gita, was what came to J Robert Oppenheimer’s mind as he watched…
What has the National Lottery ever done for the arts?
Visitors to the Tetley contemporary art gallery in an old brewery in Leeds may not know it, but they’re benefiting from a scratchcard you bought last week….
What’s on TV tonight: Writing with Fire: Storyville, The Last Kingdom, and more
GrantchesterITV, 9pmThe seventh series of the whodunit begins in the hot summer of 1959, with the sultry temperatures driving Reverend Will Davenport (Tom Brittney) into throes of…
Thames Water refuses payout for sewage flood that left family in it up to their knees
Thames Water has denied compensation to a family left knee-deep in sewage when a burst pipe flooded their home, causing £30,000 of damage. David Benqué, from Crystal…
Wednesday morning UK news briefing: Poland’s ‘Rent-a-Mig’ plan rejected by US
The mayor of Przemysl sighs. What does he want more than anything in the world to improve his small city’s miraculous humanitarian welcome? “Chocolate,” says Wojciech Bakun….
£450m heat pump subsidy scheme could end up funding those who would have bought them anyway
Heat pumps can cost £10,000 to install – although manufacturers say these figures could be cut in half within the next few years – and can require…
The truth about why 1920s Irish rebels destroyed hundreds of country houses
On my first visit to Ireland, nearly 40 years ago, my future father-in-law drove me over to see Tudenham Park, a once-majestic Palladian mansion overlooking Lough Ennell…
It’s as if Sondheim is in the room with us – corny, but true
Few theatres can boast having had such a close and successful working relationship with the late Stephen Sondheim as the Menier Chocolate Factory. From 2005’s revelatory staging…
Why did we start treating Margaret Atwood as a prophet?
For decades, Margaret Atwood occupied a cosy place in the world of literature. She had a recognizable name, she wrote well written if not formally daring fiction…
A marvellous day of opera at St Pancras that never once hit the buffas
The comedian Frank Skinner talks of his disdain for the “oppressive twelfths” in our daily schedules, ie our compulsion to arrange appointments for times that end with…
The Scent of Roses is a drama whose narrative shards slide too tidily into place
Harris’s attempt to reflect the brokenness of the relations between and within her characters through the fragmented structure of her play is bold and clever, but it…
Damien Hirst’s hits look long in the tooth now, but boy could he churn them out
“Art’s popular,” Damien Hirst once said. “That’s my generation. It wasn’t before… Isn’t that an awesome thing?” Like a brilliant singer-songwriter, Hirst, always the most prominent of…
The lost female composer we should all have heard of
It began on Monday with a Composer of the Week (Radio 3, Mon-Fri) series devoted to a wonderful but sadly overlooked pianist and composer whose talent got…