Labour must stop channelling Reform and unite with progressives. That’s the lesson from Gorton and Denton | Sadiq Khan

Labour must stop channelling Reform and unite with progressives. That’s the lesson from Gorton and Denton | Sadiq Khan

The threat to the party in some parts of our country is now existential. But we can progress, as we have in London, by being bold and strong in our core beliefs Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London Attacking Greens is ‘flawed strategy’ There’s no sugar-coating what happened in the byelection in Gorton and Denton – it’s a terrible result for Labour, coming third in a seat we had held for nearly a century. People often exaggerate the significance of byelection results, but this one does speak to a far-reaching change and fracturing in our politics, which cannot be ignored or wished away. A political strategy of taking liberal, progressive voters for granted is clearly flawed. The national Labour party and government doesn’t just need to reflect on this result, but fundamentally rethink its approach. Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London Continue reading...

Labour must cease taking progressive voters for granted, says Sadiq Khan

Labour must cease taking progressive voters for granted, says Sadiq Khan

London mayor criticises PM for calling Greens ‘extreme’ after Gorton and Denton loss, saying it is a ‘flawed strategy’ Sadiq Khan: ‘Labour must stop channelling Reform and unite with progressives. That’s the byelection’s lesson’ The mayor of London has said the Gorton and Denton byelection has exposed a “far-reaching change and fracturing” in UK politics and Labour must ditch its “flawed strategy” of taking liberal progressives for granted. In what appears to be an attack on Keir Starmer, Sadiq Khan challenged the prime minister’s branding of the Green party and its policies as “extreme”, saying many of its supporters shared Labour’s values but were disappointed in the government. Continue reading...

The best theatre to stream this month: a decade of Dom Coyote’s spellbinding stage music

The best theatre to stream this month: a decade of Dom Coyote’s spellbinding stage music

The composer’s new album features tracks from Hamlet and Everyman, while The Importance of Being Earnest with Ncuti Gatwa has a free week on YouTube Dom Coyote says “electronics, acoustics, voice and story collide” in his compositions for theatre. His new album spans 10 years of work and includes music from productions of Dawn King’s Addictive Beat (the ethereal, insistent Sleep Dancers), Carol Ann Duffy’s Everyman (What’s God Like, a Jacob’s Ladder-inspired loop) and Jude Christian’s Hamlet (the initially chilly Ophelia, which warms up with sounds of the natural world). It’s spellbinding stuff – available on Bandcamp . Continue reading...

My best friend’s ex is turning my partner against her. How can we heal our friendship group? | Annalisa Barbieri

My best friend’s ex is turning my partner against her. How can we heal our friendship group? | Annalisa Barbieri

Things will get better in time, but it’s not your responsibility to resolve this I’ve been best friends with Ellie [all names have been changed] for more than half my life. She’s truly one of the best friends I’ve ever had. I started dating Will three years ago, and we have a good relationship. Ellie was in a long-term relationship with Tim for five years, and for two of those years the four of us were a little friendship group. S ix months ago, Ellie and Tim broke up, which really shook our group dynamic. Our larger, mixed-gender friendship circle has now split a bit into “boys v girls ”. I still see Tim as he and Will are good friends, but it’s awkward . The issue is that Tim has been confiding in Will about the breakup. Tim has a lot of anger towards Ellie and it’s causing Will to dislike her too. Ellie and Tim weren’t right for each other and probably should have broken up sooner. Ellie wasn’t a great girlfriend to Tim, but there was no cheating or abuse, just two people who didn’t work well together. Continue reading...

Breakfast at Pavyllon, London W1: ‘Does fine dining strictly have to wait until lunchtime?’ - restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Breakfast at Pavyllon, London W1: ‘Does fine dining strictly have to wait until lunchtime?’ - restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Now that gen Z is eschewing booze and all-night raves, are we moving into a hospitality era when the big posh breakfast might well be the main event? For 5am Club people such as myself, who love to be up, caffeinated and scribbling on Post-it notes pre-dawn, the Four Seasons’ recent launch of London’s first Michelin-starred breakfast is perfect. Now we can do all that over a £70, five-course tasting menu served at a counter in a genteel, pastel-shaded dining room. If, that is, you can get a booking, in which case well done; otherwise, you could simply sit a little farther from the counter and order almost the same food off the normal breakfast menu, only without all the explanations. Regardless, chef Yannick Alléno is clearly doing the world a favour by luring all of us early risers to one room and distracting us with lobster flatbread and a bespoke “amuse juice”, because we are clearly some of the most annoying people on Earth. Have you ever heard one of my bumptious 5.46am WhatsApp admin voice notes? Or woken, blearily, to the sound of me rearranging furniture or stomping at a walking desk ? People like me are a menace. We need to be contained so the polite world can sleep. Not only that, but, from a business point of view, the idea of offering snooze-averse diners pricey, Michelin-starred chia puddings is rather genius. We can now all meet and entertain equally up-and-at-’em colleagues over salted maple pancakes and fancy french toast. After all, does fine dining strictly have to wait until lunchtime? Perhaps now that gen Z is eschewing booze and all-night raves, we’re moving into a hospitality era when the big, posh breakfast may well be the main event. Continue reading...

Christina Applegate on how MS made her an ‘honesty missile’: ‘I won’t lie and say any of this is a blessing’

Christina Applegate on how MS made her an ‘honesty missile’: ‘I won’t lie and say any of this is a blessing’

When the Emmy-winning comedy star was diagnosed, her body started giving up on her. She writes about losing control, gaining weight – and refusing to be a ‘good girl’ In 2021 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. MS attacks your nervous system and slows down your functions – your respiratory system, your organs, everything. The disease eats away at all the things we take for granted. Some of us with MS have a raft of pain; some don’t. I have a lot of it. When I wake up, I often can’t get my arm to move far enough to grab the cup of water by my bed or my phone from its charger. I have infusions every six months to slow the disease’s progress, but those infusions kill all my B cells [a type of white blood cell that makes antibodies], making me prone to infection. My stomach frequently slows to a halt, leaving me to rush to the emergency room in agony. Most days, simply walking across the room feels like scaling a mountain. One of the worst side-effects of the illness is the exhaustion. It feels as though I’ve been on a three‑day sleepless bender – and that’s how I feel after a good night’s sleep. Hence all the time I spend on and in bed, snuggled up against my heating pad. On the back of that diagnosis and the symptoms I face, I no longer care what I say or how I come across or how it makes anyone feel. I don’t have patience for bullshit any more, for things that are meaningless or merely “extra”. And it’s not just because I’m no longer working. Sure, there’s no one breathing down my neck to represent their business or movie or TV show, things I’ve had to represent, usually willingly and passionately, for almost 50 years. It goes deeper. I’ve become an honesty missile. When your physical situation deteriorates, and your life shrinks to the size of a king-sized bed, suddenly all the things you thought were important shift, too. The truth clarifies, like a camera lens slowly focusing. Continue reading...

An ugly year for the Louvre: where does the world’s biggest museum go from here?

An ugly year for the Louvre: where does the world’s biggest museum go from here?

After a heist and the departure of its boss, the French institution wrestles with water leaks, strikes and much-criticised plans for a €1bn renovation Just over a year ago, Laurence des Cars, the intellectually brilliant (if famously prickly) former head of the largest and most-visited museum in the world, wrote a somewhat alarming note to her boss, France’s culture minister. Des Cars, who on Tuesday resigned as president of the Louvre , lamented the advanced state of disrepair of the iconic museum’s buildings and galleries. Continue reading...