A vital part of Police Scotland’s officer training facility has been non-operational for at least a fortnight after serious safety issues came to light
Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications Vast swathes of Europe’s water reserves are drying up, a new analysis using two decades of satellite data reveals, with freshwater storage shrinking across southern and central Europe, from Spain and Italy to Poland and parts of the UK. Scientists at University College London (UCL), working with Watershed Investigations and the Guardian, analysed 2002–24 data from satellites, which track changes in Earth’s gravitational field. Continue reading...
The Daily Mail owner has the Telegraph titles in his sights as part of a long-held ambition to create a dominant stable of rightwing newspapers Waiting two decades for another chance to snaffle a prized business acquisition is a luxury not afforded to many executives. The Rothermere family, however, takes a more relaxed approach to time. While most business boards draw up five-year plans, the Rothermeres, having compiled a feared media empire over more than a century, are used to thinking in terms of generations. Continue reading...
Exclusive : Concerns over impact on health and environment, as well as £1.63bn in avoided landfill tax The UK is estimated to have at least 8,000 illegal waste sites, containing approximately 13m tonnes of rubbish, research has revealed. The scale of the criminal dumping means at least £1.63bn of landfill taxes have been avoided, according to an analysis of data from the satellite company Air & Space Evidence, shared with the Guardian and Watershed Investigations. Continue reading...
The online banker sounds concerned, as if he’s trying to keep me on the line until the ambulance arrives Certain contractual terms oblige my oldest sons to periodically appear at their places of employment. On rare occasions they both go in on the same day. On this particular day, my wife and the dog are also out. I’m alone in the house. I’m lingering over lunch – because, why not? – when my phone pings in my pocket. It’s a text from my bank. Continue reading...
Woman cancels all benefits including disability living allowance for daughter after policy change announcement A low-paid carer from Ghana has cancelled all the benefits she is legally entitled to, including the disability allowance one of her children receives, owing to fears about her immigration status after the policy changes announced by the home secretary. The radical changes to legal migration announced by Shabana Mahmood on 20 November will penalise those who are living and working legally in the UK, but who claim benefits. Continue reading...
Councils consult on removing former prince’s name as residents report ‘embarrassment’ and ‘smirks’ when giving their addresses Streets named after Andrew, formerly known as Prince but now plain Mountbatten-Windsor, can be found from Broadstairs to Belfast to Birmingham. Roads, avenues, terraces, lanes, crescents, closes, drives and ways are all afflicted – to the dismay of some residents. In Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, Prince Andrew Way, celebrating Mountbatten-Windsor’s 1986 marriage to Sarah Ferguson, will be purged after Mid and East Antrim council passed a motion, described by one councillor as “sad but necessary”, to rename. A public consultation is under way. Continue reading...
Methanol, a cheap relative of ethanol, is entering the supply chain, causing thousands of deaths around the world For Bethany Clarke, poison tasted like nothing. There was no bitter aftertaste, no astringent sting at the back of the tongue. If anything, she thought in passing, the free shots she and her friends were drinking at a hostel bar in Laos had probably been watered down – she wasn’t detecting a strong vodka flavour through the veil of Sprite she had mixed it with. All in all, Clarke remembers drinking about five of those shots, sitting with her best friend, Simone White, and a crowd of others at the hostel’s happy hour. CCTV footage shows the group laughing in the warm air of the open bar in the town of Vang Vieng, green and red lights dancing over their shoulders. Continue reading...
Endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, suicide and gaslighting … they are all laid bare on the singer-writer’s new album. But just as she finished recording it, she got a shock diagnosis. She explains why it’s made her determined to be in the moment You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler having struggled to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she went public , and in early July she had a mastectomy. Continue reading...
The supernatural drama inches closer to the end, while Ethan Hawke fully encapsulates Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s Broadway breakup drama. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews Continue reading...
Sydney Sweeney as you’ve never seen her before – genuinely – in a boxing biopic, and the godfather of grunge revisits his dark stuff Christy Out now Based on the life of the American boxer Christy Martin (nickname: the Coal Miner’s Daughter), this sports drama sees Sydney Sweeney Set aside her conventionally feminine America’s sweetheart aesthetic and don the mouth guard and gloves of a professional fighter. Continue reading...
The ultimate home from home has plenty of inspo to take away to your actual home
Mairi McAllan told The Scotsman she is ‘front of that queue in the John Swinney fan club’
Joe Goldblatt once returned to his desk to find a swastika and an anti-semitic rant. Here, he argues we need to outlaw such hateful symbols and make a new one of peace and friendship
The author hugs her youngest son. The first time my youngest son headbanged, he was about three years old. He flung his head back so hard, I heard it thud from the other room. I panicked — rushed to him, felt the back of his head for a bump, and sure enough, found it. I grabbed a flashlight, checked his pupils for size and reaction to the light, and then got him into the car to go to the ER. I’m the mother of two autistic boys with different support levels. I have experienced meltdowns in all their forms ― the heartbreaking ones, the dangerous ones, the ones that test your patience and your strength. But you know where I’ve never seen them? On my camera roll. And absolutely not posted on my social media. Every time I open my explore page, I find a mom shoving a camera in her child’s red, tear-streaked face, repeating a phrase in an attempt to recreate a meltdown that just happened. While their child was in distress, the parent didn’t think, “ How do I comfort my child? How do I help them? How do I reach them?” They thought, “ How can I make this happen again to post it ?” One day on TikTok, I came across a woman who had set up her phone and hit record because her teenage son was having a violent outburst about wanting a preferred food. She calmly told him that they would eat it another day, and he attacked her. I opened the comment section, and what I saw was vile. Then I clicked on her page: five million views, the video pinned so everyone could see him like that. Another creator’s entire page is dedicated to her child’s violent outbursts. She has montages of him hitting her, edited to a cute little viral sound. I know how she handles her son’s meltdowns because she records them: She calls him names, she locks him out of rooms when he’s begging for connection, and shares intimate issues for shock value. Her follower count? About 700,000. Scroll further, and you’ll find videos of violent moments, bathroom accidents, overstimulation, panic and shutdowns. These and other parents insist they’re “educating” or “spreading awareness.” How we need to see the “realities of having a child with autism #autismmomlife.” But the internet does not need to see that ― and I certainly don’t. Those creators are blocked the moment I find them. Children, especially the autistic ones, cannot consent to being exploited like this. You do not need to broadcast your preschooler’s potty-training struggles or meltdowns to ‘educate’ anyone. Awareness does not require humiliation. Posting any child online is dangerous. With the rise of AI and the ability to track personal information through photos and backgrounds, children face risks they cannot understand. Autistic children are especially vulnerable, as many of them cannot advocate for themselves, as in the case of my youngest son, who is nonverbal. I protect my children from public scrutiny as much as I can. When my youngest has a meltdown in public — hitting, screaming, dropping to the ground and refusing to walk — I feel the stares and hear the whispers. But all my child sees is the same consistent mother he gets at home. Calm, steady, talking him through it, asking him questions. Even though I know he can’t answer, he knows I’m trying, that I’m there. My job isn’t to make strangers comfortable; it’s to make him feel safe. That’s the part that so many of these content creators miss — the quiet moments of connection, of choosing empathy over performance. Sharing autistic children’s hardest moments opens them up to peer bullying, future embarrassment and a permanent digital footprint they never agreed to. Even children deserve dignity. My oldest is 16. He was diagnosed at 13, and he would’ve slipped through the cracks if I hadn’t trusted my instincts. When he was a toddler one summer, I set him down barefoot in the grass, and he screamed as if it were covered in razors. I didn’t fully understand neurodivergence then, but I remember thinking, “I think he’s on the spectrum.” My youngest is five ― nonverbal, head-banging, sometimes aggressive — but he is also a brilliant problem-solver, affectionate and deeply loving. They both deserve privacy. When my teenager is spiraling with anxiety or pushing back emotionally, or when my youngest is self-injuring and I’m debating another emergency room visit, those moments are ours, not the internet’s. You do not need to broadcast your preschooler’s potty-training struggles or meltdowns to “educate” anyone. Awareness does not require humiliation. There are ways to uplift and support other parents, educate people who don’t have experience with autism and build community — without turning children into spectacles. Because those comment sections? They don’t help. They’re full of bullying, cruelty and armchair parenting that only teaches the world to dehumanize autistic kids even more. One mother who posts her child’s nighttime disruptions recently showed a therapeutic bed with a lock to prevent him from eloping. I made the mistake of reading the comments. Someone asked, “What if there’s a fire?” Another replied, “God works in mysterious ways.” What do parents really need? More support. More accessible respite. Affordable therapy. And more ways to earn an income — because so many of us can’t maintain traditional jobs when we’re constantly being called to the school for eloping, injuries, sensory overload or clothing refusal. If you want to spread awareness, show your children’s joy, strengths, quirks and accomplishments. Show that autistic children are deeply worthy of love and respect. I’ve seen beautiful accounts celebrating people with autism. Their humor, intelligence and unique individuality. Those are the stories the world needs more of. I truly hope that one day, autistic kids will be celebrated for these things, and not their suffering. Because awareness means seeing their full humanity, not just their hardest moments. That’s what I want for my boys ― and for every child like them. Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@huffpost.com.
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