The first time Yvonne met Gary Rogers he arrived at her house in a shiny black Range Rover smelling of Armani Code perfume, with neatly gelled silver hair. It was August 2017, and Yvonne’s ex-husband had suggested she ask the motor dealer, known locally as the “Jag man”, to fix her car. Yvonne* says their … Read more
The captain of the Russian container ship that crashed into a US oil tanker in the North Sea, killing a crew member, has appeared in court. Vladimir Motin of Primorsky, St Petersburg, in Russia was charged with gross negligence manslaughter over the collision earlier this week. Motin, 59, appeared at Hull magistrates court on Saturday … Read more
The red tape of government bureaucracy spans more than 4,000 years, according to new finds from the cradle of the world’s civilisations, Mesopotamia. Hundreds of administrative tablets – the earliest physical evidence of the first empire in recorded history – have been discovered by archaeologists from the British Museum and Iraq. These texts detail the … Read more
The British Council has been accused of exploiting hundreds of agency teachers on zero-hour contracts forced to compete for lessons in a “feeding frenzy” every week. An open letter from teaching staff reveals the prestigious government-funded public body does not offer regular hours to tutors on its popular English Online platform, which provides lessons to … Read more
When the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, resigned in early January, after months of pressure to quit, the approval ratings of the progressive firebrand had dropped from their peak of 65% in September 2016 to 22%. At the end of last year, the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, described by many as “Trump Lite”, was the … Read more
Five people have been charged after a 40-year-old woman was shot dead in south Wales last week. Joanne Penney died at a block of flats in Talbot Green, near Pontyclun, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, on Sunday. South Wales police said they had charged two women and three men, who will appear at Cardiff magistrates court … Read more
A bin collection strike in Birmingham could lead to rats thriving on a “banquet” of food waste and pose a public health danger, pest controllers have said. About 400 council bin workers in Birmingham began an indefinite strike on Tuesday as part of a dispute over pay and conditions. The trade union Unite has argued … Read more
The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has joined those criticising the government’s proposed benefit cuts, as he accused ministers of lacking empathy and understanding over the proposed changes. McDonnell, who sits as an independent MP after losing the Labour whip over a previous benefits vote, said he was surprised at how poorly Keir Starmer’s government … Read more
A devoted investor in Elon Musk’s Tesla – and once a close childhood friend of the US president’s eldest son and namesake – says he hopes the world’s richest man’s role in cutting federal spending for Donald Trump’s administration is “short-lived” and that he returns to managing his businesses. Investment manager Christopher Tsai, whose firm … Read more
Sipping tea on an unusually warm February afternoon on his veranda that overlooked the small Alawite village of Arza, north-west Syria, Mohammed Abdullah al-Ismaili said he trusted the new Syrian authorities to keep him safe. “We believe what [interim Syrian president Ahmed] al-Sharaa says, but the problem is these unknown groups,” the 62-year-old official in … Read more