It’s an arid and mysterious place, yet it’s precisely these charms that captivate visitors – and our writer

‘It’s a Marmite place, you either love it or hate it,” says the lady making us coffee at Ness Café, as we gaze across the flat, arid landscape that is Dungeness beach, a chunk of Arizona on the Kent coast. Certainly it’s not for everyone. Some find it too bleak, depressing even. Others lean into it, the endless stretch of shingle and the looming presence of a nuclear power station at the southern end that lends a distinctly apocalyptic feel. Throw in the surreal afterthought of a miniature railway that runs across the beach and there really is nowhere else quite like it.

The place has long been an inspiration for artists, photographers, architects and writers, drawn by the otherworldly atmosphere, the strange clash of styles and the shifting blue-grey light.

Continue reading...

‘Michelle’, a victim of coercive control, tells how she is still recovering after seven years of hell with an abusive partner. Why then was he jailed for just 30 months?

Robert Rawson, 62, appeared at Liverpool crown court last month to plead guilty to charges of controlling and coercive behaviour and perverting the course of justice.

In a harrowing impact statement, his victim, “Michelle” told the court that during their seven-year relationship, Rawson had put a tracking app on her car and phone, sending her dozens of texts and messages daily.

Continue reading...

Re-examination puts one of biggest #MeToo victories back in court as backlash against women’s rights unfolds in US

Harvey Weinstein goes back on trial in New York this week in a redo of the #MeToo -era case in which the disgraced movie mogul was convicted of sexual criminal assault in the first degree and rape in the third degree, but acquitted on three other counts, including the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault.

The legal drama begins with jury selection that is expected to last up to a week. It puts one of the biggest victories of the #MeToo era back in the courtroom just as a backlash against women’s rights – from abortion access to the rise of controversial male influencers like Andrew Tate – unfolds across the US.

Continue reading...

Trump ended the ‘de-minimis’ rule while launching a trade war with China – which will make retail giants such as Temu more expensive, experts say

After a chaotic week of flip-flopping tariff policies, cheap clothes from China are nearly certain to face a steep price hike soon – prompting concern among fast fashion retailers and potentially pushing consumers to look for other alternatives.

As part of a package of global tariff policies announced on “liberation day” last week, Donald Trump signed an executive order that ended a duty-free exemption for low-priced goods to enter the US from China and Hong Kong. Known as the “de-minimis” rule, packages under $800 do not qualify for any taxes or tariffs on the goods and are inspected minimally at the border.

Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says dozens killed on ‘ordinary city street’ while heading to church for Palm Sunday

At least 20 people have been killed and dozens injured after a Russian ballistic missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Sumy as people were going to church for Palm Sunday.

Two missiles landed in the crowded city centre. One hit a trolley bus full of passengers. Footage from the scene shows bodies lying in the street, burning cars, and rescuers carrying bloodied survivors.

Continue reading...

Straddle the seasons with warming beans and cooling minty ice

Easter, whether early or late, is the point at which my cooking changes step. The lidded earthenware casseroles are put away until autumn; the jars of beans in the larder are moved to the top shelf – almost too high to reach – and slow cooking is swapped for suppers that take a few minutes on the grill. The last few days before Easter is when I make a deep casserole of beans, onions and sausages – the final big casserole, with which to wave goodbye to winter-spring.

Of all the jars of beige pulses on the larder shelves, it is black-eyed beans which are the most infrequently used, though I’m not quite sure why. Much as I enjoy the slow-food ritual of soaking dried beans overnight and cooking them from scratch with bay leaves and onion, I am more likely to choose a tinned or bottled variety for a weekday dinner.

Continue reading...

• Updates from around the grounds in round two
• Get in touch! Email Tanya with your thoughts

The real Manchester spring closed in at Old Trafford, the floodlights warming up as someone pulled the curtain on the sun. Northamptonshire , delighted with the turn of events, just as Lancashire came out to bat, picked away at the red rose. With five overs left, Marcus Harris, who had batted like a prince for his 43, turned a half-volley from Raphy Weatherall off his ankles straight to Justin Broad at midwicket.
Anderson Phillip was drafted in as nightwatchman, lasting six balls, before being speared lbw in the final over to Calvin Harrison. Keaton Jennings walked off in the gloom, yet another fifty under his belt, but Lancashire are 357 behind and four wickets down.
Earlier, Northants had painstakingly reached their highest total here, guided by 95 from Lewis McManus and a highest first-class score of 56 by Harrison. Tom Hartley, playing his first match of the season, picked up three wickets in a long but zone-finding spell of 33 overs.
Middlesex had the best of the Division Two game at Canterbury, which is zipping along at a perky pace. Steve Eskinazi’s 57 plus an unbeaten 73 from Ben Geddes, dropped a couple of times along the way, helped them to a second innings lead of 226, with four wickets in hand. First-innings parity had looked in sight for Kent , but they fell just short when Kashif Ali was run out for 17.
The Yorkshire captain, Jonny Bairstow, declined to enforce the follow-on as they ten-pinned through Worcestershire at Headingley on a pitch that gave some joy to the faster bowlers. Worcestershire had made sedate progress through the morning, only to lose lost eight wickets for 46 in 25 overs after lunch, Yorkshire’s slip-cordon catching with velcro hands.
There were more runs for Jordan Cox, this time a crowd-pleasing 82 in a tightly-fought game at Trent Bridge. Essex closed 46 runs in arrears against Nottinghamshire , with Matt Critchley unbeaten on 50 and another half-century for Paul Walter, run-happy at the top of the order while Dean Elgar is on paternity leave with twins.
Sussex spun Somerset on a dime at Hove, a first Division One century from Tom Haines giving them a lead of 339 at stumps. Haines reached 99 with a straight six, his century with four sent back down the ground with a flourish. Somerset had recovered from 79 for seven thanks to an eighth-wicket partnership of 110 between Lewis Gregory and James Rew, who was stranded on 80 after Somerset lost their last three wickets in 15 balls. Sean Hunt finished with a career-best five for 48.
Three wickets for Dan Worrall, in the running behind Sam Cook and Chris Woakes for an England place this summer, helped give Surrey a first-innings lead at the Oval. Hampshire were indebted to a fizz-bang 37 from Kyle Abbott. After his bat-carrying century in the first innings, there were more runs for Dom Sibley in the second, an unbeaten 55, accompanied by Ollie Pope, who reached his half-century by swatting Sonny Baker for consecutive sixes.
There were runs aplenty at Bristol, Gloucestershire reaching 546, Glamorgan ’s reply was led by a half-century from Sam Northeast. Martin Andersson’s maiden first-class century helped Derbyshire out of a sticky situation at Grace Road. His unbeaten 101 from No 8 hauled his side out of the follow-on mire after Leicestershire had made 484.
A disciplined Durham bowling attack had Warwickshire in trouble at Chester-le- Street, until half centuries from Kai Smith and Michael Booth saved their blushes. Ben McKinney had time to pass 150 in the morning before he was caught behind, Warwickshire’s 18 year old Taz Ali then polished things off, finishing with four for 66.

DIVISION ONE

Continue reading...

In the court of King Donald, Sam Peckinpah’s flawed 1973 western finally makes sense to me

I first saw the Danish Dogme 95 film Festen in 1998 when I was 30. You had to go to the cinema to see films in those days, when small boys ran barefoot on a conveyor belt to turn the reels, and it’s possible I watched its depiction of a family torn apart by violence, resentment, alcoholism and sexual abuse in horror while crunching popcorn, eating hotdogs and drinking a big bucket of Fanta ™ ®. No wonder I was sick on the old Danish woman next to me. Luckily, in Denmark, being vomited on by a stranger is considered good luck, and we began a torrid affair.

But I watched Festen again in my 50s and found it hilarious, laughing out loud at its grim affirmation of bleak inevitability. But the film hadn’t changed. So what had the world done to me in the intervening years to make my sense of humour so black? Or had all that bacon and pastry I ate in the 00s somehow made me more sensitive to the Danish sensibility? Similarly, once I drank only Yorkshire Tea for a week and briefly became both resentful and ingenious.

Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf until spring 2026 with a Royal Festival Hall run in July. Sign up here to be kept up with future developments for ever

Continue reading...

What is happening is, quite simply, annihilation. Yet our politicians keep funding it and media outlets normalize it

Where do I even start? In recent weeks I’ve sat down to try and write about Gaza and, every time I steel myself to write about one atrocity, another atrocity is committed. Palestinian journalists have been burned alive , babies have frozen to death, medics have been executed and buried in mass graves, kids are being killed in their sleep. Meanwhile, in the US and Germany , speaking out about dead Palestinian babies can land you on a deportation list . Arguing that international human rights law should be respected can put you at risk of being snatched off the street and stuck in a detention centre.

I don’t know where to start and I don’t know what is really left to say at this point. After 18 months of endless carnage, it should be clear to everyone that this is not a war. That this is not self-defence. What is happening in Gaza is, quite simply, annihilation. A litany of genocide experts have stated this. Respected international organizations like Amnesty International have concluded that Israel is committing genocide – and yet our politicians are still funding this.

Continue reading...