How Britain’s housing crisis contributes to its declining healthy life expectancy
I Wei Huang/Shutterstock People in the UK are now spending fewer years in good health than they did a decade ago, according to a new analysis by the Health Foundation. The UK now sits near the bottom of a 21-country comparison, ahead only of the US. A drop in healthy life expectancy is explained through […]
The king’s state visit was a success – but there is still a chasm to bridge between UK and US outlooks
As King Charles concludes his transatlantic travels with a visit to Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory, he can take pride in a job well done. His four-day state visit to the US – which concluded with a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery and a block party in Virginia – appears to have been a success. […]
The four-day week won’t happen overnight, but it could transform how we live and work
buritora/Shutterstock A century ago, the five-day working week helped reshape society. It was introduced at scale by industrial pioneers to address not only worker wellbeing but also economic pressures. US industrialist Henry Ford was among the first to give workers two full days off per week, 100 years ago this month. Ford suspected that giving […]
Buffy the exercise slayer: Sarah Michelle Gellar’s EMS workout trend explained
The actor performs pilates moves while wearing an EMS suit. StudioLab Images/ Shutterstock Actor Sarah Michelle Gellar, best known for her role as teenage demon slayer Buffy Summers, recently shared in an interview that she uses an “EMS suit” during workouts to stay fit. And she’s not the only one who has made this form […]
The Iran war has brought many old Gulf faultlines to the fore – and is creating new ones
Dubai’s port and airport plus some residential buildings and hotels were struck by Iranian missiles and drones. Maria_Usp / Shutterstock The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on April 28 that it will leave the global oil producers’ cartel Opec. Its decision is the latest sign that the war in the Middle East has not only […]
How close reading took over the internet via The Devil Wears Prada’s cerulean monologue
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is the sequel to a film that launched a thousand memes. For the film’s New York premiere in April 2026, fashion designer Evan Hirsh decided to commemorate one of the original 2006 film’s most celebrated scenes. He embroidered Meryl Streep’s infamous monologue on the fictional fashion history of the colour […]
Coolcations: why people are heading away from the sun this summer
Planning summer holidays in Europe is beginning to involve more focus on avoiding high temperatures. Destinations including the Greek islands and southern Italy have traditionally relied on warm, stable summers to attract tourists. But they have faced extreme temperatures causing mass evacuations, wildfires and putting lives in danger in recent summers. Even without those conditions, […]
Amid rising tensions, ‘friendshoring’ might keep global trade alive
Blossom Stock Studio/Shutterstock The world economy is at a crossroads. International trade is slowing, economic uncertainty is rising, and trade between the US and China – the world’s two largest economies – risks pulling apart. And it is not just trade: the two countries also invest less in each other than they did just a […]
How individual consciousness works – and makes us unique
Benjavisa Ruangvaree Art As we go through life, our brains run different processing modes. Some – the attention and sensory systems – result in very similar experiences of the world: what colour the sky is, how warm the day feels. But there is another, deeper side to the brain which weaves together your memories, goals, […]
Hokum review: a gothic chiller set in a creepy Irish hotel that expertly weaves horror tropes
We are used to seeing the excellent Adam Scott (Severance, Parks and Recreation) in likeable nice guy roles. In Hokum, however, he plays a curmudgeonly and prickly bestselling novelist called Ohm Bauman. Deliberating over the ending to his series of popular novels, Bauman has decided to take a trip to the rural Irish inn where […]