General news

• England's 'excellent chance' of making World Cup's last 16

  01-12-2017 23:15
  Of all people, it was Diego Maradona who picked out England’s ball at a World Cup draw that gave boss Gareth Southgate reasons for optimism.Three decades after his cheat "Hand of God" goal helped knock England out of a World Cup, the Argentina legend handed Southgate's men an excellent chance of reaching the last 16 of next summer's tournament.Current rankings suggest that while fifth-placed Belgium will be a very tough nut to crack, Tunisia (27) and Panama (56) should not cause palpitatio
  
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• Boy, 7, found dead outside Birmingham home identified as Hakeem Hussain

  01-12-2017 23:13
  A seven-year-old boy who was found dead outside a home in Birmingham has been named as Hakeem Hussain.The boy was discovered by paramedics at around 7.30am on Sunday at a property in Nechells.Speculation arose that Hakeem, also known as Hakeem Mahmud, had frozen to death, but officers said a post-mortem examination of his body was inconclusive.
  
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• The key to UK's Brexit future 'lies in Dublin'

  01-12-2017 22:10
  The UK's offer on Brexit must be acceptable to Ireland before negotiations can move on, President of the European Council Donald Tusk has said.
  
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• MPs demand Whirlpool explain end to dryer replacement scheme

  01-12-2017 22:02 via theguardian.com
  US company says ‘fall in demand’ behind decision, but 1 million potentially deadly tumble dryers remain in UK householdsMPs have demanded to know why home appliances provider Whirlpool has ended a product replacement scheme for defective products when there are still more than 1 million potentially deadly tumble dryers remaining in British households. The decision follows last week’s announcement that Whirlpool is the ‘worst offender’ for white goods fires in London
  
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• Ireland will have final say on progress of Brexit talks, says EU

  01-12-2017 21:47 via theguardian.com
  Donald Tusk says that if Ireland cannot accept UK offer for its border, EU will not allow negotiations to move on to tradeIreland will have the final say on whether the UK has made sufficient progress in Brexit negotiations to move on to the next stage, Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has said.In a strongly worded statement expressing solidarity with Ireland, Tusk said Brexit problems were of Britain’s own making, but Ireland’s problems were the EU’s. Contin
  
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• What you need to know about Donald Trump’s ex-security adviser pleading guilty to lying to the FBI

  01-12-2017 21:36
  Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contact with Russians.
  
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• Donald Tusk: UK's Brexit offer must be acceptable to Ireland for talks to move on

  01-12-2017 21:26
  The UK's offer on Brexit must be acceptable to Ireland before negotiations can move on, the president of the European Council has said.Donald Tusk said he had given Theresa May a deadline of Monday to make a "final offer" on the future Irish border before EU leaders decide if there is "sufficient progress" to open a second phase of Brexit talks.
  
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• Southampton says post-Brexit strategy justifies vice-chancellor's £433,000 pay

  01-12-2017 20:43 via theguardian.com
  University in firing line as row grows over rising executive pay after resignation of Bath’s vice-chancellorThe University of Southampton said “post-Brexit strategy” justified paying its vice-chancellor £433,000 a year, after it emerged Sir Christopher Snowden is one of the country’s highest-paid university leaders.The announcement places Snowden and Southampton in the firing line over rising executive pay, after the resignation of the University of Bath’s vic
  
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• Jacob Rees-Mogg met Steve Bannon to discuss US-UK politics

  01-12-2017 20:31
  Jacob Rees-Mogg had a private meeting with former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon in London on Thursday to talk about how conservative movements can win in the US and UK, the Guardian has learned.Rees-Mogg, a favourite among Conservative members to be the next party leader, spent more than an hour at the meeting in a Mayfair hotel with Bannon, who was at one point seen as Trump’s most influential adviser.The American also met Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, and another Conservative
  
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• Brexit climbdown is not what leaving the EU was meant to look like

  01-12-2017 20:27 via theguardian.com
  The agenda at Monday’s crunch meeting between Theresa May and Jean Claude-Juncker is not what voters were promisedAs the scale of the Brexit climbdown takes shape this weekend, one thing is already becoming clear: this wasn’t what leaving the EU was meant to look like. Ahead of Monday’s crunch meeting between Theresa May and commission president, Jean Claude-Juncker, the comparison between what is on the table in Brussels and what British voters were promised is striking.
  The f
  
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• Martin Rowson on the Tories and their laptops – cartoon

  01-12-2017 20:18 via theguardian.com
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• Former MP Bob Spink found guilty of electoral fraud

  01-12-2017 20:17
  A former UKIP and Conservative MP has been found guilty of tricking elderly constituents into signing electoral forms that backed local candidates.A jury at Southwark Crown Court found Bob Spink guilty of four counts of permitting a false signature to be included on a nomination form for a UKIP councillor.People signed the forms without being told they were actually nominating various other UKIP candidates.
  
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• House panel demands records of all settlements for sexual harassment in Congress

  01-12-2017 20:12 via theguardian.com
  Ethics panel tells Office of Compliance to ‘promptly’ hand over records related to claims of sexual harassment for members of Congress and other House staffThe ethics panel in the House of Representatives on Friday demanded records of all settlements for sexual harassment in the lower chamber of Congress.The announcement comes amid mounting allegations of sexual misconduct in politics and intense scrutiny over how such claims are handled on Capitol Hill. It emerged last month that ac
  
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• Michael Flynn's wrongdoing is just the tip of the iceberg | Richard Wolffe

  01-12-2017 20:10 via theguardian.com
  The former national security adviser is now cooperating with the Mueller investigation. That takes the trail of Russian collusion to the desk of TrumpThat scampering sound you can hear is just the rats disembarking from the sinking ship.Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, is not just any old rodent. For so long, he was the only faintly known quantity in national security to be desperate or insane enough to get close to Donald Trump. Continue reading...
  
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• Up to 800 jobs may go as Toys R Us looks to close third of UK stores

  01-12-2017 20:08 via theguardian.com
  Toy chain works on company voluntary agreement as high-street retailers struggle to attract shoppers in run-up to ChristmasUp to 800 jobs are on the line after it emerged that struggling US retailer Toys R Us is looking to close a third of its UK stores.Toys R Us is understood to be working on a company voluntary agreement (CVA), an insolvency procedure used by retailers to close loss-making stores. Continue reading...
  
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• EU Tells May: If Brexit Offer Is Unacceptable To Ireland, It's Unacceptable To Us

  01-12-2017 20:08
  Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has received the full backing of his European counterparts as he warned he was prepared to stand firm on the Irish border issue.
  
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• The Guardian view on the Damian Green case: a political revenge tragedy | Editorial

  01-12-2017 20:04 via theguardian.com
  The war of words between former police and the second most important member of the government comes down to the question of which is telling the truthIt is now over 10 years since the start of the long and winding road that may, even now, lead to Damian Green’s resignation as first secretary of state, effectively the deputy prime minister. At the outset, the issues in the case were politically sensitive. The Conservatives, then in opposition, were receiving leaked documents from inside the
  
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• The Guardian view on refugees and migrants: solidarity, not fear | Editorial

  01-12-2017 20:03 via theguardian.com
  The world’s steps towards a humane and constructive response are slow and faltering. But people in flight need help and sympathy, not rejectionThe scale of the global humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding since the Arab spring precipitated revolt and instability across the Middle East in 2011 can feel overwhelming. In the past few weeks alone, terrible stories have emerged of the brutal treatment of Rohingya Muslims, forced to flee Myanmar to grim camps in neighbouring Bangladesh. A
  
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• Meghan Markle, racial identity and British citizenship | Letters

  01-12-2017 20:00
  The engagement of Meghan Markle to Prince Harry has once again raised awareness of being mixed race in 21st-century Britain.Many are keen to label her as the first black person to be included in the royal family, an untruth that is still disputed by historians, but Meghan describes herself as a proud mixed-race woman and deserves to be seen and spoken of as such.People in Harmony has been in existence for over 40 years, supporting people of mixed race and in mixed relationships.
  
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• Brussels may include 'punishment clause' in post-Brexit trade deal

  01-12-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: EU could impose punitive tariffs on key British exports such as beef if UK seeks to lower regulatory standardsThe EU is exploring the inclusion of a “punishment clause” in any future trade deal with the UK to allow Brussels to slap tariffs on key British exports to the bloc if the UK government seeks to gain a commercial advantage by lowering regulatory standards.In a move that would torpedo the post-Brexit plans of the British cabinet’s key Brexiters, any significan
  
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• Brussels may include 'punishment clause' in post-Brexit trade deal

  01-12-2017 20:00
  The EU is keen to both protect its economic interests and ensure there is no race to the bottom on regulatory standards.The EU is exploring the inclusion of a “punishment clause” in any future trade deal with the UK to allow Brussels to slap tariffs on key British exports to the bloc if the UK government seeks to gain a commercial advantage by lowering regulatory standards.In a move that would torpedo the post-Brexit plans of the British cabinet’s key Brexiters, any significant
  
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• 'They shut my branch'

  01-12-2017 19:58 via bbc.co.uk
  People of different ages and abilities tell the BBC how the banking closures will affect their lives.
  
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• David Davis and other Tory MPs rally behind Damian Green

  01-12-2017 19:56
  Damian Green, left, and David Davis during a meeting in the Cabinet Office.David Davis and a string of other Tory MPs have rallied behind Damian Green, the effective deputy prime minister, after a former detective came forward with fresh allegations about pornography on Green’s Commons computer nine years ago.The Brexit secretary let it be known that he would resign in protest were Green to be forced out solely on the basis of allegations by former Met officers, although he accepted that o
  
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• Woman found guilty of encouraging suicide in pact with man

  01-12-2017 19:54 via theguardian.com
  Natasha Gordon made agreement with Matthew Birkinshaw before backing out and leaving him to die aloneA woman has been convicted of encouraging a stranger she met online to kill himself.Natasha Gordon, who backed out of a suicide pact with Matthew Birkinshaw at the last minute, was found guilty of a single charge of encouraging suicide, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. Continue reading...
  
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• Watford v Tottenham Hotspur: match preview

  01-12-2017 19:49 via theguardian.com
  In remarkably similar pre-match analyses Marco Silva stressed Watford, who have lost four of their last six, need to “be smart”, “more mature” and “make the right decisions”, while Mauricio Pochettino said Spurs, who have lost their last three away, must “be calm” and not “take decisions with emotion”. Only a win by six or more can stop Watford ending the day in eighth. Simon BurntonKick-off Saturday 3pmContinue reading...
  
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• Boy found dead in Birmingham is named as Hakeem Hussain

  01-12-2017 19:40
  Police are investigating the circumstances of Hakeem Hussain’s death.A seven-year old boy found dead at a house in Birmingham has been named, as investigations into the cause of his death continue.Hakeem Hussain was discovered by paramedics at the property in Nechells on Sunday 26 November at about 7.30am, police said.
  
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• West Bromwich Albion v Crystal Palace: match preview

  01-12-2017 19:39 via theguardian.com
  Alan Pardew’s first game in charge of West Brom, perhaps inevitably, is against the last team he managed. Crystal Palace showed Pardew the door three days before Christmas last year as they struggled near the bottom of the league but the Baggies’ board clearly believe he has not lost all his powers of motivation and resuscitation as the festive programme approaches. Conrad LeachKick-off Saturday 3pmContinue reading...
  
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• Palmer & Harvey paid out £70m since 2008 despite ongoing losses

  01-12-2017 19:39 via theguardian.com
  UK’s biggest tobacco distributor called in administrators and ceased deliveries on Tuesday, making 2,500 people redundantPalmer & Harvey directors, former directors and other shareholders extracted about £70m in cash from the grocery wholesaler over the past nine years despite ongoing losses.The company, where 2,500 people were made redundant earlier this week and a further 900 jobs are at risk, had been owned by dozens of private individuals via a complex web of equity and loans
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn should have given GQ the full Mariah Carey | Marina Hyde

  01-12-2017 19:39 via theguardian.com
  The magazine’s editor seems upset at how the Labour leader treated a fashion shoot. How does he cope with real divas?I am very surprised to find that the GQ editor, Dylan Jones, has become a committed recruiting sergeant for Jeremy Corbyn: after all, Jones did once pay David Cameron 20 grand to be allowed to write a book about him. But it is impossible to draw any other conclusion from Jones’s faux-pained Today programme interview about Corbyn, who is the magazine’s cover star
  
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• Stoke City v Swansea City: match preview

  01-12-2017 19:31 via theguardian.com
  Mark Hughes has admitted this is a must-win match for Stoke City who badly need to reverse the downward spiral in which they seem locked. The same can be said of Paul Clement’s Swansea City who have failed to win in their past six attempts and for whom Wilfried Bony could not make a more timely return to form. Is December too early to talk about relegation six-pointers? Paul DoyleKick-off Saturday 3pmContinue reading...
  
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• ITV stands by The X Factor despite lowest ever viewing figures

  01-12-2017 19:17 via theguardian.com
  Show is falling short of former glories and Strictly Come Dancing, but bosses are pleased with its appeal to younger viewersITV is standing by The X Factor despite the current series of the singing competition delivering its lowest ever viewing figures.Bosses at ITV and Simon Cowell, whose entertainment company Syco is behind The X Factor, are understood to be pleased with the number of younger viewers that the show has attracted and the impact the acts have had in the iTunes download chart.Cont
  
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• England draw Belgium, Tunisia and Panama in 2018 World Cup group

  01-12-2017 19:16
  The England football team will play Belgium, Tunisia and Panama in their World Cup group after they were handed a favourable draw for next year's tournament in Russia.Gareth Southgate's team avoided the likes of Argentina, Brazil and Germany and will play their opening match against Tunisia on Monday 18 June (7pm).
  
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• 'Oppressive' Dawlish to cut back on 'ridiculous' signs

  01-12-2017 19:14
  A town dubbed "oppressive" because of its forest of signs telling people what not to do is to review its signage.
  
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• Leicester City v Burnley: match preview

  01-12-2017 19:03 via theguardian.com
  The closest-looking game of the weekend with all three results eminently feasible, resurgent Leicester will expect to win it all the same after snuffing out the title ambitions of Spurs in midweek. Three places above them in sixth place, Burnley have had tougher away games already and apart from the loss at Manchester City have returned from the others with at least a point. Mark TallentireKick-off Saturday 3pmContinue reading...
  
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• Why the UN is investigating extreme poverty … in America, the world's richest nation

  01-12-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  At the heart of Philip Alston’s special mission will be one question: can Americans enjoy fundamental human rights if they’re unable to meet basic living standards?The United Nations monitor on extreme poverty and human rights has embarked on a coast-to-coast tour of the US to hold the world’s richest nation – and its president – to account for the hardships endured by America’s most vulnerable citizens.The tour, which kicked off on Friday morning, will make s
  
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• Fashion's favourite designers unveil their topsy-turvy Christmas trees

  01-12-2017 18:46 via theguardian.com
  Karl Lagerfeld, Matty Bovan and Tracey Emin have all flexed their festive muscles this year as London’s top hotels reveal their seasonal decors – and an unorthodox aesthetic has emergedWhen Elsa Schiaparelli said that “in difficult times, fashion is always outrageous”, she probably wasn’t talking about Christmas trees. But this week – as Britain’s most chi chi shops and hotels unveiled their festive decors – an unorthodox aesthetic has emerged that
  
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• Russia 2018: a guide to the cities and stadiums for England’s group games

  01-12-2017 18:41 via theguardian.com
  World Cup fans based in Moscow will find the Panama game the easiest to get to while travel to one of the others could include an 18-hour train journeyWhile the World Cup draw has been kind to England in footballing terms, the travel logistics are rather trickier. All three of England’s games avoid the big two transport hubs of Moscow and St Petersburg, and all are a flight away from the England training camp near St Petersburg.Fans planning to watch the games will need to take a lot of fl
  
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• 'They don't tell you why': threatened with removal after 52 years in the UK

  01-12-2017 18:40 via theguardian.com
  Anthony Bryan was nearly sent back to Jamaica despite not having been there since he was eight. His status remains precarious – and he’s not the only oneAfter 52 years in the UK, Anthony Bryan was shocked to be told he was in the country illegally and faced forced removal. Earlier this month he was sent to an immigration detention centre and booked by Home Office staff on a flight back to Jamaica, a country he left when he was eight and has not visited since.The case is the latest in
  
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• Spain, Portugal drawn into same group at World Cup

  01-12-2017 18:33
  MOSCOW (AP) — Spain and Portugal, the last two European champions, were drawn Friday to meet in the first round of the World Cup, one day after Russia opens the tournament in one of the easiest groups of the competition.
  
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• The Damian Green fiasco exposes Theresa May as a trapped and wounded leader | Deborah Orr

  01-12-2017 18:26 via theguardian.com
  Mesmerised by Brexit and oblivious to the world, Britain staggers on, led by a band of wretched ministersAntics at Westminster are now beyond farcical. In the latest debacle, a retired former Scotland Yard officer saw fit publicly to accuse a senior cabinet minister, Damian Green, of being a porn-surfing liar. Which says more about a general lack of respect for this government than it does about anything else. Neil Lewis was certainly wrong to leak information about a continuing inquiry. He is n
  
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• I believe my friend Damian Green. The vendetta against him must be stopped | Crispin Blunt

  01-12-2017 18:14 via theguardian.com
  The first secretary of state did not access pornography at work, and the way in which the former police officers accusing him have behaved is reprehensibleI have known Damian Green for over 20 years, since we were elected together in 1997. He stands out among us with the highest standards of public service, probity and integrity.The prime minister has known him even longer, and her judgment was to make him her deputy, and the second most important figure in her government. It was, in my view, he
  
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• The V&A's new Chinese outpost: an oasis of calm in a kitsch jumble

  01-12-2017 18:13 via theguardian.com
  Wedged between a landlocked cruise liner and gothic apartment blocks, the V&A’s first international foothold, built in the cradle of the new China, is more luxury mall than magical museumA fake iPhone is on display next to a mobile designed for the elderly in the V&A’s new outpost in Shenzhen, southern China, the first overseas branch in the museum’s history, which opens on Saturday. Both phones were made nearby, one the product of the region’s many counterfeit fa
  
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• Harry Redknapp 'will make 30 people homeless' with flats plan

  01-12-2017 18:13 via theguardian.com
  Ex-football manager’s firm criticised over scheme to demolish property housing vulnerable individuals in BournemouthPlans by the football manager Harry Redknapp to demolish a former hotel and replace it with “posh” apartments would result in 30 people being made homeless, including several with disabilities, cancer sufferers, ex-offenders and other vulnerable individuals, according to opponents to the scheme.Clifford Henley, one of the residents, claimed Redknapp – who wa
  
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• Harry Redknapp 'will make 30 people homeless' with flats plan

  01-12-2017 18:13
  Harry Redknapp was sacked by Birmingham City in September.Plans by the football manager Harry Redknapp to demolish a former hotel and replace it with “posh” apartments would result in 30 people being made homeless, including several with disabilities, cancer sufferers, ex-offenders and other vulnerable individuals, according to opponents to the scheme.Henley claimed the proposals would mean “the destruction of this perfectly habitable building for massive profit ... It’s
  
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• Hundreds of jobs at risk as Toys 'R' Us UK stores face closure

  01-12-2017 18:12
  Hundreds of retail jobs are facing the axe as the stricken toy chain Toys 'R' Us prepares to unveil plans to close a quarter of its British stores.Sky News has learnt that the board of Toys 'R' Us's UK subsidiary will announce as soon as Monday that it is proposing to launch a process called a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).The move, which will require the approval of a 75% majority of the company's creditors, would leave roughly 25 of its 105 British shops facing closure, according to insi
  
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• This mum has invented the perfect poppable advent calendar

  01-12-2017 18:03
  Few things make kids happier than bubble wrap.
  
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• Thomasina Miers’ easy recipe for roast chicken with black pepper, oregano, bitter leaves and jerusalem artichokes

  01-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  You can use black pepper as an ingredient as well as for seasoningI was at the Good Life Experience in north Wales this autumn when an old friend from school thrust a mysterious package into my hands. Intrigued, I opened it to find a treasure trove in the shape of small packets of black, red and white peppercorns. But this was no ordinary pepper: Kampot pepper, from Cambodia, was awarded protected geographical status in 2010, and is so floral and fruity in flavour, it was once known as the &ldqu
  
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• The Man Who Invented Christmas review – bah, humbug!

  01-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Dan Stevens plays Charles Dickens in this tin-eared, saccharine, entirely terrible comic fantasy about the writing of A Christmas Carol This entirely terrible film feels about as Christmassy as watching England go out of the World Cup at the group stage. Dan Stevens – usually a likable and ingenuous screen presence – is horribly miscast and misdirected in the role of Charles Dickens in a kind of wacky and saccharine muttonchop-whisker-gawd-bless-yer fantasy-comedy of what it was like
  
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• Electric cars already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel – study

  01-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Pure electric cars cost less over four years than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, researchers say, but China is set to lead the marketElectric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel cars in the UK, US and Japan, new research shows.The lower cost is a key factor driving the rapid rise in electric car sales now underway, say the researchers. At the moment the cost is partly because of government support, but electric cars are expected to become the
  
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• What can we learn from an orchestra of broken instruments?

  01-12-2017 17:58 via theguardian.com
  Grammy award-winning composer David Lang assembled a unique symphony to showcase damaging cuts in funding to a Philadelphia school districtWhen Grammy award-winning composer David Lang was 10 years old, he tapped his music teacher on the shoulder and said: “I want to play in the school band.”The teacher handed him a trombone and that became the musical instrument he played all the way through graduate school. Continue reading...
  
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