General news

• Any old Joe

  17-03-2017 23:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Joe Gordon, boss of telephone and online bank First Direct has just two years' experience in banking.
  
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• Wales v France: Six Nations 2026 rugby union – live

  15-02-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Six Nations news from the 3.10pm GMT kick-off in Cardiff
  Sign up for The Breakdown | Follow on Bluesky | Mail Lee5 mins. A hanging Edwards kick is dropped by Jalibert, but it went backwards and so Attissogbe can tidy it up around halfway. Wales are soon back on the ball with Edwards again kicking deep; way too deep as it bobbles dead.The first try was in some measure due to missed tackles and then another basic error is made with that kick. Unforgivable, really. Continue reading...
  
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• Tom Gauld on the modern romance novel – cartoon

  15-02-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
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• India v Pakistan: T20 Cricket World Cup – live

  15-02-2026 16:58 via theguardian.com
  India set Pakistan target of 176 to win in Colombo
  Follow us over on Bluesky | And get in touch: mail JamesGone! The gamble does indeed pay off for Salman Agha and Pakistan. He spears a ball into the tacky surface, Abishek tries to pull it away but does not time it at all, serving only to plink a catch to Shaheen at mid on!A dot to start from Salman, will this gamble pay off? It’s only the first time he has opened the bowling in a T20I… a single follows as Ishan gets off the mark w
  
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• Winter Olympics 2026: GB glory in mixed team snowboard cross final, Brignone wins women’s giant slalom – live

  15-02-2026 16:57 via theguardian.com
  Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | BriefingFollow us over on Bluesky | Get in touch: email GrahamBrignone smashed her leg at the end of last season, fought her way back, and now look!Goodness me, she’s almost perfect as she nears the end, and 1:03.23 is her time! That puts her 0.74 up on Colturi, Hector and Stjernesund, plus a whole 1.02 on Shiffrin! Continue reading...
  
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• Federica Brignone sends home fans wild with second gold as Shiffrin struggles

  15-02-2026 16:50 via theguardian.com
  Italian wins her second gold medal on Cortina slopesSara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund share silverFederica Brignone, the racing queen of Cortina, has won her second gold medal in the space of three days at the Winter Olympics. After her victory in the women’s Super-G on Friday, she won the giant slalom by just over six-tenths of a second.As small as that gap sounds, it was an enormous margin in a race where there were only six-hundredths of a second between the three women who finish
  
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• Arsenal v Wigan Athletic: FA Cup fourth round – live

  15-02-2026 16:49 via theguardian.com
  ⚽ FA Cup news from the 4.30pm GMT kick-off in London
  ⚽ Live scoreboard | Follow us on Bluesky | And mail JohnA blueprint for Messrs Barrow and Whelan?As Joe Meadway writes as he gets in touch: “Thankfully we sacked Ryan Lowe last week after a 6-1 defeat at Peterborough. So it’s now Graham Barrow and Glenn Whelan and their team, and much more confidence of staying up this season than before. The less said about Lowe the better.” Continue reading...
  
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• Starmer facing calls for inquiry into Labour thinktank’s investigation of journalists

  15-02-2026 16:48 via theguardian.com
  Cabinet Office minister commissioned report that made ‘baseless claims’ about reporters who were investigating Labour TogetherKeir Starmer is facing calls by MPs for an inquiry into the commissioning of a report that made “baseless claims” about journalists who were investigating a thinktank linked to the prime minister.The calls add to pressure on the Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons, who commissioned a report in 2023 on journalists investigating Labour Together, the
  
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• Renderings show most detailed vision for Trump’s White House ballroom

  15-02-2026 16:38 via theguardian.com
  Trump sparked public backlash when he abruptly began demolishing the East Wing to clear space for his ballroomNew renderings released this week provide the most detailed vision yet of Donald Trump’s proposed $400m White House ballroom addition.The renderings, submitted by the project’s architects and released on Friday by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), depict a vast sprawling structure, expected to be around 90,000sq ft, from multiple angles. Continue reading...
  
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• Jonathan Powell rejects overtures to replace McSweeney as Starmer’s chief of staff

  15-02-2026 16:32 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: National security adviser previously held the role under Blair but is considering plans to step down this yearJonathan Powell, Keir Starmer’s national security adviser (NSA), has rejected overtures to become the prime minister’s chief of staff after the resignation of Morgan McSweeney, the Guardian has been told.Powell’s allies say his decision not to take forward discussions about the job – the same role he undertook under Tony Blair’s premiership from 1
  
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• Welsh munitions factory seen as crucial to boosting UK stockpiles and aiding Ukraine is yet to open

  15-02-2026 16:16 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Delay at Glascoed is latest setback for armed forces and for UK’s capacity to supply shells to UkraineA new factory in Wales seen as crucial to boosting UK munitions production remains unopened more than six months after its planned launch, adding to a string of delays dogging the armed forces.The explosives facility at Glascoed, south Wales, was expected to bring a 16-fold increase in Britain’s capacity to make artillery shells, replenishing dwindling stock and increasing
  
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• Perri makes key save as Leeds sink Birmingham in FA Cup shootout

  15-02-2026 16:10 via theguardian.com
  Leeds advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup, with sights set on a possible first quarter-final place since 2002-03. But after scoring a last-gasp equaliser to take the tie to extra time and then a penalty shootout, Birmingham could draw some consolation from pushing their top-flight opponents.Sean Longstaff scored the clinching penalty, after Patrick Roberts, who had scored in the 89th minute to earn Birmingham parity, blasted his over the crossbar. Lucas Perri also saved from Tommy Doyle, w
  
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• We owe it to every victim of Jeffrey Epstein to better protect British women and girls. And we will | Jess Phillips

  15-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  I am furious that women and children have to endure a crisis like this for progress to become politically possible. But I will seize this momentJess Phillips MP is parliamentary under-secretary of state for safeguarding and violence against women and girlsJess Phillips calls for Epstein files to be catalyst for long-term legislative changeIt always takes a calamity – a dreadful murder that reaches every front page, a mass paedophile ring being uncovered, or a political scandal unfolding &n
  
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• Progressive Texas organizers hail shock win as far-right Republicans left reeling

  15-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Elation as anti-extremists fight back against influence of billionaire megadonors through grassroots organizingChris Tackett started tracking extremism in Texas politics about a decade ago, whenever his schedule as a Little League coach and school board member would allow. At the time, he lived in Granbury, 40 minutes west of Fort Worth. He’d noticed that a local member of the state legislature, Mike Lang, had become a vocal advocate for using public money for private schools – despi
  
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• Jess Phillips calls for Epstein files to be catalyst for long-term legislative change

  15-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Safeguarding minister says she wants to use momentum to invest in prevention and get more than quick-fix policiesRead Jess Phillips’ article: We owe it to every Epstein victim to better protect British women and girlsInstitutions can be persuaded to take action on violence against women and girls only when some sort of “calamity” or “political scandal” hits the headlines, Jess Phillips has said.Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and g
  
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• ‘I was so scared’: US trial witnesses allege Alexander brothers worked together to rape women

  15-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Real estate agent brothers Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander – known as ‘closers’ – are on trial in New York for sex traffickingIn their time as real estate brokers, the Israeli-American Alexander brothers – twins Alon and Oren and older brother Tal – were known as “closers”, the salesmen who could a get a sale over finish line, often to wealthy hedge funders who were then making hay in aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.Their technique, one real es
  
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• Even amid rising economic uncertainty, now is not the time to hug your job

  15-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  In a rapidly changing job market, it’s not necessarily good for workers to cling to their current employmentAfter all the employee protests over the past few years – the “great resignations”, the “quiet quittings”, the “bare-minimum Mondays” and “coffee badgings” – we have finally arrived at “job hugging”.Amid all the economic uncertainty and the rising costs of everything, people aren’t feeling as confident as t
  
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• UK far right lines up behind Rupert Lowe in challenge to Reform

  15-02-2026 15:58 via theguardian.com
  MP who fell out with Nigel Farage and has backing of Elon Musk launches anti-immigration party in Great YarmouthOn a cold night in a dilapidated theatre tucked away at the end of Great Yarmouth’s Britannia Pier, Rupert Lowe was launching a far-right revolution. “Millions will have to go,” the MP said, pledging a policy of mass deportations, to rapturous applause and foot stamping from hundreds gathered for what had been billed as the launch of a local “Great Yarmouth Firs
  
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• Welsh charity buys more than 405 hectares for rewilding

  15-02-2026 15:55 via theguardian.com
  Project in Ceredigion aims to help country catch up with large-scale nature recovery projects elsewhere in UKA Welsh charity has bought more than 405 hectares (1,000 acres) in Ceredigion to establish Cymru’s “flagship” rewilding project, helping the country catch up with large-scale nature recovery projects under way elsewhere in the UK.Tir Natur (Nature’s Land), founded in 2022, announced it had acquired the site at Cwm Doethie in Elenydd, or the Cambrian mountains, afte
  
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• Berlin film festival defends Wim Wenders after Arundhati Roy attacked ‘jaw-dropping’ comments

  15-02-2026 15:48 via theguardian.com
  Berlinale head says artists should not be pushed into soundbites after author quit over president’s remarks that film-makers should ‘stay out of politics’The Berlin film festival has issued a lengthy statement “in defence of our film-makers, and especially our jury and jury president”, after what it described as a “media storm that has swept over the Berlinale” in its first few days.The defence follows criticism levelled at the jury, in particular presid
  
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• Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool, Aston Villa 3-7 Tottenham and more: WSL clockwatch – as it happened

  15-02-2026 15:44 via theguardian.com
  Spurs put seven past Aston Villa in 10-goal thriller while Lauren James stars as Chelsea beat LiverpoolWhat a devastating counter attack from Everton! They have an overload going forward and work it to Hannah Blundell. Blundell plays the ball into the path of Honoka Hayashi who taps into an empty net.Well this is a surprise. London City Lionesses work it well down the right and deliver the ball into the box. Nikita Parris bravely meets it and heads the ball back across goal. What a start for the
  
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• Street festivals and a steam train: photos of the weekend

  15-02-2026 15:41 via theguardian.com
  The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Bankes and Nightingale win mixed team snowboard cross for GB’s first Olympic gold on snow

  15-02-2026 15:22 via theguardian.com
  Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale win a thrillerFirst time GB have won two golds at a Winter GamesAfter 102 years at the Winter Olympics, Great Britain has finally won its first gold medal on snow after Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale took a thrilling victory in the mixed team snowboard cross.Few had pinned down Bankes and Nightingale as one of the favourites after poor performances in the individual events early in the week. Afterwards they had been so disappointed they had drowned thei
  
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• ‘We almost lost you in the night’ - the life-threatening rise of measles in the UK

  15-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  It is one of the most infectious diseases around, and can cause blindness and hearing loss – and can also be fatal. Why are cases now soaring and what can be done about it?Saijal Ladd’s week in hospital remains a blur. The very worst days still feel like a fog, punctuated by two nightmarish memories. First, attempting to speak to a consultant to discuss if she should be rushed to ICU, but being unable to form words through her breathlessness. And later, a family member’s exhaus
  
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• Trump gets the Monroe doctrine wrong. He should take a page from Bad Bunny | Ted Widmer

  15-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The US president has twisted the 1823 doctrine to suit his quest for domination. It originally had a very different vision for the AmericasThroughout Bad Bunny’s mesmerizing performance during the Super Bowl, the word “America” kept expanding, like an accordion, stretching out to embrace people of all nationalities. “Together we are all America,” his football read, and he obviously meant it, in the largest, most hemispheric sense. Near the end, after shouting &ldquo
  
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• The kindness of strangers: my new couch was stranded outside – then a burly gym guy helped move it upstairs

  15-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  I was frantic – I had to get the couch inside before my parents arrived. Out of desperation, I drove to a nearby gymRead more in the kindness of strangers seriesI’d bought a nice new couch after my labrador chewed through the first one. But I didn’t put it in my apartment straight away. My plan was to swap the old couch for the new one right before my parents came to visit from overseas, so the dog wouldn’t have a chance to destroy it before their arrival.My apartment was
  
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• Readers reply: can you acquire courage?

  15-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions ponders how to overcome fear and do what is neededThis week’s question: what would be the most socially useful way to spend a billion dollars?Is it possible to acquire courage if you don’t have it? I was moved by the recent story of the Australian boy who swam to land for several hours in rough waters to raise the alarm that his mother and siblings had been swept out to sea. Despite his exhaustion, he then
  
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• Let's get a grip and learn how to live with the rain | Emma Beddington

  15-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Wetter winters are set to become the norm, so unless we’re farmers or flood victims, we need some coping strategies to keep our spirits upThere’s a lot of complaining about the weather currently and I get it, it’s wet. Here in York the river is getting above itself yet again and the council has fenced off large puddles in the park for health and safety reasons, to widespread mockery. Things currently taking in water include the letterbox (yesterday the postman told me with a ma
  
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• Jason Fox and his brother Mathieu: ‘We still connect like we did, only without the fighting or falling out of trees’

  15-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The SAS: Who Dares Wins star and his younger sibling on their childhood fights, their dad’s stories and the stress of returning to normal life after military serviceBorn in 1976 in Plymouth, Jason Fox is a British television personality and former Royal Marine Commando and Special Forces sergeant. He joined the military at the age of 16 and left in 2012 following a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. Three years later, he fronted Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins and went on t
  
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• BBCSO/ Rustioni/ Davóne Tines review – Black-tinged Anthem spins US nationhood

  15-02-2026 14:31 via theguardian.com
  Barbican, LondonThe UK premiere of a stirring joint concerto by five US artists refashioned patriotic songs, minstrelsy and poetry to present an alternative America built on inclusionIt may be 250 years since the Declaration of Independence but the question of what the United States is and, more importantly, where it is headed has never felt more pertinent. Leonard Bernstein, born to parents of Russian/Ukrainian heritage, wrote West Side Story as a plea for tolerance in a society riven with prej
  
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