Author: The Guardian

Stuart, 57, AscotOccupation Former management consultant, now on sickness benefitsVoting record Conservative or nothing (he didn’t vote for John Major or Boris Johnson)Amuse bouche Stuart’s now ex-wife would turn his signed picture of Margaret Thatcher to face the wall when they had guests. He says, “Usually, I just turned it back again”Jérôme, 50, LondonOccupation Health and social care worker for a charityVoting record Jérôme, who was born in Colombia, has lived in the UK for 30 years but has French nationality so cannot vote in general elections. He describes himself as “to the left”Amuse bouche When the Brit awards were held in east London in…

Andre Onana is likely to be in Cameroon’s squad for Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations group stage match against defending champions Senegal after returning to team training on Wednesday.The goalkeeper missed Cameroon’s opening game in Ivory Coast on Monday after being allowed to stay at United and feature in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur. He flew overnight to West Africa after the game at Old Trafford, but arrived hours before the Group C match against Guinea, which Cameroon came from behind to draw 1-1.The decision to forfeit the 27-year-old’s opening match of the World Cup sparked controversy among Cameroon…

I confess that when I take a Zoom call, I rotate my chair and my laptop 45 degrees so that my head is framed by books. This is because the straight-on view is of an office full of piled up junk.The bookshelf background is tidier, but you can’t tell much about me from the titles, because I haven’t read any of them. They’re not my books – just my share of the general household burden, most of them paperbacks bought by my wife before she met me. But if you’re impressed by seeing the Complete Prose of Pushkin above my…

Then you are 22 years old. You’ve always loved watching American football games, and you’ve just received an invitation to go to Florida to gauge your potential in the lucrative NFL. There are no guarantees, but if you can crack the code, you can get a ton of cash. Would you say, “Yes, please”? Or would you say: “No, I’m very sorry, we play Castres in the Challenge Cup on Friday”?Step into the boots of Louis Rees-Zammit’s fast-moving, darkest January, and you’ll immediately understand why the ultimate American dream might appeal: If I’m good enough, honey; if I’m good enough,…

On the first Sunday of the new year, Ross Sharp dumped all his clothes on to the floor and set a timer for 30 minutes. It was long overdue, he thought, to have a proper clear out. There was a lot: “training-wear for rugby, gym-wear, jumpers, shorts, pyjamas, just all kinds of nonsense,” he says. By the time Sharp packed six bin bags with clothing to be sold, donated or disposed of, he’d blown straight through the alarm.The declutter was liberating and exciting, says Sharp, who works in buying and procurement in Northampton. January is often the chosen month to…

The Ukrainian military shot down two Russian command planes in one of the most disastrous days for Kremlin airpower since Putin’s all-out invasion.Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the Ukrainian Air Force destroyed an A-50 long-range radar detector and an Il-22 control center aircraft. Both planes were flying over the Sea of ​​Azov at 9:10 pm local time on Sunday.The A-50, which was responsible for detecting air defense systems and coordinating the targeting of Russian jets, crashed immediately, killing its entire crew. The heavily damaged Il-22 appears to have made an emergency landing at an airfield in Anapa, Russia.It is unclear…

Intense gym sessions, consulting nutritionists and multiple coaches tweaking every aspect of your performance might sound like the life of a professional endurance athlete but increasingly the same demands are being made of actors – especially those trying to transform into well-known singers.Anne-Marie Speed, who has trained the cast of musicals including Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and recently worked with actors on Danny Boyle’s Sex Pistols TV series, was part of the team of coaches who helped the Industry star Marisa Abela transform to play the lead in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s forthcoming Amy Winehouse project, Back to Black.The pair worked together…

Ronnie O’Sullivan fought back from 3-6 down to defeat Ali Carter 10-7 to win the Masters Championship for a record eighth time and is expected to complete three snooker titles in one season. crown king.He won the British Championship in December and now the Masters, and if he wins the World Championship in May, he will join a club of players who have won all three titles in one season: Steve Davis Davis, 1988), Stephen Hendry (1995 and 1996), and Mark Williams (2003).The 48-year-old O’Sullivan became the oldest Masters champion and the youngest Masters champion, a record he also maintained…

HS2 isn’t the only British rail project in trouble. Smaller ones are struggling too – very, very small ones.An ageing population, rising prices and shrinking living spaces have all been blamed for a downturn in the model railway industry. This week, a historic shop announced plans to cease trading, while a national convention revealed that its 2023 meetup would be its last.“Over the decades, we’ve been privileged to serve enthusiasts and share our passion for model railways with hundreds of thousands of customers,” said the owner of Hattons Model Railways, a Widnes-based institution opened in 1946. “Changing market conditions have…

After Donald Trump faced a $370 million fine in New York state court last week and the risk that his real estate empire could collapse, he will now face another costly legal battle in Manhattan: a defamation case filed by a woman. A jury of her peers reportedly believed she had been sexually abused by the former US president.Trump will go on trial again on Tuesday over sexual assault accusations leveled against him by former Elle writer E Jean Carroll, his second such lawsuit in less than a year.The trial – where Trump also has a series of criminal cases…