Former home secretary says Tory voters are aon strikea and are anot coming out to support usa in wake of dire local and mayoral election results

• Labour triumphs in London and West Midlands
• Braverman says no time to oust Sunak so he must aown this and fix ita
• Full mayoral and council results for England

Mark Harper is now being interview by Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. When it is put to him that people in his party want it to change course, Harper says the government will stick to its plan.

In his interview on Sky News Mark Harper, the transport secretary, ducked a question about whether the party should shift to the right, as Suella Braverman is advocating, or to the centre, as Andy Street proposes. (See 7.55am.)

What he is talking about there is what I just said. He is talking about you focus on the priorities of the British people, that is what you do.

We are going to stick to focusing on the priorities that the prime minister set out, which are the governmentas priorities, the prime ministeras priorities but they are also the priorities of the British people.

Yoav Gallant says Hamas appear to not be serious about reaching a truce as negotiators resume peace talks in Cairo

A local official in southern Lebanon said an Israeli strike on a village on Sunday killed a couple and their child, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

aThe dad, the mother and their little son were martyreda, according to the Mays al-Jabal municipality chief Abdelmoneim Chukair.

TV head hopes programme will spark aa #MeToo moment for mena ahead of two-part show on the Oscar-winning actor

One of the producers of a Channel 4 documentary that contains fresh claims that Kevin Spacey abehaved inappropriatelya with men says it will be broadcast as planned on Monday, despite public denials from the actor this weekend.

Dorothy Byrne, a former head of news and current affairs at the television channel, told the Observer that she hopes the new two-part programme, Spacey Unmasked, will prompt aa #MeToo moment for mena and start a wider discussion about standards of behaviour in working situations.

The wartime PM was so taken with Paul Trevillionas work that he arranged a meeting to pay his compliments in person

At the age of 90, and with a successful career as a sports artist under his belt, there is one work of which Paul Trevillion is particularly proud. Perhaps surprisingly, it isnat among his portraits of legendary stars such as Sugar Ray Robinson, PelA(c), Muhammad Ali, George Best, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

It is an image of another of Trevillionas heroes: a pen-and-ink drawing of Winston Churchill created in 1955, and carrying a rare signature of the UKas wartime leader.

Police say a woman and three children escaped blaze with not life-threatening injuries

A child has died and four people were treated in hospital after an early morning house fire in Bradford.

West Yorkshire fire and rescue service sent three crews to the fire at a residential property in the Bolton Outlanes area of the city at 1.05am on Sunday.

Area around Rio de Janeiro beach filled for several blocks as singer closes her Celebration world tour

More than a million people have thronged Brazilas Copacabana beach for a free Madonna concert, braving the heat to see the end of her Celebration world tour.

The sand and oceanfront boulevard around Rio de Janeiroas famed beach were filled for several blocks on Saturday night by a crowd the city estimated at 1.6 million.

Charities say FoI disclosure that 369 such children were held over 21-month period is ahugely concerninga

More than 350 lone children were held in UK-run detention facilities in northern France over a 21-month period, according to documents disclosed under freedom of information laws.

The Home Office has admitted that it failed to keep data on how many properly trained staff looked after the children held in four short-term holding facilities near Calais and Dunkirk in 2022 and 2023.

• Updates from the 2pm BST kick-off at the Amex Stadium
• Sunday scoreboard | And you can send Daniel an email

Roberto De Zerbi speaks. He says playing without important players, especially the full-backs, changes something in build-up and athe last 40 metresa, hence the lack of goals and no wins in six. He respects Villa but they want to keep the ball, play football, and take a lot of shots.

So where do Villa a potentially fortified with Champions League money a need to strengthen this summer? A deputy for Ollie Watkins, perhaps, a right-back, and central-midfield competition for Douglas Luii, John McGinn and Youri Tielemans? Real talk, theyare pretty well covered, and I think they can do something in Big Ears next season.

Parisian bakers prepare to win record back from those in Italy who created a baguette almost 133 metres long in 2019

For the past five years, bragging rights over the worldas longest baguette have belonged not to the residents of a small village or a city in France, but rather to a clutch of bakers 500 miles away in Como, Italy.

On Sunday a crop of 12 bakers from France set out to rectify this, with plans to spend at least eight hours kneading, shaping and baking their way back to victory.

• Hollywood actor buys stake in club owners 49ers Enterprises
• Ferrell set to become latest celebrity investor at Yorkshire club

Will Ferrell is reportedly set to become the latest celebrity to be a minority investor in the Championship football club Leeds United.

Hollywood actor Ferrell has bought a stake in Leeds owners 49ers Enterprises, according to a report in the Sun newspaper. He will join the likes of fellow thespian Russell Crowe, the Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and professional golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

Rishi Sunakas government tries to limit the damage as the Conservativesa worst fears prove correct in the English local elections

Keir Starmer was advised by his team to get an early night on Thursday before the first election results started to come through at dawn the next day.

They booked the Labour leader into a hotel at a secret location in the north-west, so he could be bright and breezy when celebrating an anticipated parliamentary byelection win in Blackpool South.

Rob Ford was part of the BBC team analysing the local election results as they poured in over the past 48 hours. Here he tells how a dramatic set of results for the government unfolded

The nervous wait for the first result was longer than usual, as counting centres wrestled with multiple ballots for councils, mayors and police and crime commissioners. It was well past midnight on Friday morning when the first ward flashed up, coming as always from Sunderland, which prides itself on its rapid vote counting. A big Tory to Labour swing in Sunderlandas Copt Hill.

As we moved into the small hours of the morning, the flow of data rose from a trickle to a torrent, and an overall picture began to form. Voters clearly wanted the Conservatives out. Who they wanted instead was less clear.

Britain has turned out in force to vote for change. Whenever the Tories go to the country, we will be ready to provide it

Rishi Sunak might have been too scared to put his name on the ballot this week, but voters sent him a clear message in the local elections anyway. Across the country, people turned out to vote for change a from the manufacturing heartlands of Derby to industrial Redditch and Thurrock in Essex. In Aldershot, home of the British army, Labour won Rushmoor borough council, ending 24 years of Tory rule. Ten more police and crime commissioners a which, as a former chief prosecutor, makes me incredibly proud. And in York and North Yorkshire, the first Labour mayor, in the prime ministeras back garden.

Victories in traditional Tory territory across the country are important to me. Itas not just about the numbers, though of course they matter: itas the choice of the electorate to turn their back on 14 years of decline and division, and embrace national renewal with Labour.

From the new mayoralties through to bellwether councils, find out what happened in your area

• Council results a visual analysis

Worldas smallest army, which is preparing to swear in its latest recruits, has in the past engaged in ferocious battles

With their feathered helmets, ruffled collars and coloured, puffed-sleeve uniforms, the Vatican Swiss Guards are often likened by curious visitors to medieval court jesters. But while they willingly pose for photographs, the watchmen are not there to entertain.

Since the early 16th century, when Swiss mercenaries, revered for their bravery and loyalty, marched to Rome to serve Pope Julius II, the worldas smallest army has been enlisted at the Vatican to protect the pope, his residence and the cityas borders.

Mushrooms turning up in hot drinks and supplements as demand grows for ahealth products you donat needa

Sipping mushroom coffee sounds like a weird camping trip anecdote but more Britons are embracing this alternative morning pick-me-up as amushroom maniaa sweeps the high street.

With the food industry eager to cash in on demand for afunctional foodsa that promise extra health benefits, medicinal mushrooms a not the button kind you put in a stew a are turning up in hot drinks, supplements and even beer.

Pro-Palestine protesters hope encampments at universities will contribute to an ainternational student revolta

Students across Britain have said they hope pro-Palestine protests will reach the same scale as those seen on US campuses as they call for universities to divest from companies supplying arms to Israel.

Protests have spread across university campuses in Sheffield, Bristol and Leeds, after a crackdown in the US on protests, which led to mass arrests of students and staff.

Known to his friends as the Legend, John Starbrook is living, breathing proof of the power of exercise and enthusiasm. I tried to keep up with him a and barely survived

I like to think of myself as a strong swimmer. Iam not fast, I canat dive or tumble turn, but when I get a lane to myself Iall happily bash out 50 or 60 lengths. Give me a nice big lake, and my idea of heaven is to backstroke into the middle and watch the swallows overhead. I donat worry that Iall cramp up or suddenly forget how to float.

But Iave never fancied water polo. If youave not watched it, itas a sort of cross between swimming, basketball and wrestling, usually played in a pool thatas so deep you have to tread water or drown. There are two teams, two goals, a large ball and an ungodly amount of throwing, catching and flat-out sprinting. Aquatics GB, the governing body, says players can swim two miles in a single game, and need aremarkable staminaa to cope with all the holding and pushing.

Sarah Manavis and her partner have a guilty secret. What they love to do most of all in private isa| read out loud to each other. And, as sheas discovered, it has many surprising benefits

Neither of us can remember exactly how it happened, but we both agree we were probably a little drunk. It was December 2016. We had been dating for eight months. Even with the booze we were, by many measures, still shy around each other, fearful of spoiling the magic. Which is why neither I nor my partner can fathom the conversation that landed us either in bed or on the sofa with him reading A Christmas Carol out loud to me for an hour. It wasnat something either of us had ever done with another adult. It wasnat something wead heard of adults in the real world ever doing. But the book kept getting read a always by my boyfriend, out loud to me, who listened with total fixation. It was finished before we left to be with our respective families for the Christmas break. And when we returned to be together again in January, we decided we wanted to do it again.

Seven years later, reading together is something we do regularly throughout the year. Without meaning to, we have read mostly classics a The Picture of Dorian Gray, Alice in Wonderland, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde a always, without fail, returning to A Christmas Carol in December, me blurting out the big lines Iave memorised over time like an eager audience member at a kidsa sing-along.

Water detective Dr Leon Barron studies Londonas wastewater, analysing it in all its chemical, narcotic, polluted glory, before and after treatment. Amazingly, he still drinks the stuff from the tap

If you live in London, Dr Leon Barron knows what youare up to. He knows what prescribed drugs youare on a painkillers, antidepressants, antipsychotics or beta blockers a and what illicit ones youare taking for fun. He knows if youave been drinking and when (aFriday and Saturday are the main onesa); perhaps even if youare worried about your dog getting fleas.

Of course, I only mean the collective ayoua, the city. Barron, who leads the Emerging Chemical Contaminants team at Imperial College, has no idea what any individual is taking or doing; he explains that very clearly and carefully. He has a research scientistas precision plus the slight wariness of someone whose research has grabbed headlines, with the inaccuracies and misinterpretations that brings (I wonder what he thought about aPrawn to be wilda, reporting his research on cocaine residue in wild river shrimps.) But heas also infectiously enthusiastic and generous with his time, spending a whole morning taking me round his lab and through his groundbreaking work.

Many prisoners are homeless after release but former inmate and probation worker want to fix that

Darryn Frost and Steve Gallant are still dealing with the trauma of tackling a terrorist at Fishmongersa Hall, London Bridge, in 2019.

Gallant, 47, who was on day release from prison where he was serving a life sentence for murder, helped fend off the attacker alongside Frost, 43, a probation worker who had grabbed a 1.5-metre long narwhal tusk as a weapon.

From a hideaway with star-gazing spectacular enough to keep you off your phone to a aburnouta retreat and a reimagined coastguard lookout

Bordering the Consall Nature Park, a nature reserve featuring 740 acres of woodland, heath and moor, is The Tawny, a adeconstructed hotela. This means that instead of a single house with rooms there are a collection of boathouses, huts and treehouses scattered around the woodlands and lakes. At the top of the hill is a modern glass building, the Plumicorn restaurant, and a heated outdoor pool looking out over the gardens. Stargazing sessions and night-time meditation are on offer, while spa treatments can be booked in the thatched cottage onsite.
Huts from APS240 B&B; thetawny.co.uk

Throughout her life, Danyah Miller developed coping mechanisms to help deal with certain challenges. Would she have thrived if she had known about dyslexia, or would a label have limited her?

Discovering that I have dyslexia, and most probably dyscalculia, later in my life has raised many questions for me, not least whether a childhood diagnosis would have changed the trajectory of my life, both personally and professionally.

Over the years Iad suspected that I might be dyslexic. I also thought that I was making excuses for myself when met with certain challenges. It wasnat until last year that I decided to seek an assessment to confirm either way. I was relieved to read, in the first paragraph of my diagnostic report, that my literacy difficulties are consistent with the specific learning difficulty dyslexia.

Growing up on set put Oscar-winning actor Jennifer Connelly on the fast track to Hollywood fame. But despite her success, one of her lasting regrets was not finishing college a and, she says, itas still on her to-do lista|

Jennifer Connelly is on a Zoom call from her home in Brooklyn, jetlagged after attending Louis Vuittonas pre-fall 2024 show in Shanghai, which does not bode well: she is known to have been reticent in past interviews, and sometimes while working. When she made A Beautiful Mind, the 2001 movie for which she won an Oscar for playing the wife of schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, the co-producer Brian Grazer was unnerved by her reserve. aIt was hard for me to get to know her on the set because Iam so emotional,a he told a writer in 2001. aSheas very serious. Sheas not silly. She doesnat have that buoyancy.a

It is a relief, then, to find Connelly to be thoughtful and lovely and erudite, happy enough to discuss her life and career. I ask if Grazeras description is one shead recognise.

Tributes that were removed from public spaces after the end of his brutal rule in 1975 now crowd a site west of Taipei

The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwanas recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek, known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling the island under brutal martial law.

aThere were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,a Hsieh recalled. aIt was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.a

• Updates from the 2.15pm BST kick-off at the Academy Stadium
• Want to share your thoughts? Send Sarah an email

Mary Fowler has stepped up with the absence of Bunny Shaw and Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor told the BBC: aMary has bookended this season well, she started well and she is finishing well.a

It is also Steph Houghtonas last home game with her retiring at the end of the season, Taylor added on the defender: aWhat Steph has brought to the club is incredible, she leaves a huge space.. You canat really measure what she has given to the club.a

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos have a big decision to make but will an unlikely FA Cup final win be enough to save the manager?

And so the real business begins. The four months since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos bought a little over a quarter of Manchester United have been the phoney war. No transfers could be done, so little could be changed on the pitch. The task of Ratcliffe and his advisers was to watch and learn and rejig the executive tier so that when the window opens they are ready to act.

That rejig has been more dramatic than many anticipated. The chief executive, Richard Arnold, and the football director, John Murtough, are just the highest profile departures. Omar Berrada will come in as chief executive from Manchester City when his notice period expires on 13 July while Murtough has effectively been replaced by Jason Wilcox, the new technical director, and Dan Ashworth, who will come in once the terms of his severance from Newcastle have been agreed.

• Updates from the 2pm BST kick-off at Prenton Park
• Any thoughts? Share them with Taha via email

7 min: Evans pushes forward to disrupt Koivisto but Liverpool survive Unitedas high press and win a free-kick in the centre circle.

4 min: Koivisto crunches into Evans on the right-hand side for Liverpool before United work it back to Earps. And then, suddenly, Galton finds herself slipped in, one on one, with Micah to beat inside the box. The United No 11 fires straight at the keeper, her effort lacking in power and accuracy. United really should be one up.

Athletics Kenya is worried about how the climate might shape the future of its country, let alone its sport. And it is not alone

The drive from the tiny Eldoret airport to the town of Iten in the south-west corner of Kenya takes about an hour. Itas a winding unlit road with few road signs: you need to know where youare going to get there. The townas population isnat known a there hasnat been a census in more than a decade a but the local Amunicipal authority estimates it around 56,000, up from 40,024 in 2009.

Roughly 35% live below the poverty line. And yet, a sign on the only paved road into town calls this the Home of Champions, owing to its phenomenal athletic success. This corner of Kenya has produced 14 menas and nine womenas Boston Marathon winners since 1991, who have brought home 22 and 14 wins, respectively. They have also won 13 of 18 gold medals in the 3,000m steeplechase at the World Athletics Championships since the event was introduced in 1983.

• Day three action updates from Old Trafford and beyond
• Get in touch! Email Tanya or have your say in comments

At a run a ball! Brings it up with an off drive, then celebrates by kissing the ball straight back past bowler James HArris. Centuries in consecutive matches for Root. Yorkshire 316-2 in just 55 overs, a lead of 95 runs, Harry Brook next man in. Chin up Glamorgan.

Ken has provided Lancashire stats for your pleasure/sins:

Have you ever had the experience of getting tantalisingly close to a big opportunity in your creative career a but not quite making it? Maybe it was a pitch, or a competition, a publishing opportunity, a senior role, or a funding application. Maybe you got really positive feedback. They said you were great, your work […]

The post Are You in the Ballpark? (finally, The 21st Century Creative on YouTube) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

When the Covid 19 pandemic struck in 2020, human life on earth was massively disrupted. Not only the human tragedy of millions of lives lost, but also the social and economic damage caused by the virus and our attempts to control it. As a writer and a coach for creatives, I have been particularly concerned […]

The post Creative Disruption: How 12 Creatives on 5 Continents Rose to the Challenge of the Pandemic appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 10 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Itas been my most ambitious season yet, with creatives from 5 continents and probably the closest Iall ever […]

The post How I Created, Funded and Launched My New Podcast (while the World Was in Meltdown) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 9 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. This week we are off to Tokyo, to meet Ichi Hatano, a wonderful artist whose work has deep […]

The post From Tattoos to NFTs with Ichi Hatano appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 8 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Have you ever had the idea for a creative project that youave never quite got round to starting? […]

The post Using Lockdown to Launch a Dream Project with Nicky Mondellini appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

If you work on your own a in your office or studio, or your bedroom or at your kitchen table a it can feel like no one is watching. So it doesnat matter whether you show up. If you skipped a day on your novel, who would know? If you didnat go to the studio […]

The post All Arts Are Performing Arts appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 7 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today weare focusing on a creative sector that is close to my heart, which was massively disrupted but […]

The post Taking Deep Work Online with Laura Davis appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

A few months ago I was listening to the DavidBowie: AlbumtoAlbum podcast, a terrific show about Bowie hosted by Arsalan Mohammed. In Season 3 episode 11 Arsalan spoke to Donny McCaslin, the leader of the jazz band that Bowie discovered in a New York club, and asked to work with him on what turned out […]

The post Sometimes You Have to Grind the Work Out appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are off to Australia in the company of Charlotte Abroms, a music manager based in Melbourne […]

The post Helping Musicians Through Lockdown with Charlotte Abroms appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Last week I suggested that if youare serious about achieving your creative ambitions, you need to think in terms of projects, not tasks. Because if you get up every morning and ask yourself aWhat should I work on today?a you risk making decisions based on what feels urgent right now, rather than what will make […]

The post Work on Multifaceted Projects appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 5 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are going to look at one of the biggest challenge for many people during lockdown, whether […]

The post Staying Creative as a Parent (Even in a Pandemic) with Kay Lock Kolp appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

When we think of productivity we typically think about tasks and to-do lists, working habits and routines. We focus on how to make the most of our time on a daily or at most a weekly basis. All of which is great, but if this is all we focus on, thereas a danger of getting […]

The post Focus on Projects, Not Tasks appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 4 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we meet Amrita Kumar, the co-founder and CEO of Candid Marketing, an innovative marketing agency in India. […]

The post Launching a New Business in the Pandemic with Amrita Kumar appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Marketing is a word that strikes fear into the heart of a lot of creatives. Itas an area where a lot of us feel we donat have a natural talent a weare far more comfortable making work than telling the world about it, let alone trying to get people to buy it. One reason for […]

The post Make Your Marketing Personal with a Media Dashboard appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 3 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are looking at the world of film and TV production, which was massively disrupted by the […]

The post Rebooting Global Filming with Hometeam appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

A lot of creative professions involve submitting work to gatekeepers of various kinds: agents, editors, publishers, gallerists, funders, producers, studios and competition judges and so on. Yes, the 21st century gives us plenty of options for creating things without gatekeepers a you can sell direct, build your own platform, launch your own event, self-publish or […]

The post Why Rejection Doesnat (Necessarily) Mean Your Work Isnat Good Enough appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Welcome to Episode 2 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. This week we are off to South Africa, to hear from Earl Abrahams, an artist and filmmaker who […]

The post Lockdown Series: Windows on a Changed World with Earl Abrahams appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

aEat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.a This quote is often attributed to Mark Twain. Apparently thereas no hard evidence linking it to him, but that hasnat stopped it from concentrating the minds of many people when they ask themselves […]

The post Eat that Frog (But Eat the Cake as Well) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Today we kick off Season 6 of The 21st Century Creative, the podcast that helps you thrive as a creative professional amid the demands, distractions and opportunities of the 21st Century. The theme for this season is CREATIVE DISRUPTION. Every episode will feature an interview with a creator whose work was disrupted by the Covid-19 […]

The post The Rocky Road for Theatre through the Pandemic with Steven Kunis appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

I hope this finds you as well as can be. Here in the UK weare bracing for what we are assured will be a large wave of Omicron. I know things may be very different for you, depending on where you are in the world. But whatever the circumstances, I hope you are finding your […]

The post Video: Forget the Career Ladder a Start Creating Assets appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Today is the launch of my new podcast, and itas something Iave been planning and dreaming of sharing with you for years. Itas called A Mouthful of Air. And in several ways, itas the opposite of my 21st Century Creative podcast. I designed the two shows to work together from the start, although it’s taken […]

The post My new podcast (and why itas the opposite of The 21st Century Creative) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Last night I was about to go to bed when I suddenly remembered an idea Iad had for an article a few months ago. Though I say so myself, it was a great idea, and I was keen to revisit it, so I opened up the Scrivener project where I had written it downa| and […]

The post Ideas Are Leprechauns appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Michael Bungay Stanier, a returning guest whose interview way back in Season 1 proved very popular. And his book The Coaching Habit turned out to be even more popular, as it went on to sell three quarters of a million copies. Michael is back with some excellent […]

The post Avoiding the Advice Trap with Michael Bungay Stanier appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

A lot of productivity advice tells us that we need to stop procrastinating, beat Resistance, and get things done. The Americans like to talk about ashippinga, meaning finished and sent out for delivery. This emphasis on getting things done and out to market is part of their extraordinary entrepreneurial culture. Famously, Guy Kawasaki even said […]

The post Every Creative Project Is a Revolving Door appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Krystal Lauk, an illustrator who took an unconventional path by creating illustrations for tech companies, and founded a studio that counts Google, Uber, Facebook and The New York Times among its clients. Itas a fascinating story of discovery and enterprise at what Krystal calls athe intersection of […]

The post The 21st Century Illustrator with Krystal Lauk appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Iave recently started taking one-to-one Japanese conversation lessons. It hasnat been easy. In fact, itas been a bit of a humbling experience. Between work and family responsibilities, I only have 30 minutes a day to study Japanese, and Iave spent this time every day for the past two years memorising kanji characters, vocabulary and grammar […]

The post You Have to be Bad to Get Good appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Cynthia Morris, a coach for creatives who shares insights on the book-writing process, based on her latest book The Busy Womanas Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book. So if you are contemplating writing a book – whether itas your first one or your twenty-first – there is […]

The post Writing a World-Changing Book with Cynthia Morris appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

If you think about overhearing something, you probably think of listening to someone elseas conversation, whether deliberately or accidentally, and picking up a titbit of information that you would never otherwise have been privy to. It might be funny, or shocking or useful, or – as in the case of so many loud phone calls […]

The post The Art of Overhearing Yourself appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Emily Kimelman, a thriller author who has travelled the world in a boat and criss-crossed the USA in an Airstream trailer while writing and publishing her books, and selling hundreds of thousands of copies in the process. Emilyas adventurous spirit shines through in her writing as well […]

The post The Adventure of Writing with Emily Kimelman appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.

Former home secretary says Tory voters are aon strikea and are anot coming out to support usa in wake of dire local and mayoral election results

• Labour triumphs in London and West Midlands
• Braverman says no time to oust Sunak so he must aown this and fix ita
• Full mayoral and council results for England

Mark Harper is now being interview by Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. When it is put to him that people in his party want it to change course, Harper says the government will stick to its plan.

In his interview on Sky News Mark Harper, the transport secretary, ducked a question about whether the party should shift to the right, as Suella Braverman is advocating, or to the centre, as Andy Street proposes. (See 7.55am.)

What he is talking about there is what I just said. He is talking about you focus on the priorities of the British people, that is what you do.

We are going to stick to focusing on the priorities that the prime minister set out, which are the governmentas priorities, the prime ministeras priorities but they are also the priorities of the British people.

Yoav Gallant says Hamas appear to not be serious about reaching a truce as negotiators resume peace talks in Cairo

A local official in southern Lebanon said an Israeli strike on a village on Sunday killed a couple and their child, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

aThe dad, the mother and their little son were martyreda, according to the Mays al-Jabal municipality chief Abdelmoneim Chukair.

TV head hopes programme will spark aa #MeToo moment for mena ahead of two-part show on the Oscar-winning actor

One of the producers of a Channel 4 documentary that contains fresh claims that Kevin Spacey abehaved inappropriatelya with men says it will be broadcast as planned on Monday, despite public denials from the actor this weekend.

Dorothy Byrne, a former head of news and current affairs at the television channel, told the Observer that she hopes the new two-part programme, Spacey Unmasked, will prompt aa #MeToo moment for mena and start a wider discussion about standards of behaviour in working situations.

The wartime PM was so taken with Paul Trevillionas work that he arranged a meeting to pay his compliments in person

At the age of 90, and with a successful career as a sports artist under his belt, there is one work of which Paul Trevillion is particularly proud. Perhaps surprisingly, it isnat among his portraits of legendary stars such as Sugar Ray Robinson, PelA(c), Muhammad Ali, George Best, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

It is an image of another of Trevillionas heroes: a pen-and-ink drawing of Winston Churchill created in 1955, and carrying a rare signature of the UKas wartime leader.

Police say a woman and three children escaped blaze with not life-threatening injuries

A child has died and four people were treated in hospital after an early morning house fire in Bradford.

West Yorkshire fire and rescue service sent three crews to the fire at a residential property in the Bolton Outlanes area of the city at 1.05am on Sunday.

Area around Rio de Janeiro beach filled for several blocks as singer closes her Celebration world tour

More than a million people have thronged Brazilas Copacabana beach for a free Madonna concert, braving the heat to see the end of her Celebration world tour.

The sand and oceanfront boulevard around Rio de Janeiroas famed beach were filled for several blocks on Saturday night by a crowd the city estimated at 1.6 million.

Charities say FoI disclosure that 369 such children were held over 21-month period is ahugely concerninga

More than 350 lone children were held in UK-run detention facilities in northern France over a 21-month period, according to documents disclosed under freedom of information laws.

The Home Office has admitted that it failed to keep data on how many properly trained staff looked after the children held in four short-term holding facilities near Calais and Dunkirk in 2022 and 2023.

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Roberto De Zerbi speaks. He says playing without important players, especially the full-backs, changes something in build-up and athe last 40 metresa, hence the lack of goals and no wins in six. He respects Villa but they want to keep the ball, play football, and take a lot of shots.

So where do Villa a potentially fortified with Champions League money a need to strengthen this summer? A deputy for Ollie Watkins, perhaps, a right-back, and central-midfield competition for Douglas Luii, John McGinn and Youri Tielemans? Real talk, theyare pretty well covered, and I think they can do something in Big Ears next season.

Parisian bakers prepare to win record back from those in Italy who created a baguette almost 133 metres long in 2019

For the past five years, bragging rights over the worldas longest baguette have belonged not to the residents of a small village or a city in France, but rather to a clutch of bakers 500 miles away in Como, Italy.

On Sunday a crop of 12 bakers from France set out to rectify this, with plans to spend at least eight hours kneading, shaping and baking their way back to victory.

• Hollywood actor buys stake in club owners 49ers Enterprises
• Ferrell set to become latest celebrity investor at Yorkshire club

Will Ferrell is reportedly set to become the latest celebrity to be a minority investor in the Championship football club Leeds United.

Hollywood actor Ferrell has bought a stake in Leeds owners 49ers Enterprises, according to a report in the Sun newspaper. He will join the likes of fellow thespian Russell Crowe, the Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and professional golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

Rishi Sunakas government tries to limit the damage as the Conservativesa worst fears prove correct in the English local elections

Keir Starmer was advised by his team to get an early night on Thursday before the first election results started to come through at dawn the next day.

They booked the Labour leader into a hotel at a secret location in the north-west, so he could be bright and breezy when celebrating an anticipated parliamentary byelection win in Blackpool South.

Rob Ford was part of the BBC team analysing the local election results as they poured in over the past 48 hours. Here he tells how a dramatic set of results for the government unfolded

The nervous wait for the first result was longer than usual, as counting centres wrestled with multiple ballots for councils, mayors and police and crime commissioners. It was well past midnight on Friday morning when the first ward flashed up, coming as always from Sunderland, which prides itself on its rapid vote counting. A big Tory to Labour swing in Sunderlandas Copt Hill.

As we moved into the small hours of the morning, the flow of data rose from a trickle to a torrent, and an overall picture began to form. Voters clearly wanted the Conservatives out. Who they wanted instead was less clear.

Britain has turned out in force to vote for change. Whenever the Tories go to the country, we will be ready to provide it

Rishi Sunak might have been too scared to put his name on the ballot this week, but voters sent him a clear message in the local elections anyway. Across the country, people turned out to vote for change a from the manufacturing heartlands of Derby to industrial Redditch and Thurrock in Essex. In Aldershot, home of the British army, Labour won Rushmoor borough council, ending 24 years of Tory rule. Ten more police and crime commissioners a which, as a former chief prosecutor, makes me incredibly proud. And in York and North Yorkshire, the first Labour mayor, in the prime ministeras back garden.

Victories in traditional Tory territory across the country are important to me. Itas not just about the numbers, though of course they matter: itas the choice of the electorate to turn their back on 14 years of decline and division, and embrace national renewal with Labour.

From the new mayoralties through to bellwether councils, find out what happened in your area

• Council results a visual analysis

Worldas smallest army, which is preparing to swear in its latest recruits, has in the past engaged in ferocious battles

With their feathered helmets, ruffled collars and coloured, puffed-sleeve uniforms, the Vatican Swiss Guards are often likened by curious visitors to medieval court jesters. But while they willingly pose for photographs, the watchmen are not there to entertain.

Since the early 16th century, when Swiss mercenaries, revered for their bravery and loyalty, marched to Rome to serve Pope Julius II, the worldas smallest army has been enlisted at the Vatican to protect the pope, his residence and the cityas borders.

Mushrooms turning up in hot drinks and supplements as demand grows for ahealth products you donat needa

Sipping mushroom coffee sounds like a weird camping trip anecdote but more Britons are embracing this alternative morning pick-me-up as amushroom maniaa sweeps the high street.

With the food industry eager to cash in on demand for afunctional foodsa that promise extra health benefits, medicinal mushrooms a not the button kind you put in a stew a are turning up in hot drinks, supplements and even beer.

Pro-Palestine protesters hope encampments at universities will contribute to an ainternational student revolta

Students across Britain have said they hope pro-Palestine protests will reach the same scale as those seen on US campuses as they call for universities to divest from companies supplying arms to Israel.

Protests have spread across university campuses in Sheffield, Bristol and Leeds, after a crackdown in the US on protests, which led to mass arrests of students and staff.

Known to his friends as the Legend, John Starbrook is living, breathing proof of the power of exercise and enthusiasm. I tried to keep up with him a and barely survived

I like to think of myself as a strong swimmer. Iam not fast, I canat dive or tumble turn, but when I get a lane to myself Iall happily bash out 50 or 60 lengths. Give me a nice big lake, and my idea of heaven is to backstroke into the middle and watch the swallows overhead. I donat worry that Iall cramp up or suddenly forget how to float.

But Iave never fancied water polo. If youave not watched it, itas a sort of cross between swimming, basketball and wrestling, usually played in a pool thatas so deep you have to tread water or drown. There are two teams, two goals, a large ball and an ungodly amount of throwing, catching and flat-out sprinting. Aquatics GB, the governing body, says players can swim two miles in a single game, and need aremarkable staminaa to cope with all the holding and pushing.

Sarah Manavis and her partner have a guilty secret. What they love to do most of all in private isa| read out loud to each other. And, as sheas discovered, it has many surprising benefits

Neither of us can remember exactly how it happened, but we both agree we were probably a little drunk. It was December 2016. We had been dating for eight months. Even with the booze we were, by many measures, still shy around each other, fearful of spoiling the magic. Which is why neither I nor my partner can fathom the conversation that landed us either in bed or on the sofa with him reading A Christmas Carol out loud to me for an hour. It wasnat something either of us had ever done with another adult. It wasnat something wead heard of adults in the real world ever doing. But the book kept getting read a always by my boyfriend, out loud to me, who listened with total fixation. It was finished before we left to be with our respective families for the Christmas break. And when we returned to be together again in January, we decided we wanted to do it again.

Seven years later, reading together is something we do regularly throughout the year. Without meaning to, we have read mostly classics a The Picture of Dorian Gray, Alice in Wonderland, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde a always, without fail, returning to A Christmas Carol in December, me blurting out the big lines Iave memorised over time like an eager audience member at a kidsa sing-along.

Water detective Dr Leon Barron studies Londonas wastewater, analysing it in all its chemical, narcotic, polluted glory, before and after treatment. Amazingly, he still drinks the stuff from the tap

If you live in London, Dr Leon Barron knows what youare up to. He knows what prescribed drugs youare on a painkillers, antidepressants, antipsychotics or beta blockers a and what illicit ones youare taking for fun. He knows if youave been drinking and when (aFriday and Saturday are the main onesa); perhaps even if youare worried about your dog getting fleas.

Of course, I only mean the collective ayoua, the city. Barron, who leads the Emerging Chemical Contaminants team at Imperial College, has no idea what any individual is taking or doing; he explains that very clearly and carefully. He has a research scientistas precision plus the slight wariness of someone whose research has grabbed headlines, with the inaccuracies and misinterpretations that brings (I wonder what he thought about aPrawn to be wilda, reporting his research on cocaine residue in wild river shrimps.) But heas also infectiously enthusiastic and generous with his time, spending a whole morning taking me round his lab and through his groundbreaking work.

Many prisoners are homeless after release but former inmate and probation worker want to fix that

Darryn Frost and Steve Gallant are still dealing with the trauma of tackling a terrorist at Fishmongersa Hall, London Bridge, in 2019.

Gallant, 47, who was on day release from prison where he was serving a life sentence for murder, helped fend off the attacker alongside Frost, 43, a probation worker who had grabbed a 1.5-metre long narwhal tusk as a weapon.

From a hideaway with star-gazing spectacular enough to keep you off your phone to a aburnouta retreat and a reimagined coastguard lookout

Bordering the Consall Nature Park, a nature reserve featuring 740 acres of woodland, heath and moor, is The Tawny, a adeconstructed hotela. This means that instead of a single house with rooms there are a collection of boathouses, huts and treehouses scattered around the woodlands and lakes. At the top of the hill is a modern glass building, the Plumicorn restaurant, and a heated outdoor pool looking out over the gardens. Stargazing sessions and night-time meditation are on offer, while spa treatments can be booked in the thatched cottage onsite.
Huts from APS240 B&B; thetawny.co.uk

Throughout her life, Danyah Miller developed coping mechanisms to help deal with certain challenges. Would she have thrived if she had known about dyslexia, or would a label have limited her?

Discovering that I have dyslexia, and most probably dyscalculia, later in my life has raised many questions for me, not least whether a childhood diagnosis would have changed the trajectory of my life, both personally and professionally.

Over the years Iad suspected that I might be dyslexic. I also thought that I was making excuses for myself when met with certain challenges. It wasnat until last year that I decided to seek an assessment to confirm either way. I was relieved to read, in the first paragraph of my diagnostic report, that my literacy difficulties are consistent with the specific learning difficulty dyslexia.

Growing up on set put Oscar-winning actor Jennifer Connelly on the fast track to Hollywood fame. But despite her success, one of her lasting regrets was not finishing college a and, she says, itas still on her to-do lista|

Jennifer Connelly is on a Zoom call from her home in Brooklyn, jetlagged after attending Louis Vuittonas pre-fall 2024 show in Shanghai, which does not bode well: she is known to have been reticent in past interviews, and sometimes while working. When she made A Beautiful Mind, the 2001 movie for which she won an Oscar for playing the wife of schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, the co-producer Brian Grazer was unnerved by her reserve. aIt was hard for me to get to know her on the set because Iam so emotional,a he told a writer in 2001. aSheas very serious. Sheas not silly. She doesnat have that buoyancy.a

It is a relief, then, to find Connelly to be thoughtful and lovely and erudite, happy enough to discuss her life and career. I ask if Grazeras description is one shead recognise.

Tributes that were removed from public spaces after the end of his brutal rule in 1975 now crowd a site west of Taipei

The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwanas recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek, known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling the island under brutal martial law.

aThere were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,a Hsieh recalled. aIt was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.a

• Updates from the 2.15pm BST kick-off at the Academy Stadium
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Mary Fowler has stepped up with the absence of Bunny Shaw and Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor told the BBC: aMary has bookended this season well, she started well and she is finishing well.a

It is also Steph Houghtonas last home game with her retiring at the end of the season, Taylor added on the defender: aWhat Steph has brought to the club is incredible, she leaves a huge space.. You canat really measure what she has given to the club.a

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos have a big decision to make but will an unlikely FA Cup final win be enough to save the manager?

And so the real business begins. The four months since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos bought a little over a quarter of Manchester United have been the phoney war. No transfers could be done, so little could be changed on the pitch. The task of Ratcliffe and his advisers was to watch and learn and rejig the executive tier so that when the window opens they are ready to act.

That rejig has been more dramatic than many anticipated. The chief executive, Richard Arnold, and the football director, John Murtough, are just the highest profile departures. Omar Berrada will come in as chief executive from Manchester City when his notice period expires on 13 July while Murtough has effectively been replaced by Jason Wilcox, the new technical director, and Dan Ashworth, who will come in once the terms of his severance from Newcastle have been agreed.

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7 min: Evans pushes forward to disrupt Koivisto but Liverpool survive Unitedas high press and win a free-kick in the centre circle.

4 min: Koivisto crunches into Evans on the right-hand side for Liverpool before United work it back to Earps. And then, suddenly, Galton finds herself slipped in, one on one, with Micah to beat inside the box. The United No 11 fires straight at the keeper, her effort lacking in power and accuracy. United really should be one up.