Stand up to Trump over torture support, MPs urge May
newTheresa May has come under pressure to tackle Donald Trump about his support for torture when she meets him in Washington tomorrow. The new American president has ordered a review of controversial detention practices and told a broadcaster yesterday that torture “absolutely” works. The US should...Theresa May has come under pressure to tackle Donald Trump about his support for torture when she meets him in Washington tomorrow. The new American president has ordered a review of controversial detention practices and told a broadcaster yesterday that torture “absolutely” works. The US should...Theresa May has come under pressure to tackle Donald Trump about his support for torture when she meets him in Washington...
Read the full storySouthern Rail franchise at risk of being renationalised
The company behind Britain’s worst rail operator could be sacked within weeks under plans to renationalise the network. The Department for Transport (DfT) is considering taking direct control of Southern Rail and placing it in civil service hands until another private operator can be found. It would be the first time that the government has...The company behind Britain’s worst rail operator could be sacked within weeks under plans to renationalise the network. The Department for Transport (DfT) is considering taking direct control of Southern Rail and placing it in civil service hands until another private operator can be found. It would be the first time that the government has...The company behind Britain’s worst rail operator could be sacked within weeks under plans to renationalise the network. The...
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I killed wounded men to end their misery, reveals author
A respected author and former Royal Marine has told how he shot two badly wounded men during battle to “put them out of their misery” 65 years ago. Neal Ascherson, 84, spoke for the first time about the killings to lend his support to the campaign to quash the conviction and sentence of Alexander Blackman, known as...A respected author and former Royal Marine has told how he shot two badly wounded men during...A respected author and former Royal Marine has told how he shot two badly wounded men during...
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Sitcom star Mary Tyler Moore dies aged 80
Mary Tyler Moore, who played a suburban housewife on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and a single career woman in...Mary Tyler Moore, who played a suburban housewife on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and a...Mary Tyler Moore, who played a suburban housewife on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and a...
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The Times Diary
Parlez-vous Trumplais?
Donald Trump’s oratory is proving difficult for translators. In a piece for the French website Slate, one...Donald Trump’s oratory is proving difficult for translators. In a piece for the French website...Donald Trump’s oratory is proving difficult for translators. In a piece for the French website...
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RED BOX: ANALYSIS
Doomed Labour MPs rush for the lifeboats
Carry on! Doctor in tryst with prostitute keeps job
A married doctor who had sex with a prostitute on a maternity ward while his wife was pregnant has been declared fit...A married doctor who had sex with a prostitute on a maternity ward while his wife was pregnant...A married doctor who had sex with a prostitute on a maternity ward while his wife was pregnant...
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Tory councillor suspended over lewd remarks to hunt activist
A Conservative councillor has been suspended after he was filmed telling an activist who had accused him of hunting...A Conservative councillor has been suspended after he was filmed telling an activist who had...A Conservative councillor has been suspended after he was filmed telling an activist who had...
Read the full storybattlefield 'mercy killing'
‘Mercy killing’ is not a legal defence . . . but we had to do it
When I was serving in Malaya with 42 Commando, six decades before Blackman would join the same unit, I did something similar to the act for which he has been convicted and sentenced. I was a 19-year-old officer in charge of a Commando sub-section when a patrol of enemy guerrillas walked out of the jungle into an ambush we had laid. Cut down by a hurricane of fire, most...When I was serving in Malaya with 42 Commando, six decades before Blackman would join the same...When I was serving in Malaya with 42 Commando, six decades before Blackman would join the same...
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battlefield 'mercy killing'
The legal niceties never entered my head
During the Dhofar war in 1968 on the Arabian Peninsula, I was seconded to the Desert Regiment of the Sultan of Oman’s...During the Dhofar war in 1968 on the Arabian Peninsula, I was seconded to the Desert Regiment of the Sultan of Oman’s forces as they fought an insurgency. We came under sustained fire and my Arab sergeant-major was hit in the neck. He stumbled to the ground with blood spurting 18 inches above his head. There was no...During the Dhofar war in 1968 on the Arabian Peninsula, I was seconded to the Desert Regiment of the Sultan of Oman’s forces as...
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The Table
Meet the man who can cook a gourmet meal for £1
The Table
The bloggers who told us not to spend (and made money)
Sebastian Barry
‘I wrote this book so my son could be safe on trains’
Deborah Ross
No woman was ever told she needs to be funnier at work
Gallery must not hide Nazi shame, says architect
It was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to show off the best examples of “Germanic” art and still features swastikas inside the portico, so the restoration of the Haus der Kunst, or House of Art, in Munich by a British architect was always likely to...It was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to show off the best examples of “Germanic” art and still...It was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to show off the best examples of “Germanic” art and still...
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100m electric cars on road within two decades, says BP
The world is likely to have 100 million electric cars on the road within the next two decades, according to a forecast from BP. The oil and gas company said that it expected enormous growth in electric car numbers, from about...The world is likely to have 100 million electric cars on the road within the next two decades, according to a forecast from BP. The oil and gas company said that it expected enormous growth in electric car numbers, from about...The world is likely to have 100 million electric cars on the road within the next two decades, according to a...
Read the full storyRED BOX: COMMENT
Let’s preserve beautiful places for ordinary people
“To preserve beauty, to create beauty and to remove ugliness.” These were the aims that Duncan Sandys, then MP for Streatham, set out in a Private Members Bill that in the fifty years since has led to the creation of nearly ten...“To preserve beauty, to create beauty and to remove ugliness.” These were the aims that Duncan Sandys, then MP for Streatham, set out in a Private Members Bill that in the fifty years since has led to the creation of nearly ten...“To preserve beauty, to create beauty and to remove ugliness.” These were the aims that Duncan Sandys, then MP for...
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RED BOX: COMMENT
A quick US trade deal will signal that the UK is easy prey
RED BOX: COMMENT
Gibraltar must be part of the UK’s Brexit plan
Fairytale fashion for an Arabian princess
What does a self-respecting Middle Eastern princess wear in 2017? The trousers, it would — somewhat surprisingly — appear. That said, only if rendered in duchesse satin, and accessorised with a floor-length train. Keeping it real has, after all...What does a self-respecting Middle Eastern princess wear in 2017? The trousers, it would —...What does a self-respecting Middle Eastern princess wear in 2017? The trousers, it would —...
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Comment
David Aaronovitch
Teachers must get out of their ideological rut
David Aaronovitch
Banging on about class sizes and funding won’t help schools improve — it’s the quality of lesson preparation that counts
Jenni russell
Trump’s tantrums risk making his presidency a disaster
iain martin
May’s Brexit vision needs more dynamism
janice turner
Down with high heels and all they stand for
Jeremy Farrar, Harpal Kumar
Britain must stay open to scientists
Leading Articles
May’s Day
The prime minister’s visit to Washington will be a chance to strengthen the most important transatlantic alliance, and is a reminder that all politics is personal
Pressing Charges
GPs’ plans to make patients pay for out-of-hours appointments deserve a fair hearing
You’re Hired!
Elite apprenticeships are a serious alternative to university
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
GP plan to charge for weekend appointments
Sir, One cannot blame GPs for considering levying patient charges for out-of-hours cover in the face of wholly inadequate funding (“GPs draw up plans for patient charging”, Jan 25). However, the lessons from NHS dental charges must be learnt.Sir, One cannot blame GPs for considering levying patient charges for out-of-hours cover in the...Sir, One cannot blame GPs for considering levying patient charges for out-of-hours cover in the...
Read the full storyThe Red Box podcast
Should we demolish or sell the Houses of Parliament?
Daily Universal Register
Briefing
UK: The Office for National Statistics publishes preliminary growth figures for the fourth quarter of 2016; cash machine providers discuss plans to cut the cost of running the UK’s cash machine (ATM) network; financial results from Sky, the entertainment company, Whitbread, the hotel and restaurant group, and Diageo, the drinks business.
US: Theresa May and President Trump are expected to meet at the congressional Republican retreat in Philadelphia; President Trump is scheduled to give his second television interview since taking the oath of office, an hour-long programmer speaking on topics including his first week in office and plans for the first 100 days of his term; financial results from Ford Motor, the US carmaker, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Microsoft, the technology company.
On this day
In 1790 Così Fan Tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was first performed in Vienna.
In 1841 Hong Kong was proclaimed a British sovereign territory.
In 1905 the largest diamond in the world, the Cullinan diamond, was mined at Pretoria, South Africa.
In 1950 India became a republic within the Commonwealth.
In 1998 Bill Clinton, the US president, denied allegations that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 24-year-old former White House aid.
In 2001 25,000 people died after an earthquake in Gujarat, western India.
Nature notes
Thistles are not popular when they are flourishing in the summer. They spread vigorously and destructively into farmland fields; and also, if one tries to break through them when they bar one’s way on a country walk, they can prick one painfully. However, if one is looking for early signs of spring, they have something to offer. Field thistles, which are our most abundant thistles, are now appearing as glittering silvery-white stars flush with the ground on damp paths. Near by there may also be the first leaves of wild strawberry, each with three green or even red leaflets. On hedge banks, goosegrass — another plant that will rampage in summer, often invading flowerbeds — is coming up to begin with as little green pagodas. Also detectable in sheltered spots in woods are the dark green, heart-shaped leaves of sweet violets. The first of their sweet-smelling flowers will be opening in the West Country early in February.
Derwent May
Birthdays today
Prof Igor Aleksander, neural systems engineer, designed the first neural pattern recognition system in the 1980s, 80; Ronald Allison, press secretary to the Queen (1973-78), 85; Anita Baker, singer, Sweet Love (1986), 59; Admiral Sir Desmond Cassidi, commander-in-chief, Naval Home Command (1982-85), 92; Sir Timothy Clifford, art historian, 71; Adam Crozier, chief executive, ITV, 53; Angela Davis, US political activist, 73; Ellen DeGeneres, comedian and talk-show host, 59; Prof Les Ebdon, director, Fair Access to Higher Education, 70; Jules Feiffer, cartoonist (Pulitzer prize, 1986) and writer, Carnal Knowledge (1971), 88; Christopher Hampton, screenwriter, Atonement (2007), 71; Kim Hughes, cricketer, Australia captain (1979-84), 63; Prof Sir Michael Marmot, president, World Medical Association (2015-16), 72; Prof Dame Anne Mills, deputy director and provost, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 66; Redmond Morris (Baron Killanin), film producer, The Reader (2008), 70; José Mourinho, football manager, Manchester United, Chelsea (2004-07, 2013-15), 54; Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general, Nato (2009-14), 64; Dame Paula Rego, printmaker, figurative painter, 82; Andrew Ridgeley, pop singer, Wham!, 54; Brendan Rodgers, football manager, Celtic, 44; Heather Stanning, British rower, Olympic gold medallist (2012, women’s coxless pair), 32; Eddie Van Halen, rock guitarist, Jump! (1983), 62; Laura Wade-Gery, executive director of UK retail, Marks and Spencer (2011-16), 52.