Catherine Connolly: “I will be an inclusive president for all” Catherine Connolly has been elected as the president of Ireland after a landslide victory. She has become the 10th president of the Republic of Ireland after defeating Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys, who had already conceded to her rival. The result, long clear from early tallies,…

by Getty Images For Unsplash+ Cutting your couch time by 30 minutes every day would give you an energy boost by improving metabolism, according to new research. It shows that reducing the time you’re seated can improve your body’s ability to utilize fats and carbohydrates for energy production. Study author Dr. Taru Garthwaite explained that…

BBC Let there be light – a therapeutic lamp can counter the darkness indoors on short days As the clocks go back and the darkness draws in, spare a thought for those living with the longest nights in the UK. In the depths of winter, Scotland’s northern isles will see barely six hours of daylight…

Convent in Gravelbourg c. 1926 – Credit Town of Gravelbourg This is the convent of Gravelbourg, a small town in Canada that boasts a long-time motto: “a touch of Europe on the prairie.” For over a decade this stately building—a true stunner in the middle of very little else—has been useless and vacant, but the…

Harlequins: Kildunne; Torley, Pena, Parry, Wilcock; Tuima, Packer; Turani, Powell, Hanlon, McIntosh, Fleming, Wythe, Svoboda, Konkel Replacements: Phillips, Sims, Delgado, Shirley, Brooks, Burgess, Cromack, Shillaker Sin-bin: Svoboda [64] Loughborough Lightning: Green; Mataitoga, Kelter, Morrall, Westcombe-Evans; Nelson, Brebner-Holden; Young, Calladine, Sagapolu, Boyd, Ives Campion, Hibbert-Jones, Kabeya, Lutui Replacements: Treder, Williams, Belisle, Brody, Waudby, Maude, Brown, Scantlebury…

– Jeff Eden © RBG Kew After 25 years of diligent work, an English botanic gardens is ready to face whatever reality climate change may throw at us, safe in the knowledge that a large chunk of the world’s plant diversity lies safely tucked away underground for future generations. By the numbers, the Millennium Seed…

Retail sales volumes have risen for the fourth month in a row, driven by consumers buying gold online and new tech gadgets. Monthly sales rose by 0.5% in September 2025, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show, defying an expected decrease of -0.2%. “Although food stores saw very little growth, good weather…

Happy 40th birthday to Wayne Rooney, former Manchester United talisman and captain of the England national team. Part of a golden generation that helped to cement the English Premier League as the best in the world, Rooney made 559 appearances for Manchester United, scoring 253 goals from a variety of forward positions. Rooney is the…

The rapper Ghetts has been charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving after a fatal crash in north-east London. The musician, whose real name is Justin Clarke-Samuel, allegedly failed to stop after hitting a 20-year-old man in Redbridge Lane East, Ilford, on Saturday, 18 October, the Met Police said. Mr Clarke-Samuel, 41, appeared at…

credit – Chiku Singh / SWNS A British woman recently rescued an abandoned housecat who had been living for 2 years in a derelict bathroom, and is arranging to fly the “gentle” animal back to the UK. Hobbyist animal rescuer Chiku Singh was sent a picture of the long-haired cat by a stranger and drove…