
England chasing the rainbow with more questions than answers
Are England a better team in September than in June? BBC cricket correspondent Stephan Shemilt discusses the positives and negatives of the Test summer and what the next period may bring.

Are England a better team in September than in June? BBC cricket correspondent Stephan Shemilt discusses the positives and negatives of the Test summer and what the next period may bring.

Are England a better team in September than in June? BBC cricket correspondent Stephan Shemilt discusses the positives and negatives of the Test summer and what the next period may bring.

Are England a better team in September than in June? BBC cricket correspondent Stephan Shemilt discusses the positives and negatives of the Test summer and what the next period may bring.

Are England a better team in September than in June? BBC cricket correspondent Stephan Shemilt discusses the positives and negatives of the Test summer and what the next period may bring.

Are England a better team in September than in June? BBC cricket correspondent Stephan Shemilt discusses the positives and negatives of the Test summer and what the next period may bring.

Her riotous weekly show had an army of devoted fans. Now Tarbuck has joined the ranks of star presenters leaving the BBC – and she’s getting her hands dirty A tragedy. A national disaster. A loss to the cultural landscape that should be discussed in parliament. These were just a few listener reactions when Liza Tarbuck left her Radio 2 show earlier this year. “I was bereft about it, too,” sighs Tarbuck. “I miss angsting over the playlist. I miss the texts and emails. For two hours every weekend, we were a proper gang.” Tarbuck hosted her Saturday evening show for 14 years, building it into the funniest show on British radio. Her riotous mix of freewheeling chat and hand-picked tunes ( the music could span nine decades in the same show) drew an audience of 2 million, and received more messages from listeners – 50 per minute – than any other programme on the station. Continue reading...

A senior UN official tells the BBC there is a race against the clock to ensure access to power and water through winter.

A senior UN official tells the BBC there is a race against the clock to ensure access to power and water through winter.

Marcus Hearn recalls the stories his father told him about the filming of episodes in Cambridge.

Marcus Hearn recalls the stories his father told him about the filming of episodes in Cambridge.

The BBC's Tom Gerken plays the hotly anticipated superhero game from Spider-Man makers Insomniac.

Mountaineer Mingma G tells the BBC about the climb to bring home the bodies of his closest friends.

DUP education minister accused of dragging feet before revising guidelines that also apply to PE and games Schools in Northern Ireland must give girls the choice to wear trousers as part of their uniforms as well as for PE and games, according to revised guidelines. From next year schools will no longer be able to prohibit female pupils from wearing trousers, Paul Givan, the country’s education minister, said on Friday. “Today, I am taking that decision, that will be formally communicated, schools will be hearing from me,” he told the BBC . Continue reading...

DUP education minister accused of dragging feet before revising guidelines that also apply to PE and games Schools in Northern Ireland must give girls the choice to wear trousers as part of their uniforms as well as for PE and games, according to revised guidelines. From next year schools will no longer be able to prohibit female pupils from wearing trousers, Paul Givan, the country’s education minister, said on Friday. “Today, I am taking that decision, that will be formally communicated, schools will be hearing from me,” he told the BBC . Continue reading...

DUP education minister accused of dragging feet before revising guidelines that also apply to PE and games Schools in Northern Ireland must give girls the choice to wear trousers as part of their uniforms as well as for PE and games, according to revised guidelines. From next year schools will no longer be able to prohibit female pupils from wearing trousers, Paul Givan, the country’s education minister, said on Friday. “Today, I am taking that decision, that will be formally communicated, schools will be hearing from me,” he told the BBC . Continue reading...

EXCLUSIVE: UTA has signed actor Toby Kebbell for representation in all areas. Currently leading the cast of Apple’s alt-history space-race drama For All Mankind, Kebbell previously starred for four seasons in the streamer’s psychological thriller Servant from M. Night Shyamalan. Additional TV credits include Black Mirror, The Street, and the modern BBC adaptation of Macbeth. In film, Kebbell will next be seen […]

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC has sparked unrest among staff with plans to slash taxi usage for night shift workers. Bosses at the UK broadcaster want to change the qualifying time for expensable cab fares, meaning employees would have to leave work 30 minutes later or start 30 minutes earlier for the BBC to foot the bill […]

(Reprise) The 80-year-old continues his tireless output, delving into the past for inspiration to variable results – though two lengthy brand-new songs are real showstoppers You can’t fault Neil Young for his industry. Second Song is his second new album of 2026: the first, a double live set called As Time Explodes, was released just over three months ago. Indeed, at 80, his work schedule seems mind-boggling. Since 2020, he’s released nine new albums, a 30-minute EP, five self-directed films and three more films directed by others, 10 archival live albums, six archival studio albums and two immense box sets. He has embarked on tours with his longstanding backing band Crazy Horse, his recently convened backing band the Chrome Hearts, and solo. He has gone to public war with Spotify, Amazon, Ticketmaster and – briefly – the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury, and penned umpteen op-ed pieces about politics, the environment and corporate media for his online newspaper the Times-Contrarian. When he recently cancelled a European tour citing exhaustion, it was hard not to think: well, I’m not surprised. You do find yourself wondering if his workload is such a good thing: not just for an elderly gentleman’s health but also for the quality of his output. Young has always prized spontaneity over finesse, but some of his more recent releases have suggested that at least a soupçon of finesse might not go amiss. Last year’s Talkin to the Trees, however, seemed to cross the line that separates the instinctive from the dashed off. Young frequently sounded as if he was making the material up as he went along, with nugatory results: “When today has come and gone, I might be singing my new song,” he offered on Family Life. “Might be short, it might be long, but I’ll be singing my new song.” If some of the melodies sounded familiar, that’s because they were. Not one but two tracks echoed the tune of Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land; First Fire of Winter was essentially Young’s 1970 masterpiece Helpless with different lyrics; Thankful rewrote 1992’s Harvest Moon. Continue reading...

The BBC's North America editor Sarah Smith breaks down the main takeaways from the first-ever Republican convention held in the middle of a US presidential term.

Twenty-five years on, the attacks have come to define a generation of foreign, security and intelligence policy, the BBC's security correspondent writes.