Like any of the dozen boozers nearby, it is full of natural light, craft beers and polished floorboards. Yet last Monday it was closed off to the public and filled with 300 angry young men and women. Instead of bemoaning class inequality through novels and dramas, as their forebears did in the 1950s, they were here to debate one thing: decline. They are fed up with living in a country that feels as if it is heading inexorably backwards and that no politicians or policymakers are tackling it. This is Looking for Growth, a burgeoning movement dedicated to the task of growing the economy.

Guidelines suggesting that people from ethnic minorities should get softer sentences were drawn up on the back of recommendations by David Lammy, The Times can disclose. New guidance sent to judges said they should consider the background of members of ethnic and religious minorities when deciding whether to impose a custodial or community sentence. The guidelines were issued by the Sentencing Council, an independent body that provides guidance for judges and courts, and will come into effect on April 1. They have prompted claims of a “two-tier” sentencing policy that favours ethnic minorities. The council went ahead with the changes despite being told by magistrates during a consultation on the reforms that the guidance was “biased and conflicts with equality in sentencing”.

'We would have found out about his three inch shoe lifts,' one user wrote. He wears shoe lifts.' But multiple medical doctors claimed Trump's leg may be indicative of a more serious neuromuscular degenerative issue, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or multiple sclerosis. One, seemingly referencing how video of Trump's leg apparently dragging on the golf course went viral earlier this week, said: 'Lord you people. 'Spotted during Friday’s infamous meeting with Zelensky/bullying session: Trump’s shoe, with lift, is also a few sizes too large,' one tweeted.

hot wheels Brooklyn Beckham reveals it took him SEVEN times to pass his theory test ahead of new racing careerBROOKLYN Beckham has revealed it took him seven times to pass his driving theory test. Brooklyn says his mum and dad, David and Victoria Beckham, are terrified he will crash the car during his high speed race. But while his wife Nicola Peltz- Beckham was also concerned, that faded away when she saw him "looking sexy" in his racing gear. Wannabe chef Brooklyn Beckham shows off the ‘elite’ snack wife Nicola lovesDespite Miami's usually sunny weather, Brooklyn seems to have brought a touch of the UK with him to the race track. When he's not training on the track, Brooklyn likes to enjoy a more chill life.

“Earlier today, I received an important letter from President Zelenskyy of Ukraine,” Trump said. Quoting from the letter, Trump said Zelenskyy told him that “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Vance did not mention any particular country in his skeptical comments about a potential peacekeeping mission. Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage told broadcaster GB News that “JD Vance is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.”“For 20 years in Afghanistan, pro rata our size against America’s, we spent the same amount of money, we put the same number of men and women in, and we suffered the same losses,” Farage added. “JD Vance is erasing from history the hundreds of British troops who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan,” she said.

The number of super-wealthy people living in the UK flatlined last year amid rising taxes but grew significantly almost everywhere else in the world, according to a report released today. The annual Wealth Report released by the estate agency Knight Frank, which chronicles what the rich buy and where they live, calculated that the number of UK residents with assets of $10 million or more was 55,667 in 2024, a rise of 0.9 per cent from the figure of 55,152 a year earlier. The UK figures, however, fly in the face of expanding wealth last year among the world’s richest residents globally, with a 4.4 per cent rise in the number of people with wealth of $10 million or more between 2023 and 2024.

President Trump on Monday temporarily suspended the delivery of all U.S. military aid to Ukraine, senior administration and military officials said, just days after Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine had an explosive confrontation at the White House. It forces Mr. Zelensky to agree to a cease-fire on terms Mr. Trump dictates, or condemns the country to larger battlefield losses. It was unclear what exactly Mr. Zelensky would need to do for Mr. Trump to resume the military assistance. And Mr. Trump has spoken in recent days about how he and Mr. Putin have been bonded by going through the shared ordeal of the investigation into Moscow’s attempts to tilt the election eight years ago to Mr. Trump. Instead, Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Mr. Zelensky in front of the cameras for not being grateful enough for U.S. support.

Photo/AgenciesNEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street in London late on Tuesday evening. He conveyed "warm greetings" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jaishankar said their discussions included bilateral cooperation and the UK's view on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. "Discussed the progress on our FTA talks," Jaishankar said in a post on X after the meeting.India and the UK had restarted negotiations on the FTA during the UK minister’s visit to Delhi last month. The agreement aims to strengthen the GBP 41-billion annual trade relationship between the two countries.Jaishankar also met UK home secretary Yvette Cooper.

Write to letters@thetimes.co.ukSir, There is an overlooked but basic flaw in President Trump’s mineral deal (“Mineral deal could have been worse — now it may be”, Mar 4). He asserted to Sir Keir Starmer in the Oval Office: “I don’t think anybody’s going to play around if we’re there with a lot of workers.” But why would American mining corporations and their employees run the commercial and personal risks in the absence of a security guarantee? Professor Clive CoenKing’s College LondonSir, President Trump claims that if US commercial mining interests are involved in Ukraine, that will provide a sufficient deterrent to prevent further Russian military and civil aggression. In fact, it is the standard and understandable practice of American companies

Vice President JD Vance has sparked a storm of criticism in Britain after declaring that an American economic deal in Ukraine was a “better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”Britain, which along with France has pledged troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, fought with the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, while French troops fought in Afghanistan. No other countries have said they would send troops to Ukraine. Mr. Vance later insisted that his comments, in an interview on Monday night with the Fox News host Sean Hannity, did not refer to Britain or France, though he did not name any alternative countries.

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Small and medium-sized companies’ reluctance to borrow and invest is a key reason for the UK’s poor productivity performance, the state economic development agency has warned. The British Business Bank said its latest study of business finance found a “strong aversion” to borrowing to invest and warned that recent lacklustre confidence among employers had compounded a longstanding issue. The proportion of smaller businesses accessing finance fell from 50 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 to 43 per cent in the second quarter of last year, a report from the bank found. • Community lenders unlock £1bn for small firms rejected by banksBusinesses who believed they have underinvested most commonly cited credit being too expensive or felt they could not borrow at a

Artillery, for example, was as recently as last year a bellwether of Ukraine’s battlefield success. Ukraine has said it should be able to produce enough artillery for itself by later this year, and other European nations should be able to help maintain the balance. Ukraine is also building its own armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons, having burned through more than 4,000 tanks, personnel carriers and other combat trucks since 2022. And the vast majority of drones, which have surpassed other weapons in lethality on the front lines, are made in Ukraine. That is partly because Ukraine uses missiles needed to intercept airstrikes almost as quickly as they are delivered, especially those that can stop Russian ballistic missiles and glide bombs that are difficult and costly to block.

Beneath a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece about the dangers of artificial intelligence, there is now an AI-generated response about how AI will make storytelling more democratic. On Monday, the Los Angeles Times’s just-debuted AI tool, “Insight”, labeled this argument as politically “center-left” and provided four “different views on the topic” underneath. Responding to the human writers, the AI tool argued not only that AI “democratizes historical storytelling”, but also that “technological advancements can coexist with safeguards” and that “regulation risks stifling innovation”. Most of the time, of course, the newspaper’s AI tool will not provide an AI’s response to arguments about artificial intelligence. Instead, as in several recent opinion pieces, the AI “Insights” button provides pro-Trump responses to opinion pieces critical of Donald Trump.

Flexible working and e-rostering are key to keeping more nurses in the health service, a new report by NHS England suggests. The organisation has published a new analysis of its People Promise staff retention initiative, which has seen trusts offered support to implement changes to prevent staff from quitting. Across all the trusts, leaver rates fell collectively by 11.8% more than non-exemplar trusts over the 20-month pilot – a reduction of 4,465 full-time equivalent leavers. The report found that e-rostering, supporting flexible working and flexible retirement and local listening sessions for staff had the biggest impact on improvements to leaver rates. The People Promise staff retention initiative is led by nurse Professor Em Wilkinson-Brice, director for staff experience and leadership development at NHS England.