The Times has annually published its guide since 2013, with judges ruling on towns and cities to rank where best to live. In its most recent guide however, published in December, the paper used data to form its rankings – and Warrington featured on the list. Healthcare was also a factor, with figures used including GP satisfaction rates, waiting times and treatment targets. Lymm also featured in the list of the country’s top 300 places to reside, following a study by women’s lifestyle website Muddy Stilettos. Judges described it as an ‘unpretentious village that is mighty fine to look at, hooking around the ethereal Lymm Dam’.

Musk made a string of posts on X, criticizing UK policy. Musk was reacting to the Alexis Jay report on the Rotherham child sexual exploitation by Pakistani gangs that was published on August 21, 2014 and had been shared by various users on X. Musk later added: “Vote Reform. Health minister Karl Lauterbach described Musk’s involvement as "undignified and highly problematic," accusing him of interfering in Germany’s political discourse ahead of February's snap elections. Musk maintains extensive worldwide investments, especially in China, America’s most powerful adversary.Asked about Musk’s influence on foreign policy, a former U.S. intelligence official told NBC News: “I’m more concerned about conflicts of interest. They got scared because President Musk told them, President Musk said don’t do it," she added.

A key section of a new traffic-free route linking Frome to Radstock is set to progress after the local campaign group, Frome’s Missing Links, successfully reached its £20,000 fundraising target. The project aims to establish a continuous multi-user path connecting Frome to the Colliers Way in Great Elm, creating a link to Radstock and beyond. Together, the funds will cover the cost of tarmacking a 1.3km stretch of path known as ‘Phase 2’ of the ‘missing link’. This section runs between Elliots Lane in Hapsford and the Colliers Way, which itself is a traffic-free route connecting Radstock to Sustrans’ Route 24 to Bath. “We are now ready to appoint a contractor for this work,” said Richard Ackroyd, chair of Frome’s Missing Links.

Ahead of the series announcement, Meghan relaunched her Instagram on 1st January after a 5-year hiatus, before sharing the trailer for With Love, Meghan the following day. Wondering when you'll be able to watch With Love, Meghan on the platform? Meghan Markle in With Love, Meghan on Netflix. Who will appear on With Love, Meghan? Yes, you can watch it below:With Love, Meghan will be released on Netflix on Wednesday 15th January.

The Daily Mail has analysed official figures, external which it says show that salaries for NHS managers in England have soared by more than a £1bn. The paper says the "spiralling bill" reached £2.8bn last year, while "hospitals and ambulances routinely fail to meet performance targets". But the NHS Confederation tells the paper the health service is not "over-managed", but rather "under-managed" compared with its foreign counterparts. "Labour blocks grooming gang probe" is the headline in the Daily Telegraph,, external which leads with the news that the government declined to hold an inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham. The Sun leads with its report that Urfan Sharif - who murdered his 10-year-old daughter Sara - has been attacked, external at Belmarsh Prison.

The Jay InquiryElon Musk's criticism of the government's handling of grooming gangs is "misjudged and certainly misinformed," Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into what she described as the UK's "rape gangs scandal." "The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which published its final report in 2022, described child sexual abuse as an "epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its wake." "The Rotherham ScandalMusk's comments were sparked by the Rotherham grooming scandal , which was detailed in a 2014 report by Alexis Jay. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse called for a balanced approach, advocating sensitivity to cultural issues while ensuring justice and safeguarding vulnerable individuals.

On the contrary, the decline of mainstream, particularly Christian, religious affiliation in the West has made room for a proliferation of alternative and, arguably, irrational beliefs to fill the void. We have exchanged one age of unreason for another” (Quotes, 11 October). We have spiritual needs, relating to meaning and value, just as we have material needs, relating to food and shelter. These foundational principles are effectively religious “dogmas” in all but name, whether aligned to a particular faith tradition or not. The choice is not, as those who share the unexamined assumptions of secular humanism seem to think, between rationalism and religion.

Baldoni has accused the newspaper of working with Lively to damage his reputation by publishing information to support her version of events on the set. Both Lively and Baldoni starred as the lead actors and directors in the 2024 movie It Ends with Us, which was based on a Colleen Hoover novel. Lively filed a civil lawsuit in New York on Tuesday in which she accused Baldoni, and of sexual harassment and initiating a scheme to “destroy” her reputation. Now Baldoni is suing the newspaper over this article titled ‘‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine‘. In a statement, a spokesperson for the New York Times said: “We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”“The role of an independent news organisation is to follow the facts where they lead.

Scientists from Oxford and Birmingham Universities have discovered an extensive quarry floor containing numerous dinosaur footprints . The excavation at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire revealed five substantial trackways with indications of additional prints nearby. "The prints were discovered when quarry worker Gary Johnson noticed unusual surface irregularities whilst clearing clay to expose the quarry floor. The location became recognised globally as a crucial dinosaur track site and received Site of Special Scientific Interest status.The original site is now largely inaccessible, and due to pre-digital documentation, photographic evidence is limited. Along with other fossils like burrows, shells and plants we can bring to life the muddy lagoon environment the dinosaurs walked through.

The Met Office has issued amber weather alerts for the weekend amid fears of hazardous travel conditions and power cuts. A warning for snow and freezing rain covering most of Wales and central England is in place from 6pm on Saturday to midday on Sunday. A warning for snow covers most of northern England from 9pm on Saturday to midnight on Sunday, with up to 30cm expected to fall. Yellow warnings had already been issued, but the upgrade to amber signals the increased likelihood of travel delays, road and rail closures and power cuts, as well as a potential risk to life and property. Arctic air has swept across the country, sending overnight temperatures as low as minus 8C and hampering operations to clean up

Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for freeHer lawsuit contained several excerpts from text messages and emails between Baldoni, public relations executive Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan. “The Times, as with Lively’s…Complaint, deliberately takes these communications out of context to bolster a fallacious narrative to quash Plaintiffs,” his lawsuit states. These actions, the lawsuit claims, resulted in her public image suffering — rather than any alleged smear campaign conducted by Baldoni and his team. This will reportedly not be the only lawsuit Baldoni and his associates file. “This lawsuit seeks to hold the Times accountable for its role in this defamation campaign, but Plaintiffs are not done,” the lawsuit states.

Write to letters@thetimes.co.ukSir, James Kirkup is right about how badly we failed children during the pandemic in light of the prolonged closure of schools in Britain (“Silence is deafening on Covid school closures”, Jan 2). According to Unesco figures, France closed its schools for 9.7 weeks, Germany for 23.6 weeks, the UK for 25.9 weeks and Italy for 30 weeks. The harmful consequences of such a failure are wide-reaching in society, and the number of children who have not returned to school since the pandemic is a testament to that. Kirkup is also right that the “ultimate responsibility” for this belongs to Boris Johnson, who, to date, has escaped real scrutiny and consequences for his disastrous handling of the pandemic. Dominica Jewell

Frome Times’ Person and Group of the Year awards are back and it’s time to get your nominations in! The awards will recognise the person and group who have made a real contribution to the community in 2024. For the Group of the Year award, any group, organisation or committee whose work has benefited the town in 2024 can be nominated. Frome Times received numerous nominations for Frodo, and he was presented with a special gold cat statue in recognition of his popularity. Alternatively, you can write to Frome Times, 31 Market Place, Melksham, SN12 6ES.

Write to letters@thetimes.co.ukSir, Your report “Public sector could swap pay rises for lower pensions” (Dec 31) worries me as an economist. The bestselling author Dan Brown notes in The Da Vinci Code that “today is today. But there are many tomorrows.” Public sector employees would consequently be very keen to play safe by getting higher wages now at the expense of lower pensions at some highly unpredictable future. swap argument to raise public wages further without any link to higher productivity, would be inflationary, not least because historical evidence has shown that there are significant wage spillover effects from the public sector to the private sector, at least in the short run. The bottom line is that the

For this article, we have compiled a selection of new data from December to show where public opinion in the UK stands as we enter the new year. The majority of Labour voters (57%) still hold a favourable opinion of the party leader, but this has fallen considerably from 87% in the immediate aftermath of the general election. More than a third of Labour voters (36%) now have an unfavourable view of Starmer. There is less appeal in the reverse direction – a notably lower rate of 35% of Reform UK voters say they have a positive opinion of the new Tory leader. Even Labour voters are now divided on the government they elected, with 38% having a negative view and 34% a positive one.