ANTI-CHRISTIAN hate crimes involving targeted abuse and violence are increasing across Europe, but especially in the UK, France, and Germany, two new reports say. The information relates to 9891 violent incidents. France was worst affected, with 950 reported crimes, followed by England and Wales, with 702, and Germany, with 277. Increasing acts of bullying and discrimination against expressions of “traditional religious beliefs” are also having a “chilling effect”, the report says, especially among younger Christians and politicians. It said that 13,200 NCHIs had been recorded by 45 police forces over the year to last June, including that of a Humberside parish priest who had remarked that homosexuality was sinful.

A long walk in the mountains last weekend brought sudden perspective to just how heavily the shoutiness and anger was weighing. But it was the sound of a serenity that only nature can gift – a noise of extreme unplugged-ness if you like. In recent years, probably since the pandemic lockdowns, I’ve been a big advocate of walking with my own silence. It was in a hotel room while on holiday in Arizona that we watched the first presidential election debate. The recent 5 November presidential election and its aftermath still seems like the most consequential in recent global history, and certainly of my life – and that of my children and grandchildren.

Write to letters@thetimes.co.ukSir, The announcement of six cost-saving reductions in the defence budget (news, Nov 21) might have seemed credible were it linked to a commitment to raise overall defence expenditure by a specified date. That commitment was glossed over by vague references to the strategic defence review. However, this review, like HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, looks dead in the water before it has even been completed. With whichever blind eye “Admiral” John Healey chooses to look through his telescope, he cannot fail to notice how dangerous the world is at present. If it is necessary to fire Storm Shadow missiles into Russia then surely it must be necessary for the government to commit itself to a level of defence expenditure

A copy of the chart was also provided to the House Ethics Committee, according to the paper. The House Ethics Committee also launched an investigation and was due to release a “highly damaging” report of its findings last week, before Gaetz’s attorney general nomination and subsequent resignation from the House derailed its publication. One of Leppard’s clients received $4,025.27, the diagram allegedly shows, and the other received $3,500. The receipts, which were said to have been displayed during closed-door testimony in the House Ethics Committee probe, reflect transactions between July 2017 and January 2019, when Gaetz was a newly elected representative. On Wednesday, the House Ethics Committee was deadlocked over whether to release the report into Gaetz.

ShareFor the past 5 years, luxury Houses have been evolving in a permanent-crisis context: pandemics, climate crisis, Russo-Ukrainian war, Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When we analyze the criticisms made about luxury, we find six risk factors2:Boycott risk factors in luxury. For instance, protests against LVMH in France8 reflect frustrations over luxury brands amid rising living costs. To know more about it and how to apply it, buy the book or reach out to set-up a meeting. 1 BETC, HAVAS, Prosumers Luxury Study carried out among 1,647 luxury customers in nine key markets (China, United States, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates), January 2024.

President Vladimir V. Putin escalated a tense showdown with the West on Thursday, saying that Russia had launched a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine in response to Ukraine’s recent use of American and British weapons to strike deeper into Russia. In what appeared to be an ominous threat against Ukraine’s western allies, Mr. Putin also asserted that Russia had the right to strike the military facilities of countries “that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.”His warning came hours after Russia’s military fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile at Ukraine that Western officials and analysts said was meant to instill fear in Kyiv and the West. Though the missile carried only conventional warheads, using it signaled that Russia could strike with nuclear weapons if it chooses.

US and UK universities collectively hold 10 of the top 20 places in the list, with 13 UK institutions featuring overall in the list Louis Ashworth for VarsityThe University of Cambridge has been ranked the top UK university in The Times Higher Education (THE) Global Employability Ranking, coming in fifth place globally. The ranking assesses universities based on their graduates’ employability and readiness to enter the world of work. Despite dropping down a place from last year’s rankings, Cambridge University has still managed to outperform Oxford, which moved up from eighth place last year to seventh in the 2025 ranking. US and UK universities collectively hold ten of the top 20 places in the list, with 13 UK institutions featuring overall. This comes after Cambridge was ranked fifth in The Times World University Rankings 2025 for the second year running, and fourth in the UK ranking, dropping below rivals Oxford in both.

The Times, external describes the first use by Ukraine of British-made Storm Shadow missiles on targets inside Russia as a "marked intensification" of UK involvement in the conflict. The paper's front page has a grainy photo which it says shows a command post in the Kursk region being hit. It argues that the move - and the use of American ATACMS missiles - shows Moscow "that Ukraine's western allies remain determined to supply Kyiv with the systems necessary to defend the country". "UK defies Putin", external is the headline for the i. The Sun, external has photos of his former One Direction bandmates, and his ex-partner Cheryl, at the ceremony.

Harry Maguire must seize the opportunity for a fresh start under new Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim, says Wes Brown. Despite being a key figure in defence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Maguire found himself sidelined during the majority of Erik ten Hag's tenure. "It's been a horrible situation for Harry Maguire, but not playing as much is never where a player wants to be at this stage of their career," Brown told Casino24. "He's been pushed to the side a little bit, but this is a great opportunity for him to show Ruben Amorim what he can do. "Obviously, it's not good enough,” Maguire acknowledged last month as pressure began to overwhelm the squad and Ten Hag.

John Prescott, who rose through Britain’s trade union movement to become one of the country’s best-known politicians, serving as deputy prime minister for a decade, died on Wednesday. His family announced the death in a statement on social media. The statement noted that he had suffered a stroke in 2019 and had been living with Alzheimer’s disease. Plain-speaking and proudly working class, Mr. Prescott was a visible link to Labour’s traditional origins when the party came to power in 1997 under the modernizing leadership of Tony Blair. In government, Mr. Prescott championed environmental causes — playing a key role in international climate negotiations — and worked to shift power from London to the English regions.

NSW Court Decision Fuels Climate Protest Momentum Supreme Court ruling empowers climate activists as protests intensify for December actionA recent showdown between the New South Wales government and climate activists has led to significant developments. On Thursday, November 21, 2024, the NSW Supreme Court overturned attempts by the Minns government to restrict climate protests. This latest decision came as hundreds of climate activists demonstrated their commitment to raising awareness about environmental issues. Many young Australians feel compelled to act, driven by the fear of existential threats posed by climate change. Regional governments, businesses, and local citizens alike will undoubtedly have to navigate the demands of climate activism intertwined with the realities of governance.

Thousands of job cuts in UK higher education could be announced by the end of the year, with university leaders claiming that the rise in English tuition fees has come “too late” to fend off redundancies. The announcement that tuition fees in England will rise for the first time since 2017 – from £9,250 to £9,535 next autumn – has done little to alleviate financial difficulties being felt across the sector. Last week the English regulator estimated that almost three-quarters of higher education providers face being in deficit next year despite the rise in fees, after student recruitment lagged well below expectations. This week the University of East Anglia said it expected to cut another 170 jobs, with compulsory redundancies a possibility. They said that by the end of the year they expected to see about 100 universities making cuts of roughly 100 people, adding up to a sector-wide total of 10,000.

Sometime last night, my YouTube channel reached 50,000 subscribers. In addition to the above, my TikTok channel has had over a million views in the last month. As my son, who works with me, put it, we're YouTubers now. Or, as my wife suggested, she now has to come to terms with living with a content creator. This is quite a strange idea to me, and one I did not see coming.

One is who's going to be supplying water to London very soon if Thames Water fails, as some are now seriously talking about. New investigations into Thames Water suggest that it is running the company on the basis of software first written in 1989. It may be that Thames Water has, in fact, got totally robust IT systems. We, therefore, face the real prospect that Thames Water could financially fail but simultaneously fail to deliver water to our capital city. There won't be water to sustain life, and without that ability to sustain life, people are going to have to move.

Communications minister Michelle Rowland introduced Labor's social media age limit legislation to parliament, saying that messaging apps and online gaming would be excluded. 'We are not saying that risks don't exist on messenger apps or online gaming. While users can still be exposed to harmful content by other users, they do not face the same algorithmic curation of content and psychological manipulation to encourage near endless engagement.' Rowland said online games were regulated under the National Classification Scheme, and 'imposing additional age-based regulation for online games [would] create unnecessary regulatory overlap'. The minister said there were 'robust privacy protections' in the bill, including explicit bans on platforms using age verification data for any other purposes