For nearly six months RAY CONNOLLY has been in hospital fighting Covid-19. Now he shares his story

From the very beginning I was afraid of Covid-19. That was in January when I first began to read reports of deaths in China.  If that ever reaches the UK, I’ll do everything I can to avoid catching it, I told myself. So, when it did inevitably arrive, my wife Plum and I, at 79, … Read more

ANDREW PIERCE has the inside story on the rift between Rishi Sunak and Matt Hancock

He is one of the most powerful and popular figures in the Government, but Chancellor Rishi Sunak chose not to attend the Cabinet sub-committee meeting to discuss an overhaul of local lockdown rules on Monday afternoon.  Instead, he dispatched a junior minister, John Glen, to repeat his vehement objections to the ‘traffic light system’ of … Read more

ANDREW PIERCE has the inside story on the rift between Rishi Sunak and Matt Hancock

He is one of the most powerful and popular figures in the Government, but Chancellor Rishi Sunak chose not to attend the Cabinet sub-committee meeting to discuss an overhaul of local lockdown rules on Monday afternoon.  Instead, he dispatched a junior minister, John Glen, to repeat his vehement objections to the ‘traffic light system’ of … Read more

Rags-to-riches story of petrol station pioneers who could buy Asda

The extraordinary rags to riches story of two billionaire brothers who turned a single petrol station in Bury into an empire of 5,900 branches can be revealed today as they emerged as favourites to buy Asda. Mohsin Issa, 49, and his brother Zuber, 48, whose parents came to Britain from India ‘with nothing’, built EG … Read more

Rags-to-riches story of petrol station pioneers who could buy Asda

The extraordinary rags to riches story of two billionaire brothers who turned a single petrol station in Bury into an empire of 5,900 branches can be revealed today as they emerged as favourites to buy Asda. Mohsin Issa, 49, and his brother Zuber, 48, whose parents came to Britain from India ‘with nothing’, built EG … Read more

Reading: Books with busy pictures ‘make it harder for kids to focus and understand the story’

Children’s books with lots of really detailed pictures ‘make it harder for kids to focus and understand the story’, study shows US researchers modified half of a kids’ book to remove all its needless pictures 6–8-year-olds were given it to read while their eye movements were tracked The kids were less distracted and learnt more … Read more

Disney delays Black Widow and West Side Story release dates to next year amid global pandemic

Disney delays Black Widow and West Side Story release dates to next year amid ongoing global pandemic By Tracy Wright For Dailymail.com Published: 19:49 BST, 23 September 2020 | Updated: 19:54 BST, 23 September 2020 Disney announced another delay to their programming schedule amid the ongoing global pandemic, according to Deadline. The television and film … Read more

Images of Audrey Hepburn dressed up for films War And Peace and The Nun’s Story on sale for £6,000  

A selection of rare photographs of Audrey Hepburn taken during two of her major film roles have gone on sale for £6,000.  The legendary British actress was snapped while starring in 1956 epic War and Peace and also The Nun’s Story, which was released three years later. In the former, which was an adaptation of … Read more

Images of Audrey Hepburn dressed up for films War And Peace and The Nun’s Story on sale for £6,000  

A selection of rare photographs of Audrey Hepburn taken during two of her major film roles have gone on sale for £6,000.  The legendary British actress was snapped while starring in 1956 epic War and Peace and also The Nun’s Story, which was released three years later. In the former, which was an adaptation of … Read more

New book Eat The Buddha by Barbara Demick tells the tragic story of the people of Tibet

POLITICS EAT THE BUDDHA  by Barbara Demick (Granta, £18.99, 272pp) The very word ‘Tibet’ has romantic, resonance.  The ‘Roof of the World’ conjures the vast snowy wastes of the High Himalayan plateau, populated by yaks, nomadic herders, yetis and Buddhist lamas in russet robes, capable of levitation and clairvoyance. Alas, there is a very different … Read more