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Mikel Arteta ‘very optimistic’ about Arsenal’s title chances as Premier League season concludes
Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal’s “dreams are still alive” ahead of their final-day bid to win the Premier League.The Gunners, who sit two points behind leaders Manchester City, will need to beat Everton and hope their rivals drop points against West Ham if they are to lift their first league title since 2004.“It is a big dream I didn’t achieve as a player. If I can do it, especially with the people I work with everyday, it will be some day,” Arteta said of the possibility.He added that he “cannot wait” for Sunday’s final game.
Harm caused by alcohol costs £27.4bn a year in England – figures
The harm caused by alcohol costs £27.4 billion a year in England, according to new estimates.The charity the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) said its data shows there has been more than a 40% increase in the cost of harm since 2003.Furthermore, the tax revenue from alcohol raises around £12.5 billion each year, “meaning it is dwarfed by the financial cost of harm”, it said.The cost of alcohol harm to the NHS is £4.9 billion, which the IAS said is enough to pay for the salaries of almost half the nurses in England.Dr Katherine Severi, chief executive of the IAS,...
Three Spanish tourists shot dead by gunmen in central Afghanistan
Three Spanish tourists and an Afghan civilian were killed by gunmen in central Afghanistan’sBamiyan city on Friday, Spain’s government said.Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez posted on X that he was “shocked by the news of the murder of Spanish tourists in Afghanistan”.He added that the foreign ministry was working to offer all necessary assistance and he was following the situation closely.Afghanistan’s interior ministry spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qani said while no group has claimed responsibility for the late-evening attack, four people had been arrested.The Taliban government “strongly condemns this crime, expresses its deep feelings to the families of the victims...
The legacy of Pep Guardiola’s Man City – and why they may never be truly loved
Pep Guardiola is on the brink of history. “One game, destiny in our hands,” he said, relishing the scenario rather than deflecting attention from it. A fourth consecutive English title would be an unparalleled achievement. It would also be a very popular one; within the Manchester City fanbase, anyway.And in the wider world? “F***, I don’t know,” replied a dismissive Guardiola. “I don’t go knocking on doors asking people what they think. I don’t know, honestly.”And if he is sufficiently busy that he scarcely had time to double up as a pollster, canvassing opinions, if many people in football...
The Premier League has a title race problem – but Arsenal can fix it
As Mikel Arteta addressed the Arsenal squad on Wednesday morning, the message was the same. That was to keep focusing on what they must do and forget about Manchester City.It wasn’t quite predecessor George Graham ahead of Arsenal’s famous last game in 1988-89, when he came in the morning after title rivals Liverpool thumped West Ham United 5-1. “Best thing for us, they’ll think they have it won,” was the message before that historic title showdown at Anfield.This season’s final day obviously doesn’t have those dimensions, where the top two directly met, but also feels unlikely to reach the...
Premier League 2023/24 awards: Best player, signing and moments of season
Manchester City and Arsenal have battled to the finish line in another compelling Premier League season.Pep Guardiola’s side can win a record fourth-successive Premier League crown at the Etihad on Sunday.While Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton have all gone straight back down following promotion last year to somewhat reduce the final-day drama.There are still European places to play for though, with Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea FC, Newcastle United and Manchester United eyeing up Europa League or Europa Conference League action next term - although Erik ten Hag’s side can still qualify through the FA Cup should they defeat Man City...
Fury vs Usyk LIVE: Start time, undercard, fight updates and results
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will fight one another in Saudi Arabia tonight, bidding to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 24 years.Not since Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield in 1999 has there even been a fight for all the division’s major gold, and one year after that bout, Lewis lost his undisputed status. But tonight, Fury’s WBC title and Usyk’s WBA, WBO and IBF belts are on the line in Riyadh – as well as each man’s unbeaten record. Briton Fury, 35, last fought in October, surviving a shock knockdown by Francis Ngannou to win a hotly-disputed...
Is Manchester United vs Chelsea on TV? Kick off time, channel and how to watch Women’s Super League fixture
Chelsea’s win over Tottenham in the Women’s Super League on Wednesday has ensured the race for the title will come down to the final match of the season.Emma Hayes’ side travel to Manchester United and Manchester City will travel to Aston Villa on Saturday, with both matches kicking off at the same time.Having at one point been fighting for the coveted quadruple, Chelsea were knocked out of the two domestic cup competitions, and the Champions League, and the WSL remains the last piece of silverware available to Hayes in her final season at the club.Chelsea will go into the match...
Is Aston Villa v Manchester City on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch WSL fixture
Manchester City begin the final day of the WSL season level on points at the top of the table, but know that they may need a Chelsea slip-up to take the title.Emma Hayes’s side are top of the league with a two-goal advantage over their rivals, who take on Aston Villa on the final day.Manchester City will be champions for certain if they better Chelsea’s result against Manchester United.The hosts have little to play for — Villa will finish seventh regardless of the outcome of their final fixture — but will be keen to send off the departing Carla Ward...
NHS staff must be able to blow whistle, Health Secretary says
NHS staff must be able to blow the whistle and the health service must listen and act, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has said.“It cannot be right that NHS management spends millions of pounds fighting doctors who have concerns over patients’ safety,” she wrote in the Telegraph, referring to an investigation by the newspaper published this week.“I will never put protecting reputations ahead of protecting patient safety. Every concern should be investigated, and every staff member should be free to raise them without fear of recrimination or damaging their career,” she wrote.“That is why this government is building an NHS that...
Early blood sugar control for type 2 diabetes ‘can lead to fewer deaths’
Treating type 2 diabetes patients as early as possible by controlling blood sugar with insulin and drugs can prolong life and reduce the risk of future complications such as heart attacks, kidney failure and vision loss, according to long-running research.Scientists from the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh analysed data spanning more than four decades from the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) – one of the longest type 2 diabetes clinical trials.The findings showed controlling blood glucose early, with either insulin injections or tablets that stimulate cells to make more insulin such as sulfonylureas, led to 10% fewer deaths, 17% fewer...
Malaysia minister says terror suspect who killed 2 police officers acted on his own
The young man who attacked a Malaysian police station and killed two officers was a recluse and believed to have acted on his own, despite suspected links to the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, the country's home minister said Saturday.The man stormed a police station in southern Johor state near Singapore in the early hours of Friday with a machete. He hacked a police constable to death and then used the dead officer’s weapon to kill another. He injured a third officer before being shot dead. Police initially said the man could have been attempting to take firearms from the...
It was once a center of Islamic learning. Now Mali's historic city of Djenné mourns lack of visitors
Kola Bah used to earn a living as a tour guide in Mali's historic city of Djenné, once a center of Islamic learning known for the sprawling mud-brick mosque that has been on the UNESCO World Heritage in Danger list since 2016. The Grand Mosque of Djenné — the world’s largest mud-brick building — used to draw tens of thousands of tourists to central Mali every year. Now it's threatened by conflict between jihadi rebels, government forces and other groups.Bah says his income was enough to support his family, which now numbers nine children, and to pay for a...
At Memphis BBQ contest, pitmasters sweat through the smoke to be best in pork
Hundreds of dedicated pitmasters are sweating through the smoke as they compete to see who will be crowned “best in pork” at this year's World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in Memphis, Tennessee. Considered one of the premiere cooking competitions in the U.S., the contest dates back to the 1970s. But as the so-called culinary sports expanded beyond local home cooks, the competition is fiercer than ever. This year's competition started on Wednesday and runs through Saturday, when an overall grand champion will be named. With over $150,000 in prize money to be awarded, 129 cooking teams from 22 states...
Rafe Spall: ‘Men’s bodies in film give an unrealistic idea of masculinity’
Rafe Spall is talking about love. “I’m lucky enough to know what love feels like,” he says, “because I’m a parent. There’s a line in Wuthering Heights – I’m paraphrasing, obviously – where Heathcliff says to Cathy, ‘Don’t you love me?’ And she says, ‘I don’t love you. You are me. I am you.’ When I think about my children, I think about that, a lot. It’s that sort of indescribable love.”He’s on video call today to discuss the fourth series of the Apple TV+ sitcom Trying, in which he stars as Jason, a laidback Londoner raising two adopted kids...
Is it a bird? Is it an SUV? No, it’s a supermini: Toyota Aygo X Exclusive
Though Toyota’s pugnacious little Aygo X looks all cutting-edge and funky, it is in fact, in conception, rather old school. Get past the zigzag styling and bold two-tone paint job, and what you have before you is a rather traditional city car or supermini, with the kind of spec you’d have got a generation or so ago. There’s the five-speed manual gearbox. Some painted steel interior panels. A window at the back that pops out. A rear hatch that is actually no more than an opening window, albeit smartly finished in opaque black. Under the bonnet we find a three-cylinder,...
How Anna Jones became the standard bearer for modern British vegetarian cooking
Some people can listen to a piece of music and immediately identify the chords, pick out the intricacies of the bassline, recite the relevant musical theory, perhaps remember the drummer’s name.Others, like cook and author Anna Jones, can taste a plate of food and pinpoint the ingredients, however slight they might be. They can discuss the techniques that went into the dish, compare it to this recipe they saw from that chef 20 years ago.“That’s not something that anyone taught me,” Jones tells me. “That’s not something that came from anywhere apart from, I guess, my own brain and my...
Doctor Who: Boom review – A bit of a damp squib only saved by brilliant performances
Warning: this review is also a recap, meaning it contains spoilers for the episodeDoctor Who is putting the band back together. Returning showrunner Russell T Davies was the driving force behind the Doctor’s rebirth in the 2005 Christopher Eccleston/Billie Piper era. Meanwhile, the writer of this third episode, Steven Moffat, made perhaps the most significant modern contribution to Whovian lore as the creator of the Weeping Angels. Scarier than the Daleks, weirder than the Zygons, and more aesthetically pleasing than the Cybermen, they are, hands down, the greatest Doctor Who monsters ever. How do you top that? Well, not with...
From Rebus to The Responder, it’s time to bury the defective detective
In the 1920s, during the so-called Golden Age of crime writing, a Catholic theologian and literary critic, Ronald Knox, published a list dubbed the “Ten rules of detective fiction”. This was an attempt at trope-busting in a genre that, all too frequently, slipped into hamminess and absurdity. Under Knox’s instruction, writers were restricted to “not more than one secret room” and banned from the use of “twin brothers” altogether. But perhaps the most obvious of Knox’s prohibitions was a simple one: “The detective must not himself commit the crime.”Yet within the first three minutes of the BBC’s new adaptation of...
Preventative Botox is on the rise – but it might do more harm than good
When I grew up in the Noughties, “Botox” felt like a catch-all term synonymous with a certain type of surgically enhanced face: frozen, puffy, unable to emote. But in the ensuing decades, the reputation of this wrinkle-smoothing injection has changed. The treatment is no longer solely associated with permanently startled eyebrows. Practitioners (the reputable ones at least) tend to lean towards a “less is more” approach. And it’s not something that’s whispered about or considered a dirty secret any more, either.A quick scroll through social media shows – for better or worse – just how normalised these jabs have become. But what is particularly...
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