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TelevisionDisability-specific romance series are on the rise, including new Netflix series Down for Love. But are they more harmful than helpful? Insiders talk backlashes, ableism and why ‘we all deserve that special someone’ For their second date, Carlos invites Aelinor to a cooking class where they learn how to make an authentic Italian pasta dish, before eating it together. He brings her a beautiful bunch of flowers in her favourite colour, and recites self-penned poems about the ways her presence and beauty makes him feel. [Read More]

MusicObituaryUrsula Vaughan WilliamsMusic patron, wife and biographer of Ralph Vaughan Williams.Although Ursula Vaughan Williams, who has died aged 96, had a long association with the musical world and understood it well, she was not a musician but a writer. She was the author of what was, for many years, the standard biography of her husband, Ralph Vaughan Williams, who died in 1958, and of poetry that appealed particularly to composers. Some set verses she had already published; with others she worked closely, providing librettos for several operas and large-scale choral works. [Read More]

Categories Nooks and crannies Yesteryear Semantic enigmas The body beautiful Red tape, white lies Speculative science This sceptred isle Root of all evil Ethical conundrums This sporting life Stage and screen Birds and the bees SPECULATIVE SCIENCEWhat are the pros or cons of a 110-volt electricity supply against a 220-volt supply? [Read More]

ShortcutsHarry PotterJK Rowling’s wizard tale has been translated into 79 foreign languages, but this new version may just be the best of all Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is not a very good book. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stane is terrific. The Scots version of JK Rowling’s debut, to be published this Thursday by Itchy Coo, is the 80th language into which the novel has been translated. But what is the point? [Read More]

Food and drink booksReviewDoes the size of your plate matter, or how loud your crisps crunch? A psychologist explores our multisensory experience of foodOne of the lesser enigmas of life is why so many people order tomato juice on aeroplanes. Like Pavlov’s dog, I often start craving it myself the minute I do my seatbelt up. Lemon, Worcester sauce, no ice (which I find dilutes the salty thickness too much). In the general run of things, few of us sip tomato juice for breakfast or as an aperitif, yet this savoury beverage forms 27% of all drinks orders on planes, with or without added vodka. [Read More]

Knife crime This article is more than 13 years oldMan who murdered ex-girlfriend in hospital knife attack jailed for lifeThis article is more than 13 years oldJonathan Vass repeatedly stabbed Jane Clough while on bail charged with raping her, court toldA man who stabbed his ex-partner to death while on bail charged with raping her has been given life in prison. Ambulance technician and former bouncer Jonathan Vass, 30, was given a minimum 30-year term for the murder of nurse Jane Clough, 26, the mother of his baby daughter. [Read More]

UkraineUkraine shoots down two Russian aircraft in disastrous day for KremlinIt is unclear how Ukraine succeeded in shooting down the command planes flying above the Sea of Azov Ukraine’s military has shot down two of Russia’s command planes, in one of the most disastrous days for the Kremlin’s air power since the start of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander in chief, said his air force had destroyed an A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft and an Il-22 control centre plane. [Read More]

Mount Everest This article is more than 4 years old‘Walking over bodies’: mountaineers describe carnage on EverestThis article is more than 4 years oldDeath toll grows on world’s highest summit as climbers face challenging conditions An experienced mountaineer has described the “death, carnage and chaos” at the top of Mount Everest as climbers pushed past bodies to reach the world’s highest summit. The death toll on the mountain grew to 11 in the past day after an American doctor was killed while descending from the peak. [Read More]

Braugher pictured in Los Angeles in 2018. ‘He had the ability to show the audience with a gesture or line-reading that he, like you, got the joke.’ Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/APBraugher pictured in Los Angeles in 2018. ‘He had the ability to show the audience with a gesture or line-reading that he, like you, got the joke.’ Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/APTelevisionObituaryAndre Braugher obituaryActor who brought the intensity and control of his stage training to the small screen, notably in Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Homicide: Life on the StreetThe career of the actor Andre Braugher, who has died of lung cancer aged 61, was benchmarked by two performances in police dramas a generation apart. [Read More]

Mental health This article is more than 1 year oldExeter University failed to make student who died feel wanted, says motherThis article is more than 1 year oldHarry Armstrong Evans, who is thought to have killed himself, told tutor about mental health concerns, inquest hears The mother of a University of Exeter student believed to have killed himself after a “disastrous” set of exam results has accused academics of failing to make her son feel like he was “wanted”. [Read More]