The deaths of ten dolphins which washed up on a south Devon beach over just six weeks has been blamed on ‘Brexit death ships’ by some campaigners. Eco warriors have called for action against huge European super trawlers and long line fishing boats which they claim have killed thousands of the mammals in UK waters. … Read more
Human speech is nearly 20million years OLDER than previously thought, as scientists claim our earliest ape-like ancestors could form vowel sounds It was thought human speech evolved with homo sapiens 200,000 years ago Scientists believed a low larynx was required to make contrasting vowel sounds Monkeys studies found this isn’t the case and those sounds … Read more
Traces Rating: Rick Stein’s Secret France Rating: After flagging up the forensic crime drama Traces (Alibi) in this column yesterday, I wasn’t going to mention it again. It’s on an obscure pay-to-view cable channel that mostly airs reruns of Father Brown and Death In Paradise — wholesale repeats, provided as an added extra by the … Read more
France braces for fresh travel woes as working week resumes with general strike over Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms entering a fifth day French commuters are being warned to stay away from train stations on Monday Trains are at a standstill with 14 Paris metro lines closed and Eurostars affected Unions are calling for even more … Read more
For such an epic film made on a such an impressive scale, director Sam Mendes has revealed it was the small historical details that were just as important for his hotly-anticipated First World War drama 1917 – right down to ensuring his actors were put through their paces in a real-life boot camp before the cameras … Read more
Paris police skirmished with yellow vest activists today for the 56th weekend in a row while highway blockades and train strikes disrupted weekend travel around the country. The demonstrations have been held to protest the government’s overhaul of France‘s national retirement system. A few thousand yellow vest protesters marched from the Finance Ministry complex on … Read more
France was preparing for a second day of travel cancellations and school closures this morning as unions warned there would be no let-up in the strike called to protest planned pension reforms. The first day of the protests, seen as a major test for President Emmanuel Macron’s ambitious vision of reforming France, saw 800,000 demonstrators … Read more
Three men have been jailed for human trafficking after smuggling three Vietnamese teenagers and a young man into Britain from France, police said on Thursday. The sentencing comes after 39 Vietnamese migrants – 31 males and eight females – were found dead in a refrigerated truck in Essex, east of London in October. Hundreds of … Read more
French police fired tear gas at protesters in Nantes this afternoon as the country was brought to an abrupt standstill in the country’s worst nationwide strike for decades. Schools were closed, flights were grounded and much of the Paris Metro was halted as a public sector strike aimed at forcing President Emmanuel Macron to abandon … Read more
On the face of it, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Jeremy Corbyn would seem to have very little in common. Mr Macron is a brainy, sleek technocrat who believes in the capitalist system. Having read philosophy at university, he obtained a master’s degree in public affairs before training for a civil service career at … Read more
While Paris is considered the ultimate weekend getaway for Britons, it is mystifying that the beautiful Champagne region has long been overlooked. It was certainly not under-appreciated by Winston Churchill who famously rallied the troops by declaring ‘Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!’ I too have come to love … Read more
Is it safe to visit flooded Venice? How can I travel from Cheltenham to Cadiz by train? The Holiday Guru answers traveller queries By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 09:15 GMT, 1 December 2019 | Updated: 10:16 GMT, 1 December 2019 The Holiday Guru is always on call to answer your questions. This week tips on … Read more
COOKERY BOOKS OF THE YEAR COOKERY BOOKS OF THE YEAR RICK STEIN’S SECRET FRANCE RICK STEIN’S SECRET FRANCE (BBC Books £26, 320 pp) Rick Stein’s love affair with France began when he was 16 and he is still under its spell. His new book, all about rustic French cooking, is full of old favourites like … Read more