German beer thoroughly deserves its high reputation for reliability and consistency and for being clean, balanced and refreshing. German brewers have long worked from the assumption that beer’s purpose is not simply to quench thirst but to accompany conversation, improve an evening and, in a modest way, enhance quality of life.

Cumbrian Georgia Wilson captained Wigan Warriors Women to their second consecutive Women’s Challenge Cup trophy at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, 30th May. They defeated St Helens Women 54-6 to win the second of the club’s Women’s Challenge Cup trophies on only their second appearance at the London stadium.

This Men’s Health Week (June 15th-21st) our mental health expert Noel McDermott looks at the pressures fathers face balancing work, family responsibilities, and societal expectations, and what men can do to support their mental health.

They’re back, The Thursday Murder Club! The residents of Cooper’s Chase Retirement Village. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim are on the trail of the baddies once more and, as ever, are aided by Chris and Donna and of course, Bogdan, among others. The familiarity is comforting, like a cup of cocoa on a winter’s day. It’s a new puzzle but you know you’re surrounded by helpful friends.

I’ve always thought that George Mallory’s raison d’etre for taking on the onerous burden of Everest’s North Face lacked gravitas; intended to convey an existential compulsion, his now-seminal phrase - ‘because it’s there’ - is inexpressive, listless, inadequate to the task of embodying a matter, quite literally, of life and death.

Day 12. Met a local. Have learnt a new word. Ginger. Karen McMillan is a York-based illustrator, cartoonist, designer and creative communications expert working across wellbeing, culture and community-focused projects. Dudley is her ongoing cartoon series exploring the curious experience of being human.

Across all four movements, the London Symphony Orchestra plays with genuine commitment, reaching the emotional heart of what is, for a debut symphony, a monumental undertaking. This is music of vivid, strongly compelling sketches that covers the full gamut of human emotion—rage, despair, grief, resilience, and hope—expressed through tempi, expressive crescendos and diminuendos, and outbursts of passion that feel entirely authentic to their subject. It is an album that will reward repeated listening, and it is a deeply impressive arrival, however long in the making.

Babies are born with only two innate fears: falling and loud noises. Everything else they learn. Around age two or three, new fears emerge naturally. Fears of the dark, of strangers, of separation from parents, of dogs or thunder are developmentally normal – it’s part of how children learn to navigate the world.

Regular viewers of the BBC’s Gone Fishing programme will be familiar with Ted, the Patterdale cross dog who was given as a surprise Christmas present in 2012 and then abandoned at the New Year, at just six months old.

Modern workplaces are often defined by a multitude of rules, ranging from health and safety guidelines to codes of conduct, compliance frameworks and detailed procedures. These regulations are designed to ensure fairness, legal compliance and consistent standards.

Jones Myers Family Lawyer, Laura Sargeant, has played a key role in an informative family law conference covering vital issues to change current laws - and ensure victims and survivors of domestic abuse receive help when they most need it.

What a conclusion to the Arcadia Quartet's Weinberg series this volume is. The ensemble has spoken movingly of the moment they first encountered these string quartets—music, they say, that felt like "a glow of light surrounded by the darkness of the unknown"—and across these recordings they have made good on their ambition to dilute those shadows. This final volume crowns that mission magnificently.

Fresh from delighting audiences on The Masked Singer, preparing for a major UK tour with Kim Wilde and celebrating the release of her new cookbook, Pop Life, Tiffany is as busy as ever. Yet despite a career spanning decades, she remains wonderfully down-to-earth, warm and refreshingly easy to chat to.

There is much to discover here, and the attention to detail throughout is stupendous. This is one of the discs of the year – full of excitement and vivaciousness and a long-overdue tribute to a composer whose time, it seems, has finally come.

The story of One Direction’s solo careers has been fascinating to watch unfold. After becoming one of the biggest pop groups of the 21st century, each member has carved out a distinct path. Harry Styles became a global superstar, filling stadiums and making headlines. Zayn embraced a more experimental, R&B-leaning sound. Louis Tomlinson found his footing in indie-infused guitar pop, while Liam Payne explored various contemporary pop styles before his tragic death in 2024.

Chester Zoo and Malagasy conservationists are carrying out the biggest ever butterfly survey in Madagascar – and they have high hopes of “uncovering what an extraordinary forest is hiding”.

With Men's Health Week approaching (15th- 21st June), Ryan Erispe, Head of Clinical at The Cabin, Drug and Alcohol Rehab in Thailand highlights the lesser-known aspects of men’s mental health struggles.

Last week was a reminder of what British summers can now look like with the first heatwave of the year. With long dry spells arriving earlier and lasting longer, it's worth thinking about how you water, because a bit of care goes a long way when the ground is baked solid, and your plants are struggling.

With millions of Brits set to travel abroad and attend festivals, concerts and events across the UK this summer, mobile phones will play a key role in staying connected. However, increased usage during peak holiday periods also creates more opportunities for mobile fraud.

A new 46-suite aparthotel has opened in Micklegate, York, following nearly a year of delays caused by the discovery of Roman and medieval artifacts on the site. The sustainable development, designed by York-based architects brown + company, is operated by SuperCity. The hospitality operator already runs similar properties in London, Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, and Edinburgh.

The share of UK businesses classed as innovation-active fell to 34% in 2022-24, deepening concerns about a long-term decline in business innovation and the country's future competitiveness. This figure compares to 53% just a decade earlier, a drop of 19 percentage points.

Inditex: Iran-US Conflict Expected to Have Limited Impact; Lefties Offers Significant Growth Potential.

America's Backroads is a masterclass in modern country-rooted songwriting and further proof that Alyssa Bonagura deserves far greater recognition than she currently receives. Few artists are capable of wearing so many creative hats while maintaining such a consistently high standard, and even fewer can make it look this effortless. This is the work of an artist operating at the peak of her powers, delivering one of the strongest releases of the year. If there is any justice, America's Backroads should be the album that finally introduces Alyssa Bonagura to the wider audience she has long deserved.

Buenos Aires - a multi-cultural melting pot pulsating with a kaleidoscope of colour - is the birthplace of tango and among the world’s most dynamic capital cities. Famed for icons including Eva Peron and Maradona, it is lovingly called the ‘Paris of South America’ with a rich cultural tapestry and vibrant arts scene to match London and the finest European capitals.

Applications have opened for nationwide breakfast club awards, giving schools across the chance to win £1,000 for their breakfast club and be recognised at a special ceremony at the Houses of Parliament.

Nearly one million people in the UK are living with dementia, including more than 106,000 in the North West, but its impact stretches far beyond those diagnosed, with millions of families silently carrying the strain. New research from Alzheimer’s Society, based on a UK wide survey of more than 2,000 people, reveals the emotional toll many are carrying behind closed doors.

The Parish of Oswaldtwistle has announced it has received a £250,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to save the heritage asset of Immanuel Church and secure it for the future use of the community. Immanuel Church - part of The Parish of Oswaldtwistle - has been awarded the grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to repair and renovate the church roof.

The cost of rural crime in the North West fell by 7% to £2.7million last year according to new figures from NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer, demonstrating the effectiveness of investment and collaborative efforts against organised and serious crime.

A fifth of adults in the UK are feeling constant ‘financial regret’ over their spending habits, with pressures felt particularly strongly by younger generations, according to research from Hymans Robertson Personal Wealth.

Going into residential care is far from inevitable – statistics show that only 10.8% of those aged 85 or over live in a residential care setting*. For some it is a freely made choice to enter a residential care setting, bringing peace of mind and a respite from housebound isolation. For others it will be a traumatic experience, imposed upon them through the lack of any viable alternative.

When a young journalist was invited on a press trip to northern Italy and handed the keys — metaphorically speaking — to a vintage Bentley, he had no idea the experience would stay with him for the rest of his life. Andrew Palmer revisits a journey through Trentino and the Veneto that captured something rare: the Italy that tourism forgot.

From fresh uniforms to packed lunch essentials, the back-to-school shop can quickly add up and leave parents hundreds of pounds out of pocket before the term has even started. To help families manage the costs, GroceryAid is bringing back its popular School Essentials Grant with £1 million available in total – and best of all, it’s free cash so doesn’t have to be paid back.

As temperatures rise across Europe and the UK braces for more hot weather, consumers are being warned that heatwaves can quietly take a serious toll on household budgets as well as personal wellbeing.

Ramside Hall Hotel and Resort is built on a site that can trace its history back centuries. With Medieval origins, the land originally belonged to a monastic establishment and was known as Ramside Grange, but after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the site passed to numerous wealthy families over the ensuing centuries.

Aaron Copland's Third Symphony is one of those works that seems to contain an entire continent within its bars. Composed in the dying days of the Second World War, it reaches towards the horizon with the confidence of a nation steeling itself for brighter times, its vast sonic landscapes shaped by a mind equally at home in the concert hall and on the open plains. Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra bring it to life here with a performance that is, in every sense, the real thing.

There is a distinct moment on Mother Of Pearl where it becomes impossible to think of Freya Ridings as anything other than a fully realised artist. Not simply a remarkable vocalist or gifted pianist, but a songwriter with the confidence to expose every bruise, every fracture, and every hard-earned revelation without softening the edges. This is, unquestionably, her finest record to date.

I am sitting at my desk, looking at the bright blue sky and dazzling sunshine, dreaming of the days ahead. The weather forecaster announced last week that temperatures would rise dramatically, and by the time you read this article, we should have been experiencing a full week of glorious sunshine, with temperatures soaring into the high 20s.

Jess Evans had hoped to have a homebirth. What happened next led her on a journey that is now transforming how expectant mothers across the region approach labour — and the results are remarkable. When Jess Evans was pregnant with her first daughter in 2019, she had a plan. She wanted a homebirth — calm, familiar, on her own terms.

Three giant otter pups have started learning how to swim at Chester Zoo. Born to first-time parents Bonita and Manu, the adorable triplets have remained tucked away in their den for the first few weeks of life. Now, at 15 weeks old, the youngsters have had an unforgettable introduction to life in the water as they experience their very first swimming lessons.