Friends

Valentine officially retired in February after almost 40 years in radio, for treatment for a recurring cancerFriends and former colleagues of James Valentine say the much-loved musician and ABC radio presenter has died.The ABC confirmed his passing on air on Thursday morning. Continue reading...

Judge throws out claim by the singer’s father over the sale of items she once ownedAmy Winehouse’s father has lost a high court claim against two of his daughter’s friends over the auctioning of items once owned by the singer.Mitch Winehouse, acting as the administrator of his daughter’s estate, sued her stylist Naomi Parry and friend Catriona Gourlay over claims they profited from selling dozens of items at auctions in the US in 2021 and 2023. Continue reading...

Loss of closest European ally will force Kremlin to consider whether non-autocratic states can ever be reliable partnersEurope live – latest updatesThe Kremlin said on Tuesday it was pleased that Hungary’s prime minister-elect, Péter Magyar, appeared open to pragmatic dialogue, as Moscow adopts a wait-and-see approach after the election loss of its closest partner in Europe, Viktor Orbán.“For now, we can note with satisfaction, as far as we understand, his [Magyar’s] willingness to engage in pragmatic dialogue,” said the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. “In this instance, there is mutual willingness on our part, and we will then proceed to take our cue from the specific steps taken by the new Hungarian government.” Continue reading...

Thinktank says algorithms are fuelling isolation and division after analysing posts shown to social media usersReform UK voters are the least likely to see posts from friends and family on social media and most likely to see content from brands and news organisations, a study has found.The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank said algorithms were fuelling isolation and division after its research analysing users’ feeds on Instagram, Facebook, X, Bluesky and TikTok found that only 13% of Reform UK voters saw content from someone they knew, compared with 23% of Green party voters. Continue reading...

Bibby Boys photo exhibition documents experiences of the men who lived on the former asylum seeker vessel in Dorset and the local community that rallied around them The Bibby Stockholm barge, which was moored off Portland, Dorset, to accommodate asylum seekers, attracted many negative headlines – from evacuation after the discovery of legionella bacteria, to the suicide of Albanian asylum seeker Leonard Farruku and angry far-right protests.But an exhibition launching this week reveals a less reported side of life on the barge, where enduring connections between asylum seekers and members of the local community were forged and continue long after the last group of asylum seekers left the vessel in November 2024. Continue reading...