Author: Liam Porter

At MM6, taking familiar shapes and turning them inside out, upside down, and sideways is the gift that just keeps on giving.With its spring 2026 Avant Première collection, the studio keeps its focus squarely on the product while also chasing up new adventures in abstraction. Clothing labels and linings rise to the surface on coats and shirts; a humble washed-out denim gets the haute peacoat treatment, knits appear lifted straight from the loom, ribbing still trailing; and elevated materials—notably leather—get crumpled like a brown paper bag from a convenience store.Setting aside a few noisily branded pieces here and there—a blousy…

Described as “a troublemaker of the very best kind”, the health activist Jean Robinson, who has died aged 95, championed the rights of patients, pregnant women and disadvantaged people for more than 50 years. She was chair of the Patients’ Association, president of Aims (the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services) and a lay member and outspoken critic of the doctors’ regulatory body the General Medical Council. In 1988 she wrote the explosive booklet A Patient Voice at the GMC, laying bare its inadequacies and contributing to its reform.Robinson’s activist career took off in 1966, when, living in Oxford and…

You’ve probably watched this sort of science-fiction scene more than once: some stalwart starship captain and their crew are fleeing from aliens/escaping a supernova /running out of fuel and are seemingly out of options, about to get eaten/vaporized/stuck. But then, just ahead, they spot a planet! So they head right for it, rockets blazing, then dive down and use its gravity to slingshot to safety. Hooray! Cue the triumphant music.So it goes on the silver screen, at least. But does this maneuver work in real life?Yes! Well, not so much the way it’s done in movies—but it is an actual…

Norway backs new 5% Nato defence spending target, prime minister saysSpeaking at the press conference, Jonas Gahr Støre declared Norway’s support for the 5% target proposed by Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte.In his opening statement, Støre explained the target is divided into 3.5% on “classic defence” spending including staff, investments, preparedness, and support for Ukraine, with the remaining 1.5% on “defence-related expenses” including on operational and industrial measures.He said that the latter category could cover expenses on protecting and developing critical infrastructure, facing hybrid threats including in digital, and disinformation, among others.He said the country was currently spending 3.2% on…

The US Food and Drug Administration has just approved lenacapavir, an injectable form of HIV prevention that is almost 100 percent effective and requires only two doses per year. Science magazine described the medicine the most important scientific advance of 2024.In clinical trials, lenacapavir proved to be 99.9 percent effective in preventing HIV infection through sexual transmission in people weighing more than 35 kilograms. The drug, an antiretroviral, works not by stimulating an immune response, but by blocking HIV from reproducing during its early stages—specifically, by disrupting the function of the virus’s capsid protein. This happens so long as the…

Getty ImagesA Welsh actress says a “huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders” after being diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Kimberley Nixon, star of Channel 4’s Fresh Meat, developed perinatal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), after giving birth to her son during the 2020 pandemic.She said her worries about her baby’s well-being escalated into intense anxiety, with symptoms lasting around two and a half years. As she began to recover, other lifelong patterns started to make sense, prompting her to seek a diagnosis.Kimberley NixonKimberley developed perinatal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) after giving birth to her son during the 2020 pandemicFollowing…

Asha PatelBBC News, NottinghamBBCNottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust oversees two main hospitals – Nottingham City Hospital (pictured) and the Queen’s Medical CentreThe NHS is largely funded by public money paid for through taxes and national insurance.In February, one of the busiest and biggest NHS trusts in England was given a record £1.6m fine over maternity failings in connection with the deaths of three babies.Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS trust is already at the centre of the largest maternity review of its kind in the NHS, following hundreds of baby deaths and injuries. When it was fined at Nottingham Magistrates’…

Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureROYAL ASCOT 3.40, DUKE OF EDINBURGH STAKES HANDICAP, 1M 4F previewGreg WoodThis is the slot once occupied by the King Edward VII Stakes, which is now the sixth race on the card, and the Group Two was bounced to the early evening primarily to give World Pool punters in Hong Kong a juicy handicap just before bedtime. That says a lot about the competitiveness and unpredictability involved when 20+ runners hare around the mile-and-a-half course, but also about the importance of World Pool to Ascot in maintaining its prize…

President Donald Trump hails decision as ‘big win’, but Governor Gavin Newsom promises to pursue legal challenge.A United States appeals court has ruled the administration of President Donald Trump could keep control of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom. The decision on Thursday comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions in California’s largest city, which has become ground zero of Trump’s immigration crackdown across the US. In a 38-page unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel said Trump was within his rights earlier this month when he ordered 4,000 members of the National Guard…

Becky MortonPolitical reporterAlexander: Public consent for aid spending has been withdrawnThe public no longer backs spending on international aid, Trade Minister Douglas Alexander has suggested. The former international development secretary under Gordon Brown told BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson that even if money was not tight, “the argument would have to be made” for investment in foreign aid.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced a cut in the international aid budget to fund an increase in defence spending earlier this year.The move was strongly criticised by charities, which argued that it would be devastating for vulnerable people worldwide,…