CATEGORIES

Mourning glory! The firms putting the fun into funeral

WHEN Dan Jones moved away from London last year, he knew his father Roger, who was living in a care home in the capital, was likely to die soon. Jones needed a funeral plan, and after years of his father battling dementia, he didn't want a gloomy affair. Instead, he dreamed of something people would look forward to, a celebration of his life. \"Maybe selfishly I also wanted to have a nice time,\" says Jones, who discovered alternative funeral directors Exit Here.

At last The Crown is feeding our royal fashion cosplay obsession

HAS it really been seven years since we started reliving the Windsor dynasty in binge-TV form?

Depressed, unemployed, obese: this is the picture of a Britain that doesn't read

READING can be for solitary pleasure or it can be a quotidian task. Some people avoid books in favour of other forms of recreation; others read everywhere from bathrooms to Tube carriages. Some people love reading so much they even study English till the very end of school.

A grim antisemitism is festering in our schools

HOUNSLOW council's decision last week to cancel an educational display on Jewish life is surprising, especially as it deprives local schools of a valuable teaching resource at a critical time.

The Covid Inquiry is chocolate teapot levels of totally useless

AND so it's over nearly. For what has seemed like an eternity, beleaguered and formerly famous TV stars have been subjected to intense scrutiny and forced to perform unimaginable acts, sometimes obliged to chew a lot more than humble pie, in front of an audience which is probably left wondering what it was really all for.

Israel warning to Hamas as terror group threatens to kill hostages

HAMAS today threatened the lives of the 137 hostages still being held in Gaza as Israel's premier Benjamin Netanyahu warned the terror group that it was facing the \"beginning of the end\".

Markfield gives us strength... it's a second home

David Cohen meets parents looking after autistic children - as well as trying to balance budgets in a cost of living crisis

Tube staff praised over fire alert evacuation in 11 minutes

TUBE station staff have been praised for their quick actions after passengers began smashing windows on a packed Northern line train to escape a suspected fire during the King's Coronation bank holiday weekend.

Bus drivers could strike over delays from low-traffic zones

A GROUP of London bus drivers are considering striking after being pushed to \"breaking point\" by delays caused by low-traffic neighbourhoods and bus lanes being removed.

Crunch time for Rwanda Bill as Tory deliver their verdict Rightwingers

THE Rwanda plan will survive a key Commons vote, a senior minister predicted today as feuding Tories were urged to unite at the start of a crunch week for Rishi Sunak.

I'm sorry too, Sunak tells families of Covid victims

Days after Boris apology, PM vows to learn lessons of crisis

Criminals sentenced to tree planting

OFFENDERS are set to plant more than 4,000 trees in London this winter in a bid to help clear up the capital's air, the Ministry of Justice said today.

How Oppenheimer trumped Barbie

OPPENHEIMER was the most searched-for film on Google in the UK this year, the tech giant has revealed.

'A boy's dream come true': 7.6 million see Thompson beat Farage for jungle title

SOME 7.6 million viewers tuned in to see Sam Thompson win this year's series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! four million down on last year.

Eidevall: Hayes' exit decision won't affect the title race

ARSENAL Women boss Jonas Eidevall does not think Emma Hayes's impending departure will make Chelsea any hungrier to win the Women's Super League this season.

Blues facing a new test of mettle after northern exposure

CHELSEA have had their soft centre exposed in the north in recent weeks - and face another stern test of their mettle at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Jimenez aims to push on

RAUL JIMENEZ believes his double against Nottingham Forest will kickstart his goalscoring form for Fulham.

Mbeumo's AFCON race

BRENTFORD striker Bryan Mbeumo faces a race against time to be fit for the Africa Cup of Nations.

JURRIEN TIMBER INTERVIEW - Injury made me feel like a baby... but now I am learning all I can

THE moment Jurrien Timber learned that he had suffered the first major injury of his career, he vowed to turn a negative into a positive.

Christie continuing upward trend with targets-man Clark

ANDY CHRISTIE has revealed the secret weapon helping Saracens stars realise their potential as former England flanker Calum Clark.

Rahm hopes to put on his Ryder cap again despite 'risk' in joining LIV rebels

JON RAHM admitted he has \"taken a risk\" over his Ryder Cup future after agreeing a deal upwards of £450million to join LIV Golf.

London Tunnels set to surface on stock market

THE business planning to turn a secret network of Second World War tunnels under Holborn into a major new visitor attraction has made the first preparations for a London stock market listing, the Standard has learned.

Perrins shows why business must find its voice

TODAY Rob Perrins, the boss of Berkeley, tells it as he sees it.

MARKET ROUND-UP: Festive 'buy' sends Sainsbury's soaring

ADVICE to stock up on Sainsbury's shares in the run-up to Christmas today helped the supermarket giant soar to a near two-year high in the FTSE 100 index.

Berkeley boss slams new home planning obstacles

THE boss of London's biggest housebuilder today hit out at the planning and regulatory obstacles in the way of construction and called for a \"brownfield first\" approach to slash the time taken to approve urban redevelopment.

The queen of rap shows why she still holds on to the throne

TODAY is Nicki Minaj's 41st birthday, and one of many surprises on her fifth album is the arrival of Billie Eilish's haunting voice as the first sound, on a song that sees the usually imperious Trinidadian rapper expressing vulnerability as a mother and wife.

Your cultural Christmas unwrapped

GOING OUT: It's the most wonderful time of the year in London - let our Culture Editors guide you on the best of what the capital has to offer this festive season

If you broadcast noise on the Tube, you are an aural barbarian

NEVER in my wildest, worst dreams did I ever believe a man eating an entire tub of roasted garlic hummus with a baguette could be trumped as the nadir of my experiences on public transport. That man, unafraid to unleash his chickpea Chernobyl on a packed rush-hour Victoria line carriage, at least had the benefit of being a rogue agent. It's true other thoughtless travelling souls with peppery pasties and booze-induced Big Macs are common and quite annoying, but 2023 has been the year of something much worse on London's transport network: the public phone broadcast.

The word of the year is all about cheerful carnal appeal- you can't buy that

THE most charismatic man I ever met was the LA rapper, musician, designer and generational hero, Tyler the Creator. I was shadowing him during a spring jaunt in Paris for the gentlemanly fashion magazine, Fantastic Man. He'd just won his first Grammy.

Teenagers' vapes are a scented menace: ban them

HOW on earth did vaping become the hottest new accessory for Gen Z? They're quite literally everywhere.