The Guardian Articles

The Conservatives spent only a quarter of the money they allocated to levelling up, according to freedom of information requests that underline how Michael Gove’s flagship regional spending scheme failed to live up to expectations.

The previous government allocated £10.6bn to the three main schemes under the levelling up programme, …

Good morning. Espionage is an obviously mysterious business, but there can be fewer greater puzzles in the annals of national security than the one that has arisen in the last few days. If you were the mighty Chinese state, and making a list of British public figures who might hold …

Wang Tianyi, Wang Yuefei and Yan Chenglong

It has been something of an annus horribilis for Xiangqi, the ancient sport known in the west as Chinese chess. Its troubles started a year ago, on the very day that last year’s

anti-Spoty shortlist

The respected cricket commentator Isa Guha has issued an apology after she referred to the Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah as a “primate” during the third Test against Australia.

Guha was commentating for Fox Sports during the first session of play on day two of the match in Brisbane when …

A Russian tanker carrying more than 4,000 tonnes of oil products has sunk in the Black Sea amid stormy conditions while a second has run aground, threatening an ecological disaster.

The cargo ship Volgoneft-212 snapped in half on Sunday after being hit by a large wave. Video showed its bow …

They’re always finding stuff here. Every time the trustees of Alexandra Palace undertake some renovation work on the 151-year-old building, they discover artefacts from the venue’s past: a kind of people’s history in detritus. Usually it’s just rusty coins and ticket stubs. But then there was the time they found …

Another lop-sided pool game and a further reminder of life’s fluctuating fortunes. Five years ago Exeter were beating Toulouse en route to winning the Champions Cup and putting the seal on one of English team sport’s great Cinderella tales. These days the gap between the teams is such a yawning …

The last time a women’s Test took place in South Africa was

March 2002

Despite the 22-year gap, had any of the spectators at that …

Wellness, organics and sustainability have become buzzwords in modern consumer marketing, but the mainstreaming of “green” lifestyle is creating some challenges for the German retailers that pioneered these products.

As the country gears up for the holiday shopping season, the Reformhaus cooperative, a long-established promoter of homegrown health and beauty …

When Penny Chuter, who has died aged 82, began to mess about in a rowing dinghy as a toddler and with water sports as a teenager, rowing clubs were for men only. The European Championships and the Olympics were open only to men, and the council of Britain’s Amateur Rowing …