theweekonlineeditorsuk@futurenet.com (Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK)

A novelty Christmas jumper is as much a feature of the office Christmas party as injudicious snogging and reckless misuse of the photocopier. “Obnoxious and tacky” in the eyes of some, but undeniably “kind of wholesome”, said CNN, the garment […]

Young adults are powering a surge in sales of “squishy” toys, the latest craze. The toys-for-adults market is now estimated to be worth £1 billion in the UK. Last month, data released by market research firm Circana indicated that “kidults”

Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest ever world chess champion, deepening the “love affair between Indians and chess”, said The Hindu. Chess has been “around for millennia” and is “generally believed to have originated in India”. Now, the

Apps designed as tools to keep children safe are being exploited by domestic abusers to secretly spy on their partners. The “booming market” for “family-tracking” apps that allow parents to see their child’s location, limit screen time and control internet

One in five Britons aged between 16 and 65 can only read at or below the level expected of a 10-year-old, according to a major new study of literacy rates across the developed world. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

The government has announced an ambitious programme to complete the UK’s net zero transition to clean energy by 2030. Implementing the “colossal” Clean Power 2030 plan will cost £40 billion a year until the end of this decade, but the

The challenges of modern womanhood are powering a blood-spattered resurgence in one of cinema’s goriest genres. New female-focused “body horror” movies have tackled everything from unrealistic beauty standards to modern clampdowns on reproductive rights, but some cinemagoers are finding it

The “reckless decision” to award the 2034 men’s football World Cup to Saudi Arabia will “put many lives at risk”, Amnesty International has warned. Human rights groups believe Fifa, world football’s governing body, has “not learned the lessons” of Qatar’s

An influencer has filed a US lawsuit, claiming that a rival social-media star has been copying her neutral “vibe”. Sydney Nicole Gifford and Alyssa Sheil are fighting a vicious battle of the beige, and other influencers are “watching closely”, said

Russian authorities have for many decades exonerated people who were wronged during the Soviet era. Vladimir Putin has not only abandoned this programme but put it into reverse. The president’s move has puzzled many outside Russia but it’s all part