Edward Johnson 
For residents of Montpellier, the new year has brought new travel possibilities. Since just before Christmas, locals have been able to sign up for a free pass to the entire bus and tram network in France’s seventh‑largest city. The majority of a population of 300,000 have, not surprisingly, taken up the offer. Yet the city … Read more
US aviation investigators were on the ground in Oregon on Sunday trying to figure out what caused a door panel to blow out of a brand new Boeing passenger jet just minutes after takeoff, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing with a hole “the size of a refrigerator” in the side of the plane. … Read more
Jeremy Hunt has been criticised by the head of the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) over his assurances that the government can still meet its climate targets while allowing companies to extract more oil and gas from the North Sea. Piers Forster, the interim chair of the CCC, publicly challenged the chancellor on Sunday, after … Read more
A strike that threatened to halt all London Underground services for the next four days has been called off. The RMT announced that it had suspended its planned action after talks with Transport for London. The strikes were expected to stop virtually all tube services and cause travel chaos in the capital. Members of the … Read more
The Post Office’s pursuit of 3,500 post office operators over 16 years with wrongful allegations of theft, fraud and false accounting has had a life-changing impact on those targeted. Despite knowing there were faults with the Horizon accounting software that the operators were using, more than 900 were prosecuted and at least four suicides have … Read more
Post office operators whose lives have been ruined by the Horizon scandal could be exonerated under plans being considered by the government, Rishi Sunak has said. The prime minister also confirmed that Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, could strip the Post Office of its powers to prosecute after more than 700 branch managers were wrongly … Read more
The owner of the Masters snooker tournament is plotting an expansion trail across Asia after the pandemic exposed the company’s reliance on China, its chair has revealed. Steve Dawson, the chief executive of World Snooker Ltd, told the Guardian it was considering staging tournaments in India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand, after its business was held … Read more
Is there any evidence that playing Christmas music in shops helps to boost sales? Personally, I can’t get out quickly enough. JS, by email Send new questions to [email protected]. Readers reply Not for me it doesn’t. I abandon my usual supermarkets (and pubs) in favour of those who avoid this awful muzak. JohnChanin Many years … Read more
From our knees down it’s almost impossible to tell where our legs end and our trainers begin. A thick crust of oozing river mud is glued to our shins and smothers our shoes. Our skin fizzes and tingles from the spiteful attention of hundreds of nettles enjoying their last hurrah as winter approaches. But if … Read more
A pedestrian holds an umbrella as they walk along a street in the rain in Times Square, New York, on Sept. 26, 2023. Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images The state of the U.S. economy may be a chief concern among Americans, but 2023 wound up as a pretty good year for the macroenvironment. … Read more
