Newton Aycliffe was meant to be a model town for a fairer postwar Britain. But unaffordable rents on a high street amounting to 0.12% of its property tycoon owner’s holdings have made it a symbol of decline – and a warning for Labour

• How has your local high street changed since 2019? Check your postcode

• Labour risks election wipeout unless it improves Britain’s high streets

Under blue skies and bunting, the whole of County Durham seemed to turn out for the young Queen Elizabeth II. They lined the streets in their thousands, waving flags and marvelling at the grand royal procession weaving past their newly built homes.

It was 27 May 1960 and the recently crowned queen was officially opening the town of Newton Aycliffe on her first provincial tour after the birth of her third child, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, three months earlier. A 16-page commemorative pamphlet, priced at two shillings and sixpence, records the local Light Infantry buglers playing to the giddy crowd.

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Decay of town centres a top issue among voters especially Reform UK supporters and is fuelling resentment against Westminster

• How has your local high street changed since 2019? Check your postcode

• The struggling billionaire-owned high street that shows Reform’s road to No 10

Labour will be “washed away in a tide of discontent” at the next general election unless it tackles the decline of Britain’s high streets, a study has warned, as Guardian analysis lays bare the changing face of town centres.

Research by the University of Southampton found people feel high streets have declined more than any other part of their local area over the past decade, as household brands collapsed and shoplifting rose.

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Each year, about 80 British people are victims of a homicide overseas, and grieving loved ones have to navigate the aftermath. Eve Henderson describes losing her husband, and her fight to help others

On a Sunday in October 1997, Eve Henderson looked down at her husband, Roderick, as he lay in a hospital bed, unable to make sense of what she saw. She was, she says, “a block of stone”. They were in the neurological ward of a huge hospital on the outskirts of Paris. Travelling on the Métro, the hospital name scribbled on a scrap of paper, it had taken Henderson an hour to find. Roderick looked comfortable when she arrived; he was a good colour, but there was a round red mark in the centre of his forehead and a small tube inside his mouth, attached to something she later learned was breathing for him.

“He looked fairly alive,” says Henderson, “and I just stood there. A doctor came in. She was in tears and I thought: ‘Bloody hell, am I meant to be crying?’ You’ve got no emotion, you’ve got nothing. You don’t know what to say or where you are. That’s what shock does to you.”

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The top categories are stacked with quality, from Bad Bunny to Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Roan and K-pop hits – but here are the artists who most deserve to triumph

Bad Bunny – DTMF
Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild
Doechii – Anxiety
Billie Eilish – Wildflower
Kendrick Lamar & SZA – Luther
Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
Chappell Roan – The Subway
Rosé & Bruno Mars – APT.

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Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine

Culture Beat

Hans de Vlet (42) uit Alphen aan de Rijn ziet zichzelf als conservatief. Hij is enorm behoudend en wil daarom dat alles verandert. "Het liefst zo snel mogelijk."

“We doen het al heel lang helemaal verkeerd”, zegt de conservatieve man. “We hebben veel meer blauw op straat nodig en veel minder overheidsbemoeienis. Nederland soeverein, nú. Meer gemeenschapszin en minder belastingen, véél minder. Weg met het gedoe.”

“Het hele land mag wat mij betreft op de schop”, concludeert de conservatief. "Om eerlijk te zijn, zou ik het niet bijster erg vinden als het op een revolutie uitdraait."

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Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said the Nizhny Novgorod region senator resigned to focus on “working at the front line.”

peaceful-jp-scenery posted a photo:

Kamikochi, Nakanose
上高地・中ノ瀬

At the end of the route posted yesterday, you can see rows of larch trees with Mt. Kasumizawa and Mt. Rokuhyaku in the background. Behind the larch trees is the bus terminal during the season.

昨日掲載のルートの先では、霞沢岳、六百山を背景にカラマツの並木が眺められます。カラマツの裏あたりが、シーズン中のバスターミナルになります。

Matsumoto city, Nagano pref, Japan

Twee restaurants van het horeca-echtpaar Ralph en Monique van Bekkum zijn door de rechtbank Rotterdam failliet verklaard. Het gaat om Pasto in Berkel en Rodenrijs en Markt 1 in Heenvliet. Ook de financiële holding van het echtpaar is failliet.