Chiara Wilkinson

Train drivers, nurses, ambulance drivers, bin workers, postal workers, teachers, border force officers, sixth-form college staff, firefighters, security workers, train cleaners, driving examiners, university lecturers, civil servants. Union members in all of these professions (and more) are either going on strike this month or waiting for the results of ballots to decide if they will also walk out. The scale of this industrial action seems uncomfortably similar to the so-called ‘Winter of Discontent’ which took place between November 1978 and February 1979. But it’s not the 1970s, it’s 2022, and here we are.  From healthcare workers to train drivers, large-scale strikes will be taking place in the run-up to Christmas on an almost daily basis. At its peak, it is expected that around 1.5 million workers could be at the picket lines. And who can blame them? As millions of us face a cost-of-living emergency, the majority of walkouts are calling for better pay and working conditions, yet negotiations between unions, employers and the government are stuck in a deadlock. With an already bleak festive period starting to look even bleaker, we speak to four workers about why they’re going on strike this month.  The bus driver ‘With crazy shifts and long driving times, we don’t see any other way to change what’s going on’ ‘I work for Abellio, a bus company based in Battersea which runs services on behalf of Transport for London. I’ve been working here for the past four years and things

With spiralling energy bills and inflation at a 40-year high, everyone’s feeling the squeeze right now. British households are bracing for the worst, following news that energy bills could reach £500 a month in January, and thousands have now signed up to the Don’t Pay UK campaign. But the UK’s small independent businesses – many of which were hit hardest during the pandemic – are also under pressure, with many owners facing tough choices to make ends meet. A survey of more than 1,000 UK small businesses recently found that 54 percent of SMEs were concerned that high bills could lead to closure this year. Your charming local pub? The delightful greasy spoon that has seen you through the worst of hangovers? That sticky-floored music venue where you saw your first-ever gig? Chances are, they’re probably all worried – and it sucks. It’s these businesses that make our communities what they are, not our local Pret or Nando’s.   It’s not only energy bills venues are concerned about. There’s also been a rise in the cost of raw materials, strains on supply chains thanks to Brexit and a mounting pressure to increase wages in response to high inflation. Now, many business owners are calling on the UK government to intervene and help to prevent a ‘total collapse’ of the workforce, anticipating that the worst is yet to come. With the prospect of a long, hard winter ahead, we speak to four small business owners from different parts of the UK about how they’re coping with rising energy cos

Without Glastonbury, summer in the UK doesn’t feel quite right. It doesn’t matter whether you manage to camp at the fabled festival every year or just catch up on TV, June is made for watching music legends play to huge, mud-soaked crowds. Don’t know where to start? Here’s everything you need to know about Glastonbury Festival 2023.  We’ll be updating this page with more information when it is announced.  RECOMMENDED: 8 tips to help you hack the Glastonbury ticket sale. When is Glastonbury 2023? Glastonbury 2023 starts on Wednesday June 21 and runs until Sunday June 25. Most of the music will be on June 23, 24 and 25, so if you’re not lucky enough to be heading to Worthy Farm IRL and you’re watching on the TV instead, those are the dates to pencil in your calendar.  How to register for Glastonbury 2023? Pre-registration is the crucial first step to securing tickets – so crucial, in fact, that there’s no way you’ll be able to buy one without doing so. You’ll be required to submit your personal details and a headshot photograph of yourself, which will then be verified. Registration is free and closes at 5pm GMT on Monday October 31. You can register for tickets here. When do tickets go on sale? Ticket and coach packages for Glastonbury 2023 will be available on Thursday November 3 2022. General sale tickets will go on sale on Sunday November 6. Re-sale tickets and coach packages will go on sale next year.  What time do Glastonbury tickets go on sale? Ticket and coach packa

In the town hall of Portmeirion, Wales, 22-year-old Sage Todz is spitting out bars over reverberating bass – in a mix of English and Welsh. ‘Dani yma yma, on the way to the top of the game, are ffordd i top y byd!’ The song, ‘O Hyd’, samples ‘Yma o Hyd’, a 40-year-old folk song which is played as a patriotic anthem before Welsh sporting events. This updated drill version – which is infectiously catchy, even for non-Welsh speakers – is performed by Todz with fellow rapper Marino, and was released with the Football Association of Wales ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which gets under way this weekend. Todz is part of a generation of young artists breathing new life into Welsh-language music. It may recall the 1990s ‘Cool Cymru’ era when Super Furry Animals, Catatonia and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci were all the rage, but this time around things feel a whole lot more exciting. ‘It’s heating up,’ says Todz, whose real name is Eretoda Ogunbanwo. ‘It genuinely feels like it’s hitting boiling point. There’s too many of us doing things at a high level to not be seen.’  In recent years, there’s been a noticeable shift in the popularity of Welsh-language music. According to Dilwyn Llwyd, manager at Neuadd Ogwen, a music venue in the northern town of Bethesda, Welsh-language music has historically been ‘quite isolated’. ‘Before [social media], we didn’t really have our own music media or a way of communicating it to the wider world,’ Llwyd says. ‘It was a scene within itself.’ Social media and

What a year for the UK, eh? Not only did we have three prime ministers and, terrifyingly, the hottest summer on record, there was actually a fair bit of good stuff that happened as well. And while we’re not denying there was a lot of doom and gloom, we’re firm believers in remembering the positives: the viral sensations, the WTF moments and the once-in-a-lifetime events. The sort of stuff that makes you pause in your tracks and just smile, even if the world kind of is going to shit.  Remember when everyone became obsessed with watching planes land at Heathrow during Storm Eunice? When Chloe Kelly scored the winning goal for England in the Women’s Euros? And when a certain iceberg lettuce became the talk of the nation? See, 2022 wasn’t all bad. From the awe-inspiring to the downright bizarre, below we’ve handpicked the 22 most amazing things that happened in the UK this year (in no particular order). Stay in the loop: sign up to Out There, our free newsletter about all the best stuff to do across the UK.

It’s been a big year for John Glacier, the 27-year-old rapper and producer from Hackney, and 2023 looks set to be even bigger. She went from being a cherished secret of London’s underground – in good company with the likes of Shygirl and Vegyn – to being hurled into the spotlight, appearing on magazine covers and being booked to play festivals across Europe.  Glacier started releasing her own beats and spoken-word demos on Soundcloud back in 2018, kickstarting a string of sporadic output before her debut 12-track album, ‘SHILOH: Lost for Words’, came into being just over a year ago. It’s a hazy daydream of slow liquid grooves and deconstructed ambient beats, leaving space for Glacier’s lyrics to speak. Exploring everything from her relationship with London to feeling trapped in her own thoughts, its themes and metaphors overlap in a series of swirling, sometimes raw, narratives.  With her chilled-out flow, it’s easy to see why Glacier regarded herself as a poet rather than a musician until recently. And with a new project in the works which she’s hoping to put out next year (‘most of it’s done, but I want to do more’), musically, it looks like she’s just getting started.  Photograph: Andy Parsons I put out my debut album in July last year. It came together really quickly: people would send me beats and I’d record over them in Vegyn’s studio, who produced the album.  Stuff has drastically changed in the space of a year. I’ve had more opportunities and access to more studios.

The information on this page was correct at time of publication, but please check with venues before you head out New Year’s Eve in London means you’re faced with some choices. Sometimes there’s so much choice, in fact, that you end up spending the night indoors with a few mates and plenty of booze. We’ve all been there, but London’s packed with loads of great New Year’s Eve events that should coax even the most reluctant NYE fan out of the house this year.  No matter how you feel like saying farewell to 2022 (and what a year it was), there’s definitely something for you. Just make sure you don't leave it too late if you’re trying to avoid the FOMO. Check out our guide to the best things to do on December 31. 

Choosing the best Santa Barbara hotel isn't the easiest thing. After all, there are so many options, each with a different vibe and aesthetic. Do you want to hang by the beach or opt for a hidden gem nestled up in the hills? Sleep next to the nightlife or doze without a party in sight? Is a pool non-negotiable? And what about entertainment for the kids? Surely you want to be right by the city’s great attractions (don't miss Old Mission Santa Barbara!), tastiest restaurants, and top wineries? See, there's a lot to consider. This central coast hot spot attracts tourists year-round, with temps in the 60s and 70s all year long and an easily accessible location just 90 miles north of Los Angeles. There are more than 200 wineries located throughout Santa Barbara, so your itinerary should definitely include a day of wine tasting. The Funk Zone is the place to bar hop, and the Santa Barbara Courthouse is a very popular place to visit (and get married!) while in town.  But whatever your hotel requirements may be, we’ve scrolled through Santa Barbara's many hotels and whittled them down to the cream of the crop. Now you just have to pick the right place for your perfect stay.  🎭 Recommended: the best things to do in Santa Barbara🛏 Recommended: the best Airbnbs in Santa Barbara

The choppy waters of Dhërmi beach are glistening turquoise in the sun, with the Ceraunian mountains towering overhead. Pomegranate trees and stray cats dot the streets. Holidaymakers munch on plates of calamari spaghetti and Greek salad in sea-view restaurants, and couples laugh over bulbous glasses of Aperol spritz. But once you hear the distinct thud of four-to-the-floor techno in the distance, and realise that just about everyone is wearing a bum bag or bucket hat, you soon realise that this isn’t just another European holiday destination. It’s the continent’s latest festival hotspot. Despite its long strip of Mediterranean coastline, bordered by Montenegro in the north and Greece in the south, Albania has been largely overlooked by foreign tourists until recently. Formerly a communist dictatorship, it remained shut to much of the world until the death of dictator Enver Hoxha in 1985. It remains one of Europe’s poorest countries. Unlike nearby Greece and Italy, Albania is also not the most accessible place to visit. At the moment, the country has only one major international airport: in Tirana, the capital. From there to the coast, it’s a three-and-a-half-hour drive through the mountains –  or a flight to neighbouring Corfu, then a two-hour ferry ride. But lately, something has changed. Visitor numbers are rising fast: flight-booking website Skyscanner saw a 48 percent increase in flight bookings to Albania for 2022 compared to 2019. According to the Albanian government’s

When Warehouse Project re-launched their app last month, with a load of shiny new safety features, they never imagined it would end up having the impact it did. They certainly didn’t imagine it would be downloaded by more than 200,000 people, at least 20 times the capacity of a usual WHP event, and reach people all over Manchester – and beyond.  But that’s exactly what has happened. The app has introduced a new drug-safety feature, which sends out warnings as push notifications directly to users. It’s the first of its kind: at the moment, there’s no other trusted platform that exists in the UK which can send out such information on a large scale. Sure, you’ve got Pill Reports, a well-known website with reliable, up-to-date information, and The Loop, a non-profit harm-reduction service which regularly posts reports on its social-media pages. But the reality is, not everyone remembers to check online before a big night out, and they certainly won’t during the event. Receiving instant warnings as soon as they come in could ultimately be life-saving.  The drug information is collected by WHP’s lab partners, MANDRAKE, a harm-reduction and drug-testing facility based at Manchester Metropolitan University. Alerts are sent out about substances seized during WHP events, as well as drugs found elsewhere in the city. ‘You can’t control what’s out there,’ says James Pyrah, WHP’s head of marketing. ‘But you can control the messaging to people about a specific thing that could potentially

The information on this page was correct at time of publication, but please check with venues before you head out It’s been a unique old year, that’s for sure. While 2022 may have had fewer lockdowns, less social distancing and a lot more fun than 2021, it’s still been full of crises, turbulence and more political chaos than you can shake an iceberg lettuce at. To see the new year in, take your pick from the capital’s plethora of New Year’s Eve parties. From a day-to-night NYE festivals to low-key underground discos – get your glad rags on, and get ready to give 2022 the ultimate send-off.  RECOMMENDED: Find things to do in London on New Year’s Day.

Nothing beats festival season. In our opinion, the UK does it better than anywhere else – because come rain or come sun, you just know you’ll end up in the middle of a field, belting your lungs out to some banging tunes with a luke-warm can of lager in hand. And after such a gleeful return to the full festival calendar in 2022, you can bet that we’re already planning our hit-list for 2023.  One of the best things about the UK festival season is just how much variety is on offer. You can glamp to your heart’s content at a boutique indie festival, get some guaranteed moshpit action at rock-fest Download, or rave until the early hours at a 24/7 dance marathon. Keen to join in the fun? Check out Time Out’s guide to the best UK music festivals of 2023.  We’ll be updating this page with more events as they are announced. 

Returning in 2023 with its fourth edition, Cross the Tracks is still a bit of a newcomer to the London festival scene. But with tasteful, groove-heavy curation across soul, funk and jazz, as well as a focus on street food and craft beer, it's already cemented itself as an anticipated name in the saturated events circuit. Taking place in Brockwell Park across six stages, the festival has a laid-back, open-arms appeal, meaning you'll more than likely find all sorts of ages having a boogie. The 2023 edition is already promising big things, with the first announcement billing jazz and R&B-influenced Masego, hip hop star Kelis, plus Alfa Mist, Giles Peterson, Roy Ayers and Ravyn Lenae. As well as an all-encompassing day of soulful music, there will be dozens of food and drink traders, along with talks, panels and workshops.  

This early screening of ‘The Menu’ sounds truly mouth-watering. The film, starring Queen’s Gambit actress Anya Taylor-Joy, as well as Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult, follows a young couple who travel to a boujee private island restaurant to sample a lavish menu. As you might expect, things turn sour, and the film unfolds in a series of gastronomical twists and turns.  ‘The Menu’ doesn’t officially come out in UK cinemas until the following day, so seeing it before the crowds is a treat in itself. But that’s just the start. From your comfy seats at The Curzon in Hoxton, you’ll be whisked into a sensory culinary experience with a tasting menu of sweet and savoury small plates from Soho Americana eatery Rita’s as well as paired cocktails curated by Woodford Reserve mixologists. The drinks are said to explore the ‘unique flavour profiles of the Kentucky bourbon’ and will surprise guests at different moments from the film. Delish.     

What’s a London Christmas, without Somerset House's iconic ice rink? Skate around the grand neoclassical courtyard on this huge, 900-square-metre outdoor rink, with a 40ft Christmas tree plonked in the middle for maximum Insta-potential. This year they’re in partnership again with Moët & Chandon – and to get even more in the festive spirit, tunes will be blasting, Hotel Chocolat will be hosting a selection of gifts, and tasty food and drink will be available to feast on.  But, the best bit? The legendary weekend Skate Lates are back, bringing banging DJ sets from the city’s best club nights and selectors rinkside. This year slip and slide along to tracks picked an impressive line-up including Pxssy Palace, Girls of Grime and comedian James Acaster.  Wheelchair users can skate in any session as well as in dedicated wheelchair user sessions. Find more places to go ice skating in London

Gary Owen’s 75-minute-monologue – first performed in 2015, when austerity cuts were rife – has a newfound relevance today. Staged at the Lyric Hammersmith – now run by the director of ‘Iphigenia in Splott’, Rachel O’Riordan – the revival sees original star Sophie Melville return to play Effie, a young woman navigating life in a deprived area of Cardiff via a series of head-spinning hangovers and eruptive arguments.  The plot loosely echoes the Greek Euripidean tragedy of Iphigenia, who was sacrificed to the gods by her father Agamemnon during the Trojan war. In this war, Effie’s hometown is losing: the pubs are shut, houses are boarded up, there are two-hour waiting times at the doctor’s surgery and her 70-something gran has to work night shifts at the Co-op to make ends meet. Effie abuses drink and drugs and fucks her way through life, because her ‘brain functioning on full power is dangerous’. It’s no wonder she seems so bitter.  Dressed in hoop earrings and tracksuit bottoms, the play opens with Melville boldly confronting the audience: we must think she’s a ‘stupid slag’ and a ‘nasty skank’. She swaggers, leaps, and wriggles her way around Hayley Grindle’s set – simple horizontal light beams resembling half-open blinds – moving with the energy and choreography of a dancer. She’s brash, hot-tempered, and garishly rude, theatrically recounting her night-time antics and boasting about her sex life. But she’s also sharp, scattering snappy punchlines throughout and looking at

If you can’t make it to a pumpkin-picking farm but want to feel a bit more festive than a trip to Tesco’s fruit and veg, get down to Covent Garden’s Halloween Pumpkin Market. The West Piazza will be filled with over 200 pumpkins, squashes and gourds in various bulbous shapes and sizes which shoppers can buy and take home. The autumnal orbs will be set off by a stunning floral display designed and created by the Covent Garden Horticultural team. A feast for the senses in every way possible. 

Let’s get this straight: Plant Club, as the name suggests, is all vegan. It’s also all gluten free. That’s probably good news for some, but mildly disappointing for others. Offering organic Italian food and natural wine, it’s a pop-up restaurant that has taken over a Newington Green co-working space. The space itself is a coolly industrial, warehouse-style building, with a light and airy backroom and tables offering a full view of the open kitchen.  The menu was missing a few items. But what it lacked in dishes, it made up for with very knowledgeable staff, who were able to take us through the ins and outs of some surprising vegan interpretations (like plant-based burrata). We grabbed a bunch of small plates to start, which were a highlight. The balsamic-dowsed eolian salad with onion, sicilian tomatoes, and chilli was zingy and bright, while the aubergine parmigiana was a hearty portion of meaty sweet aubergine and non-gross vegan cheese: extremely tasty. The garlicky, cream-cheese tasting ‘burella’, made of soya and in a bed of olive oil and balsamic, mimicked the texture and skin of the OG with an eerie level of accuracy. It could even be a contender for the real deal. The ‘burella’ could be a contender for the real deal Our second course took a while to arrive, but we were kept busy with a glass of orange wine (average: should have been colder) and a basil ‘POW’ cocktail (above average: gorgeously smooth and subtly fruity). I had freshly made gnocchi for mains, with a bu

The V&A’s latest exhibition starts with an immediate bombardment of wild, joyous neon, video, and the all-too familiar melodies of ‘Gangnam Style’. Psy’s viral dance craze is a brilliant example of ‘Hallyu’, the South Korean pop-culture phenomenon that has ignited imaginations across the globe. This blockbuster exhibition is a sensitvely researched, mind-boggling and ambitious attempt to record its explosion in recent years, through everything from cinema and television to music, fashion, beauty and tech. To start, propaganda leaflets and documentary photographs guide us through a concise Korean history lesson from the Joseon dynasty to the 1950 Korean War and into the country’s abrupt embrace of technology. Here, powerhouses like LG and Samsung are part of a constant stream of innovation that filters into every area of life. There’s a cultural optimism here that’s summed up well by artist Nam June Paik’s 1986 installation ‘Mirage Stage’; vast towers of video screens buzz and flicker, creating loops of early internet nostalgia to signal the start of the revolution in digital communication. Be it TikTok, music videos, or early 2000s mobile phone formatted ‘Webtoons’, this is how Hallyu was propelled to the rest of the world, allowing it to fuse with Western influences. But it’s always a carefully tread line. The Squid Game boiler suits are displayed next to traditional hanbok costumes, and a 1990 photograph shows Korean filmmakers protesting for the protection of their domesti

Beer between the bridges? This gigantic 4,000-square-foot drinking spot is the perfect spot for you to load up on liquids and belt out some questionable tunes. Fear not though – you'll be accompanied by a live band at Massaoke, Old Dirty Brasstards and Guilty Pleasures DJs. There will also be plenty of street food with a Teutonic twist on offer and an abundance of beer to wash it all down. 

Nina Conti and her rude monkey sidekick are back. An unhinged, sweary puppet and the gracious, apologetic puppeteer: they’re a dynamic duo, that’s for sure.  This time, the pair are on a mission to help the audience find love, and they won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. As well as being a ventriloquist – and an extremely skilled multi-tasker — Conti is also a matchmaker. She pulls up audience members and smacks on a caricature-ish new face, transforming them into ridiculous new personalities via a moving mouth mask, before introducing them to other willing lonely hearts. She’ll swap between Scottish, southern, and Italian accents with ease. She takes the piss out of a couple’s meeting story and speed-learns life facts, saving tasty titbits to dish out later. It’s clever improv, and Conti remains impressively aloof: cool, calm and collected, she’s working frantically behind her smile to (literally) pull the strings and make it all work. Laughing at your mate getting laughed at on stage is the oldest trick in the book, and the audience was in bits when I saw it. But once you get over Conti’s impeccable puppetry skills, not all of the sketches really do that much. When Conti pulls a blanket over her head and takes the monkey on a speed date, it’s just chaos. People are brutally chased off, insults are thrown around… but the comments aren’t particularly quick-witted.  Luckily, a swap to her own warm demeanour brings some sense of order back to it all. But the intense ‘dance it out’ f

If you’re looking for a trusty new takeaway to give your tastebuds a tickle, then this isn’t the Indian for you. But if you’re looking for immaculately plated, mild and overpriced Indian food, then Ritu is probably your man.  ‘Ritu’ means ‘seasons’, and the whole menu is conceptualised around the seasons of traditional Indian food. The restaurant itself is large and pleasant enough to suit a family celebration: Granny’s seventieth, your sister’s graduation dinner, that sort of thing. There’s a slick terrace outside the front that’s decorated as I’d imagine the restaurants in Ocean Club Marbella to look, while the inside is shiny and mirrored, with plenty of those plush teal chairs that seem to be everywhere at the moment. After ordering, I nibbled on mini poppadoms and garlicky mayo, sipping a Whisky Sour cocktail served in a novelty teapot-shaped glass. The starters were brought out promptly: first, a plate of skin-on gunpowder prawns with moreish masala caesar sauce. They were gloriously meaty but completely lacking in heat – and £19 for a starter of two prawns? Seems steep, even for St John’s Wood. The other starter, a plate of crispy chickpeas and potatoes displayed in an arty cave of crackling lotus-stem slices, was a bomb of red onion and coriander: fresh, pretty to look at, but rather dull and dry after the first few mouthfuls.  By the time mains came around, my belly was suspiciously full thanks to the generously large portion sizes. The paneer laziz pasanda, a rich

In the National Theatre of Scotland’s spectacular staging of Liz Lochhead’s retelling of Euripides’s ‘Medea’, the addition of snarling Scottish dialect works brilliantly, with scatterings of words like ‘greet,’ ‘blether,’ and ‘bairn’ adding extra layers of menace and seduction to the shocking tragedy. They’re also expertly articulated. The actors are masters of their characters: Robert Jack’s Jason is cocky and gruff, while lead Adura Onashile plays Medea with a grace and command that makes her seem otherworldly, spitting her words out like poison. Still, she manages to convince us to feel sympathy for her: Medea betrayed her family for Jason, who abandoned her and their children to marry the King’s daughter, leaving them with no one.  The ancient Greek tragedy is played out at an excitingly fast pace: there’s no time for chit-chat, only lust, jealousy, and fear. It becomes a case of man versus woman and violence versus cunning: tensions are impenetrable and silences are heavy, each interaction and entrance calculated with spectacular attention to detail. When Medea and Jason kiss, it’s with the sharp sting of passion and hate, and it feels grossly intimate to watch.  Taking place in the stunning surroundings of the Hub, the entire production is beautifully lit by designer Colin Grenfell, while shatters of symbols and ringing drums are projected from above the stage by composer James Jones. Performers stride up and down an elevated ‘T’ shape, a narrow runway leading from an

‘Blood and Gold’ is a performance of multiple stories, all threaded together with incredible skill into a single sparkling tapestry. It’s about the complex legacy of colonialism in Scotland and how racism persists in its past and present, drawing on creator Mara Menzies’s shared Scottish and Kenyan heritage. First performed in the Fringe in 2019, its 2022 return has a renewed power after the worldwide resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement – but its message is crucial and enduring. Menzies’s storytelling is enchanting. Loaded with mythical imagery, it feels fabled but contemporary, as though it has been passed down through generations. She moves like a ballet dancer and speaks like a poet, the whole monologue aching with a magical radiance despite its challenging subject matter. There are moments of joy, when her eyes glitter with innocence. There are breaks of humour, when she opens up the story to the audience and gets them to join her in dance or call out suggestions, weaving us all into the fable. But there’s a darkness that’s constantly lurking. The lights start to dim and a creepy, cracking sound surfaces (brilliant sound design by Dave House). Menzies’s body twists and turns, her eyes suddenly possessed by the ‘shadow man’. A reappearing character who’s watching from afar, he interrupts to cause chaos or whisper insecurities into ears, encouraging characters to strip away their Blackness (‘your hair is a mess, it would be better off straight’) and become invisib

Have you found yourself slipping into strange, lazy habits this year? Maybe you’ve been particularly self-indulgent, like eating tubs of Ben and Jerry’s while doom-scrolling on TikTok for hours? Perhaps you no longer give a fuck about looking presentable for work? Or maybe you have absolutely no shame about doing your entire weekly shop in soup-stained pyjamas and slippers? Chances are, you’ve slipped into ‘goblin mode’ – and it’s completely normal. So normal, in fact, that it was voted by the public as the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year. Oxford University Press described it as ‘a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations’. The slang term was one of three potential choices selected by Oxford lexicographers, and won with a total of 318,956 votes – a whopping 93 percent of the overall vote. The runner-up was ‘metaverse’ with 14,484 votes, followed by ‘#IStandWith’ with 8,639 votes. 2021’s Word of the Year was ‘vax’, following the invention of a coronavirus vaccine. ‘Goblin mode’ has been around online since 2009, but it went viral earlier this year and continued to gain popularity as the UK emerged from the pandemic. Suddenly, we were expected to return to the office and actually leave our houses – putting ‘goblin mode’ under threat. But with the term winning the public vote for Word of the Year by a landslide, we’ve basically been given permission to embrace our inne

Twinkly lights, pub Christmas dinners, boozy office parties... and sub-zero temperatures. Winter is well under way, and if you’ve been feeling the chill recently, it’s only just getting started. The Met Office has just issued its first snow warning of winter, with parts of the country expected to plunge into icy spells when an ‘Arctic blast’ strikes this week.   A yellow weather warning has been issued for northern parts of the UK, with snow showers expected to disrupt travel in Scotland on Wednesday.  Blizzard conditions could lead to up to ten centimetres of snowfall. The snow warning covers Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, Highlands and Eilean Sia, Orkney and Shetland, but may also fall in parts of Northern Ireland and north-east England. And it’s not just Scotland that will be feeling the chill. From Wednesday, the majority of the UK will experience its coldest spell of winter so far, with temperatures expected to remain just above freezing during the day, and falling below zero overnight – reaching as low as -3C on Thursday night.  But for those of us crossing our fingers for a white Christmas, don’t get overly excited just yet. Wet and windy conditions are expected for the rest of the month, with the possibility of temperatures getting warmer in the south and west.  You can find out more about the weather near you on the Met Office website.   Stay in the loop: sign up to Out There, our free newsletter about all the best stuff to do across the UK.

In recent weeks, there’s been a spike in cases of Strep A, a bacterial infection that’s caused the deaths of at least seven children in the UK since September. While most cases are mild, health officials are warning parents to be aware of Strep A’s symptoms because in the rare instance that it becomes serious, the infection requires urgent treatment. With rates on the rise, here’s everything you need to know.  What is Strep A? Strep A, full name streptococcus A, is a kind of bacteria which is sometimes found in the throat or on the skin. Most cases are mild and some people can even carry it without knowing. However, it is highly contagious and can spread to others who may fall ill, and in rare instances it can become serious.  How can you catch Strep A? The bacteria can be passed through close contact, as well as sneezes and coughs.  Why is Strep A spreading?   Since Covid restrictions have eased in the UK and we’re entering the winter months, there are new opportunities for infections to spread in general. Less mask wearing and social distancing this winter may help to cause outbreaks to happen in places like schools and care homes.  What are the symptoms of Strep A? Symptoms are usually mild. Signs include skin infections and a sore throat, both of which can usually be treated with antibiotics. There is no vaccine for Strep A.  In more serious cases, Strep A can lead to scarlet fever, which causes a rash with a rough sandpaper-like texture, and flu-like symptoms including

Train strikes have continued this month, impacting rail travel up and down the country. The mass walkouts follow many other strikes that have taken place across the transport network since June this year, with the peak of disruption taking place on October 1 when just ten percent of services were running. Although the RMT union’s planned strike dates earlier in November were called off, fresh walkouts have now been planned for December and January, set to bring major disruption over the festive period. Here’s everything you need to know to plan your travel. When are the next train strikes? According to the RMT, train operating companies and Network Rail have failed to come up with a written offer following a fortnight of talks, which means we’ll see new industrial action in December.  There will be four periods of strike action by the RMT union taking place between December and January, which will impact Christmas travel. The days affected are December 13, 14, 16 and 17, and January 3, 4, 6 and 7. The strikes will take place across 14 major railway operators. In a separate dispute, the RMT also said it will be holding strike action on Avanti West Coast services on December 11 and 12. Rail passengers will also face disruption over Christmas as Network Rail carries out 300 engineering projects. Network Rail said no trains would be running into or out of London Liverpool Street station between December 25 and January 2. Find out more here. How will rail travel be affect

Mansfield’s Martin Wilkinson Jewellers has been around for a while. A whopping 230 years, in fact. It’s been through World War I and World War II, when it became well known for servicing bomber command wristwatches. But now, the shop is set to close its doors for good as its current owner is looking to retire.  Thought to be one of the oldest jeweller shops in the country, the business was established in 1794 and then bought in the late 1800s by Martin Wilkinson, who changed the name to match his established shop in Newark, Nottinghamshire (the shops are now separate businesses). Since then, it has occupied four separate premises in Mansfield’s town centre, before settling on its current location at 16 Queen Street in 1974. The jewellers has been run by the same family for more than 90 years. The current owner, Andrew Campin, 80, is looking to go into retirement, but his children all have their own careers and don’t look likely to keep the shop going. The shop’s closing-down sale starts at 10am on Saturday December 3, with 50 percent off all jewellery. Stay in the loop: sign up to Out There, our free newsletter about all the best stuff to do across the UK.

Ever thought about packing up your bags and moving somewhere new? The happiest place to live in the UK for 2022 has officially been revealed, and we have to agree it sounds pretty appealing.  Rightmove surveyed more than 21,000 people for its Happy at Home Index about where they live – and specifically how content they feel there. The seaside town of St Ives in Cornwall took the top spot as the happiest place to live, scoring highly for its sense of community spirit and how comfortable the residents feel to be themselves. The town is home to the Tate St Ives art gallery, as well as the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, a working harbour and loads of nearby beaches. Galashiels on the Scottish Borders took second place, scoring the highest for friendliness across the whole of the UK. The town of Woodbridge, Suffolk, came third, while Anglesey was found to be the happiest place to live in Wales. Other locations in the top ten included Harrogate, Anglesey, Bury St Edmunds, Cirencester and Hexham. Stay in the loop: sign up to Out There, our free newsletter about all the best stuff to do across the UK.

It’s that time of year again: the end-of-year-rankings time of year. At Time Out, we wanted to put together a definitive list of the absolute best places to visit in 2023, right here in the UK. But we wanted to do it properly. So we went to our local experts across the country to figure out which cities, towns and regions have the most exciting stuff going on – from thriving culinary scenes to massive arty openings and blockbuster events. As it turns out, there’s a lot to get excited about. It also turns out that some of the buzziest places aren’t even the most obvious. Sure, Manchester and Glasgow made the list (because, duh), but a seriously underrated coastal destination beat them to be crowned number one. The southern seaside town of Eastbourne top our ranking of the country’s 15 best places to visit, thanks to its plethora of live-music venues, big cultural events and jaw-droppingly beautiful landscapes.  The town is home to the Towner Eastbourne, an extremely Insta-worthy gallery which was selected as the official host of the 2023 Turner Prize (from September 28), to tie in with the venue’s centenary year. Nature-wise, you’ve got the nearby South Downs National Park and the seaside views of Beachy Head, as well as a variety of up-and-coming festivals like Crossing The Screen International Film Festival, Beach Life Music Festival and the Eastbourne Walking Festival. Sounds pretty lush, right? You can check out our full list of the best places to visit in the UK here. St

Today is a big day. Not because Brazil are playing Serbia in the World Cup. And not because it’s Thanksgiving. No, it’s because Time Out is launching its brand-new UK newsletter. You know Out Here, the newsletter about all things London? Well, this one is about the rest of the UK, and yes, it’s called Out There. Out There will grace your inboxes every other Thursday with insider knowledge about unmissable things to do in the UK, as well as hand-picked pieces from our writers across the country. From travel inspo to lowdowns on the latest cultural trends and interviews with rising stars, it’s basically an all-in-one guide to the most interesting stories and scenes outside of London. Sounds ambitious, right? Well, we promise we’ll have you covered. Mouth-watering food? Got it. Niche museums? Got it. Witty, zeitgeisty commentary you’ll want to regurgitate and pass off as your own at the pub? Got it, pal. We’ll even chuck in some language lessons while we’re at it.  Like the sound of Out There? We thought so. Get involved for a carefully curated selection of Time Out’s UK content – plus more – all condensed into one speedy read. Sign up right here, right now.   Out There is a fortnightly email from the Time Out team. Sign up in the box below or by clicking ‘subscribe’ (aka the envelope icon) in the top right-hand corner of your screen.  

The humble British stamp is about to get an upgrade, with the Royal Mail starting to officially add barcodes to them. Those without a barcode will be obsolete after July 31 2023. This is an extension to the previous deadline of January 31, giving people more time to use up their old stamps, or swap them out for the shiny new barcoded ones. The addition of barcodes comes as part of the Royal Mail’s modernisation drive, aiming to make operations smoother and to add new security features. Everyone has some old stamps lying around in a drawer or filing cabinet – make sure you dig yours out and use them up before the deadline, or save your pennies by swapping them for the snazzy new digital ones.  When do old stamps expire? Country-definitive stamps will no longer be valid as postage after July 31 2023, so it’s worth using these up now. It is an extension by six months from the previous cut-off date: January 31 2023.  Which stamps are going out of date? All regular first and second-class ‘everyday’ stamps will be going out of date, as well as first-class large letter and second-class large letter stamps. International tariff stamps and all ‘make-up-value stamps’ will also be going out of date.  What is the Royal Mail swap out scheme? The Royal Mail swap-out scheme allows you to swap your existing stamps for new ones, if you aren’t able to use them up before they become obsolete. What stamps are allowed for the swap? All of the stamps going out of date, apart from country-definit

‘Museums and galleries are really interesting spaces, but they’re not always the most accessible,’ says Amie Kirby, a 23-year-old museum assistant at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery.  According to the most recent ‘Time to Act’ study from Disability Arts International, which brought together data across 42 European countries, only 24 percent of museums and cultural festivals have front-of-house staff who are trained in disability awareness. Many activists view the pandemic has having been detrimental to any progress that was being made in the sector. Aged ten, Kirby was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes – a condition that affects her everyday life. ‘In September, I was visiting the Tate and my diabetes was playing up,’ Kirby says. ‘I was feeling quite dizzy and out of it, but I kept saying to myself that I’d wait until I reached the end of the gallery. I had to go and sit down and treat my blood sugars with this little orange juice carton.  ‘I remember thinking: this feels really crap, I feel so alone right now. I wonder if anyone else has the issues I have, just trying to visit gallery spaces on a day-to-day basis?’ Shortly after, she founded Crip Culture Collective: a grassroots support and networking group for chronically ill, disabled and neurodiverse people to discuss disability justice and organise visits to cultural sites across the UK. ‘My initial motive was to set up a group for people to visit galleries and museums together, slowly, with lots of breaks and sitting do

Anyone else still pulling their hair out after the Glastonbury 2023 coach ticket scramble? Haunted by the thought of the SeeTickets website? We don’t blame you: the coach tickets on November 3 sold out in 22 minutes. If you were lucky enough to get your hands on some of those highly sought-after tickets, we applaud you. Hacking the Glastonbury ticket sale is no easy feat. But if you missed out, don’t give up yet. There’s still another chance to secure your spot at the world’s best music festival. There’s good reason why it’s so difficult to get a spot at Glastonbury. It’s not only a music lovers’ paradise (last year saw Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney and Billie Eilish take to the stage), it’s also a 24-hour city of entertainment – with all sorts of cinema, circus, art and performance on offer for five days straight. As far as the 2023 festival goes, there’s already been a fair amount of speculation as to who might be playing: Harry Styles, Bruce Springsteen, Arctic Monkeys, The Spice Girls, Taylor Swift and even Beyoncé have been rumoured to be contenders. The full line-up won’t be revealed until late spring next year, with the event itself taking place on June 21 to 25 2023.  Glastonbury’s organisers recently announced that the festival ticket price for next year would be its highest ever. Tickets for the 2023 will cost £335, plus the £5 booking fee – up from 2022’s price of £280. Still keen to go? It’s going to be a mission, that’s for sure. But if you’re up for it, here ar

Fast-forward three years and the Bristol skyline will look very different indeed. The city will be home to something called ‘Arc’: a flying pod offering sky-high views of the city and surrounding area. Suspended between two carbon-fibre masts, up to 42 visitors at a time will be lifted above the city in a glass cabin for a 20-minute adventure, 69 metres up. The structure will be built above the Harbourside – the neighbourhood home to Millennium Square and the Bristol Aquarium – offering panoramic views of nearby landmarks. The project had its planning permission approved last year, with widespread support from local businesses and tourism leaders, and will be run by Arc in partnership with nearby science centre We The Curious. According to an economic report from We The Curious in 2021, the attraction could contribute around £13 million to Bristol's economy every year. It plans to open in 2025. We’ll update this page with more information when it is announced. In the meantime, you can find out more about Arc Bristol here. ICYMI: this small UK city has been named one of the world’s top travel destinations. Plus: Europe’s most beautiful castle is apparently right here in the UK.