‘It is not jus. It is not a glaze. It is gravy!’ Britain’s gift to the world finally gets the love it deserves

Chefs have gone head over heels for the brown stuff. Some drown their burgers in it; others serve it with brioche and black pudding; one even turns it into ice-cream. What’s going on?

Pub roasts, grannies, Sunday lunch, Ah! Bisto!: gravy triggers nostalgic food memories for Britons like little else. But unlike complex French sauces, for example, gravy is brown and plain, not gastronomic alchemy. Its homely bedfellows – potatoes and pies – have had fancy makeovers, but gravy’s potential hasn’t been much exploited on the modern menu. Until now.

The nostalgic wave sweeping Britain’s food scene is reviving this ancient staple, but with a twist: gravy is going gourmet. It is appearing as a dip for burgers in London at the upmarket chain Burger & Beyond and at Nanny Bill’s. It is served with brioche and black pudding at Tom Cenci’s modern British restaurant Nessa in Soho, and even does a turn at Shaun Rankin’s Michelin-starred Grantley Hall in Yorkshire, where it is styled as beef tea and served with bread, bone marrow butter and dripping.

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Continue Reading‘It is not jus. It is not a glaze. It is gravy!’ Britain’s gift to the world finally gets the love it deserves

The destruction of Palestine is breaking the world | Moustafa Bayoumi

The rules of the institutions that define our lives bend like reeds when it comes to Israel – so much that the whole global order is on the verge of collapse

Sereen Haddad is a bright young woman. At 20 years old, she just finished a four-year degree in psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in only three years, earning the highest honors along the way. Yet, despite her accomplishments, she still can’t graduate. Her diploma is being withheld by the university, “not because I didn’t complete the requirements”, she told me, “but because I stood up for Palestinian life.”

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Continue ReadingThe destruction of Palestine is breaking the world | Moustafa Bayoumi

Ibiza’s ambulance service risks collapse due to callouts to clubs, says union

A third of emergency responses are to clubs, largely to attend to people having bad experiences with drugs

The ambulance service on the Spanish island of Ibiza says it is at risk of collapse because of frequent callouts to attend to clubbers having bad experiences with recreational drugs.

The local ambulance union says up to a third of emergency calls are to clubs, the largest of which has a capacity of as many as 10,000 partygoers, and are largely drug-related. It is calling on club owners to contract private ambulance services.

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Continue ReadingIbiza’s ambulance service risks collapse due to callouts to clubs, says union

Liz Truss is long gone – but her fiscal meltdown still dictates every step Labour makes | Max Mosley

A jittery No 10 now seeks the market’s approval for everything. The result? Cruel cuts and a chronic fear of desperately needed public spending

On 6 September 2022, Liz Truss entered No 10 with a clear vision for the country; the country asked her to leave less than 50 days later. But nearly three years on, even though all that remains of her premiership at Downing Street is a portrait she didn’t stick around long enough to see hung, it is she who really runs Britain.

Not through her influence – which has since been reduced to poorly attended speeches at far-right conferences in the US – but through the fear she left behind. Truss may be gone, but what remains is the shadow her failure cast, and the rigid fiscal caution that grew out of it.

Max Mosley is a senior economist at the New Economics Foundation

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Continue ReadingLiz Truss is long gone – but her fiscal meltdown still dictates every step Labour makes | Max Mosley

EU leaders split over tactics as deadline looms for Trump trade talks

With two days of talks left, some want a quick UK-style deal to avert 50% tariffs while others want to play hardball

The EU is entering a crunch week with only two days of talks left to secure a trade deal with Washinton to avert Donald Trump’s threatened 50% tariff on its imports into the US.

According to the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, on Friday, the negotiations – which continued over the weekend – are focussed on 15 to 18 agreements with important partners, while Trump warned of import tax rates of up to 70% on others.

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Continue ReadingEU leaders split over tactics as deadline looms for Trump trade talks

Lionesses will be going home if they do not shape up but history offers hope | Tom Garry

Much better display is needed against the Netherlands from a team with a habit of bouncing back under Wiegman

The England fans in Zurich have a new favourite song, replacing the word “Tequila!” with “Sarina!” It is a fun twist on a 1950s number from The Champs, written by the American saxophonist Chuck Rio. If the band’s name is fitting, for a few more days at least, for England’s status as defending champions, by full-time at Stadion Letzigrund against France the artist’s name was more in keeping with the mood among supporters, because Sarina Wiegman’s side are in genuine danger of being chucked out of Euro 2025.

England will point to Alessia Russo’s goal at 0-0 being ruled out for an offside that did not seem conclusive even from zoomed-in VAR images, yet the simple truth is this: if England do not improve markedly when they face the Netherlands on Wednesday, they will probably be out before they face Wales in their final group match. Defeat would spell the end unless France lose to Wales later in the day.

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Continue ReadingLionesses will be going home if they do not shape up but history offers hope | Tom Garry