‘Nostalgic and calming’: lava lamps are groovy again as sales glow

Depending on your age, you may remember them from Doctor Who and The Prisoner in the 1960s, or from TFI Friday and the Big Breakfast in the 90s. Or if you’re young enough, you might not remember them at all. But now it seems lava lamps are back.Rising sales would suggest a third wave of the lava lamp phenomenon is on the horizon, thanks to the ongoing trend towards mid-century interiors and gen Z’s fascination with the late 90s and early 2000s.Cressida Granger, the managing director of the British lava lamp pioneers Mathmos, said there had been a surge in interest in its lamps

Security bosses warn of rise in UK building site thefts by organised crime

Thefts of tools and equipment from building sites are increasingly being carried out by organised criminal groups, according to security bosses, amid warnings that the crimewave could accelerate during the Christmas construction shutdown.Copper cables, tools and even telehandlers and diggers costing tens of thousands of pounds have been stolen in recent months, according to the security firm Kingdom Systems.Now there are concerns that there could be a spate of thefts during the annual closure of construction sites, which sometimes last as long as two weeks over the festive period.Criminals often exploit long winter-nights as they look to break into sites, hoping to make off with the most costly tools and equipment stored there.“Darkness helps thieves to move in the shadows,” said Paul Worsley, the chief services officer at Kingdom Services, which runs temporary CCTV for more than 100 construction sites across Scotland and northern England

European leaders condemn US visa bans as row over ‘censorship’ escalates

European leaders including Emmanuel Macron have accused Washington of “coercion and intimidation”, after the US imposed a visa ban on five prominent European figures who have been at heart of the campaign to introduce laws regulating American tech companies.The visa bans were imposed on Tuesday on Thierry Breton, the former EU commissioner and one of the architects of the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), and four anti-disinformation campaigners, including two in Germany and two in the UK.The other individuals targeted were Imran Ahmed, the British chief executive of the US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid; and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index.Justifying the visa bans, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, wrote on X: “For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organised efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship

‘A gamechanger’: 200,000 UK small businesses sign up to TikTok Shop

It is better known for its viral dances and for making hits out of forgotten songs, but the social media site TikTok is becoming a force to be reckoned with as a shopping platform.Major retailers such as Marks & Spencer, Samsung, QVC, Clarks, and Sainsbury’s are now selling their wares on the site’s e-commerce service, TikTok Shop, alongside more than 200,000 UK small and medium businesses.Launched in Britain in 2021, TikTok Shop recorded its biggest sales day in the UK on Black Friday, with 27 items sold every second. Across the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period, sales were up by 50% on last year.The service works by letting brands sell directly inside TikTok through videos and livestreams with embedded links to items for sale, as well as through a separate shop tab on their profiles

I was there: Rory McIlroy’s Masters triumph was the ultimate moment

At 7am on 14 April in an Augusta rental home, Rory McIlroy awoke and immediately spotted a Green Jacket draped over a chair. “You think: ‘Yeah, that did happen yesterday,’” he says. “That.” McIlroy was now the sixth man to win all four of golf’s majors.The detail of what lay around in the bedroom of my own Augusta billet is of no interest to anybody

The Jukebox Man can lead them a merry dance in vintage King George

There is a case to be made for seven of the eight runners in what promises to be a memorable renewal of the King George VI Chase, but the horse with the most appealing profile going into the Boxing Day showpiece is Ben Pauling’s The Jukebox Man (2.30), the fourth-favourite in the betting at around 6-1.The strongest recent form on offer in Friday’s race is undoubtedly the thrilling contest between the Willie Mullins-trained pair Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File, the top two in the King George betting, in the John Durkan Chase at Punchestown in late November. Gaelic Warrior raced into a clear lead before being closed down by Fact To File going to the second-last, then stayed on again to win by a neck.While it was a candidate for race of the season, however, it was also an unusually punishing return to action for both horses, with a timefigure close to Gold Cup-winning standard