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Highlights

How Saoirse Ronan became the most thrilling actor of her generation

The Irish star of ‘Little Women’, ‘Lady Bird’ and ‘Brooklyn’ isn’t yet 30 but has already accumulated four Oscar nominations, while her new movie ‘The Outrun’ is already being tipped for awards next year. Geoffrey Macnab looks back on the impressively diverse career of a gifted child actor who grew up to be a consistently daring talent

Geoffrey Macnab

<p>Flown the coop: Irish actor Saoirse Ronan in her Oscar-nominated turn in ‘Lady Bird’ </p>

<p>For some charity shops, between 30 and 50 per cent of donations have to be rejected </p>

Charity shop dump and running has turned us into ‘reverse shoplifters’

<p>A type of electronic skin that can help ‘soft’ robots better understand their own movements </p>

The best inventions and discoveries of 2023

<p>Let’s go outside: shake off festive fatigue with a walk in the Yorkshire Dales</p>

Walking & Trekking

10 great British pub walks, from city rambles to coastal strolls

Voices

<p>A ‘super-rational but politically inept’ Rishi Sunak promised to ‘stop the boats’, not reduce them</p>

JOHN RENTOUL

What I got wrong (and right) in 2023

<p>Here’s how to stop veganuary being a total headache </p>

Health and Wellbeing

10 things you only know if you’ve been a vegan as long as I have

<p>Winston Churchill raises a glass to toast Marshal Tito at the Yugoslav embassy in Kensington 1953 </p>

HARRY WALLOP

Let’s raise a glass to the return of the pint bottle of champagne

The Longer Read

<p>The Crown</p>

I was there for Diana & Dodi’s love story – it wasn’t like The Crown

<p>Leader of Freedom party (PVV) Geert Wilders (C) gestures next to Dutch MP Fleur Agema (L) one day after the House of Representatives elections, The Hague, Netherlands, 23 November 2023.</p>

Does the rest of the 2020s belong to the far right?

<p>The benefits of a full belly for a child, like a good night’s sleep, can yield pervasive gains, making them more alert at school, healthier generally, and stronger</p>

As more go hungry, have we simply learned to live with child poverty?

Politics Explained

<p>Alastair Campbell with Tony Blair leaving Downing Street </p>

Politics Explained

Whatever happened to the 30-year rule?

<p>Would Sunak call an election earlier than necessary, with the Conservatives almost 20 points behind Labour in the polls? And does Labour really believe he would? </p>

Politics Explained

Why Labour is so keen to push for a May election

<p>Has Rishi Sunak managed to achieve his promise to grow the economy in spite of the latest figures? </p>

Politics Explained

Is Britain now in recession... and does that really matter?

<p>Ireland’s deputy prime minister Micheal Martin (left) and Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris at Farmleigh House, Dublin, during the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference earlier this year </p>

Politics Explained

What has caused the argument between No 10 and Ireland?

Most Commented

Israeli bombing of Gaza is killing and maiming children at ‘record pace’

764 comments

Sunak beating Starmer in just four constituencies, poll reveals

275 comments

Starmer tells voters future of Britain ‘rests in your hands’ in 2024

166 comments

Brexit has been bad for the UK economy, majority of Britons believe

162 comments

Editorials

<p>This new year needs to be one of action to ensure that victims and potential victims get the protection they need</p>

The Independent View

Women need far better protection from the threat of domestic abuse

<p>The cause of the Ukrainian people is just</p>

The Independent View

Ukraine and its people need us, our support has to stay strong in 2024

<p>Legal cases fuel a media circus to the detriment of wider political debate </p>

The Independent View

Donald Trump must be defeated by the American people at the ballot box

Culture

<p>Non-fiction about the moon, and Volodymyr Zelensky, along with fiction by Sigrid Nunez and Michael Cunningham are among January’s books </p>

The best new books to read this January

<p>JB Priestley was extremely conscious of time, and many of his works link past, present and future </p>

Book of a lifetime: English Journey by JB Priestley

<p>Gary Lineker, Margot Robbie, Holly Willoughby, Cillian Murphy, Taylor Swift, Matthew Macfadyen and Prince Harry</p>

In culture, 2023 has been a year of crisis and catharsis

Travel

<p>Which way now? Simon Calder on the Lantau Trail</p>

Simon Calder’s 2023 travel year in review, plus where to go in 2024

<p>Passengers are suffering as many journeys end short of their official destination </p>

Should we stage train sit-ins when services are curtailed?

John RentoulThe Independent’s chief political commentator

<p>Liz Truss, the Lady Jane Grey of British prime ministers</p>

Truss honours list proves again she is a politician without judgement

<p>The Conservatives are probably doomed in 2024, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t try and win </p>

There are ways Sunak can put up an election fight in 2024

<p> </p>

John Rentoul’s fun and fiendish Quiz of the Year

Andrew GricePolitical columnist who keeps his ear to the ground inside Westminster

<p>Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has a steady 18-point lead in opinion polls</p>

Here’s how Keir Starmer plans to win next year’s election

<p>The prime minister has tried painting a positive picture of his time in No 10 – but does it stand up to scrutiny? </p>

Rishi Sunak is out of time to turn around the sinking Tories

<p>A very uncivil service: Derek Fowlds, Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne in the Eighties BBC Whitehall farce, ‘Yes Minister’</p>

Time for a change in dysfunctional Whitehall? Yes, minister…

Chris Blackhurst

<p>The highest-value euro banknote, the €500, became known as the ‘Bin Laden’, as it was popular with money-laundering terrorist organisations. It was phased out in 2016 </p>

As the euro reaches its 25th anniversary, is it now invincible?

<p>Foreign secretary Douglas Hurd, left, and prime minister John Major, centre, with Jacques Delors at the EC summit in Birmingham, in October 1992</p>

A single-minded visionary… and the UK’s public enemy number one

<p>Billionaire Richard Caring may be smiling, but many other restaurateurs are struggling just to keep their business open </p>

Restaurant owners have too much on their plate

News analysis

<p>Alison Rose left her job as Natwest CEO amid the furore over Nigel Farage having one of his bank accounts closed </p>

Business Comment

Everyone lost in the Coutts bank scandal... except Nigel Farage

<p>Pulsar Fusion began constructing its nuclear fusion rocket in 2023</p>

How nuclear fusion rockets are about to launch a space revolution

<p>Putin delivers a speech as he attends a ceremony for newly-built nuclear submarines at the Sevmash shipyard earlier this month </p>

How to read Putin’s poker face as he bets large on victory in 2024

<p>The aftermath of violent storm on Tuvalu, the likes of which are increasing with climate change </p>

Why Cop28 barely scratches the surface on the cost of climate change

Sport

<p>Coco Gauff, Jude Bellingham, Simone Biles and Karol Itauma</p>

From Bellingham to Biles: 10 sports stars to watch in 2024

<p>Agony and ecstacy: (from left) Rory McIlroy, Johnny Sexton, Rachel Daly, Carlos Alcaraz and Stuart Broad</p>

Olga’s goal and Irish agony: 12 unforgettable moments of sport in 2023

Mary DejevskyExpert on foreign affairs, Russian politics and diplomatic relations between the Kremlin and the west

<p>Margaret Thatcher greets Jacques Delors at the European Single Market conference in London, in 1988 </p>

Was Margaret Thatcher right about Jacques Delors after all?

<p>Members of the UN Security Council hold splinter meetings at the United Nations headquarters</p>

A chaotic week at the UN that proved US diplomacy isn’t what it was

<p> Amnesty International has designated Navalny a prisoner of conscience and called on the Russian authorities to ‘disclose his fate and whereabouts immediately’</p>

The mysterious prison disappearance of Putin’s most powerful opponent

America

<p>Joe Biden speaks in Belfast on 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement</p>

Biden says Brexit deal can bring ‘significant’ US investment to NI

<p>Such leaks remind countries like Russia – as well as US allies – of the sheer scale and reach of Washington’s operations</p>

The diplomatic damage done by the Pentagon leak won’t last long

<p>Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote a tweet attacking ‘weak and woke’ ideology the day she declared her candidacy</p>

Republicans are running on ‘wokeism’ – but don’t know what it is