Byelection candidate accused of indulging ‘alt right fantasy’ by suggesting women need ‘biological reality’ check

A playcentre group has said it will test out a ban on parents using their phones during half term to encourage them to

Racist and religious hate crimes have increased slightly in the last year but are down 17% on two years ago

* Briton triumphs by nearly a second in Milano Cortina * First British man to win individual winter gold since 1980 And on the seventh day, Great Britain finally won their first medal of the Olympics. At nine o’clock on Friday night Matt Weston, the man his teammates call “Captain 110%”, won the gold in the men’s skeleton after four faultless races across the two days of competition. The 28-year-old broke the track record at the Cortina Sliding Centre four times in the space of four races, and won in a final combined time of 3min 43.33sec, almost a full second ahead of the runner-up, Germany’s Axel Jungk. Weston is the first British man ever to win the Olympic skeleton title. And he did it all despite starting the year with a four-inch tear in his right quad that meant he had to miss pre-season training. Continue reading...

Two British men are among three skiers who died after an avalanche struck the Val d'Isere ski resort in the French Alps, local officials have said.