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She scandalised the art world in the 1990s with her unmade bed, partied hard in the 2000s – then a brush with death turned the artist’s life upside down. Now she’s as frank as ever
There is a long buildup before I get to see Tracey Emin – her two cats, Teacup and Pancake, preceding her like a pair of slinky sentries as she walks into the white-painted basement kitchen of her huge Georgian house in Margate. The lengthy overture is because – though I’ve been invited for noon – Emin is a magnificently late riser. Her average working day, her studio manager Harry tells me, runs from about 6pm to 3am. And so, while the artist is gradually sorting herself out, Harry takes me on a tour through her home town in the January drizzle, the sea a sulky grey blur beyond the sands.
At last, Harry is ringing the doorbell, and Emin’s lovely housekeeper, Sam, is sitting me down in the kitchen, then finally here she is, dressed in loose dark trousers and top, with those faithful cats. Emin is recognisably the same as she’s ever been – the artist who scandalised and entranced the nation in the 1990s with her tent embroidered with the names of everyone she’d ever slept with; with her unmade bed and its rumpled sheets and detritus. She still has that sardonic lip, those arched brows, those flashing eyes. But these days she is surprisingly calm, slow moving, her greying hair swept back into a loose bun. This is the Emin who has worked hard, survived a great deal and, somewhat unpredictably, ended up a national treasure.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 06:00:46 GMT
Line handily sums up people’s bewilderment at state of world, but it isn’t quite what the Marxist thinker wrote
At a time when geopolitical certainties of old are crumbling away, it has become the go-to quote to make sense of the current moment in all its seeming senselessness. “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters” is a line attributed to the former Italian Communist party leader Antonio Gramsci.
Over the last two months alone, it has been quoted – and often mangled – by a rightwing Belgian prime minister, a leftwing British political leader, an Irish central banker and in the title of the most recent BBC Reith lecture, given by the author Rutger Bregman.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 08:00:47 GMT
Universities, builders and health trusts are feeling the squeeze, as thinktank says effect of zero net migration could be similar to Brexit
When Greenwich and Kent universities said this month they would merge to save money, the heart of their financial difficulties could be found in the UK government’s crackdown on immigration.
Tough restrictions on foreign students have sent the number of university applications from abroad plummeting, cutting lucrative tuition fees and leaving all universities facing the same squeeze.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 11:00:52 GMT
Five women on both sides of the Atlantic reveal what it’s like trying to find a partner in your 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s
Stella Ralfini, 78-year-old beauty writer, London (pictured above)
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:00:53 GMT
As calls for the former prince to cooperate with investigation become deafening, this may be the reckoning Andrew cannot escape
Gordon Brown is a man who gets into the detail.
In office, and since then, he has applied his forensic mind to the matters that concern him. Lately, he has been focused on the Epstein files.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 06:00:48 GMT
A family struggled to rebuild their lives after an abusive marriage ended in tragedy and financial ruin
Family life ended for Francesca Onody on a late summer evening in 2022 when her abusive husband doused their cottage with petrol as police arrived to arrest him. She and her children escaped seconds before the building exploded. Her husband Malcolm Baker died in the blaze.
That night, Onody lost her husband, her home, her pets and her possessions.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 07:00:46 GMT
Former opposition leader’s death while in Arctic jail at age of 47 result of mixture of diseases, according to Moscow
The Foreign Office has blamed the Russian state for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which it said was the result of poisoning from a dart frog toxin.
The frog poison – called epibatidine – is said to have been used when Navalny, 47, died suddenly on 16 February 2024.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 13:05:58 GMT
Ukrainian president says ‘our unity is the best interceptor against Russia’s aggressive plans’
Rubio insists that the US “do not seek to separate, but to revitalise an old friendship.”
He says “we do not want allies to rationalise the broken status quo rather than reckon with what is necessary to fix it.”
“We do not want our allies to be weak, because that makes us weaker.
We want allies who can defend themselves, so that no adversary will ever be tempted to test our collective strength. This is why we do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 13:13:20 GMT
Senior policing source says ‘tsunami’ of claims expected after US release of papers relating to disgraced financier
British police have set up a new national group to deal with allegations that Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking of women had ties to Britain, as well as claims against his associates, such as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
At least three British police forces are dealing with allegations triggered by the revelations about Epstein and his associates in documents released in the US, with more claims of wrongdoing expected by police officials.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 13:10:56 GMT
Huda Ammori calls for proscription to be lifted after high court finds it to be very serious interference with protest rights
The co-founder of Palestine Action has said the ban on the group “massively backfired” and called for its proscription to be suspended after the high court found it to be unlawful.
Three senior judges ruled on Friday that the ban was disproportionate and constituted very serious interference with the rights to protest and free speech.
Continue reading...Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:04:41 GMT
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