Homeowners’ hell under Labour | Ranked: The best Christmas songs
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| Saturday, 13 December 2025 | Issue No. 293 | |
| | | Good morning.
As the King revealed the good news that he will be scaling back his cancer treatment, Hannah Furness, our Royal Editor, looks back on how his diagnosis has changed him. In a few short years, the monarch has gone from untouchable “quasi-deity” in the public imagination to almost one of us, changing the Crown forever.
Elsewhere, it took Oliver Brown, our Chief Sports Writer, a year to persuade Laura Woods to speak with him. He has called the resulting interview one of the most memorable of his career. Woods, the TV presenter, speaks movingly about her miscarriage, receiving monstrous social media abuse and the trauma of being stalked. Chris Evans, Editor | |
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We believe in freedom. Free press. Free speech. Free markets. If you share these values, join us today. | | King Charles visits the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre |  | Hannah Furness Royal Editor | In just a few years, the King has gone from an untouchable figure in the public imagination to something closer to one of us.
Since his cancer diagnosis nearly two years ago, and with His Majesty now revealing he will scale back treatment thanks to early detection, he has become more human than any monarch before him, and in doing so has changed the Crown forever.
Continue reading ➤
Telegraph view: A cautious note of good cheer for His Majesty ➤ |  | Oliver Brown Chief Sports Writer | Certain interviews have stayed with me long after the tape recording has stopped. Speaking to a dying Seve Ballesteros, for example, as he cried about leaving his son Javier behind. Or watching Gary Lineker hurl himself into deep waters with his views on the war in Gaza a week before being forced out by the BBC.
A conversation with Laura Woods proves every bit as memorable. Having finally agreed to speak, after 16 months of persuasion, she unburdens herself with a candour almost unheard of from a front-line broadcaster, let alone a 38-year-old widely acclaimed as the country’s most versatile sports presenter.  | Woods became the unwitting target of monstrous abuse after endorsing an article I had written about the scandal of two boxers with male chromosomes winning gold medals in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics. She has not felt ready to talk in depth about her views on the subject until now.
Woods talks candidly about everything from her experience with stalkers to bomb threats at Talksport headquarters to the now-jailed female Liverpool fan who would deliver STI testing kits to her home, and also speaks movingly about her miscarriage. Read the full interview here ➤ | | To the Grinches out there, Christmas pop is an annual scourge and the uncouth younger sibling of the traditional carol. For the rest of us, the cockle-warming power of Jona Lewie’s Stop the Cavalry or Fairytale of New York by The Pogues provides an irresistible invitation to get into the yuletide spirit.
Whether you prefer your festive tunes with a country lilt, a touch of jazz or a dash of soul, there’s something for you in our ranking of the best Christmas songs ever recorded.
It makes the perfect party playlist – but which track is top of the tree?
Find out here ➤ | | Charles Moore The National Security Strategy says much that is true about Europe, but is silent on the existential threat the West faces from Russia Continue reading ➤ Camilla Tominey The twelve lies of Keir Starmer Continue reading ➤ William Sitwell I’ve just opened my first restaurant. Rachel Reeves has made it hell Continue reading ➤ | Sharpen your talking points. Explore incisive opinion from Britain’s leading comment writers. | | During his first week in office, Sir Mark Rowley faced the first calls for his resignation – and things haven’t got any easier. Despite criticism from all sides, the Met Police Commissioner tells Charles Hymas that he has improved the force. He also takes aim at retailers, who he says are not doing enough to help police catch shoplifters. Continue reading ➤ | | | With her announcement of a mansion tax, Rachel Reeves believed she had forced the wealthy to “pay their fair share”. The reality is that the owners of expensive houses are already squeezed by the taxman from many directions. We’ve calculated that over 30 years, the buyer of a £2m home will pay the same amount again in stamp and death duties, council tax and VAT on building work – all out of income that has already been taxed. A mansion tax comes on top of this heavy financial burden. Continue reading ➤ | | | Nobody knows fashion like Lisa Armstrong. Here The Telegraph’s Head of Fashion reveals the items good enough to make her Christmas list – from a London handbag brand that rivals Hermes quality, to “chic shipwreck” pearls and the wool wrap that evokes Gwyneth Paltrow. Continue reading ➤ | | | Robots programmed to groom children, and mobs rioting in the streets against the automatons that have taken their jobs. This science-fiction-style dystopia is what may await Europe in 2035, according to researchers from the EU’s police agency. In an extraordinary 48-page report about the impact of robots and drones on law enforcement, published this week, Europol has outlined a series of “plausible future scenarios” that could have been lifted from the pages of an Isaac Asimov novel. Continue reading ➤ | | | We glide through 120 million kilograms of spread each year, but many are full of salt and calories, while the lighter versions are often packed with ultra-processed ingredients. From Anchor and Lurpak to Benecol and Bertolli, our nutritionist ranks the best buttery spreads for your health. Read more here ➤ Below are two more articles that I hope will be useful this weekend: | Andrew Baker’s Saturday Quiz |
Gather round for the latest instalment of my Saturday quiz.
You can find the answers at the end of the newsletter. - Both Christopher Plummer (in 1929) and Dick van Dyke (in 1925) were born on this day. They also have a great musical co-star in common. Who?
- What facial adornment is named after the Flemish painter Sir Anthony van Dyck?
- Flemish is a variant of Dutch, one of the three official languages of Belgium. What are the other two?
- Who is the current head of state of Germany?
- How many bones are there in a normal human head?
| | Easy wins ahead of the Christmas chaos | Big toast with roast tomatoes, jammy eggs, mayo and hot sauce |  | Eleanor Steafel Feature writer and recipe columnist | This is probably the final weekend before the Christmas madness really sets in. Soon, the kitchen will fill up with treats, and prep for the big day will take up every inch of surface space. So, before then, let’s enjoy a couple of days of easy, delicious cooking. Where better to begin than with Diana Henry’s Big Toast, with roasted tomatoes, jammy eggs, mayo and hot sauce. | Indian-spiced chicken and potato traybake | Then let’s think about tonight’s dinner. A traybake, perhaps? Nigella has a lovely one with Indian-spiced chicken thighs, cubed potatoes and lime-pickled onions. Or how about an oven-baked gnocchi, with pumpkin, pancetta and chestnuts? | Basic clear chicken stock and creamy chicken soup recipe | If you wanted to do a bit of light getting-ahead, it might be worth roasting a chicken tomorrow and making stock from the bones so that you have some in the freezer for Christmas gravy. Here is a simple stock recipe if you need one. You could even make extra veg and freeze it to add to the Boxing Day bubble and squeak. Speaking of which, Mark Hix’s recipe for gammon steaks and bubble would make a lovely Sunday dinner.
Happy cooking, and see you next Saturday!
Eleanor writes a weekly Recipes newsletter every Friday. Sign up here. | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was BOUNTIFUL. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. Please send me your thoughts on this newsletter. You can email me here. | Quiz answers: - Julie Andrews
- Beard
- French and German
- Frank-Walter Steinmeier
- 22
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