Progressive: Last News

The Scottish Government is urging people to check that the tax code on their first payslip after April 6 is correct, as we are now in the new 2023/24 financial year. Changes to income tax have now come into force that are estimated to raise more than half a billion pounds of additional revenue to support vital public services across the country.

A 'selfless' woman who spent four years desperately fighting for an explanation for her constant bouts of sickness now has just days to live after marrying her partner.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic Even among many who’ve grasped the scientific evidence, or experienced escalating weather extremes, climate change remains an abstraction for most — something too large and vague to trigger urgent emotional response. Not so the fictive activists in “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” inspired by Andreas Malm’s nonfiction tome of the same name. Though diverse in background and motivations, the eight individuals here drawn together to attack an oil conduit in Texas share a sense that the planetary environmental crisis is immediate, and the time for gently chiding protests past.  Whether their actions constitute “eco-terrorism” and whether violence of any kind is ever justifiable in the service of progress are questions Daniel Goldhaber’s sophomore feature duly grapples with. Still, its degree of moral self-examination is unlikely to appease climate deniers, who’ll likely decry the film (if they notice it at all) as a recruitment poster for aspiring saboteurs. It’s more nuanced than that, but this strong, straightforward drama-cum-thriller about a divisive topic will nonetheless primarily appeal to viewers on the left side of the political dial. Neon is releasing to U.S. theaters on April 7.

Todd Gilchrist editor SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains light spoilers from the first two episodes of Season 3 of FX’s “Dave,” which premiered on FXX on April 5, and is streaming on Hulu. In Season 3 of “Dave,” the rapper known as Lil Dicky is looking for love, probably in exactly the wrong place: on tour. Liberated from the writer’s block that plagued him throughout Season 2, Dave Burd has gathered his friends and collaborators in a suitably obnoxious pink bus for a nationwide tour — and brought all of his shortcomings and neuroses along for the ride. Series co-creator and “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” alum Jeff Schaffer spoke to Variety the show’s two-episode premiere “Texas” and “Harrison Ave,” about where Dave is headed this season after the “weighted blanket” of recording an album was finally lifted, the mechanics of humiliation in a show about a rapper who talks incessantly about his genitals, and the overall series trajectory as Burd grows older — but not always wiser.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Ray Shulman, a multi-instrumentalist known for his work with the progressive-rock band Gentle Giant and later a successful producer for the Sundays, Bjork’s early band the Sugarcubes, and many others, died on March 30. He was 73. The news was announced by his brother and Gentle Giant bandmate Derek, who wrote in a statement: “I am deeply saddened to announce that my younger brother and my best friend Ray Shulman passed away on March 30th at his home in London. I was with him until the end as he bravely battled a long illness. At least I know he is now at peace. “Ray really was a genius in so many ways. He was an incredible composer, musician, music producer and tech wizard. Together with myself and my elder brother Philip he was a founding member of Simon Dupree & The Big Sound and subsequently Gentle Giant. He went on to produce artists like the Sundays, the Sugarcubes, Ian McCulloch and many more. More recently he devoted his tech and musical expertise in authoring and remixing other artists like Jethro Tull, Genesis, King Crimson and many more.”

In her role as Princess of Wales, and formerly the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton is expected to look both "contemporary" and "timeless" says royal expert Tessa Dunlop. Speaking to OK!, Tessa has discussed how Kate maintains her fashionable and chic look, and although she may have been accused of "dressing older" in the past, she now looks every inch a queen-in-waiting. Describing Kate's fashionable looks Tessa told us: "She used to dress old for her age and now everyone thinks she’s really chic but she hasn't changed her style that much, it’s timeless, its consistency, and that’s trying to be a queen." She continued: "Monarchy is an institution that really upholds tradition, that's the great contradiction of it.

A woman attacked a fellow mum with a dog lead wrapped around her hand while she was picking up her child from school, a court heard.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that the Support for Mortgage Interest loan scheme has been extended to a further 200,000 people claiming Universal Credit in a measure aimed at helping more households with the cost of living. Claimants will be able to access help towards mortgage interest, certain home improvements or repairs worth up to £200,000.

Here are your Wednesday morning Manchester United headlines.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The WGA and Hollywood’s major employers are set to resume contract talks on Wednesday as the sides aim to make progress in sorting through complicated compensation issues and averting a strike. Negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are expected to sit down again in person Wednesday morning at AMPTP headquarters in Sherman Oaks. The WGA had planned to take a two-week break after March 31 to begin the process of a strike authorization vote, with talks tabbed to resume the week of April 17. The guild’s current three-year contract expires on May 1. A rep for the AMPTP declined comment. The WGA did not immedately respond to a request for comment.

Jesse Spencer returns to NBC’s on Wednesday night as Matt Casey, the firefighter with a huge heart who thankfully can’t seem to stay away since moving to Portland.

After an unbeaten February during which Manchester United knocked Barcelona out of the Europa League and won the Carabao Cup, March was not so much a complete fall from grace as more of a general realisation that Erik ten Hag's Old Trafford project is still a work in progress.

She’s out. Kaya Stewart quit American Idol abruptly on Monday, April 3.

Legendary star Raquel Welch sadly passed away at the age of 82 back in February.

A Stewartry school will continue to be mothballed for another two years.

Adding fuel to the fire! Amanda Batula weighed in on Lindsay Hubbard and Danielle Olivera’s friendship drama — and got real about their unhealthy dynamic.

Superintendent Chris Foster is a busy man. As Greater Manchester Police’s lead for burglary his work feeds into the new neighbourhood model. That model - said to be the biggest change in a generation - will see 264 police officers posted to neighbourhood teams in the hope of better tackling crimes like burglary, drug dealing and car theft.

Molly-Mae Hague has shared how Tommy Fury spent his morning eagerly awaiting for their local Tesco store to open after their baby girl kept them awake all night. The loved-up couple became first-time parents back in January when Molly-Mae gave birth to their baby daughter.

A man has been arrested and charged over an alleged assault inside Hampden Stadium.

Meghan Markle. The 41-year-old Duchess of Sussex has been announced as one of the honorees for the 2023 Women of Vison Award.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Al Franken spent nine years as a U.S. Senator from Minnesota, and it all finally paid off in recent weeks when he logged a stint as a guest host on “The Daily Show.” Franken turned in some robust impressions of Charles Schumer, Mitch McConnell and Susan Collins during one sketch on the Comedy Central program that suggested he was taking some pretty interesting notes when he served in that chamber. “I didn’t give them a heads up,” Franken says in a recent interview, after his run. “I served wth those people. Some I could do. I’m not one othose impressionists who can do everyone. I do who I can do.” While Franken is one of a number of noted hosts who have helped the show keep spinning after the depature last year of Trevor Noah, you might say he has been training for such an appearance for much of his professional life. Franken made some famous appearances on the long-running “Weekend Update” segment of “Saturday Night Live,” and, after a few stints on the show as a writer and performer, tried his hand at other exploits. He led comedic coverage of the the run-up to the 1992 presidential election for Comedy Central, presaging efforts to do so by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. He later became a progressive radio host for Air America. In recent months, he has been doing a comedy tour around the nation.