Home

NEW LOUISE PERRY: Feminist analysis of marriage sees it as a method used by men to control female sexuality. And it does do that, but that was never its sole function. There is also a protective function to marriage, but it makes sense only when understood in relation to children. In the era before contraception, a prohibition on sex before marriage served female - not male - interests, because it protected the people who bear (literally) the consequences of an extramarital pregnancy. Single motherhood was a catastrophe, not just in the reputational harm it did, with mothers and their children stigmatised by their families and communities, but disastrous enough to result, for some, in a choice between prostitution and starvation. Or else other alternatives that were just as terrible - a dangerous attempt at abortion, the abandonment of a child to an orphanage, or infanticide. The stigma around single motherhood caused a great deal of misery for its many victims, but it also existed for a reason: to deter women from making an irreparable mistake for the sake of a worthless man, a cad who would desert them after casual sex rather than take on the commitment of being a dad.

Liverpool and Real Madrid are all set to battle it out for the biggest prize in club football when the Champions League final takes place in Paris tonight. Jurgen Klopp's men are the favourites to lift the famous trophy for a seventh time, with Real chasing a 14th crown. The match will be a repeat of the 2018 final in Kyiv, which the Spanish giants won 3-1 in a controversial and bitter showdown. Fans have been soaking up the atmosphere in the French capital prior to the huge clash, with tens of thousands making the hop across the Channel from England to be a part of the showpiece occasion. Follow all the action as it happens with Sportsmail's DAN RIPLEY as we count down to the 8pm kick-off.

Rendezvous,an 85ft superyacht worth £6million which was carrying 8,000 litres of fuel has sunk after it went up in flames at Torquay harbourside in Devon just before midday on Saturday. The flames and smoke caused by the blaze left some people trapped at the far end of the pier, according to one witness, with police confirming the boat drifted from its mooring. Police say no one is reported to have been injured in the fire, which has forced the closure of the harbour and waterfront while crews desperately try to put out the flames. People living nearby are being warned to keep their doors and windows closed to protect themselves from the hazardous fumes.

Dame Deborah James has raised a huge £6.5million for her cancer fundraiser since announcing the start of her end-of-life care. The 40-year-old BBC podcaster has been living with stage four bowel cancer since December 2016, but since her health took a turn in early May, she launched the Bowel Babe fund to continue her legacy. In the three weeks since first sharing her fundraiser on JustGiving, she has smashed her target of £250,000 for Cancer Research UK to reach over £6,570,000 as of Saturday 28 May, with over 302,000 supporters chipping in. She has launched a collection with InTheStyle this week, to raise money for the bowelbabe fund, which has hit more than £6.5 million since she announced she's receiving end-of-life care at her parents' home in Woking. The collection with InTheStyle is available to pre-order until 8am on Monday, with 100 per cent of the profits going to Bowel Babe for Cancer Research UK. Deborah has been living with stage four bowel cancer since she was diagnosed in December 2016 and said designging the collection gave her something to focus on other than her illness. 'From now until I die, I'm wearing a different dress each day. Sounds slightly odd and morbid but I'm enjoying it so much,' she said. In her photos with Prince William when he visited, she wore an InTheStyle number from her collection, ahead of announcing its launch.

Jurors deliberating the dueling defamation trial between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard adjourned yesterday without delivering verdicts, leaving the resolution in the widely watched six-week trial to next week. The seven-person jury deliberated for more than two hours on Friday and will resume discussions on Tuesday after the US Memorial Day holiday. The court heard closing arguments from both sides on Friday afternoon at the courthouse in Virginia with Depp's lawyer asking jurors to give the actor 'his life back' while Heard's lawyer reminded jurors of explicit messages Depp had sent to associates and friends regarding his ex-wife.

Princess Charlene of Monaco has continued her return to public life today as she joined her husband Prince Albert at the F1 in Monte Carlo. The royal, 44, opted for casual cool in a blue tunic dress and and white jeans with towering black heels while Albert, 64, wore an open collar shirt and blue blazer with black shoes. It's the first time the pair have been seen in public together since  French media claimed she is receiving £10million a year to appear by her husband's side at public engagements. While she walked side-by-side with Albert, the pair did not hold hands, with Charlene warmly greeting  drivers Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel with kisses on the cheek.Charlene recently returned to Monaco and was seen last month with her children and husband for the first since November after spending time in treatment facility for 'exhaustion'.

'There is so much guilt right now. My heart goes out to all of the families who are suffering... And now we have 11 funerals to attend,' Mia, who asked that her last name not be used, told the New York Post. Thursday was supposed to be the last day of school for the students at Robb Elementary School. It was also supposed to be a sleepover, her daughter Evalynn was planning with her best friend, Layla Salavar, 10, a victim of the mass shooting. 'I can't eat, couldn't think because of the overwhelming amount of guilt,' said Mia.

Keanna Baxter, 17, (right) said her former friend, who has chosen to remain anonymous, dated gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, (inset) and that his violent mood swings would leave her terrified while a former co-worker at Whataburger Crystal Foutz (left) also said he was aggressive online towards women. She said she avoided Ramos because her friend warned him of his temperament. Ramos slaughtered at least 19 innocent children in the second deadliest school shooting in American history in Uvalde, Texas before being shot dead in a shootout with a border patrol officer. He bought  two AR-15 assault rifles for his 18th birthday days before the shooting, bragged about them on social media and suggested he would commit an atrocity before the deadly attack.

Teenage girls on Yubo reported Salvador Ramos' account to the app on several occasions after he threatened to rape and kill them on livestream calls. He would also threaten to shoot up their schools. A teenage girl from Germany, only identified as Cece, says the shooter warned her on the app that he was going to shoot up Robb Elementary School just 15 minutes before he opened fire. Screenshots of the pair's correspondence, provided by the girl to CNN, reveal they were exchanging messages just after 11:01am CT - less than half hour before the massacre had started. 'Ima tell you [right now] hold on' he wrote at 11:08am. 'Waiting for this b****,' he then sent, referring to his grandmother, Cecilia Gonzalez. Further text messages that were sent revealed that Ramos had been annoyed by his grandmother, who called AT&T to discuss the teen's phone bill. 'I just shot my grandma in her head' he sent minutes later. 'Ima go shoot up a elementary school [right now],' his last sent text read. 'I just saw the news...' Cece responded exactly three hours later. Ramos would frequently message women on the app, sending selfies and pictures of his guns and ammunition before Tuesday's massacre.

Isimemen Etute, 19, was found not guilty of a charge of second-degree murder in the 2021 death of Jerry Smith, 40, of Blacksburg, Virginia, on Friday. The jury deliberated for approximately three hours before returning its verdict around 6.30pm. He was on trial for allegedly beating Smith to death after finding out he was a woman. The two had met to engage in oral sex and Etute thought he was meeting a woman named 'Angie.' After finding out 'Angie' was actually a man, he reportedly punched him five times and kicked to get out of the apartment when he thought Smith was reaching for a gun. Police said Smith had a knife stashed under his mattress, but Smith's defense said he would have been unable to reach it. Smith was suspended from the Virginia Tech team after he was charged with murder.

Prince William was up early this morning to rehearse the Queen's annual birthday parade, Trooping the Colour (left). The Duke of Cambridge (right), 39, looked incredibly smart in his red and blue military uniform, which he teamed with the traditional bearskin hat. On his chest (lower inset) he proudly displayed a myriad of gleaming medals as he went through the practice session, which is known as the Colonel's Review.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos was spotted getting cozy with his girlfriend at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) commencement ceremony. The Amazon founder and TV personality Lauren Sanchez were smiling, laughing and shared a few cheek kisses while attending MIT's graduation festivities on Friday. It is unclear if the pair were at the ceremony in support of a specific Class of 2022 graduate or if they were invited as prominent figures. MIT has served as Bezos and Sanchez's romantic stopping grounds for many years with the pair having reportedly shacked up together during a Parents' Weekend in October 2018. Bezos and the TV personality took to a hotel room together just hours after his then-wife, Mackenzie Scott (not pictured), left town. The Bezos family had allegedly been visiting their son Preston at the university. It's unclear when exactly Bezos and Sanchez first got together, but their affair exposed by the National Enquirer in January 2019. Bezos and Scott were married from 1993 to 2019 and share four children together. They announced their separation back in January 2019 shortly before the billionaire's affair with Sanchez was exposed.

A federal judge sentenced Vyvianna Quinonez (left) to 15 months in federal prison on Tuesday for the May 2021 attack on a flight attendant identified only as S.L. (inset) Quinonez was on a May 23, 2021 Southwest Airlines flight when S.L asked her to buckle her seatbelt, stow her tray table and wear her mask during the descent. Quinonez began recording the attendant on her cellphone, pushed her, then stood up and punched the woman in the face and grabbed her hair. (right) The assault was recorded on another passenger's cellphone. According to the plea agreement, the flight attendant suffered three chipped teeth, 2 of which needed crowns, along with bruises and a cut under her left eye. So far in 2022, there have been 1,419 reports of undisciplined passengers, with 1.6 incidents per 10,000 flights for the week ending on May 15.

Ukraine has admitted it may have to retreat from its last post in the Luhansk region (main) as Russian forces continue their relentless march. Putin's forces - now into their fourth month of the invasion - have concentrated on the east of the country in recent weeks (top right). Ukrainian soldiers leaving Luhansk will be a blow to the country, due to its symbolic significance in the war. This morning Boris Johnson offered fresh support to Ukrainian President Zelensky. Zelensky said they spoke on the phone about 'strengthening defence support for Ukraine, intensifying work on security guarantees and supplying fuel'. He added: 'We must work together to prevent a food crisis and unblock Ukrainian ports.'

NEW In reality, Sir David Stirling was a man of limited capacity with a troubling, error-strewn history - despite being lauded as a military genius by a nation looking for its own Rommel. Stirling was described as 'the newest terror of the desert' who, 'towering 6ft 4in, is as lithe as a panther, a former boxing champion, one of the finest horsemen in the Army'. He was fluent in German, capable of fooling his way through enemy checkpoints and was, they claimed, a veritable 'Robin Hood in battledress'.

Wrexham Football Club owners and Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney watched as the team narrowly lost against Grimsby in a nail-biting National League play-off. Both actors were pictured cheering from Wrexham's The Racehorse Ground as the Dragon scored four goals this afternoon. The game proved to be neck-on-neck and went into extra time, with a score of 5-4 to Grimsby. Last week, Reynolds and McElhinney watched the team narrowly lose to Bexley at the FA Vase Cup in Wembley, with pals David Beckham and actor Will Ferrell in tow.

Zara Tindall proved she was the queen of casual cool today as she sported sunglass and jeans at Houghton International Horse Trials in King's Lynn, Norfolk. The Queen's granddaughter, 41, who is  an accomplished equestrian and Olympian sported a navy jacket and matching cap  as she chatted to friends.     Proving her prowess for all his equestrian, the mother-of-three was seen checking the show jumping course after competing in the dressage event. Zara, who is married to former England rugby international Mike, was smartly dressed as she rode her horse, Class Affair.

Car finance platform CarFinance 247 has shared a new puzzle to test your observation skills and highway code. This seek-and-find challenge will take your for spin as it teaches you the perils of lazy driving - drivers slipping into bad habits of not using their indicators. This is not an easy challenge and will test the most experienced puzzlers - so, do you have what it takes?

Demogorgons, Green Goblins and Marvel heroes have  descended on London for MCM Comic Con 2020. Thousands of enthusiasts, dressed as characters from comics, films, cartoons and computer games, came together at the ExCel Centre in east London for the first of a two-day Comic Con Spring event.  Celebrity guests at the event include The Umbrella Academy's Robert Sheehan, Doctor Who's Tracy-Ann Oberman and drag star Tia Kofi who will all strike up poses with fans dressed in their best character costumes.

Elizabeth Olsen had some fun in the sun her husband Robbie Arnett during a getaway to Porto Ercole, Italy on Saturday. The 33-year-old performer and her spouse, 30, packed on the PDA during their time in the sun, as they shared several kisses before taking a closer look at their surroundings. The happy couple tied the knot at an unspecified date in the recent past, and the actress revealed that she had become married during an interview that took place last July.

A team of divers had freed the 30-tonne whale from its earlier plight after it was spotted by a ship about three miles off the coast of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands east of Spain a week ago. It swam away expelling air from its blowhole, but was then found stranded on a beach in the Valencian town of Tavernes de la Valldigna on Spain's mainland on Thursday. Specialists from the Oceanography Foundation who examined the whale said it was extremely weak and had several cuts to its dorsal fin. They decided the massive animal would not survive a return to the sea and it died soon afterwards. Nicknamed 'Walls of Death' because of the amount of other sea life they catch in addition to the fish they are set for, drift nets were banned by the United Nations 30 years ago.

Iran has revealed it has a massive underground military base brimming with missile-firing drones in a secret bunker beneath a mountain range. With concrete tunnels and military officials using buggies to get around, it looks like a James Bond supervillain's lair - and it has its very own array of deadly weapons to fit the bill. The Iranian army gave some details, but not the exact location, of its secret underground base amid simmering tensions in the Gulf. State TV said 100 drones were being kept in the heart of the Zagros mountains, including Ababil-5, which it said were fitted with Qaem-9 missiles, an Iranian-made version of air-to-surface US Hellfire. One reason Iran might be keeping the drones hidden is to prevent the country's enemies from destroying its huge fleet. 'No doubt the drones of Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces are the region's most powerful,' army commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said. 'Our capability to upgrade drones is unstoppable.' An Iranian state TV correspondent said he was made to wear a blindfold on the 45-minute helicopter flight from Kermanshah in western Iran to a secret underground drone site.  He was allowed to take blindfolds off only upon arrival at the base, he said.

Lookalike Steve Halliday (with the guitar he plays left), 51, got down on one knee on stage at Blackpool during a rendition of If I Can Dream in 2019 to ask Cassandra Fisher (in the same kind of dress Pricilla wore), 33, who works part-time as Priscilla, to marry him. The 33-year-old was 'gobsmacked' (right nose to nose with her Elvis) and could only manage a nod which Steve - who almost lost the ring on stage - told the audience he was taking that as a 'yes'. This was the same stage in the town's Winter Gardens where he first spotted her in the midst of 2,000 people while performing his Elvis Presley tribute act in 2018. Their burning love (inset, the couple) will be on show when they tie the knot on July 29 in Cheshire, dressed as themselves. The newlyweds will then head in costume (Steve's suit with bowtie resembles the King's wedding suit) to Las Vegas - where the real Elvis and Priscilla married in 1967 - to have their union blessed.

A 17th century converted mill in Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire, could be yours for £3.5million - if you don't mind the River Misbourne flowing through the middle of your home. The aptly-named 'Mill House' includes seven bedrooms, four bathrooms and over two acres of private land. The old watermill house lies in the heart of the Misbourne Valley. Little Missenden is well-known as a picture postcard filming location. It has appeared in numerous episodes of TV series Midsomer Murders, as well as Disney's 2021 film Cruella De Ville. The property is marketed by Fine and Country, who are accepting offers in excess of £3.5 million.

Juan Vicente Mora (pictured) reached the milestone on Friday, May 27, less than two weeks after he was officially declared the oldest male in the world by Guinness World Records. Mora, who has an incredible 41 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren says the secret to his longevity is due to local alcoholic drink. He said he starts every day with a cup of coffee, while also drinking a glass of aguardiente, which is a liquor made from sugarcane. The booze - which translates into English as firewater - has a minimum of 29 per cent alcohol and some brews go up to 60 per cent. Mora, who is the first known male supercentenarian from Venezuela, gave the advice to 'work hard, rest on holidays, go to bed early, drink a glass of aguardiente every day, love God and always carry him in your heart'.

Raymond Wortley, 75, of Crowland, Lincolnshire, accepted and stored waste illegally at his home without a permit. While some of the waste was burned, he also left his gate open which allowed flytippers to deposit other waste on his site. Waste including, tree cuttings, plastics, treated wood and construction waste was kept on land at Wortley's home between October 23, 2019 and June 2, 2021. Officers visited the site in October 2019 after reports of material being burnt at the site. Smoke from the fire was so thick that the officers were unable to see each other.

Nicole? Papa! ... Two words that still conjure up images of a suave Frenchman, his daughter (inset, together) and a Renault Clio nipping through the countryside. Now, 30 years after the popular series of car commercials first aired on British TV, they are making a comeback - but with a difference. A real-life father and daughter, Nicole (yes, that really is her name) and David McNally, take the lead in a new advert that swaps the romanticism of rural France for residential London (left and right).

A special expedition-ready version of its new D-Max Arctic Trucks AT35 has been created by Isuzu's UK team and codenamed Basecamp. It is based around the standard AT35 which went on sale this month from £47,999. It includes: a rooftop tent, fridge, three-burner gas stove, 12-litre collapsible sink, luggage space, safe storage for a gas bottle, water and fuel containers.

Carlos Sanchez Jr., 24, (right) 'forcefully' took an woman's keys as she was handing out food to the homeless at Stater Bros Markets around 3.30pm on E Colton Avenue. The Nina Steinman, 81, attempted to stop Sanchez from carjacking her by holding onto the driver's side door, but the thief backed out the space, dragging her (left). Three young men attempted to chase down the car, but were unsuccessful. The woman was unharmed and LAPD and Redlands PD later arrested Sanchez. He is currently being held at the West Valley Detention Center on a $250,000 bond and has been charged with carjacking and elder abuse.

The Queen has never had to worry about the more irksome travel problems faced by the rest of us. No flight or train was ever going to leave without her. Her luggage has never ended up in Miami when it was supposed to be in Manchester. However, on the debit side, she has never been able to go anywhere on a whim; or to tear up her plans at the last minute and head for the beach. As for blending in with the locals, forget it. However, one thing has always been true. When the Queen has been somewhere, her hosts have always wanted to show her the very best of what they have to offer. So, says Robert Hardman, as we mark the Platinum Jubilee of the most widely-travelled head of state on Earth, let's celebrate all the places she has been to along the way.