'Being Frank': Ian Rankin's new John Rebus exclusive short story Part 1

Queen Elizabeth II is still not up for participating in her royal duties as she battles COVID-19. The 95-year-old British monarch was diagnosed over the weekend, and has since had to cancel several virtual appearances. On Thursday, Buckingham Palace announced that Her Majesty was once again foregoing two virtual audiences to focus on her health. The Palace shared that the audiences have been moved to a later date as she continues to isolate with COVID. «Her Majesty is continuing with light duties,» the Palace shared in a statement, noting that no other engagements are currently scheduled for this week. ET did learn that the queen spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson by telephone on Wednesday evening.

BBC News).Russian military vehicles are reported to have breached the Ukrainian border in a number of locations, including from neighbouring Belarus, while air strikes on Ukrainian military positions and border posts have been reported.The actions of Putin, who has claimed that Russia does not intend to occupy Ukraine and that his country’s actions amount to a “special military operation”, have drawn widespread condemnation from across the globe.AP reports that while global powers are preparing strong new sanctions against Russia, a co-ordinated military intervention to defend Ukraine is not being considered presently.Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.— President Biden (@POTUS) February 24, 2022US President Joe Biden has pledged “severe” sanctions on Russia, saying in a statement that Ukraine is “suffering an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces” and that “Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering”.This is a catastrophe for our continent.

Stacey Dooley has addressed the "intrusion" faced when her romance with Strictly Come Dancing star Kevin Clifton, with whom she won the series with back in 2018, came to light.MORE: Strictly's Stacey Dooley forced to address Kevin Clifton engagement speculationDuring a Q&A with the Telegraph, the 34-year-old was quizzed about the "worst thing" about her job. "I do love my job, but I suppose what I hadn't anticipated when I became a bit more public-facing was the intrusion into my personal life," she explained.WATCH: Kevin Clifton shares rare glimpse into date night with Stacey Dooley"I hadn't realised there would be such an appetite for it. That, I don’t love.

Roskilde has announced more additions to its 2022 line-up, including The Strokes, Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion and The Smile.Also joining the bill are TLC, Kacey Musgraves, Little Simz, Ashnikko, Rae Sremmurd, Polo G, Jimmy Eat World, Turnstile, Zulu, Lorraine James and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. All 92 new additions have been added to the festival poster – see that further below.The Danish festival returns from June 25-July 2 this year after both its 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.Dua Lipa and Tyler, the Creator were previously announced to headline this year’s edition.

After announcing her retirement from music in 2020 upon the release of her debut album, Muthaland, Brittany Moore had her most prolific year as bbymutha to date in 2021. Her banner year culminated in July's CHERRYTAPE, a four-track EP of razor-sharp bars and boundary-busting beats, the latter courtesy of Moore's long-time collaborator Rock Floyd.

Coronation Street has teased a dramatic spring in Weatherfield with a 'knife-edge showdown' and a life-changing decision for one fan favourite.

Former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is back in the dugout with his first managerial role in three and a half years.

The Andy Warhol Diaries, which charts the late artist’s life, has landed.The six-part Netflix series from executive producer Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story) and director Andrew Rossi uses AI technology to recreate Warhol’s voice to read his own diaries.Warhol’s voice was created using a text-to-speech algorithm that incorporated his Pittsburgh accent. Actor Bill Irwin then recorded the lines, with his performance and the AI digital voice combined to create the voice that you hear in the documentary series.Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Rossi said: “Andy Warhol was famously guarded about his personal thoughts and opinions.

Paul McCartney has shared a new Wordle-style teaser on his Twitter, prompting renewed speculation that he may soon be announcing his headline slot at Glastonbury 2022.The Beatle had been set to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2020 with Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, but that edition was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.With Glastonbury set to return to action in June, speculation about who will join Billie Eilish at the top of the bill has sparked back into life this morning (February 24) after McCartney shared a Wordle-style teaser.The tweet appears to hint that McCartney will be headlining Glastonbury 2022 via the inclusion of the numbers ‘25/6′, which could mean June 25 (Saturday of this year’s event).Wordle 121 25/6

If you have not watched the first nine episodes of Love Is Blind season 2, bookmark this for later or proceed with caution. If every season of has to have a villain, the internet seems to think that this season's is Shaina Hurley. The 32-year-old hair stylist has a connection with both Kyle Abrams and Shayne Jansen in the pods and after she accepts Kyle's proposal (with his mother's engagement ring!) she turns around and tells Shayne she has feelings for him. When Shaina and Kyle try to make things work in Mexico, she quickly decides that their religious differences are too great — she's Christian and he's an atheist — and packs up and leaves.

The Chase viewers couldn't believe it when The Simpsons appeared to take over the popular family game show.

A poorly Falkirk pup missing for eight months sadly had to be put to sleep after being found in a terrible condition - in Paisley.

Council tenants started to move into brand new council houses in Standhill, Bathgate, this week.

Pancake day is just around the corner, meaning it is time to stock up on all your ingredients and favourite toppings - if you haven't already.

Doom” bot is gaining traction for posting every single frame of Doom, though it’s going to be years before the bot reaches the credits.Every hour, the Doomscroll Doom bot posts a single frame from The Ultimate Doom, id Software’s 1995 shooter.Speaking to NME, co-creator Steve Nass said that “once the term [doomscrolling] became popular, it didn’t take long for us to start trying to make some dumb connection between doomscrolling and the famous video game.”“Eventually, we settled on doomscrolling through every frame of Doom (or as we like to call it, DOOMscrolling). It was stupid and made us laugh but also seemed like it might actually help distract people from the endless void of depressing information that Twitter can often be.”doom14984.png pic.twitter.com/FIzqT8EX3H— Doomscroll DOOM Bot (@DoomscrollDOOM) February 23, 2022Nass explained that there are 15,770 frames of Doom to get through, and the bot will take nearly two years to post the game from start to finish.On the purpose of the bot, Nass said the pair “hope it helps people from doomscrolling now and again,” and further says it serves as a “celebration of Doom the game.”“A lot of the frames look really cool, with interesting freeze frames of stuff like Doom Guy mid-plasma blast.

GWAR have announced a new album, graphic novel and UK tour dates, all coming up this summer.New album, ‘The New Dark Ages’, is set for release on 3 Jun and will be accompanied by companion graphic novel, ‘GWAR In The Duoverse Of Absurdity’.“This is the greatest rock record of all time”, says frontman The Berserker Blóthar. “These are the songs for a new age, a New Dark Age, when men live by the dimming light of a technology destined to betray them.

Florence And The Machine are back with new single ‘King’, which ruminates on being a female artist striving for longevity in music but also wanting a family.“As an artist, I never actually thought about my gender that much”, says Florence Welch. “I just got on with it.

Companies representing the estates of Jimi Hendrix Experience members Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell have requested that legal action filed with the courts in New York by the Hendrix estate and Sony Music be dismissed on jurisdiction grounds. That legal action seeks court confirmation that agreements reached between the Hendrix estate and Mitchell and Redding back in the early 1970s are still in force.The UK-based companies representing the Redding and Mitchell estates have filed their own litigation in the English courts, specifically against Sony Music UK.

In the final part of our exclusive serialisation of Ian Rankin’s Being Frank short story, we discover the truth behind a homeless man’s wild conspiracy theroy and the mystery callers to John Rebus' Edinburgh flat. Playing catch up? Find part 1 here and part 2 here. These were the two men Shuffling Frank had been talking about! Of course they were, only Frank had misheard: council of war was Councillor Waugh; Rhodes was roads.