Departures among those aged 20-29 reached 130,000-140,000 in June 2025, significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels of around 92,000-95,000 in 2018, indicating a clear shift towards earlier migration.
Fusion food has historically had a bit of a bad rap, with overly gimmicky dishes and unnecessary combinations turning diners off. However, when you drill down into what fusion actually is - blending together flavours, ingredients and techniques from different cuisines - it's something that a lot of chefs are doing all the time.
Sam, a 24-year-old from Odisha, sought to study abroad for better job prospects. After filling out forms, he received calls from education agents offering free services to help with university applications.
The spices are merely a vessel for culture, community, storytelling, and politics. The recipes were so fresh, simple, and seasonal. That's not the version of South Asian food that most people know.
Mamak stalls in Malaysia are where everything comes together - after work, after football, where the night ends or carries on. When I look at Morley's in London, I see that same energy and sense of community, which makes this feel bigger than just a collaboration.
Though they were only serving in town for one night, the chefs and staff behind the Mexico City supernova Masala y Maíz managed to cause what felt like a temporary ripple in L.A. dining during their pop-up last week. It reminded this diner that despite the era's current dedication to culinary and cultural boundaries - you should only cook what you know, write what you know - a spirit of mixture and melding can actually lead to something extraordinary, and not cringey, in practice.
There are people that have lived here for 40-plus years and there's never been any issues, and it's just all of a sudden we keep hearing every day about incidents involved with these pro-monarchists and their intimidation, Naghmeh Rajabi, a British-Iranian activist, said.
A new campaign is aiming to collect 50 objects that sum up Englishness in an effort to move the conversation away from reductive arguments over whether to hang a St George's flag or not. Supported by the Green party politician Caroline Lucas, the musician and campaigner Billy Bragg, and Kojo Koram, a law professor, the A Very English Chat campaign hopes to tackle England's growing social divisions and political polarisation.
On average, Brits have 105 sexual encounters per year, equating to roughly two a week. However, their ideal frequency is 144 times a year - about three times a week. The majority of people said they weren't satisfied with the frequency of their sexual activity, with only 22% of women and 26% of men saying they were 'always' satisfied with the amount of sex they were having.
It's nearly 200 years since the birth of a British aristocrat who became the first Muslim member of the House of Lords. But few have heard of Lord Henry Stanley, who "defied convention and his family's wishes" when he converted to Islam in 1859, according to historian Jamie Gilham. Little remains of Stanley's letters and diaries "which is really frustrating but adds to the idea that he was a private man," he said.
Not a day passes without some overt expression of it in our national life. A crime committed by one Muslim becomes an indictment of all Muslims. A cultural practice is wrenched from context and weaponised to provoke anxiety. A theological concept is distorted to imply threat. And on the streets, and increasingly online, it can turn into violence, intimidation or exclusion directed at anyone who looks Muslim.
The museum devoted to the alphabet soup of sexualities has had a revamp of its displays and turned a small museum into a cramped one. It's always been a small space, with one main room and a second, smaller temporary exhibition space, but they've added two more glass cases in the middle of the main room, turning a wide rectangle into a corridor.
Hospitality employs 2.6 million people in the UK, 7.1% of the entire workforce. It generates £69.5 billion in gross value added. It contributes £54 billion in gross tax receipts annually. It is, by any reasonable measure, not a peripheral cottage industry but a cornerstone of the British economy.
The stats speak for themselves. In 2015's 'A List', out of 418 executives, 79 (19 per cent) were women and only eight (2 per cent) were BAME. Shockingly, in the second decade of the 21st century, it is still possible to go to a leading marketing or communications industry event and only see a handful of black or Asian faces in the room.
It's my mom's favorite country, and the house we share is full of treasures from her travels there, from peacock fans and silk scarves, to jewelry boxes carved from mango wood. I grew up in the UK, hearing spellbinding tales of painted elephants and mirrored palaces, and India soon occupied a special place in my imagination. Having got to 42 without making it to the promised land, this summer my chances of going there felt slimmer than ever.
Med Salleh, which has has one Malaysian restaurant in Bayswater and two Vietnamese ones in Westbourne Grove and Earl's Court, has just added a fourth branch in Kentish Town. The newest site is Malaysian-focused, like the original, serving a menu of street food inspired by Med's upbringing in Malaysia, including dishes from his hometown of Kampar as well as flavours from Ipoh and Penang.
There is an art to a proper meat pie, according to the Seattle chef and butcher Kevin Smith. The American pot pie frustrates him because it lets the pot do the heavy lifting. "The real way of doing it, for me, is to make a freestanding pie," Smith says. The pastry should hold itself up, a technique cooks in England have honed over centuries. "That is so much more theatrical."
Britain once ruled over the largest empire in history. For many Britons, it remains a source of pride. Others argue its power was built on a legacy of brutality, colonial conquest and the enslavement of millions. Can Britain reckon with that past and make amends?
Supporters of the Michelin-starred establishment are urging the King, who has championed community links, to protect what they describe as "a living piece of shared cultural history". However, the Crown Estate insists the building requires refurbishment that cannot be done with the restaurant in place. "This is not a decision we've taken lightly," said a Crown Estate spokesman about removing the restaurant from its current premises.
More than 200,000 people living legally in the UK are on the 10-year route to settled status, which requires legal migrants to renew 30-month visas four times at a cost of 3,908.50 including healthcare costs per renewal before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Under proposals by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, if people have used public funds, even in work, the wait would double to 20 years.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
NIQ's exclusive PubTrack solution has published its rankings of British consumers' favourite pub operators in 2025. The lists are based on a range of metrics from last year, including overall satisfaction and value for money, the quality of drinks and service, and intentions to revisit and recommend. The feedback provides accurate insights into guests' engagement with Britain's best-known pub names, helping operators and suppliers understand brand sentiment and benchmark performance against their competitors.
The Big Brine, co-founded by Emma and Clarice, who have backgrounds in events and event catering, will bring together the worlds of food, wellness and sustainability by showcasing the craft and culture behind brining and fermenting.
Khan started Darjeeling Express as a pop-up at Soho pub The Sun & 13 Cantons in 2014 before taking on a permanent site in Kingly Court. She decided not to reopen there post-lockdown and chose instead to move the restaurant to a bigger site in Covent Garden, where she stayed until the summer of 2022. Following another pop-up stint, this time in west London, Khan moved Darjeeling Express back to Kingly Court at the beginning of 2023.
Kolamba showcases Sri Lankan home cooking as it's eaten across the island. Bold spices, deeply layered curries, fragrant rice and freshly made roti, all designed to be shared. Hoppers (also known as appa/appam) are a Sri Lankan staple: thin and lacy at the edges, soft and slightly spongy in the middle, and just as good at breakfast as they are at dinner.
The cult-worthy French-Asian bakery already has branches on Mercer Street in Covent Garden and Duke Street in Marylebone, and will be launching on Shaftesbury Avenue this spring . The bakery combines Parisian patisserie flair with global flavours, stocking the likes of housemade shokupan (Japanese milk bread), sausage and cheese croissants with Japanese bbq sauce, tomato confit pain suisse and miso bacon escargot with spring onions and coriander.
The pavement along Barking Road in Plaistow is a blur through the front windows and deserted, and there are only two customers in the shop. Another sign this one on the counter says CASH ONLY. Card machine companies often tell proprietor Nathan Jacobi that he's missing out by not catering to customers who favour cashless transactions. They're the ones missing out, he says. Cos they ain't getting pie and mash.
