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‘A sparkle that extends beyond fiction’: readers on what Jilly Cooper meant to them | Jilly Cooper

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‘An absolute delight’I was the manager of Books Etc in Oxford Street, where Jilly Cooper’s novel Polo was launched in 1991, with polo-dressed senior publishers posing in the window. Jilly visited our shop several times for signings and she was our favourite author visitor. She always spoke to all the staff, brought a gift for staff with her and always wrote us a note of thanks afterwards. Lovely with customers and just an absolute delight. Judith Denwood, retired bookseller, Hastings ‘A week later, a gorgeous wooden postcard arrived’Jilly Cooper’s postcard to Kitty. Photograph: Guardian CommunityI read Riders in the summer…

Sora’s first week on iOS in the US was nearly as big as ChatGPT’s

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After OpenAI’s video-generating app Sora surged to the No. 1 position on the U.S. App Store, it has now, technically, experienced a bigger first week than ChatGPT on iOS, according to new data from app intelligence provider Appfigures. Its estimates show that Sora saw 627,000 iOS downloads in its first seven days of availability, compared with ChatGPT’s 606,000 iOS downloads during its first week. This isn’t the fairest comparison, however, because ChatGPT was available only in the U.S. during its first week, while Sora is currently offered in the U.S. and Canada at launch. Still, Appfigures says that Canada contributed…

World Cup qualifiers: Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill would swap milestone for points in ‘heartbeat’

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Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill says he would swap his upcoming personal landmark for World Cup qualifying points "in a heartbeat". O'Neill will take charge of his 99th and 100th games as Northern Ireland manager against Slovakia and Germany at Windsor Park over the next five days. Hosting the four-time world champions - who won last month's fixture 3-1 in Cologne - in Belfast will be a glamorous way to mark his century, but O'Neill insists he is only interested in results as his team push to reach next year's finals. "It's a nice personal thing for me, but I…

Air traffic control shortages add to U.S. flight delays

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The Hollywood Burbank Airport air traffic control tower stands in Burbank, California, on Oct. 6, 2025.Mario Tama | Getty ImagesA shortage of air traffic controllers could delay more flights, the Federal Aviation Administration warned on Wednesday, as concerns grow about the effect of the government shutdown on U.S. aviation.About 10,000 flights were delayed on Monday and Tuesday, though disruptions dropped on Wednesday to just more than 1,900. A shortfall of already-thin air traffic control staffing this week had prompted the FAA to slow or halt arrivals in Burbank, California, and Nashville, Tennessee, among others.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Monday that…

Run Windows Apps on Linux with Seamless Integration

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How does it compare to WinApps? With WinApps you do the bulk of the setup manually, and there's no cohesive interface to bring it all together. There's a basic TUI, a taskbar widget, and some CLI commands for you to play with.WinBoat does all the setup once you have the pre-requisites installed, displays everything worth seeing in a neat interface for you, and acts like a complete experience. No need to mess with configuration files, no need to memorize a dozen CLI commands, it just works. What are the advantages of using this over CrossOver or WINE? You can run…

WATCH: Federal workers ‘should’ get back pay after shutdown, Johnson affirms

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House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that furloughed federal workers “should be” paid back once the U.S. government reopens. Watch the clip in the video player above. “It has always been the case, that is tradition and I think it is statutory law, that federal employees be paid. And that’s my position. I think they should be,” Johnson told PBS News Hour’s Lisa Desjardins in a news conference. “They should not be subjected to harm and financial dire straits because Chuck Schumer wants to play political games.” WATCH: ‘Do your damn job,’ federal worker union leaders tell Congress mired in…

Ruben Amorim: Manchester United boss needs three years to prove himself a ‘great’ coach, says co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe

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Last month, United announced they had cut losses from £113.2m to £33m for the year to June 2025. This followed two rounds of redundancies, during which more than 400 people lost their jobs, including many long-term staff members. Scouting is among the areas where numbers have been slashed.Ratcliffe has been criticised for the job losses and also scrapping long-standing perks such as free lunches for staff."The costs were just too high," he said. "There are some fantastic people at Manchester United but there was also a level of mediocrity and it had become bloated. "I got a lot of flak…

The Life of a Showgirl is a massive hit – and massively divisive. What should Taylor Swift do next? | Taylor Swift

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Laura Snapes Taylor Swift’s 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl (TLOAS), has been a smash statistical success. She’s broken records that she previously set, and in the US has now beaten Adele for the most sales in a single week. The cinematic release party this weekend grossed $34m in the US and an additional $13m worldwide. But it’s second only to her 20-year-old debut – written in her teens – as the worst reviewed album of her catalogue, with a 70% approval average on Metacritic. What are the successes and failures of this record?Alexis Petridis The success part is…

Amazon Pharmacy is launching vending machines for prescription drugs

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Amazon announced on Wednesday that it’s debuting prescription vending machines at its One Medical clinics. The new in-office kiosks, which are operated by Amazon Pharmacy, let patients pick up their prescriptions immediately after their appointment. Amazon Pharmacy Kiosks will be available at One Medical locations in Los Angeles starting in December, and Amazon plans to expand to more locations soon after. After a provider writes a prescription, patients can choose to have it sent to Amazon Pharmacy for in-office kiosk pickup. Patients then use their phone to check out in the Amazon app, after which medications are typically “ready in minutes,” Amazon…

Financial help offered to tennis players involved in doping investigations by ITIA

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The Professional Tennis Players' Association, which was co-founded by Djokovic to increase player power, introduced a scheme in January which offers free support from two prominent law firms.The number of legal hours provided is limited, and there will be restraints too on what the ITIA will be able to offer.There is already pro-bono legal support offered to players who test positive by Sport Resolutions - an independent dispute resolution company.This will now be open to players from the moment they test positive, rather than when they are charged, but long-term support is dependent on finding lawyers who are prepared to…