Baked cheesy smoked haddock and lemon icebox pudding: Henry Harris’ alternative Easter lunch

Sometimes all you want is a hot, bubbling dish and a spoon, and for me today’s cheesy haddock is that dish – a 15-minute supper to be enjoyed in front of the telly with a salad or a large bowl of hot buttered peas. Add a lemony, biscuity iced dessert, and you have a light, very easy and enjoyable supper that’s almost the perfect close to a long Easter weekend.Choose your smoked haddock carefully: you want large, thick fillets of undyed fish. Stating the obvious, here, but a good fishmonger will have this; a supermarket never. The creme fraiche must be a French, naturally soured cream, too, becausethe cheaper English versions coagulate when heat is applied, resulting in an unpleasant, watery gunk

Streeting hits out at BMA ‘delusion’ as talks to avert resident doctors’ strike fail

The NHS in England is bracing for the longest strike yet by resident doctors after last-ditch talks failed, prompting Wes Streeting to accuse the medics of suffering from “delusion”.Many thousands of resident – formerly junior – doctors will stage a six-day stoppage over pay and jobs starting at 7am on Tuesday, just after the Easter weekend. A deadline for agreement ended on Thursday.It will be the 16th walkout the doctors have staged since their first strike in March 2023, and there are growing fears that the dispute could drag on for another year.Streeting confirmed in a letter to the British Medical Association that he had withdrawn his offer to create 1,000 extra places in specialist medical training this year, as that was conditional on the BMA accepting the government’s most recent offer, which it rejected last week

Chess: Sindarov, 21, takes early 1-point lead as Uzbek star stuns Candidates field

Javokhir Sindarov is already the clear favourite to win the 2026 Candidates in Cyprus and to challenge India’s Gukesh Dommaraju for the world crown after the Uzbek grandmaster, 21, began the tournament with a commanding 3.5/4, including an impressive victory against the pre-tournament favourite and world No 3, Fabiano Caruana. It is the fastest ever start by a player under the format of a double-round Candidates.Sindarov’s seconds correctly anticipated that Caruana, with the black pieces, might open with the solid Queen’s Gambit Accepted, and prepared accordingly. “I got kind of caught in the opening,” said a subdued Caruana at the post-game press conference

Drip-feed of Reform UK controversies puts party’s policy drive in shade

It was a week that started with a candid admission from Nigel Farage. When asked if Reform UK’s vetting process was finally up to scratch, the party leader said: “I accept that at the last general election basically there was no vetting really.” He was speaking after the latest of what a senior colleague had described as a “series of abhorrent incidents”.That latest incident had involved a Welsh Senedd candidate, Corey Edwards, who was forced to step down last Friday after a picture of him appearing to do a Nazi salute surfaced online.Yet while Farage went on to tell reporters at a Heathrow press conference on Tuesday that they would find Reform was “doing pretty well now”, just two days later another frontline party member was in hot water

UK drug exports to US spared tariffs under deal critics say will cost NHS billions

British drug exports to the US will escape tariffs imposed by Donald Trump as part of a controversial UK-US medicines deal that critics fear will mean less money for the NHS.The deal will also give patients in Britain greater access to potentially life-extending drugs because the rules have been relaxed to allow the NHS to pay more for particular treatments.In an announcement on Thursday, the UK government highlighted the recent approval of two cancer medicines as representing good value for money and proof that its agreement with the US administration will benefit the very unwell, not just pharmaceutical firms.They are now available because the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) from this week has increased the amount of money the NHS can spend on a treatment in the hope of giving patients a longer and higher quality of life from £30,000 to £35,000 a year.Ministers, drug industry bosses and patient groups hailed the deal as good news

Australia says it won’t raise drug prices after Trump’s 100% tariff on pharmaceuticals imported into US

Australia will not cave in to pressure from pharmaceutical giants and the Trump administration by removing consumer price protections on common medications, the health minister, Mark Butler says.Donald Trump imposed a new 100% tariff on branded pharmaceuticals imported into the US overnight, Australian time, trying to force manufacturers to agree to drug-pricing deals or commit to making their products domestically.It is the latest challenge for Australian manufacturers selling products to American consumers and comes as the White House tries to force changes to Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which guarantees lower prices for prescription holders here.Under a new executive order signed by Trump, large pharmaceutical companies will have 120 days to announce plans to avoid the new tariff, while smaller companies have 180 days.Companies agreeing to move manufacturing to the US can see a reduced 20% tariff, with some carve-outs given to companies agreeing to preferred pricing deals for US consumers