The New York-based Kittitian-British author on why he set his new novel in the immigrant community of 1960s Notting Hill, the pitfalls of celebrity, and how he never misses a Leeds United match

Caryl Phillips, 66, was born in Saint Kitts and raised in Leeds. The author of 12 novels, including 1993’s Booker-shortlisted Crossing the River , he lives in New York and for the past 20 years has taught creative writing at Yale University. He and I met on Portobello Road in Notting Hill, the location of his new novel, Another Man in the Street , in which a young West Indian finds himself collecting rent for a 1960s slumlord.

Tell us how this book began life.
A few years ago I was wandering around these streets, thinking it doesn’t look like the place I used to wander around as a student: no reggae shops, no guys on the corner smoking dope. It’s where Beckham lives! David Cameron’s got a house here. I began to think about how Notting Hill changed, and the nature of that change, and my own relationship to this gentrified, almost theme-park area of London that years ago meant something entirely different to me.

Trump’s pick to lead US health policy lobbied to rescind 2021 authorization and to deny any future vaccine

Robert F Kennedy Jr reportedly sought to block the historic and pioneering new Covid-19 vaccinations in 2021, six months after they began being rolled out at the height of the pandemic when many thousands of people were dying of the virus.

In a petition filed with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2021, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the $1.8tn Department of Health and Human Services – who was not an elected politician or public official at that time – called on health officials to rescind emergency government authorization for the shots and to refrain from approving any Covid vaccine in the future, the New York Times reported on Friday.

• Northampton 34-32 Munster
• Seabrook runs in hat-trick as Saints seal home tie

Saints had the team that won the Champions Cup back in 2000 out on the field at half-time of this match, for an anniversary lap of honour. It’s maybe long odds that this current squad will be doing likewise in 25 years time given the strength of the competition, but they are at least a step closer along the way, at least. They beat Munster 34-32 in their final pool game, and earned themselves home advantage in the last 16 by doing it.

They had to work hellishly hard for it. The Munstermen just didn’t quit. It was a game that Saints had to win once, twice, three times before they were finally able to kick the ball into touch and celebrate their victory. Munster clawed their way back to within two points once, when Conor Murray set up a try for Diarmuid Kilgallen with a wizardly flick behind his back, and then again, when Kilgallen scored a second with a couple of minutes left to play.

The city was clearing the area around the Ebenezer Baptist church before the MLK Day celebration on Monday

City workers in Atlanta have killed a man living in a tent while clearing a homeless encampment with construction equipment near Martin Luther King’s famous Georgia church.

The death of Cornelius Taylor on Thursday afternoon resulted from an effort to reduce the visibility of people without shelter near the city’s historic Ebenezer Baptist church as an accommodation for crowds expected in the area to celebrate King this weekend and on Monday, the federal holiday dedicated to the civil rights leader’s life and legacy. Taylor’s death has infuriated homelessness advocates and prompted a round of soul searching among city leaders.

On the eve of his return, it’s clear that world leaders, whether they like him or loathe him, can’t ignore this unpredictable showman

Michelle Obama’s one-woman boycott of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on Monday requires no explanation. It’s plain that the former first lady has zero tolerance and even less love for a man who delights in racist and sexist behaviour. Lots of other people, especially among US allies in Europe, would boycott Trump, too, if they could. Yet, inescapably, they must deal with him for the next four years.

Such fear and loathing is by no means universally shared. A poll, published last week by the European Council on Foreign Relations, found that in China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil, more people welcome Trump’s return than deplore it . In contrast, people in the UK, France, Germany and a clutch of other west European countries are frankly appalled at the prospect.

The Brentford fans ought to have known better. After all, Darwin Núñez had scored a fabulous goal against their team in the corresponding fixture here last season. Still, when Núñez entered as a 65th minute substitute, they were ready with their taunt, one that compared him unfavourably to his one-time Liverpool predecessor, Andy Carroll.

Núñez had travelled to London having scored only four times all season. The scrutiny burned. It was no kind of return for an £85m record signing. Arne Slot had insisted he would come good, that it was simply a matter of getting him into the right spaces and situations against deep-set opponents. How it would work out at the very end for Núñez and Liverpool.

Emile Smith Rowe and Adama Traoré struck in the second half as Fulham inflicted a seventh successive Premier League defeat on Leicester. The hosts provided another solid first-half showing but ultimately paid the price for a lack of quality and failed to learn their lessons from their midweek second-half collapse to Crystal Palace in a similar display in front of their own fans.

Their defensive fragility showed after the interval and they conceded early for the second time in the space of a week courtesy of Smith-Rowe’s fourth goal of the campaign. A hostile home atmosphere did not improve Leicester’s performance and Fulham ensured a return to winning ways as the substitute Traoré handed Ruud van Nistelrooy’s relegation-threatened team a seventh loss from his first 10 games in all competitions.

The sound of boos ringing out at the London Stadium has not taken long to return. This was a miserable afternoon for Graham Potter, whose side finished with 10 men and failed to register a shot on target during this deserved defeat to Crystal Palace, and it will surely intensify West Ham’s efforts to sign a new forward this month.

Palace are unlikely to have an easier clean sheet. Dean Henderson had nothing to do in goal and Oliver Glasner’s side were able to assume a tight grip from start to finish. Jean-Philippe Mateta, with his 10 ^th and 11 ^th goals of the season, produced the finishes that saw Palace move above West Ham and stretch their unbeaten run on the road to seven games.

The digital option will be made available through a government app, but will not be mandatory

The UK is set to introduce digital drivers licences this year as the government looks to use technology to “transform public services”.

The digital version of driver’s licences will be available in a virtual wallet in a government app, instead of being added to existing Google or Apple wallets. It could be accepted as a form of ID when voting, purchasing alcohol, or boarding domestic flights.