We believe in freedom. Free press. Free speech. Free markets. If you share these values, join us today. | Get party-ready for New Year’s Eve  | Diana Henry The Telegraph’s award-winning cookery writer | I used to do tortuous and complicated dinners for New Year’s Eve. They were serious affairs – fish terrine, venison, Sauternes jellies with little flakes of edible gold – which required far too many trips in and out of the kitchen. I dropped a whole stuffed sea bass once when a friend announced she was about to leave her husband, listing all of his indiscretions. New Year doesn’t half heighten emotions.
Now, I’ve given up worrying about this kind of event – the upside of getting older – and am happy to serve a mixture of homemade and bought snacks. These are my tried and tested favourites: halved waxy potatoes with a dab of crème fraîche and salmon caviar on top; cocktail sausages roasted in honey and grain mustard (people hoover these up faster than anything else), prawns with Marie Rose sauce in a little mini bun, little toasted croutes with goat’s cheese and tapenade and cranberry sausage bites (buy sausage meat and spice it yourself). | These flaky, festive morsels are perfect for a party | Add bought gravlax on little squares of rye bread, good pâté, and quail’s eggs and radishes with herb mayo. Fancy crisps (Brets Tartiflette flavour, anyone?), Spanish smoked almonds and decent olives are even easier. Do not even consider buying a quiche! | Chocolate lovers will adore this quick dessert | Something sweet? Undoubtedly a chocolate cake or a rich chocolate mousse (with a dash of booze) as we’ve all had way too much dried fruit already.
A cocktail? Delegate – you should be the first person to take a sip. A ginger-lime fizz or pink martini please! | Try garnishing with a sugar rim | Discover a new recipe from Diana Henry and meal inspiration for every night of the week in The Telegraph’s new Recipes Newsletter, every Saturday from Jan 3. | | Susy Atkins Wine and Drinks Correspondent | It’s well worth looking beyond predictable prosecco for a celebration, and for this New Year’s Eve, I’m tipping a sparkling wine that’s become increasingly admired by bubble buffs: Cap Classique.
That’s the term for South Africa’s answer to champagne – fizz made by the same long, bottle-aged method and often with the same champagne grape varieties but in the Western Cape.
Quality in general is high. You can expect much of the finesse, complexity and dry finish of decent champagne, with a little extra bright fruitiness typical of New World wines. The price tags for Cap Classique fizz can also be very reasonable, starting at around a tenner.
Aldi’s new own-label Cap Classique is a steal at £9.99 and a good one to start with if you’ve never tried South African fizz before.
Graham Beck is the leading brand name; Waitrose has its Pinot Noir-Chardonnay Brut NV on offer at £12 until Jan 1 (hurry!). M&S has two Cap Classiques called The Rhona – one white and one rosé – both excellent and priced at £15.
Cheers to a different drop of pop on New Year’s Eve.
See the full guide here ➤ | | Alexander Larman The battle for good sense is not yet won. But from the literary world to theatre we have seen a pushback against identity politics Continue reading ➤ Robert Tombs To save the Church of England, we must disestablish it Continue reading ➤ Maia Roston For Jews this year, Chanukah was not simply a ritual but a public insistence on survival Continue reading ➤ | Sharpen your talking points. Explore incisive opinion from Britain’s leading comment writers. |  | After 18 matches across almost 15 years, a win’s a win, writes Will Macpherson from Melbourne. England, finally, have a win in Australia in one of the craziest Test matches in history. The Ashes were gone before Christmas, but the tourists produced a Boxing Day smash and grab to end a sorry duck down under.
It lasted just two days, and was played before record crowds, with more than 94,000 in on the first and 92,000 on the second. Perhaps a fifth of them were England fans, with the Barmy Army chanting until the bitter end. The celebrations will last long into the Melbourne night.
For England, it was a nervy chase of 175, the highest score of a dizzying, bowler-friendly match on a pitch that was almost absurdly sporting. 36 wickets fell, and there was not even a single half-century. The bowlers ran amok, but for the first time in the series England won the big moments, a show of character from an embattled team.
There will be deeper existential questions about this match, the second completed in just two days in this Ashes series. It is not a great look for Test cricket, and will lose Cricket Australia many millions of dollars. For England and their fans, though, those questions can wait. They have three spare days to celebrate.
See how the day’s play unfolded here ➤ | | To end 2025, The Telegraph has compiled a list of the world leaders we think have made the most impact over the past year, and we begin with an interview with Hakainde Hichilema. Described as the “pretty girl” in the middle of a global tug of war between the US and China, the Zambian president discusses Donald Trump, USAid and how he turned his country around from a basket case to model pupil. Continue reading ➤ | | | As the mother of five boys, Sophie Ellis-Bextor doesn’t live the typical life of a pop star. Now 46, she finds herself in the middle of her largest-ever global solo tour thanks to the 2023 cult film Saltburn which featured her hit song Murder on the Dancefloor. In this wide-ranging interview, she discusses how she’s navigating her midlife renaissance, shares her best tip for getting through the festive period and explains why she does not embrace strict rules to raise her “tiny policemen”. Continue reading ➤ | | | A Henley College politics teacher was sacked and reported to Prevent, the Government’s counter-terrorism programme, after showing Donald Trump videos to A-level students. Having been flagged by his students, officials said his views “could be perceived as radical”, leading to his dismissal, a £2,000 settlement and detrimental effects upon his physical and mental well-being. Continue reading ➤ | | | Danny White (left) was deployed to Northern Ireland multiple times while with the Marines | | While serving with the Royal Marines in Northern Ireland, Danny White lost three of his comrades. The soldiers were shot on three consecutive days. After being diagnosed with PTSD, Danny thought he would never ski again – the hobby that had been his gateway into the forces. But The Not Forgotten, one of The Telegraph’s Christmas charities, changed everything for him. Continue reading ➤ | | | An airline best known for providing flights to some of the most far-flung parts of Britain is leading the race to develop the world’s first electric planes. As Christopher Jasper reports, Loganair planes will combine a propeller engine with battery packs that generate electricity from hydrogen fuel cells. Continue reading ➤ | | | Are you stuck with a gorgeous scarf that just isn’t your colour or a pair of silver earrings when you only wear gold jewellery? Fear not, our regifting guide – admit it, we all do it – gives you the etiquette rules to follow to ensure you get away with it. Continue reading ➤ Below are two more things that I hope will be useful this weekend: - From the best cruise holidays for 2026, exciting new hotel openings or a winter walk with a pub at the end, we have it covered in our new-look Travel Newsletter, launching tomorrow. You can sign up here.
- From rich, zesty brownies to indulgent spreads, here are seven things to do with a chocolate orange (apart from eating it as it comes).
|  | Millie Smith Community Editor | 2025 was the year Reform UK overtook Labour as Britain’s largest political party, Donald Trump returned to the White House, the Red Roses won the Women’s Rugby World Cup and Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly departed as the hosts of Strictly Come Dancing.
In January, we invited you to make your predictions for what might happen in 2025. We received 623 responses from readers, although I must admit that some predictions were closer to wishful thinking than others.
You can now see if your guesses matched up to what happened. It has been another crazy year, so don’t be too disappointed if things haven’t turned out quite how you’d expected.
Did you see the big moments of 2025 coming? You can find out below. Plus, why not try your luck to see if you can predict what will happen in 2026 accurately, with our new quiz for the year ahead.
Continue reading ➤ | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was RACETRACK. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. Please send me your thoughts on this newsletter. You can email me here. | |
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