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news UK sends messages of grief and support to Israel © Reuters Faith and community leaders in the UK have united in grief with Israel after at least 44 people were killed in a crush at a crowded religious festival. The chief rabbi led tributes after the disaster at the Lag B'Omer celebration in the north-east of Israel. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also sent his condolences following the "devastating scenes" at the annual event, which left dozens injured. Prayers are to be said in the UK for the bereaved and the injured. Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: "As we struggle to come to terms with th...

Nudity, dares and overdoses – reading the diary I kept as an 18-year-old in Thailand was amusing, but also horrifying

The Serpent feels terrifyingly close to the bone for anyone who has travelled Asia's hippy trail Sometimes you have to trust a stranger and your instincts Varanasi, a city in Indian on the Ganges river Credit: GETTY Slick 1970s styling aside, the BBC drama The Serpent, about serial killer Charles Sobhraj who preyed on backpackers in Southeast Asia, feels terrifyingly close to the bone for those who have travelled the hippy trail. “There but for the grace of God,” I shudder approximately once a minute, between shouting “DON’T DRINK YOUR MEDICINE”. And yet I also find myself longing f...

How the hippies’ Seventies search for enlightenment turned sour For many, the journey East – as depicted in new BBC drama ‘The Serpent’ – ended in disillusionment and worse Getting high: hippies on top of a bus in Kabul in 1971 Credit: Garofalo Jack In 1961, the American beat poet Allen Ginsberg, along with his partner Peter Orlovsky, set off for India in search of enlightenment. Travelling to Paris, then Tangier, Israel, and Kenya, they finally set foot in Bombay – Ginsberg having prepared for his arrival by smoking grass scored from a shoeshine boy in Mombasa, and reading A Pass...