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Simon Usborne

@susborne

Simon Usborne is a features writer at The Independent and i.

Health and Wellbeing

Can vaping actually save the world from dangers of smoking?

Brocks saw it as his mission to prop up the broken healthcare system of the world’s richest nation with his airborne Remote Area Medical volunteer corps
Obituaries

Stan Brock: The British adventurer who took free healthcare to the US

A heli-skiing trip gives thrill-seekers access to untouched powder
Skiing

Heli-skiing and off-piste adventures: A 'ski safari' in Zermatt

Unexpected item in the bagging area: the French are having to adapt to the doggy bag
Features

Why are UK restaurants refusing to give diners a doggy-bag?

Boaty McBoatface: A kick in the face for democracy?
UK

Boaty McBoatface debacle shows the perils of crowdsourcing opinion

UK

Britain's human landscape: An atlas of the UK’s population

London, 1959
Features

Sergio Larrain's extraordinary photographic legacy

Dundas Castle offers fans the ‘Downton’ experience
Features

US fans of Downton Abbey are paying £3,000 to staff British castles

Vanessa with refugee children on the Turkish Riviera
Features

Vanessa Altin tackles Isis in her Syria war novel for young adults

Mark Clarke (front left) and Elliot Johnson (back right) on the stage at the Conservative Party conference in 2014
Crime

Evidence of Tory bullying won't be examined in Elliot Johnson inquest

MCC Members queue to enter the grounds
Features

Country Life magazine wants to reclaim red trousers for posh people

The parents of Elliott Johnson, Alison and Ray, leaving the court
Crime

Parents of Tory activist ask coroner to consider 'degrading' treatment

Tech

Will Bike Balls help wobbly cyclists?

Tech

Will Bike Balls help wobbly cyclists?

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, former president of the Maldives
UK Politics

MPs accused of defending former Maldives dictator during luxury trip

A cut above the mess: a slightly stressed out Simon Usborne in the chair
Features

Barbers are receiving 'first aid' training in mental health

Peston visited a major state steel manufacturer in China
Reviews

Robert Peston delivers engaging analysis in The Great Chinese Crash?

China crisis: Katie Leung and Sebastian So in One Child
Reviews

One Child: Worthier than 10 years of New Yorker articles

China crisis: Katie Leung and Sebastian So in One Child
Reviews

One Child: Worthier than 10 years of New Yorker articles

Eye on the spies: you never know if your 'bad' behaviour is under scrutiny
Crime

Why is there such high demand for 'professional witnesses'?

Snow day: Courchevel 1650
Skiing

Affordable Courchevel skiing: ​The resort gets cheaper as you descend

Flight of the navigators: the writer (and more experienced pilots) testing FPV drones in London
Tech

Drone-racing with a headset comes to the UK

Simon and Patrick on their most recent trip to Verbier
Europe

Simon Usborne returns to the ski resort where his dad died

Models present creations Gucci during in Milan recently
News

Gucci to hold fashion show at Westminster Abbey

Hello: a clip from the Kids React series shows one child’s take on Adele's hit song
Online

Reaction videos: Careful what you call your YouTube video

What’s the dope? Femke Van den Driessche claims she was unaware of the motor in her bike
Cycling

Cyclists may be using hidden motors to help on the hills

The Parrot: four years ago, when Humphries caught the colossus of Cranwells Lake, Reading, the creature weighed just short of 60lbs, but it has since gained an extra 8lbs 3oz
News

The Parrot: What other celebrity fish are in the giant carp's league?

Hello: a clip from the Kids React series shows one child’s take on Adele's hit song
Online

Reaction videos: Careful what you call your YouTube video

What’s the dope? Femke Van den Driessche claims she was unaware of the motor in her bike
Cycling

Cyclists may be using hidden motors to help on the hills

The Parrot: four years ago, when Humphries caught the colossus of Cranwells Lake, Reading, the creature weighed just short of 60lbs, but it has since gained an extra 8lbs 3oz
News

The Parrot: What other celebrity fish are in the giant carp's league?

Mohamed Nasheed, the jailed former President of the Maldives, pictured with his lawyer Amal Clooney, vows to return to fight for democracy
Home News

Jailed ex-Maldives president pledges to continue fight for democracy

Home News

Jailed ex-Maldives president pledges to continue fight for democracy

Mohamed Nasheed, the jailed former President of the Maldives, pictured with his lawyer Amal Clooney, vows to return to fight for democracy
David Cameron hosts Mohamed Nasheed and Amal Clooney at Downing Street
World Politics

Cameron holds Downing St meeting with ex-Maldives president

Out of this world: an artist’s rendition of the view from ‘Planet Nine’ back towards the Sun
Science

David Bowie fans want Planet Nine to be named in his honour

Members of the Republic in Yorkshire, campaigning in Leeds City Centre
Home News

Is it time for the UK to become a republic?

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has been given permission to travel to Britain for surgery
Home News

Imprisoned ex-president of Maldives flies to UK for medical treatment

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has been given permission to travel to Britain for surgery
Home News

Imprisoned ex-president of Maldives flies to UK for medical treatment

Winning formula: maths being taught on primitive computers in 1963
Education

What does a maths teacher make?

Sixteen-year-old Brian Whittaker has a quarter of a million followers
People

Stars of Instagram: The most famous people you've never heard of

Hand jive: Moroccan Prince Moulay Hassan seems averse to osculatory obeisance
World

Morocco's crown prince Moulay Hassan hates having his fingers kissed

Fitness trackers monitor your steps around the running track
Features

March of the Fitbit: Health trackers have gone mainstream

Role play: Julian Sands as John Le Mesurier – Sergeant Wilson in the show
Reviews

We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story, BBC2 - TV review

Cherie Blair QC's firm has dealt with a string of autocratic regimes
UK Politics

Cherie Blair, her partner, and their trouble in paradise

Mark Clarke, founder of the RoadTrip campaign, has been banned from the Conservative Party Conference
UK Politics

How the 'Tatler Tory' tried to take over the City of London

The International Space Station
Science

International Space Station: The low-down on Tim Peake's high life

Hide and seek: secluded Foxhill Manor
Cotswolds

Foxhill Manor, Cotswolds - hotel review: An intimate hideaway

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announced the birth of their daughter, Max, with a pledge to give away, gradually, 99 per cent of their shares in Facebook
Business Analysis & Features

The world's most generous billionaires

Mark Clarke (front left) and Elliot Johnson (back right) on the stage at the Conservative Party conference in 2014
UK Politics

Does the Tories’ youth wing have any sort of future?

UK Politics

Does the Tories’ youth wing have any sort of future?

Mark Clarke (front left) and Elliot Johnson (back right) on the stage at the Conservative Party conference in 2014
Emotional rescue: Tim Copik co-ordinates Avon and Somerset Police’s family liaison officers, who helped the family of Becky Watts
Crime

Family liaison officer talks about his harrowing but rewarding job

Elliott Johnson is believed to have killed himself after making bullying allegations against Mark Clarke
Comment

A young man died and something had to give

Mark Clarke, founder of the RoadTrip campaign
UK Politics

Conservatives did not want 'Tatler Tory' Mark Clarke to win seat

IndyBest

10 best sport gifts

IndyBest

10 best sport gifts

John Major conceding the 1997 General Election in a speech at Smiths Square. Pictured on the left is Mark Clarke
UK Politics

David Cameron invited 'Tatler Tory' to tea party at Chequers

Jackson Hole
Skiing

Jackson Hole skiing: The wild Wyoming resort was established 50 years

In the shadows: Conspiracy theorists said this photo of Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin standing by the US flag planted on the surface of the Moon on 20 July 1969 was mocked up
Features

Why are conspiracy theories so popular?

Sri Lanka: A new dawn
Asia

Sri Lanka by train: The formerly war-torn north is rebuilding

Rebecca Mitchell supervises her son Jamie as he cuts some branches with secateurs
Tech

Should we be handing our laptops to our children?

Flipping awful: the whales at SeaWorld San Diego, who swim 100 miles a day in the wild, all have drooping fins and display troubled behaviourrs
News

SeaWorld's whales: Even without the circus tricks, the orcas will stil

Features

How classroom posters are getting a much-needed design makeover

The Maldivian President has declared a state of emergency after its vice-president was accused of treason
Asia

Maldives fears for its future as emergency deepens

Living a lie: Ben Stiller in ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’
Home News

Veterans are exposing military imposters

Lorna and Yvonne Dick, Janette and Nicola Reid, all victims' relatives
Crime

Families are reunited in a delayed Denmark Place arson attack memorial

Features

Publishers ditching chapter and verse in favour of colouring books

Features

Publishers ditching chapter and verse in favour of colouring books

Together at last: Sarah-Cecilie Finkelstein with her Norwegian mother, Tone Vik Nerby
Health & Families

An abducted child tells the story of her stolen life, 30 years later

The President escaped uninjured after the explosion
Asia

Maldives vice president held over 'assassination plot' on president

Daily bread: the Bakers Union, demonstrating here in Wigan, has had some success in opposing tough new working practices in the industry
UK Politics

Trade unions are finding new ways to compel employers to act

Boris Johnson: A mayor
World Politics

When Boris Johnson and the world's mayors got together in London...

Boris Johnson: A mayor
World Politics

When Boris Johnson and the world's mayors got together in London...

The Angel pub symbolises the transformation of Brixton. It started life as a grand saloon bar and hotel, but today has been replaced by expensive apartments
Voices

How a Brixton pub explains the effects of gentrification in a nutshell

Lawyer Amal Clooney and Laila Ali, the wife of Mohamed Nasheed, hailed the UN’s decision
People

Win for Clooney as UN rules ex-Maldives president unlawfully jailed

Winston says: 'Sex education is still not taught in a way that makes it anything other than an academic chore'
Features

Professor Robert Winston on the beauty of intestinal tracts

Mark Clarke, founder of the RoadTrip campaign, has been banned from the Conservative Party Conference
UK Politics

Tories' conference party reception cancelled amid bullying allegations

Food & Drink

Why Bake-Off has a record audience queueing up for more

Faulks says: 'I was 40 when 'Birdsong' came out. It wasn’t like I was a popstar with a hit record at 21'
Features

Author Sebastian Faulks on James Bond, and 25 years of solitude

The quinoa king: farmer Stephen Jones is a major producer of the crop in Britain and now can't keep up with demand
Features

Quinoa - the Andean staple of the Incas - is king in Shropshire

A pig's head
Home News

The PM, the pig, and student initiation rituals

Crime

Catfishing: A shocking court case has shed light on deceiving would-be

Crime

Catfishing: A shocking court case has shed light on deceiving would-be

Who do you think you are? The guide to those worth knowing about
UK

What the recreations section of Who's Who reveals

Architecture

Power of One: How to impress foreign property buyers

Home News

Britain's 24-hour culture: We're working longer hours than ever

Home News

Britain's 24-hour culture: We're working longer hours than ever

Worth hearing: radio actor David Timson
Features

The BBC is celebrating 75 years of audio drama

Go fish: crew member Stevie with a hake onboard the ‘Govenek of Ladram’
Features

The Catch: Fixed-rig cameras have transformed documentary-making

Home News

Britain's 24-hour culture: We're working longer hours than ever

Worth hearing: radio actor David Timson
Features

The BBC is celebrating 75 years of audio drama

Go fish: crew member Stevie with a hake onboard the ‘Govenek of Ladram’
Features

The Catch: Fixed-rig cameras have transformed documentary-making

37 people died in an arson attack on two nightclubs in central London in 1980
Home News

Denmark Place arson: Full list of the 37 victims

Paddy Crossin at Denmark Place where an arson attack took the lives of 37 people, many of whom were her friends
Home News

People still searching answers 35 years after the Denmark Place arson

Into the blue: the elusive, vast blue whale and her calf. The Big Blue team hope to capture this rare creature on film, which would be a rarity indeed
News

Big Blue Live: The BBC swaps British back gardens for Monterey Bay

Weather forecaster and brother of Jeremy, Piers Corbyn
UK Politics

Is there trouble ahead for Jeremy Corbyn?

A food company is based under Clapham North underground station, Richard holding produce sample
Science

Exploring how to grow vegetables in zero gravity

Liquid lunch: El Vino at 47, Fleet Street
Press

Fleet Street's famous El Vino wine bar is being sold

Brace yourself: tortoises are the rabbits of the reptile world
Science

Tortoises are the rabbits of the reptile world

Reborn: Chris Barrie as the hapless Brittas
Features

The Brittas Empire: The sitcom will return, but the revival might be disappointing

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