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Sunderland v Everton: Premier League – live
|
A fair result in the end. Both teams will feel they could have won; deep down both will know they could have lost. This is what it does to the Premier League table. Peep peep! 90+5 min Alcaraz is booked for a foul on someone. He’d had a helluva couple of minutes. 90+4 min: Great chance for Everton! With almost all his teammates ahead of the ball, Xhaka plays a casual pass that intercepted by Grealish, who releases Alcaraz on the far side. Everton have a two-on-one break, with Gueye to the left, but Alcaraz farts around inexplicably and loses the ball. He had to play it through to Gueye. 90+2 min Niall Mullen has saved the email of the night for injury time. “I do hope,” he writes, “that Brian Brobbery’s nickname is ‘daylight’.” Edit: Niall wrote in again to point his surname is Brobbey, not Brobbery. My fault, I’ve offered my resignation. 90 min Ballard and Gueye start wrestling as Mukiele lines up another long throw. It’s like watching a different sport, a couple of them in fact. Eventually the throw is headed down and lumped clear. There are six minutes of added time. 87 min Grealish beats Talbi through sleight of hip but crosses too close to Roefs. 85 min A loose pass from Xhaka is picked up by Mykolenko, who swishes a shot at goal from 25 yards. Roefs dives to his right to push it away, a fairly comfortably save. Apparently that was Everton’s first attempt at goal since Barry’s miss after 28 minutes. 85 min “Maybe the next innovation in set pieces will be for players to be ‘lifted’ to reach the throws or corners?” says Andy Flintoff. Oh lordy. I think/hope/pray that’s illegal. 84 min: Double substitution for Everton Carlos Alcaraz and Tim Iroegbunam come on for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jake O’Brien. 83 min: Double substitution for Sunderland Chemsdine Talbi and Brian Brobbery, the heroes at Chelsea last weekend, replace Wilson Isidor and Bertrand Traore. 81 min: Chance for Sunderland The corner is taken by Xhaka, then returned to him on the right. He whips a glorious first-time ball that is headed over by the stooping Mukiele, six yards out. That’s a pretty good chancee. Keane’s boot caught him as he maded contact with the ball – Mukiele thought it was in the face, apparently VAR has said it was the shoulder. 81 min Xhaka finds Sadiki on the left. He coaxes a nice inswinging cross that is headed towards goal by Hume and funbled behind for a corner by Pickford. The stop was routine but the ball slipped out of his grasp. 79 min Everton’s first long throw of the half – anyone else getting a bit bored by all these lineouts – leads to a corner on the right. McNeil swings it deep, Tarkowski heads it back and it doesn’t matter because the referee has given a free-kick to Sunderland. 77 min Mukiele’s early low cross from the right reaches Isidor, 12 yards out at the near post. He misses his kick and the ball hits hit standing leg. It was a tough chance anyway. 74 min Everton haven’t had a touch in the Sunderland box since half-time. The first half hour, when Everton were in complete control, seems a while ago. 73 min Sunderland are well on top now. Le Fee flicks the beat neatly to Reinildo, who beats McNeil and stands up a cross that is headed away. Moments later Sunderland have a stronger penalty appeal when Sadiki’s cross hits the hand of Keane. His arm was away from his body, but he was trying to pull it back in and he was only a couple of yards from Sadiki. VAR sticks with the on-field decision. 71 min A determined run from Isidor ends with an optimistic shot from a tight angle. Over the bar. 69 min Another long throw from Mukiele doesn’t beat the man at the near post. 67 min Everton repel a series of long throws from Sunderland. There are a couple of appeals for handball/a penalty; neither is worth a damn. 63 min Traore’s off-target snapshot hits Tarkowski and flies behind for a Sunderland corner. Nothing comes of it. 62 min: Everton substitution Dwight McNeil replaces theinjured goalscorer Iliman Ndiaye, who is able to walk off the field but has tweaked something. 60 min Sunderland are still on top but Everton are doing less defending on the seat of their pants. And they are starting to threaten on the break; as I type, the last man Ballard does well to stop a through ball reaching Beto. 58 min “By his standards, Enzo Le Fée had a quiet half, but that little pass to Isidor at the 39th minute was the kind of instinctive creativity that’s his hallmark,” writes Kári Tulinius. “There aren’t many like him in Premier League. Rayan Cherki’s assists for Haaland at the weekend were like that too. And to think that France were worried that the national side lacked creativity. They might have a good team next summer.” Their C team would have a puncher’s chance of making the semi-finals. 57 min: Everton substitution Beto replaces Thierno Barry, who shakes his head in disappointment as he runs off the field. He missed a glorious chance to put Everton 2-0 ahead. 55 min Grealish protects the ball from Hume and is fouled by Xhaka. Grealish bounces to his feet and he and Xhaka put their arms round each other’s shoulders in a gesture of mutual respect; that was rather sweet. 54 min Grealish isn’t impressed and has words with Hume when he gets to his feet. Granit Xhaka tries to play peacemaker. 53 min Hume is booked for an, ahem, agricultural tackle on Grealish. 52 min “Isn’t it nice after the past couple of seasons to see a promoted team thriving?” says Richard Warwick. “Even after the three-up-three-down of last season, any talk of Sunderland being involved in a relegation scrap was all finished by early September. A win today and after 10 games, they’ll be second on their own. Now just don’t do a Forest...” It’s dead refreshing, probably even more so because it’s such a big club. That said, I don’t think they are safe just yet – Phil Brown’s Hull team of 2008-09 had a similar start and were nearly relegated. Nearly. 49 min Almost another one for Sunderland! Le Fee belts a long-range drive that is going off target until it hits the back of Isidor and ricochets towards goal. Pickford, who had started to dive to his right, does well to slow his body down and slap the ball away. Le Fee’s low ball across the area was cleared as far as Xhaka, who swept a low shot from 20 yards that deflected in off Tarkowski. Pickford probably had it covered, but Tarkowski stuck out a leg and diverted it into the net via the underside of the crossbar.. Granit Xhaka equalises after 46 seconds of the second half! 46 min The second half is under way. And… Half-time reading Gary O’Neil was expected to return to Wolves after the sacking of Vitor Pereira, but an afternoon is a long time in football. Iliman Ndiaye’s thrilling solo goal separates the sides at the Stadium of Light. Everton were much the better team for half an hour – Jack Grealish hit the post, Thierno Barry missed a sitter – but Sunderland came on strong as half-time approached and are still in this game. 45 min Two minutes of added time. 44 min A big, swirling cross from the right is met at the far post by Ballard. His header hits the outstretched leg of his teammate Isidor, I think, and bounces up dangerously in front of goal. Keane sticks his head in first and gets the ball away. That was close. Everton need half-time, a phrase I didn’t think I’d be typing when they were in complete control earlier in the half. 43 min “If Xhaka doesn’t inspire the team to a win, then they’re taking a trip to the glue factory,” writes Matt Dony. “And he won’t get to come.”
|
[
"Rob Smyth",
"Louise Taylor"
] |
<strong>Minute-by-minute report:</strong> Join Rob Smyth for updates as David Moyes returns to Wearside
|
[
"Premier League",
"Sport",
"Football",
"Everton",
"Sunderland"
] |
Football
|
Premier League
|
2025-11-03T21:56:07.000Z
|
2025-11-03T21:56:07.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2025/nov/03/sunderland-v-everton-premier-league-live
|
|
Activists could be jailed for six months for protesting outside MPs’ homes
|
Activists could be jailed for up to six months for protesting outside MPs’ homes in England and Wales under a new law aimed at tackling harassment of politicians after a surge of intimidation complaints. The law would criminalise protests outside the homes of MPs, peers and councillors as well as others who have stood for public office – and is likely to draw further criticism that the government is squeezing the right to protest. The government is to amend the crime and policing bill on Tuesday to formally bar the protests and to impose criminal sanctions. Home Office sources described such protests as “toxic behaviour in UK politics” and said the amendment would introduce a criminal offence of protesting outside the home of someone in public office where their intention is to influence them in their role or an aspect of their private life. A survey by Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, found almost all MPs (96%) had experienced at least one instance of harassment or intimidation. Just Stop Oil, whose activists sang climate crisis-inspired Christmas carols outside Keir Starmer’s home, has previously defended the need to directly target MPs. It said it was a crucial tool to influence policy, though the group has since changed its tactics to stop high-profile stunts. Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said the level of abuse faced by politicians was “truly shocking – it’s a threat to our democracy. People should be able to participate in our politics without fearing for their own or their family’s safety. “When good people choose not to put themselves forward, communities lose out and the country is poorer for it.” Jarvis said the measure was “a serious but necessary and proportionate step. Targeting public office holders at their homes crosses a line – it’s intimidation, not protest, and we’re putting a stop to it.” The change has been backed by the Jo Cox Foundation, set up in the name of the murdered Labour MP who was attacked outside her constituency surgery by a far-right terrorist. “Protest and robust debate are important to our democracy, and there are many ways that people can make their voices heard without crossing the line into intimidation at someone’s home,” the organisation said. Starmer was understood to have been furious about Gaza protests outside his north London home by Youth Demand when he was leader of the opposition. The group placed children’s shoes outside his door while demanding further opposition from Labour to arms sales to Israel. Three people were charged under section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, which already covers harassment at a home address. Protesters were also arrested for targeting the constituency home of Rishi Sunak. Home Office sources said the amendment would expand the scope of police powers to cover a wider range of behaviours and to give clarity to officers. Some MPs have previously complained that police have taken a laxer approach to protests outside their family homes, including when children were present. The former chair of the defence select committee Tobias Ellwood was targeted by dozens of pro-Gaza protesters at his home in Bournemouth, calling him complicit in genocide. The former Conservative MP Mike Freer said last year he was stepping down as an MP because of the repeated targeting of his constituency office, including in an arson attack. The Labour MP Stella Creasy has also condemned the targeting of MPs at their homes, having been the target of anti-abortion protesters in her Walthamstow constituency. Youth Demand recently staged a protest with body bags outside the home of David Lammy, when he was the foreign secretary. They said the government was “allowing Israel to murder children en masse”. The amendment excludes official residences – so would allow protests outside Downing Street or grace-and-favour homes for the prime minister or other ministers such as Chequers or Dorneywood.
|
[
"Jessica Elgot"
] |
Law aimed at tackling harassment will criminalise protests outside homes of MPs in England and Wales amid rise in complaints
|
[
"Protest",
"Politics",
"UK news",
"England",
"Wales",
"Activism"
] |
World news
|
Wales
|
Protest
|
2025-11-03T20:10:11.000Z
|
2025-11-03T20:12:33.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//world/2025/nov/03/activists-could-be-jailed-for-six-months-for-protesting-outside-mps-homes
|
Slot insists Wirtz has ‘brought exactly what we expected’ before Real Madrid tie
|
Arne Slot has defended Florian Wirtz before Real Madrid’s visit in the Champions League and insisted the £116m signing has produced “exactly what we expected” at this stage of his Liverpool career. The playmaker was on the bench for the win against Aston Villa on Saturday and also omitted from Slot’s starting lineup against Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton having struggled to make an impact in the Premier League. Wirtz has started all three of Liverpool’s Champions League games, however, and could well return for the visit of Xabi Alonso’s side on Tuesday. The 22-year-old registered two assists in the 5-1 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt two weeks ago but is yet to score a goal or provide an assist in the Premier League. Slot attributed that barren run to bad luck and said the Germany international will justify Liverpool’s then-record investment once he adapts to the intensity of English football. “You can say he’s started one of the last four [two of the last four] but you can also say he’s started 10 already this season,” said the Liverpool head coach, who will again be without the injured Alexander Isak, Alisson and Jeremie Frimpong against Real. “I’ve said this quite a lot, not as an excuse but just how it is; many times we have to play three games in seven days with only two days’ rest in between. For a player who comes from a different league, which is a very good league by the way, nine out of 10 people would agree the Premier League is a bit more intense in all the games. If you look at that then he already played a lot. He has had his impact in a lot of games but has been unlucky with the end product either by himself or his teammates. “For me, he brought exactly what we expected, a player who created a lot for the team. He will have his goals but I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone that if you’re 22 or 23 and come to a different league that you might need some time to adjust to that intensity if you play every three days. Ryan Gravenberch was sitting here before and it took him a while to adjust to the intensity, maybe even longer than it is going to take Florian.” Wirtz earned his move to Anfield, for an initial £100m plus £16m in add-ons, having shone for Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen. Together they helped end Bayern Munich’s run of 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles in 2023-24 and Alonso credited Wirtz with his own rise to becoming Real coach. The former Liverpool midfielder echoed Slot’s belief that it is only a matter of time before the forward makes his mark at Anfield. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Alonso said: “I have no doubts. It is just a matter of time. It is a big change for him to come to Liverpool after so many years in Germany, he’s been there all his life. He is a really special player. He has quality and personality and he’s competitive. It has happened with great players in the Premier League before and I’ve no doubts with Flo. He is very special and probably one of the reasons I’m here now so I’m very grateful to Flo. Hopefully not tomorrow but I’ve no doubt he will show his quality and class.”
|
[
"Andy Hunter"
] |
Arne Slot has defended Florian Wirtz before Real Madrid’s visit in the Champions League and insisted the £116m signing has produced “exactly what we expected”
|
[
"Liverpool",
"Arne Slot",
"Real Madrid",
"Champions League",
"European club football",
"Football",
"Sport"
] |
Football
|
Liverpool
|
2025-11-03T19:47:31.000Z
|
2025-11-03T19:49:31.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//football/2025/nov/03/arne-slot-florian-wirtz-liverpool-real-madrid-champions-league
|
|
Trump approval rating falls to second-term low of 37%
|
Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to one of its lowest points, with only 37% of Americans expressing approval of his performance as president. The new CNN/SSRS survey released on Monday shows a sharp decline in Trump’s approval ratings compared with the early days after he began his second term in January, when his approval stood at 47% by mid-February. The latest survey, conducted among 1,245 adults from 27 to 30 October, shows a 63% disapproval rating, just a percentage point higher than his lowest mark ever recorded by CNN, which came in the week following the January 6 Capitol Hill riot in 2021. When asked how things are going in the US, today, a majority of Americans, 68%, said “pretty/very badly”, while 32% said “very/fairly well”. The survey, conducted as the federal government appears to enter what will be the longest shutdown in American history, also found that 47% of Americans view the economy and cost of living as the most important issue facing the country. Coming in second is the state of American democracy, indicated by 26% of Americans. By comparison, only 10% cited immigration as a top concern, even though the issue continues to be a major focus of Trump’s administration, marked by intensified ICE raids, steep cuts to refugee admissions and ongoing immigration battles in federal courts. Other issues lower on the list include crime and safety, cited as a concern by only 7% of Americans, despite Trump’s vow to rid major American cities – which he has called “hellhole” and “war-ravaged” – of “crime, bloodshed, bedlam”. Among those surveyed, only 27% said they believe Trump’s policies improved the nation’s economic conditions. In contrast, 61% think his policies made the economy worse while 12% believe they had no effect. The survey comes amid growing concern in rural Republican towns where Trump’s tariffs have driven factory layoffs and production slowdowns across various industries. In regards to foreign policy, 32% said they believe Trump’s decisions helped the US’s global standing. By contrast, 56% believe that he hurt the US’s standing in the world while 12% said he made no difference at all. These results follow repeated White House claims that Trump has ended eight wars in eight months of his presidency. Moreover, the survey found that a majority of Americans, 61%, believe Trump has gone too far in using his presidential powers. Meanwhile, 31% say his use of power has been about right, and 9% believe he has not gone far enough. Since taking office in January, Trump’s expansion of his presidential authority – through actions including authorizing international strikes without congressional approval, deploying national guard troops despite opposition from state officials, and issuing executive orders that make independent regulators answerable to the White House – has raised widespread concern. The survey’s findings on public attitudes toward Trump’s presidential power also come as experts warn that his investigations into political opponents risk turning the justice department into his “personal weapon”. With the midterm elections coming up next November, 41% of Americans said that if they were voting for Congress today, their vote would be a way to show opposition to Trump. Meanwhile, 21% said their vote would signal support for Trump and 38% said their vote would not be about sending any message to him. The Guardian has contacted the White House for comment.
|
[
"Maya Yang"
] |
New CNN/SSRS survey shows decline in president’s popularity as 68% of respondents say things going badly
|
[
"Donald Trump",
"US politics",
"US news"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Donald Trump
|
2025-11-03T19:32:46.000Z
|
2025-11-03T20:00:46.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-approval-rating
|
Say what you like about ‘Sadiq Khan’s no-go hellscape’ – Britain’s cities prove the rightwing agitators wrong | Jonathan Liew
|
I write these words to you from the jaws of hell. Here in my favourite north London cafe, among the bare lightbulbs and the £3.80 cinnamon buns, I take shelter from the screaming terrors of Sadiq Khan’s no-go hellscape. Toddlers in pushchairs scream for salvation. A Lime bike comes dangerously close to running a red light. Like the Roman, I see the Blackstock Road foaming with much blood, albeit from this distance it may actually be a discarded pastrami sandwich. “Welcome to London, don’t forget your stab vest,” reads a proposed tube billboard for a brand of vodka being promoted by the comedian Ricky Gervais. Gervais is furious that Transport for London has rejected his advertising slogan, and rightly so, because this is the sort of generational wit that deserves the widest possible audience. It is, of course, the most minor of inconveniences that the design was never actually submitted to TfL and only ever existed for the benefit of social media. Because when it comes to the nation’s metropole, you can say pretty much whatever you want and someone, somewhere will believe it. I have spent close to two decades travelling up and down the country covering football, and one of the most striking insights has been how openly disparaging people from outside London can be about it. London is perhaps the only place in England where you can tell people where you’re from, and instantly they feel empowered to inform you what a terrible place it is. Occasionally, your interlocutor will deploy the pre-emptive qualifying phrase “it’s a great city, but …”, before launching into a tirade about the traffic, or the cost of West End theatre tickets, or a dog turd their aunt once stepped in 1998. Allied to this is the misguided idea that to be from London is to partake of some sort of category privilege, a place where life is effortlessly gilded and indulged. I met a Newcastle fan who assured me that there were three motorways connecting the capital with Brighton. I have met multiple people labouring under the impression (“no, seriously, look it up”) that London buses are free. Here in Sadiq Khan’s no-go hellscape, everything is too expensive and yet everything is endlessly subsidised: a kind of practical joke at the expense of everyone else. And of course London condescension is a phenomenon as old as London itself. But in the social media age, where those with big platforms have long been able to create their own reality as they go along, this kind of myth-making has real-world consequences. It is why pollsters consistently find people saying London gets more than its fair share of public spending. It is why working-class Londoners, mostly clustered in safe Labour seats, are perhaps the most politically disenfranchised group of voters in Britain. And it is why Khan, one of the country’s mildest and most inoffensive politicians, is forced to travel with a similar level of 24-hour security to the king. Witness the sheer desperation among rightwing agitators and certain parts of the media to fold Saturday’s horrific train attack in Cambridgeshire into a wider narrative. “Multiple stabbings on train north of London,” read a headline in the Financial Times (that was later changed). “I’ve had enough, Sadiq Khan and Keir Starmer,” fumes a presenter on TalkTV in response to an incident that took place closer to Lincolnshire than London. In this respect, London seems to be part of a broader urban obsession among the global right, one in which the city itself is recast as a malign, seditious entity, a cesspit of violence and vice. The Trump administration’s deployment of federal forces in Democratic-run cities has been billed as a war against “invasion from within”. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has made the Stadtbild (cityscape) a major plank of his strategy of mass deportations, an intentionally vague phrase designed to evoke fear of immigrants without referencing them directly. And of course to the rightwing demagogue, the demonisation of the city is often little more than a convenient vehicle for airing baser, more impolite grievances. When Nigel Farage referred to London, Birmingham and Manchester in 2022 as “minority-white cities” – wrongly, as it turned out – he was simply saying out loud the part that the right has long been content to leave as subtext. Anti-urbanism has long been a first cousin of white supremacy, each feeding into the other, the idea that there is an “authentic” homeland – the bits outside the city – of which the city itself is a kind of betrayal. This is not an argument that can really be won with facts and figures. It makes no odds to point out that, according to the Office for National Statistics, knife crime in London rose by only 1% in the last year, compared with 19% in Dorset, 31% in North Yorkshire and 51% in Suffolk. Or that violent crime in Washington DC was at a 30-year-low when Trump chose to unleash the national guard, or that there is only one motorway to Brighton. What the anti-urbanites find distasteful about cities – often while living in those very same cities – is so rarely a genuine concern for economic inequality or law and order. Rather, it helps to see rightwing populism as an attempt to process an increasingly complex world in increasingly simple terms. Cities, by contrast, are messy places: places of fluidity and freedom and possibility, places of chaos and collaboration and conflict. And sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, but we embrace them nonetheless because in their forced intimacy, in their inexorable flow of ideas and influences and cuisines, they are the fullest expression of what it is to be human. Sign up to Matters of Opinion Guardian columnists and writers on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading, and more after newsletter promotion Despite the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the best efforts of lads with flag bios on X, the percentage of the UK population living in urban areas is still growing at about 1% a year. And so to wish the city away, to dream of cleansing or restoring it to a fictional state of authenticity, is ultimately as futile as separating the cake back into its constituent ingredients. So get stuck in traffic. Date someone from a different race. Eat all the food. Lose yourself in Sadiq’s no-go hellscape. As it ever was, and always will be, the greatest advocate for the city will be the city itself. Jonathan Liew is a Guardian columnist
|
[
"Jonathan Liew"
] |
To rightwing populists, places of fluidity and freedom will always be the enemy, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew
|
[
"London",
"Cities",
"Politics",
"UK news",
"Sadiq Khan",
"Nigel Farage",
"Crime",
"England"
] |
Opinion
|
London
|
2025-11-03T19:26:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T19:28:29.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//commentisfree/2025/nov/03/sadiq-khan-no-go-hellscape-britain-cities-rightwing-agitators
|
|
Chile to end Pinochet henchmen’s pampered prison life of tennis and barbecues
|
Inmates at an infamous high-security military prison in Chile, which houses the perpetrators of dictatorship-era human rights crimes, are set to lose their privileged conditions under plans to incorporate the prison into the public prison network. President Gabriel Boric announced on Monday that Punta Peuco is being transformed into a regular prison to help deal with overcrowding in the penitentiary system. A far cry from the cramped conditions in the majority of Chile’s prisons, inmates at Punta Peuco reportedly have access to ample common areas with tennis courts, barbecue facilities, a library and television room. It has long been viewed as a symbol of the preferential treatment afforded to those convicted of human rights abuses under Gen Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, who are often allowed to serve their terms away from common criminals in specially designated facilities. “The fact that Chile has a special prison like this has no justification,” said Boric. “From today forward, Chile will no longer have first and secondary category prisoners. Places will be decided according to security criteria, not privilege … this is a step further in the direction of a more democratic Chile, which is more respectful of human dignity.” According to Chile’s prison service, 141 men are held at Punta Peuco with an average age of about 80. Most are former members of Pinochet’s intelligence service and secret police. Among them is Miguel Krassnoff, who is serving a sentence of more than 1,000 years for human rights crimes. The prison service cited security concerns when declining to comment on whether current inmates will be moved away from Punta Peuco or integrated into a common prison population. The far-right presidential candidate José Antonio Kast, who has visited Krasnoff at Punta Peuco and previously refused to rule out freeing the prison’s human rights criminals, criticised Boric’s decision and accused the president of seeking to build a legacy in the final months of his mandate. The communist candidate Jeannette Jara, another frontrunner ahead of the 16 November election, praised the decision to turn Punta Peuco into a common jail, which she said it “should always have been”. The bespoke prison was opened in 1995 to house Gen Manuel Contreras, the head of Pinochet’s intelligence service, and Brig Pedro Espinoza, who alongside Contreras was convicted of the 1976 murder of former foreign minister Orlando Letelier in a car bomb attack in Washington DC. There have been several attempts to close Punta Peuco over the years. In the final hours of former president Michelle Bachelet’s second term in March 2018, she attempted to have an order signed for the prison to be closed, but as midnight ticked by, her justice minister decided against signing the order. In 2013, rightwing president Sebastián Piñera surprised many by closing Penal Cordillera, another comfortable prison which held former service members convicted of human rights abuses. It had an outdoor patio area and its 10 inmates lived quietly in five cabins. Boric confirmed that structural works were already under way inside Punta Peuco, and an office and surveillance post were being built on one of its former sports pitches. New inmates will be brought to Punta Peuco as early as the beginning of next year, when the facility will become known as Tiltil Penitentiary.
|
[
"John Bartlett"
] |
Punta Peuco – where military human rights offenders enjoy privileged conditions – set to join public prison network
|
[
"Chile",
"Augusto Pinochet",
"World news",
"Prisons",
"Americas"
] |
World news
|
Americas
|
Chile
|
2025-11-03T19:23:07.000Z
|
2025-11-03T19:48:30.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//world/2025/nov/03/chile-prison-punta-pueco-pinochet
|
‘Beyond ironic’: Reform-led council says flags must come down so Christmas lights can go up
|
A Reform-led council has ruled that union and St George’s flags must come down in order for a village’s traditional Christmas lights to go ahead, in a decision described as “beyond ironic”. Kent county council – whose leader once vowed not to remove flags put up “unilaterally by the people of Kent” – told Harrietsham parish council that flags must come down from street lights before festive lights could go up because of safety concerns. The parish council has appealed to those who put up the flags to take them down, saying it was not permitted to remove the flags itself and that unless they were removed funds already spent on hiring the light decorations would be lost. The flags in question, which the Guardian has been told are union and St George’s flags, are on the A20, which runs through the village. Harrietsham council said on its website: “This condition from Kent county council may result in the installation of the Christmas lights being unable to proceed as planned for 2025. Despite this, the parish council will still be liable for the hire cost, as the arrangements were in place before the permit was issued.” It said it would be “disappointing” if the lights could not be installed “but unfortunately this situation is beyond the parish council’s control”. In a statement to the Guardian, the parish council said: “It is not within the contractor’s remit to remove flags as part of the installation process. As the flags and street columns are not council property, the parish council is not permitted to use public funds to pay for their removal. “We are hoping that whoever installed the flags will be able to remove them in due course to allow for the festive lights to be installed as planned.” It said it would not be making any further comment. After Reform’s landslide election win in May, the new Reform leader of Kent county council, Linden Kemkaran, said:“The union jack, the flag of St George and the flag of Kent, they are the identity that we all share and it is that identity that we need to focus on.” In August it was reported that highways teams in Kent would not be removing St George’s flags unless they posed a safety risk, such as blocking the view of CCTV cameras, or anything affecting road signage and the safety of the public. Peter Osborne, Kent council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “The claim that Harrietsham parish council will face significant extra costs is simply wrong. The contractor they have already hired to install the Christmas lights can remove any obstructing flags as part of the same job – no additional significant expense should be expected. “We fully support communities coming together to celebrate Christmas with festive lights – it’s a valued tradition that brings people together. But safety must come first. Flags on streetlight columns pose a risk during installation, so they must be removed to ensure the lights go up safely and can be enjoyed by everyone.” Stuart Jeffrey, a Kent county councillor for the Greens and leader of Maidstone borough council, said the situation was “beyond ironic”. He said the A20 running through the middle of Harrietsham was “lined either side with these flags”. While the county council had removed flags when they were a danger, “they have been very clear that they are fundamentally supportive”, he said. The parish council could remove the flags, Jeffrey said, as they had not been put up with Kent’s permission and removing them “would not be breaking the law”. Alister Brady, a Labour Kent county councillor, said: “Putting up flags on lamp-posts, by the so called patriots, with the intention to intimate minorities is a disgraceful use of our flag. We are a proudly tolerant country which has a history of inclusion. “We now hear that through the actions of the few they have impacted the festive period for the many. Kent county council should now come out and be clear on this matter instead of being concerned about a negative reaction from the far right.
“The festive lights are a way to bring people together; those who put flags on lamp-posts are trying to do the opposite. Kent county council have a duty to keep the highways safe and street furniture clear, so instead of posturing and infighting they should get on with that job.”
|
[
"Caroline Davies"
] |
Kent county council says union flags and flags of St George must come off street lights because of safety concerns
|
[
"Kent",
"Reform UK",
"Local government",
"Politics",
"England",
"UK news"
] |
UK news
|
Kent
|
2025-11-03T19:12:19.000Z
|
2025-11-03T19:22:46.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//uk-news/2025/nov/03/beyond-ironic-reform-led-council-says-flags-must-come-down-so-christmas-lights-can-go-up
|
|
Headteachers’ union considers strikes after judge rejects case against Ofsted
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A headteachers’ union is to consult members about possible industrial action after a high court judge dismissed its attempt to challenge Ofsted’s new inspection regime for schools in England. The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) sought permission to apply for a judicial review, claiming the schools’ watchdog failed to adequately consult on the new framework or give proper consideration to the serious negative impact on teachers’ wellbeing. On Monday, however, Mr Justice Saini, sitting at the high court in London, refused the union permission to apply for a judicial review, ruling there was “no arguable error” in the consultation process. Ofsted made its decision in a “procedural and lawful way, and after a careful assessment of the various views expressed to it”, the judge concluded and ordered the claimants to pay £40,000 of Ofsted’s legal costs. The new inspection framework will launch on 10 November as planned. The NAHT had asked the judge to temporarily suspend the rollout of the new grading system, pending a full hearing of the challenge. Saini said he would have refused an interim injunction on public interest grounds “had the issue arisen”. The schools inspectorate has been embroiled in controversy since the 2023 death by suicide of the Reading headteacher Ruth Perry, with a coroner finding that an Ofsted inspection contributed to her death. It prompted the scrapping of controversial one-word overall judgments, such as “outstanding” or “inadequate”. After a lengthy consultation that drew 6,500 responses, Ofsted came up with a new colour-coded “report card”, which grades six inspection areas on a five-point scale. The NAHT’s general secretary, Paul Whiteman, said the union was considering an appeal. “It is disappointing that the decision today was made to decline our request for a judicial review, but this case was always being brought forward on a very narrow point of law relating to the validity of Ofsted’s consultation process for their new framework. He added: “The decision today doesn’t detract from our valid and reasonable concern about the damage to the mental health and wellbeing of school leaders and staff of the new report cards. “Both Ofsted and the government have failed to address the very real risk posed by the new framework to school leaders. It is a fundamental responsibility of a trade union to protect its members. We will now consider an appeal and will be consulting our members about the possibility of moving to industrial action.” Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The court heard that the NAHT and other education unions favoured a “narrative-only” approach to inspection due to concerns about the impact of high-stakes graded assessments on teacher wellbeing. Parents and carers, however, preferred some form of grading or scaling. Ofsted hopes to have combined both. Welcoming the judge’s decision, the chief inspector of schools, Martyn Oliver, said: “The changes will be better for parents, giving them more detailed and useful information about their child’s school, nursery or college. And, crucially, they will be better for children and older learners – helping to raise standards of education for all, particularly those who are disadvantaged or vulnerable. “I have every confidence that headteachers will recognise the changes are fair, that inspection takes staff wellbeing fully into account, and that the whole experience is collaborative and constructive. We will continue to engage constructively with all representative bodies as we roll out our reforms.”
|
[
"Sally Weale"
] |
Union had sought permission to apply for judicial review over watchdog’s new inspection framework
|
[
"Ofsted",
"Teaching",
"Education",
"Schools",
"UK news",
"England",
"Trade unions"
] |
Education
|
Ofsted
|
2025-11-03T19:08:56.000Z
|
2025-11-03T19:34:00.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//uk-news/2025/nov/03/head-teachers-union-considers-strikes-judge-dismisses-ofsted-case
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Frank calls for better support from Spurs crowd after Van de Ven and Spence apologise
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Thomas Frank has called for better support from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium crowd after revealing that Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence had apologised to him for their reaction to the 1-0 home defeat against Chelsea on Saturday. Van de Ven and Spence were incensed when the full-time whistle went and the Spurs fans booed, as they had done at half-time with their team trailing to João Pedro’s 34th-minute goal. The defenders stormed past Frank towards the tunnel, ignoring their manager’s attempts to get them to acknowledge the supporters in the South Stand – a bad look at the end of another bad Premier League day at the stadium. Tottenham have won only once in five games there under Frank in the competition, losing three, which has continued a worrying trend. The team have three victories and 12 defeats in 19 home league matches and have lost 41 times at the stadium since it opened in 2019. It hurts the Spurs fanbase to realise that their fiercest rivals, Arsenal, have lost 48 league games at the Emirates Stadium – and that opened in 2006. Frank was happy to provide the detail of how Van de Ven and Spence had been to see him separately on Sunday to say sorry as they began the preparations for the Champions League match at home against Copenhagen on Tuesday night. Frank is acutely aware of how poor his team were against Chelsea – they offered nothing in attacking terms – and he accepted that the jeers could come after the final whistle. But he was also clear that there needed to be greater positivity from the stands during the game. There were boos, for example, towards the end against Chelsea when the goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario, played a sideways pass rather than something more forward-thinking. “I want to get the point across that the fans were fantastic in the first 30 minutes,” Frank said. “It seems there was a little bit of a turning point when we conceded the goal, where we all get a little bit frustrated, which is natural. “After the game, if we perform badly and on top of that we lose, it’s more than fair enough that they boo us. We are in the performance business and if we can’t deal with the pressure, the negativity or the criticism, we shouldn’t sit here. But during the game, we need a little bit of help. And especially when it’s not going the right way. “They [the fans] can be the turning point. We were 1-0 down in the last 15 minutes … imagine they carry us over the line and we got a little bit of an unfair 1-1. What a feeling! That point can be the difference in a long season.” Vicario was seen after the game pushing his young teammate Lucas Bergvall away from a confrontation with an irate supporter. The goalkeeper pointed at his own eyes and then at the fan as though to say he was watching him. “In every environment there are very good people and some bad people,” Vicario said. “Probably [Bergvall] got contact with one bad person. That doesn’t necessarily say that everyone are bad people. But there are some bad people in every environment and I had to protect him because he was a little bit emotional in that time. “Of course, we have spoken as players [about the home crowd]. In some moments during the game, probably when we are chasing, we need a little more cool heads and if we have a little bit more help in some situations coming from the stands it could be, of course, better.” Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion On the Van de Ven and Spence situation, Frank said: “They came into my office yesterday, unprompted, and just said: ‘Want to say sorry for the situation.’ They didn’t want it to look bad or disrespectful or all of the kind of perceptions you can get in this beautiful media world. That was not the intention at all towards me or the team or the club. They were just frustrated with the performance, the loss and the booing during the game. “Of course, I’m happy [they apologised] because I knew the question would come today and it means that they care. They care about the team, the club and, in this case, me.” Frank, who reported that Bergvall was observing the 12-day concussion protocol after his withdrawal against Chelsea and would miss the games against Copenhagen and Manchester United on Saturday, also made a gentle plea for perspective. Despite Spurs’ difficulties at home, they have been excellent on their travels to sit fifth in the league – a contrast to the domestic horrors of last season when they finished 17th. They are also unbeaten in their three Champions League ties. “If anyone would have said that we would have 17 points after 10 games, fifth place and unbeaten in the Champions League … everything’s definitely not perfect but there’s a decent foundation and it’s up to us to add layers,” Frank said. “I think everyone would have taken where we are now, in terms of 22 [league] defeats last season and finishing 17th. The Europa League [victory last season] was fantastic, wow. But the Champions League is different.”
|
[
"David Hytner"
] |
Thomas Frank has called for better support from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium crowd as Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence apologised for their reaction
|
[
"Tottenham Hotspur",
"Thomas Frank",
"FC Copenhagen",
"Champions League",
"European club football",
"Chelsea",
"Football",
"Sport"
] |
Football
|
Tottenham Hotspur
|
2025-11-03T18:58:00.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:59:26.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//football/2025/nov/03/thomas-frank-tottenham-micky-van-de-ven-djed-spence-copenhagen-champions-league-chelsea
|
|
The Guardian view on the Huntingdon train stabbings: an immigration-fixated right is failing the public | Editorial
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Witnesses to Saturday evening’s stabbings on a train in Cambridgeshire at first wondered if reports of a knife-wielding attacker were a Halloween prank. As passengers fled through the carriages, some of them bleeding and shouting warnings, it became clear that this was one of those terrible moments when a nightmare comes true. LNER staff and the emergency services deserve credit for their swift response. By diverting the high‑speed service to Huntingdon, train driver Andrew Johnson averted a worse disaster. Another crew member, who remains in a critical condition, has been described by police as “heroic”. Five out of 10 people who were injured in the rampage have been discharged. A suspect, Anthony Williams, was arrested at the scene and has appeared in court. The contrast between frontline professionalism and the kneejerk cynicism of some rightwing politicians and commentators, in using these events to stoke fear and prejudice, could hardly be greater. Police announced at 10.30am on Sunday that two male suspects, both black British nationals, had been detained. Given that one of these men was later released and had nothing to do with the attack, his arrest and the decision to announce it must be reviewed promptly. But the conduct of senior politicians, as well as less significant public figures, over the weekend was an ugly reminder of why guidance was changed to enable suspects’ nationality or ethnicity to be made public in high-profile cases where there is a risk of misinformation. While Chris Philp, the Tory shadow home secretary, said that police ought to have released “identity details” even sooner, Reform UK’s former co-leader, Ben Habib, said it was “almost inconceivable” that this was not a terrorist attack. Such ill-judged remarks not only undermine the police – exposing the hypocrisy of rightwing politicians’ claims to champion law and order. They actively contribute to a climate of suspicion, in which social media rumours can easily create the false impression that facts are being hidden. The reality is that neither of the two highest-profile multiple stabbings involving strangers, in recent years, have been terrorist attacks. The inquiries into the killings carried out by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham in 2023, and Axel Rudakubana in Southport in 2024, are both focused on the men’s interactions with mental health and other public services. It will take time to reach an understanding of what happened on Saturday. But looking at previous knife attacks, we can be certain that public services including the NHS need to get better at identifying people who pose a threat. In the case of Rudakubana, a failure of information-sharing between police forces is expected to be highlighted, when the inquiry report is published next year. An NHS review of the care given to Calocane, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, pointed to treatment and risk assessment failures. Shortages of mental health beds and other resources have been found on many occasions to contribute to such lapses. Mental illness-related explanations for extreme violence, and terrorism, are of course not mutually exclusive. The debate is ongoing in policy circles about how attackers who are fixated on violence rather than a particular ideology or worldview should be dealt with. But the opportunistic use of such tragedies to foment antagonism towards asylum seekers, and racist prejudice more broadly, must cease. It drags our politics towards the gutter. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
|
[
"Editorial"
] |
<strong>Editorial:</strong> Kneejerk responses undermine the emergency services and contribute to a damaging climate of suspicion
|
[
"Knife crime",
"Crime",
"UK news",
"Politics",
"Reform UK",
"Chris Philp",
"Immigration and asylum",
"Rail transport",
"Conservatives"
] |
Opinion
|
Knife crime
|
2025-11-03T18:50:27.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:59:03.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//commentisfree/2025/nov/03/the-guardian-view-on-the-huntingdon-train-stabbings-an-immigration-fixated-right-is-failing-the-public
|
|
French taxi driver cleared of stealing from David Lammy after fare dispute
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A French taxi driver accused of stealing money and luggage from David Lammy has been acquitted due to lack of evidence, a prosecutor said. Nassim Mimun, 40, drove the deputy prime minister and his wife, Nicola Green, more than 600km (370 miles) from Forli, near Bologna in northern Italy, to the ski resort of Flaine in the French Alps on 11 April. But at the end of the journey the “tone escalated” over the cost of the fare, the Bonneville prosecutor Boris Duffau said in May. The driver, from the south-eastern city of Avignon, then left with his passengers’ bags in the boot of his car. “He dropped them off the next day at a municipal police station” but that was considered theft due to the length of time he had them in his possession, Duffau said. The driver accused Lammy in media interviews of refusing to pay for the journey and complained of violence. He was acquitted over the alleged theft because of a lack of proof, Duffau said on Monday. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said at the time that Lammy and his spouse were victims in the case and denied that the Labour MP for Tottenham had refused to pay the driver. Lammy and Mimun both filed complaints but only the justice secretary’s was deemed substantial and the Frenchman was charged with “theft of cash and personal belongings”. The driver had claimed to French media that Lammy became “aggressive” when asked to pay €700 (£590) of the €1,550 bill, the remainder of which was to be paid by the booking service. The fee was paid upfront to the transfer service but Mimun insisted he was owed money on arrival and that he needed to be paid in cash, a source said at the time. The MP and his wife had been in Italy to join King Charles on a state visit before heading to the French Alps for a private holiday. Lammy was foreign secretary at the time of the incident and was named justice secretary and deputy prime minister in September as part of Keir Starmer’s reshuffle.
|
[
"Nadeem Badshah"
] |
Nassim Mimun, who left with Lammy’s and his wife’s bags after ‘tone escalated’, acquitted due to lack of evidence
|
[
"David Lammy",
"France",
"Europe",
"Politics",
"World news"
] |
Politics
|
Europe
|
David Lammy
|
2025-11-03T18:49:52.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:51:26.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//politics/2025/nov/03/french-taxi-driver-david-lammy-fare-dispute
|
The Guardian view on Britain’s new class divide: the professional middle is being hollowed out | Editorial
|
In the US, the brightest are said to join AI firms. In Britain, they sign up to be quantitative analysts. The Financial Times reports that the City is becoming one of the world’s leading “quant” centres. An Oxford don in charge of mathematical finance told its reporters that almost all his students ended up working at quant trading firms, on salaries from £250,000 to £800,000. “If you get offered a salary less than £250K, you’re kind of the sad guy,” he said, adding that “nobody I know interviews for JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs … not once do I hear anybody entertain any of these traditional investment banking jobs.” The lure is obvious: 45-year-old billionaire trader Alex Gerko earned £682m from his City quant firm XTX Markets last year. Harder to grasp is that modest salaries in once respectable professions now function to deter people from the very graduate careers they once defined. On the FT’s front page, employers warned that graduate entrants to City bluechips earn a median yearly salary of £33,000, not much more than the new £26,400 minimum wage. Executives cautioned that university debt no longer yields a wage premium. To preserve profits, firms said they would look to using more AI or offshore roles. This ought to be warning for the professions that have provided the backbone of the British middle class. What is emerging is a world in which a tiny sliver at the top captures rents from financial capital, and a great many credentialed professionals earn a little above the legal salary floor. While London lags behind New York as the quant capital of global finance, the US is a larger and more variegated economy with other industries – notably AI – attracting top graduates. The war for “talent” across the pond is so ridiculous that Mr Gerko’s XTX New York office offers interns $35,000 a month in compensation. Both AI and quantitative investing need huge amounts of cash to build data centres. Intuitively it feels like machine learning will probably add something to society though few can say what exactly. Finance by comparison is useless. Its quantitative version adds no real value: it’s clever people betting against other clever people, shuffling wealth a little faster between them. The theory is that the best mathematical models put investors on the right side of trades. After the crash of 2008, the financial sector was fingered for being responsible for inequality rising faster in the UK than its rich world peers. But that knowledge did little to reorient the British economy and steer talent toward socially useful sectors. Today the UK’s exchange-rate and interest‑rate regimes still privilege financial assets over productive investment. The result is a misallocation of human capital: with a surplus in finance and a scarcity almost anywhere else. Financialised economies no longer translate innovation into productivity. The gains end up in concentrated ownership and shareholder payouts. Finance’s pull in the UK is so strong that it shapes cultural aspirations, pay norms and even the justification of education. Meanwhile minimum-wage workers approach the pay of young auditors, while quant traders approach that of chief executives. Britain’s professional class is quietly being proletarianised. Culturally privileged but economically precarious, white-collar workers risk souring on the system they were trained to serve. That should worry politicians. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
|
[
"Editorial"
] |
<strong>Editorial:</strong> A micro-elite in finance and tech hoovers up talent while-white collar jobs lose their lustre. A society that rewards proximity to capital over contribution risks rupture
|
[
"Class issues",
"Banking",
"Artificial intelligence (AI)",
"Money",
"Stock markets",
"Business",
"Technology",
"Economics",
"Interest rates",
"Politics",
"UK news"
] |
Opinion
|
Banking
|
Class issues
|
2025-11-03T18:49:36.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:57:22.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//commentisfree/2025/nov/03/the-guardian-view-on-britains-new-class-divide-the-professional-middle-is-being-hollowed-out
|
New York mayoral candidates campaign across city in final push before election
|
The candidates for New York City mayor spent a frantic final day campaigning across the city, as voters prepare to head to the polls on Tuesday in one of the most closely watched races in the city’s history. Zohran Mamdani, the race’s frontrunner, whose campaign has been centered on affordability, has maintained a commanding lead, with most polls showing him leading by double digits. The 34-year-old Democratic nominee, a state assembly member from Queens, began his Monday walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise. He was joined by the New York attorney general, Letitia James; the city comptroller, Brad Lander; as well as several city and state lawmakers and throngs of supporters. He finished the walk at city hall, where he told a news conference that “we stand on the verge of ushering in a new day for our city”, and was scheduled to join volunteers before they began a final day of canvassing in Astoria, Queens, later in the day. Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic governor running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in June’s primary, kicked off the last day of the campaign with an interview on the Spanish-language radio station La Mega before heading to a campaign stop in the Bronx. He reportedly planned to visit all five boroughs on Monday. Running a distant third has been Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate and founder of the Guardian Angels, a non-profit organization dedicated to “unarmed crime prevention”. According to social media, Sliwa spent part of Monday morning at Coney Island and was set to host a tele-rally in the evening. The weekend saw all three candidates racing across the city in a final push to energize supporters and win over undecided voters in a race that has drawn national and international attention – and could have significant implications for the future of the Democratic party and next year’s midterm elections. Mamdani was seen campaigning in Harlem, Queens and Brooklyn. On Saturday night, he made the rounds at several nightclubs, where videos show him dancing to Empire State of Mind and urging patrons to get out and vote. On Sunday, he cheered on runners at the New York City marathon, watched the Buffalo Bills game in a Queens bar alongside New York governor Kathy Hochul – who has endorsed him – and capped off the evening in nosebleed seats at Madison Square Garden for the New York Knicks basketball game, where he mingled with fans. Cuomo, meanwhile, was seen at campaign events in the Bronx – where he spoke at two churches and met with voters at a cafe – as well as in Brooklyn and Queens, where he served as Grand Marshal in a community parade in Cambria Heights. Sliwa was seen meeting with supporters in the streets of Manhattan and campaigning in Queens, Staten Island and South Brooklyn. The race has already shattered early voting records, according to the board of elections, with more than 735,000 ballots cast ahead of election day – more than four times the number of ballots cast during early voting in the 2021 mayoral race, according to the New York Times. Donald Trump also loomed large over the race this weekend: in an interview with 60 Minutes, the US president suggested that he would prefer Cuomo to win. “It’s going to be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump said, falsely labelling Mamdani, who espouses democratic socialism. “So I don’t know that he’s won, and I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you.” Mamdani’s campaign responded on social media with a post stating: “Trump endorses Cuomo!” and a caption that read: “Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo. I know how hard you worked for this.” Throughout the race, Mamdani and Cuomo have sparred and clashed over their records, qualifications, ideologies and visions for the city. Mamdani has accused Cuomo of being beholden to wealthy and corporate donors and of serving their interests, while Cuomo has dismissed Mamdani as inexperienced and unrealistic. In recent weeks, the rhetoric has intensified. Cuomo, who is seeking a political comeback after resigning as Governor of New York in 2021 after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment – allegations which he has denied – has labelled Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, an “extremist” and warned that New York “will not survive” under his leadership. Polls are closed on Monday but polling stations will reopen on Tuesday for election day from 6am to 9pm ET.
|
[
"Anna Betts"
] |
Zohran Mamdani walked across Brooklyn Bridge while Andrew Cuomo headed to the Bronx
|
[
"New York",
"Zohran Mamdani",
"Andrew Cuomo",
"US news"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
New York
|
2025-11-03T18:45:54.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:47:25.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//us-news/2025/nov/03/new-york-city-mayoral-race-mamdani-cuomo
|
It’s the Nigel Farage chameleon show – flashy, ever-changing pledges, but only one real policy: xenophobia | Polly Toynbee
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If you screw up your eyes and look four years into the future, can you imagine a Prime Minister Farage standing victorious on that No 10 doorstep? I’m afraid the answer is yes – just about. I can see that ghastly grin. If everything that can go wrong does go wrong, then it’s not inconceivable, and everyone had better believe it. The showman had on his serious face to talk about the economy in today’s speech. He had some pretty heavy lifting to do, heaving out impossible promises made only a short time ago. Gone was his £90bn tax cut bonanza. Public spending will be slashed instead: Reform has already put 100,000 civil servants “on notice”. Farage the chameleon now says his is both “the party of workers” and one that is “pro-business”. Reform had also briefly posed as the party of poor children with a suggestion that it would end the two-child benefit cap, but Farage rapidly cut back eligibility: now it’s only for couples, only when both work, and only for British nationals. He also promised spending cuts and big cuts to the benefits bill. His mercurial shapeshifting comes under a little more scrutiny now he tops the polls, but not much. His will be the greatest party of “risk-takers”, plunging the country into crypto like Donald Trump. (Might he, too, launch his own token?) With undisguised glee he predicts an economic collapse in 2027, forcing an election to sweep him to power. He mentions “a self-induced act of financial stupidity”. At last! Among all his backflips and reversions, is this the confession we deserve from the man who instigated the great Brexit calamity? No, of course not. He is talking about the non-dom tax he would remove to lure back wealthy expats, including some of the quarter of a million Britons now in Dubai. On Brexit, since the popular mood has turned against it, all we get is a grumble that others have “squandered” the opportunity it provided to reduce regulation. Expect nothing on the thousands of extra civil servants hired to replicate tasks done in Brussels. Nothing either on £80bn in tax revenues lost annually due to Brexit, a costly price for “sovereignty”. How absurdly he poses as the friend of Brexit-stricken business. Labour has, at last, taken off its self-imposed gag about Brexit. It needs to hammer home the damage this man did to the economy. The only reason we listen to Farage, and the only reason he tops the polls, is his prowess in pumping animosity towards immigrants to the top of the political agenda. This one-man band has only his xenophobic dog whistle to signal his party’s course into government, the same one sweeping the right in across the democratic world. Without that, who would care about his views on anything else? He has pledged “net zero migration”. In a deeply angry country, other sources of discontent may well fill his sails, but however hard he tried to promote other policies today, immigration is his only proven winner. As he takes up the mantle of the next popular issue, he buries his own perverse political predilections: his choice of Putin as his most admired leader, his fondness for Trump, and his frequent calls to replace the NHS with private health insurance. Despite all this, his only calling card with voters is a toxic loathing for foreigners. He may have reached his peak. The political scientist John Curtice tells me that having scooped up older, socially conservative voters, Farage is less popular among the young, especially female voters, who are “almost all socially liberal on diversity, graduates and non-graduates alike”. Nor will Reform’s record in its 10 county councils back up Farage’s national promises of vast efficiency. Farage answered every question after his speech, except one. The Guardian asked if he still adheres to his lifelong support for proportional representation. Silence. It’s become clear recently he has changed his mind, now that our wildly distorting first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is his only path to power. FPTP is becoming his “friend”, he recently told Sky News Australia. Shamefully, there is silence from Labour on this, too, despite majority support for electoral reform. If Farage should win, it will not be because of any image transformation, but because Labour’s failure to reform our electoral system would give Reform victory on just over a quarter of the vote. That, after all, is why PM Farage is in any way imaginable. Sign up to Matters of Opinion Guardian columnists and writers on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading, and more after newsletter promotion Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
|
[
"Polly Toynbee"
] |
The Reform leader’s speech was full of contradictions and damaging cuts. But if he makes it to No 10, Labour will be to blame, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
|
[
"Reform UK",
"Nigel Farage",
"Electoral reform",
"Politics",
"Budget 2025",
"UK news"
] |
Opinion
|
Reform UK
|
2025-11-03T18:43:55.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:56:43.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//commentisfree/2025/nov/03/nigel-farage-chameleon-xenophobia-reform
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Joey Barton X posts ‘crossed the line between free speech and crime’, court told
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The former footballer Joey Barton “crossed the line between free speech and a crime” with social media posts aimed at female pundits, a jury has been told. Barton, 43, is accused of 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety, related to posts he made between January and March in 2024 on X that targeted Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko as well as the broadcaster Jeremy Vine. Opening the prosecution case on Monday, Peter Wright KC told the jury at Liverpool crown court that Barton had a “sizeable following on X in excess of two million” and often posted things that “may well be characterised as cutting, caustic, controversial and forthright”. He said that “everyone is entitled to express views that are all of those”, including things which are “offensive, shocking or personally rude when considered against and applying the contemporary standards of an open, just, multi-racial; equal and diverse society”. But, Wright said, Barton had posted things that were “beyond the pale of what is tolerable in society” and had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime on 12 occasions”. Barton has denied all charges and pleaded not guilty. In one of the posts, made after an FA Cup tie between Crystal Palace and Everton on 17 January that Ward and Aluko had been pundits for, Barton said that the pair were the “Fred and Rose West of commentary”, adding that Aluko was present because of her race and was “only there to tick boxes”. Barton later posted an image on X with Ward and Aluko’s faces edited over those of the Wests. This led to Vine posting about his concern for Barton, which drew the ire of the former footballer, the court heard. Barton proceeded to ask Vine if he had “been to Epstein Island”, told him that he would “phone the police if I saw you near a primary school on ya bike,”, and posted an image of the Vine with the caption: “If you see this fella by a primary school call 999.” He also called Vine a “bike nonce”. Barton, who has gained a reputation for his criticism of female involvement in football and a supposed lack of quality in today’s game, made more than 400 career appearances for six clubs and made a single 11-minute appearance for the England national team in a friendly. The trial continues.
|
[
"Raphael Boyd"
] |
Former footballer on trial over social media posts about pundits Lucy Ward and Eni Aluko and broadcaster Jeremy Vine
|
[
"UK news"
] |
UK news
|
UK news
|
2025-11-03T18:36:32.000Z
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2025-11-03T18:38:23.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//uk-news/2025/nov/03/joey-barton-x-posts-crossed-line-free-speech-and-crime-court-told
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Sunderland v Everton: Premier League – live
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Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. The Premier League table has been a table of the unexpected for the last couple of months, but now the usual top three – Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool – are in place and that’s the end of the that. Wrong! Okay, possibly wrong! Sunderland, the team of the season so far, will jump back up to second if they beat Everton at the Stadium of Light. More importantly, in the grand scheme, a win would take them to 20 points – halfway to reaching 40, though you don’t need that many to avoid relegation any more. In the last two seasons, 27 points would have been enough. Everton’s relegation battles feel like a thing of the past, even if they are only four points above 18th-placed West Ham. Their away form – a win at Wolves and three defeats – has yet to hit the dizzy heights achieved earlier in the year when David Moyes returned to the club. But two of those defeats were at Anfield and the Etihad, so we shouldn’t read too much into it. At least not yet. Kick off 8pm.
|
[
"Rob Smyth"
] |
<strong>Minute-by-minute report:</strong> Join Rob Smyth for updates as David Moyes returns to Wearside
|
[
"Premier League",
"Sport",
"Football",
"Everton",
"Sunderland"
] |
Football
|
Premier League
|
2025-11-03T18:30:06.000Z
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2025-11-03T18:32:23.000Z
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https://www.theguardian.com//football/live/2025/nov/03/sunderland-v-everton-premier-league-live
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David Gow, former Guardian Germany correspondent, dies aged 80
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David Gow, a former Germany correspondent and European business editor of the Guardian whose strong commitment to social justice and to the EU project continued long after he left the paper, has died of a heart attack aged 80. Gow joined the Scotsman as a graduate trainee in 1969 before becoming the paper’s first Europe correspondent, then labour correspondent and finally its London editor. After nearly 20 years there Gow moved to the Guardian in 1989. He was briefly education editor before going to Bonn to cover, for nearly six years, one of the most momentous periods in Germany’s postwar history, including its rebirth as a single nation with the reunification of east and west Germany in 1990. Gow, who studied modern languages at Oxford and spoke fluent French and German, then moved to the business and industry desk in London before heading to Brussels as European business correspondent, where he stayed until he retired in 2012. “David was an impressively professional journalist, the sort of versatile, reliable correspondent who never let you down and would get his teeth into a breaking story with speed and skill,” said Simon Tisdall, a former Guardian foreign editor. “He was very knowledgable indeed about European affairs. But it wasn’t just the politics. He was also expert on the history and culture of the countries and movements he wrote about – and as a colleague, a pleasure to work with.” A convinced – though never starry-eyed – European since before the UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973, Gow took Brexit almost as a personal affront. He continued writing for numerous continental thinktanks and publications after leaving the Guardian. “We are incredibly saddened to learn of David Gow’s passing,” said Henning Meyer, the chief executive and editor-in-chief of the progressive debate platform Social Europe, for which Gow was for many years a contributor, editor and senior adviser. “Until his death, David was instrumental not only in shaping European intellectual debate but also in defining the direction of the Social Europe platform itself. He will be profoundly missed. Our deepest condolences go out to his wife and family.” Gow also worked as a consultant editor for the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin, and was a leading light in the pressure group European Movement in Scotland (EMiS), where he settled – in the city of his birth, Edinburgh – with his second wife, Gayle, after retirement. EMiS said Gow had “a great hinterland of knowledge, the journalist’s ability to make the complex simple and to interpret with great clarity the political tides and eddies of our time. He was thoughtful, engaging and helpful to many.” It added that he was “an ever-dependable adviser and the best of company. We shall miss him as a friend, and as a man in the great Scottish tradition of the democratic intellect.” In 2023, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his contribution to journalism and public understanding of European affairs. The RSE’s president, Anton Muscatelli, said Gow would be remembered “for his warmth, charm and commitment to open, informed dialogue”. He brought “real energy and insight to the society’s work”, including through his leadership of a Scotland-Europe initiative, Muscatelli said. “He was a friend and present in so many of the spaces for public debate in Scotland.” Gow was equally committed to the labour movement and to social justice. He served on the national executive council of the National Union of Journalists, whose general secretary, Laura Davison, said the union’s thoughts were with his family. “He adored them and they were justifiably proud of his record in journalism, and of his commitment to the labour movement – not least the NUJ,” Davison said. “David was an old-school journalist, insistent on maintaining the highest ethical standards. “He was forthright and firm in his views. But my memory of him will be his courtesy and respectful manner in debate. We have lost a good friend, and a loyal member.” Séamus Dooley, the NUJ’s assistant general secretary, said Gow “understood the difference between scepticism and cynicism. He was always ready to question and challenge the perceived wisdom or a political consensus, not least in economics.” Christine Buckley, the editor of the NUJ magazine the Journalist, who knew Gow from her time as business and industry correspondent at the Times, said he was “a class act: indefatigable, zero tolerance for nonsense – and a strong belief in fairness”. Knowledgeable – and witty – on a vast array of topics, Gow was also a passionate gardener, at his cottage in Aumelas in the south of France and then at the lodge he bought in St Fillans, Perthshire. He is survived by his wife, Gayle; by Gemma, his daughter with his first wife, Sue, who died of cancer in 2001; and by three grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and his brother, Rod.
|
[
"Jon Henley"
] |
‘Impressively professional journalist’ with a commitment to social justice was also European business editor
|
[
"The Guardian",
"Newspapers",
"National newspapers",
"Media",
"Newspapers & magazines",
"Europe"
] |
Media
|
Europe
|
The Guardian
|
2025-11-03T18:26:34.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:28:22.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//media/2025/nov/03/david-gow-former-guardian-germany-correspondent-dies
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Releasing a suspect’s nationality will do nothing to satisfy those who are not looking for the truth | Zoe Williams
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A thousand years ago, in 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a car accident – you may have heard about this – and the country went absolutely crackers. It was pretty spooky to watch, as people filed towards London’s Kensington Palace, her former residence, weeping and hugging, but it also seemed like maybe it was a good thing. Pent-up grief about who knows what other losses was expressing itself collectively, the upper lip for which the nation was fabled had unstiffened, it was conceivable, just about, that we’d emerge a more cohesive society. And then – this is a deep dive – two Slovakians stole 11 soft toys that had been left among the flowers outside Westminster Abbey, and they each got a month-long prison sentence, though this was later reduced on appeal to a fine of £200. The original sentencing judge said he had a duty to “reflect the public sense of outrage”, which set off every tripwire: mate, no, you do not have to reflect the public sense of outrage. The public has gone wild and you are a judge. This case came rushing back to me on Saturday, when the horrific stabbings on the train from Doncaster to London started to be reported. Nothing was clear, nothing made sense: at that point, there were thought to be two assailants, and so it was reasonable to wonder what their relationship was, and whether the motive was terrorism. By the end of Sunday, it transpired that the older man had nothing to do with the attack, and they were charging just one 32-year-old suspect. The release of both men’s nationality (British), their skin colour and their heritage, was not reasonable, though. It was incredibly jarring to hear news reporters intone that one was Black and the other was of Caribbean descent, even before we knew that the second guy had nothing to do with it. Since when did we describe suspects by their citizenship status? Since when did we distinguish one British citizen from another by their skin colour? Since when has that been the country we are? People immediately justified the British Transport Police statement, on the grounds that where information was lacking, disinformation rushed in to fill the vacuum. Look at Southport, where apparently the riots could have been averted if people hadn’t “got the sense that something was being withheld or fudged”, in the words of Jonathan Hall KC, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. But disinformation and insinuation rush in anyway. Matt Goodwin, the GB news presenter who has a history of expressing anti-immigrant sentiments, said on X that this was the result of “mass uncontrolled immigration”. Grok, Elon Musk’s handy far-right AI chatbot, was immediately spreading Islamophobic falsehoods (I’m not going to provide a link but just trust me). Reform’s Zia Yusuf threw in a random parallel to a knife attack committed by an asylum seeker while talking to Laura Kuenssberg. There is now a segment of British society that will use any violent crime as a stick to beat migrants with. It doesn’t matter whether an alleged suspect could be said to represent all immigrants or, indeed, whether they were an immigrant at all, some grifter will jump on a horrific scene, while it’s still fresh enough that society’s panic-brain is engaged, saying “mass uncontrolled immigration”. No information can be released fast enough for these people, because they’re not looking for the truth. No amount of transparency will appease them. “British born” means nothing to them. They’re always racing to a new low, blaming faith when nationality doesn’t support their generalisations, and race when religion doesn’t. Whatever the sea wall is between the anti-migrant faction and the rest of civilisation, you can’t expect it to be the British Transport Police, especially given the College of Policing released new interim guidance in August, advising that forces release the ethnicity or nationality of suspects where there was a risk of “misinformation or disinformation leading to community tension.” What we can expect from the authorities, though, is that they don’t roll over to demands just because they are stridently made.
|
[
"Zoe Williams"
] |
Grifters are always racing to a new low. Nothing can be done to appease them – they just want to find any way they can to denounce migrants, writes Zoe Williams
|
[
"Race",
"Cambridgeshire",
"UK news"
] |
Opinion
|
Race
|
2025-11-03T18:24:09.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:26:21.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//commentisfree/2025/nov/03/releasing-a-suspects-nationality-will-do-nothing-to-satisfy-those-who-are-not-looking-for-the-truth
|
|
Trump administration says it will partially fund Snap food aid benefits– live
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The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown. This is per a snap updated from the Reuters news agency and I’ll bring you more on this as we get it. Further to that, the Trump administration said $600m would be used to fund states’ administrative costs in administering Snap benefits, leaving $4.65bn that will be obligated to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments. The partial payments are unprecedented in the program’s history. A USDA official warned in a court filing that at least some states, which administer Snap benefits on a day-to-day basis, would need weeks to months to make system changes that would allow them to provide the reduced benefits. US district judge in Rhode Island John McConnell and another judge in Boston, US district judge Indira Talwani, said on Friday the administration had the discretion to also tap a separate fund holding about $23bn. Patrick Penn, deputy under secretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services at the USDA, said in a court filing the agency was carefully considering using those funds but determined they must remain available for child nutrition programs instead of Snap. Per my last post, the administration laid out the US Department of Agriculture’s plan in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island at the direction of a judge who had last week ordered it to use emergency funds to at least partially cover November’s Snap benefits. The justice department said the USDA is complying with US district judge John McConnell’s order and “will fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of Snap contingency funds today”. But while the administration said it would fully deplete the $5.25bn in contingency funds, it would not use other funding that would allow it to fully fund Snap benefits for 42 million Americans, which cost $8bn to $9bn per month. The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown. This is per a snap updated from the Reuters news agency and I’ll bring you more on this as we get it. Per that last post, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer quipped on social media today. “Maybe I should file a complaint with the FCC against the Trump White House for editing his unhinged 60 Minutes interview,” the top Democrat wrote on X. “It will use the exact same language Trump lodged against Vice President Harris.” The CBS News program 60 Minutes heavily edited down an interview with Donald Trump that aired on Sunday night, his first sit-down with the show in five years. Trump sat down with correspondent Norah O’Donnell for 90 minutes, but only about 28 minutes were broadcast. A full transcript of the interview was later published, along with a 73-minute-long extended version online. The edits are notable because, exactly one year before Trump was interviewed by O’Donnell at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday he had sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which he alleged had been deceptively edited to help her chances in the presidential election. While many legal experts widely dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless” and unlikely to hold up under the first amendment, CBS settled with Trump for $16m in July. As part of the settlement, the network had agreed that it would release transcripts of future interviews of presidential candidates. At the beginning of Sunday’s show, O’Donnell reminded viewers that Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit, but noted that “the settlement did not include an apology or admission of wrongdoing”. Ahead of election day across the country, my colleague Carter Sherman, has been covering how reproductive rights will be back on the ballot in this off-cycle year. Carter notes the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia could have sweeping consequences for abortion access in two states that have become havens for women fleeing abortion bans. In Pennsylvania, what should have been a relatively sleepy judicial-retention election has evolved into the most expensive race of its kind in nearly 50 years, largely due to heated fighting over abortion. With voters weighing whether to keep three Democratic justices on the state supreme court, advocates fear that liberals may lose control of the bench and, ultimately, lose abortion access in the purple state. Read more of her reporting here. When asked by reporters about the president’s insistence for lawmakers to abolish the filibuster, Mike Johnson said that he had spoken to Donald Trump over the weekend and shared his thoughts with him. “I hear my Senate Republican colleagues, some of the most conservative people in Congress, who say it’s an important safeguard. It prevents us, it holds us back from the Democrats’ worst impulses,” Johnson said. “What would the Democrats do if they had no filibuster impediment, no speed bump at all?” The House speaker added that he speaks “frankly and honestly” with the president and noted that he was very “passionate” about this issue. “I think what you see in this, this, this debate we’re having on our own side is a reflection of the anger that we feel, the real desperation that we feel, because we want the government to be reopened,” Johnson said. Mike Johnson has said that issuing payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) beneficiaries in the midst of the shutdown is “not as easy as hitting go send on a computer”. In recent days, two federal judges ordered the administration to use the program’s contingency funds to pay to Snap recipients. Today, Johnson said this was more complicated than it looked. “It costs over $9bn to fund Snap for a month, and we only have, I think it’s $5.2bn in the contingency fund. So you have a big shortfall,” he said. “You got to go through and recalculate partial payments to the 42 million recipients of the program.” Johnson noted that the president was not appealing against the rulings from the respective judges. “He wants that to be done,” Johnson said. “But he doesn’t see the mechanism to do it. So you have treasury, you have USDA, you have the other agencies involved that are working overtime, literally around the clock over the weekend, trying to figure out how to do this. But everybody needs to know, it’s not the full amount, assuming they could get this done and processed.” Throughout today’s press conference, Mike Johnson has continued to blame Senate Democrats for shuttering the government for 34 days. He, and many congressional Republicans, have claimed that the reason that lawmakers on the left have consistently rejected the House-passed funding bill is due to pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic party. “They fear that personally for their own political future,” Johnson said today. “And they care more about that than they care about Snap benefits flow into hungry families, about air traffic controllers being paid so they can keep the skies safe, border patrol, troops and all the rest … It is extremism on the left that is the direct cause of American suffering right now.” In a short while, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson will hold a press conference, on the 34th day of the government shutdown. We’ll bring you the latest lines, particularly when it comes to reopening the lower chamber, as the shutdown is poised to be the longest on record (likely to beat the 35 days during Donald Trump’s first administration). In an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Trump said that he’s “not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other”, but he would rather see the former governor win against the progressive frontrunner and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to be the next mayor of New York City. “If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump said. Early voting in the closely watched mayoral race ended on Sunday. More than 735,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election.
|
[
"Yohannes Lowe",
"Shrai Popat",
"Lucy Campbell",
"Jeremy Barr"
] |
Trump administration says in court filing it plans to use emergency funds to partially cover November Snap benefits for millions of Americans
|
[
"Trump administration",
"US federal government shutdown 2025",
"US news",
"World news",
"Donald Trump",
"US politics"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Trump administration
|
2025-11-03T18:22:39.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:22:39.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/nov/03/us-government-shutdown-donald-trump-latest-politics-news
|
UN resolution on international stabilisation force for Gaza could be ready within two weeks
|
A UN security council resolution mandating the introduction of an international stabilisation force into Gaza is likely to be ready within two weeks, but may be delayed if disputes cannot be resolved over the force’s mandate, including the question of US military leadership, its relationship with the Palestinian civil police force and a timetable for Israeli military withdrawal. At a meeting in Istanbul of Muslim countries considering offering troops on Monday, the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said: “The countries will shape their decisions based on the mission and authority of the International Stabilization Force. I believe that if the mission conflicts with the principles and policies of the countries that will send troops, it will be difficult for these countries to send troops.” Other issues under discussion include a leadership role for the US, a deconfliction mechanism for disputes with Israel, and whether a timetable for Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza should be scheduled, or contingent on the disarmament of Hamas. Fidan repeated that Turkey was willing to provide a troop contingent, something Israel has rejected because of Turkey’s support for Hamas. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, as well as representatives of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. Egypt, often seen as a potential force leader, was absent. Jordan has said that while it will not provide troops, it is prepared to train a vetted Palestinian police force that would be responsible for maintaining law and order in Gaza, but questions remain over the interaction between the two forces , and their respective responsibilities. Meanwhile, continued violence in Gaza has raised fears for the fragile truce as 115 people were killed and 352 injured on Tuesday. It w the deadliest day the territory had seen since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October. At the weekend the German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, said: “We really have to speed up. My fear is that we are running out of time. The ceasefire is good. That was very necessary. We needed a surge of humanitarian aid. But we really need to fill the vacuum within the Gaza Strip for security, for administration.” Fidan complained that “Israel is regularly violating the ceasefire and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid at the required level. We have now reached an extremely critical stage.” One western diplomat said he did not detect any resistance to the US being in the lead in the stabilisation force without needing boots on the ground. He said: “I don’t think any of the countries will participate unless the Americans are heavily involved in a leadership role because otherwise people will think there is no constraint on the Israelis, frankly.” Muslim leaders do not want their troops to be seen in a peace enforcement, as opposed to peace keeping, role, he said. It is expected the stabilisation force will ultimately be run separately from the new US civil military coordination centre that focuses on humanitarian work. The sources also suggest candidates to join a new committee of Palestinian technocrats to administer the territory had been selected, and were being vetted to ensure they are credible with civic society in Gaza. On the disarmament of Hamas the diplomat said there was still a lot to be worked out. “The only Hamas stipulation is they are not going to disarm in circumstances where they are going to be get killed by the Israelis.” The US has not agreed with Israel that Hamas is deliberately delaying the return of Israeli bodies, and it is expected that some will never be discovered in the rubble of Gaza. Pressure for progress is growing among Arab states concerned about a security vacuum. The Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, said: “It is imperative that we have a timeline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Israel cannot stay in 53% of Gaza and then expect security to be achieved.” Safadi said it was imperative to establish a deconfliction mechanism, adding: “You cannot have the International Stabilization Force doing the policing of the Palestinian community.” He added the apolitical “technocratic commission somehow has to be linked to the Palestinian Authority because this was the means to ensure that Gaza remains part of the occupied Palestinian territory”. Another western diplomat accepted that the failure to improve Palestinians’ lives since the ceasefire was deeply worrying, but denied there was a US plan to let Israel split Gaza. But they added: “Most people do not give this a huge chance of success to be honest, but things are moving along much better than anticipated. “What Gazans want is an international element being in support of a Palestinian government in Gaza, rather than it being taken over by internationals. On the other hand without an international element around security and governance then the Israelis will never treat the thing seriously and therefore Gaza will never get the space and capacity to be rebuilt as people want.”
|
[
"Patrick Wintour"
] |
Resolution may be delayed without agreement over the force’s mandate and a timetable for Israeli withdrawal
|
[
"Gaza",
"Israel",
"Israel-Gaza war",
"Turkey",
"Middle East and north Africa",
"Palestine"
] |
World news
|
Middle East
|
Gaza
|
2025-11-03T18:22:25.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:24:23.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//world/2025/nov/03/un-resolution-on-international-stabilisation-force-for-gaza-could-be-ready-within-two-weeks
|
Starmer was briefed on Mandelson’s Epstein links before appointing him, say civil servants
|
Keir Starmer was briefed on details of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein before he decided to make him US ambassador, senior civil servants have said. The prime minister received a Cabinet Office report that contained “a summary of reputational risks” to appointing Mandelson, including his “prior relationship with Jeffrey Epstein” and past resignations as a Labour minister. Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, told MPs that the report had contained “direct extracts from media reporting and notes a general reputational risk” to making the appointment. Speaking at the foreign affairs select committee, he said the “judgment about whether to make the appointment or not” had ultimately been one for Keir Starmer. Mandelson’s longstanding friendship with Epstein – which continued after the disgraced financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor – was a matter of public record before his appointment was made. It was public information that Mandelson had stayed at Epstein’s flat in Manhattan in 2009, the year after Epstein was sentenced to prison. The Mandelson briefing sent to Starmer also mentioned official records showing that Mandelson had facilitated a meeting between Epstein and Tony Blair in 2002. These have since been released by the National Archives after a delay. Wormald set out the due diligence process involved in Mandelson’s appointment, starting with the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics report, followed by a conflict of interest declaration and in-depth national security vetting carried out on behalf of the Foreign Office. The department has previously admitted that Mandelson’s appointment was announced before that developed vetting process was complete. Oliver Robbins, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, said that Mandelson was no longer on the government payroll and that the process of terminating his civil service employment was complete. He declined to reveal whether Mandelson had received a severance package. Asked whether the Foreign Office had had a different preferred candidate for US ambassador before the appointment, Robbins said: “At the time we’re describing, it was clear that the prime minister wanted to make this appointment himself and therefore I understand that the FCDO was informed of his decision and acted upon it. “In this particular case the prime minister took advice and formed a view himself and we then acted on that view.” Mandelson was sacked last month over a tranche of leaked emails in which he expressed his love and support for Epstein and urged him to “fight for early release” in 2008 while the financier was facing charges for soliciting sex from minors. Wormald said it was the publication of the “new and previously unknown emails that led to the decision to withdraw the ambassador to Washington”. He said the emails were “gamechanging in terms of what was known”. But Wormald and Robbins admitted that Starmer had not been informed about the contents of Mandelson’s emails before the session of prime minister’s questions when he expressed his full support for him as ambassador. Robbins said that after being contacted by Bloomberg about the emails, officials asked Mandelson a series of questions as they sought to confirm their veracity without yet involving ministers. At that stage Starmer was told only that there was a media inquiry that was being looked into. Bloomberg published the full set of emails later on Wednesday, after he had given Mandelson his backing. Robbins argued that although it “may sound naive” with hindsight, Mandelson was in “an extremely exposed position” and was an employee to whom the department “owed a duty of care”. The government has set out new guidance for politically appointed ambassadors intended to avoid a repeat of the Mandelson scandal. The updated guidelines state that candidates directly appointed by ministers outside the civil service system should undergo a pre-appointment interview with a senior official and an informal “fireside chat” with the minister in charge.
|
[
"Eleni Courea"
] |
PM had been given ‘summary of reputational risks’ but did not know about contents of emails before PMQs, MPs told
|
[
"Peter Mandelson",
"Keir Starmer",
"Foreign",
" Commonwealth and Development Office",
"Civil service",
"Labour",
"Politics",
"UK news"
] |
Politics
|
UK politics
|
Peter Mandelson
|
2025-11-03T18:22:21.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:26:57.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//politics/2025/nov/03/starmer-briefed-on-peter-mandelson-jeffrey-epstein-links-before-appointing-him-say-civil-servants
|
BBC accused of selectively editing Trump clip about Capitol attack
|
The BBC has been accused of selectively editing a Donald Trump speech to make it appear clearer that he encouraged the US Capitol attack, according to a former external adviser to the corporation. An edition of Panorama, broadcast a week before the US election, spliced together clips of a Trump speech made on January 6. The spliced clip suggested that Trump told the crowd: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.” The words were taken from sections of his speech almost an hour apart. It did not include a section in which Trump said he wanted supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”. Concerns about the cut were raised in a memo by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee (EGSC). He left the role in the summer. The dossier, first reported by the Telegraph, said the programme made Trump “‘say’ things [he] never actually said” by cutting together footage. The complaints relate to an hour-long Panorama special called Trump: A Second Chance? broadcast in October 2024. The memo also complained that footage of marchers that appeared to have been inspired by Trump were actually taken before the speech had been made. In a covering letter to the dossier, which he sent to the BBC’s board, Prescott reportedly said he was circulating the document out of “despair at inaction by the BBC Executive when issues come to light”. Prescott said in his report: “It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that [Trump] did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot.” Prescott has been contacted for comment. A BBC spokesperson said: “While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully. Michael Prescott is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.” The incident risks inflaming the White House’s relationship with the BBC. The Trump administration has previously wrongly accusing the BBC of removing a story about a fatal attack near a US-backed food distribution site in Gaza. Senior BBC journalists said the White House was political point-scoring after Donald Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, accused the corporation of taking “the word of Hamas with total truth”.
|
[
"Michael Savage"
] |
Panorama spliced together clips to make it appear clearer US president encouraged January 6 attack, former external adviser says
|
[
"BBC",
"Donald Trump",
"UK news",
"Media",
"The news on TV"
] |
Media
|
Media
|
BBC
|
2025-11-03T18:21:30.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:27:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//media/2025/nov/03/bbc-accused-selectively-editing-trump-clip-capitol-attack
|
Canada’s Liberal party says budget of ‘sacrifice’ needed to avoid recession
|
Canada’s ruling Liberal party has said a budget of “sacrifice” is required to confront both a trade war with the US and a protracted cost of living crisis that threatens to push the country into a recession. But with opposition parties signalling they won’t support the fiscal plans of the prime minister, Mark Carney, a failed parliamentary vote on the budget could plunge the country into another federal election in the coming weeks. The country’s finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, will on Tuesday unveil a spending plan his government has signalled will include both steep deficits and spending cuts. Few details have leaked ahead of the announcement, which will mark the first substantive look at how Carney plans to avoid a recession while locked in a trade war with the US, Canada’s biggest economic partner. In recent months, aggressive protectionist measures from the White House have battered Canada’s automotive, metals and forestry industries. To blunt the effects, Ottawa has turned to tax cuts and larger defence and infrastructure spending to help struggling companies, pushing the country towards a more challenging fiscal position. In Canada, a federal budget is a confidence vote, meaning once it is tabled as legislation, a lost vote would probably trigger the collapse of the minority Liberal government and plunge the country into its second federal election in less than 12 months. The Liberals hold 169 seats and need to find another party, or at least three other lawmakers, to vote with them to pass the budget. Alternatively, six lawmakers could choose to abstain, lowering the threshold needed for the budget to pass. But those MPs would have to answer to constituents why there were voluntarily absent from a crucial vote over the country’s economic future. Opposition parties have expressed skepticism towards the budget, variously suggesting it goes too far in its spending, or falls short of the investment needed. In a speech to students at the University of Ottawa last month, Carney warned that “we won’t transform our economy overnight – it will take sacrifice and time,” adding his government would “work relentlessly to cut waste, improve efficiency, and make thoughtful, transparent decisions”. “We won’t play games. We won’t waste time. We’ll play to win – by betting on Canada and Canadians,” he said. The Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, pounced on the address, calling it a “sacrifice speech” and claiming that the Liberals were attempting to get Canadians to accept “a permanent reduction in our quality of life”. The Liberals have spent recent weeks accusing opposition parties of demanding fiscal and policy concessions and warning the party, which holds a strong parliamentary minority, will not support any ultimatums in exchange for votes. In late October, the government house leader, Steven MacKinnon, said Poilievre was trying to engineer a “Christmas election” in order to distract from questions within the Tories about Poilievre’s future. Carney, a former central banker of both Canada and the UK but a political novice, has met with the leaders of the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic and Green parties to lay out his government’s priorities and coax out support. None have issued any public support for the Liberals. In a post on social media on Monday, Carney said his “number one focus is to put Canadians back in control” by reducing reliance on the US and doubling exports to other nations – a move that will require citizens to make “difficult” and “responsible” choices. Champagne will introduce the budget in the House of Commons just after 4pm ET on Tuesday. Four days of debate will after the budget announcement, with a vote scheduled for 17 November.
|
[
"Leyland Cecco"
] |
Country set to unveil PM Mark Carney’s spending plan as it battles trade war with US and protracted cost of living crisis
|
[
"Canada",
"World news",
"Mark Carney",
"Trump tariffs",
"Tariffs",
"Americas",
"Business"
] |
World news
|
Americas
|
Canada
|
2025-11-03T18:16:39.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:36:22.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/03/canada-budget-sacrifice-recession
|
Canada’s Liberal party says budget of ‘sacrifice’ needed to avoid recession
|
Canada’s ruling Liberal party has said a budget of “sacrifice” is required to confront both a trade war with the US and a protracted cost of living crisis that threatens to push the country into a recession. But with opposition parties signalling they won’t support prime minister Mark Carney’s fiscal plans, a failed parliamentary vote on the budget could plunge the country into another federal election in the coming weeks. The country’s finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, will on Tuesday unveil a spending plan his government has signalled will include both steep deficits and spending cuts. Few details have leaked ahead of the announcement which will mark the first substantive look at how Carney, a former central banker, plans to avoid a recession while locked in a trade war with the US, Canada’s biggest economic partner. In recent months, aggressive protectionist measures from the White House have battered Canada’s automotive, metals and forestry industries. To blunt the effects, Ottawa has turned to tax cuts and larger defence and infrastructure spending to help struggling companies, pushing the country towards a more challenging fiscal position. In Canada, a federal budget is a confidence vote, meaning once it is tabled as legislation, a lost vote would probably trigger the collapse of the minority Liberal government and plunge the country into its second federal election in less than 12 months. The Liberals hold 169 seats and need to find another party, or at least three other lawmakers, to vote with them to pass the budget. Alternatively, six lawmakers could choose to abstain, lowering the threshold needed for the budget to pass. But those MPs would have to answer to constituents why there were voluntarily absent from a crucial vote over the country’s economic future. Opposition parties have expressed skepticism towards the budget, variously suggesting it goes too far in its spending, or falls short of the investment needed. In a speech to students at the University of Ottawa last month, Carney warned that “we won’t transform our economy overnight – it will take sacrifice and time,” adding his government would “work relentlessly to cut waste, improve efficiency, and make thoughtful, transparent decisions.” “We won’t play games. We won’t waste time. We’ll play to win – by betting on Canada and Canadians,” he said. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre pounced on the address, calling it a “sacrifice speech” and claiming that the Liberals were attempting to get Canadians to accept “a permanent reduction in our quality of life.” The Liberals have spent recent weeks accusing opposition parties of demanding fiscal and policy concessions and warning the party, which holds a strong parliamentary minority, will not support any ultimatums in exchange for votes. In late October, government house leader Steven MacKinnon said Poilievre was trying to engineer a “Christmas election” in order to distract from questions within the Tories about Poilievre’s future. Carney, a former central banker of both Canada and the UK but a political novice, has met with the leaders of the Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois, New Democratic and Green parties to lay out his government’s priorities and coax out support. None have issued any public support for the Liberals. In a post on social media Monday, Carney said his “number one focus is to put Canadians back in control” by reducing reliance on the US and doubling exports to other nations – a move that will require citizens to make “difficult” and “responsible” choices. Champagne will introduce the budget in the House of Commons just after 4pm ET on Tuesday. Four days of debate will after the budget announcement, with a vote scheduled for 17 November.
|
[
"Leyland Cecco"
] |
Country set to unveil PM Mark Carney’s spending plan as it battles trade war with US and protracted cost of living crisis
|
[
"Canada",
"World news",
"Mark Carney",
"Trump tariffs",
"Tariffs",
"Americas",
"Business"
] |
World news
|
Americas
|
Canada
|
2025-11-03T18:16:39.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:18:20.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//world/2025/nov/03/canada-budget-sacrifice-recession
|
15 minutes of horror in train mass stabbing – Today in Focus Extra
|
On Saturday night, a train from Doncaster to London was packed with people heading out for the night when a horrifying mass stabbing attacked unfolded. Witnesses described “pure panic” as people tried to get away from the knifeman, with some hiding in the train’s toilets. Shortly after the attacks began, the train made an unscheduled emergency stop at Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire, where police and paramedics were gathered. Anthony Williams, 32, has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder. He is also charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article.
|
[
"Lucy Hough",
"Ben Quinn",
"Eli Block",
"Zoe Hitch",
"Phil Maynard"
] |
Guardian senior reporter Ben Quinn on the shocking knife attack on a train from Doncaster to London
|
[
"UK news"
] |
News
|
UK news
|
2025-11-03T18:13:54.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:27:34.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//news/audio/2025/nov/03/15-minutes-of-horror-in-train-mass-stabbing-today-in-focus-extra
|
|
OpenAI signs $38bn cloud computing deal with Amazon
|
OpenAI has signed a $38bn (£29bn) deal to use Amazon infrastructure to operate its artificial intelligence products, as part of a more than $1tn spending spree on computing power. The agreement with Amazon Web Services means OpenAI will be able to use AWS datacentres, and the Nvidia chips inside them, immediately. Last week, OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, said his company had committed to spending $1.4tn on AI infrastructure, amid concerns over the sustainability of the boom in using and building datacentres. These are the central nervous systems of AI tools such as ChatGPT. “Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute,” Altman said on Monday. “Our partnership with AWS strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era and bring advanced AI to everyone.” OpenAI said the deal would give it access to hundreds of thousands of Nvidia graphics processors to train and run its AI models. Amazon plans to use the chips in data clusters that will power ChatGPT’s responses and train OpenAI’s next wave of models, the companies said. Matt Garman, the chief executive of AWS, said OpenAI continued to push the boundaries of what was possible and that Amazon’s infrastructure would serve as a backbone for its ambitions. OpenAI is committed to developing 30 gigawatts of computing resources – enough to power roughly 25 million US homes. Last week, OpenAI said it had converted its main business into a for-profit corporation as part of a reorganisation that valued the startup at $500bn. Its longtime backer Microsoft will have a roughly 27% stake in OpenAI’s new for-profit corporation. The race for computing power by AI companies has raised concerns among some market watchers about how it will be paid for. OpenAI’s annual revenue is about $13bn, according the Financial Times, a figure dwarfed by its $1.4tn infrastructure commitment. Other datacentre deals signed by OpenAI include a $300bn agreement with the US company Oracle. Altman hit back at the spending concerns during a podcast appearance with the Microsoft chief executive, Satya Nadella, saying “enough” to a question from the host, the US investor Brad Gerstner, about the gap between OpenAI’s revenue and its infrastructure commitments. Altman said OpenAI made “well more” revenue than the reported $13bn, without specifying a number. He added: “I just – enough … I think there’s are a lot of people who would love to buy OpenAI shares.” Analysts at the US investment bank Morgan Stanley estimate that global spending on datacentres will reach nearly $3tn between now and 2028. They said half of that spending would be covered by the big US tech companies and the rest would come from sources such as the private credit market, a growing part of the shadow banking sector that is raising concerns at the Bank of England and elsewhere.
|
[
"Dan Milmo"
] |
Agreement to use AWS datacentres, and Nvidia chips inside them, part of $1.4tn spending spree on AI infrastructure
|
[
"OpenAI",
"Amazon",
"Cloud computing",
"Artificial intelligence (AI)",
"ChatGPT",
"Computing",
"Technology",
"Technology sector",
"Business"
] |
Technology
|
Tech
|
OpenAI
|
2025-11-03T18:09:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:20:56.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//technology/2025/nov/03/openai-cloud-computing-deal-amazon-aws-datacentres-nvidia-chips
|
Car finance redress scheme shows City watchdog ‘nakedly’ siding with lenders, MPs say
|
The City regulator has “nakedly taken the side of lenders” in its planned compensation scheme for car loan victims, a group of cross-party MPs has claimed, adding that the watchdog had been “patently influenced” by concerns over profits. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fair Banking has joined a growing chorus of critics concerned about the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposed redress scheme, which is meant to compensate borrowers who were overcharged as a result of controversial commission arrangements between lenders and car dealers. The APPG’s latest report has accused the regulator of buying into “doom-mongering” by lenders, who claim that a large compensation bill risked spooking investors and causing lasting damage to the UK economy. That was at the expense of car loan victims who they said were due up to £15.6bn rather than the £8.2bn-£9.7bn currently forecast in the FCA’s scheme, which the APPG said was based on estimates produced by the regulator in 2019. It also warned that the scheme hinged on overly complex calculations that lenders could exploit, while acting as “judge and jury” on their former customer’s claims. “Rather than siding with consumers in deciding the levels of redress the regulator appears to have nakedly taken the side of lenders, working to protect their profit margins rather than the pockets of consumers,” the report said. “Time and again in its consultation document the FCA warns how ‘higher [redress] costs to firms could dent profit margins’ or ‘higher costs to lenders in this scenario could have knock-on impacts on lender profit margins’. These warnings all follow the same basic pattern, a warning about profits, caveated with the risk to the market of lenders withdrawing their products and hitting consumer choice.” Banks are due to pay out £700 per claim on average under the FCA’s proposals, which the APPG says is far less than the £1,500 average payout that some could receive by taking their cases to court. However, banks and the FCA have warned that borrowers who use claims firms to take their cases to court may end up losing up to 30% of their compensation in legal fees. Lenders and lobby groups have for months warned that a massive bill could deter investors, force some lenders to fold, or raise borrowing costs for consumers as they try to recoup their costs. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, attempted to intervene in a landmark supreme court hearing in January, when she urged judges to avoid handing “windfall” compensation to borrowers. At that point, lenders including Lloyds, Barclays, Close Brothers and the financial arms of manufacturers such as Ford were steeling themselves for a compensation bill worth up to £44bn bill. A landmark supreme court case in August brought further clarity and significantly brought down the regulator’s estimates of the potential compensation bill. However, lenders have continued to lobby against the £11bn bill – which accounts for administrative costs. Santander UK’s chief executive, Mike Regnier, last week called for further interventions by ministers, claiming the FCA’s current proposals could end up inflicting “significant” harm to consumers, jobs and the broader economy. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The APPG member and Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh suggested that those lobbying efforts had seeped into the FCA’s proposals. “Our core finding is that the FCA has patently been influenced by the profit margins of the lenders when deciding upon levels of redress. “From proposing that lenders act as judge and jury on their own cases, to the extraordinarily low compensatory interest rate on offer, the scheme acts against the interests of the consumer and markedly favours sector interests,” McDonagh, who separately serves as a member of the Treasury committee, added. “Ultimately, this report comes to a clear and unambiguous conclusion – the redress scheme as proposed is not fit for purpose.” The FCA said in a statement: “We have proposed a scheme to fairly compensate motor finance customers in a timely and efficient way. “We recognise that there will be a wide range of views on the scheme and not everyone will get everything they would like. But we want to work together on the best possible scheme and draw a line under this issue quickly. That certainty is vital, so a trusted motor finance market can continue to serve millions of families every year.” The Financing and Leasing Association was contacted for comment.
|
[
"Kalyeena Makortoff"
] |
Cross-party group says Financial Conduct Authority had been ‘patently influenced’ by concerns over profits
|
[
"Motor finance",
"Financial Conduct Authority",
"Business",
"Regulators",
"Banking",
"UK news"
] |
Business
|
Banking
|
Motor finance
|
2025-11-03T18:00:06.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:02:19.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//business/2025/nov/03/car-finance-redress-scheme-shows-city-watchdog-nakedly-siding-with-lenders-mps-say
|
Steward injury could offer Smith the chance to start for England against Fiji
|
A hand injury to the full-back Freddie Steward could present Marcus Smith with a fresh chance to start for England when they face Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday. Steve Borthwick’s team will meet the Pacific Islanders in the second of four November internationals after a comfortable opening victory against Australia, but the No 15 jersey may become a significant problem for the England head coach. Steward, who started against the Wallabies, received treatment at pitchside in the second half at Twickenham and appeared to be in considerable pain but stayed on for 80 minutes. It is understood that he will not return to training until Thursday. With the full-backs George Furbank of Northampton and Elliot Daly of Saracens already ruled out, Steward’s setback may provide a chance for Smith. The Harlequins back shifted to No 15 last season to accommodate Fin Smith at fly-half but was left out against Australia. While he lacks the commanding aerial presence of Steward, he would offer more of a running threat against Fiji, who traditionally favour an offloading game. Henry Slade, Tom Roebuck or Henry Arundell could in theory play at full-back but Smith would be the natural choice. Tommy Freeman started at No 13 against Australia while the in-form centres Slade and Ollie Lawrence missed out, and Borthwick may look to experiment again before aiming to field a first-choice XV for the All Blacks a week on Saturday. The Saracens flanker Ben Earl, who raced under the posts for England’s first try against the Wallabies, is another player seen as capable of making a switch to midfield. Earl said he would love to play at No 12 and that there are several hybrid options available. “I am just trying to help the team any way I can,” he said. “We have got a lot of boys now who could do a good job anywhere. Henry [Pollock] could do a very good job on the wing, Ted Hill when he was involved was very, very fast. There are a few boys that could do it. It is going to be a strength of our team going forward.” Earl said of potentially being selected at No 12: “I would love it. Just playing for England is the best … I am buzzing to be involved.” Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Reflecting on his try on Saturday, Earl described the careful preparation that goes into England’s attacking strategy for contestable kicks under Borthwick: “The aerial game certainly is, and will continue to be, a massive strength of our squad,” he said. “That’s why you prepare. It’s no coincidence that Sam [Underhill] and I were there in that position because we trained a lot, we focused a lot on that, and you sort of work out where the ball’s going to go.” Earl also revealed that England have taken inspiration from the Last Dance, the Netflix documentary about the rise of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. “Dennis Rodman talks about it coming off the rim,” Earl said. “We spend a lot of time working on watching the balls come out of the hands, not to that same extent, but we talk a lot about where we think the ball’s going to go and gambling. “It was no coincidence that Henry scored that try, and that we [Earl and Underhill] had an opportunity to score ourselves.”
|
[
"Luke McLaughlin"
] |
A hand injury to the full-back Freddie Steward could present Marcus Smith with a fresh chance to start for England when they face Fiji on Saturday
|
[
"England rugby union team",
"Fiji rugby union team",
"Rugby union",
"Sport"
] |
Sport
|
Rugby union
|
England rugby union team
|
2025-11-03T18:00:05.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:58:15.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//sport/2025/nov/03/marcus-smith-freddie-steward-no-15-full-back-england-fiji-rugby-union
|
Trump administration will provide half of usual funds to Snap recipients in November
|
The Trump administration said it would provide partial relief to recipients of food stamps on Monday as the federal government shutdown approached a record-breaking length. Amid mounting uncertainty among the nearly 42 million people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), the Department of Agriculture said it would use contingency funds to keep benefits going, albeit just 50% of the usual funds recipients receive on their cards. The announcement, in a court filing by the government at the US district court in Rhode Island, came after Donald Trump said the administration would comply with a court order to provide emergency funding after previous refusals to do so on purported legal grounds. Before Monday’s announcement, Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, had suggested that emergency funding might not be available immediately and called for more court guidance on how to fund Snap legally. Money for the program officially ran out on Saturday as a result of the US government shutdown, now in its 34th day and showing no sign of ending as congressional Republican continued their standoff with the Democrats. Donald Trump said on Friday that he would be “honored” to provide emergency funding for the program after Judge John McConnell of the US district court in Rhode Island ruled that the administration could not deny the program funds because of the shutdown. “I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible … even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network on Friday. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding.” McConnell promptly issued an order the following day instructing the administration to start making contingency funds available by midday on Monday. The administration had previously argued that it was legally prohibited from tapping into the contingency fund to provide Snap benefits, arguing that it could only be used in the cases such as natural disasters. The judge rejected that position as “arbitrary”. “The court greatly appreciates the president’s quick and definitive response to this court’s order and his desire to provide the necessary Snap funding,” McConnell wrote in Saturday’s order. The pause in benefits from the program is unprecedented. Bessent told CNN that funds could start flowing by Wednesday, and said he wanted more guidance from the courts on how money could be legally switched around to fund Snap benefits. “There’s a process that has to be followed,” Bessent said. “So, we’ve got to figure out what the process is.” Some states have said it will take days and, in some cases, even weeks to give out benefits to low income recipients because the government did not disperse partial funds for it after the shutdown began on 1 October. Long queues have been reported at food banks across the country. In California and Texas, stadium car parks were converted into distribution sites amid uncertainty over the program’s continuation. Some states, including New York, Oregon and Virginia, declared states of emergency last week to provide funds that would keep benefits available. But the amounts provided were expected to amount to a fraction of normal federal government funding. The federal costs of Snap amounts to about $8bn a month across the US.
|
[
"Robert Tait"
] |
Contingency funds will keep benefits going for nearly 42 million people in the food assistance program, <br>Trump says
|
[
"Trump administration",
"US news",
"US politics",
"Donald Trump"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Trump administration
|
2025-11-03T17:58:55.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:00:18.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-partially-fund-food-stamps-snap
|
Stephen Colbert on cancellation of the Late Show: ‘So surprising and so shocking’
|
Stephen Colbert has opened up about the shock cancellation of The Late Show in a new interview, calling it: “The first number one show to ever get cancelled.” In a GQ interview, the 61-year-old host and comedian said the decision came as a surprise to him and one that didn’t have any preamble. Colbert said his “great relationship” with CBS was “one of the reasons why this was so surprising and so shocking”. “Listen, every show’s got to end at some time,” he said. “And I’ve been on a bunch of shows that have ended sometimes by our lights and sometimes by the decision of other people. That’s just the nature of show business. You can’t worry about that. You got to be a big boy about that. But I think we’re the first number one show to ever get cancelled.” In July, after Colbert criticised CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for making a $16m settlement with Donald Trump, he announced the show would be coming to an end in May 2026. The Late Show began in 1993. In August, the CBS chief, George Cheeks, blamed it on “economics”, with the advertising marketplace “in significant secular decline” before adding: “At the end of the day, it just wasn’t sustainable to continue.” Yet many believe it was a result of the network bowing to the president, who celebrated the news on social media, writing: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.” The former Late Show host David Letterman called the decision one of “pure cowardice”, adding: “I think one day, if not today, the people at CBS who have manipulated and handled this are going to be embarrassed. This is gutless.” “I can understand why people would have that reaction because CBS or the parent corporation – I’m not going to say who made that decision, because I don’t know; no one’s ever going to tell us – decided to cut a check for $16m to the president of the United States over a lawsuit that their own lawyers, Paramount’s own lawyers, said is completely without merit,” Colbert said. “And it is self-evident that that is damaging to the reputation of the network, the corporation, and the news division. So it is unclear to me why anyone would do that other than to curry favor with a single individual.” Colbert also admitted feeling some relief that he will no longer need to “put on the snorkel and get into the sewer every day”. The star has not confirmed what his next move will be but said he loved “creating things” and wanted to continue working.
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[
"Benjamin Lee"
] |
In a new interview, the late-night host opened up about the end of his late-night series calling it ‘the first number one show to ever get cancelled’
|
[
"Stephen Colbert",
"US television",
"US news",
"TV comedy",
"CBS",
"Paramount Pictures",
"Comedy",
"Culture",
"Television & radio",
"Television",
"Media"
] |
Television & radio
|
TV & radio
|
Stephen Colbert
|
2025-11-03T17:57:07.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:26:28.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//tv-and-radio/2025/nov/03/stephen-colbert-late-show-cancellation-cbs
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Nige is no longer laughing at himself as he ‘performs’ yet another big speech | John Crace
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The scene: an old banking hall in the heart of the City. The music: first, Richard Clayderman plays Bach. Then Pachelbel’s Canon, followed by the Adagio from Mahler’s 5th. Death in Venice, Live in London. Not the usual venue or playlist for a Reform press conference. Could it …? Could it be? Surely not the latest defection? Step forward, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. It would all have made perfect sense. A grifter joins a party of grifters. After all, Nige had come to Andy’s rescue last week when he called on the country to stop being so beastly to the alleged sex offender formerly known as prince. Andy has time on his hands now. Plus he no longer has any royal titles, so he’s free to stand for parliament. Plus he could probably use the money. And don’t forget that Andy was once a trade ambassador. There’s probably no dodgy dictator or billionaire with whom he is not on first-name terms. Our next foreign secretary? Sadly that would have to wait for another day. Only a matter of time. Instead we were told that Nige would be “performing” a major speech on the economy. Not “giving” but “performing”. The mock grandeur was for Nige and Nige alone. As if being in the City had somehow bought him extra credibility. His ego is expanding by the day. Still, he had drawn a fair-sized crowd. Mostly young white men in shiny dark suits. Just the kind of audience of which Sarah Pochin would approve. There again, there was no sign of Sarah at all. Maybe she is still on Nige’s naughty step. She wasn’t at any of last week’s three press conferences, either. The only Reform MP to be absent throughout. That will teach her not to say out loud what she’s thinking. Instead we got the familiar crowd of Dicky Tice, Lee Anderson, David “Diddy” Bull and Danny Kruger applauding themselves as they took their seats in the front row, closely followed by Zia Yusuf, once he had fulfilled his role of Nige’s fluffer-in-chief and master of ceremonies. “Laydeez an’ gennulmen, I give you …” Nige bounced down the marble staircase looking every bit a dead ringer for Leslie Crowther on The Price is Right before taking his place at the lectern. Serious face for a serious moment. This was meant to be a BIG speech. If by BIG you mean BORING. Forty minutes of their lives that no one would ever get back. This was really all about Farage trying to position himself as a mainstream politician. A person with views and policies that demand attention. Except all Nige really had to offer was some of his greatest hits. It turns out that four press conferences inside a week is at least three too many. He just hasn’t got that much new or interesting to say. He increasingly sounds like a broken record. One that now takes himself deadly seriously. The old Nige who could laugh at himself has been axed. But a mainstream politician is as a mainstream politician does. And Nige is learning fast. Unafraid to contradict himself and gaslight his audience. If you had taken Reform’s manifesto pledges at the last election seriously, that was because you hadn’t been reading the small print. The bits where the promise to cut taxes were merely aspirations. Things he would quite like to do in a Panglossian world. If anyone had assumed he would do the things he said he would then they were mugs. It seems Farage is learning from Labour and the Tories. When things go wrong it is invariably the voters’ fault. Nige got under way. His main theme was that the country was basically fucked. Largely because of Brexit. Weirdly, he has no memory of being the main architect behind the Brexit vote. He seems to think it happened in a world in which he played no part. Because if he had been involved he would have done it all differently. Deregulated everything and never traded with the EU ever again. Who needed the largest trading partner on our doorstep? For a politician demanding personal and fiscal responsibility, this was the height of cheek. On we went. The current crop of Labour and Tory MPs were all know-nothings. Professional politicians, the lot of them. At which point you were dying for someone to point out that Farage has been a professional politician for more than a quarter of a century. He has literally done nothing more than be a gobshite. Only, Nige will always make an exception for Nige. He is the hypocrite’s hypocrite. Come to think of it, it’s hard to think of anything useful his MPs have done, either. Next, a paean to the rich. Would no one think of them? How they suffer? (A moment’s silence for Andrew.) They needed as many breaks as they could get. Unlike those on benefits or the minimum wage – which was far too high. And pensioners could get stuffed. Them and their unaffordable triple lock. Nige had never met a pensioner who wasn’t taking several holidays a year to Barbados. So there would be welfare cuts. Saving £9bn a year on a mental health budget that only amounted to £4.5bn in total. Go figure. Now we were on a road to nowhere, just to pad out time. It couldn’t be a major speech unless it was long. Time for some more pet hates. Immigrants could go. Everyone was too afraid to wear a watch on the streets of London. Mmm. Can’t say anyone has ever cast envious glances at my Casio. Come the end, Dicky, Diddy, Danny, Lee and Zia were all nodding along. Desperate to find out if they were still wanted on voyage. They had all been written off as has-beens by Nige. In the new world order, most cabinet posts would be going to Farage’s unelected cronies. People who, Nige assured us, would know what they were doing. But not the present crowd. Nige was invited to name his chancellor. Dicky and Zia looked up needily. Farage blanked them. To be decided. Keep them keen, treat them mean. A year in Westminster: John Crace, Marina Hyde and Pippa Crerar. On Tuesday 2 December, join Crace, Hyde and Crerar as they look back with special guests at another extraordinary year, live at the Barbican in London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here. The Bonfire of the Insanities by John Crace (Guardian Faber Publishing, £16.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
|
[
"John Crace"
] |
Reform leader is trying to make it as a mainstream politician – which involves contradicting himself and gaslighting voters
|
[
"Nigel Farage",
"Reform UK",
"Politics",
"UK news"
] |
Politics
|
UK politics
|
Nigel Farage
|
2025-11-03T17:54:15.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:12:50.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//politics/2025/nov/03/nige-no-longer-laughing-at-himself-yet-another-big-speech
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Terrorism charges filed over alleged Halloween plot targeting Michigan LGBTQ+ bars
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Two men have been charged with terrorism-related crimes in the Detroit area after federal authorities recently made arrests and seized a cache of weapons in a storage unit and elsewhere, officials said on Monday. The men had scouted LGBTQ+ bars in Ferndale, a Detroit suburb, according to a 72-page criminal complaint unsealed in federal court. “Our American heroes prevented a terror attack,” the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said on X. The FBI director, Kash Patel, had announced arrests on Friday, but no other details were released at the time while agents searched a home in Dearborn and a storage unit in nearby Inkster. The court filing says the two men who were charged, Momed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, and other co-conspirators were inspired by Islamic State extremism. Investigators say a minor was also involved in the discussions. The FBI said the men repeatedly referred to “pumpkins” in their conversations, a reference to a Halloween attack. Ali and Mahmoud were charged with receiving and transferring guns and ammunition for terrorism. They were scheduled to appear in court on Monday afternoon for their initial appearance. Mahmoud’s lawyer, William Swor, declined to comment. Messages seeking comment from Ali’s lawyer, Amir Makled, were not immediately answered. Over the weekend, Makled seemed to wave off the allegations, saying they were the result of “hysteria” and “fearmongering”.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
Authorities allege two men planned a Halloween-inspired attack motivated by Islamic State extremism
|
[
"US crime",
"Detroit",
"US news"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
US crime
|
2025-11-03T17:43:56.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:20:33.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/michigan-terrorism-charges-halloween-attack
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Outrage in Paris as Shein prepares to open its first permanent store
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The online fast-fashion retailer Shein will open its first permanent bricks-and-mortar store in the world in Paris this week amid political outrage, fury from workers and warnings from city hall that it will damage the French capital’s progressive image. The Singapore-based clothing company, which was founded in China, has built a massive online business despite criticism over its factory working conditions and the environmental impact of low-cost, throwaway fashion. Shein, which has previously trialled temporary pop-up stores, will on Wednesday open a permanent shop on the sixth floor of Paris’s prestigious BHV department store, a historic building that has stood opposite Paris’s city hall since 1856. There are about 23 million Shein customers in France, one of its biggest European markets. But with vast banners for Shein draped across the building, the brand’s arrival has sparked outrage over the promotion of fast fashion. The office of the French minister for small businesses said Shein’s Paris presence sent “a bad signal that should be avoided”. Several leading independent French fashion brands have pulled their products from the BHV store in protest. “There would be no sense being sold in the same shop as Shein,” Guillaume Alcan, a co-founder of the French ethical footwear brand Odaje, told Le Monde. Disneyland Paris abandoned plans to open a Christmas pop-up store in BHV and pulled out of creating themed window displays for the end-of-year holidays, saying “conditions were no longer in place” to “calmly hold Christmas events” at the location. After Shein’s arrival was announced, a French state-owned bank pulled out of talks with the operator of the department store to buy the building. Paris city hall blocked plans for a Paris rugby stadium to carry the BHV logo. BHV staff have staged strikes and street protests in recent weeks. Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj, Paris’s Communist deputy mayor in charge of commerce, said of Shein’s arrival: “We are totally against this. It is the complete opposite of Paris’s policy to develop independent shops and support products that are made in France.” Ian Brossat, a Communist party senator in Paris, said: “Shein coming to BHV is a real provocation, particularly since the national assembly and senate recently approved a law to restrict ultra-fast fashion.” Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Shein, which has defended its labour and environmental policies, has said its presence in France will attract younger shoppers and boost other high street businesses. It will also open permanent shops in the French cities of Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges inside Galeries Lafayette department stores, which are operated by the same group that manages Paris’s BHV. The row intensified on Monday after the French finance minister, Roland Lescure, threatened to ban Shein in France if it resumed selling “childlike” sex dolls. France’s anti-fraud unit reported the presence of the dolls on Shein’s e-commerce site this weekend. “These horrible items are illegal,” Lescure told the BFM TV channel, promising a judicial investigation. Shein told Reuters: “The products in question were immediately removed from the platform as soon as we became aware of these major shortcomings.” France has already fined Shein three times in 2025 for a total of €191m (£167m). The biggest fine, of €150m, was imposed for failing to comply with online cookie legislation. The company is contesting this. Other fines were issued for false advertising, misleading information and not declaring the presence of plastic microfibres in its products. The European Commission is investigating Shein over risks linked to illegal products. Shein said at the start of the investigation earlier this year that it welcomed “efforts that enhance trust and safety for European consumers when shopping online”. In May, the company said it had “intensified its product safety and quality controls”.
|
[
"Angelique Chrisafis"
] |
Fast-fashion retailer faces political anger, fury from workers and warnings it will damage city’s progressive image
|
[
"Shein",
"France",
"Paris",
"Business",
"Fashion industry",
"Europe",
"Fashion",
"World news"
] |
Business
|
Europe
|
Shein
|
2025-11-03T17:39:47.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:54:52.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//business/2025/nov/03/outrage-paris-shein-prepares-open-first-permanent-store
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A house for Andrew while thousands sleep rough | Letters
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As you say in your editorial (31 October), “Recent events point to the need for a wider reset of Britain’s relationship with its royal family.” Consider some facts. Between July and September 2025, 4,711 people were seen sleeping rough in London by outreach workers and 2,116 of these people were doing so for the first time. At last count, the king had seven palaces and 10 castles. Then there are the 4.5 million children living in relative poverty. But the monarchy has fabulous wealth. For the year 2025-26, the king is receiving a sovereign grant of £132.1m. The crown estate has assets of £15bn. The monarch holds the Duchy of Lancaster, which at the end of March was worth £679m and had made £24.4m in annual profits. Similarly, the Duchy of Cornwall had assets worth £1.1bn and annual profits of £22.9m.Rae StreetLittleborough, Greater Manchester I notice that the Sandringham estate is run as a business, with holiday lets and public access to parks and gardens (Andrew in line for six-figure payout and annual stipend from king, sources say, 31 October). Surely, rather than give Andrew a stipend to stay in a grace-and-favour house doing nothing, the king should offer him a wage to do something useful? I am sure the estate needs tour guides, cleaners, groundspersons, gardeners and rubbish collectors: good jobs on the national living wage for a commoner. Time was, disgraced aristocrats did penance through good works. It is probably just the sort of therapy this disgraced former prince needs, now that solutions such as banishment to the colonies are thoroughly out of fashion.John RobinsonDeal, Kent Since the word “folly” is derived from the Old French “folie”, meaning “madness” or “foolishness”, perhaps The Folly, of all the possible new homes on the Sandringham estate, is the most appropriate choice for Andrew Mountbatten Windsor (Which property on the Sandringham estate is fit for a former prince?, 31 October). The etymology is the basis for the original English meaning of “foolish behaviour”, which later expanded to include concepts of wickedness, and then later to the specific and modern use of “folly” as a large, extravagant, and often purposeless structure or building. Large, extravagant and purposeless? Yes, that just about sums it up.Paul GoodmanLoughborough, Leicestershire Your article about which house Andrew Windsor might live in could have been combined with your fantasy house hunt feature in the Money section: “Best Sandringham rental properties for a disgraced former prince.”Chris PackhamBirmingham According to the statement issued by the royal family, the last names of the commoner formerly known as Prince Andrew are not hyphenated, so surely Andrew Windsor is sufficient, or just plain Windsor. It would save time, ink and patience.Paulina ChurchManchester Surely the one title/honour which Andrew Mountbatten Windsor should be allowed to keep is the probably appropriate “vice-admiral” (Andrew to be stripped of naval title, says UK defence secretary, 2 November).Lydia WoolleyWeybridge, Surrey Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
<strong>Letters: </strong>The contrast between the wealth of the royal family and the plight of the homeless is highlighted by <strong>Rae Street</strong>. Plus letters about the future of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor from <strong>John Robinson, Paul Goodman, Chris Packham, Paulina Church</strong> and <strong>Lydia Wooley</strong>
|
[
"Monarchy",
"Homelessness",
"Andrew Mountbatten Windsor",
"Poverty",
"King Charles III",
"UK news"
] |
UK news
|
Monarchy
|
2025-11-03T17:39:29.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:41:17.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//uk-news/2025/nov/03/a-house-for-andrew-while-thousands-sleep-rough
|
|
It’s time to get serious about children’s play | Letters
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It is vital to a child’s early development that they are given ample time to experiment, be creative and learn through play in a purposeful way, rather than being confined to their desks (Do we really expect five-year-olds to sit at desks? I want a school that understands play is learning, 29 October). Time allocated for non-traditional learning such as outdoor learning in the school day has been eroded in recent years, while research shows that only one in three primary school pupils in the UK meet the in-school target of half an hour of physical activity every day. This is despite evidence which shows that pupils learn best through supported play experiences and outdoor exploration. Sufficient time needs to be built into the curriculum, as well as physical spaces within schools, to allow children and young people the time to play and socialise. This includes not only breaktimes, but concrete opportunities to play in a meaningful way. Socially interactive playfulness should be embedded into teaching and across all ages and stages, especially in primary education. The government must act to reverse this decline in play and give our children a school experience that nurtures both body and mind.Dr Helena BunnChair of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Education and Child Psychology Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is absolutely right. It is both tragic and absurd that state education in England has somehow reverted to the utilitarian sterility satirised by Dickens in Hard Times. Inflicting formal learning on five-year-olds is both cruel and counterproductive, as we see in the growing number of children who have learned to dislike reading. Countries with more successful education systems than ours nearly all delay formal learning until age seven. Bridget Phillipson has declared herself to have a special interest in early years education. We can only hope that she has the strength to bring about reform that is desperately needed after 15 years of Gradgrindery.Michael PykeCampaign for State Education Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
<strong>Letters: </strong>Not enough time in primary schools is devoted to learning through play, writes <strong>Dr Helena Bunn</strong>. We should take a lesson from countries where formal education begins much later, thinks <strong>Michael Pyke</strong>
|
[
"Education",
"Primary schools",
"Schools",
"Early years education",
"Children",
"Society"
] |
Education
|
Education
|
2025-11-03T17:39:20.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:41:16.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//education/2025/nov/03/its-time-to-get-serious-about-childrens-play
|
|
We need clarity on big pharma’s tax breaks | Letters
|
The outgoing chief executive of the pharmaceutical company GSK says the NHS should pay more for its drugs, in order to create “the right commercial environment” and ensure “patient access to innovation” (UK must reform drug pricing to become life sciences superpower, says GSK boss, 29 October). Our research shows that UK taxpayers are already paying handsomely for “patient access to innovation” through the £3.4bn in tax relief on profits of patented drugs that the UK has granted GSK via the UK’s “patent box” tax regime. This includes £486m in 2024 alone – larger than the entire budget of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the UK’s main bioscience innovation funder. HMRC even granted UK tax relief to GSK on profits of a lupus drug, which for several years was unavailable to UK lupus sufferers, due to the price that GSK demanded from the NHS (£769.50 per dose). With NHS budgets squeezed and tax rises on the horizon, it’s high time the government demanded more from drug companies in return for their “innovation” tax breaks – and high time that companies like GSK were honest about the extraordinary largesse they already receive from the UK tax system.Mike LewisDirector, TaxWatch Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
<strong>Letters: </strong>Pharmaceutical giants like GSK should be more transparent about the generous tax breaks they get from the UK government, says <strong>Mike Lewis</strong>
|
[
"Pharmaceuticals industry",
"Business",
"HMRC",
"Politics"
] |
Business
|
Pharmaceuticals industry
|
2025-11-03T17:39:15.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:41:16.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//business/2025/nov/03/we-need-clarity-on-big-pharmas-tax-breaks
|
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Time for Reeves to recognise reality: AstraZeneca has killed stamp duty on shares | Nils Pratley
|
It was one of those votes where the majority was always going to be huge. AstraZeneca’s proposal to list its shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange while retaining the quotes in London and Stockholm disadvantages nobody on the shareholder register. US investors get the chance to own AstraZeneca in full-fat form rather than via American depositary receipts (a wrapper provided by a handful of banks), a rejig that should widen the pool of potential investors and help the company with any future big deals in the US. Meanwhile, the pharma giant keeps its presence in the FTSE 100 index, upsetting no shareholders on the home front. “A global listing for global investors in a global company,” as Pascal Soriot, the chief executive, called it. Sure enough, the proposal sailed through on Monday with 99% in favour. But one non-shareholding party will suffer from this setup. It is HM Treasury, which will be out of pocket to the tune of about £200m a year from lost stamp duty on transactions in London. Buyers of AstraZeneca shares in the UK, you see, will be getting a depositary interest in the company in future. It will carry the same voting and ownership rights as before but, critically, stamp duty does not apply to such instruments. The arrangement drives a coach and horses through the UK’s stamp duty regime. It would only take a few other Footsie big beasts to copy the structure for the government’s £3bn-ish annual receipts from stamp duty on shares to collapse. What should Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, do? Step one should be to recognise that the tax is doomed in its current form. Stamp duty reserve tax, to give its full name, is the 0.5% levy on purchases of shares in UK companies, and virtually no other country sets the rate so high. The US, China and Germany don’t impose any equivalent tax at all and only Ireland, at 1%, has a higher rate. Worse, it is only a subset of investors who pay it – UK retail investors and UK pension funds – because everybody else has practical workarounds already. As an advert for popular share ownership, or just the competitiveness of the London market, stamp duty has become a very obvious own goal, as argued here regularly. In step two, Reeves should make a virtue of the necessity of cutting the tax. The endless months of pre-budget speculation have brought the strong suggestion that the chancellor is considering capping annual cash Isa contributions in the hope of encouraging a few cash obsessives into shares. If that is the stick then the carrot ought to be overdue reform of the costs of transacting in UK shares. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Outright abolition would be best. If that is deemed politically impossible in a tax-raising budget, at least chop the rate in half, which could encourage more trading. Suggested alternatives, such as granting a three-year stamp duty holiday to new listings on the London market, are too fiddly and too minor to make a difference. The timing is rotten for the chancellor, but the blunt truth is that the UK’s most valuable company has demonstrated the multiple flaws in the stamp duty regime for all the world to see. Time to recognise reality before the receipts leak away anyway.
|
[
"Nils Pratley"
] |
Shareholder-backed plans to upgrade US listing have exposed multiple flaws in tax that should be abolished or at least cut
|
[
"AstraZeneca",
"Stock markets",
"Rachel Reeves",
"Tax and spending",
"Shares",
"Budget",
"Business",
"Politics"
] |
Business
|
Markets
|
AstraZeneca
|
2025-11-03T17:39:12.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:03:28.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2025/nov/03/reeves-recognise-reality-astrazeneca-killed-stamp-duty-shares
|
Equality commission’s guidance after sex ruling is fundamentally unworkable | Letter
|
Contrary to what Kishwer Falkner is suggesting (Letters, 28 October), MPs’ problem with the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) guidance was not that it failed to address every conceivable scenario, but that it set out fundamentally unworkable instructions to businesses that go far beyond what the supreme court actually ruled, and which places them at risk of costly litigation. Take the question of using a gendered bathroom – hardly a niche issue, given it is something most of us do on a daily basis. The EHRC’s guidance places the onus on businesses to police whether people are using a bathroom that corresponds with their sex assigned at birth. However, there is no practical way for businesses to know whether someone is transgender – based solely on their appearance – and challenging people risks humiliation for trans people and others whose appearance doesn’t neatly fit with society’s expectations. I have already heard appalling stories of women being aggressively challenged while waiting in a queue for the bathroom. Policing this puts businesses at serious reputational and legal risk, but under Lady Falkner’s leadership the EHRC has chosen to ignore warnings about the contradiction between possibly being sued for challenging someone’s gender versus being sued for failing to. This makes even less sense when you consider that the supreme court said businesses could choose to exclude trans people from single-sex spaces when it is a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”, not that they must exclude them. Having questioned Lady Falkner as a witness on the Commons women and equalities committee, I have been concerned by her refusal to even acknowledge the difficult situation the supreme court judgment has placed transgender people in – many of whom have been using the toilet of their assumed gender and going about their lives without issue for decades until now. Under her leadership, the EHRC has adopted an ideological interpretation of the judgment which is not shared by many legal experts. That position risks marginalising transgender people, like the veteran I met recently who has been excluded from the women’s motorbike club she has enjoyed for years. It also leaves businesses and their staff caught in the crossfire of the increasingly bitter gender wars, while doing absolutely nothing to advance women’s rights or protect vulnerable women from abuse. I hope when Lady Falkner’s successor starts in post next month that she will take a far more balanced and consensual approach to tackling some of the very real and difficult issues that upholding all of our rights entails.Rachel Taylor MPLabour, North Warwickshire and Bedworth; member of the women and equalities select committee
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
<strong>Letters: </strong>The EHRC has ignored warnings about the contradiction between possibly being sued for challenging someone’s gender versus being sued for failing to, says <strong>Rachel Taylor MP</strong>
|
[
"Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)",
"Equality Act 2010",
"Gender",
"Transgender",
"UK supreme court"
] |
Society
|
Society
|
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
|
2025-11-03T17:39:11.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:41:16.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//society/2025/nov/03/equality-commission-guidance-after-sex-ruling-is-fundamentally-unworkable
|
Safety of train users and staff is paramount | Brief letters
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The new east-west train service between Oxford and Milton Keynes has been delayed due to the government and rail companies insisting on driver-only trains. We have just experienced a mass stabbing of passengers by a lone attacker on a busy train in Cambridgeshire, where a railway employee made a heroic attempt to protect them (Report, 2 November). Is this really the time for leaving the public and the train driver at the mercy of single manning?Jessica HolroydMilton Keynes Three cheers for the lost, lamented A-level history personal study. Some students undertook original research and some, like Cathy O’Neill in 1977, unearthed a real gem (Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student, 1 November). Worth 25% of their final grade, it was the part of the course which students enjoyed most and from which they learned the most about history.James TurtleFormer archives education officer, Gloucestershire Archives Last Wednesday’s wordsearch puzzled me. As a former primary school teacher, I am aware that anything can be used as a girl’s name these days. But Bidet? Really?Linda WeirKirby Muxloe, Leicestershire Your report (2 November) says the recent theft from the Louvre in Paris took place “in broad daylight”. It set me to wondering what “narrow daylight” looks like.Dr Neil DenbyDenby Dale, West Yorkshire Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
<strong>Brief letters: </strong>Problem with driver-only trains | A-level history | Unusual girl names | Theft in narrow daylight
|
[
"Rail industry",
"Knife crime",
"Crime",
"A-levels",
"History",
"Parents and parenting",
"Paris",
"France",
"UK news"
] |
Business
|
Rail industry
|
2025-11-03T17:39:07.000Z
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2025-11-03T17:41:16.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//business/2025/nov/03/safety-of-train-users-and-staff-is-paramount
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Arsenal and Crystal Palace’s Carabao Cup tie moved to 23 December
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The Carabao Cup quarter-final between Arsenal and Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium will take place on 23 December, the EFL has confirmed, with the expanded European schedules blamed for “undermining” the reputation of the competition, with both clubs now having to play two matches in three days. The tie had originally been slated to take place on 16 December but Palace requested for it to be moved because they argued it would have left them with 24 hours less than Arsenal to prepare and leave them with the task of playing three games in five days. The Premier League leaders were in favour of playing the game in its original slot and had opposed the request for it to be pushed back. However, a statement from the EFL on Monday confirmed that the quarter-final will take place two days before Christmas, with the Football League stating it shared Palace’s and Arsenal’s frustrations with what it described as being an “unavoidable” situation. “The expansion of European cup competitions and number of exclusive match nights across Europe ahead of the 2024-25 season, implemented without adequate consultation with domestic leagues, means that such scheduling conflicts – for both the EFL Cup and other competitions – are now entirely unavoidable,” read the EFL’s statement. “With those teams competing in Europe already entering the EFL Cup in round three and having been forced to implement further draw conditions to avoid scheduling conflicts at that stage of the competition in the past two seasons, we have shown a willingness to compromise. “However, to continue making endless concessions only serves to undermine the reputation of the EFL Cup – a competition which delivers vital revenue to EFL Clubs and provides millions of supporters with the opportunity to back their team on the road to Wembley each season. “It also challenges the traditional scheduling of the English football calendar and strength of our domestic game, which relies upon teams having the necessary time for preparation and ability to field their strongest lineups, in order to entertain their supporters and progress through the competition.” Palace face Manchester City in the Premier League on 14 December and then have a Conference League game against KuPS on 18 December. Arsenal, meanwhile, take on Wolves in the Premier League on 13 December and do not play again until 21 December when they travel to Everton, also in the Premier League.
|
[
"Ed Aarons"
] |
Despite Arsenal opposing the move, the EFL has confirmed the club’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace will take place on 23 December
|
[
"Arsenal",
"Crystal Palace",
"Football",
"Sport"
] |
Football
|
Arsenal
|
2025-11-03T17:36:17.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:42:25.000Z
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https://www.theguardian.com//football/2025/nov/03/arsenal-and-crystal-palaces-carabao-cup-tie-moved-to-23-december
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WTA Finals tennis: Anisimova v Keys; Rybakina beats Swiatek – live
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Down 0-15, Anisimova nails a service winner and she’s the better player now, a further service winner taking her to within two points of a decider. Keys, though, monsters a forehand return for 30-all … only to net shortly afterwards; set point Anisimova, converted when a return hits the net. From a set and a break down, she’s fought back to earn a decider. A forehand cross, on to the line, earns Anisimova, down 4-6 4-3, 15-all, then a double donates 15-30. She can’t capitalise immediately, making a mess of a backhand return, but another error from Keys means break point, and when a second serve to the backhand gets the treatment, a cleanup forehand secures the break! At 4-6 5-3, Anisimova will now serve for the second set. Is Anisimova growing in confidence? She makes 30-0, then Keys whips a backhand winner down the line – is the standard of this match increasing? – eventually holding to 15. Gosh, at 15-0, Keys delivers one of the worst second serves I’ve ever seen, the ball barely reaching the net while, in comms, they note she’s not beaten a top-10 player since doing Sabalenka to win that Aussie Open. And she’s struggling here, a pair of doubles leaving her down 30-40 … so she finds a backhand winner down the line for deuce. Anisimova, though, spanks a forehand down the line to make advantage, and when Keys goes long, we’re back level in set two! Better from Anisimova, a booming forehand allowing a swing-volley, dispatched with prejudice for 40-15, and from there, she closes out to keep the match alive at 4-6 2-3. But can she put the Keys serve under pressure? Another forehand error from Anisimova – at least this one is long, not netted – means Keys is up 40-0, and a backhand return, lashed way long in response to an Edberg-style kick-serve, seals a comfortable hold. Keys leads 6-4 3-1 and there’s no sense a comeback is imminent. At 30-0, Keys cracks a decent forehand return that brings her into the game but Anismova is playing a better game, a big forehand then a big serve securing her hold. She’s into the second set but trails 4-6 1-2. Anisimova makes 0-15, only to net another backhand; she looks pained out there, and also exhausted. We move to 40-30, Keys closes out, and the consolidation puts her in almost total control of this match at 6-4 2-0. Keys makes 0-15 but then nets a forehand; no matter. Anisimova lets out a pained squeal when an error donates 15-30, before a forehand skips wide and she hangs head in resignation. She does, though save the first break point, only to net a backhand, swinging at it from too far from the ball; I’ve not seen her play this poorly for a while, and she trails 4-6 0-1. Anisimova, really struggling – as she did against Rybakina – swats a forehand return wide for 15-0 then, at 30-15, tamely nets an overhand backhand return. A service winner follows, and Keys takes a low-quality first set 6-4. My system crashes, returning in time for me to see that Keys has two break points at 15-40; she only needs one, and Anisimova is struggling now. At 5-4, the Aussie Open champ will shortly serve for the first set – a good test for her new action. Keys makes 30-15 then a rarity: a backhand error from Anisimova who, generally speaking, hands over points with errors on the opposite wing. But another, into the net, takes us to 4-4 and this match is not of the highest standard. Anisimova is serving well now, a love hold making 4-3, but it’s also fair to note that Keys’ returning wasn’t great in that game. Both players have another couple of levels to reach. Now it’s Keys with the hold and we’re level at 3-2. These two are really well matched, but I fancy Anisimova to get it done because she’s the more comfortable in her game, while her big backhand is more reliable than Oor Maddie’s fore. Up 40-0, Anisimova sends down a double, but a netted return gives her the first hold of the match and a 3-2 lead. Can Keys – and her new service-action – respond? I guess she’s had her injury issues, so as she nears her dotage it makes sense to limit stress on the body, but to change something so significant at her age is going to cause issues. Anisimova makes 15-30, larrups a forehand towards the sideline … and just over it. But a terrific return then clips the back edge of the whitewash so at 30-40 we again have break-back point, Keys tries a kick-serve, and it’s sent back with extreme prejudice, that mortally threatening backhand doing more than enough to level us up at 2-2. Gosh, neither player is quite at it yet, Keys making 0-30 before nailing a decent return on to the line; Anismova, though, responds superbly, an even better shot with that backhand of hers reducing her arrears before an inside-out forehand, also on to the paint, levels the game. Keys, though, then steps into a forehand winner to raise break point, a further violent forehand forces the error, and that’s a third break in three games. The Aussie Open champ leads 2-1. Though Anisimova’s errors were the principal reason for the break, Keys played a decent game, harnessing her power in a way she doesn’t always find easy. But she’s getting used to a new and shortened service action so it’s no great surprise to see her down 15-40, and a double hands over a break-back Anisimova had to do little to achieve. It’s 1-1 in the first. Keys makes 0-30 but is quickly hauled back, an ace levelling the game. But a forehand into the net cedes deuce, then Anisimova dumps a further forehand … then another, and that’s the immediate break. Anisimova to serve, ready … play. If Anisimova wins, Rybakina goes through as group winner, with the American facing Swiatek to see who goes with her. If Keys wins, Anisimova is out, with the other three fighting to see which two progress. Laura Robson just said that Anisimova’s backhand is the best on tour; I’d go further and say it’s up there with the best shots, any kind, in the game, men or women. Out come Keys and Anisimova… Rybakina was the last to qualify for this competition, which might say she’s had the least good season of all in the field, or that she arrives at it in form. It’s not often you see Swiatek beaten up like that, but I’d fancy her to rebound when she plays Anisimova in her final group match. So Rybakina is 2-0, Swiatek 1-1; coming up next, we’ve got Anisimova v Keys, both of them 0-1. It’s always tough to play Swiatek she says, and she was a little bit sluggish at the start. But she pushed herself, her serve improved, and she’s very happy with her performance. She’s glad she stayed focused and aggressive, following the tactics agreed with he coach, and once she got some confidence leading in set two – that is telling – she was able to go on. Shew’s been playing really well the last few weeks, improving every match, and she’s trying to follow the little details while hoping to bring the same intensity to her next match. It’s not often you see Swiatek ravaged like that; here’s Rybakina to explain how it happened. Rybakina makes 30-0 in short order, then a backhand return – of a second serve – swiped wide means three match points; Swiatek has gone. A second serve ace follows, meaning 12 of 13 games have gone to the Kazakh since the end of the first set, and that was a ludicrously fantastic performance; she can’t pay much better than that, and nor can anyone else. Beautiful stuff. It feels like women’s tennis is in a really good place at the moment. For quite some time, we had all sorts winning majors, but now we’ve got a coterie of brilliant players at the top: Swiatek, Sabalenka and Gauff, of course, but with Anisimova getting closer and Osaka good enough to hit the required level; if Rybakina is also ready to join that group, it’ll be even better. And she’s got a point for yet another break at 30-40, Swiatek swatting long, and this is an absolute tousing! Three breaks in the set, and at 3- 6-1 5-0, Rybakina has three breaks and will shortly serve for the match, her forehand just too much today. If she can hit this level regularly, she is a problem. Swiatek needs to target the backhand if she can, but in the time it takes me to type that, she’s down 40-0; this is the best I’ve seen Rybakina play against a top player in a long while. And have a look! Swiatek is well in the rally, moving her opponent around then, out of nowhere, a lazy forehand is dispatched with coruscating power on to the sideline, and that’s 4-0! I said at the start that Rybakina was mentally vulnerable but it’s Swiatek who’s struggling now, various errors forcing her to nail a first serve that saves break point and makes deuce. For all the good it does her, Rybakina making advantage then nailing a return which incites the error; her forehand it absolutely steaming at the moment and she’s won nine of 10 games since losing the first set, a double-break to the good at 3-0 in the third. Amazingly, this is nearly over. Further errors from Swiatek give Rybakina 30-0, but a forehand winner gives her a sniff … and only a sniff, a shanked forehand giving two consolidation points. And, though Rybakina then offers a double, an ace down the T seals the hold, and this is very good stuff indeed. The Kazakh leads 2-0 in the third. It’d be just like Swiatek to find a way of breaking immediately, just it’d be a little too much like Rybakina to fid a way of being broken. But before we think about that, the Wimbledon champ has to hold, and at 40-15, she’s in control, but shortly afterwards slaps a forehand long to cede deuce. So she puts a bit extra on her first serve, watching the return fly long … only to send an inside-out backhand wide. A decent return, landing close to the line, then incites her to net, and Rybakina has break point, opening shoulder on a forehand cross that forces Swiatek to net! That’s three breaks in four service games, Rybakina’s forehand now the dominant shot in the match; she leads 3-6 6-1 1-0. Seven straight errors now, as Rybakina makes 30-0, then raises three set points with a serve/overhead combo. She only needs one, and was as solid as Swiatek was dodgy. An ace gives Swiatek 30-15, but a shanked backhand puts her under a bit of pressure. Rybakina, who’s responding really well to losing the first set, can’t then take advantage of a second serve, but when a backhand goes into the net, she makes deuce. And have a look! Swiatek nets a forehand after Rybakina swings a flat one at her, butchers another backhand, this time long, and that was a dreadful game from the Wimbledon champ, five errors offering the Kazakh a chance to serve for the second set at 3-6 5-1. Swiatek has been returning from further back than usual, but down 40-30 and facing a second serve, she steps in a little … to make deuce. Rybakina, though, responds with a one-two of booming serve and forehand, then again, the latter shot coming off the back foot; her power is so natural and loose. Swiatek leads 6-3 1-4. Now Swiatek holds to love to get on the board in set two, but she can put Rybakina under pressure with her returns? Now then. Rybakina rushes through her first love hold of the match an exclamation mark affixed to it with the ace that seals the deal. Swiatek leads 6-3 0-3 and is currently second-best, outhit – in this set – from the baseline. Swiatek flaps a backhand long, but two well directed forehands take her to 30-15 … before a Rybakina mishit forces her into a moon-ball that drops long. Then, at 30-all, a double donates break point; these are big moments in the context of the match and when Swiatek tries a body-serve, the return is good enough to force her to net; she’s precisely as ecstatic as you’d expect her to be. Rybakina trails 3-6 2-0, and if she can consolidate, we’ll really be talking. Rybakina could really use a comfy hold here, to focus on trying for a break without the mental stress of having just fought off an attack. And from 15-30, three good points mean she’ll be receiving in decent heart, down 3-6 1-o but playing better than before. A wrong-footing backhand down the line gives Swiatek 15-0, but Rybakina responds with a winner of her own, another of those hooked forehands. But two errors then give Swiatek two sets points, and though she burns the first, a service winner secures the set. Rybakina’s forehand, when it works, is a helluva weapon; it’s not just the power, but her ability to hook it at the last second, so a ball that looks to be going line ends up leaping cross. She holds to 15, securing the game with an ace, and at 5-3, Swiatek will now serve for the first set. A big forehand earns Rybakina 15-all, then Swiatek nets a forehand and suddenly faces a bit of pressure following three love holds. But a forehand which drops fractionally long, then another which is more so, means it’s soon 40-30, a return then flies beyond the baseline, and at 5-2 Swiatek is a game away from the first set. Three service winners get Rybakina to 40-15, then a wrong-footing forehand secures the hold for 2-4. She’s playing a bit better now, but can she find anything on the Swiatek serve? And barely have I hit save than Swiatek holds to love. After facing a break point in the opening game of the match, she’s all over it and leads 4-1, sticking Rybakina on her bike so she can’t plant feet and thwack. Rybakina again finds herself behind on serve and, down 15-30, hits a decent forehand. But forced to come in and volley, she’s tentative, dumping into the net, and must now face two further break points. This time, though, she finds the booming deliveries she needs to make deuce, and from there she closes out for 3-1 Swiatek. Swiatek consolidates easily, sealing the deal with an ace, and you can feel her intensity assaulting you through the screen. She leads 3-0, and Rybakina needs to keep the head while finding some first serves. After putting Swiatek under pressure for no immediate gain, I’d not be surprised to see Rybakina broken immediately – the respective mentality of these two is perhaps the biggest difference between them. And sure enough, Swiatek makes 15-40, Rybakina errs on the forehand, and that’s 2-0. Rybakina starts well, hitting cleanly and through the ball, backhand winner earning her break point at 30-40; Swiatek, though, responds well, hooking a forehand winner for deuce before closing out for 1-0. Already, you can se the difference in how they move, Swiatek lithe, agile and flexible and Rybaklina a little laboured and flat-footed in comparison. …ready, play. Out come our players… So how does Rybakina win? Aside from playing well, she might want to target Swiatek’s sometimes-dicky forehand and deny her angle by hitting down the middle. Rybakina, meanwhile, needs to improve her consistency on the forehand, but also her ability to stay level through matches. She’s more than capable, but I’d back Swiatek to munch her today. Swiatek is up there with the most relentlessly, murderously focused competitors in all sport, and it’s great to see her back to her best. She’s not unbeatable because there are others with more power and bigger shots, able to hit through her, but her all-round game might be the most complete. Hello there and welcome to this Monday’s meeting of the Gleeful Hand-Rubbing Society. I mean, just look at what’s in store. We begin with the winners from the first round of matches, Iga Swiatek – back to her menacing, intimidating best – against Elena Rybakina, who’s not trained on as expected since winning Wimbledon in 2022, but when she’s at it has the easy, joyful power to ruin anyone. Likewise Amanda Anisimova – surely a future Grand Slam winner and this year’s runner-up at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadow. She takes on against Madison Keys, the Australian Open champ – words I’ll never tire of typing – with the loser eliminated. I’d not want to be a ball in that one, which is lucky, as I’m not, but even if I was, everyone else would be in for a treat. Play: 5pm local, 2pm GMT
|
[
"Daniel Harris"
] |
Join Daniel Harris for updates from the season-ending tournament in Saudi Arabia
|
[
"WTA Finals",
"Tennis",
"Sport"
] |
Sport
|
Tennis
|
WTA Finals
|
2025-11-03T17:28:17.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:28:17.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2025/nov/03/wta-finals-swiatek-v-rybakina-anisimova-v-keys-live
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Trump feels ‘very badly’ for British royal family after Prince Andrew was stripped of titles
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Donald Trump has said he feels “very badly” for the British royal family after King Charles stripped his brother, Andrew, of his titles over the former prince’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late, convicted sex offender. The ex-Duke of York, now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, will also have to move out of his long-term residence at the Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate, Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday. The decision follows anxiety within the royal household about the damage caused by continual headlines concerning Mountbatten Windsor’s friendship with the paedophile financier. The former prince has also faced allegations of sexual assault against him by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre. Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump – who was friends with Epstein before winning his two US presidencies – was asked about King Charles’s decision to strip Andrew of his peerages and titles. “I feel very badly,” Trump said. “It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the family. That’s been a tragic situation. It’s too bad. I feel badly for the family.” Trump has frequently spoken of his admiration for Britain’s royal family, including during his unprecedented second state visit to the UK in September. He hailed the so-called special relationship between the US and Britain as he paid a gushing tribute to King Charles. But Trump has faced his own political woes in recent months over his own alleged relationship with Epstein, who was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019. Before Trump was greeted by King Charles during September’s visit, several images of the US president and Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle, with an accompanying soundtrack questioning their relationship. Meanwhile, Mountbatten Windsor has been under renewed scrutiny over his ties to Epstein after the publication of newly released emails and a posthumous memoir by Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at the age of 41. In the book, she claimed she was forced to have sex with the former prince on three occasions, including when she was 17 and also during an orgy after being trafficked by Epstein. She claimed Mountbatten Windsor “believed that having sex with me was his birthright”. Mountbatten Windsor, 65, has always denied claims he had sex with Giuffre when she was 17. He settled a civil case with her for a reported £12m ($16m) with no admission of liability. In the latest fallout from the scandal, the UK defence secretary, John Healey, said on Sunday that Mountbatten Windsor would be stripped of his last remaining naval title, which he was given in 2015. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion He was stripped of his other honorary military titles by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, in 2022 after he was sued by Giuffre. On Friday, a Democratic congressman called for Mountbatten Windsor to testify before the US House of Representatives committee that is conducting an inquiry into the government’s handling of the Epstein case. Interest in the case flared in July, after the justice department announced a much-rumored list of Epstein’s sex-trafficking clients did not exist, and it would share nothing further on the case.
|
[
"Emine Sinmaz"
] |
King Charles stripped his brother of his titles over relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, a former friend of Trump’s
|
[
"Donald Trump",
"Andrew Mountbatten Windsor",
"US news",
"US politics",
"UK news"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Donald Trump
|
2025-11-03T17:23:41.000Z
|
2025-11-03T20:48:36.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-prince-andrew-title
|
Coco Gauff’s second serve the only thing standing between her and sustained success
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For a brief, hopeful moment in the middle of an intense tussle with her compatriot Jessica Pegula, it seemed as if Coco Gauff had found her way. Gauff had struggled in the first set of their opening match at the WTA Finals in Riyadh on Sunday, but then she dug deep and slowly turned the match around. The American reached set point on her serve at 6-5 in the second set. Guaff then proceeded to hit three dire double faults in a row, which allowed Pegula to retrieve the break without touching the ball. Not a single attempt was even close. That sequence illustrated perfectly Gauff’s struggles at the end of a curious season. On one hand, things are going supremely well in her career overall. She won her second grand slam title at the French Open in June by outsmarting the world No 1, Aryna Sabalenka, a victory that showed Gauff and the rest of the tour that her first victory was no fluke. It was reasonable to assume that such a win would allow her to build even greater momentum. Instead, aside from her title run at the Wuhan Open last month, the past five months have been some of the most challenging of her career. Those struggles can be attributed largely to one shot: Gauff’s second serve. While Gauff has always been prone to double faults, over the past two seasons her serve has fallen apart. According to Tennis Abstract, Gauff’s double fault rate, the amount of service points that end in a double fault, is by far the worst of all top 50 players this year at 9.9%. The next worst performer inside the top 10 is Amanda Anisimova, who has a double fault rate of 6.2%. In a sport of narrow margins where matches are decided usually by a few points, Gauff freely hands over a tenth of her service points. On the court, Gauff possesses many assets. Her defensive skills and athleticism are peerless, her two-handed backhand is sublime and her intelligence on the court is complemented by her well-rounded game. While her forehand can be inconsistent, all evidence suggests that the quality of her second serve will probably determine just how far she can go in her career. Gauff leads the tour for return games won, winning 46.8% of her return games this year, and she has won a respectable 68.6% of first serve points, which places her at No 12 in the top 50. Her problems begin with her second serve. Gauff is the sixth worst performer inside the top 50 for second serve points won this year. Excluding double faults, however, she has won the second highest proportion of second serve points on the tour. If she can lower her double fault count, her results will improve significantly. After an excruciating series of serving performances from Gauff during the summer, including 23 double faults against Danielle Collins in Montreal, she finally took drastic action. Days before the US Open, the American parted ways with her coach Matt Daly in favour of hiring the tennis biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan. They immediately made significant changes to her “hitchy” service technique, particularly on her knee bend and her tendency to throw her head down, in her attempts to generate racket head speed which often leads to her landing off balance. A top player making such a significant coaching change days before a grand slam tournament is practically unheard of and it made for a miserable week in New York. After crying on court during her second round win against Donna Vekic and feeling put under pressure by all the scrutiny she received, Gauff lost in the fourth round against Naomi Osaka. Sign up to Sport in Focus Sign up to Sport in Focus after newsletter promotion Her refusal to wait until after the US Open to make such significant adjustments, however, also revealed much about her mindset. Gauff is ranked No 3 and she has been competing at the highest level of professional tennis for half a decade. It can be hard to focus on future improvements when a player is expected to win nearly every match they play. However, she is still only 21 years old and she should still be focusing on her development as a player. She clearly understands this. Despite her defeat against Pegula, Gauff still has the chance to advance from the group stages of the WTA Finals, where she is the defending champion. However, how her game evolves in the coming years is far more important. An obvious point of reference is Sabalenka, whose serve was a disaster three years ago. On numerous occasions in 2022, unable to control her second serve, Sabalenka resorted to hitting underarm second serves. This year, her double fault rate of 3.1% is the third lowest inside the top 50. It will take some time for Gauff to see if her work with MacMillan will also yield permanent long-term improvements but, if they are even half as successful as the best player in the world, there will be many more big titles to come.
|
[
"Tumaini Carayol"
] |
The world No 3 seems to have taken a step in the right direction by linking up with Gavin MacMillan but a run of double faults at the WTA Finals shows there is still work to be done
|
[
"Coco Gauff",
"WTA Finals",
"Tennis",
"Sport"
] |
Sport
|
Tennis
|
Coco Gauff
|
2025-11-03T17:20:58.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:22:15.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//sport/2025/nov/03/tennis-coco-gauff-wta-finals-second-serve
|
Trash talk: why are UK kids using so many Americanisms?
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Name: Americanism. Age: 246, although when the word first appeared back in 1779 it meant something else. What did it mean then? Loyalty to the ideals and interests of the United States. What does it mean now? A peculiar feature of American English, especially as opposed to British English. Appearance: In primary schools across the UK. They’re teaching American English to British schoolkids? They’re not teaching it; they’re just hearing it. From whom? From the kids, especially the younger ones. Is it some form of protest? No, just transatlantic cultural creep. According to a recent survey of 10,000 teachers, over half reported hearing the word “candy” instead of sweets, and “trash” and “garbage” for rubbish. This is an outrage! Some teachers even claimed to have heard the word “diaper” instead of nappy. Neither of those is a word you want to hear in a primary school setting. Also “apartment” rather than flat, and “closet” for cupboard. Some parents even report their children speaking in American accents. Where are the young people getting this stuff? From American YouTube cartoons, US social media stars, Netflix and even children’s programming on the BBC. Can’t the UK slap tariffs on these shows, before the children start talking ‘trash’? We could, but children’s speech habits are famously difficult to measure because they change so quickly. While 65% of British primary teachers reported hearing “candy” in the classroom, only 26% of secondary teachers did – which suggests that either the Americanisms wear off, or that it’s getting worse with each generation. Either way, the UK must do something to stop this one-way language invasion. But it’s not one-way. Americans are also resorting to Britishisms more often. They are? Use of British words and phrases – including “gobsmacked” and “knickers in a twist” – has been steadily increasing in the US. They’ve also picked up on “ginger” for red-haired, and “cuppa” for tea. I’ll admit I didn’t see that coming. Now there are even signs in the US that say “lift” instead of “elevator”. Wider access to global media means that, if anything, the two languages are cross-pollinating. I can’t work out whether to be cross about this any more. It’s complicated. When a word imported from another culture addresses a specific need, it might be deemed worthy of adoption. But often it’s just an example of trendy affectation. Can you give me an example? For Americans a word such as “twee” fills a gap; they have no exact equivalent. But other Britishisms can seem a bit, um, twee. Do say: “The more words we have for something, the richer our language becomes.” Don’t say: “It’s just cross-pollination, don’t get your panties in a tangle!”
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[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
British teachers report hearing more and more schoolchildren using US terms such as ‘candy’ and ‘diaper’ – and even speaking in an American accent. What’s going on?
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[
"Life and style",
"Linguistics",
"UK news"
] |
Life and style
|
Life and style
|
2025-11-03T17:08:05.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:08:05.000Z
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https://www.theguardian.com//lifeandstyle/2025/nov/03/trash-talk-why-are-uk-kids-using-so-many-americanisms
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Telegraph bidder reported for potential breach of editorial independence rules
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The boss of the US private equity group bidding for the Daily Telegraph has been reported to the UK government for potentially breaching rules protecting the newspaper’s editorial independence, after allegedly threatening to “go to war” with the title’s newsroom. The Guardian understands that the independent directors of Telegraph Media Group (TMG) have alerted the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) about supposed comments made by RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale to the Telegraph’s editor, Chris Evans. The government department is thought to be considering if there has been a breach of the legislation. The title’s former editor Charles Moore disclosed in his Telegraph column last month that inquiries by the paper’s journalists into RedBird Capital’s bid had prompted Cardinale to “threaten he would go to war with our entire newsroom”. Moore added there had been “apparent media briefings” that Evans would be removed and replaced as editor – although that was followed up by a column the Telegraph published by Cardinale last week. In it, the private equity boss said: “We won’t ever compromise the editorial independence of the Telegraph. At RedBird, we are very clear about one fundamental premise: don’t invest in a newspaper if you want to influence it – that will kill the investment thesis and is just bad business.” Last year the government introduced a statutory instrument compelling parties to “take all reasonable steps to retain key staff within the Telegraph Media Group business and to ensure that no key staff are removed from their position”. The order added: “At all times, the … acquiring entities must keep the secretary of state informed of any material developments relating to the Telegraph Media Group business, which includes details of key staff who leave or join the Telegraph Media Group business.” The referral to the culture department follows yet another eventful few weeks in the saga of the acquisition of the Telegraph, which has come under scrutiny as the initial acquisition was funded by foreign state interests. Last week the newspaper linked its presumed new owner to the suspected ringleader of the alleged Chinese spy ring in Westminster. The Telegraph’s future has been uncertain since the Barclay family lost its grip on the media group in 2023 in a row about unpaid debts. An organisation connected to Redbird Capital, called Redbird IMI, took control of the newspaper titles later that year. However, RedBird IMI was forced to put the papers up for sale in spring 2024 after the then Conservative government passed a law blocking foreign states or associated individuals from owning newspaper assets in the UK. Redbird IMI is in the process of selling TMG to RedBird Capital – which holds various investments, including a stake in the parent company of Liverpool football club. While a quarter of RedBird IMI’s funding came from RedBird Capital, the remainder was sourced from International Media Investments (IMI), which is controlled by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates and owner of Manchester City FC. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The Labour government eased the ban on foreign governments owning stakes in UK newspapers this year by allowing them to hold up to 15% of titles, ultimately allowing the RedBird Capital offer that would include IMI retaining a 15% Telegraph stake. The DCMS and a spokesperson for TMG’s directors declined to comment on the report to DCMS by the Telegraph’s directors. A spokesperson for RedBird Capital said: “RedBird is a private equity fund, not a proprietor, and the mandate of the fund is to grow the value of its investments. The way to grow the value of the Telegraph is to grow subscribers and the way to do that is to embrace and support the values that matter most to subscribers – namely, free speech and independent journalism. “As such, we have committed to establishing an independent advisory board tasked with upholding the highest standards of journalistic integrity. The deputy chairman of the Telegraph Media Group, Lord Black, has agreed to design its framework.”
|
[
"Simon Goodley"
] |
UK government alerted after RedBird Capital’s boss allegedly threatened to ‘go to war’ with the title’s newsroom
|
[
"Telegraph Media Group",
"Daily Telegraph",
"Sunday Telegraph",
"National newspapers",
"Newspapers",
"Media",
"Newspapers & magazines",
"Private equity",
"Business",
"UK news",
"US news"
] |
Media
|
Media
|
Telegraph Media Group
|
2025-11-03T17:06:22.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:08:12.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//media/2025/nov/03/telegraph-bidder-reported-potential-breach-editorial-independence-rules
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Liz Barnard obituary
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My sister Liz Barnard, who has died aged 83, began her working life in the government Careers Service, but in her 30s she changed career herself. In 1977 she embarked on a degree in furnishing and interior design at the London College of Furniture, and then moved back to Norwich, where she had grown up, and began to develop property. She became well known as a “house doctor”, styling and presenting homes to their best advantage, and also took on garden design and plant photography. In 1983, she was highly commended in a Sunday Times competition for a design for a small garden, and in the 1990s, her work was featured in the Norwich press, and nationally in the Sunday Telegraph and the Express. Liz was born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, during the second world war, to Mary (nee Loomes), a teacher, and Arthur Barnard, known as Barney, an accountant. It was a time of rationing and bombs, and Liz continued to be frightened by loud bangs for the rest of her life. Barney moved to gain promotion in his career as a municipal accountant and the family followed him. By 1949, Liz had three siblings, and soon after that, when Mary’s sister died, her two children, along with Mary’s mother, Agnes, joined the family. Wartime rationing continued into the 50s, with the family living by now in a large house in Norwich, and Liz remembered often being cold and hungry. Fortunately there was also a big garden, with chickens for eggs, fruit trees and a vegetable garden, and this sparked Liz’s love of nature and self-sufficiency. She attended Willow Lane primary and Notre Dame high school and went off to Liverpool University in 1962 to study social sciences before joining the Careers Service in Bristol. In 1966 she married Pete Willson, and they settled in Essex. It was as Liz Willson that she wrote a careers column for the Daily Telegraph in 1970, but later that decade the marriage ended in divorce. As well as working as an interior designer, in the early 90s Liz was a lecturer at Norwich School of Art and from 1994 until 1996 she was director of the interior design course at Easton College in Norfolk. She loved art, and regularly attended exhibitions in London and at the Sainsbury Centre at UEA. She could never resist a sculpture trail or a stately home. She became an active member of the Norfolk Gardens Trust and from 2013 edited their newsletter. Her interest in young people never waned. She would attend the end of year exhibition of students’ work at the Norwich School of Art and fill her home with the work she purchased. Liz also wrote poetry, enjoyed entertaining, learned how to belly dance and tended an allotment. She felt strongly about women’s rights, and cared deeply about animal welfare. Liz is survived by her siblings, John, Antonia and me.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
<strong>Other lives:</strong> Interior designer who became well known as a ‘house doctor’
|
[
"Interior design",
"Interiors",
"Gardens",
"Art",
"Norwich",
"Careers"
] |
Education
|
Interior design
|
2025-11-03T17:00:40.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:02:11.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//education/2025/nov/03/liz-barnard-obituary
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You should act your age – at least when it comes to exercise. Here’s why
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Last year, I had to give up running. It was, as my sports medicine doctor counseled, “time”. Since I was a teen, it had been my primary form of exercise and stress relief. But for months, I had been ignoring small signs of encroaching decrepitude: the popping and grinding in my right knee and hip joints whenever I stood up, bent down or took the stairs. The medical term for this is crepitus, yet I kept stubbornly persuading myself that I was still a “young” fiftysomething. I had imbibed the common positive ageing message: “50 is the new 30.” Yet as far as the cells that make up my knee and hip tendons and cartilage are concerned, 50 is still very much 50. So much for the popular idea that our overall “biological age” can be far younger than our chronological age. For decades, I had done everything experts recommend – eat well, sleep well, exercise – and yet my doctor was still telling me it was time to adapt to my changing body. My physiatrist told me that many of his gen X patients, now in their late 40s and 50s, have bought into the idea that age shouldn’t be a factor when it comes to what exercise they do or how they do it. Each trendy sport or exercise sends a new wave of us into his office and others like it. For instance, a 2020 study found that nearly 91% of people showing up to the emergency room with injuries related to playing pickleball were over 50. Many people approach their physical fitness as if they were a decade or two younger. My GP told me that patients over 50 are often frustrated by any suggestion that their routines might have to change. I started to see this denial of physical realities everywhere. One of my colleagues injured her shoulder doing CrossFit, then re-injured herself a few months later doing the same routine. A friend who has practiced yoga for decades fractured her chin in a fall from crow pose. When I suggested she modify her routine, she scoffed. As a medical anthropologist, I wondered: had anti-ageing messaging accidentally created a new problem? Was our generation at risk not from under-exercising, like the boomer and silent generations before us, but from over-exercising? Dr Emily Finkelstein, a geriatrician at Weill Cornell Medicine, loves that people in their 40s, 50s and 60s have internalized that exercise is important for healthy ageing and longevity. That being said, there are some practical considerations. “Our muscle mass and our performance peak in our mid-30s,” Finkelstein said, “and start to naturally decline after that. We do need to be flexible in terms of what we’re doing and expecting of ourselves.” As we edge past 45, we begin to lose critical muscle mass, which can decrease our strength and balance. Decreases in bone density can leave us more vulnerable to stress fractures from repetitive motions and stress. The cartilage in our joints thin, while tendons and ligaments stiffen. All of this means we’re more prone to injuries during physical activity. Recovery takes longer too. “The thing that people don’t know and don’t learn,” Dr Rosanne Leipzig said, “is that ageing begins at birth, and your abilities are definitely going to change.” Leipzig knows quite a lot about this process, both as a professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and as someone in her 70s. “You reach a maximum for your muscle mass, bone strength, ability to remember a list of words, all in your 30s. And everything starts to decline after that,” she said. “Ageing doesn’t mean that you can’t do what you did previously, but you probably can’t do as much in the same time period.” Most experts agreed that messages like “50 is the new 30” can be helpful if they convince people not to write themselves off as they age. It’s OK to push ourselves a bit physically. But the flip side is an assumption that a 50-year-old body isn’t different from a 30-year-old body. It is. “One of the best things we can do for our own healthy ageing is to be flexible and adaptable,” Finkelstein said. “We need to change our expectations and we need to change how we exercise as we get older.” In midlife, we should all learn to be more in tune with our bodies. That might mean taking more recovery time between intense workouts, doing more stretching and integrating more weights into our fitness routines. A healthy adaptive approach to exercising as we age might involve regular self-monitoring and assessment of how our bodies feel both during and after workouts, and seeking input from a qualified medical professional when we start to notice any signs or symptoms of an encroaching problem, such as pain or discomfort. Leipzig suggests that physicians begin conversations about adjustments by asking patients what it is they love about an activity they’re holding on to. A tennis player might really love the social aspect. In that case, they could switch to pickleball – which is less taxing, but similar – with a complementary strength-training and stretching regimen to prevent injuries. But since risk of injury naturally rises as we age, it’s also important to have a backup plan for if and when we overdo it. When I talked to Dr Melissa Leber, associate professor of orthopedics and emergency medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine, she had just finished working at the US Open. Leber has a lot of experience dealing with athletes – both professional and amateur – who have pushed themselves a bit too hard. “Some people are really good at adjusting and they’re comfortable with their bodies changing,” Leber said. “Others go hardcore. I’ve seen some patients who don’t even want a day off.” Sign up to Well Actually Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life after newsletter promotion Leber counsels patients to switch things up while allowing their body to recover. So, if you’re a runner with an injury, try a modified strength-training routine and a lower-impact activity, like swimming. Then, when you start running again, run fewer times a week or for shorter distances. To avoid injury or overuse, experts recommend one or two rest days a week, at minimum. Strength training is also very important. “The stronger you are,” Leber said, “the more you will avoid injury and falls. And when you do fall, you will fall differently. Your balance will be better, and you’ll recover from injury faster.” As a rule, Leber advises that someone in their 50s should spend 50% of their total exercise time on strength training and 50% doing cardio. By age 60, that metric should be 60% strength and 40% cardio. By 70, cardio should only comprise 30% of a workout. All of the experts I spoke to agree that pain should never be ignored – and it’s never a good idea to push through the pain without seeing your doctor. That being said, Finkelstein pointed out that most general physicians aren’t all that well-trained in exercise physiology. For specific recommendations pertaining to exercise regimens, it’s better to see a physiatrist, specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation or certified physical trainer. “I wish we were all better trained in that,” Finkelstein said, “because it’s so important.” To compound this, conversations about how to maintain muscle mass, bone health, aerobic capacity and cardiovascular fitness take more time than the average physician can spend with their patients. Many people fill that gap with advice from fitness influencers online. Finkelstein worries about the effect of the media – especially social media, with its legions of wellness and anti-ageing influencers. “Take these supplements, do this exercise program, join this fitness routine: you name it, people are serving it up,” she said. “I worry a lot about that in terms of the reliability of those people and the science behind what they’re offering, and people being vulnerable to that because you want to do what you can to stay healthy and youthful.” Popular media also loves to feature “superagers” – people whose mental and/or physical abilities are comparable to people 20-30 years younger. And while it’s good to see, say, an 87-year-old running a marathon, it may lead to false expectations about normal ageing. Superagers are rare; only about 10% of the general population fit all the criteria for inclusion in the category. In other words, it’s not very realistic for those of us in our middle age or older to think we’ll rack up those personal bests forever. As the experts kept pointing out, the best approach to exercising as we age is realistic and adaptive. A runner who adapts to the changes of their ageing body and trains effectively may still be able to run the Boston marathon, but the time it takes for them to cross the finish line will necessarily lengthen. Part of the problem might be optimism bias. While we may logically understand that bodies change, we don’t think we are actually changing. Maybe that’s because we’re living in a culture that is obsessed not only with longevity, but with looking younger. The number of cosmetic procedures has increased 42.5% globally over the last four years, and Americans spent an estimated $20bn on cosmetic surgery in 2024. “In our society, we have a huge problem with accepting the fact that things are going to change,” Leipzig said. “People are in better shape in general than they ever have been, if they’re privileged enough to be able to take care of their needs, but it leads them to think they will never die. It leads to ageism.” And that’s the rub: being overly concerned with how much “younger” you are for your age is just another form of bias – one that you can hold against your future self. “Fifty is the new 30” simply underscores our misconception that being healthy means not ageing at all. It would be healthier if we occasionally reminded ourselves that ageing is a privilege; that “50 is 50” and “80 is 80” – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
|
[
"Theresa MacPhail"
] |
Adapting your fitness routine to your physical realities can help prevent injury from over-exercising
|
[
"Well actually",
"Ageing",
"Fitness",
"Health & wellbeing",
"Life and style",
"Health",
"Society"
] |
Wellness
|
Health & fitness
|
Well actually
|
2025-11-03T17:00:05.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:02:11.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2025/nov/03/exercise-tips-fitness-routines-by-age
|
The ground is swallowing homes in this Native village in Alaska. Residents have no choice but to move
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Children splash gleefully in the river as adults cast fishing lines or head into the Alaska tundra to hunt. It’s a scene that has characterized summer days for centuries among the Yup’ik people who have long lived in south-western Alaska, where the village of Nunapitchuk stands. But, with temperatures in Alaska warming nearly four times faster than most parts of the globe, that way of life is about to change. Homes in Nunapitchuk have been sinking into the permafrost, and residents have decided their only choice is to move the entire village to higher ground. When the permafrost under Nunapitchuk melts, it mixes with the soil, creating an unstable, muck-like substance that local people call “Alaskan quicksand”. The phenomenon, along with rapid erosion from the coastline, has dangerously damaged key infrastructure in the village. After a typhoon in October damaged electrical lines and raised the waterline even higher, Morris Alexie, the former tribal administrator of Nunapitchuk, said the village needed help now more than ever. “With global warming, life has gotten worse. It has gotten worse for us to try and keep our livelihood going,” said Alexie. “Everywhere you look, you will see slanted homes filled with people. They’re starting to touch the ground, and homes are getting very close to the riverbank.” Nunapitchuk is just one of 144 Native villages in Alaska that will need to relocate because of infrastructure damage caused by the climate crisis, according to a 2020 report by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Edna Chase, a 60-year-old mother in Nunapitchuk, is one of the approximately 750 residents whose houses have started to sink into the ground, making her home of 53 years nearly impossible to live in. “There’s no more foundation, it’s under the ground,” Chase said, pointing towards her floor. Every 15 minutes, a makeshift machine pumps water from under the house to keep it from flooding. Chase’s life revolves around keeping her home dry for her and her 15-year-old son. She has written Bible verses on her fridge, her door and her walls to keep faith that one day it will be better. The village’s problems don’t stop with slanted houses. Its ground is so unstable that the only way to get around is on boardwalks, which are constantly in need of repair. Nunapitchuk’s only playground, a basketball court elevated above the ground, is filled with holes. Nunapitchuk collectively voted in 2023 to relocate to a different spot three miles away. Alexie is in charge of leading the relocation efforts and said the new location stands on sand, instead of soil, which means it could last for centuries. “It would be a joy, it would be a relief for, as you can see, it is high and dry over here,” he said. Estimates show that relocating Nunapitchuk could cost about $230m, but the village has collected just a fraction of that amount. In 2022, Nunapitchuk received $2.2m to repair a police station, and in 2024, the Bureau of Indian Affairs awarded it $250,000 to design a master plan for relocation. During his term, Joe Biden started to devote more attention to addressing climate relocation. From 2021 to 2024, the then president hosted the White House Tribal Nations Summit, where 574 tribes, including residents from Nunapitchuk, met with the administration to demand action. In 2022, the Department of the Interior created the Voluntary Community-Driven Relocation Program to bolster climate relocation and planning efforts for tribal communities. The Biden administration earmarked more than $560m to help tribes cope with the climate crisis, including through relocation, but earlier this year, the Trump administration froze $100m earmarked to these communities before it was doled out. “It seems like we were making some steps forward, and then this was like a step back again,” Alexie said. Melissa Shapiro, a policy advocate and lawyer at Woodwell Climate, said that although the Trump administration had posed additional funding challenges for Nunapitchuk, the problem extends beyond this administration. “It is a systematic issue.” Shapiro said. “ The Trump administration certainly is not favorable when it comes to climate adaptation support. It has obviously destabilized and weakened a lot of those supports, but it’s not like there was anything in place.” In addition to the lack of federal help, one of the largest obstacles is the absence of a leading authority to coordinate the tribal relocations, said Alfredo Gómez, the director of the natural resources and environment team at the Government Accountability Office (GOA). More than 20 different federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Denali Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the army corps of engineers and others, each have a different part to play in the relocation process. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Since 2009, the GAO has given Congress multiple recommendations on how to handle climate relocations, but none have been fully implemented. “It’s a piecemeal approach and it is not working well,” said Gómez. “Our recommendations are that a federal entity needs to be in charge of coordinating and helping the community make those moves.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the administration’s funding cuts or lack of federal coordination over relocation efforts. Even in Alaska, climate relocation does not seem to preoccupy much of the political landscape. CJ McCormick represented Alaska’s 38th district in the state’s house of representatives for two years. During his term, he saw harsh political pushback to climate relocation on both a state and national level. “There are solutions to this problem that are being ignored because of bureaucracy and almost, frankly, willful ignorance,” McCormick said. “Even the ‘best’ administrations have only done the bare minimum.” Meanwhile, the melting permafrost is creating a host of health problems, residents say. The permafrost thawing has damaged the foundation of homes such that gaps in walls and floorboards permit water and air to seep in, creating ideal conditions for black mold to develop. More than 15% of Nunapitchuk’s residents have asthma, and more than 10% of them have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a 2023 study by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Moreover, due to unstable ground, residents cannot build new houses, even as Nunapitchuk’s population grows. About 70% of people live in overcrowded spaces, according to the same University of Alaska study, almost 20 times the national rate. Additionally, the banks of the sewage lagoon and the dump site are eroding, allowing wastewater to seep into the river. Both are upstream of the village. The waste flows downstream to areas where kids swim and people fish for subsistence. Everything from battery acid to human waste poisons the river. Not only are the village and its residents’ health at risk, but also the Yup’ik people’s entire culture. “What we want to preserve is the way of life we have known since time beginning. It is to keep our native heritage, tradition and culture,” Morris said. For the Yup’ik people, moving to the city is not an option, for it would require 700 people to give up their community and way of life that has sustained them for centuries. “It’s my home. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” James Berlin, the village’s longtime mayor and Alexie’s uncle, said. “Unless we relocate to a different spot.” In November, at the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, Cop30, Alexie plans to address the international community on what it’s like to live in a sinking village.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
The climate crisis is causing the permafrost to melt in Alaska, forcing the village of Nunapitchuk to relocate
|
[
"Alaska",
"Climate crisis",
"Native Americans",
"Indigenous peoples",
"Environment",
"US news"
] |
US news
|
Climate crisis
|
Alaska
|
2025-11-03T17:00:04.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:02:11.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//us-news/2025/nov/03/alaska-nunapitchuk-climate-melting-permafrost
|
Federal judge bars national guard troops in Portland, Oregon
|
A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred Donald Trump’s administration from deploying the national guard to Portland, Oregon, until at least Friday, saying she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall. The city and state sued in September to block the deployment. It’s the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other US cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests. The ruling from US district court judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city’s US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law. In a 16-page filing late Sunday, Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence presented at trial, including more than 750 exhibits. The purpose of the deployment, according to the Trump administration, is to protect federal personnel and property where protests are occurring or likely to occur. Legal experts said that a higher appellate court order that remains in effect would have barred troops from being deployed anyway. Immergut wrote that most violence appeared to be between protesters and counter-protesters and found no evidence of “significant damage” to the immigration facility at the center of the protests. “Based on the trial testimony, this court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the president’s federalization order, protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct that resulted in no serious injuries to federal personnel,” she wrote. The complex case comes as Democratic cities targeted by Trump for military involvement – including Chicago, which has filed a separate lawsuit on the issue – seek to push back. They argue the president has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate states’ sovereignty. The administration argues that it needs the troops because it has been unable to enforce the law with regular forces – one of the conditions set by Congress for calling up troops. Immergut issued two orders in early October that blocked the deployment of the troops leading up to the trial. She previously found that Trump had failed to show that he met the legal requirements for mobilizing the national guard. She described his assessment of Portland, which Trump has called “war-ravaged” with “fires all over the place,” as “simply untethered to the facts”. One of Immergut’s orders was paused on 20 October by a three-judge panel of the ninth US circuit court of appeals. But late Tuesday, the appeals court vacated that decision and said it would rehear the matter before an 11-judge panel. Until the larger panel rehears the case, the appeals court’s initial order from early October – under which the national guard is federalized but not deployed – remains in effect. During the Portland trial, witnesses including local police and federal officials were questioned about the law enforcement response to the nightly protests at the city’s ICE building. The demonstrations peaked in June, when Portland police declared one a riot. The demonstrations typically drew a couple dozen people in the weeks leading up to Trump’s national guard announcement. The Trump administration said it has had to shuffle federal agents from elsewhere around the country to respond to the Portland protests, which it has characterized as a “rebellion” or “danger of rebellion” – another one of the conditions for calling up troops under federal law. Federal officials working in the region testified about staffing shortages and requests for more personnel that have yet to be fulfilled. Among them was an official with the Federal Protective Service, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that provides security at federal buildings, whom the judge allowed to be sworn in as a witness under his initials, RC, due to safety concerns. RC, who said he would be one of the most knowledgeable people in DHS about security at Portland’s ICE building, testified that a troop deployment would alleviate the strain on staff. When cross-examined, however, he said he did not request troops and that he was not consulted on the matter. He also said he was “surprised” to learn about the deployment and that he did not agree with statements about Portland burning down. Attorneys for Portland and Oregon said city police have been able to respond to the protests. After the police department declared a riot on 14 June, it changed its strategy to direct officers to intervene when person and property crime occurs, and crowd numbers have largely diminished since the end of that month, police officials testified.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
Judge ‘found no credible evidence’ that protests grew out of control but final ruling to come Friday
|
[
"Portland",
"US military",
"US news"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Portland
|
2025-11-03T16:57:52.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:01:04.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//us-news/2025/nov/03/national-guard-portland
|
David Gow obituary
|
The journalist David Gow, who has died aged 80 from a heart attack, served as the Guardian’s authoritative education editor, European business editor, and Germany correspondent. After his time on the paper he remained active in considering social and economic issues from a leftwing perspective. David started his career at the Scotsman as a graduate trainee in 1969. The following year, Edward Heath’s Conservatives came to power and Britain started negotiating entry to the European Economic Community. David was appointed the paper’s first European correspondent, then labour correspondent, and later its London editor over a period interrupted by a spell at Thames Television’s Weekend World. Britain joined the EEC in 1973, and on visits to Brussels, David met Sue Lewis, a member of the cabinet of George Thomson, one of Britain’s European commissioners. She had worked for Harold Wilson at 10 Downing Street; David was later to resist suggestions in Labour circles that he might want to be an aide for one of Wilson’s successors, Neil Kinnock. In 1980 David and Sue married and had a daughter, Gemma. When David joined the Guardian in 1989, he covered the important issues of education, and developments in Germany at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. He was a gifted linguist and his fluent German helped him attract a rich network of contacts. On returning to Britain, and after a brief time as Wales correspondent, he joined the paper’s business and industrial desk in London. From there he moved to Brussels and consolidated his reputation as an expert on European business. Sue died of cancer in 2001, and not long after, David was asked to fill in for the Guardian’s Wall Street correspondent in New York when she took maternity leave. It was an extraordinary time – the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. I knew Gayle, the widow of John Cairncross, a literary scholar labelled the “fifth man” in the Cambridge spy ring of Burgess, Maclean, Philby and Blunt. He had been given immunity and died in 1995. Gayle (nee Brinkerhoff) had recently returned to New York to stay with her brother. David told me that he did not know many people there, so I suggested he might get in contact with her, thinking they might get on. They did, and after a courtship often conducted by transatlantic emails, they married in 2002. From 2004 until retiring in 2012 he continued as European business editor, based in Brussels. Born in Edinburgh, David had an English mother, Eve (nee Mumford), who served in the Women’s Royal Air Force during the second world war, when she met his father, Robin, a Scot, who worked for an insurance company. David grew up in York, and won a scholarship to St Peter’s school. From there, in 1964 he went to Worcester College, Oxford, and gained a degree in French and German. He and David Leigh, eventually the Guardian’s investigations editor, were fellow trainees on the Scotsman, and for a while shared a flat off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. David Gow had been a neighbour of Hamish Henderson, the folklorist and poet, and he was among a number from Scots politics and academia who would drop in and conduct swirling debates over devolution and nationalism. David briefly flirted with the Trotskyite Labour League and its contentious leader, Gerry Healy. He contributed to the Red Paper on Scotland, edited in 1975 by a young Gordon Brown and published by Edinburgh University Students’ Publications Board. David concluded his chapter, called Devolution and Democracy: “The size and scale of the problems facing mankind, and the fact of international communication and mutual economic dependence will remain, but the concentration of the power to deal with those issues must be seized from the hands of the imperialists and given to the people in their rich local, regional, and national variety.” He was a committed Europhile: looking back on exchange visits, he remarked: “For my generation, going to Europe in our teens was a cultural awakening.” Many years later, in a passionate piece for the European Movement, he wrote: “I had a dream of Europe. Brexit wrecked it.” On retiring, David spent some time at Aumelas, a village near Montpellier, and came to view his European identity as: “republican, lay, socially horizontal.” Britain, on the other hand, he condemned as: “vertical, monarchist, socially riven.” Proud of his Scottish heritage, David suggested to Gayle, an opera singer and teacher of young performers, that they make their main base in Edinburgh, and they bought a flat in the New Town, a short walk from the city’s Botanic Garden, which he joined as a member. His knowledge of plants was encyclopedic, and he delighted in engaging in discussions about gardening, sport and classical music. He would light up any room sharing his enthusiasms or responding to the news with original observations. David pursued his work as consultant editor to European thinktanks including the Jacques Delors Centre in Berlin, and as a trustee of the Federal Trust, studying the interactions between regional, national, European and global levels of government. A student of the Enlightenment, he was a trustee of the David Hume Institute, focused on the understanding of the relationship between society and the economy. He also co-founded the Sceptical Scot website, a non-partisan forum inviting “passionate, informed debate for all who care about Scotland”. In recent years David was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and to the executive committee of the National Union of Journalists. After buying a lodge in St Fillans, Perthshire, he delighted in creating the surrounding garden and looking after Cosmopolitan Villager, a blog concentrating on community and Scottish issues. He is survived by Gayle, Gemma, three grandchildren, Nicole, Leah and Shannay, three great-grandchildren, and his brother, Rod. David Richard Gow, journalist and commentator, born 7 April 1945; died 3 November 2025
|
[
"Richard Norton-Taylor"
] |
Journalist, gifted linguist and European business editor of the Guardian who was dismayed by Brexit
|
[
"The Guardian",
"Newspapers",
"Media",
"Business",
"Europe",
"European Union",
"Scotland",
"The Scotsman"
] |
Media
|
Europe
|
The Guardian
|
2025-11-03T16:56:14.000Z
|
2025-11-03T18:19:09.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/03/david-gow-obituary
|
Why is Donald Trump threatening military intervention in Nigeria?
|
Donald Trump has threatened to launch a “guns-a-blazing” US military intervention in Nigeria, claiming that the west African country’s government has failed to prevent attacks on Christians. Here’s what we know so far about the unfolding situation. In a post on his Truth Social account at the weekend, Trump said: “Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter” and warned that if the Nigerian government failed to stop the killings, Washington would “immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria” and could “go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing”. Trump’s remarks came after weeks of lobbying by US lawmakers and conservative Christian groups urging him to designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for alleged religious persecution — a list that also includes Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China. His statement reflected renewed domestic political pressure to appear tough on the marginalisation or persecution of Christians abroad, a theme that resonates strongly with parts of his rightwing, evangelical base. Nigeria is officially secular but almost evenly divided between Muslims (53%) and Christians (45%), with the remaining population practising African traditional religions. Violence against Christians has drawn significant international attention, and is often framed as religious persecution. However, most analysts argue the situation is more complex. In parts of central Nigeria, deadly clashes between itinerant Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farming communities are rooted in competition over land and water but exacerbated by religious and ethnic differences. The herders often claim reprisals for the killing of their people and cattle, while local communities see the attacks as ethnic cleansing targeting their settlements. Priests and pastors have increasingly been kidnapped for ransom, as they are viewed as influential figures whose worshippers or organisations can mobilise funds quickly. Some analysts say this may be a trend driven more by criminal economics than religious discrimination. In the north-east, Boko Haram and its splinter groups such as Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have waged an insurgency since 2009, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions. In the north-west, heavily armed criminal gangs – often labelled “bandits” – carry out mass kidnappings and raids that affect both Muslim and Christian communities. These groups have expanded operations into north-central Nigeria, exploiting weak state presence and local grievances. “Christians are being killed, we can’t deny the fact that Muslims are (also) being killed,” Danjuma Dickson Auta, a Christian and community leader from Plateau state in the Middle Belt, told Agence France-Presse. Meanwhile, in the south-east, separatists seeking to revive the defunct state of Biafra have been linked to violence against government institutions and civilians, with most victims being Christians. In all, thousands have been killed across multiple fronts, creating overlapping humanitarian and governance crises. Successive Nigerian governments have struggled to contain these threats and security forces are stretched thin across multiple fronts. They are also often accused of human rights abuses that previously halted US support – most notably under the Leahy Law, which restricts arms sales to forces accused of violations. In the absence of state police and proper intelligence collaborations at all levels of the security hierarchy, many communities remain unprotected, and vigilante groups have filled the vacuum in some states. In a statement on Sunday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not name Trump directly but emphasised that Nigeria “is a democracy with constitutional guarantees of religious liberty”. He said characterising the country as religiously intolerant “does not reflect our national reality”. Meanwhile, his presidential spokesman, Daniel Bwala, described Trump’s post as “a miscommunication” and expressed hope that both leaders would “iron out” their differences if they meet. He insisted that “a data-driven assessment” rather than “isolated reports and social media videos” should guide international conclusions. Bwala added that any military action “would only happen if it is a joint action with the Nigerian government”, reaffirming Nigeria’s sovereignty. Still, concerns are mounting that Trump’s remarks could affect bilateral relations, particularly aid and sales of arms, or be exploited by secessionist groups such as the Biafra Republic Government in Exile, which is already lobbying in Washington.
|
[
"Eromo Egbejule"
] |
US president’s remarks about alleged persecution of Christians in the west African country appear to be in response to pressure from his evangelical base
|
[
"Nigeria",
"Donald Trump",
"Trump administration",
"Christianity",
"Religion",
"Africa",
"US news",
"US politics",
"World news"
] |
World news
|
Africa
|
Nigeria
|
2025-11-03T16:50:15.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:52:09.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//world/2025/nov/03/why-is-donald-trump-threatening-military-intervention-in-nigeria
|
Talk breached impartiality rules with allegations about cancelled local elections, Ofcom rules
|
Talk, the online channel owned by Rupert Murdoch’s news empire, breached impartiality rules in a show that repeatedly accused the government of cancelling local elections out of fear of Reform UK. The media regulator, Ofcom, issued the rare ruling in relation to a show hosted by Kevin O’Sullivan, in which he repeatedly said some local elections were being scrapped where ministers feared Nigel Farage’s party would win. The programme featured similar accusations from the broadcaster’s international editor, Isabel Oakeshott. It also featured a clip from Farage’s YouTube channel, in which he repeated the accusation that ministers were “terrified of the rise of Reform”. On a handover to the next programme, the presenter Ash Gould described the government’s proposal as “Saddam Hussein, Putin sort of territory”. Ofcom has rarely made rulings that broadcasters have breached due impartiality rules in recent years, instead talking up free speech and saying broadcasters can be balanced across a series of programmes. However, Ofcom concluded there had not been a proper reflection of the government’s position on O’Sullivan’s show. When local election postponements were announced, ministers said they were in areas facing a rearrangement of local government, meaning holding elections would be “an expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers’ money”. The presenter repeatedly alleged the anti-Reform motivations of the government. “Reform, quite rightly, fancied their chances and Labour knew that they were doomed,” he said. “Guess what? They’ve cancelled 13 of them. If there’s one thing lefties hate, it’s democracy.” He later said: “The ones where Reform UK were tipped to do particularly well, they’re the ones that have gone. What a shame.” Oakeshott said she was “sure it is because of the rise of the Reform party, which today once again came the top of a new set of polls”. News UK had attempted to argue that O’Sullivan had reflected the government position in his own provocative style, by saying ministers had cited “some old drivel about ‘all the borders are changing so we’ll, we’ll have to do these later’” and “some old drivel about the border lines of constituencies changing and all that”. This was rejected by Ofcom. News UK also argued viewers knew what to expect from O’Sullivan, saying he characterised himself as “an unambiguously acerbic and opinionated middle-aged man”. In a statement, News UK said: “Talk takes its obligations under section five of the code [covering due impartiality] extremely seriously, and recognises the importance in bringing its audience accurate and impartial news and a range of voices and perspectives on issues of debate. However on this occasion we, unusually, fell short of our own and Ofcom’s expectations.” Talk, owned by News UK, the publisher of The Times and The Sun, launched in 2022. It became an online-only service in 2024 as it struggled to match the growth of its rightwing rival GB News.
|
[
"Michael Savage"
] |
Claim that elections were cancelled because ministers were ‘terrified of Reform’ given rare rebuke by regulator
|
[
"TalkTV",
"News UK",
"Ofcom",
"Rupert Murdoch",
"Reform UK"
] |
Media
|
Media
|
TalkTV
|
2025-11-03T16:48:44.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:50:10.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//media/2025/nov/03/talk-breached-impartiality-rules-with-allegations-about-cancelled-local-elections-ofcom-rules
|
John Oliver on the dangers and ubiquity of police chases: ‘Something has to be done’
|
John Oliver opened the latest episode of Last Week Tonight infuriated by the ongoing US government shutdown, now in its fifth week, that has imperiled the US food assistance program millions depend on. “Trump is going to have to own the consequences here,” he said, “and even as he continues to blame Democrats for this shutdown, he somehow manages to make the optics even worse.” Over the weekend, Donald Trump insisted “it’s all their fault,” despite Republicans having control of both the House and the Senate. In their coverage, CNN cut to footage of Trump’s Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago, which an anchor described as a book “about rich people partying”. “Not only is that pretty insulting,” said Oliver, “I’m guessing it’s also pretty infuriating to whatever exhausted high-school freshman just wrote a 4,000-word essay about The Great Gatsby as a grim meditation on the dissolution of the American dream, only for CNN to tell him: ‘You know what? It’s really just a book about rich people partying.’ “And for what it’s worth, the actual theme of that event was apparently, and I quote: ‘A Little Party Never Killed Nobody.’ And I guess that is true,” he continued. “Although it is also true that as we are all finding out right now, a Grand Old Party is capable of killing a whole lot of people, and unfortunately, they don’t seem to give a single marble- and gold-encased shit about that.” Oliver then pivoted in his main segment to the danger of police chases, which is coming firmly into view. A recent investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle found that over a six-year period, at least 3,336 people died in police pursuits in the US, an average of nearly two a day. The majority of those killed weren’t the fleeing drivers, and more than 500 were innocent bystanders. “And while fleeing drivers are usually depicted in movies and TV shows as violent criminals, in real life, that is rarely the case,” said Oliver. A 2023 report found that 90% of pursuits were initiated by traffic violations. “This combination of high-stakes chases over low-stakes infractions” has resulted in tragic deaths, such as that of William Johnson in Georgia, who was killed while stopped at a red light by a car fleeing a police officer for a seatbelt violation. “That is absurd,” Oliver fumed. “The whole point of a seatbelt law was to keep people safe on the road, so it’s more than a little counter-productive to then enforce it by turning the road into a fucking Nascar track.” Oliver looked into the history of police chases, turbocharged by the 1994 chase of OJ Simpson that attracted 95 million viewers, ushering in a new era of police chases as entertainment. People still love watching them; just two years ago, Pluto TV launched a 24-hour police chase channel, “which sounds about right, doesn’t it?” Oliver laughed. “The sentence: ‘Pluto TV launched a 24-hour police chase channel is the exact type of depressingly accurate nonsense sentence that permeates our world right now. You know, like ‘the Hawk Tuah girl was in the pilot of Chad Powers on Hulu,’ or ‘Jimmy Fallon and Malala did Bees in the Trap on TikTok.’ If you said those words to me 20 years ago, I would’ve thought I was having a stroke.” Depending on where you live, the policies governing police chases can vary widely – there are no national standards, so the 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the US set their own chase policies. Some only allow their officers to pursue chases for serious crimes, such as aggravated robbery or homicide; others have no requirements at all. “The dangers you can face from police chases depend heavily on where you are,” Oliver said, “but they can also depend on who you are, because unsurprisingly, some are more at risk than others.” Black Americans, who make up about an eighth of the US population, make up more than a third of police chase fatalities, and more than a quarter of bystanders killed. One thing is clear: police chases do not improve public safety. Researchers looking at the pendulum effect of policies in different localities that have tightened and then loosen chase restrictions, found that when the number of pursuits increased, the number of injuries and deaths did as well. “And of course they did!” Oliver exclaimed. “If you have more of one, you’re going to have more of the other. It’s like when the number of Ryan Murphy shows increased, so did the number of Sarah Paulson wigs. It’s basic cause and effect.” And there’s little incentive for police to change – even when officers flout policy on chases, leading to needless injury or death, they often avoid criminal charges or internal discipline, “but that probably shouldn’t be surprising, given all the barriers to police accountability”, said Oliver. What can be done? Oliver argued that there were some “simple steps” to be taken, including strict national standards for how and when police can initiate a chase. On top of that, cities and states could pass laws that let individuals sue government officials for chase-related crashes. “Something has to be done here, because the police’s commitment to public safety shouldn’t effectively end once they turn their sirens and lights on,” he concluded. Because “despite what too many cops say and what film and TV have conditioned us to believe, the idea that high-speed pursuits are the only way to ensure public safety” was “absolute bullshit”.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
The Last Week Tonight host looks at deadly impact of high-speed police chases, often for minor traffic infractions
|
[
"John Oliver",
"TV comedy",
"Comedy",
"Culture",
"Television",
"Television & radio"
] |
Television & radio
|
TV & radio
|
John Oliver
|
2025-11-03T16:38:12.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:48:04.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//tv-and-radio/2025/nov/03/john-oliver-police-chases-dangers
|
Adrian Sutton obituary
|
The composer Adrian Sutton, who has died of cancer aged 58, became best known for his music for a string of theatrical hits, many of them for the National Theatre, over the last two decades. These included Coram Boy (2005), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2012, which earned him an Olivier award), Tony Kushner’s Aids-era epic Angels in America (2017, prompting a Tony award nomination), and above all War Horse. Following its initial production at the National in 2007, War Horse became a record-breaking phenomenon in the West End – the Times called it “the theatrical event of the decade” – before going on to international success, winning five Tony awards in 2011 for its Broadway production. In 2014 it featured in a special concert performance at the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and two years later War Horse: The Story in Concert premiered at the same venue, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Joanna Lumley and Michael Morpurgo, the author of the War Horse novel. A recording was released in 2017. Sutton remarked on how the story of a horse sent to the western front in the first world war matched the essential Englishness in his music, influenced by his passion for composers such as Benjamin Britten, Edward Elgar and especially William Walton. The score also deployed English folk songs of the period, on which Sutton worked with the folk musician John Tams, a collaboration that brought them an Olivier award nomination. “The arc of War Horse – moving from tranquil English countryside to the shattering horrors of trench warfare – afforded me a wide exploration of my palette,” he said. Sutton described how his work at the National had broadened his creative horizons and “taught me the value of collaborative environments in rehearsal rooms, with world-class actors and directors, real flesh-and-blood performers whom I can react to in real time”. He also composed for productions in other theatres, including Cyrano de Bergerac (2019) and Dr Semmelweis (2022, both Bristol Old Vic), and Murder on the Orient Express (2022, Chichester). His score for Ken Russell’s film of Treasure Island for Channel 4 (1995) came from a period when he was a partner in a company in Soho (1992-2005), composing “applied music”, much of it for television commercials. He made the best of a world he found to be brutal: “When you’re faced with infinite possibilities it can be quite paralysing, so a very good first step in the composition process is to narrow down what your field of vision is and work with the restrictions.” For the comedian and satirist Chris Morris he composed music for the Blue Jam show on Radio 1, the Jam television series (Channel 4) and the 2002 short film My Wrongs 8245-8249 & 117, starring Paddy Considine. Chris’s brother Tom Morris was artistic director of Battersea Arts Centre in London, and in 2003 he commissioned Sutton as one of the composers contributing to its production Newsnight: The Opera. He was assigned the famous 1997 confrontation between the home secretary Michael Howard and Newsnight interviewer Jeremy Paxman – Howard’s part was impishly assigned to a soprano. In 2004 Tom Morris became an associate director at the National, and urged Sutton to make a pitch to write music for an adaptation of Jamila Gavin’s novel Coram Boy. The story was based around Thomas Coram’s 18th-century foundling hospital in London, of which the composer Handel was a benefactor. Sutton incorporated elements of Handel’s music in his score. Born in Tenterden, Kent, Adrian was the son of Audrey (nee Hooper) and Henry Sutton. His parents separated when he was three, and he and his two elder brothers, Steven and Clive, moved with their mother to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). She subsequently married Norman Bisby, a British special needs teacher and TV presenter, but his political sympathies made him a target for the country’s regime, and when Adrian was 11 the family had to make a hasty escape to South Africa, pursued by armed militiamen, with Norman clutching a sack of cash. A precocious musical talent, Adrian could reproduce tunes on the piano from the age of three or four. In South Africa, he went to Rand Park high school, near Johannesburg, studied with Alan Solomon, one of the country’s leading violinists, and took easily to other instruments. When his military service in South Africa was coming due, the family returned to the UK, and he took a music degree at what is now Goldsmiths, University of London, the only British university to have a Fairlight synthesiser, a revolutionary device used by artists including Mike Oldfield, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. His long-term partner Matthew Gough said: “He had a traditional focus on musicality and not just using the technology as a gimmick. He wanted to make electronic music in the way that an orchestra made music.” Then he worked as a lecturer and research assistant and briefly for Ziff Davis, a firm specialising in computer and technology publishing, as reviews editor at PC Direct magazine, having taught himself how to develop software from his early teens. He wrote about the sense of urgency that sprang from his bowel cancer diagnosis three years ago. It spurred him to organise a Seize the Day concert of orchestral works at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in 2023, again with the RPO. An album followed in 2024: the main work is Sutton’s Violin Concerto, with Fenella Humphreys as soloist, and it also includes a further suite from War Horse. At the time of his death, Sutton was working on a two-piano version of Aerobatics Over Lake Wanaka, originally composed for the six pianos of Piano Circus. He is survived by Matthew, his brothers, Steven and Clive, and his mother, Audrey. Adrian Geoffrey Sutton, composer, born 15 August 1967; died 10 October 2025
|
[
"Adam Sweeting"
] |
Acclaimed British composer best known for War Horse, Coram Boy and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
|
[
"Music",
"Theatre",
"Stage",
"National Theatre",
"War Horse",
"West End",
"Benjamin Britten",
"Folk music",
"Film",
"Radio 1",
"Television",
"Kent",
"South Africa"
] |
Music
|
Music
|
Music
|
2025-11-03T16:25:07.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:27:07.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//music/2025/nov/03/adrian-sutton-obituary
|
Israel top military lawyer arrested after she admitted leaking video of soldiers’ abuse
|
Police in Israel have arrested and detained the military’s top legal officer after she admitted leaking footage of soldiers allegedly attacking a Palestinian detainee and then in effect lying about her actions to Israel’s high court. The military advocate general, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, said in a resignation letter last week that she had authorised publication of the video to defuse attacks on military investigators and prosecutors working on the case. Rightwing politicians and pundits championed soldiers detained over the case as “heroes”, attacked military investigators as traitors, and called for the case against the soldiers to be dropped. Tomer-Yerushalmi has now been arrested on suspicion of fraud and breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice, and disclosure of official information by a public servant, Israeli media reported. Her arrest and detention raises serious questions about the rule of law in Israel, accountability for abuse and killing of Palestinians during what a UN commission has called a genocidal war, and the country’s ability to defend itself in international courts. In July 2024 prosecutors raided the Sde Teiman military detention centre, which has become notorious for torture, and detained 11 soldiers for interrogation. They were suspects in a violent assault on a Palestinian from Gaza, including anal rape. The victim was hospitalised with injuries including broken ribs, a punctured lung and rectal damage, according to the indictment, and Tomer-Yerushalmi launched an investigation. The government and far-right politicians and pundits have accused her of damaging Israel’s global standing by pursing the case and releasing the video, in effect casting her efforts to prosecute extreme violence as a project to undermine the state. “The incident in Sde Teiman caused immense damage to the image of the state of Israel and the IDF [Israel Defense Forces],” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Sunday. “This is perhaps the most severe public relations attack that the state of Israel has experienced since its establishment.” After the first detentions of soldiers in the case in summer 2024, a far-right mob gathered outside Sde Teiman calling for the investigation to be dropped. Some of the protesters – including a minister and two members of the Knesset – broke into the base. Tomer-Yerushalmi leaked the video in August 2024 after the protests, saying in her resignation letter that it was “an attempt to debunk false propaganda against army law enforcement bodies”. Days later, five soldiers were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm. They have not been named and are currently not in custody or under any legal restrictions, Israeli media reported. Tomer-Yerushalemi subsequently refused to open or advance investigations into other cases of possible war crimes by the Israeli military, because of the pressure of public attacks over the case, Haaretz reported. There has been only one conviction of an Israeli soldier for assaulting Palestinians in detention during the war, although widespread torture and abuse have been documented in Israel’s jail system, and dozens of Palestinians have died in captivity. No soldiers have been charged for killing civilians in Gaza, even after high-profile attacks that prompted international outrage, including the killing of paramedics and strikes on a team from the World Central Kitchen charity. Tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been killed in attacks and airstrikes over two years. Attacks on Tomer-Yerushalemi over the Sde Teiman affair intensified in recent days amid reports that she was responsible for leaking the video. There were official demands for her to step down and personal threats online, even after she announced her resignation. The campaign briefly halted on Sunday afternoon amid fears for her life, after her partner reported her missing to the police and her car was found empty at a beach in the Tel Aviv area with a note inside, Israeli media reported. Then she was found, and within minutes the attacks resumed. The far-right commentator Yinon Magal posted on X, “we can proceed with the lynching”, adding a winking emoji. Soon after, protesters had gathered outside her house, Israeli media reported, shouting slogans including “we will give you no peace”. The defence minister, Israel Katz, later accused her of “spreading blood libels”. Traditionally Israel’s government and military have considered the existence of an independent judiciary a crucial barrier to international legal tribunals investigating Israel for alleged abuses against Palestinians. Where there is a robust national legal system willing and able to investigate and prosecute crimes, international courts are less likely to have jurisdiction to intervene. “Don’t they understand we had no choice? That the only way to address the wave of international legal proceedings is by proving we can investigate ourselves?” the investigative reporter Ronen Bergman quoted the advocate general telling colleagues six weeks ago, in a report for Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. In recent decades many Israelis have seen the role of the military advocate general “as protecting soldiers from prosecution abroad”, said Prof Yagil Levy, head of the Institute for the Study of Civil-Military Relations at Israel’s Open University. “In other words, the law is not upheld as a value in itself, but as a defence against international tribunals.” Now even such legal pragmatism is under attack by the political right, whose influence can be seen in the lack of legal accountability for soldiers’ conduct in Gaza over the past two years, Levy added. “During the war, the advocate general gave the army a free hand in Gaza, for example, regarding the unprecedented collateral damage from airstrikes,” he said. “This reflects a far weaker commitment to international law, with some on the right claiming that Israel is exempt from respecting it, and even providing religious justifications for this view.”
|
[
"Emma Graham-Harrison"
] |
Rightwing politicians and pundits have called the soldiers accused of attack on Palestinian detainee ‘heroes’ and military investigators traitors
|
[
"Israel",
"Middle East and north Africa",
"Israel-Gaza war"
] |
World news
|
Middle East
|
Israel
|
2025-11-03T16:20:52.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:22:06.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//world/2025/nov/03/israels-top-military-lawyer-arrested-after-she-admitted-leaking-video-of-soldiers-abuse
|
Two girls injured in fall from ferris wheel at Louisiana fairground
|
Two girls were injured in a fall from a ferris wheel at a Louisiana fairground on Saturday, the latest in a series of similar episodes calling to question the safety of carnival and amusement park rides. The pair were thrown to the ground after the bucket in which they were seated flipped over during the Harvest Festival event at New Roads, 30 miles north-west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital. Video of the aftermath of the incident posted to Facebook shows the compartment locked at almost 90 degrees to the ground, and police tending to a female at the base of the ride. René Thibodeaux, sheriff of Pointe Coupée parish, said both girls were under 13 and were taken by helicopter to the Baton Rouge children’s hospital. Their condition was unknown on Monday, but they are not believed to have life-threatening injuries. Madison Fields, an eyewitness, told Louisiana’s WBRZ News that one of the girls appeared to have severe facial injuries. “It caught on to the wires, and then it tilted over, and the two girls fell out,” she said. “I heard like a body, just like something falling, I heard a loud boom. It was two girls, and one of the girls fell on her face.” The Louisiana office of state fire marshal is investigating the case and allowed other rides at the fair to reopen after an inspection. Thibodeaux told NBC News that the video of the ferris wheel suggests a possible mechanical failure. Also Saturday, riders on the Mamba, the tallest rollercoaster at Worlds of Fun theme park in Kansas City, Missouri, said they had to hold down a young girl whose seatbelt was unlatched to prevent her falling out. Authorities are investigating. In September, several people were hurt when a cable snapped on a ride called the Zipper during a high school carnival in Los Angeles, sending two of its carriages crashing to the ground. There have also been recent fatalities on theme park rides. In September, a 32-year-old disabled man became unresponsive and died on the Stardust Racers ride at Universal’s Epic Universe resort. A preliminary investigation by the Florida consumer services department suggests the ride was working properly, though the family of victim Kevin Rodriguez Zavala insist he died of blunt force trauma after repeatedly striking his head on a metal bar on the ride after he became unconscious. Last December, a jury awarded $310m to the family of a 14-year-old boy who was thrown to his death from the since dismantled freefall ride at Orlando’s Icon Park in March 2022. The episode prompted Florida legislators to pass the Tyre Sampson Act to bolster safety requirements for amusement park attractions.
|
[
"Richard Luscombe"
] |
Pair were thrown to the ground after the bucket in which they were seated flipped over
|
[
"Louisiana",
"US news"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Louisiana
|
2025-11-03T16:20:52.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:22:07.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//us-news/2025/nov/03/two-girls-injured-fall-ferris-wheel
|
Football Daily | Newcastle United and the indignity of losing to West Ham
|
Following defeat at Leeds 10 days ago, one West Ham-supporting WAG suggested Jarrod Bowen “must feel like that one human actor in a Muppets film” in a Social Media Disgrace post that got nowhere near the amount of LOLs it deserved. And having seen their team go a goal down on Sunday, moments after their captain had spanked a shot from distance off a post, West Ham fans must have felt it was going to be another regulation day in which Bowen tried to channel his inner Michael Caine in a bid to lend some much-needed gravitas to a typically absurdist and slapstick performance. The feeling can only have been heightened when he was awarded a penalty only to see it overturned by the curtain-twitchers in Stockley Park. But against all odds, West Ham dug deep and managed to eke out a rare and thoroughly deserved victory. Helped in no small part by one of the most awful showings by a Newcastle side under Eddie Howe, the Hammers won their first game under Nuno Espírito Santo at the fifth time of asking. And having spent his first four matches in charge looking like the physical embodiment of a cold and wet Monday morning commute, it was the Portuguese manager and his staff who ended the game dancing in celebration on the touchline. “I think just the body language, the collective spirit on the pitch, loads of little things that contribute to our performance, wasn’t there,” said Howe afterwards, looking genuinely traumatised by the horror show he had seen unfold at the London Stadium. “The physicality, the energy was missing. It was hugely frustrating for us, that was a poor performance. We just weren’t ourselves.” In winning a football match and playing well despite some early setbacks, West Ham certainly weren’t themselves either but only time will tell if their victory is a significant sign that a corner has finally been turned. They host Burnley next in a critical six-pointer before an international break that precedes a hellish run of fixtures in which Bournemouth, Liverpool, Manchester United, Brighton, Aston Villa and Manchester City could burst any bubbles they are forever blowing. “When things went against us the reaction from the boys was good and I’m pleased with the way we did it because we were up against the ropes,” said Nuno. “It’s a little step in the right direction but it’s a very important one, too.” While Sunday was a grim day for a Newcastle side who have yet to win on the road in five league attempts this season, fans making the long journey home were at least able to console themselves with the knowledge that at least one Premier League side from the north-east is doing the region proud by defying all expectations this season. In Monday’s David Moyes-Jordan Pickford derby, Sunderland host an underperforming Everton side and know victory will take them second – second! – in the table. Apparently unfussed by the malign influence of the ‘red cartels’ and PSR rules whose entire raison d’etre is to keep their Geordie neighbours in their place, the newly-promoted and well-oiled Mackem machine will be just five points off the Premier League pace being set by Arsenal if they beat Everton. And with Mikel Arteta’s team of bottlers due to visit the bubbling cauldron that is the Stadium of Light next weekend, the Black Cats could go into the international break positively purring. Join Rob Smyth for live coverage of Sunderland 1-0 Everton in the Premier League, kicking off at 8pm (GMT). “I’ve had one of the most incredible jobs in football which also had a higher purpose because it was my country. That’s going to be very hard to replicate. Having had 37 years in football I’m enjoying finding other areas where I think I might be able to make a difference” – it turns out Sir Gareth Southgate isn’t in a rush to return to a club job like Middlesbrough after managing England. The 55-year-old is doing the rounds before Thursday’s release of his book, ‘Dear England: Lessons in Leadership’, which presumably doesn’t have a chapter on Southgate putting 10 men behind the ball for 85 minutes against Croatia and letting prime Luke Modric absolutely run the game. A few weeks back I listened to a discussion on the wireless about AI. A man informed that the limits of AI include the fact that ‘AI doesn’t have a sense of humour’. Imagine my surprise when it turned up in Football Daily” – Michael Lloyd. As a Bournemouth fan I can assure you that the best AI tactics are Andoni Iraola’s” – Kelvin Baynton. Given the current farago surrounding Crystal Palace’s impending fixture pile up, would it make more sense to redefine the Fizzy Cup as only being open to teams that have not qualified for Europe that season? This would help with potential fixture clashes, but more importantly it is likely to open up the competition and increase the chances of a ‘smaller club’ winning it. I doubt any of the bigger clubs would complain about being excluded” – Rob Burton (and no other sensible readers). Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Michael Lloyd. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here. The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for? Get stuck in! This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
|
[
"Barry Glendenning"
] |
<strong>In today’s Football Daily:</strong> Nuno gets off the mark, leadership and Ian Porterfield
|
[
"Football",
"Sport",
"West Ham United",
"Newcastle United",
"Premier League"
] |
Football
|
Football
|
2025-11-03T16:19:18.000Z
|
2025-11-03T17:00:44.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//football/2025/nov/03/newcastle-united-west-ham-indignity-football-daily
|
|
Five climbers and two guides killed in Nepal avalanche, say officials
|
An avalanche has swept through a camp on Mount Yalung Ri in Nepal, killing five foreign climbers and two Nepali guides, officials said. Shailendra Thapa, an armed police force spokesperson, said five other people had been hurt at the base camp, located at 4,900 metres (16,070ft). The nationalities and identities of the foreign climbers were yet to be officially confirmed, but local media reported that three were US citizens, one was Canadian and one, Italian. The weather has been deteriorating since last week in Nepal, with snowstorms reported on the mountains. Rescuers were reaching the site on foot. A rescue helicopter attempted to reach the site but bad weather forced it to turn back. Thapa said it would try again on Tuesday at dawn. Mount Yalung Ri is a 5,600-metre peak. It is considered a mountain for beginners with no previous experience in climbing high mountains. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest. Spring is the most popular climbing season, when weather is favourable on those tall peaks. However, hundreds of foreign climbers come to climb smaller peaks during the autumn months between the rainy monsoon months and winter.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
Bad weather hampering rescue efforts after avalanche that swept through Mount Yalung Ri base camp on Monday
|
[
"Nepal",
"Mountaineering",
"South and central Asia",
"World news"
] |
World news
|
Nepal
|
2025-11-03T16:13:00.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:46:09.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/03/climbers-guides-killed-mount-yalung-ri-nepal-avalanche-officials
|
|
Walking 3,000 or more steps a day may slow progression of Alzheimer’s, study says
|
Even modest amounts of daily exercise may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in older people who are at risk of developing the condition, researchers have said. People are often encouraged to clock up 10,000 steps a day as part of a healthy routine, but scientists found 3,000 steps or more appeared to delay the brain changes and cognitive decline that Alzheimer’s patients experience. Results from the 14-year-long study showed cognitive decline was delayed by an average of three years in people who walked 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day, and by seven years in those who managed 5,000 to 7,000 steps daily. “We’re encouraging older people who are at risk of Alzheimer’s to consider making small changes to their activity levels, to build sustained habits that protect or benefit their brain and cognitive health,” said Dr Wai-Ying Yau, the first author on the study at Mass General Brigham hospital in Boston. Dementia affects an estimated 50 million people worldwide, with Alzheimer’s disease the most common cause. In the UK, more than 500,000 people have Alzheimer’s. The condition is linked to the buildup of two toxic forms of proteins in the brain, namely amyloid-beta plaques and tau tangles. Yau and her colleagues analysed data from 296 people aged 50 to 90 who were cognitively unimpaired at the beginning of the study. The data included annual cognitive assessments, step counts measured by pedometers, and PET imaging to detect levels of amyloid and tau in the volunteers’ brains. People with little brain amyloid at the start showed very little cognitive decline or buildup of tau protein over the course of the study. The risk of Alzheimer’s was greater for those with elevated amyloid at baseline, and among them, higher step counts were linked to slower rates of cognitive decline and a delayed buildup of tau proteins. In sedentary individuals, the buildup of tau and cognitive decline was substantially faster, the researchers report in the journal Nature Medicine. While the scientists cannot rule out reverse causation, where early brain changes in Alzheimer’s causes people to walk less in older age, the data suggests physical activity is protective. “We need randomised clinical trials to prove cause and effect, but it’s very encouraging that physical activity may help to modify someone’s trajectory,” Yau said. “If they have amyloid, they could have a slower rate of decline if they’re more physically active.” How exercise could help is unclear, but physical activity improves blood flow, reduces inflammation and raises the levels of certain hormones and growth factors, all of which may play a role. “In terms of potential mechanisms, that is the million-dollar question we want to look at in future studies,” Yau said. Dr Julia Dudley, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “The findings suggest that even a modest amount of walking each day, around 5,000 steps, is linked to a slower buildup of tau protein in the brain, one of the key drivers of Alzheimer’s disease. This gives us a clearer picture of how everyday activity may support brain health and impact the underlying causes of Alzheimer’s. “More research, including clinical trials, is needed to see the direct impact of physical activity on preventing and slowing the progression of dementia and on underlying disease causes. But studies like this reinforce that simple changes to our lifestyle could help keep our brains healthier for longer.”
|
[
"Ian Sample"
] |
Scientists find even modest amounts of exercise appear to delay brain changes and cognitive decline in patients
|
[
"Alzheimer's",
"Medical research",
"Dementia",
"Health",
"Science",
"Society"
] |
Society
|
Society
|
Alzheimer's
|
2025-11-03T16:00:39.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:02:03.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//society/2025/nov/03/walking-3000-steps-day-may-slow-progression-alzheimers
|
What would UK economic policy look like under Nigel Farage’s Reform?
|
Nigel Farage has delivered a speech on his economic priorities. While it did not announce any new policies as such, it marked the most detailed explanation yet of what a Reform UK government might prioritise. Below are six areas he discussed. As recently as the buildup to May’s local elections, Reform was pledging to raise the threshold at which people start paying income tax from £12,570 to £20,000, bringing many thousands out of tax but costing the exchequer more than £40bn a year. Amid increasing scrutiny about how or if this could be paid for, Farage has rolled back. Quizzed after the speech on whether the policy still stands, he said he would “want” a £20,000 threshold, but that this was an eventual aspiration. It was, he said, impossible to know what state the economy would be in by the time of the next election, meaning most firm promises on fiscal promises would need to wait for now. There was one exception – Farage said he would reverse Labour’s changes to inheritance tax on farms. Whatever Labour achieves over the rest of the parliament there will be a difficult inheritance. But raising the tax threshold is difficult to justify when it mainly benefits richer taxpayers who can earn more before they hit the 40p tax rate. At a press conference last week, Reform said it could save £9bn a year by tightening eligibility for personal independence payments, or Pip. Asked about another benefit-related policy – the party’s pledge to scrap the two-child limit on payments of some benefits such as universal credit – Farage said this would happen for UK nationals only where both parents worked, which notably limits its generosity. As part of his wider reluctance to spell out specific policies, Farage declined to commit to the so-called triple lock on guaranteeing significant annual increases to pensions – but was willing to say that the minimum wage was possibly “too high for younger workers”. Most economists recommend tackling mental health issues before the withdrawal of benefits. They would also be concerned at the discriminatory effect of raising the two-child cap only for UK nationals., but would welcome equivocation over the triple lock. The Institute for Fisscal Studies has proposed reverting to the earnings link with a safety net, saving the government billions of pounds over the next 30 years. While polling regularly shows that the cost of living is one of the biggest priorities for voters, Farage paid little attention to this, beyond passing references to fuel bills and the supposed impact of migration. There was, however, a lot of talk about an alleged exodus of wealthy people and young entrepreneurs amid a punitive tax regime, a narrative not backed up by much evidence. Such types, whom Farage called a different economic “breed” to ordinary mortals, should be cherished at all costs, he said. Even your more leftwing Labour MP would accept the role of entrepreneurs and other wealth-creators in generating growth. But repeated talk about the vital role of the rich – even if Farage also took pains to talk up the role of all small businesses – might feel some distance from his talk a few months ago about Reform being the party of workers and unions. While public sector workers might not always be Reform’s primary target group for support, if they are to win the election they need to spread the net wide. As such, the party’s hints at possibly scrapping defined benefits pensions for public sector workers might not go down so well, even if (like the triple lock) it is a conversation most parties will be having in private. Asked about this, Farage was somewhat coy, saying only that the party was committed to reducing the fees paid by councils to administer pension schemes, something its deputy leader, Richard Tice, has talked about before. Labour has put in train plans to consoolidate council retirement schemes and reduce the fees, and in so doing, might have stymied Farage’s plan by 2029. Keeping with the theme of “Reform-favourite policies which don’t necessarily poll hugely well with voters more widely”, Farage used a long section of his speech to condemn what he called the “lunatic” push for net zero, promising instead to prioritise new drilling for fossil fuels in the North Sea. While the idea of lower energy costs, as promised by Farage, would be popular, there is very limited evidence that a new drilling push in the North Sea would achieve this. And for all that some rightwing papers and commentators talk as if the government’s net zero targets are hated, polling generally suggests otherwise. That said, Ed Miliband may need to slow the pace of solar and wind projects, neutering this line of attack. The energyy secretary is under pressure to alleviate the burden on business from high energy costs made wore by net zero subsidies. On economics, as with other policies, Farage is generally careful to keep some distance from Donald Trump, who is a distinctly niche proposition for UK voters. But in one area he is fully onboard with the UK president – diversity policies. A fairly large section of Farage’s speech lambasted what he called the massive over-regulation of the UK economy, including a swipe at what he called the “one booming sector” of HR and compliance. Farage looked back to his era as a City metals trader and the lack of diversity programmes then: “When I worked here, it didn’t matter what religion you were, didn’t matter where you came from, didn’t matter what class you were, didn’t matter what colour you were … It was based on, are you good enough?” It is possible that some women, not to mention people of colour, who worked in the City at the same time might disagree.
|
[
"Peter Walker",
"Phillip Inman"
] |
Leader’s speech offered most detailed explanation yet on party’s priorities on tax cuts, benefits, wages and pensions
|
[
"Reform UK",
"Politics",
"UK news",
"Nigel Farage",
"Economic policy"
] |
Politics
|
UK politics
|
Reform UK
|
2025-11-03T15:57:11.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:59:07.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//politics/2025/nov/03/nigel-farage-reform-uk-economic-policy
|
What would UK economic policy look like under Nigel Farage’s Reform?
|
Nigel Farage has delivered a speech on his economic priorities. While it did not announce any new policies as such, it marked the most detailed explanation yet of what a Reform UK government might prioritise. Below are six areas he discussed. As recently as the buildup to May’s local elections, Reform was pledging to raise the threshold at which people start paying income tax from £12,570 to £20,000, bringing many thousands out of tax but costing the exchequer more than £40bn a year. Amid increasing scrutiny about how or if this could be paid for, Farage has rolled back. Quizzed after the speech on whether the policy still stood, he said he would “want” a £20,000 threshold but this was an eventual aspiration. It was, he said, impossible to know what state the economy would be in by the time of the next election, meaning most firm promises would need to wait for now. There was one exception – Farage said he would reverse Labour’s changes to inheritance tax on farms. Whatever Labour achieves over the rest of the parliament there will be a difficult inheritance. But raising the tax threshold is difficult to justify when it mainly benefits richer taxpayers who can earn more before they hit the 40p tax rate. At a press conference last week, Reform said it could save £9bn a year by tightening eligibility for personal independence payments, or Pip. Asked about another benefit-related policy – the party’s pledge to scrap the two-child limit on payments of some benefits such as universal credit – Farage said this would happen for UK nationals only where both parents worked, which notably limits its generosity. As part of his wider reluctance to spell out specific policies, Farage declined to commit to the so-called triple lock on guaranteeing significant annual increases to pensions – but was willing to say that the minimum wage was possibly “too high for younger workers”. Most economists recommend tackling mental health issues before the withdrawal of benefits. They would also be concerned at the discriminatory effect of raising the two-child cap only for UK nationals., but would welcome equivocation over the triple lock. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has proposed reverting to the earnings link with a safety net, saving the government billions of pounds over the next 30 years. While polling regularly shows that the cost of living is one of the biggest priorities for voters, Farage paid little attention to this, beyond passing references to fuel bills and the supposed impact of migration. There was, however, a lot of talk about an alleged exodus of wealthy people and young entrepreneurs amid a punitive tax regime, a narrative not backed up by much evidence. Such types, whom Farage called a different economic “breed” to ordinary mortals, should be cherished at all costs, he said. Even more leftwing Labour MPs would accept the role of entrepreneurs and other wealth-creators in generating growth. But repeated talk about the vital role of the rich – even if Farage also took pains to talk up the role of all small businesses – might feel some distance from his talk a few months ago about Reform being the party of workers and unions. While public sector workers might not always be Reform’s primary target group for support, if they are to win the election they need to spread the net wide. As such, the party’s hints at possibly scrapping defined benefits pensions for public sector workers might not go down so well, even if (like the triple lock) it is a conversation most parties will be having in private. Asked about this, Farage was somewhat coy, saying only that the party was committed to reducing the fees paid by councils to administer pension schemes, something its deputy leader, Richard Tice, has talked about before. Labour has put in train plans to consolidate council retirement schemes and reduce the fees, and in so doing, might have stymied Farage’s plan by 2029. Keeping with the theme of “Reform-favourite policies which don’t necessarily poll hugely well with voters more widely”, Farage used a long section of his speech to condemn what he called the “lunatic” push for net zero, promising instead to prioritise new drilling for fossil fuels in the North Sea. While the idea of lower energy costs, as promised by Farage, would be popular, there is very limited evidence that a new drilling push in the North Sea would achieve this. And for all that some rightwing papers and commentators talk as if the government’s net zero targets are hated, polling generally suggests otherwise. That said, Ed Miliband may need to slow the pace of solar and wind projects, neutering this line of attack. The energy secretary is under pressure to alleviate the burden on business from high energy costs made wore by net zero subsidies. On economics, as with other policies, Farage is generally careful to keep some distance from Donald Trump, who is a distinctly niche proposition for UK voters. But in one area he is fully onboard with the UK president – diversity policies. A fairly large section of Farage’s speech lambasted what he called the massive over-regulation of the UK economy, including a swipe at what he called the “one booming sector” of HR and compliance. Farage looked back to his era as a City metals trader and the lack of diversity programmes then: “When I worked here, it didn’t matter what religion you were, didn’t matter where you came from, didn’t matter what class you were, didn’t matter what colour you were … It was based on, are you good enough?” It is possible that some women, not to mention people of colour, who worked in the City at the same time might disagree.
|
[
"Peter Walker",
"Phillip Inman"
] |
Leader’s speech offered most detailed explanation yet on party’s priorities on tax cuts, benefits, wages and pensions
|
[
"Reform UK",
"Politics",
"UK news",
"Nigel Farage",
"Economic policy"
] |
Politics
|
UK politics
|
Reform UK
|
2025-11-03T15:57:11.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:16:17.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/03/nigel-farage-reform-uk-economic-policy
|
Why Saudi money hasn’t transformed Newcastle into title contenders
|
Eddie Howe is not a manager given to histrionics or grand public pronouncements. So by his standards, his press conference after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to lowly West Ham counts as a furious tirade. His side took an early lead but West Ham were ahead by half-time, as well as hitting the post and having a penalty overturned by VAR, leading Howe to make a triple change at the break. “That was the frustrating thing about the first half,” Howe said. “I almost could have taken anyone off and I think that was a reflection of where we were in that moment in the game and it’s very, very rare for me to feel that way. In fact, I don’t think I have since I’ve been manager of Newcastle, so I felt the team needed some shaking up at half-time. That’s why I did what I did.” Anthony Gordon, Nick Woltemade and Emil Krafth all came off at half-time and Newcastle did stabilise to an extent in the second half, without ever really looking like they might get back into the game against a side that had won only one of their previous nine league matches. Given how packed the centre of the table is, with just three points separating third from 11th, and nine points between second and 17th, a run of 12 points from 10 games has not left Newcastle adrift but, equally, they cannot finish the season 13th. The problem to an extent is one of perception. In the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Newcastle have the richest owners in the world. The expectation when the PIF bought 80% of the club in 2021 was that it would have a transformative effect, as Roman Abramovich had at Chelsea or Sheikh Mansour had at Manchester City. The difference is that both of those owners took over before the advent of financial fair play regulations (and the ongoing charges against City relate to whether they breached those regulations once they were in place). Profit and sustainability regulations restrict the capacity of owners, however rich, to spend money on their teams and so in that sense probably would have slowed any Saudi attempt to raise Newcastle to the level of City. But there is no need for Newcastle’s spending to have been quite as cautious as it has been; they could have spent more and remained within the threshold – or just accepted a relatively meagre Uefa fine given their big problem is more with the European than the Premier League regulation. Besides which, infrastructure spending is exempted from PSR calculations; the easiest way to raise income to create more PSR headroom would be to extend or redevelop the stadium. Given the location of St James’ Park, with listed buildings on two sides, in reality that probably means building an entirely new stadium. There was talk in March of potentially making the short move to Leazes Park – opposition from local groups could surely have been overcome with a promise to build a new park on the current stadium site – but there has been no movement on that proposal. There has been significant retrenchment from the PIF on a range of projects as it refocuses on domestic affairs; the attitude to Newcastle seems entirely in keeping with that change of approach. The Alexander Isak saga was born of that tension. A more confident management could have portrayed his sale as necessary to release capital for further investment; instead there was a vain attempt to keep him. That meant that Newcastle began the season amid a sense of frustration despite the signings of Woltemade, Yoane Wissa, Jacob Ramsey, Malick Thiaw and Anthony Elanga. The start was indifferent: one win in their first six games. But it seemed a corner had been turned. They had won five in six before Sunday, a run that included demolitions of Union Saint-Gilloise and Benfica in the Champions League. That’s why the performance against West Ham was such a shock. The problem perhaps is that Newcastle’s style is very aggressive, very high-octane; a slight drop-off in energy can have profound consequences. Perhaps the strain of Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup, five games in 15 days, had got to them. Woltemade started all five of those games and looked particularly weary. That’s the nature of modern football. Managers have to be prepared to rotate. Howe has been unfortunate that Wissa’s injury has left him short of attacking options but, no matter how valid the explanations, Sunday’s performance was inexcusable –especially after taking the lead at a ground primed to turn on its own side. Howe will hope it was just a blip, one of those days when everybody is off-colour simultaneously, but if Newcastle are to qualify for the Champions League next season, let alone one day mount an actual title challenge, they cannot be as inconsistent as this. Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion Rangers had suffered a terrible start to the 1971-72 season, losing four of their first five league games while being beaten by Celtic in the League Cup. They got through the first round of the Cup Winners’ Cup with a grim 2-1 aggregate victory over Stade Rennais, but in the second round, it all seemed to have gone wrong. They led Sporting 3-0 at half-time of the home leg, but conceded twice in the second half and won only 3-2. A strike meant it took them two days to fly to Lisbon for the second leg on 3 November 1971. Colin Stein twice cancelled out Portuguese goals and with three minutes remaining Rangers led 5-4 on aggregate. But they then conceded to Pedro Gomes. Ronnie McKinnon broke his leg but Willie Henderson’s strike in extra-time restored the Rangers lead. With five minutes remaining, though, Fernando Peres struck for Sporting: 6-6. Rangers collapsed in the shoot-out, missing four penalties out of four. Sporting were through. Or so it seemed, until a journalist pointed out that the Dutch referee, Lau van Ravens, had failed to apply the away goals rule, which had been introduced in the competition that season. Rangers had won. Reprieved, they went on to lift their only European title, beating Dinamo Moscow in Barcelona in a game that ended in rioting. This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.
|
[
"Jonathan Wilson"
] |
Eddie Howe’s team have the richest owners in the world. But they are still to mount a title challenge since the Public Investment Fund came knocking
|
[
"Newcastle United",
"Football",
"Sport"
] |
Football
|
Newcastle United
|
2025-11-03T15:55:39.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:57:03.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/nov/03/why-saudi-money-didnt-transform-newcastle
|
|
‘We’ve planted the apple that fell on Newton’s head’: the artists striking back against the climate emergency
|
Back in 2015, well into the twilight of his life, the artist and activist Gustav Metzger decided to embark on one last big project. Best known as the inventor of auto-destructive art – a response, he said, to the destructive horrors of the Holocaust – Metzger had also, over the course of a long career, been an inspirational teacher to Pete Townshend of the Who and campaigned for numerous causes including nuclear disarmament and vegetarianism. Now, on a video message barely three minutes long, he was making one final plea. “I, Gustav Metzger, am asking for your participation in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on November 4th, 2015,” he began, appealing to creatives to take a stand against the ongoing erasure of species. “Our task is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter territories that are inherently creative.” And so Remember Nature was born, a day in which artists across the country created responses to our unfolding climate catastrophe (the 89-year-old Metzger spent the day with students at Central Saint Martins in London who had been cutting out climate crisis stories from old issues of the Guardian). “There was a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” says Jo Joelson, one of the original curators of Remember Nature, as well as being a neighbour and carer for Metzger in his final years. “I just said to him – let’s not mess around. Let’s not wait for funding or for anyone to green light this. Let’s just do it.” A decade on, Remember Nature might not have incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had wished for, but Joelson believes its ripples can still be felt in movements such as Culture Declares and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in the way artists approach the sustainability of their practices. That’s why she’s restaging it to mark its 10-year anniversary. Among the 18 lead artists involved this time are Cornelia Parker, Yu-Chen Wang, A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. They have all designed posters, recorded their own Remember Nature calls to action and created artworks set to be unveiled on 4 November 2025. When I speak to Gallaccio she’s out in a field in Kent, helping plant apple trees that will grow to form a spiral-shaped orchard. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork (the espalier trees will, in the future, look as if they’re holding hands with each other) and half educational workshop. As she tells me, the planning and planting sessions have already involved learning about maths (measuring out the spaces between trees), science (they discussed the apple’s DNA) and geography (tracing the stories of how different apples arrived in Britain). “A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher or the Duck’s Bill,” says Gallaccio. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ red juice. They all have stories behind them. The decio apple was introduced by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that fell from a tree and landed on Isaac Newton’s head.” Gallaccio wanted the children to be more actively aware of nature and the control we have over it. “For a lot of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out with whoever does the shopping, to look on the bag and see what they’re called and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!” Next year Gallaccio intends for the children to return to the orchard to harvest and taste the different apples – and hopefully form a connection with the trees that endures over the 20-year period the field has been reserved for. She also sees the orchard as a “very good visual marker of climate change and global warming” in that there is evidence already that our warmer seasons are making trees confused about what time of year it actually is. “It will be interesting to see what that means in terms of how the trees adapt and when they fruit or don’t fruit.” The planting was filmed and a stream will be available to watch on 4 November, but of course Gallaccio’s project is just one of many. In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will involve participants searching Tate Modern on a quest to find the seven major glaciers that have been lost in recent years. Each glacier will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using ultraviolet markers. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a reading will be performed to commemorate that particular glacier. Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, Maddi Nicholson will be putting on a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as hosting a communal feast, prepared with organic, local produce. Over in Newcastle, Uta Kögelsberger is streaming her Some Kind of Love / Forest Choir, in which local singers embark on a mission to sing plants back to health in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene. Like Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker will be working with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is aiming to cover Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in kids’ letters and drawings that document their hopes and fears for the future. “Children’s words and images are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as adults,” she says in her call to action video. “What children have to offer to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will provoke a sense of responsibility from us all. Children are innocent. They have fears about the future. But this shouldn’t be about fear – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they get a future.” Paul Harfleet’s work also appeals to children. As a former drag queen, his Birds Can Fly project involves drawing birds and then dressing up as them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to tackle Liverpool’s famous Liver bird. He is also staging a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his Pansy Project over the last two decades. That ongoing series began when he was living in Manchester and endured three incidents of homophobic abuse on a single day. In response, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the site of each occurrence and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to include incidents experienced by other people across the world. “I leave the pansies there but they don’t often last very long,” says Harfleet. “Apparently pigeons like to eat them, so they’re a very temporary memorial.” Harfleet chose the pansy not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a term of homophobic abuse – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “It became associated with a man who is thoughtful, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says. The plan on 4 November is to plant pansies at new locations and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while talking to those on the walking tour about the incidents and his memories of them. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says sadly. Harfleet hopes his work – and that of other artists participating – will create conversations and spark debate, just like Metzger’s work. “I found it really moving the way he remained optimistic, even in old age,” he says. Joelson also cherishes Metzger’s positive nature, and says that’s what guided her to restage Remember Nature in the first place. “We wanted to offer something compelling and empowering rather than doomy and gloomy, which we’re bombarded with all the time,” she says. “We can’t live our lives in darkness, so let’s use his mantra instead: go forwards, with hope!” Remember Nature 2025 takes place on 4 November at 16 arts institutions across Britain
|
[
"Tim Jonze"
] |
From cultivating a spiral-shaped orchard to finding lost glaciers and dressing up as a landmark bird, on 4 November artists around the UK will participate in Remember Nature, a day of activism to offer hope for the future
|
[
"Art and design",
"Culture",
"Environment",
"Environmental activism",
"Protest"
] |
Art and design
|
Art & design
|
Art and design
|
2025-11-03T15:54:33.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:56:02.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//artanddesign/2025/nov/03/planted-apple-newton-head-artists-striking-back-against-climate-emergency
|
NCAA basketball 2025-26 predictions: from Sarah Strong to Darryn Peterson, the names you’ll know by March
|
I’ll go with the St Thomas–Minnesota men’s team, eligible for the NCAA Tournament for the first time after making an unprecedented jump from Division III to Division I. They enter as Summit League favorites and now boast a $175m arena that’s given them a major recruiting pull. A March run could cement the Tommies as the Gonzaga of the midwest. Bryan Armen Graham Beyond the excitement of opening night, I’m eager to see how Tennessee’s Kim Caldwell steers the ship in her second season – and where Notre Dame lands after Olivia Miles’ departure to TCU. Honestly, Miles herself is one of the top storylines I’ll have my eye on this year. Stephanie Kaloi Can the Duke men repeat success with freshmen leading the way? In the age of the transfer portal and with teams being older and more experienced than ever, can five-star freshman Cameron Boozer lead the Blue Devils to a Final Four the way Cooper Flagg did? Nicholas Levine Kansas women. The Jayhawks return five starters led by S’Mya Nichols and add two five-star freshmen. A Sweet 16 run isn’t out of the question. BAG Living in Nashville, I’m especially curious about Vanderbilt’s women’s team – they’ve quietly built something special. Miami also deserves attention: the Hurricanes have been making steady noise and could easily turn that momentum into a breakout 2025–26 campaign. SK San Diego State men. While they’re ranked outside of the preseason top 25, the Aztecs return a good chunk of last year’s team which made the NCAA Tournament. Miles Byrd and Magoon Gwath are potential future NBA players and Reese Waters (former Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year at USC) returns after a year off due to injury. A core returning group who understand what the Aztec culture is all about, mixed in with some talented newcomers, SDSU will be a tough out for anyone in March. NL St John’s men. Rick Pitino cycled through options at point guard before settling on Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers, a career off-ball shooter with minimal playmaking experience. Without a true floor general, the Red Storm’s top-10 talent could sputter early against a whale of a non-conference schedule. BAG Regretfully, I’d lean toward either NC State or Maryland on the women’s side. Not because they’re sitting at No 9 and No 10, but because it’s hard to imagine any of the other top teams unraveling enough to miss the field. SK BYU men. The Cougars are playing in the ultra-competitive Big 12 where they are picked to finish third. They have the most talented freshman in the country in future lottery pick in AJ Dybantsa. Can the 18-year-old lead them through a rugged schedule against (much) older players with consistency? Time will tell. NL I like Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg to seize the throne with his all-round dominance on a top-five team. BAG It’s hard to bet against Purdue’s Braden Smith. The Big Ten preseason player of the year is poised for another leap, and all eyes will be on how he commands the Boilermakers’ offense from start to finish. SK Braden Smith. The best player on the best team, Smith averaged over eight assists per game last year and has just as much, if not more, talent surrounding him this season. An extension of Matt Painter on the court, Smith has an elite feel for how to run a team. NL UConn’s Sarah Strong is poised, powerful and now the focal point of Geno Auriemma’s latest juggernaut. Look for the super soph to make the leap from prodigy to Storrs legend. BAG If she stays healthy, Sarah Strong is the clear favorite. Just a sophomore, she’s already playing in a league of her own and looks ready to dominate at every level. SK UCLA’s Lauren Betts was a walking double-double for the Bruins last season, averaging 20 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Coming off a program-first Final Four run last season, Betts will look to continue her dominant play and this lead the Bruins to the national title. NL Darryn Peterson, Kansas. The 6ft 6in freshman’s blend of NBA-ready size, fluid athleticism and advanced shot creation makes him one of the most complete guard prospects in years. He scores effortlessly at all three levels, defends with energy and processes the game like a pro already. BAG The name to know is Darryn Peterson. The Kansas freshman projects as one of the most complete guards in years: a true one-and-done talent who can score, create and lead. SK AJ Dybantsa, Brigham Young. The 6ft 9in freshman has a lot of pressure to live up to the hype that has surrounded him for years now. The athletic wing has the body and feel for the game that should allow him to make an immediate impact in the league. One area he will have to improve will be shooting from range. NL Lauren Betts, UCLA. The 6ft 7in frontcourt anchor, who dominates both ends with power, touch and consistency, pairs elite footwork and rim protection with emerging mid-range and passing skills. BAG Spanish teenager Awa Fam is likely next year’s No 1 pick, but among US college players, UConn’s Azzi Fudd and Texas’s Rori Harmon stand out. Both have grown tremendously since their freshman seasons and look fully pro-ready: proof that staying with one program can refine a player’s game as much as raw talent ever could. SK I am going to stick with the 6ft 7in center Lauren Betts. Her size and touch around the rim makes her ready to contribute from day one in the W. NL A No 16 seed will upset a No 1 team in the men’s tournament. It took more than three decades for it to finally happen a first time, until Fairleigh Dickinson made it twice in five years back in 2023. It won’t be long before we see it again for a few reasons, mainly how the transfer portal is redistributing talent toward the fringes while the traditional superpowers continue to rely on one-and-done players. BAG The USC women could be the season’s biggest surprise. Even without JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iriafen, the Trojans have the grit and cohesion to overachieve. Think of an Indiana Fever–style campaign – a young team that just refuses to quit and keeps finding ways to win. SK Eric Olen and New Mexico will win the Mountain West conference tournament. The long time UCSD coach has a proven system that wins, but with 14 new players on the team, it will take some time for the Lobos to gel. UNM have good positional size which will allow them to switch 1-5 and be one of the more disruptive defenses in the league. Come tournament time that will be tough for even some of the more talented MWC teams to prepare for. NL Connecticut, Houston, Kentucky, Tennessee. BAG Duke, Houston, Michigan, Purdue. SK Gonzaga, Michigan, Purdue, St John’s. NL Houston. The Cougars look built to finish where they fell so cruelly short in April. Kelvin Sampson returns three starters and seven key contributors from the team that nearly won last year’s title game, including star guards Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan and defensive anchor Joseph Tugler. To that battle-tested core they’ve added a top-five recruiting class headlined by five-star phenoms Chris Cenac Jr and Isiah Harwell, plus elite point guard Kingston Flemings. The unpredictability of March Madness is right there in the name but Houston are the safest bet on the board. BAG Houston. The Cougars came agonizingly close last year, and that unfinished business still burns. With their chemistry, defense and experience, they have every ingredient to finish the job this time. SK St John’s. The Johnnies are led by arguably the greatest college basketball coach of all time in Rick Pitino. When Pitino has talent, and a group of guys who match his personality, he wins. They return last year’s Big East POY in Zudy Ejiofor and they have the top transfer class in the country. Look for the Johnnies send Pitino off to retirement by cutting down the nets in Indianapolis. NL Connecticut, LSU, South Carolina, UCLA. BAG Connecticut, South Carolina, Texas, UCLA. SK Connecticut, Notre Dame, South Carolina, UCLA. NL Connecticut. UConn have the right mix of size, shooting and experience to cut down the nets in Phoenix. Even without Paige Bueckers, these Huskies might be better: Sarah Strong is poised to become the nation’s best player, Azzi Fudd is healthy and Wisconsin transfer Serah Williams adds depth. Geno Auriemma’s 13th title feels awfully close to a fait accompli. BAG Connecticut. This year’s roster is deeper and more balanced than last season’s. Adding Serah Williams was a perfect fit, and with size, shooting and championship experience, the Huskies are built to reclaim the throne. SK South Carolina. Dawn Staley reloads with another talented group led by Florida State transfer Ta’Niya Latson who led the country in scoring a year ago. Last year’s runners-up, the Gamecocks will avenge their embarrassing loss to UConn and get Staley her fourth national championship trophy. NL
|
[
"Bryan Armen Graham",
"Stephanie Kaloi",
"Nicholas Levine"
] |
The college basketball season tips off on Monday across the United States. Can the Florida men do a rare repeat? Who can fill Paige Bueckers’ star void? Our writers weigh in
|
[
"College basketball",
"College sports",
"Sport",
"US sports",
"Basketball",
"NCAA Tournament"
] |
Sport
|
US sports
|
College basketball
|
2025-11-03T15:30:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:49:31.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//sport/2025/nov/03/ncaa-basketball-2025-26-preview-predictions
|
Real Sociedad release pressure with surreal victory in Basque derby like no other | Sid Lowe
|
The goal that won the Basque derby was exactly the way the goal that wins the Basque derby is supposed to be but never had been before. Wet, wild and absolutely wellied. In the rain, the chaos and added time, the fifth of an epic fight perfectly imperfect: a first attempt scuffed, a second smashed in from six yards, sending teammates diving out the way and supporters into each other’s arms. And scored by the footballer from the frontier, born on the border with Bizkaia, another Gipuzkoan and another academy product playing his first derby. Jon Gorrotxategi hit it with his shin; he also hit it with his “soul”, he said, the day ending with Real Sociedad’s players standing before their fans, singing together. It had started there too, their big blue bus edging its way towards the Reale Arena, circling round past the velodrome and the mini stadium, thousands of fans lining the route, fireworks going off, scarves and flags swirling. Pulling up before the gates, the brakes went on, the doors opened and Sergio Francisco, their manager, said: “This incredible energy was let in.” The players got out and walked the final stretch to the stadium, feeling their way through the smoke, passing fans with their palms out, all high fives and hope. Stopping in a line, looking over the endless faces, listening to them sing, they joined in, clapping out the beat. And then they disappeared inside and defeated Athletic Club 3-2. There was something in that scene at the start and how they celebrated at the end that showed how Real Sociedad had needed this, and not just because it’s the derby or even because they had become the first of these great rivals to ever win one in stoppage time, although that is reason enough. This is a fixture like no other, preceded by poetry, striped shirts in blue and red mixed in the old town and in the stands. A match where they drink together, sit together and kick together, lumps taken out of each other’s legs; where everyone knows exactly what it means, 22 of the 30 players from the Basque Country (including Navarre), 24 of them academy graduates; and where for all the friendliness, which shouldn’t fool you, it is ferocious. Which is also what makes it fun. On Saturday especially, something about this derby just felt, well, like a derby. Right, somehow. It felt right that it rained, right that what made it good was not so much the quality as the commitment, right that it went from 1-0 to 1-1, 2-1 to 2-2, and right that the winner should come in the dying, desperate minutes the way it did, nothing quite happening the way it was supposed to, the ball bouncing about in the area until Gorrotxategi belted it and blew everything to bits. It felt right that it should be him, one of six la Real players from their home province of Gipuzkoa, the smallest in Spain. And right that if the winner was the derby distilled, the previous four goals weren’t far off either. If it had ended that way, the way it had started fit, too: in fact, the moment with which it all began was even better, possibly even the best thing you’re going to see all year. They had been playing for 35 minutes and not a lot had happened when off the ball Ander Barrenetxea went down, the 23-year-old winger lying face in his hands. Medical staff came dashing on, bandaged him up and helped him hobble off, applauded all the way, barely able to move but not finished yet. He had one last thing he had to do. So, despite standing there, hopping from foot to foot, grimacing every time he touched the floor, pain hidden behind his palms, the doctor gazing at him with a look of pity, he went back out. Where the ball came straight to him. Barrenetxea couldn’t walk but he ran. The first two steps he lurched forwards, left foot first and left foot second too, painful just to watch. Limping up the left, he took one touch to control with his right, one touch to cross with his left, the thigh hurting too much to continue. As he pulled up, the ball came off Mikel Oyarzabal and reached Brais Méndez, who at the second attempt scored, the ball bouncing back off Unai Simón. Barrenetxea couldn’t move, couldn’t join the celebration, but he had provided the opener. He had been on the pitch for eight seconds. Barrenetxea’s derby was over; everyone else’s had just begun. Amid the frenzy, Real Sociedad were just about the better side but Athletic kept coming back at them, the ball bouncing about for Gorka Guruzeta to sweep in the first equaliser. Gonçalo Guedes scored a lovely second for la Real just after half-time – the only one of the five that wasn’t very derby – but with 11 minutes left Athletic equalised again and this time it was very, very derby. A long delivery, two looping headers, a half save, the ball coming down off the bar, bringing a rain shower with it, somehow kept in by Alejandro Rego, and Robert Navarro bundling it past the players falling in front of him and over the line. Seven touches, and Athletic had equalised. Via a former la Real player. The rain came down and the tensions went up. Ernesto Valverde, the Athletic manager, was on his haunches in a mac, hood up, gazing across the pitch like a fisher looking out at storm when the ball dropped near the edge of Athletic’s area on 91.41 and there was Gorrotxategi. “All I wanted to do was shoot, because I could see that the game was ending, slipping away from us,” he said. “But I hit it terribly.” Swiping, more than a dozen men in front of him, his shot scuffed and somehow bounced through the bodies to Oyarzabal, who pulled it back. And there, thundering in to follow his first fluffed attempt, invited by fate to have another go, was Gorrotxategi. On the edge of the six-yard box, Jon Martín throwing himself out the way, Gorrotxategi hit it as hard as he could, an ‘ave that of a finish ripping into the net; 37,685 people exploded and a couple more fireworks did, too – a tradition that tells those out in the Bay of Biscay that la Real have scored a goal. Not just any goal, either. One local reporter was quoting Eduardo Galeano, who claimed the goal was the only orgasm left in modern times. The earth had moved, Marta Gonzalo said. “If you could measure the feeling on this on the Richter scale, this was a quake,” she wrote in AS, “and Gorro was the epicentre.” For the first time in 178 derbies, someone had won in added time. They had deserved it too, AS said: “The derby is all about who has the most heart, and la Real are 11 cardiologists.” Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion “There is no better feeling than beating your eternal rival in stoppage time,” El Diario Vasco claimed, and yet this was it: because there is winning the derby and there is doing it when you really, really need to. After a solitary win in nine weeks and new coach Sergi Francisco on edge, a side too good to struggle slipping towards the relegation zone, la Real had now won two league games in a row, the paper describing the goal as “a shout that came with the strength of all Gipuzkoa and said: ‘This is different now.’” As Mikel Recalde put it in Noticias de Gipuzkoa: “La Real are alive. They have soul. They feel their colours. They love their people. And, once in a while, they make them happy like they did tonight. Life can be wonderful.” Gorrotxategi had been Górriz and Zamora in one, everyone seemed to be saying. Alberto Górriz is the man whose scuffed attempt on goal accidentally set up Jesús María Zamora to win Real Sociedad the league in 1981, later saying: “My worst shot was my best pass.” Now Gorro had gone and played both roles. “I hit it with all my soul, all the more so seeing the minute we were in. The feeling of happiness is incredible,” he said. “This goal is incredible: for the situation, the game, the moment. I’ll watch it back loads of times. The players were laughing at me saying I never score; I told them I was saving it up. This is the fans’ goal: they backed us to the end and the feeling is incredible. I think something has clicked. We’re in a different dynamic now. There are things we need to improve in footballing terms but every game we go to war now.” At the whistle, once they had got the fight out the way, players briefly piling in, la Real lined up before their supporters for the second time, full-back Aihen Muñoz taking the mic as they sang. The communion was complete, the day finishing the way it had started, a way that felt right, like a derby should. Watching them, their coach felt proud; this was his first derby, too. “It outdid all expectations,” Sergi Francisco said. “If we could have written it, it would have been something like this.” Getafe 2-1 Girona Villarreal 4-0 Rayo Vallecano Atlético Madrid 3-0 Sevilla Real Sociedad 3-2 Athletic Bilbao Real Madrid 4-0 Valencia Levante 1-2 Celta Vigo Alavés 2-1 Espanyol Barcelona 3-1 Elche Real Betis 3-0 Real Mallorca Monday's fixture: Real Oviedo v Osasuna
|
[
"Sid Lowe"
] |
Jon Gorrotxategi’s stoppage-time winner against Athletic Club summed up an epic contest
|
[
"La Liga",
"European club football",
"Football",
"Sport"
] |
Football
|
La Liga
|
2025-11-03T15:21:37.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:35:58.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//football/2025/nov/03/real-sociedad-release-pressure-surreal-victory-basque-derby-la-liga
|
|
Rome: worker trapped and one injured after part of medieval tower collapses
|
A medieval tower in central Rome has partly collapsed twice during renovations, trapping one worker on an upper floor and injuring another. Falling debris from the initial collapse of the Torre dei Conti, close to the Roman Forum ruins, just after 11.30am (1030 GMT) hit a 64-year-old worker, the Ansa news agency reported. He was taken to San Giovanni hospital in a critical condition. Francesco Rocca, Lazio’s regional president, said the worker’s injuries were not life-threatening. With hundreds of tourists and passersby looking on, firefighters rescued three other workers from scaffolding on the 29-metre tower. During the operation, at about 1pm, an internal section of the tower collapsed, leaving one worker trapped on an upper floor. “We are trying to get him out alive but the situation is complex because of the risk of further collapses,” said the national fire department spokesperson, Luca Cari. The worker was reported to be “vigilant” and rescuers were assisting him with breathing. Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang and seeing clouds of dust. One told Corriere della Sera: “I saw a worker fall.” Firefighters flew a drone through a window to inspect the site. One worker inside at the time of the first collapse said he escaped from a balcony. “It was not safe. I just want to go home,” said the man, white dust covering his uniform, who gave his name as Ottaviano and his age as 67. Elena, from the UK, who like others did not want to give her last name, works at Shamrock, a pub with views of the tower from its outside seating area. She said she had been preparing to open the pub when the first collapse happened. “It felt a bit like an earthquake,” she said. “I saw a man trying to get out by walking down the scaffolding – I didn’t realise people were inside working on it.” She said people living in the apartments opposite rushed on to the street when they heard a loud bang and felt their building shake. Sue and Don, a couple from the UK, had been having breakfast at a restaurant in front of the monument earlier in the morning when they heard loud drilling. “It seemed they were drilling deeply into the building and we wondered what they could be doing,” Sue said. The couple then went to visit the Colosseum and when they returned the area was closed off and a rescue operation under way. Caterina, who was born in the Italian capital, was among the large crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene. “I have never experienced anything like this in central Rome before,” she said. “It is centuries old and therefore a very important monument. Maybe something was hit during the works that destabilised the structure.” Queen Paglinawan was working in a nearby gelato shop when she heard two loud noises in quick succession. “I was working and then I heard some like falling, and then I saw the tower collapse in a diagonal way,” said Paglinawan, 27, as yet another collapse occurred in the background. Viktoria Braeu, 18, a student from Germany, passed by the scene just as the collapse during the firefighters’ rescue happened. “We were just at the Colosseum … and we were just walking to get some food. And then we were like: ‘It’s probably not long until it’s going to go down,’ and then it just started erupting,” Braeu said. The area of the Forum and Piazza Venezia, which is continuously packed with tourists and traffic, has been cordoned off. The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, were at the scene. The Torre dei Conti was built in the 13th century by Richard Conti, brother of Pope Innocent III, as a fortified residence for his family. It was damaged in an earthquake in 1349 and there were collapses in the 17th century. The restoration works are being financed by funds from the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund. AFP, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
|
[
"Angela Giuffrida"
] |
Three others rescued at the Torre dei Conti, which was undergoing restoration works
|
[
"Italy",
"Europe",
"World news"
] |
World news
|
Europe
|
Italy
|
2025-11-03T15:20:49.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:31:16.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/03/rome-tower-collapse-torre-dei-conti-italy
|
‘If I’d known the skeletons were real I’d have been even more disgusted’: how we made Poltergeist
|
When my agent said, “We have a script called Poltergeist”, my response was: “Is it horror? I’m not interested.” Then he said: “Well, Steven Spielberg is producing.” So I read the script, which Spielberg had also written, and loved the family in it, and the fact that there were so many strong female characters: Diane, Dr Lesh, Tangina the psychic. Zelda Rubinstein, who played Tangina, was a dynamo. Spielberg was busy prepping ET, so even though he was often on set, Tobe Hooper, who made The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, directed. I’d never seen that because when it comes to horror, I’m a nervous Nellie. We’d all do improv to give the sense of a real family life – sometimes they’d just roll a camera while we were chatting and telling jokes. Craig T Nelson, who played my husband, had been a standup. Where we’re smoking pot in the bedroom, he improvised the “before/after/before” routine with his stomach. Little Heather O’Rourke, who played my youngest daughter, Carol Anne, was just five at the time, but very intuitive. If I cried in a scene, she’d cry too. When we were covered in cold goop, she was shivering and shaking but never complained. She was such a trooper. Early in the film, the camera follows Diane across the kitchen after she’s just straightened some chairs. When she turns back, they’ve been silently stacked on the table, impossibly fast. It was all done in one uninterrupted take, with crew members rushing on while out of shot to remove one set of chairs and put the pre-stacked tower in place. They were like a herd of elephants – the sound was re-dubbed afterwards. My biggest problem was trying to keep a straight face. Later, I get dragged across the bed, up the wall and across the ceiling by an invisible force. That was filmed on a rotating set called a gimbal, like the one that allowed Fred Astaire to dance on the ceiling in Royal Wedding. The cameraman, Dennis, was strapped to the set and had to go round and round like he was on a ferris wheel. After a few takes, bless his heart, he had to get off, because he was nauseous. The skeletons that surround Diane after she falls into the pool were all real – though I didn’t learn that until I ran into one of the special effects guys later. I’d have been even more disgusted had I realised they weren’t just props, but at the time I was more concerned about the lights and the huge fans creating the wind effect. I was terrified one would fall into the water and electrocute me. Spielberg actually waded in up to his waist and said: “If you get electrocuted, it’ll kill me, too.” That was reassuring. Poltergeist was my first movie and I got to act with Beatrice Straight, who I worshipped. She’s exquisite in the role of Dr Lesh, the parapsychologist who investigates the house. Richard Lawson and I played her assistants and I guess it’s because my character is the sceptical one that, as Tobe put it, the house hates me. The steak Marty sees crawling along a kitchen countertop like an inchworm was operated by a guy underneath poking a couple of chopsticks up through a track disguised as the grouting between the tiles. When Marty throws the chicken leg he’s eating on the floor in disgust and we see it covered in maggots, there were handlers on set to scoop them up and ensure none of them came to harm. They made a complete upper-body dummy of me for the moment Marty hallucinates clawing off his own face in the bathroom mirror. I asked how much it cost and they said: “Oh, the wig alone was $10,000.” Remember, this was 1981. This would be a one-take, unrepeatable shot, with me reaching up from under the dummy and tearing away its cheeks to release the semi-set jello and pockets of blood underneath. I thought: “There’s no way I can do this.” Steven lit up when I told him – those are his hands you see in the film! He’s just wearing my ring. I could never have ripped that face off with the same joie de vivre. Later, I had to go back to shoot some extra footage of me picking at my real face. By then I was acting in a play I’d written and my hair had been cut short – luckily they’d saved the wig from the dummy. It took three hours to rig my face up with prosthetics full of stage blood. It was only when I got to the sound stage that someone realised the makeup guy had been working from the image in the mirror and put everything on the wrong side. There was no PG-13 rating back then. That wasn’t introduced until the second Indiana Jones film a couple of years later. Poltergeist ended up rated PG but, until Steven talked the ratings board round, that scene meant they wanted to make it an R. Another scene of mine was cut, where Marty is lifted into the air and bitten by some gigantic ghost. They rigged me with explosive squibs full of liquid detergent, representing saliva, but the first time they tried it the effects guys were joking that it looked like ghost semen. That wasn’t the reason it had to go, though. Steven told me it interrupted the scene where Diane senses her daughter trapped on the other side and says: “She went through my soul.” It’s a testament to JoBeth’s wonderful performance that he just couldn’t cut away from that. JoBeth Williams’s new film Not Without Hope opens in cinemas on 12 December
|
[
"Chris Broughton"
] |
‘Steven Spielberg lit up when I told him I couldn’t do the face-tearing scene. Those are his hands you see in the film. I could never have ripped my face off with the same joie de vivre’
|
[
"Film",
"Culture",
"Horror films",
"Steven Spielberg",
"Film industry"
] |
Film
|
Film
|
Film
|
2025-11-03T15:19:49.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:21:59.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//culture/2025/nov/03/if-id-known-the-skeletons-were-real-id-have-been-even-more-disgusted-how-we-made-poltergeist
|
Boy’s stabbing and a knifeman at barbershop linked to Cambridgeshire train attack
|
The stabbing of a 14-year-old boy and two reports of a knifeman seen at a barber’s in Peterborough are being investigated as part of the police inquiry into a mass stabbing on a high-speed train. Cambridgeshire police said the teenager was non-fatally injured at 7.10pm on Friday, before a man with a knife was seen at a barber’s in the Fletton area of the city 15 minutes later, although this was only reported to police two hours later. A second report of a knifeman was made at 9.25am the following morning when he was still at the scene, but when police arrived 18 minutes later they could not find him. In a statement, the force said: “We are aware of three incidents that occurred in Peterborough on Friday evening (31 October) and Saturday morning (1 November). “The first incident of a man with a knife at a barber’s in Fletton happened at 7.25pm on Friday but was reported to us at 9.10pm – two hours after the incident occurred. “At the time of reporting the man was no longer there and had not returned, so we did not send officers, but a crime was raised. The second incident was reported to us at 9.25am on Saturday again by the barber’s in Fletton while the man was still at the scene. Officers were deployed to the location and arrived within 18 minutes. “Upon searching the area, officers were unable to locate the man or identify him and a crime was raised. There was also a third incident that police also believe may be linked which also happened on Friday 31 October at 7.10pm, where a 14-year-old was stabbed by a man with a knife in the city centre. They were taken to Peterborough city hospital with minor injuries and were later discharged. “The offender had left the scene when the call was made and despite a search of the area by officers and a police dog, the offender was not identified. A crime was raised and an investigation commenced, with scenes of crime attending. “We are currently reviewing all incidents in the timeframe to understand whether there were any further potential offences. “British Transport Police retain primacy for the overall investigation, which will include these three incidents. “We voluntarily referred ourselves to the IOPC [Independent Office for Police Conduct] for independent scrutiny of these incidents, as is standard practice in these cases.” Earlier Anthony Williams, 32, appeared at Peterborough magistrates court charged with 10 counts of attempted murder after several people were stabbed on an LNER train from Doncaster to London on Saturday. He is also charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article. An LNER staff member is in a critical but stable condition in hospital after the stabbings on the high-speed service, while four other people remain in hospital. Separately, Williams is charged with one count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article over an incident at Pontoon Dock DLR station in east London in the early hours of Saturday, where a victim suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a knife. He allegedly used a “large kitchen knife” in both attacks, according to court documents. The investigation by British Transport Police into the train attack will include the stabbing of the 14-year-old and the incident at the barbershop.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
Incidents are being investigated as part of the inquiry into the mass stabbing on a high-speed train
|
[
"UK news"
] |
UK news
|
UK news
|
2025-11-03T15:17:56.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:18:14.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//uk-news/2025/nov/03/boy-stabbiing-knifeman-barbers-cambridgeshire-train-attack-huntingdon
|
|
Boy’s stabbing and a knifeman at barbershop linked to Cambridgeshire train attack
|
The stabbing of a 14-year-old boy and two reports of a knifeman seen at a barber’s in Peterborough are being investigated as part of the police inquiry into a mass stabbing on a high-speed train. Cambridgeshire police said the teenager was non-fatally injured at 7.10pm on Friday, before a man with a knife was seen at a barber’s in the Fletton area of the city 15 minutes later, although this was only reported to police two hours later. A second report of a knifeman was made at 9.25am the following morning when he was still at the scene, but when police arrived 18 minutes later they could not find him. In a statement, the force said: “We are aware of three incidents that occurred in Peterborough on Friday evening (31 October) and Saturday morning (1 November). The first incident of a man with a knife at a barber’s in Fletton happened at 7.25pm on Friday but was reported to us at 9.10pm – two hours after the incident occurred. “At the time of reporting the man was no longer there and had not returned, so we did not send officers, but a crime was raised. The second incident was reported to us at 9.25am on Saturday again by the barber’s in Fletton while the man was still at the scene. Officers were deployed to the location and arrived within 18 minutes. “Upon searching the area, officers were unable to locate the man or identify him and a crime was raised. There was also a third incident that police also believe may be linked which also happened on Friday 31 October at 7.10pm, where a 14-year-old was stabbed by a man with a knife in the city centre. They were taken to Peterborough city hospital with minor injuries and were later discharged. “The offender had left the scene when the call was made and despite a search of the area by officers and a police dog, the offender was not identified. A crime was raised and an investigation commenced, with scenes of crime [officers] attending. “We are currently reviewing all incidents in the timeframe to understand whether there were any further potential offences. “British Transport Police retain primacy for the overall investigation, which will include these three incidents. “We voluntarily referred ourselves to the IOPC [Independent Office for Police Conduct] for independent scrutiny of these incidents, as is standard practice in these cases.” Earlier, Anthony Williams, 32, appeared at Peterborough magistrates court charged with 10 counts of attempted murder after several people were stabbed on an LNER train from Doncaster to London on Saturday. He is also charged with one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of possession of a bladed article. An LNER staff member is in a critical but stable condition in hospital after the stabbings on the high-speed service, while four other people remain in hospital. Separately, Williams is charged with one count of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article over an incident at Pontoon Dock DLR station in east London in the early hours of Saturday, where a victim suffered facial injuries after being attacked with a knife. He allegedly used a “large kitchen knife” in both attacks, according to court documents. The investigation by British Transport Police into the train attack will include the stabbing of the 14-year-old and the incident at the barbershop.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
Incidents are being investigated as part of the inquiry into Saturday’s mass stabbing on a high-speed train
|
[
"UK news"
] |
UK news
|
UK news
|
2025-11-03T15:17:56.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:28:08.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/03/boy-stabbiing-knifeman-barbers-cambridgeshire-train-attack-huntingdon
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India’s World Cup win can set a new world order in women’s cricket – if it spends money wisely
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Sunday was a long day for the India captain, Harmanpreet Kaur. It began with a two-hour rain delay; it concluded with a catch at cover, taken on the stroke of midnight, which sealed a 52-run victory against South Africa and a maiden World Cup title. But amid the fireworks, tears, hugs, a lap of honour at the DY Patil Stadium, and rumours of a forthcoming winners’ parade in Mumbai, Kaur found time to deliver an important message to the media. “We’ve been waiting for this moment,” she said. “The celebration will go on all night. And then let’s see what BCCI is planning for us … This is just the beginning.” The implication was clear. A World Cup win in a country which is cricket obsessed, which has a population of 1.46 billion and yet which has historically been slow to embrace the women’s game, could be epoch-defining. But this is no time for anyone to rest on their laurels. India are the first non-western nation to win the Women’s World Cup – only England (four times), Australia (seven times) and New Zealand (once) have previously lifted the trophy. Nobody aside from Australia and England have managed it in 25 years. The reason? A global title requires sustained investment and that money has not been forthcoming in any nations outside the Big Two. Really, the first act of the Board of Control for Cricket in India towards Kaur and her team should be an apology: We are sorry that we were so slow to believe in the enormous potential of women’s cricket. (Good luck with that one.) Australia’s dominance in women’s cricket was grounded in the introduction of the world’s first franchise league, the Women’s Big Bash League, creating an infuriatingly deep player pool which is still the envy of the world. So what did the BCCI do between the first season of WBBL in 2015-16 and finally introducing the Women’s Premier League in 2023? Dragged their feet and fiddled around with a half hearted three-team “T20 Challenge”. Even now, there is a sense that had India not beaten South Africa on Sunday, their board could have continued to make excuses about their far from equal support of the women’s game. “We’ve been playing good cricket, but we had to win one big tournament,” Kaur said. “Without that, we couldn’t talk about change.” Partly, this is a reflection of the broader status of women within Indian society. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, India are one of the worst performing countries in the world when scored on key gender equality benchmarks (ranked 131 out of 148). The main decision makers and shakers in Indian cricket – as across the world – are men: the products of a society where women are still seen as the ones whose defining role in cricket is to make the tea. Change is coming. The BCCI has already announced a reward of 510m Indian rupees for Kaur and her team, to go alongside the $4.5m (£3.4m) prize money which they will receive from the International Cricket Council as tournament winners. Smriti Mandhana’s image has already filled billboards across India – now she will be joined by Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma, new national heroes who proudly proclaim different religious faiths in a nation torn apart by sectarianism. Cricket really can change society. But if you want a permanent shift, then the BCCI’s money shouldn’t just be used to make a handful of current players richer. It needs to trickle down: it is about time that girls all the way across India, from Mumbai shanties to the parched fields of Bihar, were encouraged to pick up a bat in the same way as their brothers are. A nation of millions of girls, all playing cricket? That’s the real way to build a cricketing dynasty. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action after newsletter promotion Australia will bounce back. That’s what they do. Meg Lanning’s team lost one semi-final in 2017 and went on to win the next three world titles and Commonwealth Games gold. Alyssa Healy’s side lost to South Africa in last year’s T20 World Cup semi-final and three months later whitewashed England 16-0 in the Ashes. South Africa, too, will fight on. “We’re the team that consistently is making finals now,” their captain, Laura Wolvaardt, said. “I’m really proud that we were able to reach three in a row. Hopefully, we can keep reaching finals and one day we can win one.” What of Kaur’s India? They clearly have ambition. That much was made clear on their tour of England back in July, when they sealed their first ever T20 series victory in Manchester and Radha Yadav told the media that her team were “going to dominate, no matter what. We want to create something big.” But while winning a World Cup is big, changing an unequal society is even bigger. If we are to talk of a new era for women’s cricket, then let’s aim high.
|
[
"Raf Nicholson"
] |
India would do well to remember that Australia’s domination was based on building from the grassroots up
|
[
"Women's Cricket World Cup",
"Women's cricket",
"India women's cricket team",
"Australia women's cricket team",
"Cricket",
"Sport"
] |
Sport
|
Cricket
|
Women's Cricket World Cup
|
2025-11-03T15:12:30.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:14:59.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//sport/2025/nov/03/india-world-cup-win-can-set-a-new-world-order-in-womens-cricket-if-it-spends-money-wisely
|
Scunthorpe United footballer injured in Cambridgeshire train stabbing
|
One of the people attacked during a mass stabbing on a busy train in Cambridgeshire has been named as the Scunthorpe United footballer Jonathan Gjoshe, the club said in a statement. Gjoshe sustained non-life-threatening injuries but remains in hospital, the club said. Eleven people were treated in hospital after the attack on a moving high-speed train from Doncaster to London on Saturday evening. Anthony Williams, 32, has appeared at Peterborough magistrates court charged with 10 counts of attempted murder in connection with the incident on the LNER train. In a statement, Scunthorpe United said: “Scunthorpe United can confirm registered player Jonathan Gjoshe was one of the victims affected by the shocking attack on an LNER train bound for London on Saturday evening. “We can confirm that Jonathan sustained non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the attack, but currently remains in hospital. Due to the ongoing investigations taking place, we are currently unable to update further. “Everyone at the club, from the board, management and his teammates, along with all staff behind the scenes, sends our heartfelt well wishes to Jonathan for a full recovery, which is also extended to all the victims onboard the train.” Another of the victims has been named by the BBC as Stephen Crean. The Nottingham Forest football fan reportedly confronted the train attacker, going face to face with him in the carriage. He told the broadcaster: “I confronted this guy, because I’ve got to make sure that the door’s locked and I’ve looked around to save a bit of time. But then he started, he pulled this thing out. It was an over-large blade thing.” An LNER staff member is in a critical but stable condition in hospital following the stabbings, while four other people remain in hospital.
|
[
"Jamie Grierson"
] |
Jonathan Gjoshe sustained non-life-threatening injuries in Saturday’s incident but remains in hospital, club says
|
[
"UK news"
] |
UK news
|
UK news
|
2025-11-03T15:11:02.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:14:11.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//uk-news/2025/nov/03/scunthorpe-united-footballer-jonathan-gjoshe-injured-in-cambridgeshire-train-stabbing-huntingdon
|
|
‘In this ’til the end’: Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner on refusing to quit amid furor over ‘Nazi’ tattoo
|
On a recent Monday night, Graham Platner – oysterman, army veteran and Democratic hopeful for US Senate – took the stage in a small Maine town known for its oyster farming to assure voters that he was still in the game to win the Democratic primary, and ultimately unseat five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins. He addressed a crowd of 700, the most that could fit into the school gymnasium in Damariscotta, Maine before organizers had to start turning people away. As is typical for his campaign events, the gruff, plain-talking, flannel-clad, local business owner and former marine dissected the “establishment political system that serves the interests of the ultra wealthy” in front of a captivated audience. Excitement around Platner snowballed after he announced his run for office in late August, with his campaign raising more than $3m in donations in a matter of weeks. He established himself as both a populist paragon, and a vessel for selling liberal policies that have been part of national Democrats’ ongoing autopsy since Donald Trump won back the White House in 2024. “People are sick and tired of politics as usual, and I am too,” Platner told the Guardian. “We’re just always being represented by people that come from wealth, people that come from backgrounds of power … Mainers, frankly, seem to be just champing at the bit to do something different.” But after multiple controversies from Platner’s past have come to light, he now finds himself embattled in a morass of damage control. Over the past few weeks, there has been a steady drip of reports featuring Platner’s unearthed racist, sexist and homophobic online comments. Then, Platner tried to get ahead of the story when he revealed, and then covered, a tattoo on his chest that closely resembles a Nazi symbol. Meanwhile, he’s had to justify staff turnover at the top level of his campaign while he addresses his past actions. Platner said there was a pronounced disconnect between the national media attention that his deleted posts and tattoo have received, and the impact they had on voters in his state. “It’s very surreal to have the kind of big, almost incomprehensibly huge political space be utterly convinced that this is all coming to an end, and I’m this horrifically controversial person,” he said. “And then, in Maine, everybody’s like ‘hey man, keep with it, we all make mistakes. People move through life, they learn, and we’re here for it.’” The political outsider, who is making his first foray into public office, hasn’t shied away from talking about his past. “If you liked what I was saying three weeks ago, I’m still saying the exact same thing now,” Platner said, emphasizing that the disillusionment he felt while writing online was part of the “journey” that brought him to where he is today. “I’m still dedicated to rebuilding a politics that is more accessible for working people. I am still dedicated towards ending our horrific spending when it comes to foreign military conflicts and nothing for the American working class, those things all remain the same,” he added. “If I start walking back my commitments to the things that define me now, then absolutely begin to question and walk away from me, because I would deserve it.” The material impact of the controversy around Platner has yet to be seen. A recent poll by the University of New Hampshire (albeit before news of his tattoo broke) had him leading Mills by 34 points; his rallies and town halls across the state have attracted thousands; and his key backer, the independent senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, has continued to throw his weight behind the former marine. “There might be one or two more important issues,” Sanders told Axios. Various Democratic lawmakers and leaders have also come to Platner’s defense. Senator Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, told Semafor that “everyone has a right to grow and grow out of their stupidity.” The Democratic National Committee chair, Ken Martin, said that Platner’s past comments are “indefensible”, but didn’t think they were “disqualifying”. “Certainly they’re not right, and I’m glad that he apologized for them,” he added. Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, said that the veteran “sounds like a human being” who “made mistakes”, when pressed about the news of Platner’s tattoo in an interview with CNN. Not everyone has been so forgiving. Platner’s troubles started with resurfaced Reddit posts spanning from 2013 to 2021, in which he claimed to be a “communist”, called police officers “bastards”, labelled white, rural Americans “stupid” and “racist”, made anti-LGBTQ+ jokes and remarks (including using slurs), questioned why “Black people didn’t tip”, and said that survivors and victims of sexual assault should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so fucked up”. After the first tranche of revelations, his political director, Genevieve McDonald, a former Maine state representative, walked away from his campaign, and Platner issued a direct-to-camera mea culpa on Instagram, branding his past comments as inexcusable, but also a side-effect from the trauma he endured during his time in the military. Platner, now 41, has spoken candidly about the severe PTSD he battled after serving tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I witnessed violence and horror at a scale that I was not quite prepared for all in the service of something that I now believe was pointless,” he told the audience on Monday. Then, in an October interview with Pod Save America, in an attempt to get ahead of opposition research that could have beaten him to the punch, Platner admitted to getting inked with a tattoo of skull and crossbones. The illustration resembles the Totenkopf, an emblem that was used by the Nazi Schutzstaffel. The former marine said that he got the tattoo after a night drinking with military buddies in Croatia 18 years ago, but noted that, until recently, he was unaware of its meaning. “I can honestly say that if I was trying to hide it, I’ve not been doing a very good job for the past 18 years,” he told the podcast. He subsequently revealed his covered-up symbol in a local news interview. For her part, McDonald wasn’t convinced, and wrote a scathing Facebook post undermining Platner. “He’s a military history buff,” she said. “Maybe he didn’t know when he got it, but he got it years ago, and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means.” Platner told the Guardian that McDonald’s claims were untrue. “She left using the stress of that week as her reason for leaving,” he said. “But she had had friction within the campaign for a little while, and that was kind of the culmination of it.” He also said that the resignation of his newly minted campaign manager and old friend, Kevin Brown, after just a few days on the job, was not to do with Platner’s recent political issues. “He and his wife just recently found out that they were pregnant and moving to Maine and taking this campaign on was just too much,” Platner said. “I’ll just be up front, he never was serving really as a campaign manager, everything happened within about a 24-hour period … he and I are still very close.” In the midst of it all, Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, officially launched her own long-awaited Senate bid, securing an endorsement from the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and turning the primary race into a referendum on the populist versus establishment wings of the party in the process. At 77, Mills would also be the oldest freshman senator in Congress if elected. The state’s libertarian streak could work in Platner’s favor, as Maine voters can be “inconsistent” in their ideological positions, according to Michael Franz, a political science professor at Bowdoin College who focuses on voting behavior. “The long history of Maine politicians with national profiles and established reputations as being leaders in Washington who stand up, not only for principles, but have a deep sense of place here in the state, is sort of the special sauce,” he said. However, despite the seven-month runway to the June Democratic primary, Franz doesn’t see Platner’s controversies evaporating. “I still think it will be used pretty effectively and pretty consistently to point out that Platner doesn’t have a political foundation, doesn’t have a history of politics, and we don’t know much about him beyond you know what he tells us and what we’ve determined and found out from these social media posts.” This week, Mills issued a public rebuke of her primary challenger. “I obviously, vehemently disagree with the things he’s been quoted as saying and doing,” she said, stopping short of calling him to drop out of the race. “It’s up to him. It’s up to the people.” Another challenger, Jordan Wood, told the Guardian that Platner’s actions meant he was “disqualified for consideration in my mind”. Wood, who served as Congresswoman Katie Porter’s chief of staff, is the only out gay Senate candidate on the Democratic ballot in Maine. “It’s not politics,” he said. “It’s very personal. I’m a gay man and I’m married to a Jew. We have a child.” Wood did note that he would ultimately support whoever secures the nomination. In Damariscotta, at his second campaign event since he began wading through the molasses of political controversy, Platner made light of the last two weeks. “I am running as a Democrat, still, despite the fact my party is trying to destroy my life,” he said. When Platner was pressed by audience members about some of the recent revelations, including from a trans voter who wanted some reassurance that the harbormaster would fight for their community, Platner was forthright. “I have no patience for a politics that is willing to sell people out,” he said. “I also fully recognize that as a cis white man with a bunch of tattoos and a long combat record that I get to put myself out there in ways that other people don’t.” Still, Platner remains the riskier choice when compared with the “supremely vetted” and “supremely tested” Mills, according to Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine. Thirty years ago, Brewer adds, revelations like Platner’s might have rendered a Senate campaign dead in the water, but since Trump’s 2016 run – and the leaked Access Hollywood tape where the now-president is heard bragging about using his fame to have sex with women, and groping them without waiting for their consent – all bets are off. “If Platner is able to survive these kinds of things, maybe this is an area where Trump has changed the rules on what’s acceptable and what’s disqualifying,” Brewer said. Democrats remain on the hunt for congressional candidates that might offer a way out of the wilderness, and win back members of the tent – particularly disenchanted working-class men – that have since abandoned the party. Voters in the mid-coast region of the state who showed up to see Platner on Monday, cheered and applauded when he said that he had “no right” to step away from the Senate race, and held up signs that read “schuck the oligarchy”. “I thought he addressed it really well. My concerns on that are gone,” said Ann Scanlon, who lives in nearby Bristol. “I think we need somebody like him to re-energize and get it moving back in the right direction again.” Scanlon, 65, runs an art gallery and recently started receiving Medicare benefits. The future of the healthcare program for American seniors is top of mind for her. “I don’t want to see people locked out of nursing homes because they have nowhere to live,” Scanlon said. Stacie Brookes, 57, said that Platner felt “sincere”, “genuine” and unlike other politicians she’s used to hearing from. “I’m in this camp now, and I will stay in this camp as long as he grows and continues to grow.” Brookes, a waitress from Bremen, relies on Affordable Care Act subsidies to afford her monthly premiums. “It’s directly gonna impact me come January 1,” she said. Her son Sebastian Crocetti, 26, is focused on affordability, one of Platner’s key issues going into next year’s election. “I would love to buy property,” the construction worker and former carpenter said. “It just feels so hard to get ahead.” Platner often uses his own experiences to inform his economic agenda. “It is the healthcare that I get from the VA that not only gave me the treatment I needed to overcome the mental and physical scars of war, but it also gave me the freedom to build the life I wanted to build,” he told the audience at this week’s town hall. “It allowed me to start a business. It allowed me to take the risk of moving back to my home town and building a life on the sea.” While Platner says that Collins is the “charade of fake moderation”, he argues that Janet Mills is running the “same kind of old-fashioned campaign” that won’t be enough to offer lasting change. “The reason that I am in the race is because I don’t believe that the governor and I have the same politics,” he told the Guardian. “People go into power and then don’t try to do anything big. Everything is like playing around in the margins. I think that that is the kind of politics that comes out of someone who’s been in this system for as long as the governor has.” That, according to Platner, is not to say he’s averse to working in a bipartisan way with lawmakers who might disagree with him on certain issues, like Senator Josh Hawley, on getting the Senate and Congress to stop trading stocks and bonds. “I would be excited to work with him on that kind of thing again,” he said. While Platner continues to address the recent fallout over his past indiscretions, he remains resolute and undeterred. “I did not go looking for this opportunity in my life, but when it showed up, to say no to it, to not do it, would feel like an abdication of a responsibility,” he said. “I’m in this ’til the end.”
|
[
"Shrai Popat"
] |
Platner’s populist campaign faces backlash over past comments and a contentious tattoo
|
[
"Maine",
"US news",
"US politics",
"Democrats"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Maine
|
2025-11-03T15:08:47.000Z
|
2025-11-03T16:16:29.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//us-news/2025/nov/03/graham-platner-democrat-senate-maine
|
The Run review – glowsticks to the fore as interactive horror-thriller aims to get pulses racing
|
Thirty-two-year-old writer-director Paul Raschid is surely too young to recall the multiple endings of 1985’s Clue or the hotly traded Choose Your Own Adventure books. Perhaps RPGs gave this film-maker a penchant for interactive cinema. Either way, intrepid souls heading to London’s Genesis cinema between now and New Year will hold up glow sticks to determine their path through the woods of Raschid’s latest horror-thriller. The Run demands split-second judgment calls one may not be accustomed to, slumped under a half-ton of popcorn. And there’s a strong possibility you won’t get what you vote for; much like the Guardian wrote of Raschid’s 2022 endeavour The Gallery, this feels like an appositely post-Brexit format. The path we guide characters down here is literal: we’re directing fitness influencer Zanna (Roxanne McKee) as she circles Lake Garda on what proves an eventful morning jog. The interactive element begins with some light stretches – the audience choose whether she listens to music or a podcast while running, and whether to greet passing locals – before turning existential as our heroine attracts masked pursuers. I felt constitutionally bound to propose kindness wherever possible, but the lively Saturday night audience chose anarchy at most junctures, yielding several chastening false starts and dead ends. Every audience’s mileage will vary; I will say that, collectively, we got what we deserved. As a 21st-century artefact, The Run does seem clunky. There is scope for Raschid to tighten the cause-and-effect, and some of his dialogue feels rough-edged when it’s not purely functional. As an audience experience, it falls somewhere between an uncommonly adaptable test screening, and dropping by a friendly D&D game. An athletic McKee makes her big moments count as the character who comes into closest focus. Huntsman Franco Nero and priest Dario Argento lurk in the corners. Unlike many of the technological deviations now plaguing us, this one does feel hand-turned and human-derived, its narrative crowdsourced by definition. And bad losers can always return the following night and make better informed choices – not least profiling their fellow voters going in. The Run is at the Genesis, London, until 31 December.
|
[
"Mike McCahill"
] |
Audience members vote on the path its jogger heroine should take through this Italian-set chase movie – with appearances from genre cinema heroes Franco Nero and Dario Argento
|
[
"Film",
"Drama films",
"Italy",
"Culture",
"Europe",
"World news"
] |
Film
|
Europe
|
Film
|
2025-11-03T15:00:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:02:56.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//film/2025/nov/03/the-run-review-interactive-horror-thriller
|
Ho ho … no tat! 15 sustainable Christmas gifts for young children
|
Father Christmas has a hard time of it. In a cost of living crisis, the elves struggle to afford top-notch toy-making materials, and there is strong resistance to using plastic amid the climate crisis. Nonetheless, the wishlists remain the same: teddies, model cars, jewellery, games. What is the person in charge of presents to do? The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. A YouGov poll last year found more than half of parents planned to spend in excess of £90 a child on Christmas presents. And yet, as research by toy subscription service Whirli found, approximately 26% of Christmas toys – a jaw-dropping 25 million – are neglected by the end of January in the UK alone. What’s more, almost 80% of toys – much of them plastic – will eventually end up in landfill, incinerators or the ocean. As a mum of two, these statistics weigh heavily on my mind, and I’ve become increasingly irritated by how hard it is to find eco-friendly options that won’t break the bank. Well, necessity is indeed the mother of invention, which is why I created my own list. The gifts on it have largely been tested by children – some by my own (aged two and four), others by family (aged 10) and friends’ (aged three and five) – and a few by adults. Not everything is completely plastic-free, but I have focused on eco-friendly materials, design and cost to help you have a happy, and hopefully guilt-free, shopping experience. Golden Lion baby comforter toy If you worry about the impact of polyester teddies, take note of these baby comforters by Little Green Radicals. Made from 100% organic Fairtrade double cloth muslin cotton, what is most impressive (and a struggle to find elsewhere) is that the inners are as eco as the outers, with an organic Fairtrade cotton stuffing made from offcuts to reduce waste. Suitable from birth (supervised), this comforter is also machine washable at 30C. Suitable: from birth Construction toy cars, trucks and diggers Eco-conscious parents love a wooden car, but the challenge is getting children to love them more than their plastic counterparts. Le Toy Van may have cracked it with this exquisite construction set: five vehicles, three traffic cones, one roadworks sign, all made from FSC-certified wood. Highly prized by the testers of this piece, their status as VITs – Very Important Toys – grew to incomparable heights when it was discovered they were compatible with wooden tracks (Brio etc). Including a cement mixer and dumper truck, they are not cheap, but the quality is premium, and if you wrap them individually, technically, this counts as at least five gifts. Suitable: for 3+ Foraging friend kit It’s an intriguing idea: charge around the great outdoors in search of leaves and sticks to create a woodland companion. The winter months are perfect for this foraging kit as there tends to be more on the ground than up in the branches. In your hunt for ears for your new friend (a figure made from UK-grown wood), you may discover such delights as snowdrops and primroses, and of course, all manner of sticks and leaves. It’s helpful if you have a plant ID app, as that adds an educational element to the fun. I also found it’s useful to name your friend before you start, bringing it to life. Suitable: for 3+ Grow your own cress kit Carefully water the coir disc (made from waste coconut husks, not peat), pat it into the bamboo pot (made from recycled chopsticks) and sow rather too many of the seeds all at once. This seed growing kit is the perfect way to introduce little ones to gardening – and there’s an impressive range, from sunflowers to cherry tomatoes. Suitable: for 3+ Veggie baby teething ring Is it ever too early to get children into vegetables? I think not. Start them early with one of Oli & Carol’s veggie teething rings. Made from 100% natural rubber from hevea trees, the radish and carrot design is brightly coloured and features interesting textures to rub against the gums. Biodegradable and hand-painted (with natural pigments), it ticks all the environmentally-friendly boxes you’d want from something your baby spends a lot of time sucking. A doddle to clean (no holes to prevent mould), once your baby has grown out of teethers, repurpose it as a bath toy. Suitable: from birth Tractors pairs game It’s a competitive field, pairs cards. With so many on the market, it seems remiss to favour just one, though if you have a tractor lover in your family, this is an easy win. You start by explaining the rules of snap – matching blue tractors or red tractors – but be prepared to get educated because you may find yourself corrected by your little one to refer to “blue tractors with the seed drill” or “red tractors with the mower”. It’s as much a test of your memory for machinery as it is for your child to match pictures. Beyond the game, there is amusement to be found in examining the cards – a handy distraction to have up your sleeve. Suitable: for 3+ Recycling craft kit An estimated three million tonnes of extra waste is thrown out over Christmas in the UK. A recycling craft kit is not going to minimise much of that, but it’s a good way to get your kids thinking about what they throw away. Each RecycleMe mini kit comes with clear instructions on how to make a specific project, which could be a rocket, mermaid or animal. Your child has to seek out the main material from “rubbish” they find in the home – an egg box or a plastic bottle – and then use it, plus accessories in the kit, to make an artistic creation. This one got the thumbs up from little ones of ages three, four and five. Suitable: for 4+ Hand-powered flashlight A torch that is chargeable by hand sounds a bit like magic, but that is how Hape’s hand-powered flashlight operates. It converts kinetic energy into electricity and light, meaning all your child has to do to power it up is pull a green ring at the end a few times, turn the front to “on”, and – abracadabra – light! Made from bamboo and biomass plastic, this ingenious gadget would be ideal for camping, outdoor adventures or simply checking up on bug life in the garden after dark. (Supervision is advised owing to the glare, and pull cord.) Suitable: for 4+ Sign up to The Filter Get the best shopping advice from the Filter team straight to your inbox. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. after newsletter promotion Colourful baby skittles Don’t be fooled by the seeming simplicity of this game. This is perfect for a rainy afternoon, if you have hard floors, so much the better, as that makes for a faster game, but even on carpet, it appeals. It’s great for developing hand-eye coordination while numbered pins help with numeracy. They arrive with a practical pouch for storage. Suitable: for 1+, but very much enjoyed by older kids Rice bran wax crayons, set of 12 It is impossible to overemphasise how deluxe these crayons are. Described by its manufacturers as “buttery”, that’s exactly how they feel, gliding smoothly across the page. What’s special about them is that they are made from one of the waste products of rice production, rice bran wax, which is non-toxic and uses less energy to process. You can draw with them on mirrors and glass, in addition to paper, and if you encourage your children to go over their masterpieces with a wet paintbrush, they can also transform into watercolours. Suitable: for 3+ Mini croquet set One for older kids, this classic in miniature enables the enjoyment of the historic game to be brought indoors and played throughout the winter. A lot more precision is required than you may at first think, tapping small balls through small hoops with a mallet the size of your hand. A lot depends on how level the floor is, although an uneven one makes the sport as much one of luck as skill – and isn’t that more exciting? Suitable: for 3+ Friendship bracelet kit No place for plastic beads here – enjoy the friendship bracelet fun in eco-fashion with cotton thread, courtesy of Cotton Clara. While originally designed for adults, these kits are great for older children, who would enjoy the more intricate patterns of chevrons and, for instance, zippers. With six designs included for up to 15 bracelets – as well as a bulldog clip to keep the thread steady as you work – this pastime provides a welcome escape from screens, with something creative to show for it afterwards. Suitable: children under 14 should be supervised by an adult Wooden 3D gorilla model If you are raising a future architect who would relish the challenge of building a Hedwig with broom, R2-D2, Iron Man or perhaps a primate, take a look at IncrediBuilds. The 3D models are constructed from FSC-certified wooden pieces, which pop out from wooden sheets to be pieced together with the help of instructions. While not as hardy as they may seem – a heavy hand could snap one of the components, so a light touch is advised – your child can paint them before assembling, which makes for an impressive finish. Worthy of display on a bookshelf or even in pride of place in a bedroom. Suitable: 9+ Children’s encyclopedia Pre-digital age, the fastest way to find things out would be to look them up in a reference book. Keep this skill alive by investing in Britannica’s updated children’s encyclopedia. Inside its colourful pages lies a wealth of information, which takes the reader from the origins of the universe through to AI – a different experience from the static A-Z format of old. Covering topics including space, history, and climate change, it engages through beautiful illustrations, photographs, diagrams, and some pretty impressive facts. Did you know that our noses can pick out one trillion different smells? Or that an Earth-sized nebula cloud would only be as heavy as … some potatoes? The children I asked to test this loved it – even those who can’t read yet. Suitable: 8+ Pick-up sticks An oldie but a goodie, this game teaches kids about precision. The sticks are held upright, then dropped so they fall chaotically in a pile. The object of the game is to remove the sticks from the heap, one at a time, without disturbing any of the others. If you do, you forgo your turn; the person with the most sticks at the end wins the game. Nail-biting at times, and positively irritating at others, this game is surprisingly addictive. You have been warned. Suitable: 3+ (be mindful of the spikes with younger kids) For more Christmas gift ideas from the Filter, read the best toys and gifts for newborns and babies and the best toys and gifts for one-year-olds Edwina Langley is a lifestyle journalist who, since becoming a mother, has turned her interest in eco-products into a borderline obsession. Pre-children, she wrote about plastic alternatives. Now she’s in-field: comparing eco nappies, trawling the internet for plastic-free nursery-friendly water bottles, and spending far too much time wondering if a ‘100% natural shampoo’ with ingredients she recognises will ever be invented
|
[
"Edwina Langley"
] |
Looking for eco-friendly toys, games and presents for little ones that won’t break the bank? We have kits, skittles, crayons, trucks and tractors to add to your list
|
[
"Christmas",
"Family",
"Toys",
"Life and style",
"Ethical and green living"
] |
The Filter
|
Family
|
Christmas
|
2025-11-03T15:00:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:00:38.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//thefilter/2025/nov/03/sustainable-christmas-gifts-children
|
Only 3% of international climate aid going to transitioning communities: ‘This is absurd’
|
Less than 3% of international aid to slash carbon emissions is supporting a “just transition” for workers and communities away from polluting industries, according to a new report. Released one week before the start of major United Nations climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil, the analysis from the climate and development non-profit ActionAid warns that the world’s response to the climate crisis risks deepening inequality rather than addressing it. It also reveals a “hidden reason that we’ve not seen climate action at scale”, said Teresa Anderson, the organization’s global climate justice lead. “People are apparently being forced to choose between a safe job and a secure job and a safe planet,” she said. “These projects aren’t doing nearly enough to reassure people that they don’t have to make that choice.” The report authors analyzed publicly available information on every approved carbon mitigation-focused project being financed by the world’s two major multilateral climate funds: 178 from the UN-backed Green Climate Fund, and 466 from the Climate Investment Funds, which were established by the World Bank and regional development banks. They then assessed the nearly 650 projects against a set of indicators, using a computer program that was then fact-checked by hand. Criteria included whether or not a project demonstrated meaningful participation from workers, women and affected communities; promoted systemic shifts away from fossil fuels and highly polluting industrial agriculture; incorporated plans for re-skilling or livelihood support; and addressed inequality. “Basically, we tried to say, is this project genuinely just, in terms of its impact on workers, on women, communities, and then, does it genuinely help with a transition?” said Anderson. Just one in 50 of the approved projects met the just-transition qualifications, the authors found – a “jaw-droppingly” low figure, they wrote. Bert De Wel, global climate policy coordinator at the International Trade Union Confederation, who did not work on the report, said the data “confirms what workers and their unions are seeing in many places: climate finance is determined by the needs of the investors instead of the people affected by the emergency.” “We’re surprised nevertheless that the amounts are so low,” he said. “It goes against all the good intentions and promises of the funders. It also goes against common sense, as we know that climate policies urgently need to connect much better with the needs of workers, their families and communities.” When ActionAid considered the sums spent on each project, they found that only $1 of every $35 was spent on just transition-aligned projects. Those schemes received just $630m over more than a decade, which is less than the amount that the tech billionaire Jeff Bezos has shelled out for his superyacht, the report notes. “Barely any climate finance is going to support workers and communities to undertake just transitions,” it says. “This is absurd.” The lack of consideration for workers and communities poses not only ethical questions for climate action, but also practical ones, said Anderson. She recalled one program in Bangladesh, for which developers did not consult with stakeholders. The scheme encouraged Bangladeshi farmers to plant mango crops instead of methane-heavy rice. But it was designed with input from only landowning farmers, without consulting seasonal workers or the mostly women workers who made money by processing rice into local food items. “The project didn’t map all the people that were directly or indirectly involved with those farming activities,” she said. Had they consulted workers, the developers might have also realized that because mangoes only have one harvest a year – rice has three – the project would not be economically viable “before it turned out to be an economic disaster”, she added. The forthcoming UN climate talks, said Anderson, will provide the opportunity to remedy these trends. This year, Brazilian officials have identified just-transition approaches as a priority for the negotiations, known this year as Cop30. A banner demand from activists at the conference will be for negotiators to flesh out the details of the “just transition work programme”, which was launched at the 2022 Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, but on which progress has stalled. At Cop30, civil society groups will demand countries agree to a new “Belém Action Mechanism” under the program to flesh out actionable, specific plans to boost finance for just transition-aligned projects. That would shift “justice from the margins to the heart of the climate agenda,” Anabella Rosemberg, senior advisor on just transition at the international climate nonprofit Climate Action Network, who called the new data “shocking.” ActionAid is also calling for wealthy nations to commit trillions of dollars annually in grant-based climate finance for global south countries to smoothly and equitably phase out polluting sectors. And the group demanded the Green Climate Fund overhaul its principles to ensure projects focus more on labor and justice. The Climate Investment Funds, on the other hand, should be “sunset”, the report says. While the Green Climate Fund is governed by nations who are party to the UN climate body and are therefore subject to democracy, the Climate Investment Funds are operated by the World Bank, which means they are largely controlled by the global north, said Anderson. The Climate Investment Funds were designed with a “sunset clause”, stating they would be wound down when a “new global climate‑finance architecture” was operational. “Given the Green Climate Fund has now been distributing money for nearly a decade, the Climate Investment Funds have long overstayed their welcome,” said Anderson. Right now, international climate negotiators seem to see just transition-focused considerations as an “optional or nice-to-have” aspect of climate action, said Anderson. “We’ll hear arguments like, we don’t have time, we don’t have money to spare, so let’s just cut to the chase and focus on carbon,” she said. “But really, shortcuts that leave justice out make the journey longer because they prevent people from getting onboard.”
|
[
"Dharna Noor"
] |
New report on funding to slash carbon emissions finds startlingly low engagement with the people affected
|
[
"Climate crisis",
"World news",
"Environment",
"US news",
"Cop30"
] |
Environment
|
Climate crisis
|
Climate crisis
|
2025-11-03T15:00:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:02:56.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//environment/2025/nov/03/international-climate-aid-just-transition
|
PSG face an unusual problem: they are not scoring enough goals in Ligue 1
|
“It’s both beautiful and frustrating,” says Luis Enrique. The Paris Saint-Germain manager has a complicated relationship with how his team’s league matches play out. When PSG are involved, one team attacks and the other defends. “I like attacking a low block,” he insists. “It is the phase of play that I am most familiar with. I am very respectful of how other teams play. It is a different kind of football from ours, it’s atypical, but I understand and accept it.” Accepting low blocks isn’t really a choice for PSG; it is simply their reality, a result of the talent imbalance created by financial imbalance. Their talent usually tells and the low-block is unlocked with varying degrees of difficulty. But it has been tougher this season. PSG have averaged 72.5% possession in Ligue 1 so far this season. Against Nice on Saturday, they had 76.5% of the ball and made 760 passes, compared to just 182 for Nice. By half-time, Vitinha had 90 touches of the ball – just six fewer than the entire Nice team – but PSG struggled to make their domination tell. When the whistle blew for the internal, Nice defender Juma Bah, whose header was cleared off the line by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, had come closest to scoring. And this game isn’t an outlier. PSG had drawn three of their previous four Ligue 1 games. They had 71% possession against Strasbourg, but were reliant on a last-minute Senny Mayulu equaliser to salvage a point. And, despite having 77% possession against Lorient in midweek, they only scored once and were ultimately held to a draw. Nearly a third of the way into the season, PSG are only the fifth top scorers in Ligue 1 – behind Marseille, Lille, Monaco and Strasbourg. It is a result of the special treatment that PSG garner, but also reflects a genuine problem. Their forwards are not scoring. Ousmane Dembélé’s 29 goals last season helped PSG win Ligue 1 and the Champions League; Bradley Barcola scored 14 times in the league; Désiré Doué hit 16 in all competitions; and Kvaratskhelia scored eight after his January move. Dembélé won the Ballon d’Or and, while it is contestable that the France international is indeed the best player in the world, it is difficult to argue that he was not the best player of the 2024-25 campaign. He has just five goals in 12 games this season. He suffered a hamstring injury while on international duty in September, which gave rise to a blame game between PSG and the France team that has seen the relationship between the two institutions deteriorate. Dembélé missed around six weeks of action as a result, but he still doesn’t look right. After the win over Nice, he was seen clutching his hamstring. “It hurts so much,” he told teammate Achraf Hakimi. Luis Enrique says Dembélé will be fit to face Bayern Munich this week in the Champions League but, while he gets back up to speed, other players have to step up. It won’t be Doué. The former Rennes forward was also injured in September. He was just getting back to his best when he was struck down with another thigh injury, which is expected to rule him out until January. Kvaratskhelia is a massive asset to his team but he often saves his best performances for the big occasions in the Champions League; he is yet to score in Ligue 1 this season. Barcola, PSG’s top scorer in all competitions this season, has just one goal in his last eight games and is in a fallow period. Something of a purple-patch forward, the goals will undoubtedly return, but he can’t be expected to be the goalscorer in this expensively assembled PSG attack. That was the job handed to Gonçalo Ramos when he joined in 2023. The Portugal striker reached the milestone of 100 games for PSG against Nice, but he has come off the bench in more than half of those appearances. Having scored 18 of his 38 goals after coming on as a substitute, he has very much assumed the role of the “finisher”, partially due to his ineffectiveness when picked, but mostly due to his manager’s reluctance to start with a conventional No 9. “Why do I score so many goals off the bench? Well, simply because I come off the bench more than I start,” joked Ramos after the match. With the goals drying up across the frontline, Ramos’ last-gasp winner has given his manager food for thought. The centre-forward missed three chances before taking his fourth and deciding the game, but the fact that PSG’s best chances fell to him is telling. He’s an instinctive poacher and that is what PSG were buying when they invested €65m. “He is a very important player for us because he is always ready for every match, whether he starts or not,” said Luis Enrique. “Five minutes of Gonçalo on the pitch are quality minutes.” It may be time for the super-sub to play a starring role. Rennes 4-1 Strasbourg Lens 3-0 Lorient Lille 1-0 Angers Nantes 0-2 Metz Toulouse 0-0 Le Havre Brest 0-0 Lyon PSG 1-0 Nice Monaco 0-1 Paris FC Auxerre 0-1 Marseille Paul Pogba looked on from the stands as Monaco succumbed to their first defeat of the Sébastien Pocognoli era. The 32-year-old was expected to make his long-awaited return against Paris FC before an ankle sprain on Thursday put paid to those plans. And so he watched on as Moses Simon scored the only goal in a deserved win for the visitors. Monaco were lacking inspiration – “lacking fire and lacking responsibility,” said Pocognoli. Beyond the collective shortcomings, there are individual performances that are cause for concern, notably that of Mika Biereth, hooked at the break. After scoring 13 goals in 16 Ligue 1 games last season, he has started this campaign with just one in 13 appearances. Ansu Fati, who had little impact off the bench, has to show his revival earlier this season was not ephemeral. Pocognoli says that he is “learning a lot about the group”. Not all of it is positive. It has been a rollercoaster week at Rennes. Habib Beye was almost sacked after a 2-1 defeat to Nice last Sunday. The manager was given a stay of execution, but needed a result against Toulouse in midweek. That game ended 2-2, as Rennes once again let a two-goal lead slip. But Beye was retained and saw his team win on Sunday – their first victory since 14 September. It was emphatic, too. Esteban Lepaul was the hero, scoring a hat-trick in the 4-1 win against European challengers Strasbourg. Rather than taking their foot off the gas when leading, as they have done to their own detriment so many times recently, Rennes continued to push and finally got their reward. Beye is back from the brink, but this must be a turning point if he is to remain in the post long-term. This is an article by Get French Football News
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
The European champions are only the fifth top scorers in Ligue 1 – behind Marseille, Lille, Monaco and Strasbourg
|
[
"Ligue 1",
"Football",
"Sport",
"European club football",
"Paris Saint-Germain",
"Rennes",
"Monaco",
"Paris FC"
] |
Football
|
Ligue 1
|
2025-11-03T14:57:40.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:00:47.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//football/2025/nov/03/psg-ligue-1-goals-marseille-lille-monaco-strasbourg
|
|
Six England players join three from Spain in Fifpro women’s World XI
|
Six England players have been named in the Fifpro women’s World XI after the team won the European Championship this year. The captain, Leah Williamson, the goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, the defender Lucy Bronze and the forwards Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo make the list after aiding the team to the historic win against Spain. Millie Bright, the sixth England star to make the list, was not part of the tournament and has since retired. The centre-back captained Chelsea to the domestic treble last season but hung up her international boots last month. Bronze, Bright’s teammate at club level, has made the World XI for an eighth time, which a record. The 34-year-old overtook the France legend Wendie Renard, who made the list seven times. Bronze not only helped England win the European Championship in the summer but did so with a broken leg. For the first time, the women’s World XI features two African players. Zambia’s Barbra Banda and Morocco’s Ghizlane Chebbak feature, alongside the Spanish stars Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas, who round off the list. The World XI was voted for by more than 6,000 players from across the globe. They were able to vote for any player who had made 20 official appearances for club and country from 11 August 2024 to 3 August 2025.
|
[
"Sarah Rendell"
] |
Six England players have been named in the Fifpro women’s World XI after the Lionesses won Euro 2025 with victory against Spain in the final
|
[
"Women's football",
"England women's football team",
"Spain women's football team",
"Football",
"Sport"
] |
Football
|
Women's football
|
2025-11-03T14:53:43.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:55:57.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//football/2025/nov/03/england-lionesses-spain-fifpro-womens-world-xi-euro-2025
|
|
UK economy ‘doomed’ under Labour, says Ryanair chief
|
The UK economy is “doomed” under the Labour government, the boss of Ryanair has said before this month’s budget, as the airline revealed a jump in first half profits. Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of the budget airline, hit out at Rachel Reeves, accusing the chancellor of failing to deliver on her programme of economic growth. “The UK economy under the current leadership is doomed,” he said. “The UK badly needs growth, but the way to deliver growth is through selective tax cuts … you are not going to grow the UK economy by taxing wealth or by taxing air travel.” It comes as airlines brace for the possibility of another increase in air passenger duty (APD) at the budget on 26 November. APD is a tax levied on flights departing from UK airports, though carriers typically pass on the cost to passengers through higher fares. The tax is expected to rise on 1 April, adding up to £2 to the cost of a short-haul economy flight. If it were to increase again, O’Leary said, airlines might move operations from some of the UK’s smaller airports to economies with lower business taxes, such as Sweden and Italy. “I hold very little faith in Rachel Reeves or the current economic strategy of the Labour government,” he said, adding that reports of possible new wealth taxes were driving traffic out of London. “Rich people are fleeing … as they are trying to find low-fare flights to get the hell out of London before Rachel Reeves taxes their mansions, their income and inheritance.” The airline, which is headquartered in Dublin and employs about 26,000 people worldwide, reported a profit after tax of €2.5bn (£2.2bn) in the first half of its financial year, a rise of 42% compared with the equivalent period last year. Ryanair flew 119 million people in the period, up 3%, thanks to more Boeing aircraft deliveries than expected and strong demand for travel. Air fares rose by 13% to €58 on average, and O’Leary added that prices were unlikely to fall next year. “Short-haul European air fares … are going to modestly increase for the next four or five years,” he said. “I think you are going to see, not just in Ryanair but across the airlines, modest price increases through 2027 and 2028.” Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The airline expects to exceed its passenger growth target for the year, forecasting a rise of more than 3% in its 2026 financial year to 207 million people, up from a previous estimate of 206 million. O’Leary, who has led Ryanair since 1994, also criticised EU proposals that would require airlines to allow passengers to bring two free cabin bags on to an aircraft, arguing that airlines would not be able to fit them on the plane. A Treasury spokesperson said: “Unlike other sectors, no VAT applies to plane tickets, and [APD] changes will add just £2 for a family of four flying economy to Spain.”
|
[
"Lauren Almeida"
] |
Michael O’Leary says Rachel Reeves needs tax cuts to create growth, as airline’s profits jump 42% in first half
|
[
"Ryanair",
"Airline industry",
"Business",
"Rachel Reeves",
"Labour",
"Politics",
"UK news"
] |
Business
|
Ryanair
|
2025-11-03T14:46:16.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:46:16.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/03/uk-economy-labour-ryanair-michael-oleary-rachel-reeves-profits
|
|
Jennifer Lawrence says speaking about Trump would ‘add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart’
|
Jennifer Lawrence has said she no longer feels it appropriate to speak out against the Trump administration, lest she exacerbate unhelpful debate and further divisions. “I don’t really know if I should,” said Lawrence in an interview with the New York Times. “During the first Trump administration, I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. “So then what am I doing? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that’s going to add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart.” Lawrence has previously been open about voting for both right and leftwing candidates for the presidency. Raised by conservative Republicans in Kentucky, she voted for John McCain in 2008 before joining the Democratic party and saying she realised during Obama’s administration that voting Republican was voting against her own rights as a woman. In 2015, she said Donald Trump’s election to the White House would be “the end of the world” and endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 election. In 2024, she lent her support to Kamala Harris, “because I think she’s an amazing candidate and I know that she will do whatever she can to protect reproductive rights”. Lawrence was joined by most of Hollywood in her rejection of Donald Trump as a candidate for re-election, but the lack of leverage stars have over the voting intentions of the public was highlighted by Trump’s victory. “The second term feels different,” said Lawrence of Trump’s presidency. “Because he said what he was going to do. We knew what he did for four years. He was very clear. And that’s what we chose.” Lawrence is promoting Die, My Love, Lynne Ramsay’s drama in which she plays a new mother who struggles with her mental health in rural Montana. Speaking at a press conference for the film in Venice, Lawrence said of Israel’s bombings in Gaza: “I’m terrified. It’s mortifying. What’s happening is no less than a genocide and it’s terrible.” She continued by saying that she was saddened by “the disrespect in the discourse of American politics right now and how that is going to be normalised to the kids right now. It’s going to be normal to them that politicians lie.” Lawrence sought to redirect anger about the conflict to decision-makers rather than actors and artists. “Stay focused on who is responsible,” she said, in what many took to be a reference to the then-recent pledge signed by more than 4,000 entertainment industry figures to boycott Israeli film institutions. The actor, who won an Oscar aged 22 for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, is attracting awards attention for her performance in Die, My Love. Although Ramsay has rejected the story being interpreted as one of postpartum depression and psychosis, Lawrence said that she did relate to elements of her character’s journey after the birth of her second son, soon after shooting ended. “It was fear about my child,” she said, “just picturing every worst-case scenario, and then doubting everything that I was doing. I was already in therapy, but I got on a drug called Zurzuvae and I took it for two weeks and it really helped.” The actor also spoke to the New York Times of the liberating necessity of completing nude scenes in the film while she was some months pregnant and unable to exercise. “It feels nice,” she said, of being forced to cast off vanity. “I mean, I do have moments where I’m like, What technically are the differences between me and a prostitute? But it doesn’t keep me up at night.”
|
[
"Catherine Shoard"
] |
Actor who said in 2015 that a Trump presidency would be ‘the end of the world’ says celebrities make no difference to how people vote
|
[
"Jennifer Lawrence",
"Film",
"Culture",
"Donald Trump",
"US news"
] |
Film
|
Film
|
Jennifer Lawrence
|
2025-11-03T14:44:46.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:46:56.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//film/2025/nov/03/jennifer-lawrence-trump-celebrities-vote
|
Horror show: North American box office records lowest monthly total since 1997
|
Box office earnings in October have crashed to levels not seen since the late 1990s, with Halloween weekend becoming the worst of the year so far. According to a report in Variety, cinema takings for October in North America totalled $425m (£323m), the lowest figure since October 1997, when it was $385m – not counting October 2020, when North American cinemas only took $63m as moviegoing was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of factors have been blamed for the poor results. Notably, there was a paucity of putative blockbusters, with the only large-scale effects movie on release being Tron: Ares, which took $67m in North America, as part of a disappointing $133m worldwide gross against its $180m reported budget. Also disappointing was the performance of so-called “awards season” films, with Dwayne Johnson wrestling movie The Smashing Machine, Julia Roberts #MeToo drama After the Hunt, and music biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere all grossing less than expected. The end of October customarily delivers a boost from horror movies, but with the date of Halloween falling on a Friday, when a large section of the intended audience would be otherwise occupied, box office receipts for the weekend of 31 October to 2 November were the lowest of the year, with a total of $48.3m. Also contributing to the disappointment was the absence of any successful horror releases: the leading horror release of the season, Black Phone 2, managed $8m over the Halloween weekend, while the putatively buzzy Shelby Oaks performed poorly, taking just $770,000 from its relatively significant release in more than 1,700 theatres. Cinemagoing over the Halloween weekend in North America was also affected by the climax of baseball’s World Series, which finished in the early morning of 2 November. Box office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations told Variety: “The major releases this month failed to deliver. Simple as that.” He added: “Apart from the moderately successful Black Phone 2, there just weren’t enough horror films to entice moviegoers. That should be a no-brainer.” The news wasn’t all bad though: Taylor Swift’s The Official Release Party of a Showgirl saw huge activity on its only weekend in cinemas, taking $34m between 3 and 5 October .
|
[
"Andrew Pulver"
] |
Halloween weekend failed to make numbers jump, adding up to the weakest monthly performance – other than during the pandemic – for three decades
|
[
"Film",
"Film industry",
"Horror books",
"Science fiction and fantasy films",
"Drama films",
"Books",
"Business",
"Culture",
"Fiction",
"US news"
] |
Film
|
Film
|
Film
|
2025-11-03T14:34:13.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:34:13.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//film/2025/nov/03/north-american-box-office-lowest-monthly-total-for-three-decades
|
My Father’s Shadow looms over competition at British independent film awards
|
Nigeria-set drama My Father’s Shadow is the leading contender at this year’s British independent film awards (Bifas), after it scooped 12 nominations, including best British independent film, best director for Akinola Davies Jr, and best screenplay for Davies’s brother Wale. The film came out ahead of Pillion, adapted from Adam Mars-Jones’s coming-of-age relationship story, which got 10 nominations, and biopic I Swear, which got nine. My Father’s Shadow, which stars Sope Dirisu and is Davies’s debut feature as a director, premiered at the Cannes film festival to admiring reviews. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw described it as “a transparently personal project and a coming-of-age film in its (traumatised) way, a moving account of how, just for one day, two young boys glimpse the real life and real history of their father who has been mostly absent for much of their lives”. The film is yet to be released in the UK, but has already come out in Nigeria. Pillion, likewise, had a successful premiere at Cannes in May, with Bradshaw calling it “an intensely English story of romance, devotion and loss from first-time feature director Harry Lighton, who has created something funny and touching and alarming – like a cross between Alan Bennett and Tom of Finland with perhaps a tiny smidgen of what could be called a BDSM Wallace and Gromit”. Due for UK release later in November, it is up for best British independent film, best director for Lighton and best lead performance for Harry Melling. I Swear is already in cinemas, having been released in October. A life story of Tourette syndrome activist John Davidson, the film is likewise up for best British indepependent film, best director for Kirk Jones, and best lead performance for Robert Aramayo. The nominations also include, for the first time, an award for cinema of the year, which is voted on by the public. The contenders include the Depot in Lewes, the Magic Lantern in Tywyn, Montrose Playhouse, Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast and the Watershed in Bristol. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 30 November.
|
[
"Andrew Pulver"
] |
Akinola Davies Jr’s Nigeria-set drama has 12 nominations including best film and besr director
|
[
"Film",
"Awards and prizes",
"Film adaptations",
"Drama films",
"Romance films",
"Nigeria",
"Africa",
"Books",
"Culture",
"World news",
"UK news"
] |
Film
|
Africa
|
Film
|
2025-11-03T14:34:02.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:34:02.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//film/2025/nov/03/british-independent-film-awards-nominations-bifa-my-fathers-shadow-pillion
|
‘I definitely needed a lie-down after that!’ Your most intense TV episodes ever
|
The episode starts with the Spooks team locked down while undergoing a drill relating to a hypothetical terrorist attack, overseen by two Home Office officials, but as things progress it appears that there really has been an attack and a chemical weapon has been unleashed. The tension ratchets up as incoming communications show a catastrophe taking place outside, and gets worse as the boss appears to be infected, and the two Home Office officials attempt to leave, forcing Matthew Macfadyen’s character to decide between shooting them, or letting them go and risking contaminating the sealed MI5 offices. This being Spooks, it is unsurprising which one he chooses. Paul, Sheffield Threads was low budget but one of the most frightening programmes I’ve ever seen because of the stark reality and grim official statistics. Watched it about a month ago having watched the original; I used to visit the pub in Sheffield from the programme which emphasised the reality and the glib matter-of-fact official information which was broadcast. Still absolutely terrifying 35 years later. John Bradbury, Ilkley The season one finale of Severance has to be right up there. I spent the entire episode quite literally on the edge of my seat, straining every sinew with Dylan to keep his hands on the levers that kept the Innies on overtime, while screaming at the Innies to get their truths out there. The final climactic moment – “she’s alive!” – was like an eruption. Keith Wilkinson, Stokesley, North Yorkshire Episode five of the third series of Industry had my heart racing. I had to pause and get up and leave the room several times because of the sheer scale of the wanton self-destruction I was witnessing. Rishi Ramdani is in deep shit at work and home – up to his eyeballs in debt to loan sharks because of his compulsive gambling, taking such risks with a bet on sterling which could lose his company millions. So of course, he goes on a gambling spree, does tons of drugs and drink and wins, loses, wins, gets beaten to a pulp. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it does. There’s hope of redemption at the end of the episode but he squanders the opportunity, with horrifying consequences in the season finale. Definitely needed a lie-down after that! Tania, London Peep Show itself isn’t necessarily a stressful show. But the episode Holiday contains such levels of cringe that it’ll have you standing up the whole episode, riddled with anxiety. It all ramps up once Jeremy and Mark find themselves having to lie about the dog they accidentally run over and subsequent attempts to dispose of it. You then spend the rest of the episode questioning whether it truly can be worse than incineration, and it can be! Dan, Canberra, Australia Nothing I’ve watched has been more intense than the first time I watched the season two finale to The West Wing. The episode starts with the aftermath of the death (in a traffic accident) of the president’s personal secretary and reaches a crescendo with a crisis in Haiti, and the fallout from the non-disclosure of the president’s MS diagnosis, with confirmation of his intention to seek re-election. Wonderful television. Never bettered. Ian, Surrey The opening of the British series Bodyguard, with the protagonist on a train with his young son, is for me one of the most intense episodes ever. He spots a Muslim woman going into the loo and knows something is off. The bomb diffuser experts are called, board the train, and attempt to convince the woman to take off her suicide vest. Tension escalates to an almost unbearable degree, until yes, the vest is diffused.Heather MacAndrew, Victoria, Canada Buffy enters her house to find her mum has passed away of natural causes, which is the most unusual type of death in this supernatural show. The episode has no background music, a sullen tone, and we see the episode through the experience of Buffy’s shock of discovering her mother. Ruth, Wales The final scene of the final episode of the show was pants-wettingly tense. And if you watched it when it originally aired, you – at first – weren’t sure why. Tony’s enemies, real and imagined, were all vanquished. Surely this has the feel of the season one ending? “Remember the little things.” But the mood is bizarrely ominous. Almost Twin Peaks levels of terror. The family sit in a restaurant. Meadow parks. Tony sadly tells Carmela there’s trouble afoot with yet another of his crew working with the government. Meadow parks. Strange people enter the restaurant. Stare at Tony(?) Meadow parks. Tony puts a record on the jukebox. Meadow parks. The bell rings, someone enters the restaurant. Can’t be Meadow, she’s still parking. Tony looks up. Don’t stop. It stops. My heart dropped from my mouth about 20 minutes later. Paul Wilson, Hebburn Tyne and Wear I stayed up to watch this episode at 2am. It was so intense after the buildup of bad guy Negan finding the group, cruelly taunting his victims then not knowing who he killed (ended on a cliffhanger). The victim’s POV shot and the muffled sounds – argh! We then had to wait for season seven for the outcome. Great watercooler TV but sadly, the show was never that good again. Louise Wright, Manchester The Earth civil war comes to a head as loyalist forces head to the station to take over and arrest the command staff. The battle sequences hold up but the sheer weight of the stakes involved and the performances by Bruce Boxleitner and especially the late Mira Furlan are utterly compelling. Creator J Michael Straczynski originated the term “Wham Episode”, and this one delivers both in terms of building suspense when the opposing forces square off and at the end when the dust has settled you’re not left with a feeling of victory but instead the biggest “well what now?” of the show’s run. It gives me goosebumps even 30 years later. Greg, Merseyside The first series of the The Killing (Danish version) is an absolute masterpiece, which spawned many a copycat and yet to be matched. Every episode ended on a massive cliffhanger, but episode 19 when Sara sees Vagn’s T-shirt and realises who the killer is gives me chills every time. Marcela, London
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
Bombs on trains, coke-fuelled gambling sprees and canine barbecues … from Bodyguard to Industry, here are your most horrific, heart-in-mouth TV moments
|
[
"Television",
"Culture",
"Television & radio"
] |
Television & radio
|
TV & radio
|
Television
|
2025-11-03T14:30:46.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:55:41.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/nov/03/your-most-intense-tv-episodes-ever
|
Nigel Farage backtracks on Reform UK’s promise to cut £90bn of taxes
|
Nigel Farage has rowed back from his party’s election promise to cut £90bn of taxes, accusing Labour and the Tories of “wrecking the public finances” and saying Reform UK would need to get public spending under control first. The Reform leader rejected suggestions he had been forced to break manifesto promises in order to gain economic credibility, suggesting the proposal had only ever been an “aspiration”. As well as backtracking on the party’s 2024 pledge to raise tax-free thresholds to £20,000, he refused to guarantee that the pensions triple lock – estimated to reach £15.5bn by 2030 – would remain under a Reform government. Farage’s speech in the City of London laid bare the tensions at the heart of his project, as he attempts to improve his party’s economic credibility, which political opponents regard as a weak point, while at the same time retain the electoral benefits of political insurgency. Reform’s manifesto committed the party to tax cuts worth about a third of the NHS budget, but economists said the plans – along with £50bn of spending commitments and £150bn of cuts – were “problematic” and cost far more than claimed. Reform has yet to set out any detailed plans on spending cuts, although it has signalled there will be big reductions on welfare benefits, net zero policies, asylum support for migrants, foreign aid and the Whitehall civil service. In his speech, Farage said: “I cannot tell you what the state of the economy will be as the next general election approaches. If I’m right, and that election comes in 2027 then the economy will be in an even worse state than any of us in this room could even relate. “So how can anybody project on pensions or thresholds or any of those things between now and then … They were only ever aspirations. I think what you’re seeing today is us being realistic about the state of the economy”. Reform is also understood to be looking at changes to public sector pensions, leading to suggestions that it could cut the future incomes of millions of nurses, teachers and police. Farage said he was focusing on “exorbitant” management fees paid by pension funds. He ruled out any immediate major tax cuts should Reform make it to power, saying that he would introduce “relatively modest” savings at first, including reversing the inheritance tax on farms and raising tax thresholds. Farage said he wanted Reform to be the party of working people – lifting Nick Clegg’s line on “alarm clock Britain” – but suggested the minimum wage for younger workers was too high, and criticised the government’s workers’ rights bill, arguing it damaged small businesses. “There’s an argument the minimum wage is too high for younger workers, particularly given that we’ve lowered the level at which NIC [national insurance contribution] is paid to £5,000 a year. So do one or the other: either lift the cap at which NI is due, or lower the minimum wage for lower [sic] workers.” Farage said the UK was suffering a wealth drain, just as it experienced a brain drain in the 1970s, underlining his opposition to the non-dom tax, which he argued forced many high earners out of the country to avoid paying tax here. “The exodus is real,” he said. “These people pay their UK taxes. These people employ a lot of people. These people invest in British businesses and British industries. These people are the biggest spenders in the country. “I want as many high-earning people as possible living in this country, and paying as much tax as they legally have to. Because if the rich leave and the rich don’t pay tax, then the poorer in society will all have to pay more tax. It’s as simple as that.” Farage said there had been “misunderstandings” about Reform’s policy on benefits, saying that he would lift the two-child benefit cap – but only to help low-paid British couples who were both working. The party announced huge cuts to disability benefits last week. Farage claimed Reform could save £9bn by scrapping Pip payments for those with low-level anxiety, although the figure is disputed and it was unclear where it came from. Farage, who has been blamed by Labour for poor economic growth as the architect of Brexit , said the opportunities of leaving the EU had been “squandered”. “The opportunity to sensibly deregulate, the opportunity to become competitive globally – all of that has been squandered. The worst thing is that regulations and the way regulators behave with British business is now worse than it was at the time of the Brexit referendum vote.” In questions after the event, Farage was unwilling to say who his chancellor could be in government, despite the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, acting as its economic spokesperson. “This is a work in progress. What I’ve tried to do really hard this year is to get away from this idea, this criticism, that somehow it’s a one-man band. It’s not a one-man band. It’s a broadening team,” he said.
|
[
"Pippa Crerar"
] |
Party leader says proposal had been an ‘aspiration’ and accuses Tories and Labour of ‘wrecking the public finances’
|
[
"Reform UK",
"Nigel Farage",
"Economic policy",
"Tax and spending",
"Politics",
"UK news"
] |
Politics
|
UK politics
|
Reform UK
|
2025-11-03T14:30:44.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:31:56.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//politics/2025/nov/03/nigel-farage-backtracks-reform-uk-promise-cut-90bn-taxes
|
Nigel Farage backtracks on Reform UK’s promise to cut £90bn of taxes
|
Nigel Farage has rowed back from his party’s election promise to cut £90bn of taxes, accusing Labour and the Tories of “wrecking the public finances” and saying Reform UK would need to get public spending under control first. The Reform leader rejected suggestions he had been forced to break manifesto promises in order to gain economic credibility, suggesting the proposal had only ever been an “aspiration”. As well as backtracking on the party’s 2024 pledge to raise tax-free thresholds to £20,000, he refused to guarantee that the pensions triple lock – estimated to reach £15.5bn by 2030 – would remain under a Reform government. Farage’s speech in the City of London laid bare the tensions at the heart of his project, as he attempts to improve his party’s economic credibility, which political opponents regard as a weak point, while at the same time retain the electoral benefits of political insurgency. Reform’s manifesto committed the party to tax cuts worth about a third of the NHS budget, but economists said the plans – along with £50bn of spending commitments and £150bn of cuts – were “problematic” and cost far more than claimed. Reform has yet to set out any detailed plans on spending cuts, although it has signalled there will be big reductions on welfare benefits, net zero policies, support for asylum seekers, foreign aid and the Whitehall civil service. In his speech, Farage said: “I cannot tell you what the state of the economy will be as the next general election approaches. If I’m right, and that election comes in 2027 then the economy will be in an even worse state than any of us in this room could even relate. “So how can anybody project on pensions or thresholds or any of those things between now and then … They were only ever aspirations. I think what you’re seeing today is us being realistic about the state of the economy.” Reform is also understood to be looking at changes to public sector pensions, leading to suggestions that it could cut the future incomes of millions of nurses, teachers and police. Farage said he was focusing on “exorbitant” management fees paid by pension funds. He ruled out any immediate major tax cuts should Reform make it to power, saying that he would introduce “relatively modest” savings at first, including reversing the inheritance tax on farms and raising tax thresholds. Farage said he wanted Reform to be the party of working people – lifting Nick Clegg’s line on “alarm clock Britain” – but suggested the minimum wage for younger workers was too high, and criticised the government’s workers’ rights bill, arguing it damaged small businesses. “There’s an argument the minimum wage is too high for younger workers, particularly given that we’ve lowered the level at which NIC [national insurance contribution] is paid to £5,000 a year. So do one or the other: either lift the cap at which NI is due, or lower the minimum wage for lower [sic] workers.” Farage said the UK was suffering a wealth drain, just as it experienced a brain drain in the 1970s, underlining his opposition to the non-dom tax, which he argued forced many high earners out of the country to avoid paying tax here. “The exodus is real,” he said. “These people pay their UK taxes. These people employ a lot of people. These people invest in British businesses and British industries. These people are the biggest spenders in the country. “I want as many high-earning people as possible living in this country, and paying as much tax as they legally have to. Because if the rich leave and the rich don’t pay tax, then the poorer in society will all have to pay more tax. It’s as simple as that.” Farage said there had been “misunderstandings” about Reform’s policy on benefits, saying that he would lift the two-child benefit cap – but only to help low-paid British couples who were both working. The party last week announced it would bring in huge cuts to disability benefits if elected. Farage claimed Reform could save £9bn by scrapping Pip payments for those with low-level anxiety, although the figure is disputed and it was unclear where it came from. Farage, who has been blamed by Labour for poor economic growth as the architect of Brexit, said the opportunities of leaving the EU had been “squandered”. “The opportunity to sensibly deregulate, the opportunity to become competitive globally – all of that has been squandered. The worst thing is that regulations and the way regulators behave with British business is now worse than it was at the time of the Brexit referendum vote.” In questions after the event, Farage was unwilling to say who his chancellor could be in government, despite the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, acting as its economic spokesperson. “This is a work in progress. What I’ve tried to do really hard this year is to get away from this idea, this criticism, that somehow it’s a one-man band. It’s not a one-man band. It’s a broadening team,” he said.
|
[
"Pippa Crerar"
] |
Party leader says proposal had been an ‘aspiration’ and accuses Tories and Labour of ‘wrecking the public finances’
|
[
"Reform UK",
"Nigel Farage",
"Economic policy",
"Tax and spending",
"Politics",
"UK news"
] |
Politics
|
UK politics
|
Reform UK
|
2025-11-03T14:30:44.000Z
|
2025-11-03T15:09:23.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/03/nigel-farage-backtracks-reform-uk-promise-cut-90bn-taxes
|
CBS News heavily edits Trump 60 Minutes interview, cutting boast network ‘paid me a lotta money’
|
The CBS News program 60 Minutes heavily edited down an interview with Donald Trump that aired on Sunday night, his first sit-down with the show in five years. Trump sat down with correspondent Norah O’Donnell for 90 minutes, but only about 28 minutes were broadcast. A full transcript of the interview was later published, along with a 73-minute-long extended version online. The edits are notable because, exactly one year before Trump was interviewed by O’Donnell at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday he had sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which he alleged had been deceptively edited to help her chances in the presidential election. While many legal experts widely dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless” and unlikely to hold up under the first amendment, CBS settled with Trump for $16m in July. As part of the settlement, the network had agreed that it would release transcripts of future interviews of presidential candidates. At the beginning of Sunday’s show, O’Donnell reminded viewers that Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit, but noted that “the settlement did not include an apology or admission of wrongdoing”. During the interview, in a clip that did not air on the broadcast, Trump needled CBS over the settlement and repeated his claims against the network. “Actually 60 Minutes paid me a lotta money. And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t wanna embarrass you, and I’m sure you’re not,” Trump said. “But 60 Minutes was forced to pay me a lot of money because they took her answer out that was so bad, it was election-changing, two nights before the election. And they put a new answer in. And they paid me a lot of money for that. You can’t have fake news. You’ve gotta have legit news. And I think that it’s happening.” During another un-aired portion of the interview, Trump praised the sale of CBS to the Ellison family and said the network’s new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, was a “great new leader”. The US president said he didn’t know Weiss, but told O’Donnell: “I hear she’s a great person. “I think you have a great new leader, frankly, who’s the young woman that’s leading your whole enterprise, is a great – from what I know,” he said. Trump was particularly effusive in praising David Ellison and his father, Larry, the new owner of CBS News’ parent company, Paramount, through their company Skydance Media. “I think one of the best things to happen is this show and new ownership, CBS and new ownership,” Trump said. “I think it’s the greatest thing that’s happened in a long time to a free and open and good press.” O’Donnell did not directly respond to the president’s comments about Weiss and the Ellisons. Among Trump’s many answers that were edited out were several comments questioning the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, which he said “was rigged and stolen”. At one point in the interview, in a segment that was not aired on the broadcast, Trump tried to get O’Donnell to acknowledge that crime was down in Washington DC, where she lives. “You live here. You know that too,” Trump said, asking O’Donnell: “Do you see a difference?” “I think I’ve been working too hard,” O’Donnell responded. “I haven’t been out and about that much … I get in my car and go to work and I go home.” Trump said “that’s not a fair answer” and insisted that O’Donnell noticed a difference. The president then seemed to suggest that the back-and-forth didn’t need to be aired on the show. “You don’t have to use that one,” he said. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I don’t want to embarrass her.”
|
[
"Jeremy Barr"
] |
Trump said Paramount’s sale to David and Larry Ellison was ‘greatest thing that’s happened in a long time’ for free press
|
[
"Donald Trump",
"Media",
"CBS",
"US news",
"Trump administration",
"US television industry",
"Television industry"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Donald Trump
|
2025-11-03T14:21:57.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:23:52.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-cbs-60-minutes-interview-edited
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Powerful Afghan earthquake leaves at least 20 dead and hundreds injured
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A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook northern Afghanistan before dawn on Monday, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 640 others, 25 critically, a disaster management official said. Health officials said the numbers could rise. The US Geological Survey said the quake’s epicentre was located 22km (14 miles) south-west of the town of Khulm, and that it struck at 12.59am at a depth of 28km (17 miles). In August, an earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 2,200 people. The impoverished country often faces difficulty in responding to such natural disasters, especially in remote regions. Buildings tend to be low-rise constructions, mostly of concrete and brick, with homes in rural and outlying areas made from mud bricks and wood, many poorly built. Monday’s earthquake was also felt in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of the northern Balkh province, Afghan officials said, where footage on social media showed slight damage to the historic Blue Mosque. Several bricks fell from the walls but the mosque remained intact. The centuries-old site, one of Afghanistan’s most revered religious landmarks, is a major gathering place during Islamic and cultural festivals. The deputy spokesperson for Afghanistan’s national disaster management authority, Qari Taj Mohammad Hemat, said the earthquake had struck Balkh, Samangan, Sar-e-Pul, and Kunduz provinces and had left 20 people dead and 643 others injured, 25 in critical condition. Earlier, Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the ministry of public health, said the dead and more than 500 of the injured had been brought to hospitals in Balkh and Samangan provinces. Rescuers were on the scene and the figures were changing, he added. In the nearby province of Badakhshan, the quake partly or completely destroyed 800 houses in one village in the Shahr-e-Bozorg district, said Ihsanullah Kamgar, spokesperson for the provincial police headquarters. But with a lack of internet in the remote area, there were still no accurate casualty figures, he added. Yousaf Hammad, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s disaster management agency, said most of the injured sustained minor wounds and were discharged after treatment. In Khulm, near the epicentre, people dug through the rubble of collapsed mud brick homes with shovels and picked through debris to salvage what belongings they could. “It was one o’clock in the morning, and there was a strong earthquake. When I came out, the houses were destroyed and the air was very polluted,” said Ahmad Zia, a local resident. “We were busy rescuing the injured. We pulled the bodies of two people from the rubble, and their funerals will be held today.” Another resident, Abdul Mubin, said he had been sleeping in his shop when the earthquake struck. “I saw that everything was destroyed. People had suffered a lot of financial losses,” he said. “Many people’s houses were destroyed and their household goods were under the rubble.” In the Afghan capital, Kabul, the defence ministry announced that rescue and emergency teams had reached the quake areas in Balkh and Samangan, which suffered the most damage. The teams were transporting the injured and assisting others, it said. The Taliban government’s chief spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, posted on X that the earthquake had caused casualties and financial loss. He said government organisations were working to get the help needed. The quake was also felt in Kabul and several other provinces. The defence ministry said a rockslide briefly blocked a main mountain highway linking Kabul with Mazar-i-Sharif, but the road was later reopened. It said some people who were injured and trapped along the highway were transported to hospital. In Islamabad, Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, expressed his sorrow and grief over the loss of lives. He offered condolences to the families of the victims, prayed for the swift recovery of the injured, and said Pakistan stood with the Afghan people at this difficult time. The two countries are engaged in rounds of peace talks amid heightened tension after deadly clashes on the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan left dozens of soldiers and civilians dead on both sides. Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of sheltering members of the Pakistani Taliban and failing to curb cross-border attacks. Afghan officials reject the allegations, saying they seek good relations. Another round of peace talks is scheduled for this week in Istanbul, Turkey. The UN in Afghanistan said on X that its teams were on the ground assessing needs and delivering urgent aid. “We stand with the affected communities and will provide the necessary support,” the post said. A magnitude 6 earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan on 31 August near the border with Pakistan, killing more than 2,200 people. On 7 October 2023, a magnitude 6.3 quake followed by strong aftershocks left at least 4,000 people dead, according to the Taliban government.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
Northern provinces of Balkh and Samangan worst hit by magnitude 6.3 quake, which also damaged Mazar-i-Sharif’s Blue Mosque
|
[
"Afghanistan",
"Earthquakes",
"World news",
"South and central Asia"
] |
World news
|
Afghanistan
|
2025-11-03T14:19:11.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:48:46.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/03/afghanistan-earthquake-death-toll-reportedly-damages-blue-mosque
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Failed signings, fan fury and resignations: how Fiorentina became a crisis club | Nicky Bandini
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Daniele Pradè had described Fiorentina v Lecce as a “question of life or death”, but as the occasion approached he remembered football’s third option: you can always just walk away. On Saturday, a little more than 24 hours before this game was due to take place, he left his role as sporting director of the Viola by mutual consent. The timing was a surprise, but not the decision. Fiorentina had made a shockingly poor start to the season, collecting four points from their first nine games, and Pradè was adamant that he alone should shoulder the blame. “The club put €90m at my disposal to build the team,” he pointed out last month. “If anyone is responsible for the current situation, it’s me.” Those words were intended as a shield to the manager, Stefano Pioli. Perhaps even Pradè’s actions this weekend represented one last attempt at protection: not so much stepping away as in front of the metaphorical bullet he saw flying toward them. A series of banners had been hung around Florence by ultras on Saturday, bearing such messages as “team, manager, club: you are the shame of this city.” Pradè’s self-sacrifice could not suffice to temper all this anger. The only real chance Pioli had to save his job was to start winning games, but instead his team were beaten again on Sunday, losing 1-0 to Lecce. Their newly-promoted opponents scored early through Medon Berisha, then leaned on some excellent goalkeeping by Wladimiro Falcone – who denied Moise Kean more than once at the other end. Fiorentina were awarded a penalty in the 84th minute, only to have it taken away by a contentious VAR review. The first replays showed Luca Ranieri kicking his own heel before falling inside the box, but another angle showed Santiago Pierotti’s knee appearing to catch his calf while applying pressure, causing him to lose balance first. Tensions spilled over. Ranieri was seen screaming into the face of the fourth official, warning that if the penalty wasn’t given he was about to make a scene. Still, the greater fury seemed to belong to supporters. Inside the stadium they chanted for Pioli’s sacking. Outside, thousands gathered at the exits used by players and directors for an organised protest featuring drums, megaphones and fireworks. Pioli has not yet been sacked, though that news may arrive imminently. Four draws and six defeats in 10 games is an unacceptable return for a club who finished sixth last season. The manager’s own stated ambitions, when he signed a three-year contract to succeed Raffaele Palladino this summer, were to get the team back into the Champions League and win trophies. Not necessarily this season, but that was the intended direction. How did things unravel so fast? Pioli’s return was greeted with cautious optimism, a manager who had been here before and achieved a creditable top-half finish in 2017-18 before leaving to win a league title with Milan. Pradè’s subsequent transfer campaign made ambitious goals appear plausible. Fiorentina were already upwardly mobile. They finished sixth under Palladino last season, collecting 3-0 wins over both Inter and Juventus along the way, and reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League (admittedly a step backwards there, after finishing as runners-up in both the previous two years). In the birthplace of the Renaissance, entire careers were being remade. Kean enjoyed the best season of his career in 2024-25, finishing as Serie A’s second-top scorer on 19 goals. Robin Gosens was once more the marauding wing-back we saw for Atalanta at the start of the decade, earning his first Germany cap in almost a year. David de Gea made save after save (after save). Did Palladino’s exit end all that progress? His departure in the summer came as a surprise, the manager walking away from a newly-extended contract despite not having another job offer waiting. He offered some insight into his decision during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport in September, saying: “I view football as a puzzle, all the pieces need to fit together for things to function. I’m proud of the work we did in Florence, but the conditions weren’t right to continue. Our ideas and vision were too far apart.” Fiorentina’s players had been as wrongfooted as anyone by Palladino’s departure, inundating him with heartfelt video messages that moved him to tears. Pioli, it would appear, has not been able to connect with them in the same way. The new faces brought in by Pradè have also fallen short of expectations. Roberto Piccoli, the young striker signed from Cagliari for €25m, made his Italy debut this autumn but is yet to score for Fiorentina. So is Edin Dzeko, who joined on a free transfer but became one of the club’s highest-paid players. The Switzerland international Simon Sohm, purchased from Parma, has not played a full game since the opening weekend. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion There is no single explanation for all these failures. Pioli has not made drastic tactical changes, relying often on a variation on a 3-4-2-1 that Palladino also used. Perhaps the sheer number of new faces has caused a degree of confusion – the manager himself said at one point in the summer that a bloated squad could create problems – but the core of the team remains. Yet performances have been unrecognisable. Udinese 1-0 Atalanta Cremonese 1-2 Juventus Napoli 0-0 Como Verona 1-2 Internazionale Fiorentina 0-1 Lecce Torino 2-2 Pisa Parma 1-3 Bologna Milan 1-0 Roma Monday's fixtures: Sassuolo v Genoa Lazio v Cagliari If anything, Pioli has been fortunate to last this long. Many believed the writing was on the wall just over a week ago, when his team appeared to be losing 3-0 at home to Bologna. But then a VAR decision overturned the third goal, and one of those magical footballing momentum swings arrived to turn the result into an unlikely 2-2 draw. De Gea later confessed that he had thought at one point that “we were going to lose 6-0”. A phrase that somehow captures the rudderless feeling of this moment: a club spinning out of control. Pradè sought to do the honourable thing by standing down, but his departure leaves a void of leadership, with the owner Rocco Commisso currently in the United States, where he underwent back surgery last month. Momentum has slowed off the pitch as well as on it. Ongoing renovations to the Stadio Artemio Franchi will now reportedly not be completed in time for centenary celebrations next year. In a recent statement the club declared itself to be “disappointed and surprised” at these developments. Contrary to Pradè’s assertion last week, the game against Lecce was never really a matter of life or death. There are still 28 matches left this season – plenty enough, in theory at least, for a new manager to put a talented squad back on track. The more troubling observation for Fiorentina is that, even replacing their manager and sporting director might not resolve the underlying conditions that are holding them back.
|
[
"Nicky Bandini"
] |
After spending big there was optimism in Florence, but their season has been a mess that may get worse
|
[
"Serie A",
"Fiorentina",
"European club football",
"Football",
"Sport"
] |
Football
|
Serie A
|
2025-11-03T14:17:13.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:19:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//football/2025/nov/03/fiorentina-serie-a-crisis-club
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|
Kimberly-Clark to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue in landmark $40bn merger
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Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark said on Monday it will buy Kenvue for more than $40bn in a landmark deal for the consumer sector, as the Tylenol maker grapples with White House scrutiny and choppy demand. Kimberly-Clark would be scooping up the former Johnson & Johnson unit after months of struggles by Kenvue that include the ouster of its CEO in July and a share slump when Donald Trump in September asserted that Tylenol use can lead to autism, a claim not backed by conclusive research. Last week, the US health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, acknowledged that there was no evidence proving Tylenol causes autism, but repeated his view that signs of a link between the two were “very suggestive”.
Apart from certain looming litigations against Tylenol, Kenvue is also facing lawsuits over claims that its baby powder products caused cancer, dampening investor sentiment. Still, Kimberly-Clark expects about $2.1bn in annual cost savings from the acquisition, which it expects to close in the second half of 2026. Set to be the largest buyout in the US consumer goods sector to date, the merger will give Kimberly-Clark access to Kenvue’s vast portfolio of brands from Listerine mouth wash and Band-Aid to skincare names like Aveeno and Neutrogena – with the combined company expected to bring in annual revenues of roughly $32bn.
The timing of the deal, although probable, was earlier than expected, given the negative litigation and regulatory headlines around Kenvue, RBC Capital Markets analyst Nik Modi said. Sources in June told Reuters the strategic review of Kenvue’s operations could include a sale or breakup of the company that had been spun off from healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson in 2023. Kimberly-Clark is also navigating a consumer goods environment increasingly fraught with a more value-seeking shopper, forcing companies, including sector bellwether Procter & Gamble to invest in smaller pack sizes, and trim underperforming business units. Kimberly-Clark sold a majority stake in its international tissue business to Brazilian pulp maker Suzano as part of a restructuring, proceeds from which are expected to help the Kenvue buyout, the company said on Monday.
|
[
"Guardian staff reporter"
] |
Kleenex maker’s deal for troubled Johnson & Johnson spinoff comes amid lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny
|
[
"Business",
"Johnson & Johnson",
"Trump administration",
"Donald Trump",
"US news",
"US politics"
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Business
|
Business
|
2025-11-03T14:16:32.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:16:32.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//business/2025/nov/03/kimberly-clark-kleenex-tylenol-kenvue-merger
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|
Trump says he doesn’t know who crypto tycoon is despite having pardoned him
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Donald Trump has said that he doesn’t know who Changpeng Zhao is despite pardoning the billionaire founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance in October. The US president was asked in a 60 Minutes interview that aired on Sunday why he pardoned Zhao, who is also known as “CZ”, for enabling money laundering despite him causing “significant harm to … national security” according to federal prosecutors. “OK, are you ready? I don’t know who he is,” Trump told Norah O’Donnell, the host of CBS News’ 60 Minutes. Trump added that he did not remember meeting Zhao, had “no idea who he is” other than being told that the multibillionaire crypto boss was a victim of a “witch-hunt” by former president Joe Biden. In 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to charges that he broke rules designed to stop money laundering – after Binance allegedly failed to report suspicious transactions with organizations including Hamas and al-Qaida. Zhao apologized, paid a $50m fine and had served nearly four months in prison before being pardoned by Trump, with the White House saying he was prosecuted due to Biden’s “war on cryptocurrency”. Trump has said he wants the US to be a leader in cryptocurrency and Zhao, in thanking the president for his pardon, promised on X to “do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto”. Zhao has kept his stake in Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, which has had business dealings with World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company owned by Trump’s family. Trump’s failure to recall his pardon for Zhao comes amid an extensive Republican pursuit of the prior Biden administration for allegedly covering up the former president’s mental and physical decline as well as for his autopen signatures – which come from a machine that replicates a person’s signature and allows someone to more easily sign large quantities of documents. On 28 October, the Republican-led House oversight committee released a report centering on Biden and autopen signatures. The Republican committee chair, James Comer of Kentucky, furthermore maintained that the use of autopen was “one of the biggest political scandals in US history”. Some Republicans want pardons signed by autopen under Biden to be voided. It is unclear whether Trump’s pardon for Zhao was signed by autopen. Some of those pardoned by Trump for their role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol after the lost the 2020 White House election to Biden have also claimed that Trump did not sign their pardons at all.
|
[
"Oliver Milman"
] |
Billionaire Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering before president freed him last month
|
[
"Donald Trump",
"Trump administration",
"US politics",
"US news",
"Binance",
"Cryptocurrencies"
] |
US news
|
US news
|
Donald Trump
|
2025-11-03T14:15:30.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:16:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-changpeng-zhao-cz-pardon-crypto
|
Share a travel tip on a lesser-known corner of Italy
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Beyond tourism hotspots such as Venice, Amalfi and Rome, Italy has no end of enticements – whether its historical sites, delicious food or impressive landscapes that you’re looking for. We want to hear about your discoveries in less well known parts of the country – perhaps it was a small mountain resort, an overlooked coastal town or a wild hiking trail. The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website. Keep your tip to about 100 words If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words we will be judging for the competition. We’re sorry, but for legal reasons you must be a UK resident to enter this competition. The competition closes on Monday 10 November at 10am GMT Have a look at our past winners and other tips Read the terms and conditions here Share your travel tip using the form below. Please note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB. First name only if you prefer This competition is only open to UK-based readers If you’re having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.
|
[
"Guardian community team"
] |
Tell us about your favourite under-the-radar spot in Italy – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break
|
[
"Travel"
] |
Travel
|
Travel
|
2025-11-03T14:05:43.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:08:40.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//travel/2025/nov/03/share-a-travel-tip-on-a-lesser-known-corner-of-italy
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Happiness review – Schitt’s Creek meets Glee in charming Kiwi musical comedy
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It’s slightly misleading for Happiness – billed as New Zealand’s first musical television series – to start with something as daggy as an airport flashmob set to the Backstreet Boys. Not only is this six-episode comedy much sharper than its dated intro to Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) suggests, it’s not a jukebox musical, either. Beyond its opener, Happiness is made up of quirky, charming original numbers taken from The Trojan Horse – the show’s delightfully janky musical-within-a-musical put on by amateur society Pizazz. No boyband can compete with a real estate agent playing Helen of Troy belting, “Won’t you be my Troy boy/not some typical toy boy”. But Happiness is well aware of its opening’s cringe factor. For one, it’s written all over the face of flashmob target Charlie (Harry McNaughton) as he gawps at a wild display of awkward limbs and thrusts led by his doting mum and Pizazz owner Gaye (Rebecca Gibney). Behind the glitter and hot glue, the show centres on this mother-son relationship damaged by Charlie’s barbed distance, leaving his home town Tauranga behind to become a Broadway director. Through the transformative power of a swords-and-sandals musical, can he learn to embrace the earnestness of both amateur theatre and small-town life – and even find true happiness? Like many musicals, Happiness’s plot isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but it does offer a melisma of humour, joy and unabashed cheese. Think Schitt’s Creek meets Glee, hand-sewn together with hokey Kiwi charm. Charlie, of course, is far from charmed at first. To him, New Zealand’s fifth-largest city is a parochial swamp. He’s only returned from New York to renew his visa, as he’s midway through directing rehearsals with Sally Field for a Broadway revival of Cats (presumably not the recent ballroom-set revival). Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Ignoring Charlie’s snide jabs, Gaye ropes her son into Pizazz’s first-ever original musical, written by high school music teacher Gloria (Marshayla Christie). Naturally, those visa issues see Charlie stay a little longer than expected, and he’s soon sucked back into the amateur theatre troupe where he was once a star. McNaughton – a writer-actor who is well known for appearing in Kiwi soap Shortland Street – is excellent as Charlie, a prickly, pretentious character who you nonetheless root for even as he’s asking high schoolers to identify the “erogenous zone” of a scene. Moments of calm and connection, such as rehearsals coaxing out a teenager’s talents, remind both him and the audience of an inner softness otherwise calloused as a survival mechanism. McNaughton’s given a lot to play off, too. Like any amateur production, Pizazz’s ramshackle rec centre is home to a world of power plays, ballooning egos and sexual frisson. As with most “backstagers” (works centred on the inherent drama of any theatrical production, such as High School Musical, Glee or Smash), Happiness relies on archetypes. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion There’s the tyrannical director and delusional leading lady (Jessie Lawrence), as well as the reluctant-to-perform jock with a natural talent (here, a sparkie, played by Henry Auva’a), the excited ingenue (Melody Lui-Webster) and the overlooked composer who, in creating songs for others, finds her own voice (Christie). While these characters might feel thin if Happiness was longer, the show simply has no time to spare. With six 20-minute episodes, its script has been economically whittled down; much like Pizazz’s nonexistent budget, it works wonders. The cast chomp into their roles, adding enough weight to their romances, feuds and raison d’Pizazz. (And if you think these archetypes are unrealistic, you’ve never done amateur theatre, which is filled with passionate people who, against their best intentions, crystallise into cliches.) Happiness’s numbers – usually one or two each episode – are highlights too, with the cast belting through The Trojan Horse’s punchy pastiche of current musicals. There’s a dash of Dear Evan Hansen’s pop ballads and Six’s comic take on historic figures – though Charlie’s quick to correct anyone who declares them Broadway-ready. What about Gibney? For an international audience, she is likely Happiness’s only familiar face, and it’s sad to say Gaye is a minor character in the show. She is often present but quiet, an ever-sunny people-pleaser who puts her own views and life to the side. When Gaye does reach breaking point towards the show’s end, you can’t help but wish she cracked open earlier. Perhaps it’s hinting at what’s to come, with season two already in the works. Gibney taking centre stage? That’s one way to ensure Happiness keeps living up to its title. Happiness streams on HBO Max from Tuesday 4 November in Australia and will air on PBS in the US later in 2025.
|
[
"Jared Richards"
] |
Rebecca Gibney and Harry McNaughton lead an ensemble cast in a scrappy, joyful comedy about amateur musical theatre
|
[
"TV comedy",
"New Zealand",
"Culture",
"Television",
"Musicals",
"Musicals",
"Theatre"
] |
Television & radio
|
TV & radio
|
TV comedy
|
2025-11-03T14:00:40.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//tv-and-radio/2025/nov/04/happiness-review-kiwi-comedy-rebecca-gibney-harry-mcnaughton
|
Australians still betting big on Melbourne Cup, despite many saying they’re losing interest in race
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Australians say they are losing interest in the Melbourne Cup and the animal welfare campaign against it has never wavered, but the amount of money gambled on the race has barely changed since the pandemic. Wagering turnover on the Melbourne Cup has fallen only slightly from the $221m recorded in 2020 to $214m last year. The five-year average spend, according to Racing Victoria figures, remains $220m. The amount of money being gambled on horse racing in Australia overall has fallen sharply, however, presenting a challenge to the long-term sustainability of the industry. In Victoria, the amount of money gambled on horse racing fell by 10.2% last financial year. This followed a 4% drop a year earlier. Wagering turnover dropped from $9.1bn in 2022 to $7.9bn last financial year, according to Racing Victoria. Rather than blaming declining interest, Racing Victoria has cited cost-of-living pressures, higher interest rates, a trend towards gambling on other sports, a “reduction in advertising and customer promotions” and more regulation. Similar declines have been reported in New South Wales, where wagering revenue has dropped by 9.6% in two years. In 2023, Racing NSW reported gambling turnover of $335m. Last year, it dropped to $302m. Sign up: AU Breaking News email But the Melbourne Cup continues to encourage gambling from people who have little if any interest in horse racing beyond the day. Charles Livingstone, a gambling researcher at Monash University, said the cup was “an event for people who don’t know anything about horses” and a money-spinner for bookmakers. “This is like the grand final – it’s a great marketing opportunity,” Livingstone said. “It gives the gambling companies an opportunity to persuade people who wouldn’t usually bet to download their app.” “If you’re a young bloke who downloads it for the cup, they’ll probably understand you like sport and start giving you incentives to gamble on the AFL, cricket and tennis.” Racing Victoria and Racing NSW have blamed a decline in overall revenue on bookmakers offering fewer “free bet” promotions. The tactic was condemned by a parliamentary inquiry into gambling harm more than two years ago. In Victoria, the number of “free bets” offered on horse racing fell by almost 10% between July and November last year. This reduced the amount of money wagered on free bets from $184.6m to $166.7m. Despite this, the margins of bookmakers increased last year from 14.2% to 15.4%. Racing Victoria attributed this to fewer favourites winning. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion “We were fortunate to have benefitted from stronger than average wagering operator gross margins, which drove strong race fields product fee income and offset the turnover decline,” Racing Victoria’s chief executive, Aaron Morrison, said in the group’s latest annual report. Product fee income refers to the share of money Racing Victoria receives from bets placed on the sport. In August, the Dublin-based gambling giant Flutter said Australia “continues to experience a softer racing market, which is expected to continue in the near term”. The company’s financial report said the broader sports market – including AFL and NRL – had shown “continued growth”. Flutter’s statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission said Sportsbet had reduced the money it spent on promotional offers, but made them more targeted. It referred to the change as “optimised generosity”. Gambling giant Entain also reported “continuing softness in the underlying market” in Australia, where its subsidiary brands Neds and Ladbrokes reported a 7% drop in growth during six months to June 2025. Racing bodies have invested significant time and money into appealing to a younger audience to revitalise spring carnivals. This has included partnerships with live music festivals – including the promoter Live Nation APAC. Racing Victoria reported a Derby Day crowd of more than 86,000 on Saturday, which was a 5.5% increase on the 2024 tally.
|
[
"Henry Belot"
] |
But money spent betting on horse racing overall has sharply declined amid cost-of-living pressures and regulation
|
[
"Melbourne Cup",
"Gambling",
"Melbourne",
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"Horse racing",
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Sport
|
Racing
|
Melbourne Cup
|
2025-11-03T14:00:40.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//sport/2025/nov/04/melbourne-cup-betting-horse-racing-still-big-australia
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Look what the tide brought in: shipwreck found on Victorian beach may have lain there for a century
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Mark Longden and his wife, Lucy, have been walking the ocean beach between the Victorian towns of Ocean Grove and Point Lonsdale for 30 years. Sometimes they pick up shells and sea glass, pieces of pottery, scraps of flotsam and jetsam. Once, they found a tiny, headless porcelain figurine of a woman in an old-fashioned dress. Then one Friday morning in early October, they found a shipwreck. “Generally, the beach is pretty flat. It might have seaweed or wood washed up, or bits of trees from the river after floods,” Longden tells Guardian Australia. “But on this day, there were actually bits of wood sticking out of the sand on an angle … It wasn’t anything that had just washed up on the shore.” The Bass Strait coastline is one of rocky cliffs, constantly shifting sands and notoriously treacherous waters. Storm surges from wild weather and spring high tides had resulted in significant erosion along the beach, exposing parts of the wreck. Longden called his friend Jamie McKechnie, a volunteer at Queenscliffe Maritime Museum, who hurried down to the site, and sent drone footage, photographs and GPS coordinates to Heritage Victoria. The following Monday, McKechnie led the agency’s marine archaeologists there, who inspected the wreck and confirmed: this was something new. “It’s great seeing archaeologists getting excited,” says Longden. There are about 660 historic shipwrecks known to be in Victorian waters and off Victorian coasts, but only half of those have ever been found. Some may be in tidal areas but many are assumed to be underwater, their locations still a mystery. Sign up: AU Breaking News email The identity of the Point Lonsdale vessel has yet to be determined, but Heritage Victoria senior maritime archaeologist Danielle Wilkinson says it may have lain undiscovered there for more than a century. “We do know that it is a timber-built sailing vessel,” Wilkinson says. “And we know it’s a vessel that’s maybe about 20m to 25m long.” Marine archaeologists use a combination of techniques to help them identify wrecked vessels, including taking measurements and samples of the timber used for construction, and noting the characteristics of any visible joinery or metal elements. The size of the Point Lonsdale wreck suggests it was a local vessel, but one that could handle coastal waters as well as the bay – possibly a fishing or trading boat. It was held together with square-headed nails rather than older-style trunnels (wooden pegs, also called tree nails) and the shape of the hull indicates that it had a flat bottom. The condition of its timber and the style of construction indicate the vessel is most likely from the late 19th or early 20th century, and definitely more than 75 years old, says Wilkinson. “We’re just waiting on the timber species ID to kind of confirm our suspicions about this one,” she says. “There are three or four shipwrecks we’re thinking of that might match it, that were lost roughly in the same area that are roughly the same size.” Shipwrecks over 75 years old are protected by federal and state legislation, but Heritage Victoria encourages the public to report wrecks they might find and to help with the fieldwork, as Longden and McKechnie have done. The agency has a list of shipwrecks they would most like to find, and have enlisted surf lifesaving clubs and coastguards to help monitor the most fragile and at-risk sites. “We want people to be able to access shipwreck materials,” says Wilkinson. “They are exciting and it’s a very valuable piece of local history for people to be involved with and proud of. But we encourage healthy behaviours – just take photos, leave only footprints, don’t take any material off the shipwreck or relocate it.” In the weeks since its discovery, the Point Lonsdale shipwreck has been covered up again by sand. That’s not a bad thing – the sand helps with preservation. “We don’t like to do extensive excavations because that can be very damaging to the shipwreck material,” Wilkinson says. “It’s actually quite well protected in waterlogged sediments on the beach.” Longden and McKechnie say the shipwreck has created a wave of intrigue in the local community. “What happened [to it]? What happened to the people? What happened to the cargo? … All these sorts of things come to mind,” says Longden. For McKechnie, the allure of shipwrecks is in “the mystery and the possibility of treasure” – historical treasure, that is. “To find something that somebody held in their hands many years ago, and wonder where that journey went,” he says. “It’s like a puzzle. And I think we all like to solve puzzles if we can.”
|
[
"Stephanie Convery"
] |
Only half of the 660 known wrecks in the state have ever been found, so the discovery of a timber vessel poking out of the sand is exciting archaeologists and locals alike
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[
"Victoria",
"Australia news"
] |
Australia news
|
Australia
|
Victoria
|
2025-11-03T14:00:39.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//australia-news/2025/nov/03/shipwreck-victorian-beach-may-have-lain-there-for-century
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Australian scientist who made global name during Covid wins top prime minister’s prize
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When the World Health Organization announced – incorrectly, as became apparent later – in March 2020 that the Covid-19 virus was not airborne, Prof Lidia Morawska knew she had to do something. A renowned expert in air quality and health, Morawska, of the Queensland University of Technology, began contacting international colleagues. She eventually gathered 239 scientists globally to highlight the risk of airborne transmission of Sars-CoV-2. The public pressure eventually prompted the WHO and other authorities to update their public health guidelines. For her work during the pandemic, Morawska was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people in 2021. On Monday evening, she also received the top gong at the prime minister’s prizes for science, for her “pioneering research about the air we breathe”. Morawska described receiving the $250,000 prime minister’s prize as “an amazing joy”, but said importantly the award would bring attention to her field of research. Her current work focuses on ultrafine particles – tiny pollutants tens to hundreds of times smaller than PM2.5 and believed to have more significant health impacts, but which are not yet widely regulated. “Because they are so small, they can get deep into the human respiratory tract,” Morawska said. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Morawska’s recognition comes at a fraught time – an “age of anti-science”, as she has called it. “In the United States, it’s a particularly difficult situation,” she said. “Science and scientists are nowhere near as listened to as … in the past, and decisions are not based on science.” It is a problem she hopes to tackle by bringing scientists together as she did during the pandemic. “If we operate individually, it’s very easy to reject us … but eventually, the voice of a large scientific body, which can be respected, hopefully will make a difference.” The prime minister’s science prizes, now in their 26th year, are Australia’s most prestigious awards for achievements in scientific research, innovation and teaching. Anthony Albanese said in a statement: “I congratulate and thank Prof Morawska for her incredible work over many years which influenced how Australia and the world mitigated risks associated with Covid-19. “I extend that congratulations and thanks to all recipients.” In a category awarded for the first time this year, Prof Michael Wear received the prime minister’s prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Wear, a Malgana traditional custodian of Gutharraguda (Shark Bay) in Western Australia, received the $250,000 prize in recognition of his marine conservation work. He is the founder of Tidal Moon, Australia’s first Indigenous-owned and led sea cucumber fishery and marine restoration enterprise. Wear founded the enterprise several years after a marine heatwave in 2010-11 resulted in the loss of 22% of seagrass beds in Shark Bay. “When the seagrass died, we noticed that the sea cucumbers increased in size,” he said. “We built a free market enterprise … around sea cucumbers as a commodity to export.” Proceeds from the sale of those sea cucumbers, primarily in cosmetic products, funds the organisation’s seagrass restoration efforts, with 12 Indigenous divers trained to date. The firm plans to restore 20 hectares of seagrass beds next year. The minister for science, Tim Ayres, said he was proud the prizes “are now acknowledging and elevating the extraordinary contributions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have made and continue to make to science and our nation”. “Prof Michael Wear’s work exemplifies the ongoing importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems to peoples, communities and place,” Ayres said in a statement. “I’m happy to be the first [recipient],” Wear said, “but I don’t want to be the last.” Other prize recipients include Prof Yao Zheng of the University of Adelaide, recognised for his work in producing clean hydrogen directly from seawater; and Dr Vikram Sharma, founder of QuintessenceLabs, who was recognised for translating quantum science research into cybersecurity protections.
|
[
"Donna Lu"
] |
Prof Lidia Morawska says recognition of her research comes at a fraught time – an ‘age of anti-science’
|
[
"Australia news",
"Science"
] |
Australia news
|
Australia
|
Australia news
|
2025-11-03T14:00:39.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//australia-news/2025/nov/03/australia-prime-ministers-prize-for-science-lidia-morawska-covid-michael-wear-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-knowledge
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World must fight Israel’s genocide in Gaza like it did apartheid, pioneering South African judge says
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Of the thousands of bombs that have fallen – and fall still – on Gaza, there is one to which Navi Pillay returns: a lone shell, fired by the Israel Defense Forces at the Al-Basma fertility clinic in December 2023. A single strike that wiped out 4,000 embryos in a moment. The strike was “intended to prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza, says Pillay, the former chair of the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Territory of Palestine and Israel. “That clinic stands alone in the grounds, separate from the rest of the hospital buildings. They didn’t fire on the hospital – if the excuse is that Hamas is hiding in the hospitals, they didn’t touch the hospital. They came straight to this building and targeted and hit the nitrogen tanks that kept the embryos alive.” Pillay cites the attack not as a totality, but signal example, one among “a great number” of incidents, that led to Pillay’s commission finding Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. “Children who were meant to be born from these … reproductive specimens will never exist,” an expert medical witness told the commission’s investigation. “Families will be forever changed and bloodlines may end.” On Thursday, in part for her “tireless advocacy for accountability”, Pillay will receive the Sydney Peace Prize. Over her long career – the first non-white woman to open a law practice in Natal, the first non-white woman to sit as a judge on the high court of South Africa, the longest-serving high commissioner for human rights in UN history – Pillay recognises the life of a pioneer is often lonely, often isolated. But she says she has been surprised at the opprobrium – the unvarnished ad hominem attacks – the four years she has spent on the commission (pre-dating the 7 October attacks) has generated. The reports issued by the commission have forensically recounted – in unflinchingly precise detail – the prosecution of the conflict in Gaza. They have detailed war crimes committed by Hamas, the effects of bombardment on Palestinian children, and the targeting of Gaza’s fragile healthcare and education systems. The most recent report – Pillay’s last as she resigned from the commission in July – found Israel had committed genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza. “The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” she said, launching the report in Geneva. “When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity.” But the report has not brought the response she expected, nor hoped for. Inaction, she says, still rules. “It is the responsibility of all states, they have a legal obligation to stop the commission of genocide, to prevent the commission of genocide, and to protect against genocide happening. “Why have states not responded to this legal obligation? They should be telling us the steps they’ve taken or the laws they passed to address this. It’s such a serious, huge crime.” International law is unyielding, Pillay says. There is no justification of self-defence, or necessity, to genocide. It is always unlawful. “The prohibition on genocide is absolute.” Contrast, Pillay tells the Guardian, the response of states to those of the people she meets in her country and around the world. “They say ‘why are you reporting this genocide now? We know this, we are all witnesses. We saw what’s happening on our TV screens’. “That’s what’s so unusual about this genocide,” Pillay says, who also served as a judge on the international criminal court, and sat on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. “We are all witnesses to it. It’s happening in real time. We see it on our screens every day.” Pillay sees echoes of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi in 1994 in the current conflict in Gaza. Leaders in Rwanda told Hutu mobs to “exterminate this scum … these cockroaches”. In 2023, then Israel defence minister, Yoav Gallant, announced a complete siege on Gaza, claiming Israel was fighting “human animals”. “The idea comes from the politicians to destroy this group in all or in part,” Pillay says. “I see comparisons between the genocide in Rwanda and here [in Israel-Palestine] when I look at the statements made by the political leaders.” Pillay says she and her fellow commissioners, cognisant of the gravity of the crime, did not reach their conclusion of genocide lightly. “We did our own investigations for over two years. There’s nothing we put in our report that we didn’t personally verify. “I see us as working like a court of law. We’re not a court of law. But until the International Court of Justice (a case is now before that court) determines the issue, we are the most authoritative voice on that.” Israel has dismissed the commission’s finding: the foreign ministry issued a statement saying it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry”, while attacking Pillay and her fellow commissioners as “Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly antisemitic positions”. In relation to the Al-Basma fertility clinic strike: Israeli security forces stated they take extensive measures to mitigate civilian harm and did not deliberately target civilian infrastructure, including IVF clinics. As a young lawyer in deeply segregated apartheid South Africa, Pillay was a key part of the protest movement against the laws that benighted the country. It was, she concedes, a fight she never expected to see the end of. “We suffered huge humiliation under apartheid. I was a lawyer. I had four degrees, but I was treated like dirt just because of my skin colour. But we learned not to succumb to that. “I never thought apartheid would end in my lifetime, but did we stop fighting our liberation struggle? We didn’t.” Pillay says she and her fellow activists found succour in the support of people around the globe. “We had the collective support of civil society the world over. We loved the Australians when the news filtered down to us – because all news was censored, newspapers couldn’t publish it – but I remember we somehow saw pictures of Australian students protesting against rugby tours. “Now, at that time it must have seemed such a small thing. Would it really help end this huge monstrosity of apartheid if we stopped playing this all-white team or stopped attending their matches? Yes, it does: the smallest act, that’s what gave us strength in our struggle, those others who assisted from all over the world.” In 1971, one of those protesters was a student, then the president of the the University of Sydney SRC, who demonstrated against the all-white South African Springboks rugby team tour of Australia. Half a century later, that student, Australian international lawyer Chris Sidoti, would sit alongside Pillay as a co-commissioner on the UN panel. Pillay says she still meets today people who tell her they, as children, stopped eating South African oranges in protest at the apartheid regime. “You might think, well, how is it going to help the struggle if I stop eating an orange? Well, it did. Collective action helped achieve the impossible.” Apartheid was ended, in part, Pillay says, because the world outside said “no more”. Pillay welcomes the Trump-negotiated ceasefire in Gaza, even in its fragility and inconsistency. But she says the current truce falls far short of a peace agreement. It fails, she says, to address the occupation that is the root cause of the conflict, or to grant a seat at the table for the Palestinian leadership. “Palestinians have a right to self-determination. They know how to govern themselves. I wouldn’t even say they should be consulted: no, they should have the leading role here. The people for whom this matters most must be at the table.” Pillay takes solace from her own country’s history and from other conflicts once regarded as intractable by the international community, but which found a path, however imperfect or inconsistent, towards resolution. In Israel-Palestine too, she believes a just and lasting peace can be found. “I do believe that. And most importantly, the civilians living under those conditions believe they will get peace. That’s why they refuse to leave their land: their love for their land and for the future of Palestinians. They’re not any different from you and me. They have the same dreams and hopes for their children.” But there must, Pillay cautions, be a reckoning for the violence that has occurred, and all of the alleged crimes that have been committed. For more than two years, the international multi-lateral system failed to prevent a genocide, she says, and that same system cannot grant its perpetrators impunity. “People want justice and accountability, and justice has to be universal to succeed.”
|
[
"Ben Doherty"
] |
The longest-serving high commissioner for human rights in UN history, Navi Pillay recognises the life of a pioneer is often lonely and isolated
|
[
"Israel-Gaza war",
"United Nations",
"Israel",
"World news",
"Human rights",
"Gaza",
"Australia news"
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World news
|
Israel-Gaza war
|
2025-11-03T14:00:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//world/2025/nov/04/world-must-fight-israel-genocide-gaza-like-aparthied-navi-pillay
|
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Littleproud says the world is ‘re-pivoting’ on net zero commitments – but is that just spin? | Temperature Check
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After months of threatening, the junior Coalition partner has finally withdrawn its support for the national target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. “We are pegging ourselves to what the rest of the world does,” the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, claimed on Monday. The Nationals argue Australians are already feeling worsening financial pain from “net zero” and the government is imposing this on the country as the rest of the world is walking away from the commitment. Neither of these things is true. There is also a rising chorus of Liberal MPs who would like to see their party follow the Nationals and abandon the net zero target. If adopted as Coalition policy, it means Australia’s alternative government would go to the next election with positions that would put Australia in breach of the commitments it made when it signed up to the 2015 Paris climate agreement. What is it exactly that the Nationals have dropped? Until the weekend, the Nationals had backed the Coalition policy introduced by the Morrison government in 2021 – that Australia’s emissions would be “net zero” by 2050. That is, when all sources of emissions such as burning fossil fuels are added up and the ways emissions are drawn out of the atmosphere, such as by growing trees, are taken away, the final number is zero. Because there are technical and physical limits on the amount of emissions that can be captured, reaching net zero by 2050 will require a fundamental shift away from the fossil fuel energy that is driving the climate crisis. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter The Nationals have endorsed only one broad emissions policy that could help with that – allowing the use of nuclear energy. But there are no longer any specifics on how the national ban on that generation technology could be lifted, or where it would be deployed, or what type of nuclear technology would be used, or who would pay for it. It means that, in reality, the Nationals’ previous support for net zero emissions was purely rhetorical – it backed no policies to get there. Its decision to abandon the target just means the pretence has been dropped. Littleproud said his party had come to its decision because of “lived experience” – pointing to rising electricity prices. But there is strong evidence that most, if not all, of the increase in costs has nothing to do with the rise in renewable energy. In recent months, Littleproud and other Nationals including Senator Matt Canavan have highlighted the work of Net Zero Australia, a collaboration between academics from the University of Queensland, University of Melbourne and Princeton University. They modelled the economics of different ways to reach net zero. Citing this work, Littleproud told the ABC on Monday: “The cost of net zero by 2050 will be $9tn … That will put things like Medicare and NDIS at risk.” But that is not what the Net Zero Australia modelling found. It estimated the amount of capital investment that would be needed in a range of technologies to meet that goal, and found it could be between $7tn and $9tn from now until 2060. Sign up to Clear Air Australia Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis after newsletter promotion While the Nationals paint this as a shocking cost, others see this as an opportunity to build new industries and drive the economy. Littleproud also claimed reaching net zero emissions would cost jobs. But the Net Zero Australia modelling found an extra 550,000 jobs would be created in the energy sector if the country aimed for net zero emissions. On emissions, Littleproud revisited the argument that because Australia only emits about 1.1% of global emissions, the country should not “streak ahead” of others. He said Australia “should do our fair share” but not what that “fair share” would be. He also said there was a “better, cheaper and fairer” way of cutting emissions, but not what that was, either. It seems reasonable to assume that whatever it is, it includes a lot less renewable energy than is now planned, and the introduction of one of the most expensive forms of energy – nuclear – that experts say would take decades to develop. “The rest of the world understand a lot of the low-hanging fruit has been done and it is now re-pivoting,” Littleproud claimed. Is that true? Not really. It’s true there has been a big change in the US, with Donald Trump axing renewable energy plans and withdrawing from international climate processes, but it is also true that 69% of national governments have net zero pledges. The Net Zero Tracker says more than two-thirds of these are embedded in law or formal policy. One of the few specific arguments that Littleproud made was to claim that the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, was reconsidering 8 gigawatts of renewable energy “because of the energy costs UK residents and industry are feeling”. In fact, British experts say 8 gigawatts of new renewable energy is needed to meet the country’s targets. How much of that 8 gigawatts gets commissioned by Starmer is yet to be decided. Like much of what the Nationals have argued around the net zero target, the facts have become skewed. Graham Readfearn is an environment and climate correspondent at Guardian Australia
|
[
"Graham Readfearn"
] |
The Nationals argue the 2050 emissions target is already causing financial pain and the rest of the world is walking away from it. Neither of these things is true
|
[
"Greenhouse gas emissions",
"Environment",
"Coalition",
"National party",
"David Littleproud",
"Australian politics",
"Australia news"
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Environment
|
AU politics
|
Greenhouse gas emissions
|
2025-11-03T14:00:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:50.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//environment/commentisfree/2025/nov/04/nationals-littleproud-net-zero-emissions-claims-real-or-spin
|
The generational divide is so overrated – here’s how I crossed it and forged new friendships | Zoya Patel
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It seems like intergenerational warfare is everywhere right now. Aside from the fact that it’s the burden of every generation to feel misunderstood by those older than them, and to condescend to those younger, the current tension between baby boomers, gen X, millennials and gen Z does seem to run deeper. Those of us in the latter two categories blame everyone older than us for the dire state of the world today (a viewpoint that sometimes ignores the fact that the world has been getting worse since the big bang). And let’s face it, it’s impossible to not be bewildered and feel attacked by people younger than you when they automatically dismiss your life experiences, start speaking seemingly in code (I still don’t know what “six-seven” means) and laugh at your idea of fashion. But all of this antagonism may result in a major loss of opportunity – because there is truly nothing as rewarding as a good intergenerational friendship. I have the benefit of having a number of friends who are both much younger than me, and somewhat older than me, and the exchanges we have of ideas, advice and points of view are undoubtedly making me a better person. Importantly, it’s through these friendships that I’ve been able to both question my own assumptions, push back against stereotypes about generational identities and also stay connected to emerging ideologies, pop culture and technology that I’ve “aged” out of. When I was a teenager, it was my friendships with older women that helped me develop my confidence in my thinking, to put my problems in perspective and to understand that I could learn from my elders without it meaning letting go of my emerging independence and agency. One of my close friends, Sally*, is only seven years older than me, which, when I was 18, seemed like a massive difference. Functionally, it meant that she was firmly in a different stage of life when we became friends and this was immensely helpful to me. When I look back on my coming of age, Sally was an instrumental sounding board for so many of my major decisions – when I dropped out of the first university I attended and enrolled in another, she lent me a box set of the 90s TV show Felicity where the eponymous protagonist did the same, and I remember her humour and grace while I worked through the big decisions of who and what I wanted to be as a “grown up”. As I have gotten older, and we’ve stayed friends, the dynamic in our friendship has shifted and, although I’ve always felt respected and understood by her, now I feel like our exchanges are deeper through more shared experiences. I hope that I’ve been a useful source of wisdom over the years too, having gained so much from her. On the other side of the coin, I find myself in the privileged position these days of being connected to several incredible young women, including nieces and a few special friends I’ve made via hobbies and grown very close to. Recently, one young woman, Milly*, who I have known since she was in her early teens, and who has recently turned 18, turned to me as a friendly ear to listen to some emotional turmoil she was going through in her social life. I felt so moved – and humbled – to be seen not only as a trusted person to talk to, but as someone she felt could offer judgment-free wisdom. In return, Milly keeps me supplied in excellent social media memes, is my cheer squad and support when needed, and is a useful source of insight when I come across yet another Gen Z term I don’t understand. Chatting on the phone to her the other night, I found myself thinking of when I was her age and Sally was listening to me work through this or that friendship conflict over a coffee. I can’t wait to be sitting across a cafe table from Milly in 10 years’ time, with our age and life experience evened out, and hear about all the cool stuff she will no doubt be up to then. When I see the feuds unfolding between generations online – the recent spat between Emma Watson and JK Rowling comes to mind – I can’t help but feel like we’ve got it wrong when it comes to socially understanding generational difference. Each generation is meant to forge new social movements and ideological shifts to the ones before them. We’re meant to find some things baffling about each other, but we should also be able to recognise how crucial that diversity of experience and thought is, not just to society, but in our individual lives as well. * Names have been changed Zoya Patel is a writer and editor based in Canberra
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[
"Zoya Patel"
] |
I have the benefit of friends who are both much younger and older than me. Our exchanges of ideas and points of view are making me a better person
|
[
"Friendship",
"Society",
"Australia news"
] |
Opinion
|
Friendship
|
2025-11-03T14:00:38.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:51.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/03/the-generational-divide-is-so-overrated-heres-how-i-crossed-it-and-forged-new-friendships
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Divine dining: Australian church restaurants claim their own devout followings
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On Sunday mornings, thousands stream through Our Lady of Lebanon Co-Cathedral, a Lebanese Maronite Catholic church in Sydney’s western suburbs. In between back-to-back mass services, worshippers rush to its onsite cafe, Five Loaves. “Sunday is our busiest day,” says Yasmin Salim, who has fronted the counter for eight years. Lines are long, and diners’ appetites are large: a single customer might ask for 10 pizzas and 10 pastries flavoured with za’atar, the Middle Eastern herb mix. “It’s like at Maccas, everyone wants their french fries,” says Salim. At Five Loaves, “everyone wants the za’atar”. Across Australia, there are restaurateurs who love to alter altars. Sydney’s Aambra is opening at a heritage-listed house of worship this month, and Restaurant Aptos is taking over a 156-year-old converted church in Adelaide Hills. But a canteen at an operational church is different: deconsecrated venues don’t have to contend with, say, catering communions or preparing post-burial mercy meals – a Five Loaves specialty. Or having food cooked by the pastor’s sister, like at Cafe 72 at Blackwood Hills Baptist church in Adelaide Hills. Jody Paterson was a longtime parishioner of the church – even before her brother became pastor – but she never intended to run the cafe. She simply turned up to a meeting, objecting to plans for a coffee-chain franchise at the church. “It wasn’t really what our community needed,” she says. Paterson jokes that her stance backfired, as it led to her establishing Cafe 72 as an alternative. That was more than 20 years ago. “Since then, I’ve learned not to volunteer for anything,” she says. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Coffees were $2 when they opened the cafe and only rose to $2.50 last year. “We help retirees who can’t afford a $5 coffee,” Paterson says. Supermarket discounts also keeps costs low. “If tomatoes are on special, there’ll be a tomato soup,” she says. Food is hearty – lasagne, quiches, curries – and also reflects the expertise of volunteers who cook in the kitchen: Sahar Alsaad, from Baghdad, does a spiced Iraqi-style fish and chips, for example. The cafe is known for training disenfranchised people and marginalised youth in hospitality, and locals with no church affiliation frequently drop by. “They actually love the cafe so much that they volunteer,” says Paterson. Churchgoers, meanwhile, shouldn’t linger too long over their flat white or food, lest she drag them into the kitchen. “Oh, so you have Tuesdays off? That’s interesting. Do you know how to wash a dish?” Paterson is on a ministry wage, but many of her hours at Cafe 72 are spent as a volunteer. “If I retired, I’d probably still give one day a week,” she says. That sense of dedication and community is also at Five Loaves. Salim has attended its church for more than 50 years – she was baptised there. When some parishioners give up meat during Easter, the cafe puts vine leaves, cabbage rolls and tabbouleh on the menu – which can be enjoyed by Five Loaves’ mix of secular and churchgoing diners. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Operating the church’s cafe can be emotional, especially with mourners nearby. (A friend tells me Five Loaves’ manoush reminds him of death as he only eats it at funerals.) Then there are massive weddings, featuring honking cars and loud cheers. “It’s more happy moments than sad moments,” says Salim. Meanwhile, the soundtrack at Terry’s Kitchen in Melbourne is a little different. The Malaysian canteen is located in a suburban megachurch, and the Pentecostal sermons are broadcast over speakers as diners feast on chicken curry puffs and chilli sambal. Chef and owner Terry Tang thinks he has made a few converts. “They come and eat and later they become a Christian,” he says. Tang credits his restaurant as “a setup from God”. His family are church attenders and the site was the first location he scouted for his restaurant. His son was accepted into the adjacent school, just before he opened Terry’s Kitchen in 2016.
“I’m not here for business,” Tang says. Rather than serving well-known staples like beef rendang and char kway teow, he wants to showcase the diversity of Malaysian cuisine, such as rich Sarawak-style laksa and curry rice with braised pork from his home town of Miri, in north-west Borneo. Sure, he does nasi lemak, but it might be with oxtail curry with pineapple one week and grilled fish the next. His septuagenarian mother prepares kaya (coconut and pandan jam) the traditional way, by double-boiling and stirring it for hours until the jam thickens. His nasi kerabu (with rice grains tinted blue by pea flowers) features a lemongrass-accented sauce that’s even more laborious to make. But that might be why customers travel interstate for it – just so they can take some home. And like Paterson and Salim, Tang serves his dishes with a side of kindness. Sometimes, he sees kids requesting lots of dishes and their parents holding back when they order, presumably due to hardship. “We will just give them everything and say, ‘Oh, you’re number 25, lucky customer, get the free food!’”
|
[
"Lee Tran Lam"
] |
At these places of worship, secular and churchgoing diners place their orders for coffee, curry puffs and za’atar pastries, served with kindness
|
[
"Australian food and drink",
"Australian lifestyle",
"Religion",
"Food",
"Life and style",
"Middle Eastern food and drink",
"Malaysian food and drink"
] |
Food
|
Food
|
Australian food and drink
|
2025-11-03T14:00:37.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:49.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//food/2025/nov/04/australian-church-restaurants-claim-devout-followings
|
Nearly 90% of jobseekers unable to get long-term work despite millions spent on private job agencies
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Australia’s private employment services are failing to get jobseekers into long-term work, despite costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year, department documents show. Just 11.7% of jobseekers in Australia found long-term employment through a job provider in the latest financial year, according to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations’ annual report. Service providers are allowed to claim publicly funded outcome payments when clients have completed four, 12 and 26 weeks in employment – regardless of whether the client or provider found the job. Guardian Australia has previously revealed many jobseekers who find their own employment were bullied into handing over payslips so providers can claim the public money. Sign up: AU Breaking News email The government sets a target for providers to have 15% of the cohort hit the 26-week employment mark, but the report shows this has not been met since Workforce Australia started in 2022. The target is based on historic outcome rates across previous programs, the department said. “This measure has not been achieved since it was first reported,” the report said. “The result for the 12-month period to 30 June 2024 was 13.2%. “Further, results over 2 years show a declining trend in the outcome rate.” The report shows that despite the number of jobseekers who are finding work falling, public funding has increased, with the “investment per employment outcome” hitting $3,575. The department said the result was based on a caseload of 590,965 people in the reporting period. In October 2024, the department launched a complaints line for employment services which has received 8,320 complaints across the year. The majority resolved at first contact. Jeremy Poxon, a welfare advocate at the Antipoverty Centre, said the system was failing “en mass” to help get people into meaningful work. “The government knows full well that this system is failing on this basic metric to help people into work,” he said. It came as Guardian Australia revealed Centrelink has threatened payment suspensions to jobseekers at a rate of five a minute, despite serious concerns from social security experts that they are illegal. Poxon said the data showed the system was better at punishing people than helping them into employment. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion “And still the government is content with funnelling billions of dollars into an employment system that isn’t helping people into employment,” he said. In the annual report, the government said the low number of jobseekers finding work was influenced by the labour market, with a “growing skills mismatch” between the jobs on offer and the level of training and education people have been able to undertake. “Throughout the reporting period, the labour market reflected demand for higher-skilled jobs, rather than low-skilled jobs that are most accessible to participants in Workforce Australia Services,” the report said. Poxon said this was the “great elephant in the room”. “We’re dealing with a population who are essentially competing for jobs that don’t exist, but are also further structurally disadvantaged by being homeless or culturally and linguistically diverse,” he said. Poxon called for the whole employment services system to be overhauled, with mutual obligation abolished, payment suspensions stopped and investment in voluntary programs that actually help people find work. “We’re in this absurd position where the government is spending even more money for even worse outcomes, year on year on year,’ he said. “It’s hard to think of another government-funded industry allowed to operate in this way … to continue soaking up so much public money and to spit out so few results.”
|
[
"Cait Kelly"
] |
Employment department’s annual report shows just 11.7% of jobseekers ended up with jobs lasting at least 26 weeks last year
|
[
"Unemployment",
"Centrelink",
"Welfare",
"Australia news",
"Australian economy",
"Business"
] |
Business
|
Unemployment
|
2025-11-03T14:00:37.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:50.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//business/2025/nov/03/majority-jobseekers-unable-to-get-long-term-work-despite-private-agencies
|
|
Mushroom tapes, erotic Greek myths and joyful Thai cooking: the best Australian books out in November
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Nonfiction, Text Publishing, $36.99 One of the many tantalising details to emerge from the trial of Erin Patterson were reports that Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein had been spotted in Courtroom Four at Morwell. Were there three works of Australian literary nonfiction about Erin Patterson in the offing? A week after the guilty verdict was handed down, Text Publishing announced that these three celebrated nonfiction authors would in fact collaborate on The Mushroom Tapes. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Readers may not have had to endure a long wait to read the book, but a suite of already sold-out events with the authors signals the ravenous anticipation for this release. – Catriona Menzies-Pike Fiction, Simon & Schuster, $34.99 Some books make you feel seen, and others make you feel scrutinised. Madeleine Gray’s new novel is a sometimes savage, sometimes heartwarming story about Nell and Eve, two friends who find each other at that crucial point in adolescence where being seen by another person feels like finding your soul mate. Chosen Family is about queerness, desire and the hurt when the ones you’ve chosen don’t choose you. In contrast to Gray’s biting but bleak debut, this thrums with the vitality and connection of girlhood and female friendships. – Bec Kavanagh Poetry, UQP, $24.99 Evelyn Araluen’s debut, Drop Bear, hit the literary world in 2021 like an incendiary device – among other gongs, it was the first book of poetry to win the Stella prize. Her second collection, The Rot, amply bears out this promise. Araluen’s poetry drills down to the nerve with a lyric intelligence that is as tough as steel, with lines that are sometimes unbearable in their complex tensions. Her headlong language – the ferocity of its anger and sorrow – impels you from one poem to the next. You return again (and again) to reckon with this book’s difficult, seductive beauty, its deadly analyses, its poised wit, its wicked complexities, and its desolations and joys. – Alison Croggon Memoir, Text Publishing, $34.99 November is the month to be a Garner fan, though many of them will probably already own at least one of her diaries already, having been published by Text as three separate volumes: Yellow Notebook (spanning 1978-1987), One Day I’ll Remember This (1987-1995) and How to End a Story (1995-1998). There is nothing new added to this (weighty) collected edition, but if you’ve yet to convince anyone in your life of Garner’s unique genius, here’s their Christmas present sorted. – Sian Cain Fiction, Scribner, $34.99 Kate Mildenhall is a genre chameleon, so it’s no surprise that her latest novel, a rural crime with layers of domestic tension, is delivered with a confidence that suggests she’s been writing crime for years. When a group of old friends pool their money to buy an abandoned mining town, they imagine they’ve bought the solution to their busy lives – a place to escape, to connect, to teach their kids about the simple things. But an unexpected death pushes these friends to the limit, exposing the ugly realities of who they really are. The Hiding Place keeps punching until the last page. – BK Fiction, Picador, $34.99 Andrew Pippos’s warm-hearted debut, Lucky’s, spanned more than 50 years of one Greek-Australian family and the cafe franchise they ran – a world Pippos knew well, having grown up in his family’s cafe. For his follow-up, he sticks close to home, setting The Transformations at a national broadsheet not unlike the one he used to work at, following colleagues George and Cassandra as they watch the print industry slowly die around them. Australian journalism novels are having a moment – Gravity Let Me Go, Green Dot and The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done among them – but The Transformations is the most true to life. But there is also a lot for people less obsessed with journalism than me. Workplace romance! An open marriage! Class, culture and politics! Also: it’s very funny. – Steph Harmon Fiction, Hachette Australia, $29.99 Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion This collection of erotic takes on Greek myths by actor Zoe Terakes (Talk To Me) is horny, hallucinatory, horrific – and pulsing with life. There’s a contemporary twist on Eurydice (with very little Orpheus) that takes readers into a ghoulish underworld; the homoerotic tale of teen Icarus and the sun god Apollo; a retelling of Iphis and Ianthe that reclaims it as a story of trans love; Hermaphroditus, a homage to Aids-era Kings Cross; and Artemis and Kallisto, a time-hopping fantasy that travels from ancient Crete to the beaches of modern-day northern rivers NSW, and is infused with the Terakes family’s migrant history. Mucky and sexy, violent and shocking, tender and joyful, and constantly surprising – this is a stunning debut. – Dee Jefferson Cookbook, Hardie Grant, $50 There are a great many Thai cookbooks, but how many feature kangaroo larb tartare? Nat Thaipun, the charismatic winner of MasterChef Australia 2024, runs the gamut of well-loved Thai dishes from som tum (papaya salad) to khao pad poo (crab fried rice). But its when she plays with the flavours of her culture, that things get really interesting: a family-size pie filled with massaman curry, a chiffon-cake trifle heaving with pandan syrup and mango jelly, or sausage rolls with the flavours of sai oua, that spicy, tangy pork sausage of northern Thailand and Laos. The photography and styling, too, is a joy. Thaipun isn’t necessarily breaking new ground, but she looks like she’s having the most fun. – Yvonne C Lam Fiction, Penguin, $34.99 The latest novel from Sofie Laguna, who won the Miles Franklin in 2015, has a lovely beguiling quality from the get-go. It is 1974 and teenager Martha, the only child of wealthy but taciturn parents, has fallen in love with the classics at her elite private school. She is fascinated by ancient cultures’ understanding of the underworld, “a realm invisible to the living and deeper than any ocean … underneath all human life.” This becomes an important metaphor for Martha, who seeks distance from her adolescent awkwardness, her family’s internal politics, and her burgeoning understanding of her own sexuality. Laguna elegantly charts her intellectual and sexual awakening through high school, university and to a hopeful glimpse of adulthood. – SC Memoir, Echo Publishing, $32.99 In her review of Gudanji and Wakaja author Debra Dank’s 2022 debut, We Come With This Place, Tara June Winch called it “a jewel of a book”. The deeply generous, time-bending memoir-meets-cultural-history ended up winning a record-breaking $85,000 at the NSW premier’s literary awards, among other prizes. Her latest, Ankami, is a companion of sorts. Dank describes discoveries she made researching her family history which “shook and broke and disrupted something that I’m still working to identify”: four children were stolen from her paternal grandmother, which no one in her family had spoken about since. The resulting book is both a memoir and a devastating reckoning with Australia’s past; with events that, Dank acknowledges, “are not palatable for any of us.” But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t reckon with them too. – SH Health, Penguin, $34.99 Our very own Matilda Boseley did a great thing with her 2023 book The Year I Met My Brain, which explored adult ADHD and her diagnosis at the age of 23. This companion book is a practical workbook filled with tips, activities and facts that have been designed with ADHD specialists to help adults with ADHD in their daily lives – tackling challenges such as getting out of bed, clearing your inbox, making a shopping list and even learning how to relax. I don’t even have ADHD and I think need this book. – SC Nonfiction, NewSouth, $39.99 Australians love a wager. Or do they? We lose approximately $32bn a year on legal gambling. In Quentin Beresford’s latest dissection of money and power in Australia, he turns his lens on to our massive gambling industry; the characters, companies, politics and volumes of cash involved. This deeply researched deep dive into a major force in Australian political and social life charts not only how the gambling industry came to be so large and powerful, but also how vociferous the warnings against it have been. – Celina Ribeiro
|
[
"Catriona Menzies-Pike",
"Bec Kavanagh",
"Alison Croggon",
"Sian Cain",
"Steph Harmon",
"Dee Jefferson",
"Yvonne C Lam",
"Celina Ribeiro"
] |
Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on
|
[
"Australian books",
"Books",
"Culture",
"Fiction",
"Poetry",
"Autobiography and memoir",
"Food and drink books",
"True crime books"
] |
Books
|
Books
|
Australian books
|
2025-11-03T14:00:37.000Z
|
2025-11-03T14:02:49.000Z
|
https://www.theguardian.com//books/2025/nov/03/new-book-releases-australia-november-mushroom-tapes-madeleine-gray-helen-garner-greek-myths-zeo-terakes
|
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