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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
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Tom Kean had everything going for him. Then the Republican New Jersey congressman disappeared
Even with a multimillion-dollar war chest, the US representative faces a stiff fight for his seat from Democrat Rebecca Bennett The stars above New Jersey seemed aligned for Tom Kean Jr. The Republican congressman had a war chest of more than $2.4m in February, an endorsement from Donald Trump and a district whose lines were redrawn in 2022 to benefit his party. He was an established political figure with widespread name recognition, thanks to his father’s stint as a well-regarded governor of New Jersey . Continue reading...
Verse from Qu’ran inspired US man to leap on runaway school bus and halt it
Ebro Ahmed, who acted after driver’s medical emergency, said he hopes incident will show Eritreans ‘in a good way’ A man who hopped on to a school bus full of terrified children that was careering down a Minnesota street after its driver had a medical emergency and manually halted it says he was motivated to act by a Qu’ran verse about how saving one life is equivalent to saving all of humanity. “I’m a numbers guy, and those numbers make sense to me,” Ebro Ahmed, 27, said on Friday during an interview about his actions four days earlier in front of his family’s convenience store in Saint Paul, Minnesota. “I didn’t do it for me. It was selflessness in the name of God.” Continue reading...
‘It was so magical’: the 33-year-old who made history swimming the length of California
Ultra-endurance swimmer Catherine Breed navigated waves, wildlife and pollution to become the first person to swim from state’s northern-most tip to Mexico border Nearly four months ago, Catherine Breed, a 33-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area, set out to become the first person to swim the entire coastline of California – from its northern-most tip to the border with Mexico. She and her support team prepared for encounters with sharks and storms. They hadn’t anticipated completing the marathon swim during a year of historic super El Niño weather . But after dodging hurricanes, wildlife and 8ft waves in an unusually volatile Pacific Ocean, Breed finally celebrated the end of her journey on a beach in San Diego on Monday. Continue reading...
Fine ‘headphone dodgers’ if you will, but to really tackle antisocial behaviour, Britain should look to Japan | Emily Bratt
Working in Japanese schools, I saw how teaching young people civic pride creates adults with consideration for others There are two types of people who listen to music in public: those who wear headphones and those who … are a word I probably can’t use here. “ Loudcasting ” – playing audio, watching videos or talking on speakerphone in public spaces – is a form of antisocial behaviour that drives eight in 10 of people in the UK crazy, and I’m glad Andy Burnham is one of those eight. But while I welcome his policy to fine “headphone dodgers”, I’m not convinced it will solve the problem. This behaviour isn’t only a nuisance, but a grave indicator of a deeper societal issue: the erosion of empathy. You can’t legislate civic pride into an individualistic culture where feelings of social disconnection are widespread. Continue reading...
British woman dies trying to save sons on Bahamas snorkelling trip
The 36-year-old died after two boys reportedly swept away by strong current near Bimini, police say A British woman has died in the Bahamas while trying to rescue her two sons after a current swept them away as they were snorkelling. The Royal Bahamas police force said it launched an investigation after the death of a 36-year-old woman on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Kim Jong-un crosses over newly opened bridge into China
Visit by train over New Yalu River Bridge marks North Korean leader’s first known trip abroad in more than a year Kim Jong-un has travelled to China over a newly opened bridge marking the North Korean leader’s first known trip abroad in more than a year, South Korean officials have said. A government source told the Yonhap news agency on Saturday that Kim had arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong, in Liaoning province, after taking a train from Pyongyang to Sinuiju and crossing the New Yalu River Bridge. Continue reading...
Tinned food, loo roll and power banks: the Brits following advice to stockpile
Government campaign recommends three days’ worth of stores for emergencies, but some are ahead of the game Dried foods, bottled water, medicine stocks and backup power banks: it could be the props cupboard on a disaster movie, but instead it is precisely what some UK residents are stockpiling amid official warnings about Russian “state-sponsored terrorism” and the impact of the climate crisis. The government launched a campaign on Thursday advising people to set aside three days’ worth of stores to deal with a whole range of eventualities, and some are already well under way. Continue reading...
Can John Healey make a dent in the cost of living crisis in his first budget?
Much of the Burnham project depends on how the budget is received, as promise of ‘breathing space’ is a two-way street You be the chancellor: play our budget game to see if you can balance the books Every Sunday night, the chancellor, John Healey, slips next door to Andy Burnham’s Downing Street flat where they order a curry and chew over politics on the prime minister’s sofa. A takeaway Indian is one of the totemic issues in British politics, a “treat” fewer people can afford, like a pint at the football or soft play for the kids. Continue reading...
Vance front and center in Republican midterms push – is this a dry run for a White House bid?
Vice-president’s visibility has risen as Trump’s popularity wanes, but path to inherit Maga throne is more complicated than it may seem A day after JD Vance suggested Donald Trump would endorse him if he runs for president, the vice-president shifted awkwardly in the Oval Office as his boss was asked about the remark. “He’s a very talented person, and he’s a very good person,” Trump said of the man standing behind him, with a forced smile this week. “But we’ve literally – I don’t think we’ve ever talked about,” the president claimed, leaving the assertion unconfirmed. Continue reading...
Dónal Lunny, ‘colossus of Irish music’, dies aged 79
Founding member of Planxty, Lunny went on to play for bands such as Moving Hearts, the Bothy Band and Coolfin The Irish traditional musician Dónal Lunny has died at the age of 79 from cancer. Lunny rose to prominence in the band Rakes of Kildare alongside Christy Moore and his brother Frank. He went on to play in bands such as Planxty, Moving Hearts, the Bothy Band and Coolfin among others and toured the world. Continue reading...
Hundreds of protests expected across France, with shops, businesses and tourist sites closed – Europe live
France will deploy 70,000 officers around the country. Protests are also expected in Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Albania and Ireland All through the night in neighbourhoods in the centre and east of Paris, the sound of sawing, drilling and hammering rang out as wooden boards were hastily secured into place to cover windows and shop-fronts. Businesses being boarded up included opticians, supermarkets and pharmacies as well as trainers and handbag stores. Continue reading...
What essentials to keep, what rubbish to get rid of? Burnham, Badenoch, Farage don’t know either | Robert Hutton
After a fractious week, they probably agree that no one at all needs Liz Truss’s new book, but then the political housekeeping decisions get much harder What are you stockpiling? Wes Streeting says we need water and food to last 72 hours in case of national emergency, as well as wind-up radios so that we can check in on how the apocalypse is developing in Ambridge. Personally, I have a two-week supply of jokes about the government that I can draw upon even as the zombies break down my front door. Andy Burnham, far from stockpiling, is busy chucking stuff out. This week Labour’s much cherished commitment not to allow new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea went into the skip round the back of Downing Street, where it lies next to a complete set of European Union red lines, a plan for digital ID and a signed photograph of Peter Mandelson. Robert Hutton is an author and journalist Continue reading...
‘You need persistence’: the Norfolk couple who took on environmental regulators three times – and won
Tim and Geli Harris have spent more than a decade fighting to protect Catfield Fen, a rare wetland in the Norfolk Broads Polluters and regulators who fail to stop pollution must quake in their boots when they receive a letter from the lawyers for Tim and Geli Harris. The couple, who farm 460 acres in the Norfolk Broads, have now scored a hat-trick of landmark legal victories to save an internationally important wetland after they won again in the high court this month. Lady Justice Lieven found that Natural England failed in its statutory duty to protect Catfield Fen from pollution after nitrates and phosphates washed from arable fields into one of the finest examples of calcareous fen in western Europe, home to 2,500 species including rarities such as the fen orchid, crested buckler fern, breeding bittern and swallowtail butterflies. Continue reading...
“Culture is stagnant, so politics is stuck” – playwright James Graham | Radical Thinking – podcast
Are we doomscrolling our way into a democratic crisis? That’s what the playwright James Graham fears may be happening, as he suggests that our algorithms have led us into ‘a massive crisis of the new’ and are preventing us from imagining a different future Watch the full episode with James Graham here . INK will be released in UK cinemas on 8 January 2027 Aditya suggested reading (and watching) list for James Graham: Dear England : about England’s football team Sherwood : mentioned in the conversation, set in the village where James Graham grew up in the shadow of the miners’ strike Quiz : set on the British quiz show, Who wants to be a millionaire, where a contestant wins a million quid Continue reading...
Blaze engulfs Hitler’s ‘Eagle’s Nest’ mountain retreat in Bavaria
About 200 firefighters deployed to tackle the blaze at former Nazi retreat in a remote part of southern Germany German police said Saturday they had detained a suspect after a fire at Adolf Hitler’s former mountain retreat, known as the Eagle’s Nest, in the state of Bavaria. About 200 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze at the Nazi dictator’s remote and difficult-to-access Kehlsteinhaus residence, on the peak of Obersalzberg in southern Germany. Continue reading...
Most levelling up projects still unfinished years after funding allocated
Data released under freedom of information laws reveals hundreds of projects unfinished despite Tory promises on regional equality • Can a £5.8bn scheme help revive Grimsby and other town centres? Most levelling up projects are not finished, years after funds were allocated, highlighting how ambitious Conservative promises of quick progress on regional equality have faltered. Data released under freedom of information laws and manually reviewed by the Guardian found 821 levelling up projects out of 1,347 were yet to be finalised as of May this year. Across the UK, 73 council areas that had a bid for a project accepted were yet to see a single one fully completed. The Guardian has identified 59 projects that were completed since the data was collected. Continue reading...
More than third of post offices in TG Jones stores to shut by early 2027
Closures within chain formerly under the WH Smith brand raise fears of high streets becoming ‘postal deserts’ Towns and even city centres face being left as “postal deserts” after it emerged that more than a third of post offices within the troubled TG Jones chain are closing. So far this year 36 branches within the high street chain formerly known as WH Smith have closed and a further 34 are set to close by early 2027, according to Post Office records analysed by the Guardian. Continue reading...
‘It’s part of our history’: can the menú del día survive Spain’s changing eating habits?
Established under the Franco dictatorship, the lunchtime ritual is in decline but all is not lost A little before lunchtime each working day across Spain, evidence of one of the lingering, if less notorious, legacies of the Franco dictatorship is carefully traced in chalk, marker pen and printer ink. Beckoning to hungry workers from blackboards, whiteboards and pieces of paper hastily taped to windows, the competitively priced menú del día , or daily set-price lunch, has been part of everyday Spanish life for more than half a century. But while 4m menús are still served each weekday, Spain is slowly losing its appetite for the familiar ritual. Continue reading...
At Aberfan, I saw fathers digging for their missing children. And the lessons society should have learned, it hasn’t | John Humphrys
Each of those 144 deaths was entirely avoidable, but nobody was held to account. We still don’t know how to get justice for ordinary people Aberfan taught us a lot. Mostly, of course, that those in power cannot be trusted. Correction: must not be trusted. Too sweeping? Continue reading...
Can a £5.8bn scheme help revive Grimsby and other town centres?
Turning boarded-up shops into community spaces is a bigger and more complex task than just adding funding Most levelling up projects still unfinished years after funding allocated “It is nice to see something happening for once,” says Jack Vincent, a Grimsby resident, as he considers a wave of change finally arriving in a town that had become a byword for deprivation. In June, King Charles visited the Lincolnshire coastal town, celebrating the opening of a youth centre in a previously derelict Victorian warehouse building and a Care charity community drop-in centre in a vacant bank on the high street. Scaffolding also shrouds one end of the town’s shopping centre, part of which is being converted to house leisure facilities including a cinema and a food market. Continue reading...
The sexual assault scandal rocked gymnastics – but has pace of change in the sport been too slow?
Former USA team doctor Larry Nassar’s 2018 conviction sparked a global reckoning in gymnastics, yet gymnasts say they are still being let down It has been 10 years since the Indianapolis Star published allegations of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar, the former team doctor for USA Gymnastics, setting off a chain of events that would lead to a reckoning for the sport. Hundreds of women came forward with their own allegations against Nassar, who also worked at Michigan State University, leading to his conviction and jailing. The exposure of his crimes sparked a wider investigation into how gymnastics had allowed predators to abuse young athletes around the world. While Nassar was the worst recorded case, it emerged many other countries had questions to answer about the failure to protect victims from not only sexual but physical and emotional abuse. But a decade later, on a large houseboat moored in Rotterdam three tram stops away from the Ahoy Arena, where the World Gymnastics Championships are taking place this week, survivors and advocates raised fears about the slow pace of change. Continue reading...
As Trump’s time runs out, this could be his most dangerous legacy: a world divided into three | Steve Bloomfield
We’ve heard much about the end of the west. At the proposed summit between Trump, Putin and Xi, those fears could crystallise In the final two years of a US presidency, when Congress has been lost, approval ratings have sunk like a stone and their party has started to think about who’s coming next, the person occupying the Oval Office can feel their power draining away. Domestic legislation, particularly in an era where bipartisan cooperation is almost nonexistent, grinds to a halt. But as the days tick by until the end, and as presidents begin to think about their legacy, there is one part of the job where they still have power: the rest of the world. In the final weeks of his presidency in 1992 George HW Bush sent 28,000 American troops to Somalia to help end a famine. For Bill Clinton, it was a quixotic attempt to bring peace to the Middle East by ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Barack Obama restored diplomatic ties with Cuba, making a historic visit to Havana, as well as a final, successful push on the Iran nuclear deal. Continue reading...
As a divided Israel prepares to go to the polls, can Netanyahu pull off his greatest political trick yet?
The prime minister has defined and dominated his country’s politics for three decades and is putting his rivals on the defensive before Tuesday’s general election They chant his name, they cheer and clap – and yet he is not the most dominant person in the room. Looming over the crowd that has gathered to hear Gadi Eisenkot, the former general who is the lead opposition challenger in Tuesday’s Israeli election, is a man who is not there. It is the man Eisenkot seeks to replace as prime minister, the man who first served in that role three decades ago and who has held it, on and off, for 19 of the past 30 years. It is Benjamin Netanyahu. Naturally, the warm-up speakers at this evening rally in the modest city of Modi’in, halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, stress the virtues of Eisenkot, a son of working-class Moroccan Jews who rose through the ranks to become chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and entered politics only four years ago. But every sentence might as well end with two words that go unspoken: unlike Bibi . Continue reading...
‘Comfort in a bowl’: porridge hotter than ever as fibremaxxers get their oats
Humble breakfast staple at heart of trend stirred up by health concerns and hearty spoonfuls of nostalgia The clocks may be going back in the UK this weekend, but the biggest sign winter is coming is a steaming bowl of porridge on a breakfast table. A staple for centuries, porridge is traditionally made with oats, water and a pinch of salt or sugar. However, the humble dish is now experiencing its own renaissance, with the latest iterations transforming it from drab to decadent. The trend is being driven by a growing fibre-centric movement as well as by nostalgia. Continue reading...