section
Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
3118 stories archived
French government in crisis talks after ‘colossal failure of the state’
Ministers, officials and police under pressure over response to days of violent unrest in cities across France The French government was in crisis talks on Sunday after one of the most violent days of unrest in years left public buildings burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and looted, and more than 2000 people arrested in cities across the country . Politicians on the left and right called for the resignation of the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, after the government appeared to have been caught by surprise by the scale of violence as state buildings were stormed and torched, bus stops smashed, roads barricaded and shops broken into and destroyed. Continue reading...
Scholars conclude ‘beyond doubt’ that Shakespeare was main author of Edward III
Exclusive: Play anonymously published in 1596 was collaboration between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, according to computer analysis Dramatic new evidence concludes that the play Edward III should be added to William Shakespeare’s canon, and also that it was a major collaboration with his contemporary rival Christopher Marlowe. The history was published anonymously in 1596, and it has long been thought that Shakespeare wrote at least a few scenes. However, Dr Rory Loughnane, a leading scholar and co-author of the research, told the Guardian that computerised textual analysis pushed the case “beyond any reasonable doubt” that the Stratford-born playwright was the principal writer. Continue reading...
Six-year-old among two dead after Kansas woman drives through soccer game, with 11 more injured
Wichita police say 34-year-old truck driver from Garden City was taken into custody amid case at youth soccer game The two people killed on Saturday when a truck drove through a youth soccer game in north-east Wichita, Kansas , were a six-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, according to authorities. Eleven other people between the ages of five and 68 were injured in a case whose possible motivations remained unclear early on Sunday, by when it had captured attention across the US. Continue reading...
Manchester City owner’s £55m housing loan while Burnham was mayor investigated
Scrutiny committee looks into financing of Manchester Life project as PM promises ‘full transparency’ A £55m loan to Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owner will be investigated as part of a review into a fund for housing projects while Andy Burnham was mayor. The prime minister has faced weeks of scrutiny over his links to Manchester City’s super-rich owners after the club was found guilty of boosting its income by £900m in a nine-year breach of financial rules. Continue reading...
Two killed and at least 17 injured as Russia and Ukraine trade blows on power infrastructure
Ukraine used more than 1,000 drones to target Russian oil depots, logistics facilities and datacentres Two people have been killed and at least 17 injured as Russia and Ukraine continue to trade strikes on each other’s power infrastructure, after the breakdown of Donald Trump’s short-lived and unilaterally declared “energy ceasefire”. One person was killed and 15 wounded overnight after Ukraine used more than 1,000 drones to target Russian oil depots, logistics facilities and datacentres in one of its largest ever aerial bombardments. Continue reading...
Air Force officer killed in rappelling accident before UTSA’s game against Navy
Officer fell from rafters during pregame display Man treated on field before being taken to hospital An Air Force officer has died after he fell from the rafters of the Alamodome before the University of Texas at San Antonio’s home game against Navy on Saturday. The officer, who has not been named, was taking part in an event to celebrate UTSA’s Salute to Armed Forces and Veterans night. He fell on to the field while rappelling down from the stadium rafters. He was treated on the field before being taken away on a stretcher. He later died from his injuries at a local hospital. Nellis Air Force Base said he was part of the 6th Combat Training Squadron. The unit helps train military members to rappel down from helicopters. Continue reading...
Forget the seven-year itch: opposite-sex marriages more likely to end after two decades
ONS data for England and Wales shows 26% of heterosexual divorces in 2025 followed 20 years or more of marriage Most couples are aware of the dreaded “seven-year itch”, when the honeymoon period wears off and real life starts to bite. Now official data has shown that couples in England and Wales are more likely to split after 20 years. According to Office for National Statistics figures, more than a quarter of all divorces between opposite-sex couples happened after 20 years or longer of marriage. Continue reading...
Texans v Jaguars: NFL week six – live
NFL updates from the 2.30pm BST kick-off at Wembley Week six: Seahawks 14-17 Broncos | Email Graham Hello football fans! Week six of the NFL is here and we are coming straight outta Wembley as the Jacksonville Jaguars host the Houston Texans in an AFC South divisional battle beginning at 8.30am CST/9.30am EST/2.30pm GMT. The Jaguars put on quite the show last week in Tottenham as they beat the Eagles with a last-second field goal as they moved to a 4-1 record. A fine start to the season that will have Trevor Lawrence and company feeling good about handling the 1-4 Texans. Continue reading...
Bristol Old Vic tackles arts ‘emergency’ by bringing the theatre into classrooms
Amid financial pressures on household and school budgets, the theatre company is expanding access with free plays Six young actors step into the spotlight as a reverent silence descends on the hall at City Academy in Bristol. A boy steps forward to pose a central question: “What does it mean to be young in Britain in 2026?” Union jack flags flash across the backdrop as three girls excitedly debate a Spice Girls reunion concert, before the focus swings back to the young boy wrestling with modern British identity. He rattles off a list of familiar cultural touchstones – fish and chips, cups of tea, Butlin’s, David Attenborough, Gogglebox and the England football team, naming heroes such as Jordan Pickford and Jude Bellingham. Continue reading...
Microsoft drops huge AI datacentre project in Essex over power supply concerns
Development by UK firm Nscale heralded by ministers as largest of its kind in the country loses its anchor tenant The development of a huge AI datacentre hailed by the UK government has received a fresh setback after Microsoft pulled out of the project over concerns about power supplies. The development by the British firm Nscale, heralded by ministers as the country’s largest AI datacentre when it was announced in 2025, was planned to open at Loughton in Essex next year. Continue reading...
New NHS England policy for trans people could have ‘a number of adverse impacts’, report finds
Exclusive: rules on same-sex wards could lead to delays in care, discrimination and animosity between groups, finds internal assessment Trans people could face delays and a greater risk of “corridor care” under new NHS England guidance that means they will no longer be able to use same-sex wards, according to an internal report. An NHS England impact assessment, seen by the Guardian, stated that trans people may also potentially experience discrimination and this could lead to them “avoiding accessing healthcare at all”. Continue reading...
EPA quietly backtracks on claims US has phased out toxic Pfas compounds
Agency changes wording on website as Texas-based chemical firm continues manufacture of plastic containers The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly backtracked on a claim that the US has phased out two of the most dangerous Pfas compounds – Pfoa and Pfos. The EPA has found that virtually no level of exposure to either in drinking water is safe, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies Pfoa as “carcinogenic to humans” and Pfos as “possibly carcinogenic”. Still, the EPA is allowing Houston-based Inhance to produce containers from which Pfoa has been found to leach at high levels into the containers’ contents. The company makes up to 200m plastic containers annually used across the US economy. Continue reading...
Some conservative states aren’t using Medicaid hardship exemption – for political reasons
States like Missouri and Iowa are choosing to not take up exemption designed to help low-income people keep coverage during hardship Some conservative states that have rejected hardship exemptions for the new Medicaid requirements may be choosing not to due to political reasons, experts say. New federal work requirements for Medicaid, slated to come into effect on 1 January, mean that adults enrolled through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion will have to work, attend school, volunteer, or take part in another qualifying activity at least 80 hours a month to maintain their coverage. Continue reading...
Small business owners are doing OK – but will that help Trump overcome his low approval ratings?
Overall, economic sentiment for Trump is poor, but small businesses seem fairly confident, according to several surveys There are 34m small businesses in the United States. They employ approximately half of the country’s workers and generate about half of the country’s GDP. They’re an important voting block. So how are they feeling about the economy as we head into November’s midterm elections? Overall, economic sentiment for Donald Trump is poor but small business – admittedly a diverse demographic that’s hard to poll – seems fairly confident. A number of recently published surveys and reports can help understand their mood. Confidence is generally stable. Continue reading...
‘We are suffocating’: protests spread to Lisbon and Milan as housing and living cost tensions intensify
Hundreds at Lisbon tent camp demand action on housing, as Giorgia Meloni says march in Italian capital exploited by ‘hooligans’ The angry protests that have convulsed Spain and France in recent weeks have spilled over to Italy and Portugal, with rioters clashing with police and setting property on fire in Milan, and a tent encampment springing up in Lisbon over the weekend. A march in central Milan on Saturday to protest against rising living costs began peacefully but ended with masked rioters throwing stones, paving blocks and other objects at riot police and setting fire to barricades made from bar tables. Continue reading...
A California town’s beaches are washing away. Can its residents turn the tide?
Rapid coastal erosion threatens coastal homes and economies, and as Super El Niño rounds the corner, a town is reckoning with the reality of climate crisis San Clemente is one of southern California’s most picture-perfect beach towns – a capital of American surf culture since the 1950s. In two years, 2028 Olympic surfers will compete at Lower Trestles, a world-class surfing beach. But the town’s longtime cultural and economic driver, its beaches, are now under threat. As pounding waves driven by late-summer storms in the Pacific devour chunks of the California coastline, some of San Clemente’s beaches are growing narrower, the sand increasingly eaten away. Continue reading...
‘Damp squib’: Ed Davey can breathe easy as Lib Dem leadership challenge fails to materialise
Lengthy meeting heard grumbles about ‘blue wall’ policies and ‘Ming vase’ tactics but no real rancour As political showdowns go, this week’s gathering of Liberal Democrat MPs, billed by some as a crunch moment for Ed Davey, was a touch underwhelming. “I had expected a damp squib,” one attender put it. “It was damper than I thought.” Far from generating a mass of opposition to Davey’s leadership, let alone a formal challenge to his position, the lengthy gathering in a Commons committee room on Tuesday evening brought a few minor grumbles, but little else. Continue reading...
Zack Polanski says application of Zionism is racist and no state has right to exist
Green leader in England and Wales calls ‘debates about words’ unhelpful and denies recent motion was controversial Zack Polanski has said Zionism in its current form is racist, that no country has a right to exist and that the controversial Green party motion on the issue was not controversial. The leader of the Green party in England and Wales gave an unapologetic interview to the BBC on Sunday two weeks after his party approved a motion equating Zionism with racism. Continue reading...
Aspiring Reform MP who said ‘you cannot be Muslim and British’ suspended
Jason Powell also backed concentration camps as Reform councillors talk of executing grooming gang members An aspiring Reform UK MP who advocated the use of concentration camps and said “you cannot be Muslim and British” has been suspended from the party. The activist is one of a number featured in an ITV documentary, which will be broadcast in full on Sunday night and has already resulted in fresh questions about Reform’s vetting process. Continue reading...
How Trump’s justice department is testing separation of powers before the US midterms
From the attorney general stumping for Republican candidates to federal agents raiding the home of a Democratic congresswoman up for re-election, the department is violating long-standing norms Donald Trump’s justice department has aggressively inserted itself into the midterm elections in the contest’s final weeks, shattering the department’s longstanding practice of political neutrality and leaving little doubt about the department’s willingness to help should the president attempt to subvert elections where his party is forecasted to lose seats and ultimately control of Congress. In the last few weeks, federal agents have raided the home of a Democratic congresswoman up for re-election. It has touted criminal charges and arrests of non-citizens charged with voter fraud. The attorney general has hit the campaign trail to stump for Republican candidates. And the department gave California election officials 48 hours to investigate the citizenship of 20,000 people, and then sued the state when it refused to comply. The FBI also recently published a video criticizing Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and other Democrats , drawing an immediate rebuke from one watchdog, who said the video “has no place in a democratic society”. Continue reading...
If Trump fells 430 trees in the middle of a golf course, do they make a sound?
In attempting to turn a public space in DC into an enclave for elites, Trump is moving the US capital closer to Graceland When is a tree not a tree? When it’s an obstacle to a par-3. If a tree falls in the middle of a golf course, does it make a sound? Yeah, probably. I wasn’t there, but I have to assume, based on my limited knowledge of the laws of physics. What I do know is that Donald Trump’s crusade to clear more than 400 trees for the purposes of redeveloping East Potomac Golf Links into a championship-level course isn’t happening. For now. Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...
Jordon Steele-John says ‘I’m not on leave’ and accuses Greens leader of making ‘bad call’ regarding complaints
Greens senator for WA says complaints regarding his behaviour towards women not about ‘accountability’ but rather ‘factionalism’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Jordon Steele-John has accused an internal faction within the Greens of playing “nasty political games” and the leader, David Shoebridge, of pressuring him to take leave after complaints about his conduct were made public last week. The 32-year-old Greens senator released a six-page statement on Sunday night after Nine newspapers reported last week that seven former and current party members had demanded an investigation into allegations he had acted inappropriately towards women between 2017 and 2025. Continue reading...
NHS staff who wrongly accessed tiger victim’s records should be sacked, says Yvette Cooper
Health secretary says it is ‘total disgrace’ if staff looked up William Chapman, who died at Yorkshire Wildlife Park NHS staff who inappropriately accessed the medical records of a man mauled to death by a tiger should be sacked, Yvette Cooper said. The health secretary said the incident – which followed reports earlier this year that staff had unnecessarily viewed details about the Southport attack victims and those murdered by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham in 2023 – was a “total disgrace”. Continue reading...
Nottinghamshire police officer in hospital after being shot in the foot
Large cordon in place around Angel Row area of city centre after ‘shocking incident’ in the early hours of Sunday A police officer is in hospital after being shot in the foot in Nottingham in the early hours of Sunday. Nottinghamshire police said the officer had approached two suspects in the city centre when he was struck by a bullet. The force said the two suspects, a woman and a man, fled the scene and were being sought by police. Continue reading...