In New York, Zohran Mamdani showed how it’s done: ‘identity politics’ can win elections | Nesrine Malik

New York’s newly elected mayor rooted his campaign in the personal while, ironically, exemplifying the tradition of the American ‘melting pot’

It is inevitable that too much will be laid on Zohran Mamdani’s head. So large is the vacuum on the left of politics that his victory will occupy an outsized space for progressives beyond New York City. And so, before I lay too much on his head myself, some caveats. New York is a specific place. It has a specific demographic and economic profile. And Mamdani is a man of a specific background, racial, political and religious. But with that out of the way, I think the successful practice of “identity politics” during his campaign offers some universal lessons.

I put identity politics in quote marks because the term now means little that is universally agreed upon. Broadly, it has come to mean something derogatory, kind of in the same way that “wokeness” has. It increasingly has negative connotations: a political appeal to race or other markers of identity that is shallow, rooted in perpetual victimhood, focused only on representation and disconnected from material reality. Seen this way, identity politics is not about universal goals, such as lifting people out of poverty and so mobilising broad coalitions of voters, but simply about visibility.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

Published: November 10, 2025, 6:00 am

‘I enter a room and people say: “God just walked in”’: Morgan Freeman on voicing the divine, meeting Mandela – and his six decades on screen

The 88-year-old actor has appeared in more than 100 films, playing everyone from presidents to prisoners. Here, he reflects on AI’s ‘robbing’ of his voice, not believing in Black History Month – and why he’s nowhere near retirement

In a dishonest age when truth is under siege, media attention shatters into a thousand shards of glass and nothing is quite what it seems, what could be more precious than a voice of authority? Cue Morgan Freeman, an actor who has portrayed a US president, Nelson Mandela and the Almighty, and replaced Walter Cronkite on the voiceover introducing the CBS Evening News. If John Gielgud’s baritone was described as being “like a silver trumpet muffled in silk”, Freeman’s is like rich wood polished to a quiet shine.

It was less God’s gift than the product of hard work, thanks to an inspiring voice and diction instructor at his community college in Los Angeles. “If you’re going to speak, speak distinctly, hit your final consonance and do exercises to lower your voice,” says Freeman, dapper in light jacket , via video call from New York. “Most people’s voices are higher than they would be normally if they knew how to relax it. He taught that sort of thing. It was Robert Whitman: I will never forget him.”

Published: November 10, 2025, 5:00 am

My search for the perfect steak frites in Paris, the staple of French brasserie cuisine

It’s on every prix fixe menu in France, but which restaurant serves up the best incarnation in the capital? I stomped and chomped my way across the city to find out

I once ate seven bowls of ragù bolognese over the course of a single weekend. I was in Bologna, to be fair, and on a mission – to get to the bottom of spag bol (yes, I know it should be served with tagliatelle). A few years earlier, I did something similar with a Polish stew called bigos (a sort of hunter’s stew). I wanted to learn about its variations, its nuances, and I wondered what you could find out about a place if you dived into one dish in particular. In the case of bigos, I gleaned that the Polish are prepared to wait a long time for things to be done.

My friend Tom suffers from a similar obsession (just last month he dropped a dozen scotch eggs on a bank holiday Monday) and so when he said he was heading to Paris to eat multiple steak frites, I wasn’t exactly surprised. He wasn’t just going for a laugh, mind you: Tom runs a pub in London called the Carlton Tavern, and had come to the opinion that his steak and chips could do with a bit of zhooshing up. Hence the recce in Paris. But a man travelling all that way to examine meat and potatoes cannot do so alone, so I volunteered my services.

Published: November 10, 2025, 7:00 am

‘I can’t control how others perceive me’: Sydney Sweeney on boxing, weight gain and her flair for controversy

She ignited a culture war with a jeans advert. Now she has delivered a knockout performance as boxer Christy Martin. Sweeney talks about taking punches in the ring – and in the media

There was much blood and sweat – but few tears – involved in Sydney Sweeney’s transformation into Christy Martin. David Michôd’s biopic of the trailblazing fighter, who hauled women’s boxing into the US mainstream in the mid-1990s, spends much of its runtime recreating Martin’s real-life fights. And she doesn’t always win. I left the screening wondering if I had genuinely just seen Sweeney – whose acclaimed acting career, canny commercial ventures and unwitting contributions to the online outrage cycle have combined to make her one of the world’s most famous women – being mercilessly and repeatedly punched in the head. Turns out I had.

“Oh yeah, they were all real. Every fight that you see, we’re hitting each other,” says the 28-year-old cheerily. “I had concussions, there were some bloody noses.” Were the concussions frightening? “Nah, I loved it! The lady who played Laila Ali” – Muhammad Ali’s daughter, who defeated Martin by knockout in 2003 – “is an actual professional boxer. She’s in the air force and fights for Team USA – she hit hard and it was very, very real. She’s how I got my concussion.” Sweeney felt she truly “became a fighter. It was such an exhilarating feeling. In between takes, I’d be like: ‘I think I won that round!’”

Published: November 10, 2025, 6:00 am

‘The second coming we all deserve!’ Sesame Street goes global at long last

After decades of struggle, the warm-hearted kids’ programme has been rescued by Netflix. This could be the start of a partnership as enduring as Bert and Ernie’s

An entire generation of British adults was raised by Sesame Street. They’re easy enough to spot; they’re kind, they have had that Pointer Sisters pinball counting song as an earworm for four decades, and they were repeatedly told off at school for pronouncing the final letter of the alphabet “zee”.

But this generation is old. The last time Sesame Street was regularly broadcast in the UK was September 2001, when Channel 4 made the decision to replace it with The Hoobs. However, this all changes now. Because Sesame Street has just rolled out on Netflix for the first time.

Published: November 10, 2025, 5:00 am

A year on from Trump’s victory, resistance is everywhere | Rebecca Solnit

Americans have shown a tremendous amount and variety of opposition – more than some may realize

A young white woman in yoga clothes berating masked ICE agents in a parking lot this spring. A pope speaking up again and again for immigrants. Furious judges dressing down the Trump administration and ruling against it time after time after time, in response to the blizzard of lawsuits filed by human rights and environmental groups, states, cities and individuals. A senator speaking nonstop for 25 hours and another flying to El Salvador to find out what happened to his kidnapped constituent. The biggest day of protest in US history as an estimated 7 million people showed up for No Kings on 18 October in small towns and red counties as well as big blue cities.

Weekly protests at Tesla salesrooms earlier this year that succeeded in damaging the brand, depressing global sales and prompting Tesla CEO Elon Musk to retreat from his Doge slash-and-burn project. Federal workers resisting sometimes merely by adhering to law, truth and fact, and sometimes by speaking out as whistleblowers or in protests, as with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff who staged a walkout in late August in solidarity with senior staff who’d just resigned in protest against the health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s anti-vaccine policies.

Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell’s Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility

Published: November 9, 2025, 11:00 am

Senate advances funding bill to end longest US government shutdown in history

The amended package will still have to be passed by the House and sent to Trump for his signature, a process that could take days

The Senate on Sunday made significant progress towards ending the longest US government shutdown in history, narrowly advancing a compromise bill to reauthorize funding and undo the layoffs of some employees.

But the measure, which resulted from days of talks between a handful of Democratic and Republican senators, leaves out the healthcare subsidies that Democrats had demanded for weeks. Most Democratic senators rejected it, as did many of the party’s lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which will have to vote to approve it before the government can reopen.

Published: November 10, 2025, 3:52 am

Israeli soldiers speak out on killings of Gaza civilians

IDF soldiers tell documentary of opening fire unprovoked and arbitrary designations of who was an enemy

Israeli soldiers have described a free-for-all in Gaza and a breakdown in norms and legal constraints, with civilians killed at the whim of individual officers, according to testimony in a TV documentary.

“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” Daniel, the commander of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank unit, says in Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War, due to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday evening.

Published: November 10, 2025, 7:00 am

Syrian president to hold talks with Trump at White House

Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected to push for full lifting of remaining sanctions imposed during 13-year civil war

Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, will on Monday hold talks with Donald Trump at the White House, the first such official visit by a Syrian leader since national independence in 1946. He is expected to push for a full lifting of the remaining sanctions on his war-ravaged country.

Sharaa, whose Islamist rebel forces toppled the longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, has courted the US president to try to reverse the economic restrictions imposed during the 13-year civil war, arguing they are no longer justified.

Published: November 10, 2025, 5:00 am

Rich countries have lost enthusiasm for tackling climate crisis, says Cop30 chief

Brazil’s André Corrêa do Lago says countries should follow China’s lead on clean energy as conference begins

• Cop30: what are the main issues?

• Net zero to NDCs: your Cop30 jargon buster

Rich countries have lost enthusiasm for combating the climate crisis while China is surging ahead in producing and using clean energy equipment, the president of the UN climate talks has said.

More countries should follow China’s lead instead of complaining about being outcompeted, said André Corrêa do Lago, the Brazilian diplomat in charge of the Cop30 conference, which begins on Monday.

Published: November 10, 2025, 5:00 am

BBC resignations are result of internal ‘coup’, says former Sun editor

David Yelland says Tim Davie and Deborah Turness were undermined by people close to BBC board

• BBC director general resigns – latest updates

The resignations of the BBC’s director general and its head of news over claims of bias were “a coup” orchestrated from the inside, a former newspaper editor has claimed.

David Yelland, who edited the Sun from 1998 to 2003, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday that the departures of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness followed the systematic undermining of them by people close to the BBC board over a lengthy period.

Published: November 10, 2025, 8:49 am

Coffee may protect people against irregular heartbeats, US study finds

Trial’s findings go against common beliefs that people with atrial fibrillation should avoid caffeinated coffee

Drinking coffee may protect people against irregular heartbeats, despite the conventional wisdom to the contrary, according to a new study.

The Does Eliminating Coffee Avoid Fibrillation (Decaf) clinical trial found 200 patients with persistent irregular heartbeats had a “significantly” lower risk of the condition recurring if they belonged to the study group that was allocated coffee consumption rather than the one abstaining from it – 47% to 64%.

Published: November 10, 2025, 10:00 am

Trump shares false claim Obama earned $40m in ‘royalties’ from Obamacare

US president promoted fictional claim from satirical website that has been debunked repeatedly since 2017

Donald Trump promoted the false claim that Barack Obama has earned $40m in “royalties linked to Obamacare” in a post to his 11 million followers on Truth Social on Sunday.

The fictional claim that the former US president receives royalty payments for the use of his name to refer to the Affordable Care Act, which he signed into law in 2010, has been repeatedly debunked since at least 2017, when it was featured on America’s Last Line of Defense, a satirical website that produces fake news reports designed to generate engagement from outraged conservatives.

Published: November 9, 2025, 10:09 pm

US sports betting crisis grows as MLB’s Clase and Ortiz indicted over alleged rigged pitches

• Pair could face 65 years in prison if found guilty

• NBA also caught up in its own gambling scandal

The betting crisis in US sports has spread further after Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted over an alleged scheme to rig pitches during games.

Bettors on baseball can gamble on whether individual pitches will be balls or strikes. Prosecutors allege claim that Ortiz was paid $5,000 for throwing an intentional ball during a game on 15 June. His teammate Clase, a three-time All-Star, is alleged to have been given $5,000 for facilitating the rigged pitch, alongside gamblers in the players’ home country of the Dominican Republic. Prosecutors claim the pair did so again in a game on 27 June, receiving $7,000 each.

Published: November 9, 2025, 7:22 pm

Who is ‘fedora man’? Dapper French teenager in viral Louvre heist photo unmasked

Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux was captured looking suave in a picture outside the Paris museum on the day of a crown jewels heist

When 15-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux realised an Associated Press photo of him at the Louvre on the day of the crown jewels heist had drawn millions of views, his first instinct was not to rush online and unmask himself.

Quite the opposite. A fan of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot who lives with his parents and grandfather in Rambouillet, 30km (19 miles) from Paris, Pedro decided to let the mystery linger.

Published: November 10, 2025, 12:59 am

Trump’s assault on voting intensifies as midterms loom: ‘a wholesale attack on free and fair elections’

White House is manipulating voting system, from redistricting to rule changes, to affect midterms

A year out from the 2026 midterms, with Republicans feeling the blows from a string of losses in this week’s elections, Donald Trump and his allies are mounting a multipronged attack on almost every aspect of voting in the United States and raising what experts say are troubling questions about the future of one of the world’s oldest democracies.

While Democratic leaders continue to invest their hopes in a “blue wave” to overturn Republican majorities in the House and Senate next year, Trump and some prominent supporters have sought to discredit the possibility that Republicans could lose in a fair fight and are using that premise to justify demands for a drastically different kind of electoral system.

Published: November 9, 2025, 12:00 pm

Can Donald Trump really make an NFL team name its stadium after him?

The president reportedly wants the new home of the Washington Commanders to bear his name. There are reasons to think he will succeed

That’s if a well-sourced report from ESPN is to be believed. The US president has apparently let it be known to the ownership group of the Washington Commanders that he wants the team’s new stadium, which is scheduled to open in 2030, to take his name. “It’s what the president wants, and it will probably happen,” a senior White House official told ESPN.

Published: November 9, 2025, 4:40 pm

Growth in global demand for ‘green’ office buildings slows amid Trump policies

Fall reported by Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as UN calls for accelerated action in buildings sector to meet global climate goals

The growth in global demand for “green” office buildings has slowed after Donald Trump’s assault on environmental protection policies caused a slump in interest in the US, according to a survey of construction industry professionals.

Building occupiers and investors across North America and South America expressed significantly lower growth in demand for green commercial buildings, a shift that “seems to be in response to a change in US policy focus”, according to a survey of members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). Reported demand across the rest of the world also fell, albeit not as sharply.

Published: November 10, 2025, 12:01 am

Trump’s dollar delusion: how trade war risks ending the US’s ‘exorbitant privilege’

Trump’s team flirts with weakening the dollar, threatening US influence, low borrowing costs and global stability

Magical thinking is indispensable to understanding Team Trump’s economic policymaking. The White House often seems to believe two opposing policies can work together while one policy can do two or three contradictory things.

A heavy dose of hocus pocus will be needed to make the administration’s dollar policy work in the interest of the United States, for it appears that they want to end the US dollar’s supremacy in global finance.

Published: November 9, 2025, 11:00 am

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: why should I be afraid of Donald Trump?

Exclusive: Ukraine’s leader dismisses reports his last Washington meeting was volatile, and praises King Charles for helping build ties with US president

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is not “afraid” of Donald Trump unlike other western leaders and dismissed reports that their last meeting in Washington was volatile, adding that he had good relations with the US president.

He also said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian that King Charles had helped build relations with Trump and described the British monarch as “very supportive” of Ukraine.

Published: November 9, 2025, 6:00 pm

‘The tigers are hungry’: endangered but deadly, the world’s largest big cat is sowing fear in Siberia’s villages

The spread of African swine flu among the wild boars the animals eat has led to the deadliest winter for attacks on people in the Russian region for decades – and a spike in tiger killings

The attacks seemed to come from nowhere. At first, the tigers snatched guard dogs on the edge of villages in Russia’s far east, emerging from the forest at night to prey. Others went for livestock, going after horses and cattle.

Then the attacks on people began. In January, an ice fisher was mauled at night and dragged away by a big cat, just weeks after a forester had been killed. In March, another man was attacked and partly eaten by a tiger. It was the deadliest winter for tiger attacks in Siberia for decades.

Published: November 10, 2025, 7:00 am

Investors’ ‘dumb transhumanist ideas’ setting back neurotech progress, say experts

Fascination of investors such as Elon Musk with uploading their brains to computers is hindering progress in curing disease, say scientists

It has been an excellent year for neurotech, if you ignore the people funding it. In August, a tiny brain implant successfully decoded the inner speech of paralysis patients. In October, an eye restored sight to patients who had lost their vision.

It would just be better, say experts, if the most famous investors in the space – tech magnates such as Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman – were less interested in uploading their brains to computers or merging with AI.

Published: November 10, 2025, 5:00 am

Waiting for the all-clear: how medics and villagers rallied when Ebola returned to DRC

If no new cases are reported in Bulape by early December, the country will have vanquished its 16th outbreak of the deadly virus since it was discovered there in 1976

His two-year-old daughter died first, then his mother, then his wife. But Bope Mpona Héritier still had no idea what illness had taken their lives. Then the 25-year-old also began to develop symptoms. When his blood was tested and sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, the results confirmed he had the Ebola virus.

“I felt pain everywhere,” he says. “I had a migraine, a sharp pain in my eyes and throat, and I was vomiting. I couldn’t eat anything because I had no appetite, so I lost a lot of weight.”

Published: November 10, 2025, 5:00 am

‘Such a tonic’: why Burn After Reading is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers remembering their most rewatched comfort film is a tribute to the Coens’ playful star-packed comedy

The opening credits suggest a work of serious intrigue: a view of Earth from outer space zeroes in on the east coast ot the US and zooms into what’s revealed to be a large building complex nestled in woodland – what we’ll soon learn is CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia – to a soundtrack of propulsive, thundering percussion. From here, it will only gradually become apparent that there is no great mystery to the film, Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2008 spy thriller pastiche Burn After Reading, its characters instead set to chase phantoms, walk down blind alleys and, ultimately, learn nothing at all.

In one of the Coens’ noir-inflected knotted plots, Washington DC gym workers Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt) happen upon a disc containing the raw memoir of former CIA analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) – what Chad deduces is “highly classified shit” – and decide to try blackmailing the ex-spook for its return. Meanwhile, Linda begins a dalliance with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a paranoid US marshal who’s also having an affair with Osborne’s wife Katie (Tilda Swinton).

Published: November 10, 2025, 10:00 am

Is it true that … the harder you work out, the more you sweat?

Sweat levels can be misleading, and factors such as age, sex, humidity and even your clothes all make a difference

It seems like common sense: if you leave a fitness class looking as though you’ve just ridden a log flume, you’ve probably worked harder than if you’re barely glistening. But that’s not always the case, says Adam Collins, a researcher from the Centre for Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism at the University of Bath.

Sweating, he says, is part of the thermoregulation process. When your body temperature rises, it signals to your brain to sweat in order to cool you down. As the sweat evaporates, it helps regulate your core temperature.

Published: November 10, 2025, 8:00 am

A new start after 60: I found my feet in midlife, became a park ranger at 85 – and retired happily at 100

At 104, Betty Reid Soskin has had the most extraordinary life, from protest singing to civil rights activism to meeting the Obamas. She reflects on what it takes to stay strong and keep going

Betty Reid Soskin was 92 when she first went viral and became, in effect, a rock star of the National Park Service. She was the oldest full-time national park ranger in the US – this was back in 2013; she’d become a ranger at 85 – but she had been furloughed along with 800,000 other federal employees during the government shutdown. News channels flocked to interview her. She was aggrieved not to be working, she told them; she had a job to do.

“In a funny way, I suppose that started lots of things,” Soskin says. Her memoir, Sign My Name to Freedom, was published in 2018, and a documentary about her work, No Time to Waste, was released in 2020. Another film is in the works. Barack Obama called her “profoundly inspiring”. Annie Leibovitz photographed her. Glamour magazine named her woman of the year. Now, Reid Soskin is 104, and “all of whatever I was supposed to do, I’ve done”, she says.

Published: November 10, 2025, 7:00 am

Michelle Obama dishes the secrets behind her most famous outfits: best podcasts of the week

The former First Lady hosts an absorbing new show about her fashion evolution. Plus, Katy Davis explores ‘waiting’ – whether it’s for a bus or an imprisoned lover

Published: November 10, 2025, 7:00 am

Why do people love spicy food – even when it hurts to eat it?

Tearing up, sweating and other bodily functions are all signs that the body is trying to expel spicy foods as quickly as possible. But there is a simple reason why some people enjoy those sensations

The first thing to understand about eating spicy food is that it really isn’t a matter of taste. Capsaicin, the active chemical in capsicum plants that are a key ingredient in anything you’d think of as “spicy”, evolved as an irritant to stop mammals from chewing and destroying plant seeds. It acts on the nervous system directly through receptors in the tongue, throat and skin – no taste buds required – and, in theory, tells our bodies that the thing we’ve just ingested is something to get rid of as soon as possible. The obvious question, then, is: why do some of us like the sensation so much?

To start to understand that, it’s helpful to know a bit more about what’s going on in the body. “Think of an engineering brief where we have to detect irritants in a system and clear them rapidly,” says Liam Browne, an associate professor at UCL who specialises in the neuroscience of sensory perception and pain. “Capsaicin binds to a receptor in the body called TRPV1, which is found in a specialised class of neurons called nociceptors that usually detect things that are potentially damaging to the body.” When that happens, it’s like a little fire alarm goes off and activates parts of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates various involuntary bodily functions without conscious control. “That’s what leads to all these physiological effects like tearing up, sweating, or your nose running,” says Browne. “It’s your body trying to get rid of the irritant.”

Published: November 10, 2025, 9:00 am

The BBC is facing a coordinated, politically motivated attack. With these resignations, it has given in | Jane Martinson

The corporation should have stood up to the Telegraph, Trump and the Tories. Now, its enemies know how little it takes for it to fold

The resignation of the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, over accusations of bias comes as a shock and leaves a gulf at the top of the corporation when it needs leadership most. Davie stressed that the decision was his alone – neither the board, nor even many of those who led the coordinated attack among rightwing press and politicians expected it.

Now the resignations of both Davie and the CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness, have shown that baying for blood gets results.

Jane Martinson is professor of financial journalism at City St George’s and a member of the board of the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian Media Group. She writes in a personal capacity

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.

Published: November 9, 2025, 7:38 pm

As a palliative care specialist, I’ve witnessed the human tragedy of our end-of-life care crisis | Rachel Clarke

While the government debates assisted dying, palliative care is an afterthought. And many more people face death without the care and support they need

A baby, in Britain, in 2025, takes its stuttering final breaths. All deaths in infancy are harrowing. But the fact that this particular death might have been prevented – had neonatal care not depended so heavily on charity, had the NHS not failed to fund more than two-thirds of the healthcare babies need – is unforgivable.

Mercifully, the dystopian scenario I’ve just described does not exist in the UK today. Although paediatric care is undeniably overstretched, it is at least regarded as a core, bedrock NHS service.

Dr Rachel Clarke is an NHS specialist in palliative medicine and the winner of the 2025 Women’s prize for nonfiction

Published: November 10, 2025, 8:00 am

In Sweden, online hate and anti-immigrant extremism are driving women out of public life | Martin Gelin

A leading liberal politician has quit in fear of her physical safety. It is a crushing setback for democracy in one of the world’s most open societies

Shortly after the first TV debate in the campaign for next year’s Swedish election, there was a startling announcement. Anna-Karin Hatt, the leader of the Centre party, the standard-bearer for liberal centrism in Swedish politics, announced her resignation, citing an unbearable number of threats and harassment.

Hatt was an emerging voice in Swedish politics, but had been able to lead the Centre party for only five months before she made a speech announcing that she felt forced to leave her job for the safety of her family. Her speech was short on specifics, but she referred to clear physical threats “not just from trolls behind a screen, it has come much closer than that”. She said she felt obliged to look over her shoulder in public spaces and no longer felt safe in her own home.

Martin Gelin is a journalist and author. He writes for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter

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.

Published: November 10, 2025, 5:00 am

I’m as capitalist as they get but Medicare for all is the best hope for US healthcare | Gene Marks

With the US government shut down over impending rises to insurance premiums, it’s clear the status quo cannot continue

Deductibles. In-network. Out-of-network. Concierge medical services. Out-of-pocket expenses. Co-payment. Co-insurance. Benefit advisers. Insurance brokers. Healthcare consultants. ACA. HMO. PPO. EPO. POS. HDHP. HSA. FSA. HRA. EOB. COBRA. SHOP. Single coverage. Dependent coverage. Premium tax credits.

Confused? You should be. Who understands all this stuff? Not the typical business owner. Nor the typical employee. Choosing the right healthcare insurance for our business – or for our families – seems like it requires a PhD in healthcare.

Published: November 9, 2025, 3:00 pm

US states must stop the power shutoffs during the shutdown | Edward J Markey and Mark Wolfe

Americans are choosing between heating their homes and putting food on the table. Officials and utilities can prevent this

As the stalemate over government funding and healthcare benefits continues, winter is approaching – but federal heating assistance, blocked by the shutdown, isn’t arriving in time. Millions of American families are about to face an impossible choice: heating their homes or putting food on the table. As the senator for a state known for its volatile winters and as executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, we call on states and utilities to choose a different outcome for those families and shut off the shutoffs. A nationwide freeze on utilities’ ability to disconnect customers from heat for nonpayment isn’t about politics – it’s about public safety.

The breakdown in federal budget negotiations has frozen the release of funding for many of the essential services families rely on nationwide, including the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (Liheap). Liheap helps struggling households keep their heat and lights on by helping eligible families pay their utility bills. With those dollars locked up in Washington gridlock, America’s seniors and working families are now at risk of losing power – just as temperatures start to plummet.

Edward J Markey represents Massachusetts in the United States Senate and is a long-time advocate for affordable energy, consumer protection, and climate action. Mark Wolfe is an an energy economist and serves as the executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, representing the state directors of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and co-director of the Center on Climate, Energy and Poverty

Published: November 9, 2025, 1:00 pm

If you’re feeling anxious, take a moment to pause before pouring that glass of wine | Diane Young

Anxiety can disrupt relationships, affect sleep and lead to harmful coping behaviours. Early awareness is crucial

• The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work

When Mia*, 35, walks into my office, she looks composed and ready to start her day fresh with a counselling session. But having seen Mia for almost half a year now, I know she masks the truth behind her polished facade, and I notice the subtle tension in her shoulders that gives it away.

Mia tells me that the night before, she had poured herself “just one glass of wine” to unwind after a long day. One glass became two, then three. It’s a pattern she has grown used to; a quiet ritual that helps her “switch off” from the racing thoughts that flood her mind when the day finally slows down.

Published: November 9, 2025, 2:00 pm

The Guardian view on the assault of Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum: when a president is groped, no woman can feel safe | Editorial

A shocking incident should become an opportunity to address broader problems of misogyny

What does the experience of women at the top tell us about the rest? Those most vulnerable to sexual harassment, assault and abuse are, unsurprisingly, those who have less power or are treated with less respect: undocumented migrants; women in precarious employment; women with disabilities; LGBTQ women; young women and girls.

Paradoxically, that helps to explain why the assault of Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, has drawn such outrage domestically and internationally. A drunken man tried to kiss her neck and grabbed her chest as she spoke to citizens in the capital’s streets. It is the proof, captured on camera, that no woman is safe. You can be the most powerful person in the land and a man will still feel entitled to grope you, in front of the world, because you are a woman. When you object, some will complain that you are taking it too seriously, or that it is all made up. As Ms Sheinbaum herself remarked: “If they do this to the president, then what will happen to all the young women in our country?”

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.

Published: November 9, 2025, 5:30 pm

Trump booed at Commanders NFL game before calling plays from Fox broadcast booth

• President greeted with jeers by many fans at game

• Trump has appeared at several sports events this year

Donald Trump became the first sitting US president in nearly 50 years to attend a regular-season NFL game when he dropped in on the Detroit Lions’ win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

There were boos from large sections of fans, as well as scattered cheers, at the Commanders’ Northwest Stadium when Trump was shown on the screens late in the first half – and again when the president was introduced by the stadium announcer at halftime. The Washington DC area has strong Democratic support, while Trump’s cuts to the government have affected many workers in the vicinity of the Commanders’ stadium. Sunday was not the first time Trump has received a hostile reception from a Washington sports crowd: he was greeted with ‘lock him up’ chants at the Washington Nationals’ home stadium during the 2019 World Series.

Published: November 9, 2025, 11:44 pm

NFL roundup: Dolphins shock Bills as Texans stage record comeback against Jags

• Miami end seven-game losing streak against Buffalo

• Houston score 26 points in final quarter to secure win

Tua Tagovailoa threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns, De’Von Achane added a pair of rushing scores and the Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills to end a seven-game losing streak against their AFC East rivals. The Bills (6-3) had not lost to Miami (3-7) since Week 3 of the 2022 season but came out flat on Sunday.

Achane finished with 225 scrimmage yards and fourth-quarter touchdowns of 59 and 35 yards. Tagovailoa completed 15 of 21 passes with two interceptions to give him a league-leading 12 picks this season. It was also the most dominant performance of the season for Miami’s defense, which had three takeaways and three sacks. Josh Allen threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns, with an interception and fumble, but was replaced by Mitchell Trubisky after Achane’s second TD put the Dolphins up by 17 with three minutes left.

Published: November 9, 2025, 9:55 pm

Manchester City make title statement as Haaland and Doku sweep Liverpool aside

It was all about which of these rivals could capitalise on Arsenal’s draw at Sunderland on Saturday, who could make a statement about their intention to chase down the Premier League leaders? It was Manchester City who cleared their throats and made it plain that they are in this race for the long haul. Liverpool barely got a word in.

The table looks a lot more appealing for Pep Guardiola and his players now, City only four points behind Arsenal, and it was an occasion when they blew Liverpool away. They could shrug off the inconvenience of Erling Haaland missing a controversially awarded 13th-minute penalty to put on a show of strength, particularly in the first half.

Published: November 9, 2025, 6:50 pm

Norris boosts title bid with F1 São Paulo GP win as Verstappen charges to third

• McLaren driver opens 24-point lead over Oscar Piastri

• Kimi Antonelli second, Verstappen powers through field

Max Verstappen had declared disconsolately that his world championship hopes should be forgotten as he went into the São Paulo Grand Prix. Yet after another masterclass in Brazil he defied the odds in taking third from a 19th-place start in the pit lane. It was an extraordinary drive, even as Lando Norris delivered a perfect weekend with a win at Interlagos and in so doing staked a claim to having one hand on the title.

Norris’s victory was without doubt that of a champion in waiting as he managed a tense and high‑pressure victory from pole position to extend his world championship lead over his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, who finished fifth. Norris gave a performance of precision and control exactly when it was required to put real daylight on his two title rivals.

Published: November 9, 2025, 7:21 pm

NWSL playoffs: Gotham stun top-seeded KC Current with extra-time winner

• Washington Spirit top Racing Louisville on PKs

• Orlando Pride brush aside Seattle Reign

Katie Stengel scored the winning goal and helped to clinch a shock 2-1 victory for NJ/NY Gotham FC over the top-seeded Kansas City Current in the quarter-finals of the National Women’s Soccer League playoffs on Sunday.

The Current were the top seed in the playoffs, having finished first in the NWSL regular season standings with a league record 65 points. Gotham finished eighth with 36 points and were the lowest seed in the postseason. It is just the second time a visiting team has defeated the Current at CPKC Stadium, which was opened in 2024. The loss ends an 18-match unbeaten streak at home for the Current.

Published: November 9, 2025, 10:01 pm

Lewis Hamilton laments ‘nightmare’ first season driving for Ferrari

• Briton forced to retire on lap 37 of São Paulo GP

• Hamilton yet to make podium with Scuderia

Lewis Hamilton has branded his first season at Ferrari as a “nightmare” after he endured another trying weekend, forced to retire from the São Paulo Grand Prix in a year when he has been frustrated and disappointed as he attempts to adapt to his new team.

“It’s a nightmare,” Hamilton said. “I’ve been living it for a while. The flip between the dream of driving for this amazing team and then the nightmare of the results that we’ve had. We are just really having to fight through those hardships at the moment.

Published: November 9, 2025, 9:57 pm

America’s men’s grand slam drought is not Taylor Fritz’s burden to carry

Back at the ATP finals one year after reaching the last hurdle, Fritz remains a top-five talent. It’s a reminder that a certain major-title drought is not his burden to bear

I would like to have some words with ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler about what he said after Novak Djokovic beat Taylor Fritz, for the 11th straight time, in the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is American – and sports often lend themselves to nationalism. A little bit of disappointment was appropriate. Instead, Fowler invoked the continued drought of American men at the majors: none of them had lifted a trophy since Andy Roddick in 2003, and Fritz had been the last one standing in the tournament.

We all love a narrative, myself included. But come on. Even if Fritz had beaten Djokovic for the first time, force of nature Carlos Alcaraz was waiting in the next round, who Fritz has yet to beat in an official match. And if he’d somehow survived that, it would have been defending champion Jannik Sinner in the final, against whom Fritz had lost 10 of the last 11 sets. Alcaraz and Sinner had also split the last seven major titles (and Alcaraz went on to thrash a fatigued Djokovic in the next round). Fritz said in press after the loss that he actually liked his draw, because it presented the opportunity to beat the three best players in the world in succession. Fritz is more than within his right to aspire to the accomplishment; an athlete is meant to believe in themselves. But going into that Djokovic quarter-final who else in their right mind had the drought of American champions on the brain?

Published: November 9, 2025, 9:00 am

Two dead and more than a million displaced after super typhoon Fung-wong slams the Philippines

More than 1.4 million people were evacuated across the country as the storm triggered flash flooding, landslides and gale-force winds

Super typhoon Fung-wong has blown through the Philippines, leaving at least two dead, 1.4 million people evacuated and widespread damage in its wake.

More than 1.4 million people were evacuated across the country as the storm triggered flash flooding, storm surges, landslides and gale-force winds, Philippine authorities said on Monday.

Published: November 10, 2025, 3:44 am

Fury as Indonesia declares late authoritarian ruler Suharto a national hero

Former leader presided over period marked by corruption, nepotism, censorship and claims of rights abuses

Indonesia has awarded former authoritarian leader Suharto the title of national hero, in a move that has sparked accusations of historical revisionism in the world’s third-largest democracy.

The award has deepened fears about attempts to whitewash Suharto’s rise and decades-long rule, a period marked by rampant corruption, censorship and accusations of mass human rights violations.

Published: November 10, 2025, 8:56 am

Defiant Sarkozy says prison life is ‘very hard’ as he seeks release from jail – Europe live

Former president is seeking to be released pending his appeal against a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy

If Sarkozy gets released with an ankle tag, it won’t be his first: Reuters notes that last year, France’s highest court upheld a separate conviction for corruption and influence peddling, ordering him to wear an electronic tag for a year, a first for a former French head of state. The tag has now been removed.

In his closing arguments, reported by BFM TV, Sarkozy is reported to have lamented that his life in prison was “hard, very hard,” or “even say it’s gruelling,” as he once again insisted he was innocent.

Published: November 10, 2025, 10:00 am

Ghislaine Maxwell reportedly ‘much happier’ after prison transfer by Trump officials

Jeffrey Epstein associate, serving 20 years for sex-trafficking crimes, is now in minimum-security federal prison in Texas

Longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, has reportedly said that she is “much, much happier” after the Trump administration transferred her to a minimum-security federal prison in Texas, according to emails obtained by NBC News.

Maxwell, 63, was moved from a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas in August – just days after she was interviewed about the Epstein case by deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche. Blanche is a former personal lawyer for Donald Trump, who had been friends with the late Epstein – a convicted sex offender – before winning two presidencies.

Published: November 9, 2025, 6:07 pm

No link between paracetamol in pregnancy and autism or ADHD in children, review finds

Wide-ranging review finds no convincing connection after Trump said women should ‘fight like hell’ to avoid painkiller

A wide-ranging review into paracetamol use by pregnant women has found no convincing link between the common painkiller and the chances of children being diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

Publication of the work was fast-tracked to provide prospective mothers and their doctors with reliable information after the Trump administration urged pregnant women to avoid paracetamol – also known as acetaminophen or Tylenol – claiming it was contributing to rising rates of autism.

Published: November 10, 2025, 12:01 am

North Carolina police officer fatally shot in hospital emergency room incident

Campus police officer Roger Smith was killed during a struggle and a ‘person of interest’ is in custody, police say

A police officer was shot and killed during a struggle in the emergency department lobby at a North Carolina hospital on Saturday.

The shooting happened around 9am at the WakeMed Garner Healthplex, killing WakeMed campus police officer Roger Smith, according to a WakeMed statement.

Published: November 9, 2025, 2:31 pm

Three dead and 15 hurt after rough seas pull people into the ocean in Tenerife

Two men and a woman died in separate incidents after sudden sea surges battered the Spanish island

Three people have died and at least 15 were injured in separate incidents linked to rough seas battering the Spanish island of Tenerife pulling several people into the ocean, emergency services said.

A rescue helicopter airlifted a man who had fallen into the water at a beach in La Guancha, a municipality in the north of the island, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Published: November 9, 2025, 11:32 am

Trump claims the national guard makes cities safer. Birmingham halved its homicide rate all on its own

Local observers cite a reversal of social dynamics, a revitalized police department and violence intervention

The national conversation about crime is being driven by rhetorical attacks – and national guard call-ups – by Donald Trump, who routinely demonizes places like Chicago, Washington DC, Portland and even New York City, which has a lower homicide rate than Orlando, Florida, home to Disneyland.

Somehow, we don’t talk about Birmingham.

Published: November 9, 2025, 1:00 pm

California’s drying Salton Sea harms the lungs of people living nearby, say researchers

Experts suspect that dust from the sea contains endotoxic bacteria membranes caused by fertilizer runoff

Chemical-laden dust from southern California’s drying Salton Sea is likely harming the lungs of people around the shrinking body of water, and the effects are especially pronounced in children, new peer-reviewed research from the University of California, Irvine, shows.

A separate peer-reviewed study from the University of California, Riverside, also found the Salton Sea’s contaminated dust seemed to alter lung microbiome, which could trigger pulmonary issues that have been reported around the lake.

Published: November 9, 2025, 1:00 pm

More than 1 million evacuated in the Philippines as Typhoon Fung-wong makes landfall

At least two people found dead as super-typhoon hits Philippines, days after Typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 224

More than 1 million people have been evacuated from their homes in the Philippines and at least two people have been killed as Typhoon Fung-wong – the second big storm to hit in days – made landfall on the east coast.

The super-typhoon crossed over the north of the archipelago’s most populous island, Luzon, with torrential rain, sustained winds of 115mph (185km/h) and gusts of up to 140mph (225km/h).

Published: November 9, 2025, 7:20 pm

‘Existential and urgent’: what impact will ICJ climate ruling have on Cop30?

Decision by international court of justice hailed as a gamechanger for climate justice and accountability

In July 2025, the international court of justice delivered a landmark decision that clarified that all states were bound under international law to tackle the human-made climate crisis, which the judges unanimously concluded posed an “urgent and existential threat” to the planet’s life-sustaining systems and therefore humanity itself.

The ICJ advisory opinion built on rulings from hundreds of climate lawsuits across the world over the past decade or more, and added further legal weight to strong decisions from the inter-American court of human rights in July 2025 and the international tribunal on the law of the sea in May 2024.

Published: November 9, 2025, 3:36 pm

Drax still burning 250-year-old trees sourced from forests in Canada, experts say

Exclusive: report by Stand.earth says subsidiary of power plant received truckloads of whole logs at biomass pellet sites

Drax power plant has continued to burn 250-year-old trees sourced from some of Canada’s oldest forests despite growing scrutiny of its sustainability claims, forestry experts say.

A new report suggests it is “highly likely” that Britain’s biggest power plant sourced some wood from ecologically valuable forests as recently as this summer. Drax, Britain’s single biggest source of carbon emissions, has received billions of pounds in subsidies from burning biomass derived largely from wood.

Published: November 9, 2025, 8:00 am

Amid squabbles, bombast and competing interests, what can Cop30 achieve?

Climate summit in Brazil needs to find way to stop global heating accelerating amid stark divisions

“It broke my heart.” Surangel Whipps, president of the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, was sitting in the front row of the UN’s general assembly in New York when Donald Trump made a long and rambling speech, his first to the UN since his re-election, on 23 September.

Whipps was prepared for fury and bombast from the US president, but what followed was shocking. Trump’s rant on the climate crisis – a “green scam”, “the greatest con job ever perpetrated”, “predictions made by stupid people” – was an unprecedented attack on science and global action from a major world leader.

Published: November 9, 2025, 6:00 am

They flew to New York to help Mamdani – now they want to bring the hope to LA

Activists in Los Angeles say the energy from the Hollywood strikes has been reignited by the success of the mayor-elect

While the excitement for mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has radiated through New York, his win has also energized young activists across the country – particularly some in Los Angeles, who flew to the east coast to canvass for Mamdani and now want to bring their experiences westward.

Standing near the poll site at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Neda Davarpanah – a screenwriter and actor based in Los Angeles – was inspired by Mamdani’s campaign for mayor so she flew out to New York in late October to canvass on the Upper East Side.

Published: November 9, 2025, 5:00 pm

Utah’s oldest LGBTQ+ bar closes amid workers’ union push: ‘We feel extremely disposable’

Workers at the SunTrapp – opened in 1973 in Salt Lake City – claim the shuttering was a ‘stunt’ to prevent unionization

Salt Lake City’s oldest and longest-running LGBTQ+ bar has closed, with workers claiming the shuttering was a “stunt” to prevent unionization.

The SunTrapp, widely considered the oldest LGBTQ+ bar in Utah was founded in 1973 and is one of the few safe havens for the community. It shut on 31 October after workers pushed to unionize.

Published: November 9, 2025, 12:00 pm

Maggots in the meals, glass in the rice: Indonesia’s free school meals tainted by food poisoning

Thousands of cases of food poisoning have been linked to programme launched with fanfare by the president, Prabowo Subianto

Rini Irawati feared the worst when she found her teenage daughter Nabila pale and barely breathing in an emergency centre in Indonesia’s West Java. “My heart was shattered,” Rini said.

After consuming one of the government’s free school meals this October, 16-year-old Nabila and 500 other students at schools in her area became violently ill. “I’ve seen nothing like it, even during Covid-19,” said Aep Kunaepi, who works at the shelter Nabila was taken to before she was admitted to hospital for three days.

Published: November 10, 2025, 12:30 am

James Watson obituary

Nobel prize-winning biologist whose discovery, with Francis Crick, of the structure of DNA solved the mystery of genetic inheritance

James Watson, who has died aged 97, had an extraordinary gift for science, combined with ruthless ambition and an arrogant disregard for most of his peers. These combined qualities earned him a key role in one of the 20th century’s most profound scientific revolutions, a share in a Nobel prize, a bestselling memoir, a place in science history and the anger of many of his colleagues.

With Francis Crick, at Cambridge University in 1953, Watson discovered the structure of the giant molecule DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid, found in almost every living cell – and demonstrated that all inheritance, and even life itself, could be explained by chemistry and physics. The discovery revealed new horizons in evolutionary, biological, medical, archaeological, conservation and criminal sciences, and launched an industrial revolution, all within the working lifetime of the discoverers.

Published: November 9, 2025, 12:10 pm

‘It seemed like quite a do’: why East Grinstead hosts one of Scientology’s glitziest evenings

Last week, 7,000 people – including Tom Cruise – descended on the West Sussex town for an event that divides local opinion

In the nearly 30 years that Diane Juchau has lived in East Grinstead, not many days live as long in the memory as the day she saw Tom Cruise on the high street. “I saw him a couple of years ago walking past Iceland,” she said.

It may seem like a once-in-a-lifetime anecdote but, this week, Cruise was back – and, when the purpose for his visit was revealed, the chance sighting of the Mission: Impossible star in a West Sussex town makes a lot more sense.

Published: November 9, 2025, 6:00 am

Ukraine facing widespread power cuts after generating capacity reduced to ‘zero’ by Russian attacks

Power to be cut for as much as 16 hours a day across most of Ukraine while repairs are carried out

Power will be cut for between eight and 16 hours across most regions of Ukraine on Sunday, state transmission system operator Ukrenergo has said, after Russian attacks targeting energy infrastructure reduced the country’s generating capacity to “zero”.

Moscow, which has escalated attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure in recent months, launched hundreds of drones at energy facilities across the country from Friday into Saturday, which killed at least seven people, according to Ukrainian officials.

Published: November 9, 2025, 5:23 am

Bread of Angels: A Memoir, by Patti Smith review – a wild ride with the poet of punk

Smith’s incantatory voice shines through in this surprisingly revelatory follow up to Just Kids and M Train

The post-pandemic flood of artist memoirs continues, but Patti Smith stands apart. The poet who wrote punk into existence before pivoting to pop stardom then ghosting fans to raise a family has, in the 21st century, leaned into literature and music with such vitality it has become hard to say which medium suits her better. It hardly matters. At 78 years old, Smith lives and breathes both.

Her latest memoir follows the tightly focused coming-of-age story Just Kids, published to great acclaim in 2010, and 2015’s more ruminative M Train. Bread of Angels splits the difference to create a more conventional autobiography. It could be described as Just Kids’ prequel and sequel, moving from Smith’s hardscrabble childhood to the near-present, where a striking twist takes the narrative back to her literal conception. It’s one of a number of revelations about an artist whose story would otherwise seem, by now, well-chiseled into the tablets of rock history.

Published: November 10, 2025, 7:00 am

Bad Bridgets podcast about crime among Irish women in US inspires film

Margot Robbie’s company to make movie based on Northern Ireland academics’ stories of poverty and prison

It started as a trawl of dusty archives for an academic project about female Irish emigrants in Canada and the US by two history professors, a worthy but perhaps niche topic for research.

The subjects, after all, were human flotsam from Ireland’s diaspora whose existence was often barely recorded, let alone remembered.

Published: November 9, 2025, 3:00 pm

100 Meters review – mesmerising anime of young athletes in search of physical and spiritual high

Dazzling rotoscoped running sequences make up for a lack of narrative subtlety in Kenji Iwaisawa’s film

Much has been written about the act of running, a therapeutic exercise with the potential for cathartic release. Within the context of professional sports, however, the pressure of competition can make people lose sight of this ultimate goal. Adapted from the eponymous manga, Kenji Iwaisawa’s mesmerising anime looks beyond trophies and medals to investigate the existential drive that spurs an athlete’s ambition.

100 Meters follows Togashi and Komiya, childhood friends whose life paths diverge when they go pro. Formerly the fastest grade-schooler in Japan, Togashi helps the less self-assured Komiya with the basics. As the pair enter their teens and their 20s, Komiya steadily accelerates up the ranking of top athletes, while Togashi is stuck in a slump; both battle anxieties and insecurities. Spanning more than 15 years, the story tracks their internal hurdles, laying bare the struggles of an athlete’s life, locked in a cycle of public scrutiny, performance expectations and sponsorship demands.

Published: November 10, 2025, 9:00 am

‘We never had much fun – we were angry’: Eve Libertine on life with anarcho-punk pioneers Crass

Accused of obscenity and sued by police and Tory MPs, Libertine outraged the establishment as part of Crass. Now she’s back – and she hasn’t mellowed with age

‘Things haven’t changed,” sighs Eve Libertine as she contemplates her new album. “All those songs are as relevant as they ever were.” The album in question, Live at the Horse Hospital, shows no sign that one of punk’s most anti-establishment figures is mellowing with age. Recorded at one blistering London live show in April 2024, Libertine collaborated with Chilean guitarist Eva Leblanc, reimagining tracks from Libertine’s back catalogue including ones from her time singing with 1970s anarcho-punk pioneers Crass. Produced by Crass founder Penny Rimbaud, it treads a path between performance art, experimental music and earth ritual; with her strident operatic tones, Libertine sounds like a soothsayer foretelling an apocalypse. It’s not an easy listen, but that was never the case with Crass, either.

“We never had much fun, to be honest,” Libertine says. “It was really heavy going at times. We were angry; we were trying to say things in a way that was confrontational and shocking to get a reaction. And we definitely did.”

Published: November 10, 2025, 8:00 am

‘Anastacia is a big inspiration for me – raspy, raw and heartfelt’: Ella Eyre’s honest playlist

The singer was inspired by her mum’s love for Basement Jaxx and spent 69p on Jamiroquai, but what does she put on when she’s feeling down?

The first song I fell in love with
The first song that I remember really feeling inspired by was Good Luck by Basement Jaxx. My mum had all their CDs. Good Luck was the first song I sung for my managers before they took me on board, so I still have a big love for it.

The first single I bought
My mum gave me money to go and buy Feels Just Like It Should by Jamiroquai for 69p from HMV in Oxford Circus. It was the first time I’d bought a physical CD.

Published: November 9, 2025, 9:00 am

Rebecca Clarke review – composer of spirited chamber music and songs finally gets her due

Wigmore Hall, London
In a deftly curated programme, youthful compositions rubbed shoulders with music from her most productive period, the 1920s

Among the plethora of female composers finally receiving their due in recent years, Rebecca Clarke stands out for sheer quality and consistency of inspiration. Born in 1886, she studied with Stanford, worked with Vaughan Williams and, as a virtuoso violist, became one of the first professional female orchestral players in London. Relocating to the United States, her output declined, but her spirited chamber music and more recently her rediscovered songs, have proved fertile ground for today’s performers.

In a deftly curated programme, the culmination of a Wigmore Hall Clarke study day, youthful compositions rubbed shoulders with music from her most productive period, the 1920s. Ailish Tynan opened proceedings, her soaring soprano and snappy diction illuminating songs that suggested the influence of Vaughan Williams. Ravel, in Orientalist mode, hovered over settings of Chinese poetry, perfect material for Kitty Whately’s fresh, flaming mezzo-soprano with its cushioned lower register. Ashley Riches’ warm baritone embraced Clarke’s memorable melody for Yeats’ Down by the Salley Gardens while raising a smile in The Aspidistra, a melodramatic song about the calculated murder of a pot plant.

Published: November 10, 2025, 7:00 am

Poem of the week: Leaves by Frederic Manning

A landscape of illusory peace is depicted just before the guns of battle reach it in the first world war

Leaves

A frail and tenuous mist on baffled and intricate branches;
Little gilt leaves are still, for quietness holds every bough;
Pools in the muddy road slumber, reflecting indifferent stars;
Steeped in the loveliness of moonlight is earth, and the valleys,
Brimmed up with quiet shadow, with a mist of sleep.

Published: November 10, 2025, 10:07 am

The man who shot Al Capone: Jun Fujita’s Chicago – in pictures

Disasters, riots, gangsters and construction … early 20th-century Chicago is seen here through the lens of the pioneering Japanese-American photojournalist, poet and artist Jun Fujita. His life and work is covered in Behind the Camera by Graham Harrison Lee, published by Hat & Beard Press, with an accompanying exhibition planned in Los Angeles next year

Published: November 9, 2025, 7:00 am

The kindness of strangers: a man I’d just met helped me land the job that changed my life

Because he’d gone to the trouble of setting it up, I went to the interview – even though I didn’t have a visa

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

In the late 1980s, I was setting off on a backpacking trip to Europe with a friend. They were interested in doing a master’s degree in New York, so we’d booked a two-week stay in the Big Apple on the way to London.

We arrived at the postgrad residence, a big 10-storey building on the Upper West Side called International House which had been set up by Rockefeller to house postgraduate students. We dropped our bags and went straight to the canteen, where we grabbed food, took a seat and started talking to other diners.

Published: November 9, 2025, 2:00 pm

Eight winter clothing essentials Scandinavians swear by – from heated socks to ‘allværsjakke’

Brace for the cold with these clever accessories made and tested by people who know long, dark winters

• Winter is coming … but don’t panic! 54 expert tips on getting through the cold, dark months ahead

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Scandinavians know how to dress for forbidding weather. The long Scandinavian winter, which typically stretches from November until late March, demands layers of clothing and plenty of protection against the cold. While temperatures can plummet to -30C (-22F) farther north in Sweden and Norway, winters farther south in Sweden, Norway and Denmark tend to be milder and wetter, requiring breathable materials that also withstand rain.

Moving abroad to the UK and then returning to Sweden, I realized how underdressed people were outside Scandinavia. It became even more obvious after having kids and noticing how we always try to dress them appropriately, including several layers of clothing that are finished off with a pair of thick shell pants.

Published: November 9, 2025, 6:15 pm

This is how we do it: ‘The sex is so good I walk around with a ridiculous smile on my face’

Claudine and John both found a new lease of life on dating apps – and now put time aside to do things properly

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

With John there’s never any pressure, unlike in my old relationship

Published: November 9, 2025, 11:00 am

The nut secret: 14 easy, delicious ways to eat more of these life-changing superfoods

A handful of nuts a day can help manage obesity and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and some kinds of cancer. Yet most of us don’t get enough. Here’s a no-fuss guide to getting your 30g a day

How often do you eat nuts? The planetary health diet, introduced in 2019 and updated last month, recommends that everyone eat a portion every day (unless you have an allergy). Alongside eating more fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, and fewer animal products and sugary foods, this could help prevent 40,000 early deaths a day across the world, as well as slash food-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet according to Prof Sarah Berry, the chief scientist at Zoe, many don’t eat any nuts at all. In the UK, the average consumption is 6g a day. Romanian researchers found higher levels of nut consumption in Canada, some African countries and some regions of Europe and the Middle East, and lower levels in South America. But overall, they said: “Consumers may not have a comprehensive understanding of the multiple benefits that nuts might bring.”

Published: November 9, 2025, 4:00 pm

‘You Britons go to the pub, we go to the swimming pool!’: the European health habits worth adopting

Daily swims, power naps and five meals a day – not tips from the latest hit wellbeing podcast, but longstanding traditions that have kept generations healthy in Iceland, Ukraine, France and more …

Iceland: swimming pool culture

Published: November 9, 2025, 6:00 am

Anti-ageing trousers? There really is no fashion or beauty claim too wild

According to a neuroscientist, our brains are hardwired to keep falling for the latest beauty fads. It’s a booby trap too many of us fall down – and I should know

Kim Kardashian once admitted that if someone told her eating faeces every day would make her look younger, “I just might”.

I’d like to think I wouldn’t go that far, but yesterday I clicked on the link for an article about anti-ageing trousers, so if the theory behind it was convincing enough, who knows.

Published: November 9, 2025, 5:00 am

She left her desk job and walked 3,541 miles from Mexico to Canada: ‘Give yourself permission’

Jessica Guo hiked 30 miles a day, becoming the first woman to continuously hike two historic US trails in a calendar year

Jessica Guo had only slept for two-and-a-half hours on an overnight bus when she arrived at the Mexico-US border near Lordsburg, New Mexico, in April. Out of the window she saw a flat, shadeless landscape. First-day jitters had Guo questioning what she was doing there.

The former consultant had left corporate America to attempt something no woman had completed: a single, continuous hike of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) and the Great Divide Trail (GDT) in one calendar year.

Published: November 9, 2025, 2:00 pm

Can you solve it? Two dead at the drink-off – a brilliant new lateral thinking puzzle

Who poisoned who?

Today’s puzzle is credited to Michael Rabin, the legendary computer scientist, who in the late 1980s posted it to an electronic bulletin board at Carnegie Mellon University.

It has recently been brought to light by a puzzle enthusiast who thinks it deserves to be better known. I agree – it’s an all time classic.

Published: November 10, 2025, 7:10 am

What we lose when we surrender care to algorithms | Eric Reinhart

A dangerous faith in AI is sweeping American healthcare – with consequences for the basis of society itself

The computer interrupted while Pamela was still speaking. I had accompanied her – my dear friend – to a recent doctor’s appointment. She is in her 70s, lives alone while navigating multiple chronic health issues, and has been getting short of breath climbing the front stairs to her apartment. In the exam room, she spoke slowly and self-consciously, the way people often do when they are trying to describe their bodies and anxieties to strangers. Midway through her description of how she had been feeling, the doctor clicked his mouse and a block of text began to bloom across the computer monitor.

The clinic had adopted an artificial-intelligence scribe, and it was transcribing and summarizing the conversation in real time. It was also highlighting keywords, suggesting diagnostic possibilities and providing billing codes. The doctor, apparently satisfied that his computer had captured an adequate description of Pamela’s chief complaint and symptoms, turned away from us and began reviewing the text on the screen as Pamela kept speaking.

Published: November 9, 2025, 2:00 pm

Remembrance Sunday and a Pride parade: photos of the weekend

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Published: November 9, 2025, 2:07 pm