The last time there was a panic about women not having kids, it was because we were smashing glass ceilings. Now many young people simply can’t afford to start familiesDorothy Byrne, the president of Murray Edwards College at the University of Cambridge, has warned students not to leave it too late to have a baby. It is an all-female college, of course, otherwise this would make no sense: no one would ever tell a man when to sire young, because it would be considered intrusive and unnecessary. Also, Charlie Chaplin, huh? Remember how old he was when he had his youngest? What a top dog.This was a huge preoccupation in the 90s – that women were going to forget about having kids until it was too late. Then, as now, it was rooted in fears about the birthrate and the average age of first-time mothers. (The birthrate last year was 1.53 for each woman, down from 2 in 2000, which is striking.) It used to drive me mad, partly because it is the most incredible pain to be a fertile woman. People are constantly in your grill, telling you what decisions you should make and when, what to eat and drink, whom to shag. It is completely draining. Continue reading...

The Tories assumed that people from less wealthy countries were desperate to come to the UK for work – that wasn’t the caseThe Conservatives are trying to draw a new dividing line in British politics: wages versus immigration. Boris Johnson used his speech at last week’s conference to position the Tories as the party of higher wages, promising a departure from the UK’s old economic model, which he claimed used “uncontrolled” immigration as “an excuse for failure to invest in people, in skills and in the equipment or machinery they need to do their jobs”.The logic is brutal but simple. Johnson is attempting to recast a supply chain crisis caused partly by shortages of HGV drivers and agricultural workers as temporary pain in the service of long-term gain. In this new telling, the shortages will wean the UK off low-skilled immigrant labour that once came via EU freedom of movement, thus fulfilling one of the key promises of Brexit.Daniel Trilling is the author of Lights in the Distance: Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe and Bloody Nasty People: the Rise of Britain’s Far Right Continue reading...

The real estate heir avoided justice for 40 years but now the charges could begin to pile upFor years, the wheels of justice moved so slowly against Robert Durst, the New York real estate heir with a trail of dead bodies dotting his improbably charmed life, that his victims’ family and friends feared he’d never pay the consequences.Now, though, it’s open season. After Durst’s first murder conviction last month – the culmination of a sensational trial in Los Angeles featuring close to 40 years of devastating evidence – prosecutors and civil litigators are working at lightning speed to haul him back to court any way they can. Continue reading...

Hundreds of protesters led by Indigenous activists have demonstrated in front of the White House to demand that Joe Biden stop approving fossil fuel projects and declare the climate crisis a national emergency. The rally was held for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Police moved in to break up the protest near the White House and made several arrests

Greg Abbott’s move comes as Biden administration set to issue federal vaccine rules for employers with more than 100 workersThe Texas governor, Greg Abbott, issued an executive order Monday to prohibit any entity, including private business, from enforcing a Covid-19 vaccine mandate on workers and called on state lawmakers to pass a similar ban into law.The move comes as the Biden administration is to issue rules requiring employers with more than 100 workers to be vaccinated or test weekly for the coronavirus. Several major companies, including Texas-based American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, have said they would abide by the federal mandate. Continue reading...

Identification and determining cause of death could take weeks, San Bernardino county sheriff’s department saidOfficials searching for a missing 30-year-old New Jersey woman in the California desert said they had found human remains this weekend, though identification could take weeks.“The San Bernardino county sheriff’s department conducted an additional search and rescue operation in the ongoing search for Lauren Cho,” the San Bernardino county sheriff’s department said in a press release on Sunday. “During the search, unidentified human remains were located in the rugged terrain of the open desert of Yucca Valley.” Continue reading...

US Department of Agriculture defends its agents’ killing of the pups, part of a pack adopted by a high school in 2003Conservationists in Idaho are speaking out against the “inhumane” killings of eight wolf pups that were part of a pack adopted by a high school since 2003.The killings were discovered after biologists who tracked the pack noticed its den was empty this spring. Obtaining a “mortality list” from the state department of fish and game, conservationists realized that agents from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had killed the pups. Continue reading...

No seismic activity detected and no cause has yet been identifiedA massive boom heard and felt by many in New Hampshire and Massachusetts mystified residents and had officials working to understand its cause.On Sunday morning, the New York Times reported, residents reported hearing what sounded like an explosion and feeling a large jolt. Many thought it had been an earthquake. Continue reading...

In the 2020 election cycle, pharmaceutical political action committees suddenly funneled more money to her than they did the whole six years she served in the US House“The pharmaceutical lobby is very savvy,” Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat from California, said earlier this week. “They pick the one or two people they need to block things, on the relevant committees or at the relevant time.”“It may differ from Congress to Congress,” explained Khanna, who is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “We try to get 90-95% [of the caucus]. They are focused not on 90% , but the blockers.”There’s a gentleman in Mesa, Arizona, who is lucky enough to be insured. But he has seen the price of his medication, to treat a serious lung condition, increase nearly five times in just one year … He’s looked, but there are no generics available that could offer him any financial relief. A woman from Glendale, Arizona, worries about her husband who has a serious heart condition. But his medication costs more than $500 out-of-pocket for a three-month supply. So he refuses to fill his prescription, because he’s worried about how it would impact their family financially. Another Arizona woman struggles to afford her specialty cancer medication. Even though her medication is a generic, she still has to pay thousands of dollars out-of-pocket. And often spends hours on the phone just to understand the unexpected cost increases, and to research payment assistance options. And this, of course, is unacceptable.David Sirota is a Guardian US columnist and an award-winning investigative journalist. He is an editor-at-large at Jacobin, and the founder of the Daily Poster. He served as Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign speechwriterAndrew Perez is a senior editor at the Daily Poster and a cofounder of the Democratic Policy CenterThis article was originally published in the Daily Poster, a grassroots-funded investigative news outlet Continue reading...

House select committee ready to urge action, says Schiff. Plus, Succession’s Alan Ruck on bouncing back

Some observers believe passage of the reconciliation bill would be a fitting coda to her decades-long political careerAmid Democrats’ contentious negotiations over the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, was able to distract Capitol Hill reporters for a few minutes with her use of a certain C-word.“I just told members of my leadership that the reconciliation bill was a culmination of my service in Congress because it was about the children,” the Democratic speaker said at a press conference late last month. Continue reading...

When their kicker missed an extra-point in a shootout with the Browns it looked like Los Angeles would fold again. But this year they have an MVP candidateThe scenario was familiar. A promising Los Angeles Chargers team was playing its heart out in a back-and-forth battle – this time with the Cleveland Browns. The “home crowd” at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles was teeming with Browns fans, another reminder that the Chargers play second fiddle in their own town. No matter which team you were rooting for though, the fourth quarter was mesmerizing.The Chargers took a 28-27 lead to open the quarter when Justin Herbert found a wide-open (to put it mildly) Mike Williams for a 42-yard score. Then the Browns took a one-score lead when Baker Mayfield fired a 71-yard shot to TE David Njoku and executed the two-point conversion. Los Angeles tied it 35-35 with an ensuing Austin Ekeler touchdown run. But back came Cleveland to take a 42-35 lead on a Kareem Hunt score. With 4:45 left, Brandon Staley’s squad would again have to find an answer. Continue reading...

Joe Manchin and Henry Cuellar’s districts have high rates of poverty and income inequality but they are holding up a crucial bill in Congress that would benefit working-class AmericansSeveral of the leading Democrats in Congress who have stood in the way of Joe Biden’s $3.5tn budget package, which includes popular provisions widely expected to help working-class Americans, have taken that stance despite representing districts that have some of the highest rates of poverty and income inequality in the country.The lawmakers, including Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas, are resisting a progressive agenda due to their own centrist instincts and strategy for political survival. Continue reading...

The NFL returns to London after a two-year hiatus and award-winning Guardian photographer Tom Jenkins saw all the best of the action as New York Jets took on the Atlanta Falcons at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Continue reading...

Party whip asked three times by Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace to disavow Donald Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ about electoral fraud

White House medical adviser tells CNN vaccinated Americans will be able to get out and enjoy Halloween

Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, Steve Bannon and Kash Patel all defying subpoenas under instruction from Trump

Democrat’s commitment to bipartisanship and reluctance to explain position on Biden spending plans contribute to mounting frustrations – and a possible primary challengeMoments after the Senate voted in an unusually bipartisan way to advance a $1tn infrastructure deal, Kyrsten Sinema hobbled on a broken foot to a press conference to mark the occasion. At the podium, the Arizona Democrat was greeted by Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio with whom she had led negotiations over how to repair ageing roads and bridges and broadband networks.“You go first,” Sinema whispered. Continue reading...

Minimum global corporate rate of 15% agreed by 136 countries as Yellen also says US will raise debt ceiling on 3 DecemberThe US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said on Sunday she was confident Congress would approve legislation to implement the global corporate minimum tax agreed by 136 countries.Yellen told ABC’s This Week actions to bring the US into compliance with the global minimum tax would likely be included in the so-called reconciliation budget bill containing Joe Biden’s proposed spending initiatives. Continue reading...

White House joins condemnation of Republican Mark Robinson over comments on children, homosexuality and transgenderismThe Republican lieutenant governor of North Carolina has said he will not resign or back down over remarks in which he called transgenderism and homosexuality “filth”.Mark Robinson, the first African American to hold the post, made the remarks in question at Asbury Baptist church in Seagrove, North Carolina, in June. Continue reading...

This was one of the great heavyweight fights but also a warning to the champion that boxing gets everyone in the endAfter one of the great fights in heavyweight history was all over, Tyson Fury lent over the ropes and said a silent prayer. The world champion had just knocked out Deontay Wilder in the 11th round of a tumultuous contest and his arms pressed down on the ropes as he bowed his 6ft 9in frame in relief and gratitude. Fury’s gloves were off but his hands were still covered in their sweat-sodden wraps. He laced his fingers together in a familiar old ritual for the victorious Gypsy King.As he prayed, Fury also cried. His brother Shane, a big shaggy bear of a man, covered the champion’s bald head with his hand. It was a gentle and comforting gesture which confirmed how clearly he understood that his big brother had come through some dark and testing moments before Fury again dominated Wilder. The American had shown immense bravery and, at least until the final round, he kept trying to unleash one last shattering punch to rescue himself from defeat. The fact that he had come close to stopping Fury in the fourth round, when the champion went down heavily twice, drove on Wilder until all his valiant resistance was eventually beaten out of him. Continue reading...

Labor is in short supply, so it’s more expensive. It’s simple economics and hankering for pre-pandemic times won’t helpThere is a significant shortage of labor across the United States. Yes, federal unemployment Covid payments ran out after Labor Day. But still, many workers are reluctant to return to work, wary of their health and safety as the Delta variant continues to rage. Many are looking to switch jobs amid reports of the “great resignation” and employers are desperate to do whatever they can to retain workers as demand continues to remain strong.As a result, job openings are at a historic high and small businesses across the country are begging for workers. So what happens when the demand for a critical commodity is high and the supply of that commodity is in short supply? It’s simple economics: prices go up. Wages are going up. Continue reading...

The Boston Marathon is taking steps to ensure unsung Black and brown running heroes will receive overdue recognition and runners of color will feel more welcome to the communityAs Beantown prepares for its globally followed annual signature event on Monday, spectators and runners may notice the Boston Marathon pushing past a new kind of wall.The change with the oldest contested marathon in the world is made even more dramatic by the race’s return to a live event after a two-and-a-half-year pandemic hiatus. Continue reading...

Tyson Fury said his win over Deontay Wilder on Saturday cemented his standing as the best fighter of his generation before slammed his American opponent for being a 'sore loser'. Fury got up from two fourth-round knockdowns and stopped Deontay Wilder in the 11th round, retaining his WBC title in a thrilling conclusion. Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) finished Wilder for the second straight time in their trilogy of fights, but only after a wild back-and-forth bout featuring five combined knockdowns.

Lyrics on her new album explain the end of her marriage. She wonders how her son will react to hearing themDivorced parents across the country felt a guilty pang of recognition last week as Adele broke five years of silence to talk to Vogue about her new album, inspired by the end of her marriage. She and her ex-husband, Simon Konecki, have a nine-year-old son, Angelo, and Adele says the lyrics in some of her new songs are really for her boy, because he doesn’t understand why she had to break up with his dad.“I just felt like I wanted to explain to him, through this record, when he’s in his 20s or 30s, who I am and why I voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of my own happiness,” she told the journalist Giles Hattersley, in a burst of brutal honesty. “It made him really unhappy sometimes. And that’s a real wound for me that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to heal,” she added, laying bare the knife in the heart that so many separated parents quietly feel. The knife that we put there ourselves. Ouch. Continue reading...

The Observer’s investigations into Facebook in 2018 exposed a toxic culture. But still the business thrived. That might be about to changeA whistleblower standing before Congress. A global scandal involving Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg missing in action and a series of lesser executives spinning wildly on US television networks. So far, so 2018. Because last week, we had 2018: the remake. A week that started for Facebook with a six-hour global outage and ended with one of its most trenchant critics, the American-Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, being awarded a Nobel prize. And in the middle of it, a whistleblower captured the attention of America.“How is your PTSD?” I texted Chris Wylie, Cambridge Analytica’s former director of elections. Because three years ago, he was the whistleblower in the spotlight in the Observer’s investigations into Facebook. Continue reading...

Little did they know that ‘boomeranging’ back home would change the way they saw their parents, foreverWhen David and Linda Ellis sent their daughter Juliette, the youngest of their three children, off to college in 2019, they figured they had become empty-nesters for good. In short order, the couple downsized from their family home in Raleigh, North Carolina, to a much more manageable three-bedroom apartment rental nearby. Little did the Ellises know that, in under a year’s time, two of their three adult children would once again join them under the same roof.After their school and work went remote in March 2020, Juliette Ellis and middle brother Gregory flew in from their respective posts in Vancouver and Brooklyn to wait out the uncertainty of Covid-19 with Mom and Dad. The eldest Ellis son, Justin, remained a short drive away in nearby Chapel Hill. Continue reading...

Affluent suburb bids to become its own city to reduce taxes and crime – but critics say proposal would mean ‘a race to the bottom’A controversial plan to split Buckhead, an upscale district of Atlanta, from the Georgia city faces a number of expensive hurdles, according to those who oppose a move that has been come to be known as “Buckxit”.A group of influential residents of Buckhead, backed by Republicans in the state senate, are attempting to make the affluent suburb its own city, separating it from Atlanta. Continue reading...

These unaccountable bodies hold increasing sway over US government. Their abuses of power affect us allThe week’s news has been dominated by the supreme court, whose term began on Monday; the Federal Reserve, and whether it will start responding to inflation by raising interest rates; and Facebook, which a whistleblower claimed intentionally seeks to enrage and divide Americans in order to generate engagement and ad revenue.The common thread is the growing influence of these three power centers over our lives, even as they become less accountable to us. As such, they present a fundamental challenge to democracy. Continue reading...

How could pop’s most glamorous star even consider leaving increasingly dreary Britain for a life in the sun?Kylie Minogue has revealed that after 30 years of living in the UK, she is moving back to Australia, the country of her birth. “I’ve had friends call me, my friend at my local restaurant was like, ‘Kylie, what do you mean? You can’t go’,” she told Zoe Ball on Radio 2, saying that she couldn’t believe the public reaction to her decision.If you listened hard enough, past midnight, you may have heard wailing and weeping on the breeze, as fans on dancefloors across the land shuffled sadly to Can’t Get You Out of My Head and asked why. Why, Kylie, why? Why are you leaving us? Continue reading...

Catholic Pelosi, who has urged judges to block new Texas law, has come under fire from some US bishops over abortion rights supportNancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, met Pope Francis in Rome on Saturday.A Catholic, Pelosi has come under criticism from some bishops in the US for her support for abortion rights. Continue reading...

Contrary to what the senator says, there’s absolutely nothing ‘entitled’ about expecting a government to care about the people it representsJoe Manchin is on a mission to save the United States from becoming an “entitlement society”. The West Virginia senator has become a household name thanks to his attempts to ensure the Democrats achieve absolutely nothing whatsoever in the next few years; in particular, he’s been fighting to shrink the price tag of the Biden administration’s 10-year social spending package from $3.5tn to $1.5tn. He’s been very vague about what policies he wants to cut from the Build Back Better bill, he just keeps repeating the fact that he doesn’t want Americans to become entitled.Arwa Mahdawi’s new book, Strong Female Lead, is available for pre-order Continue reading...