Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice
Punish Prince Andrew? This is no meritocracy, I’m afraid – you get the royal family you didn’t vote for | Marina Hyde

After years of drip-fed revelations, we might as well face it. This is a family elevated by birthright: they’re stuck with him and so are we

Reading the extract from Virginia Giuffre’s tragic memoir in the Guardian this week, I was struck again by the fate of each of those people involved in that infamous photograph taken at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London house.

The teenage girl at the centre of the picture is dead, having taken her own life at a remote Australian farmhouse earlier this year, unable to outrun her trauma. The person who took the photograph is dead, having somehow killed himself in a New York jail while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking. The grinning woman in the background is in prison herself, exalting Donald Trump’s impeccable purity in the hope of getting moved to a nicer jail or even pardoned. And the smiling lunk with his arm round the teenage girl – who he denies he had sex with later that evening – is living in a 30-room mansion on a 98-acre estate (which even his monarch brother reportedly doesn’t know how he pays for), joshing away at family funerals, and just sort of … riding it out, each time another of his lies about this story is exposed. That, truly, is the royalty bonus. Don’t call it a doghouse! It’s a dogpalace.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:55:10 GMT
Tummy-flipping kisses and a chlamydia love story: TV’s best ever romcoms

To celebrate the return of charming hit Nobody Wants This, romcom superfans like Russell T Davies and Jack Rooke pick their favourite shows. Prepare to be swept off your feet!

It’s perfect, that’s all. It’s got the perfect meet-cute (boob, crashed car, injured dog); the perfect combination of realism and romance (especially for non-romantics like me); the perfect heroine (neither the hot mess nor the manic pixie dream girl we are so often forced to accept); the perfect hero (laid-back but not lazy, older but not creepy, patient, not a pillock) and perfect writing.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:00:17 GMT
Broken promises and political crises: how Emmanuel Macron fell from French favour

The president is seen to have accelerated the financial crisis, social inequalities and the rise of the far right

Three French governments have collapsed in less than a year, and the political crisis looks likely to continue, overshadowing Emmanuel Macron’s last 18 months in power and his domestic legacy.

This week, the latest minority government narrowly survived its first vote of no confidence. But it remains the weakest cabinet in decades and could be toppled at any moment if opposition parties join together to oust it. France faces a brutal two-month battle in parliament to achieve what once seemed the most basic element of governance: passing a budget.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 14:43:39 GMT
Overconsumption and ruin: before and after images visualise how tech could harm our planet

From Venice to the Iguazu Falls, an exhibition in London illustrates the hidden cost of our gadgets and devices

Artists have created visualisations of the impact of the climate crisis on some of the world’s most recognisable landscapes, in a project to highlight the environmental effects of tech consumption.

Venice in Italy, the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil, and the Seine River in Paris were among the locations used to explore to potential impacts of the climate crisis by the end of the century. The results are on display at an exhibition in London.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:46:48 GMT
A decade of despair: Manchester United’s long winless run at Anfield

Ruben Amorim travels to Liverpool on Sunday trying to become the first United manager to earn three points at their bitter rivals’ home since Louis van Gaal in early 2016

The only Manchester United victory of the past decade came when Marouane Fellaini’s header powered Juan Mata’s cross on to the bar and Wayne Rooney hooked the rebound in on 78 minutes to give the visiting Evertonian a particular thrill. Victory lifted Louis van Gaal’s team to fifth, and sank Jürgen Klopp’s team to ninth. Yet by the summer the Dutchman was sacked despite May’s FA Cup final triumph after United finished fifth, missing out on fourth on goal difference. In June Klopp, who guided Liverpool to eighth in his first part season in charge, signed a new six-year deal. “His leadership will be critical to everything we hope to achieve,” said the club.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:00:16 GMT
Millennial dads are experiencing something mums have known for a long time | Gaby Hinsliff

Men want to be active, engaged parents, but many are being torn apart by the competing demands of family and work

Can men really have it all? It’s a ridiculous question, obviously; a loaded assumption that women spent years clambering out from under. Mothers have worked long and hard to dispel the myth that anyone should be able to single-handedly juggle a job, children, a happy relationship and a meaningful life without ever breaking sweat or (more pertinently) needing help.

And to some extent we have succeeded, judging by a survey of 5,000 UK fathers published this week by the charity Working Families which found three-quarters now say they genuinely want to share the parenting load equally with their partners. Except, it seems, the outside world has yet to catch up.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 05:00:02 GMT
China threatens UK with ‘consequences’ over delayed London mega embassy

Diplomatic tensions escalate amid rows over planning hold-ups and collapse of spying trial

Tensions between Britain and China have escalated after Beijing criticised further delays to a planning decision on its proposed “mega embassy” in London.

China’s ministry of foreign affairs expressed “grave concern and strong dissatisfaction” after Steve Reed, the housing secretary, pushed back his final decision on the proposal until 10 December.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:50:20 GMT
No 10 says talks happening ‘at pace’ across government to lift ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending Aston Villa match – live

Fans of Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv banned from match at Aston Villa next month

Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MP who is now a member of the Independent Alliance in parliament, alongside Ayoub Khan and four others, has also defended the Maccabi ban on the grounds that Israeli teams should not be competing in international sport. She says:

Next UEFA must ban all Israeli teams.

We cannot have normalisation with genocide and apartheid.

Apartheid South Africa was banned from the Olympics for 32 years.

The same people who called Nelson Mandela a “terrorist” now say we can’t boycott apartheid Israel.

There are two distinct issues. One is the safety aspect … If the police in West Midlands find it challenging because they simply do not have the resources to ensure safety, then that’s one aspect.

The second aspect is a moral argument that Maccabi Tel Aviv should not even be playing in this international competition.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 15:40:37 GMT
Legal challenge to Palestine Action ban can go ahead, court rules

Judges reject Home Office attempt to block judicial review of group’s proscription under Terrorism Act

A legal challenge to the ban on Palestine Action can go ahead next month after the court of appeal rejected the Home Office’s attempt to block the case.

In a blow to the government, on Friday, three judges, led by the lady chief justice, Sue Carr, upheld Mr Justice Chamberlain’s decision to grant the Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori a judicial review of the group’s proscription under the Terrorism Act.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 14:05:06 GMT
Trump-Putin phone call dims Kyiv hopes for US Tomahawk missiles

Call between US and Russian leaders results in Trump softening stance on Moscow and talk of meeting in Hungary

Vladimir Putin’s surprise phone call to Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to undercut Ukrainian hopes of receiving Tomahawk missiles as Volodymyr Zelenskyy heads to Washington to meet the US president and discuss the issue.

The Ukrainan president is due to meet Trump in the White House for lunch on Friday. After strikingly voicing his frustrations with Putin in recent weeks and hinting that he was ready to supply Zelenskyy with Tomahawk missiles – a weapon long sought by Kyiv that would give it its longest-range strike capability yet and bring Moscow within reach - Trump on Thursday night appeared to row back.

Continue reading...
Fri, 17 Oct 2025 11:41:30 GMT

This page was created in: 0.22 seconds

Copyright 2025 Oscar WiFi

This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to the use of cookies. If you want to know more or withdraw your consent to all or some of the cookies, please refer our Cookie Policy More info