On Friday 28 February 1970, around 500 women, many clutching sleeping bags and babies, arrived at Ruskin, the trade union college in Walton Street, Oxford, for the first national gathering of the Women’s Liberation Movement. I was part of a small ad hoc group that had helped organise the conference, though the heaviest weight had […]
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Millions of Chinese ordered back to work but infection risk remains high
The Chinese authorities are trying to usher the country back to work, a month after announcing the unprecedented quarantine of millions of people. But they face a difficult balancing act between containing the virus and supporting a faltering economy. Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province, the centre of the outbreak, have been the focus of disease […]
Read MoreSocial care crisis risks ‘two-tier’ blow to the poor, ministers warned
The growing crisis in adult social care risks creating a “system for the rich” that leaves poor communities unable to access the essential help they need, ministers are being warned. Two care homes are closing for every new facility that opens as providers attempt to stay afloat amid a multibillion-pound shortfall in funding. However, evidence […]
Read MoreComic capers in Bologna, magic mushrooms and farewell to the fridge | Rachel Cooke
Italian comic capers Does Italian have an equivalent of the expression “la France profonde”? I wondered about this as I walked around Bologna, a city where tourists are so relatively thin on the ground I was able to commune with an altarpiece by Giotto undisturbed by any other human being for a full 10 minutes […]
Read MoreHospital ‘bed blocking’ numbers hit highest level since 2017
The number of patients stuck in hospitals because they could not be transferred is at its highest quarterly level since 2017, reversing years of progress amid ongoing crises in health and care services. “Delayed transfers of care” – often known as “bed blocking” – rose in the mid-2010s as austerity hit council-run adult-care services, meaning […]
Read MoreDie another day: however ugly the figures, Aston has survived again
Sitting behind the wheel of Aston Martin’s new luxury SUV in Wales last week, Prince Charles was marking his own anniversary with the carmaker. It is 50 years since the Queen gave him an Aston Martin Volante for his 21st birthday – a half-century in which fortunes for both the prince and the company have […]
Read MoreThe big picture: at home with Mr and Mrs Picasso
David Douglas Duncan, who died in 2018 aged 102, came to think of himself as the luckiest photographer alive. In February 1956 he travelled from his home in the United States to Cannes in the hope of photographing the world’s most famous artist, Pablo Picasso. Duncan had been a distinguished photojournalist with the US marines […]
Read MoreThe Call of the Wild review – a remake with little bite
Jack London’s 1903 Yukon-set adventure novel has been adapted for screen on numerous occasions. Various versions have starred, among others, Clark Gable, Charlton Heston, Richard Dreyfuss and now Harrison Ford in the role of grizzled prospector John Thornton. They have also, until now, generally featured a dog in the role of Buck, the pampered Californian […]
Read MoreVexed by James Mumford review – provocative plea for political nuance
Brendon Kaluza-Graham was born in Spokane, Washington, to parents who were just 14 and 16. His life was split between his separated mother and father and both sets of grandparents, before he was killed, aged 25, by a single bullet to the back of the head. It was fired from a 9mm handgun, as he […]
Read MoreWine, cycling, art, cuisine: village life and a cool guesthouse south of Bordeaux
Arriving in Sauternes feels like landing in the middle of a French feel-good movie. You roll into the village, some 40km south of Bordeaux, along winding roads that run past meticulously tended vines bordered by low stone walls – and wish you were in an open-top car. You park by a 12th-century church with a […]
Read MoreCan Mike Bloomberg come back from his Democratic debate debacle?
After spending nearly half a billion dollars on advertising that portrays him as a pioneering leader, a man who would be a unifying, inspirational presence in the White House, Michael Bloomberg finally got the chance this week to sell himself, live, to a nationwide audience. It didn’t go well. Instead of Wednesday’s Democratic debate showing […]
Read MoreIdlib’s despair won’t end bloodshed in Syria. It will provoke a rebel fightback | Hassan Hassan
Outsiders can be forgiven for being tired of the Syrian conflict. After all, the violence has lasted for nearly a decade and the worst chapters – for outsiders, at least – have come and gone: Islamic State (Isis) seized almost half the country, in addition to one-third of Iraq and launched a global network of […]
Read More‘It was so emotional’: the duo who helped rapper Dave stun the Brits
Amber Rimell and Bronski were in their studio when a call came through last December. The 21-year-old rapper, Dave, had been asked to perform at the Brit awards. He wanted to play the piano and perform his song Black. Could the two creative directors help make it an unforgettable moment? On Tuesday evening, wearing a […]
Read MoreSunday with Russell Tovey: ‘I don’t have the cooking thing in me’
Do you set an alarm? There’s no need, the dogs wake me. It’s like being a parent with all the feeding, entertaining and pooing. A slow morning? A nice breakfast somewhere fancy – Hoi Poloi under Shoreditch’s Ace Hotel or the Curious Yellow Kafe in Hoxton – although I always end up ordering scrambled eggs. […]
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A Polish Olympian Aimed to Join Team U.S.A. Things Got Ugly.
As an 11-year-old in Poland, Aleksandra Shelton saw her mother competing in a fencing competition on television. Intrigued by the sport and the allure of also appearing on TV someday, she built a saber fencing career that far surpassed her mother’s aspirations. A decade later, Shelton won a bronze medal at the 2003 world championships. […]
Read MoreWhat’s the catch? British fishermen’s hopes and fears for Brexit deal
Neil Watson was eight or nine when his dad took him out to sea for the first time. Soon he was earning his first pocket money by washing fish boxes on the quay at Brixham in south Devon. Three years after he started crewing, he got his skipper’s ticket and eventually he bought his own […]
Read MoreDon’t wait for festival season for a neon glow | Funmi Fetto
At this point in the year, wearing acid-hued makeup seems inappropriate – shouldn’t we at least wait until Coachella? And then, of course, there’s the age restriction. Right? Well, actually, not so fast. This modern neon, as seen at the Jonathan Cohen SS20 show, has “beauty for all” – people and seasons – popping all […]
Read MoreThe Observer view on domestic violence | Observer editorial
In Australia, a national outcry over domestic violence has been sparked by the murder of Hannah Clarke, 31, and her three young children, burned to death by her husband and their father, former rugby league player Rowan Baxter, 41, who then stabbed himself to death. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics has reported […]
Read MoreA return to Plot 29 | Allan Jenkins
I rushed the rehab. Regretting it now. It was the enforced helplessness I was fighting. Snowdrops are out. Crocuses, too. Jeffrey’s daylilies are a half a foot tall. His daffodils are in flower. Spring’s call is insistent. My exile is over. Baby steps were needed. The first couple of times I just sat and stood […]
Read MoreCharity clearly doesn’t begin at home for Jeff Bezos | Kenan Malik
Last year, Amazon gave $5m to homeless charities in Seattle. The city has the third largest homeless population in the US. So, who could argue with Amazon owner Jeff Bezos’s philanthropy? Well, the homeless of Seattle probably could. In 2018, the city council voted unanimously to introduce a $275-per-employee tax on large employers as a […]
Read MoreUK flood defence plans are inadequate, warn scientists
More investment in flood defences and improved planning for future disasters are urgently needed, scientists have warned. They predict that the number of extreme wet days – which have already increased this century – will continue to rise in the coming decades and will bring even greater devastation than that experienced this month after Storm […]
Read MoreMore female cabinet ministers would benefit all women | Torsten Bell
There was a lot of cabinet reshuffling recently but moving ministerial deckchairs didn’t have huge repercussions for the representation of women – the number went down from eight to seven, but their share of cabinet jobs went up as some posts got axed. In fact, we’ve been stuck with at best 30% of the cabinet […]
Read MoreThe Observer view on the government’s immigration plans | Observer editorial
“Britain is open for business,” Alok Sharma, the new business secretary, declared in an article last week extolling the virtues of the government’s new immigration proposals. Yet just the previous week the government had tried to press ahead with deporting 50 men it described as guilty of “very serious offences” to Jamaica, despite the fact […]
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