Children’s charity Plan International UK and photographer Joyce Nicholls travelled across the UK talking to young women about the issues important to them in 2020: public safety, body image, social media and feminism. Their research found that girls are fed up and frustrated with the lack of real progress on gender equality.
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‘Being brothers was a big help’: Atlantic rowers tell of record-breaking trip
Lachlan trio from Edinburgh speak of their gruelling 3,000-mile challenge after arrival in Antigua
For Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan MacLean, it’s been a struggle to keep their feet on the ground after rowing in record-breaking time across the Atlantic. “When I went to sleep last night, I thought I’d wake up on the boat with the alarm going off, and someone screaming ‘to port, to port’,” said Jamie.
For their parents, Sheila and Charlie, the brothers’ arrival in Antigua on Thursday must have come as a relief. Their only children, aged 27, 26 and 21 respectively, have just spent 35 days, nine hours and nine minutes in a 28ft boat, travelling 2,720 nautical miles from the Canaries in the Talisker Atlantic Challenge.
Continue reading...The Observer view on the EU’s weakness on the world stage | Observer editorial
Its new commission is failing to enact its grand ambitions, as destructive global power games are played out by others
It has been a difficult start to 2020 for the EU and the new European commission, which took office last month. Ursula von der Leyen, who succeeded Jean-Claude Juncker as commission president, is not short of ambition. She believes Europe should take a leading “geopolitical” role in international affairs, reflecting the EU’s status as the world’s largest trade bloc. But turning words into deeds is proving problematic.
“The EU needs to be more strategic, more assertive and more united in its approach to external relations,” Von der Leyen told Josep Borrell, the newly nominated EU high representative for foreign and security policy, in a mission statement last autumn. “We must use our diplomatic and economic strength to support global stability and prosperity… and be better able to export our values and standards.”
Continue reading...Johnson to cabinet: shape up or I’ll sack you within weeks
Top ministers are warned to stay off TV with reshuffle alert part of plan by Dominic Cummings
Boris Johnson is to tell cabinet ministers that they must focus all their energy on developing policies for post-Brexit Britain – or face the sack in a wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle within weeks.
Related: Liberal, nuanced, cautious: is this the real Boris Johnson?
Continue reading...Harry and Meghan to give up HRH titles and repay £2.4m
Duke and Duchess of Sussex will give back taxpayers’ money spent renovating their home and drop official duties
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will give up using their Royal Highness titles and return £2.4m to the taxpayer to cover the costs of refurbishing their Windsor home as they leave their roles as senior member of the royal family.
The Queen said last night in a statement that this “constructive and supportive way forward” would allow the Sussexes “to start building a happy and peaceful new life”. In a rebuff to critics of her granddaughter-in-law, the Queen added that she was “particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family”.
Continue reading...Javid comments on non-alignment with EU prompt warnings of price rises
Chancellor’s remarks represent ‘death knell for frictionless trade’, experts warn
Businesses have predicted price rises after the UK chancellor, Sajid Javid, said there would be no alignment with EU regulations once Britain’s exit from the European Union was made official.
In what is being seen as an opening salvo in the next stage of negotiations, Javid said the Treasury would not lend support to manufacturers that favour EU rules as the sector had had three years to prepare for Britain’s transition.
Continue reading...Meghan gets twice as many negative headlines as positive, analysis finds
Guardian analysis appears to support claim Duchess of Sussex receives more critical treatment than Duchess of Cambridge
The Duchess of Sussex gets more than twice as many negative headlines as positive ones, according to Guardian analysis of articles published between May 2018 and mid January 2019.
The analysis – which appears to support Meghan’s argument that she has faced highly critical treatment in the British press – found that of the 843 articles in 14 print newspapers since mid-May 2018, 43% were negative. Just 20% of the articles were positive, with the remaining 36% remaining neutral.
Continue reading...‘It’s a monster’: the Skipsea homes falling into the North Sea
Residents on fastest-eroding coastline in northern Europe told of ‘imminent risk’
For those who long to live by the sea, the thought of gently breaking waves and waking by the beach sums up the irresistible charm of coastal life. But not, perhaps, in the Yorkshire village of Skipsea.
Residents in the tiny seaside parish were warned this week that a large number of homes are at “imminent risk” of tumbling into the North Sea within 12 months because of the rapid erosion of the East Yorkshire coast.
Continue reading...IMF boss says global economy risks return of Great Depression
Kristalina Georgieva compares today with “roaring 1920s” and criticises UK wealth gap
The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economy risks a return of the Great Depression, driven by inequality and financial sector instability.
Speaking at the Peterson Institute of International Economics in Washington, Kristalina Georgieva said new IMF research, which compares the current economy to the “roaring 1920s” that culminated in the great market crash of 1929, revealed that a similar trend was already under way.
Continue reading...Man found guilty of aggravated assault against Owen Jones
Court finds James Healy assaulted Guardian columnist because of homophobia and Jones’s leftwing views
A man has been found guilty of aggravated assault against the Guardian columnist Owen Jones because of hostility to his leftwing political views and homophobia, following a two-day trial at Snaresbrook crown court.
Anne Studd QC, the presiding judge, concluded at the end of the hearing that Jones was the victim of a “wholly unprovoked assault” outside a central London pub last August because of “his LGBT and his leftwing beliefs”.
Continue reading...British woman’s false rape claim appeal a ‘critical moment’ for Cyprus
Activists say 19-year-old’s appeal is watershed for women and law in country
Activists in Cyprus have described the determination of a British teenager to overturn a conviction that she lied about being gang-raped on the island as “a critical moment” for women’s rights.
Ten days after the 19-year-old received a suspended four-month sentence for the offence of fomenting public mischief, her lawyers filed an appeal against the conviction before the country’s supreme court.
Continue reading...Greenpeace included with neo-Nazis on UK counter-terror list
Exclusive: Extinction Rebellion and Peta also named in anti-extremism briefing alongside Combat 18 and National Action
A counter-terrorism police document distributed to medical staff and teachers as part of anti-extremism briefings included Greenpeace, Peta and other non-violent groups as well as neo-Nazis, the Guardian has learned.
The guide, produced by Counter Terrorism Policing, is used across England as part of training for Prevent, the anti-radicalisation scheme designed to catch those at risk of committing terrorist violence.
Continue reading...Prince Harry and Meghan’s UK home being closed down
Reports add to speculation that Duke and Duchess do not plan to spend much time in UK
Frogmore Cottage, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, is in the process of being shuttered, according to reports, fuelling speculation the couple do not intend to spend any meaningful time in the UK in the near future.
Related: It’s not just Meghan and Harry. I’d like us all to escape this dire royal circus | Suzanne Moore
Continue reading...Ickworth embraces enforced darkness to spotlight art collection
Rotunda at National Trust property exploits gloom from scaffolding to stage exhibition
A 200-year-old Italianate palace, hidden away in the Suffolk countryside and currently encased in more than 270 miles of scaffolding, is to hold an exhibition that is only taking place because it is undergoing £5m of conservation works.
Ickworth, a Georgian estate and one of the most photographed of all National Trust properties, will on Satuday open its magnificent but leaky Rotunda to show off world class works of art and objects which few people know are even there.
Continue reading...EU nationals are fearful. And after Windrush, they should be | Gaby Hinsliff
For all the reassurances about their status, the risk of being kicked out still haunts those without a British passport
A few weeks ago, an old friend posted something on Facebook that stopped me in my tracks. He’s a GP, married to a teacher he met decades ago at university, with three children. They’re the sort of energetic, adventurous, public-spirited family who pitch in wherever help is needed and make me feel vaguely embarrassed about my own civic shortcomings. I have never known him be anything but laid-back, and although he’s originally Dutch, in theory he should have nothing to fear from Brexit: he has settled status, confirming the right to live and work here with his English wife and family after 31 January, just as before. But now he’s fearful. What if, the next time he needs to renew his passport for a family holiday, the computer says no? How can he be sure his life won’t unravel in some faceless official’s hands?
‘The despair is truly palpable now, and in some cases goes as far as suicidal thoughts'
Continue reading...UK channels aid budget as it seeks closer ties with Africa post-Brexit
£395m trade boost is aimed at countering China’s spending on the continent
Britain has unveiled plans to channel part of the £14bn aid budget through the City as it seeks to exploit the global reach of the finance sector to boost investment in Africa.
Details of the £395m package were announced by the international development secretary, Alok Sharma, ahead of a high-level UK-Africa investment summit next Monday.
Continue reading...Teenager who threatened suicide on road prosecuted for third time
In ‘worrying’ case woman told by Manchester judge to stop wasting police time
A teenager with long-term mental health problems has been prosecuted three times in the last nine months after threatening suicide near busy roads.
The 19-year-old woman was pulled to safety from a busy road by Greater Manchester police officers last Sunday, while still serving a community order for her previous offences.
Continue reading...Prince Harry makes first public appearance since talks with Queen
Duke conducts Rugby League World Cup draw while Meghan visits women’s organisations in Vancouver
The Duke of Sussex has appeared in public for the first time since announcing he and his wife are to step back as frontline royals.
Prince Harry returned to Buckingham Palace, the heart of the institution rocked by the bombshell announcement last week that he and Meghan would leave their senior roles as full-time royals and move part-time to Canada.
Continue reading...900,000 EU citizens in UK yet to apply for settled status
Despite take-up by 2.7 million, alarm over numbers granted weaker pre-settled status
An estimated 900,000 EU citizens in the UK have yet to apply for settled status, which most will need to remain in the country long-term after Brexit.
The data comes a day after the European parliament raised concerns that EU citizens risked discrimination after Brexit in seeking housing and employment.
Continue reading...Losing DfID would be a calamity for the world’s poor – and for Britain
British aid saves lives, commands global respect and chimes with the public mood. Merging DfID with the Foreign Office would be disastrous
Britain has a proud track record of supporting the world’s poorest through its aid commitments. This is not only morally the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do.
This cast-iron commitment to the poorest indirectly creates significant soft power for Britain. Disrupt this commitment by merging the Department for International Development (DfID) into the Foreign Office and diverting more aid to UK national interest, and you produce a lose-lose: the world’s poorest (wrongly) suffer, and significant British soft power immediately drains away, at precisely the time when the country is trying to redefine its role in the world.
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