As the number of abuse victims in England and Wales taking their own lives rises, pressure is mounting on coroners to acknowledge the role violence, control and coercion can play

Roisin, the only child of Dr Tony Bennett and Margaret Hunter, went to her bedroom in Darlington on 7 March 2022 and attempted to take her own life. She died in hospital nine days later, at the age of 19.

Roisin, known as “Roi”, excelled at sports; she was popular and had received high marks as one of the youngest students to study for ­dispensing optician exams. She had no record of self-harming, ­mental illness or attempted suicide. Her ambition was to go to university and qualify as an optician. Roisin had a warm, supportive family. So what prompted her to take her own life?

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Farknot_Architect/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Farknot_Architect/Getty Images

The comedian’s remarks on a podcast join his cheerleading of genocidal violence and jokes about suffering children in Gaza

There are few things certain in life except death, taxes and the knowledge that every single goddamn day you can look at the news and find a rich man complaining about how feminism and wokeness have ruined the world.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: David Swanson/Reuters

💾

© Photograph: David Swanson/Reuters

After a troubling report on NHS care, the number of pregnant women seeking more control over their birth plans is growing

A growing number of patients are paying up to £8,000 to hire private midwives amid frustration at the poor service many face in the NHS. The UK’s only private maternity hospital, the Portland, has reported treating more women. It comes after a report from MPs this month found women in labour have been mocked, ignored and left with permanent damage by midwives and doctors.

Here, three women tell their story.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

💾

© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Rishi Sunak is so convinced he can’t win he’s promising any old mad thing, while the Lib Dems are deliberately falling off paddleboards – Marina Hyde on the election. The couple on a mission to make it easier for everyone to have multiple children – Elon Musk (father of 11) is a supporter. Few of us have the money to take a long pause from work – but, as Anita Chaudhuri discovers, even a day can make a difference

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Bryan Anselm/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Bryan Anselm/The Guardian

Marina Gibson wants women to be accepted to 140-year-old Flyfishers’ Club, of which the king is patron

After she remarked that it was about time that Britain’s leading flyfishing club admitted women, Marina Gibson received a rush of helpful suggestions from male anglers who felt protective of the club’s heritage.

Gibson could set up her own flyfishing organisation for women, one man suggested. Another pointed out that she could join the Women’s Institute if she really wanted to be part of a club, or visit the Flyfishers’ Club in the evening (but not at lunchtime) if she was lucky enough to be invited in by one of the 600 men who are members. Others emailed asking her to explain why she wanted to join in the first place.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Mark Pinder/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Mark Pinder/The Guardian

Cat Bohannon tells Hay festival audience it is not known why men go through life ‘smuggling two little death nuggets’

Whether it is the fountain of youth or the elixir of life, men have travelled the world looking for the key to increasing their longevity.

They should be looking a bit closer to home, according to one leading researcher – although after they do, they might end up taking the years God intended for them.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Annabel Clark/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Annabel Clark/The Guardian

With the UK judicial system cut to breaking point, conservative religious forces are moving into a space vacated by the state

• Pragna Patel is a founding member of Southall Black Sisters and Project Resist, an advocacy group for minority women

On 1 June 2024, the world’s first Sikh court will open in London. This demands our urgent attention. For many years, I – as the co-director of Project Resist, and the former director of Southall Black Sisters – along with groups such as One Law for All have campaigned against the growth of religious courts because we believe they are tied to a wave of religious fundamentalism targeting the rights and freedoms of women.

In 2015, we organised against the establishment of sharia councils and the Muslim arbitration tribunal, which followed the model of Jewish Beth Din courts, because of the threat they posed to our secular legal system. Our concern was that other minority religions would insist their own legal rules and orders be similarly accommodated by the state. It has not taken long for our fear to become a reality.

Pragna Patel is a founding member of Southall Black Sisters and Project Resist, an advocacy and campaigning group for black and minority women

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...

💾

© Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Rebel group says strikes, aimed at underground facilities and missile launchers, killed and wounded civilians

• Israel-Gaza war – live updates

A joint US and UK air raid on Houthi missile launchers in Yemen has killed 16 people and injured more than 40, according to the Houthi health ministry.

There is no independent way of confirming the death toll, but if accurate it would represent the single largest loss of life since the US and UK started their campaign to degrade the Houthi military in January.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA

💾

© Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA

(2014) WaPo (archive) article about Gregg Deal's performance art piece in which he dresses up in stereotypical costume in public. Last spring, Deal came up with his own performance concept in which he'd dress up in a brash getup to physically embody what he believes many non-indigenous people envision when they think of a Native American. The mostly prefabricated outfit is a costume, not authentic regalia; is intentionally over-the-top; and holds no personal significance for Deal. (...) Suspicion is (...) displayed by a security officer at Potomac Mills mall who demands to know what Deal is doing (Deal's response of "Shopping" irking the officer all the more).

2020: Colorado Spring mural honoring missing Indigenous 2021 Exhibit: Gregg Deal's Paintings Challenge Stereotypes And Champion Visibility Of Indigenous People 2022: Biking the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail in Bicycling Magazine. 2023: Exhibit guest curated by Deal at Longmont Museum. "I accidentally started a band": Dead Pioneers.

Platja d’Aro announces fines up to €1,500 for appearing in public ‘with clothing representing human genitals’

A popular resort town on Spain’s Costa Brava has banned inflatable penis costumes and sex dolls from stag and hen night celebrations, with fines of up to €1,500 (£1,276).

Platja d’Aro, whose population of 12,500 can host as many as 300,000 visitors on a summer weekend, is a favourite destination for bachelor and bachelorette nights. Numerous websites offer packages that include accommodation, cruises and male or female strippers.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: domonabikeSpain/Alamy

💾

© Photograph: domonabikeSpain/Alamy

After 55 years, the vibrator continues to inspire devotion, as well as a new podcast: ‘It takes on larger-than-life symbolism’

In a Goop-ified world where one can purchase sleek, luxury vibrators for up to three figures, how has one sex toy that’s existed for 55 years garnered such devotion? It’s a question the sex writer Kate Sloan explores in Making Magic, a new podcast about the clunky, white-and-blue, straight-from-a-70s-porn-set Magic Wand Original Massager.

Sloan first became interested in the Magic Wand when she was a 19-year-old spending her gap year writing a sex toy review blog called Girly Juice. Later, while working at a sex store, Sloan noticed how customers would come back to buy the Magic Wand over and over again, eager to replace their old ones with the same model.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: VIbratex

💾

© Photograph: VIbratex

The anti-sickness medicine domperidone is increasingly being prescribed or bought illegally to aid lactation. Yet, as I discovered too late, side-effects can include anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts

It is 11 days since I gave birth to my first baby. My breast milk still hasn’t “come in” properly and no one can tell me why. Midwives come and go, looking at me sympathetically and telling me to feed on demand, pump whenever I can and top up with formula milk. Still, I have no idea how I am going to exclusively breastfeed my child, which is what all the advice recommends.

Sleepless, anxious and desperate, I do what many others with the privilege of disposable income do in this situation and pay for a private consultant. I find a local International Board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) online and we meet. She diagnoses my son with tongue-tie, which she treats by snipping the skin connecting his tongue to the bottom of his mouth. She also suggests that I start taking a drug I have never heard of, domperidone, to help me produce more milk.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Gareth Iwan Jones/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Gareth Iwan Jones/The Guardian

Replacing the US-bound Emma Hayes is a huge ask, but the new manager has the necessary experience and credentials

Emma Hayes has not left alone for the United States. Joining the former Chelsea manager in the US women’s national team set-up are her assistant coach Denise Reddy, goalkeeper coach Stuart Searle, head of performance Bart Caubergh, performance analyst Ferdia O’Hanrahan and opposition scout Cameron Meighan. Camille Abily and Théo Rivrin are joining Sonia Bompastor to resume their assistant manager and assistant coach roles with the former Lyon manager, but Bompastor has a big job ahead in replacing so many highly regarded staff, in particular Searle. Fortunately for Bompastor, the general manager, Paul Green, who was Hayes’s right-hand man, remains in post and has been leading that process and helping to ensure a smooth introduction to life at the club.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Mattia Ozbot/UEFA/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Mattia Ozbot/UEFA/Getty Images

Cryptanalyst played by Keira Knightley on screen, and who was briefly engaged to Alan Turing, commemorated in London

Joan Clarke, the second world war codebreaker who was played by Keira Knightley in the 2014 film The Imitation Game, has been honoured with a commemorative blue plaque ahead of the 80th anniversary of D-day.

The plaque was unveiled on Wednesday at Clarke’s childhood home in south London, English Heritage said.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Snap Stills/REX

💾

© Photograph: Snap Stills/REX

Much has been made of the struggles musicians face when they become mothers – but what about the inspiration? Bat for Lashes, Logic1000 and others discuss the radical energy unleashed by the ultimate collaboration

The year my son was born, I spent a lot of time walking laps of my small ground-floor flat in a milky, slightly hysterical state of sleep deprivation, listening to a set of instrumental albums by Raymond Scott from 1962 called Soothing Sounds for Baby. YouTube helpfully let me put them on repeat, between scratchy loops of synthetically produced white noise.

“Yes! I listened to Soothing Sounds for Baby too!” says Natasha Khan, AKA Bat for Lashes, whose daughter, Delphi, is now three. “Delphi grew up on instrumental and ambient music – a lot of synthy 80s stuff and Japanese composers.” Khan’s new album, The Dream of Delphi, is her own sonic celebration of those sleepless days in early motherhood, with tracks such as The Midwives Have Left, Her First Morning and Letter to My Daughter. “It’s such a hallucinatory, liminal experience that documenting seems to be the only thing you can do,” she says as we video-call on our sofas, talking about the psychedelic transformation that is motherhood.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Michal Pudelka

💾

© Photograph: Michal Pudelka

Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack are joined by Sophie Downey and Ceylon Andi Hickman to review Barcelona’s 2-0 over Lyon in Bilbao

In today’s episode, the panel discuss the impact of Jonatan Giráldez as the Barça manager bows out on a high, beating Lyon in a fantastic display in Spain at the weekend and Ceylon Andi Hickman talks about how it felt to clinch promotion with her Dulwich Hamlet side last week.

Despite the club season only just ending, the panel look ahead to the Lionesses’ European qualifiers against France and the Republic of Ireland ahead of next summer’s tournament. And finally, away from European football, it is the start of a new era as Emma Hayes takes charge of the USA for the first time against the Korea Republic. The panel try and foresee how she will get on.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Bagu Blanco/REX/Shutterstock

💾

© Photograph: Bagu Blanco/REX/Shutterstock

The original magazine helped define an era. Now it’s back, for men in their 40s and 50s who can’t let go of largin’ it

Name: Loaded.

Age: 30.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: www.loadedworld.com

💾

© Photograph: www.loadedworld.com

It’s easier than ever for single women to have children on their own ... or so I thought. Then began my $17,000 journey

• Sign up for Well Actually, a free weekly newsletter about health and wellness

One night in September 2022, like a kid sticking my finger into the flame of a candle, I Googled “how to buy sperm”.

I’d been thinking about it since splitting with a partner a year earlier. I was 37, and had started wondering if continuing on the “traditional” path – meeting someone, getting to know them well enough to decide to have children together, attempting to get pregnant – might cost me the chance to have kids.

Continue reading...

💾

© Illustration: Carole Maillard/The Guardian

💾

© Illustration: Carole Maillard/The Guardian

The fans of Barça Femení were hopeful of a third consecutive Champions League triumph as photographer Hannah Cauhépé journeyed alongside them from Barcelona to Bilbao for the 2024 final against Lyon

On Sunday night, back in Barcelona, some people were wondering why some streets were blocked and people were decked in Barça gear – unfortunately, women’s football is still under the radar of most.

But things are slowly changing.

Barcelona fans make their way to Bilbao’s San Mamés stadium.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Hannah Cauhépé

💾

© Photograph: Hannah Cauhépé

Amid baby boom reports linked to drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic, experts say it would be ‘wise’ to take extra precautions

Claims that “skinny jabs” are fuelling an unexpected baby boom have led experts to warn women to pair their use with effective contraception.

Medications such as Wegovy and Ozempic, both of which contain semaglutide, have become hugely popular, not least because they can help people lose more than 10% of their body weight.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: David J Phillip/AP

💾

© Photograph: David J Phillip/AP

Defender who led Lionesses at three tournaments is now doing a coaching course and raising money for MND research

“That would have been the dream – to kind of mic drop and leave by winning a trophy with England,” says Steph Houghton as she reflects on a 22-year career during which she played for Sunderland, Leeds Carnegie, Arsenal and Manchester City and won three Women’s Super League titles, alongside captaining the Lionesses at three major tournaments. “But I wouldn’t change any of that because I think that has made me the person that I am today.”

The highs live long in the memory. Houghton, who retired at the end of the season having announced her decision in March, played a significant role in drawing the kind of attention that laid foundations for a boom in the women’s game. Since rounding Andréia Suntaque to open the scoring against a Marta-led Brazil for Team GB at the 2012 Olympics, the 36-year-old has led the way in advocating professional standards. She was also one of the first female players given a central contract by the Football Association, in 2009, when many of the Lionesses were part-time.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters

💾

© Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters

Forget looksmaxxing. Boys are now scentmaxxing. But some of the perfume influencers they follow leave a lot to be desired

You think teenage boys smell of Lynx Africa, musty trainer and gummy bear vape? In 2024, it might be Tom Ford Neroli Portofino or Acqua di Parma’s Sardinian juniper, because, according to the New York Times, they – and younger boys – are becoming high-end fragrance fiends.

This TikTok-fuelled trend is the boy equivalent of 12-year-old girls dropping fortunes on unnecessary retinoids, but apart from the expense (you’d need an extra-lucrative paper round to finance this hobby), it feels cheerier than an obsession with nonexistent wrinkles. Lads who just want to smell nice debating aldehydes, vetiver heart notes and the sillage (lingering scent trail) of fragrances created by or bearing the names of extremely successful gay men? That feels like a breath of fresh (OK, heavily scented) air compared with the fetid misogynistic manosphere they’re also exposed to.

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...

💾

© Photograph: Philippe TURPIN/Getty Images/Photononstop RF

💾

© Photograph: Philippe TURPIN/Getty Images/Photononstop RF

It wasn’t even my decision. But being forced to ditch them after surgery was a revelation. Who cares what people think?

Society has unwritten rules that we’re all expected to follow and that can dictate some of the most intimate choices in our lives – from family structure and career and lifestyle decisions to the underwear we wear. That last one may seem out of left field, but it’s true that society tells girls of all ages that as soon as their breasts start forming wearing a bra is the appropriate and decent thing to do.

When I was a little girl, I could hardly wait to start wearing a bra. To me, it was a symbol of growing up, becoming a woman, and I began wearing one long before it was “necessary”. As a teenager, I found it fun to buy every different colour and style available until I had dozens to choose from. Back then, I accepted the discomfort of strapping down my breasts as one of the many unfair consequences of being female. I thought there was no other choice.

Becki Jacobson is an American writer and entrepreneur

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...

💾

© Photograph: Alex Segre/REX/Shutterstock

💾

© Photograph: Alex Segre/REX/Shutterstock

The Labour veteran entered the commons as one of only 21 women, then spent years fighting for a seat at the table. She discusses sexism, backlash and power as she prepares to leave parliament

‘It’s a miracle I don’t have PTSD after my early years in parliament,” Harriet Harman writes to me, the week after we meet. She came in on a 1982 byelection in Peckham (now Camberwell and Peckham) when she was 32. The women’s movement, which was united for about five minutes around that time, was trying to make sure there were more women on Labour shortlists. Westminster was absurd: Harman became only the 21st female MP out of 635. “I was supposed to be just the feminist advance guard, expecting the rest of the Labour sisters to surge in at the general election a few months later in 1983,” she says. This encapsulates the feeling so many departing Labour big beasts have described: being absolutely convinced, from the early 80s onwards, that Labour was on the verge of a great victory.

In the event, “the Labour result was so awful that instead of the arrival of the sisterhood en masse, the number of female MPs went up from 21 to only 23. The plan was to do it collectively. The women’s movement was never about individuals. It was about collective endeavour to change what was a shared bad experience of life. And then I found myself on my own.”

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

As a girl, the author Emma Forrest defaced herself with lipstick to convey the emotional maelstrom she felt inside. Now in her 40s, she has finally mastered how to use makeup as an agent of happiness

The connection I feel between makeup and mental health started before I was old enough to wear it out of the house – either the cosmetics or the mood swings. It first began with someone else’s irrational behaviour: antisemitism at primary school. This was exactly the age I was starting to contemplate my appearance. The club classic: “Aren’t you sorry you killed Christ?” was a regular. Because of my curly hair and olive skin they called me the N-word – a small child has to really yearn to use the N-word to say it to a predominantly Ashkenazi Jew. They also incorporated into their bullying the three moles I have on my right cheek. “See, that’s proof, these are the mark of the devil,” they said. So you’d think I was interested in things to flatten and cover those moles, but I actually retaliated by using my mum’s eye pencil to draw them on even more prominently.

After a bad day at secondary school – where I had friends, but an impossible time concentrating – I’d lock myself in the bathroom to make up my face with immaculate focus. If I got it slightly wrong, I’d need to make it much worse – swooping lipstick circles and bad words in eyeliner – until I’d made myself look how I felt inside. Once I’d studied the monster in the mirror, I meticulously washed it off. It was, I realised later, a gateway drug to bulimia and self-harm.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer

💾

© Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer

US-bound coach won 10 trophies in three years in Catalonia, completed by the Champions League final win over Lyon

Fairytale endings rarely exist but sometimes in football, the script really does write itself. Jonatan Giráldez signed off on his three-year managerial career in Spain as his all-conquering Barcelona team lifted back-to-back Champions League trophies. It was the 10th piece of silverware that “Las Reinas” of both Spain and Europe have won under his time in charge, a side surely worthy of the “dynasty” accolade.

Barcelona’s supremacy did not start with Giráldez but his impact on this side’s journey is undeniable. The 32-year-old was Lluís Cortés’s assistant when they secured their first treble and inaugural Women’s Champions League title and he has continued that culture of winning with dominance both at home and on the European stage.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile/UEFA/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile/UEFA/Getty Images

Bilbao is used to being decorated in stripes, the flags of their beloved Athletic Club hang from every other window, but on Saturday the city found itself swamped in less familiar colours, Barcelona’s red and blue filling every bar and populating every square as travelling fans celebrated beating Lyon in a Champions League final at the third time of asking.

It was their talismanic duo, the playmaker Aitana Bonmatí and their superstar Alexia Putellas, who delivered in front of 50,827 fans. Bonmatí’s effort took a deflection off Vanessa Gilles to take it past Christiane Endler shortly after the hour mark, before Putellas added the second three minutes after coming on deep into added time. It was deserved, the French champions were unable to handle the guile of the world’s best passers of the ball who secured a historic quadruple.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

💾

© Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

Despite hopes he will improve ratings, the new Wimbledon commentator is so unappealing even male sports fans recoil

The BBC’s Lucy Williamson has done more than most to illustrate how much better the world would be without the contributions of Andrew Tate.

The misogynist influencer was under house arrest in his dingy Romanian man cave, awaiting trial on charges of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang, when her 2023 interview indicated that his mastery over women is not as complete as advertised. He repeatedly failed – to a point that evidently upset some Tate worshippers – to frighten Williamson off.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Kamran Jebreili/AP

💾

© Photograph: Kamran Jebreili/AP

• Live updates from the 5pm BST kick-off in Bilbao
• Any comments? Feel free to email Emillia with your thoughts

Few teams have thwarted Barcelona in their ruthless prime, but the Champions League is Lyon’s playground. The French champions have beaten Barcelona in two Champions League finals, have never lost to them in the competition and hope to complete a hat-trick of final victories against them today.

Barcelona manager Jonatan Giráldez on today’s match: “For me, Barça and Lyon are the two best teams in Europe, without any doubt, because of the individual quality both teams have. If you analyse player by player, there’s certainly little to choose from.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile/UEFA/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile/UEFA/Getty Images

The state wasn’t the best place to get pregnant in the first place, with some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the US

Louisiana is not a great place to get pregnant. If you need an abortion, a near-total ban means it’s almost impossible to get one, even in cases of rape or incest – anyone who provides an abortion deemed illegal can go to jail for 15 years. And if you plan on having the baby, you have to deal with some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the US. Although, as Senator Bill Cassidy has helpfully noted, “if you correct our population for race, we’re not as much of an outlier as it’d otherwise appear”. In other words, if you ignore Black people (a third of his constituents), things look a little better. So that’s OK then!

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

💾

© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Elon Musk (father of 11) supports their cause. Thousands follow their ideology. Malcolm and Simone Collins are on a mission to make it easier for everyone to have multiple children. But are they really model parents?

The Collinses didn’t tell me Simone was eight months pregnant when we were making plans for me to spend a Saturday with them at home in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, but I guess it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. They are the poster children of the pronatalist movement, on a mission to save humanity by having as many babies as possible.

Malcolm, 37, answers the door of their 18th-century farmhouse with four-year-old Octavian George, who is thrilled to have a visitor, bringing toy after toy to show me like an overexcited golden retriever. His little brother, two-year-old Torsten Savage, is on his iPad somewhere upstairs. Simone, 36, in an apron that strains across her belly, has her daughter, 16-month-old Titan Invictus, strapped to her back. The imminent arrival of their fourth child, a girl they plan to name Industry Americus Collins, turns out to be only the first in a string of surprises – and one really shocking thing – that I will encounter during my day with the pronatalists.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Bryan Anselm/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Bryan Anselm/The Guardian

First-of-its-kind legislation signed Friday classifies mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances

First-of-its-kind legislation that classifies two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled and dangerous substances was signed into law Friday by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry.

The Republican governor announced his signing of the bill in Baton Rouge a day after it gained final legislative passage in the state senate.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

💾

© Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

This leads us straight back to the original conversation about "Man or Bear," which has nothing to do with bears. (Sorry, bears!) "Would you rather be stuck in a forest with a man or a bear?" is just another way of asking, "Are you afraid of men?" It's the same question I've been fielding for the entirety of my life as a solo female traveler. It's the same question that hovers over women all the time as we move through the world. And it's a question that's always been difficult for me to answer. from A Woman Who Left Society to Live With Bears Weighs in on "Man or Bear" by Laura Killingbeck [Bikepacking]

Coach linked with Chelsea takes on Barcelona, having beaten them in 2022 final, knowing this could be her last Lyon game

Few teams have thwarted Barcelona in their ruthless prime, but the Champions League is Lyon’s playground. Although the Catalan club have provided the bulk of the Spain World Cup winners who have swept up individual awards in recent years and lifted domestic silverware aplenty, the French giants maintain bragging rights in Europe.

Lyon have beaten Barcelona in two Champions League finals, have never lost to them in the competition and hope to complete a hat-trick of final victories against them at San Mamés in Bilbao on Saturday.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

Official figures show 251,377 abortions were carried out in 2022, a 17% increase on previous year

The number of abortions in England and Wales has reached record levels, with financial pressures believed to be a factor in why women are choosing not to have a baby.

There were 251,377 abortions for women resident in the two nations in 2022, official figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) show, which is the highest since the Abortion Act was introduced almost 60 years ago and a rise of 17% on the 2021 figure.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Aleksandr Davydov/Alamy

💾

© Photograph: Aleksandr Davydov/Alamy

In an exclusive interview the 32-year-old discusses his mindset, his tactics and facing Lyon in the Champions League final

• Moving the Goalposts: sign up for our free newsletter

Barcelona’s Jonatan Giráldez has achieved the kind of success he never imagined, and it has only taken him three years. At 32 he has won nine of the 11 trophies available since he took over in 2021. On Saturday, as Barcelona play Lyon in the Champions League final, he can make it 10 out of 12.

One of the trophies that got away was last season’s Copa de la Reina as Barcelona were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player (needless to say they had won the game 9-0). The other one was tougher to take but now brings the team to a shot at redemption: the 2022 Champions League final loss to Lyon.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Inma Flores/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Inma Flores/The Guardian

Yesterday was the seventh National Numeracy Day in the UK. You can take the numeracy challenge (email sign-up, throw-away should work). Research in 2019 reported that 56% of adults in the UK have numeracy levels which are those expected of a primary-school child (Entry Level 3 or lower). National Numeracy (Wikipedia article), which organises the day, has reported on the role of confidence and the gender divide in maths. A Parliamentary Research Briefing describes government initiatives to improve numeracy, including the delayed Multiply programme for adults, maths hubs and an advisory committee. The Impact Report for National Numeracy Day 2023 says that "103,280 people took action on the National Numeracy Challenge" last year.

The quote is from the former chair of National Numeracy:

A YouGov poll for the charity suggests that while four out of five people would be embarrassed to confess to poor literacy skills, just over half would feel the same about admitting poor maths skills. "It is simply inexcusable for anyone to say: 'I can't do maths.' It is a peculiarly British disease which we aim to eradicate. "It doesn't happen in other parts of the world. With encouragement and good teaching, everyone can improve their numeracy." Mr Humphries said just 15% of Britons studied maths after the age of 16, compared with 50-100% in most developed nations.

‘This was the first march of the Women’s Liberation Movement. The figure that’s usually given is 4,000 – but I’m sure there were tens of thousands of us. It was chocka!’

It was early March in 1971 and bitterly cold, but the snow and sleet didn’t dampen our spirits. Thousands of us had gathered for the first Women’s Liberation Movement march. We were singing and dancing as we walked through London and there was street theatre at Trafalgar Square, where the march ended. It was a joyous occasion. Our banners reflected our primary focuses: equal pay and equal opportunity, free contraception and abortion on demand. There were also lots of men of all ages taking part, kids too. And there was a huge police presence – we were surrounded by them, walking alongside, in front and behind. They were on the march too – whether they liked it or not!

I was taking pictures the whole time, running to get ahead, climbing up lampposts or on to bins. I remember passing Billingsgate fish market was a whole lot of fun, as workers came out to watch and cheer. I’ve got lots of pictures of passersby laughing with us – and some of them at us. But even if there was the occasional bit of mocking, things were never nasty. We weren’t being aggressive, so that wasn’t the reaction we got.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Courtesy the artist and Four Corners

💾

© Photograph: Courtesy the artist and Four Corners

Societal threats are already heavy for medical student Mariam when bereavement leaves her undefended and the story untethers from realism

Pakistan’s patriarchal society is a too credible source of horror in this promising feature debut from Canadian-Pakistani writer/director Zarrar Khan, whose gallery of violent, predatory and swindling menfolk represent a living nightmare for its disempowered women. The story firmly grounds itself in everyday Karachi life before drifting into more supernatural realms, which makes it a revealing slice of social realism as much as a horror film.

Things are oppressive from the outset for 25-year-old medical student Mariam (Ramesha Nawal); a male stranger throws a brick through her car window, apparently for the offence of being female while driving. But as a result she befriends a relatively decent man: Asad, a student from liberal Canada. Their early romance progresses quickly and chastely (an official admonishes them for sitting too close to each other on a park bench), but just as things are heating up, an unexpected incident sends Mariam into a tailspin of despair, guilt and resurfacing trauma. Her mother Fariha isn’t doing much better; her abusive husband died when Mariam was a child, and now Mariam’s grandfather, the patriarch of the family, has also died. As a woman, Fariha has no property rights of her own, which leaves her at the mercy of Mariam’s oily Uncle Nasir, who suddenly turns up offering help.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Blue Finch Film Releasing

💾

© Photograph: Blue Finch Film Releasing

Three unions say not enough done since about 60 women wrote to ministry last year to allege sexual assault, harassment and abuse

Three civil service trade unions have written to the Ministry of Defence to call for an independent inquiry into sexual harassment of women in the defence sector, saying it needs to make its workplace safe for female staff.

The unions, led by Prospect, and joined by academics and women’s rights campaigners, said not enough had been done to address the problem since about 60 senior women at the MoD wrote to the department last year to allege sexual assault, harassment and abuse by male colleagues.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Video of fetus in disembodied womb required viewing for students in two states, as classroom becomes latest front in post-Roe abortion wars

Awash in soft, peach-colored light, the infant yawns, sticks her thumb in her mouth and flutters her eyes at the camera. As the camera pulls away from her, an umbilical cord and the fleshy tunnel surrounding the infant comes into focus. This isn’t a newborn baby: it’s a fetus in a disembodied womb.

“This is Olivia,” a British female voice narrates. “Though she has yet to greet the outside world, she has already completed an amazing journey.”

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Live Action

💾

© Photograph: Live Action

Final-day humbling followed FA Cup win and the goalkeeper wants to know Manchester United’s ambitions before signing a new deal

Mary Earps is upbeat, she is always upbeat, but she is also tired. You can feel it and you can see it. The season has been a long and gruelling one, ending with the highest of highs – lifting a first FA Cup with Manchester United at Wembley – and the lowest of lows: losing 6-0 on the final day of the Women’s Super League season to allow Chelsea to be crowned champions at Old Trafford. “There’s been a lot going on, a lot that I haven’t spoken about, and now I just need to take some time for myself,” Earps says. “That’s kind of where I’m at.”

The season also had a difficult beginning, with Earps’s future at United in doubt and speculation swirling following defeat by Spain in the World Cup final, both only ending when she signed a one‑year extension. Now the speculation is beginning again. Earps knows the question is coming. She sighs and gives a knowing smile, but she also wants to be honest.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Charlotte Tattersall/MUFC/Manchester United/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Charlotte Tattersall/MUFC/Manchester United/Getty Images

My Bayern Munich side finished without losing a game but I have been impressed by the quality of the Frauen-Bundesliga

• Moving the Goalposts: sign up for our free newsletter

Let me start by saying, proudly, that Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen aren’t the only unbeaten German top-flight team this season. With our 4-1 victory at Hoffenheim on Monday, my Bayern side have achieved the same feat in the Frauen Bundesliga, which made it a very satisfactory ending to my first campaign in Bavaria.

If you look at it from the outside, you might think we’ve had it easy winning a second successive title but none of the games have been a walkover. After six seasons in the WSL with Chelsea, I had expected that there’d be a bigger difference between the two leagues in terms of quality. Instead, I’ve been surprised by the level of competition here as most teams are quite evenly matched. It’s true that the Frauen Bundesliga doesn’t have the same number of star players as in England. Here Bayern and Wolfsburg are on a level of their own but the other teams are still hard to break down – if you look at our goal difference of +52, it’s one fewer than the +53 of WSL champions Chelsea.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Oliver Hardt/Getty Images for DFB

💾

© Photograph: Oliver Hardt/Getty Images for DFB

As the conflict in Gaza continues, reconciliation may seem a distant dream, but on both sides there are those working for peace

On the morning of 7 October, as news emerged of the Hamas attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza border, Naama Barak Wolfman joined thousands of others frantically texting their friends and family. “Checking you’re alright,” she wrote to her colleague, Vivian Silver, a Canadian who spent decades working to foster peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The text was never read. Silver was one of several peace activists killed that day, though news of her murder took nearly a month to reach Silver’s friends and family. Many believed the Women Wage Peace leader had been taken hostage, even picturing her negotiating with her captors.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Yahel Gazit/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

💾

© Photograph: Yahel Gazit/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

Readers respond to Tara Judah’s article about her difficulty in forming female friendships, and her happiness in her own company

Upon reading Tara Judah’s article, I felt relief (I stopped chasing the Hollywood vision of female friendship – and embraced the person I am, 13 May). I am in my late 30s and find myself in the same position, where strong female friendship groups have eluded me. I know the familiar feeling of hope when I’m at a new event, or in a new job or a new place to live, only for that to be crushed.

I often find myself concluding that it is because I am weird, or too quiet, or not interesting. However, the lack of a strong female group in my life doesn’t bother me when I am home; it is only when the inevitable Monday morning office question of “So what did you do at the weekend?” is asked, and I am embarrassed that my answer is only about what I did with my partner or family, or the six-monthly meetups with my few friends far and wide.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: ViewApart/Getty Images/iStockphoto

💾

© Photograph: ViewApart/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Got a beauty dilemma? Our expert is here to help. This week, Sarah is looking beyond cancer surgery

First of all, sending lots of love during what can’t be an easy time. Your surgical team will tell you what to do straight after the operation.

“It’s important to follow their instructions,” says breast surgeon Chloe Constantinou. “After surgery, the dressings will be taken off if everything has healed, and you’ll be given advice on caring for the skin.” If you’re worried, speak to your team, but generally speaking it’s best to use a gentle cleanser that’s fragrance-free.

Continue reading...

💾

© Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian

💾

© Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian

Going public after I was attacked was hard, but it helped me overcome the shame that so many victims feel. By Rena Effendi

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Mithras/Alamy

💾

© Photograph: Mithras/Alamy

Suspected Meteor Turns Sky Over Portugal an Astonishing Neon Blue [The Daily Beast]

Um clarão de luz iluminou o país de madrugada: Foi um meteoro? Caiu como meteorito? O que se sabe até agora? [Expresso] Meteoro atravessou Portugal na noite de sábado [Público] Una bola de fuego ilumina el cielo: el meteoro que ha cruzado España era inusualmente grande [El Pais] Footage of meteor that was seen last night in Portugal. [Reddit] Bright green fireball lights up the skies over Portugal and Spain [Space.com] Comet fragment lights up sky over Spain and Portugal 'like a movie' [Reuters]

Once again Chelsea won the league and once again on the final day of the season. That is no accident

There comes a time when you’ve written about the same scenario so many times that you begin to think that, eventually, you will run out of words. Chelsea’s stunning fifth consecutive league title – delivered in some style, via a 6-0 humiliation of Manchester United at Old Trafford to ensure they finished level with Manchester City but with a superior goal difference – is, strangely, not one of those times.

Yes, it is Chelsea’s eighth title of the past 10 (if you include the mini Spring Series of 2017) and the fourth year running that the title has been decided on the final day, but there is still so much to say.

Continue reading...

💾

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

💾

© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian