Tulip Siddiq and a parent urge the government to take a number of steps to keep children safe, in response to an editorial
Your editorial on early years provision (The Guardian view on nurseries: some things are going right for under-fives, 4 October) ends by referring to the horrifying case of Vincent Chan, who worked at Bright Horizons nursery in north-west London. We write as the MP representing the constituency in which the nursery is situated and as the parent of children who attended the nursery and were victims of Chan. We believe his case exposed serious gaps in the safeguarding system that urgently need addressing by government.
First, CCTV should be mandatory in nurseries. When used with appropriate safeguards, it can provide both a deterrent and an important source of evidence when allegations are made.
Jane Middleton says the question we should be asking is not how can we use up surplus food, but how we can ensure that no one has to rely on charity to eat
While the work of food-waste charities such as the that one Hill heads is commendable as a sticking plaster, in the long term it entrenches poverty and removes any incentive for large corporations to tackle the food waste they create.
Happy hormones | Fuel costs | Drive-in parking | Guys and girls | Young or old? | Singapore pollution
Re your report (‘Pull the plug’: protesters resort to direct action against AI firms, 6 October), the US neuroscientist Ben Rein has shown that there is a fundamental difference in our cognitive response according to the type of interaction we have. In-person meetings and conversations show a dramatic increase in serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine – “feelgood” hormones – compared with online interactions. I have been encouraged to speak to people at bus stops. Judith Furner Eastbourne, East Sussex
• Re easing winter fuel costs (Report, 6 October), it would benefit everyone if the outrageous daily standing charges were reduced or on a sliding scale based on usage. I can’t be the only person whose standing charges each month are half or more than the energy used. Judith Pearson Sheffield
Nic Madge and David Lindsay respond to the government’s proposals to reform the criminal justice system
The government is right to abandon David Lammy’s main proposal to replace some jury trials with judges sitting alone (Ministers drop plans to cut jury trials in England and Wales after outcry, 4 October). There are other ways to reduce the appalling backlog of criminal cases and to protect victims. However, the government is wrong to proceed with its plan for judge-only trials in some fraud cases. As a circuit judge, I presided over fraud trials with juries, including a Ponzi fraud worth £48m and a Russian identity fraud with more than 40,000 documents. The juries were totally on top of both trials and delivered sensible, rational verdicts – in both cases guilty on some charges and not guilty on others. My experience is that the key issue in fraud cases is frequently whether the defendant acted dishonestly. That is not a technical question. It is something that juries are much better able to decide than judges. Nic Madge St Albans
• Although the government has shelved its plan to abolish most jury trials, it still intends to double the sentencing power of magistrates to two years, to introduce judge-only trials in “lengthy and technical” fraud cases, and to abolish the right to elect trial by jury in “either way” cases, thereby greatly restricting access to legal aid. It is not clear whether or not the government still intended to abolish the automatic right of appeal to the crown court from the magistrates court. Every one of those measures must be resisted without compromise. David Lindsay Lanchester, County Durham
Jeremy Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin’s sequel to The Social Network, and the Last One Laughing star reckons with divorce in her new standup tour
The Social Reckoning Out now The David Fincher-directed The Social Network has only come to seem more canny over time, with the site co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg being held responsible for all manner of social ills. In this sequel from Aaron Sorkin (this time directing and writing) based on the incidents around the 2021 leak of internal Facebook memos, Zuck is embodied not by Jesse Eisenberg but Jeremy Strong.
Holly, 42, a horticulturist, meets Graeme, 47, a forest manager
What were you hoping for? Really, just a fun night with minimal awkwardness was my fairly low expectation before the meeting.
First impressions?
A very positive, engaging lady with a beautiful smile.
What did you talk about?
Growing food, the joys of seeds, birdwatching, the failings of young people when it comes to proper raving, epigenetics and breaking generational cycles.
Stephen King’s high-school scare-’em-up is reinvented for 2026, and the pop superstar brings the love in her feelgood live extravaganza. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
The quake caused buildings and roads to collapse but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama on Friday, damaging buildings and sending thousands into the streets, but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake hit at a depth of 12.6km (7.8 miles), with an epicenter in a sparsely populated area about 200km (124 miles) from the capital, Panama City. It lasted about a minute.
While I condemn the Israeli government’s actions against the Palestinian people, and I am not a Zionist myself, Zionism as defined by the motion is only one political interpretation and completely ignores ancient religious and cultural definitions held by many Jews who also condemn the current Israeli government.
Readers gasp at the news that their beloved columnist is leaving the Guardian after 25 years
How could you let this happen (It’s true: this is my final column. You have exactly 24 hours to complain before my inbox self-destructs, 2 October)? You have some truly great writers, and for them I will continue to support the Guardian, but it’s Marina Hyde’s column that many of us look forward to most. She is uniquely and reliably smart, funny and spot-on. Is it money? Like Nye Bevan with consultants, fill her mouth with gold if you have to; you can clean it up afterwards. But I fear I’m too late, and all that’s left to say is: Thank you, Marina, for brightening so many of our days, and for putting our thoughts so brilliantly into words. And thank you, Guardian, for giving her the space to do so. Richard O’Brien Highbridge, Somerset
• The honour is all ours, Marina. It’s devastating news to know that I can no longer laugh, cry, squirm, gasp, disagree and love your columns. I have looked forward to reading your words for the last 25 years and you will be very much missed. Thank you, and go well. Gill Empson Aston-on-Trent, Derbyshire
His integrity is one reason I’ve stuck with him, says Nick Davey
Elvis Costello has been a role model since I was a bespectacled teen and he appeared on the music scene to provide some credibility for NHS glasses. I no longer keep the scrapbook, but did cut the clipping from the Guardian in 2022 when he nominated his Honest playlist. His integrity as an artist and a human being has been one reason I’ve stuck with him for 49 years. I was delighted, therefore, to see consistency in his picks for his second Honest playlist (4 October), with Georgie Fame as his alpha and Louis Armstrong’s Keepin’ Out of Mischief as his omega. He seems, however, to have forgotten about his teen party listening. And we’d better not ponder the reasons for his change in response to “The best song to have sex to”. Thanks for keeping my hero in the spotlight. Nick Davey Chesterfield, Derbyshire
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please emailus your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Attack is deadliest in kingdom since it launched major military offensive with allies against Houthis in Yemen
Three Saudi citizens have been killed and several other people were wounded in attacks targeting Riyadh airport for which Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility, Saudi officials have said.
The attack late on Thursday was the deadliest in Saudi Arabia since the kingdom and allied forces in neighbouring Yemen launched a major military offensive last weekend against the Iran-backed Houthis.
Thousands expected to march in Delhi on Saturday, as anger mounts over controversial changes to voter lists in world’s largest democracy
India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which began as a satirical movement but is now emerging as a political force among gen Z’s, says authorities have begun detaining its members en masse days before a major anti-government protest in Delhi.
Ukrainian president says expanded Starlink access will help nation target Russian ballistic-missile launchers. What we know on day 1,689
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the US of being unwilling to help Ukraine after a Russian bomb attack on Thursday killed at least 35 people in the east, sending the two-day death toll from Russian strikes to more than 70. Hours after the strike on the embattled city of Kramatorsk tore through two buses, Zelenskyy criticised Washington’s effort to pursue economic ties with Russia while also seeking to mediate the more than four-year war.
Speaking to reporters in Pryluky, the Ukrainian leader urged the US to accede to his requests to expand Ukraine’s access to the Starlink satellite service to help it target Russian ballistic-missile launchers. “Open Starlink for Ukraine. You did open it when you were responding to Iran ... I’ve said quite openly – give it to us, help us defend our skies and dominate there. And then Putin will sit down at the negotiating table,” he said.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was appalled by Thursday’s “horrifying strike”. “I am appalled by the wave of attacks killing civilians across Ukraine over the past four days, including today’s horrifying strike hitting two public buses,” he said in a statement. “The scale and manner of these attacks – killing and injuring people on buses, at their homes and work in different areas of the country – is reprehensible. In the last two days, 78 people were killed and 215 wounded by strikes across Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian negotiators will travel to the US on Friday and Saturday for talks, Zelenskyy said, urging US president Donald Trump to increase sanction pressure on Russia. Ukraine’s president told reporters that he expected Kyiv’s European partners to join the talks with the US. Zelenskyy said his chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, as well as Ukraine’s top officials: Rustem Umerov, Sergiy Kyslytsya and David Arakhamia will take part in the talks in Florida.
The US-led peace efforts to end the Ukraine war have largely stalled, with Washington focused on its conflict with Iran. But US officials said they were making a fresh effort in an enlarged format, following visits to Moscow and Kyiv last month by Witkoff, Trump’s business friend-turned-roving envoy, and the president’s son-in-law Kushner. US officials said the envoys would discuss “security guarantees for Ukraine, a postwar prosperity plan, and other aspects of the conflict”. Witkoff and Kushner “will discuss new ideas and proposals that American negotiators began developing with the Russians and Ukrainians during their recent visit to the region,” a source familiar with the talks said.
Nato said it would start its annual ‘nuclear deterrence’ exercises in Italy from Tuesday amid mounting concerns about Russia. The drills will run from 13-23 October and involve 17 nations. “The exercise is a long-planned, routine training activity that is part of Nato’s efforts to maintain readiness and test procedures that contribute to the alliance’s deterrence and defence,” said a Nato statement.
South Korea will recall its ambassador to Ukraine, the foreign minister said on Thursday, following a dispute over Zelenskyy’s announcement that two North Korean prisoners of war were being transferred to Seoul. The two sides have been locked in a dispute after Seoul accused Kyiv of breaching a confidentiality agreement over the transfer of the captured soldiers.
Gareth Jones and Richard Hooper draw on their experience as educators to offer alternatives to the Ofsted system that is not fit for purpose
The news that Ofsted inspections are to be overhauled again indicates that a fundamental rethink is required, rather than tinkering again with the grading system (England school inspections to be overhauled again after barrage of complaints, 2 October). As an educator with 30 years’ experience in international schools (21 years as head of two schools), I would suggest that when further changes are made, the first step should be to stop calling them “inspections”. The word implies an unfeeling, top-down procedure. While British curriculum international schools tend to use an Ofsted-style procedure, American international and international baccalaureate schools tend to use “evaluation” or “accreditation” procedures.
In these, the school evaluates its own performance against a set of standards. The people who work in the school, including students, plus parents and board members, spend a year discussing the school’s achievements and identifying areas for improvement. They submit their report to the agency, which then puts together a team who will visit the school. The team is made up of practising educators from other international schools. So the school is evaluated by fellow professionals, which is much less threatening than a team of inspectors. Their job is to decide whether the school has accurately evaluated its own performance.
Campaigners and Send parents including Chris Packham, Carrie Grant and Sally Phillips urge ministers to work with families and organisations to preserve individual provision and improve accountability in the system
The legal rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) are still under threat. The government’s proposed Send and education otherwise than at school (Eotas) reforms would significantly reduce existing legal rights to enforceable education, health and care plans (EHCPs), parental choice of educational settings and independent routes of appeal.
We support the government’s ambitions for a more inclusive education system. Better teacher training, earlier identification of need, greater specialist expertise and a properly staffed workforce are all necessary. But none of these initiatives require children and families to surrender the legal protections they currently have.
Bogle, 38, has 100 convictions and has been jailed five times. He told the Guardian that he turned to shoplifting after becoming homeless, in order to eat. On leaving prison, he said that there was a risk he would shoplift again.
As we approach the centenary of equal franchise in 2028, it is important to build on the rights that were won by the suffragettes, writes Helen Pankhurst
There was a proud Pankhurst in the audience in Leicester as Sylvia: A Musical Revolution began its national tour (Suffragette cities: blazing Sylvia Pankhurst musical hits the road – in pictures, 3 October). A blazing show indeed – and one that, 98 years after women gained the vote on equal terms with men, asks how much remains to be done, how to do it and how women can bridge their differences to advance their common cause.
As Sylvia Pankhurst’s granddaughter and Emmeline Pankhurst’s great-granddaughter, I honour both women. Their political paths diverged. I seek to reconcile their legacies through Centenary Action, the cross-party coalition that I lead, in a shared cause: dismantling the barriers to women’s participation, selection and retention in politics.
A new exhibition curated by Edward Enniful looks back on the thrilling decade before smartphones, when art, music and fashion came together with a bang
I spent 20 years trading bonds, and agree that the household budget analogy bears no relation to how the UK state finances itself. Parliament votes on the spending, the Treasury instructs the Bank of England, and the Bank credits accounts in the private sector. Taxes withdraw money afterwards.
Anna Bird and Rick Burgess respond to the government’s proposal to axe the health element from universal credit that disabled people under 25 receive
Reports that the government is considering removing the universal credit health element for disabled people under 25 will be alarming for families (Key disability benefit for young people may be axed under major welfare changes, 1 October). For many, it raises serious concerns about how they will keep disabled young people supported and able to participate in everyday life.
At Contact, we hear from families worried about universal credit and its impact on disabled family members. Some receiving the health element are studying, working part-time or volunteering; others have disabilities so significant that paid employment is impossible.
Fiona Lindop says she will always be grateful to the TV presenter for establishing the Meet-a-Mum Association
Esther Rantzen (Obituary, 1 October) is rightly remembered and honoured for her wide-ranging charity work, including establishing Childline and the Silver Line. One of the charities that she pioneered was the Meet-a-Mum Association (Mama), founded in 1979. Mama established a network of local groups offering friendship and support for new mothers.
In 1984, I was a young mum with a toddler and a two-week-old baby, and had just moved to Hertfordshire from South Yorkshire. Mama was a lifeline that helped me become part of the new community with access to support, and I joined the local Mama committee soon after.
Steven Kay says Britain should act independently and in a role consistent with its status as a member of the UN security council
Patrick Wintour’s report (Libyan unity talks upended as warlord’s son linked to drone attacks on fuel facilities, 3 October) should not surprise anyone concerned with the attempts to end conflict and seek the unification of Libya. Saddam Haftar, like his father, Khalifa, has been backed by the US to support its aims and ambitions in Libya. There is no logic, if democratic elections are the goal, to be backing a member of the Haftar clan for any role in the future of Libya.
The Libyan population want nothing more than peace, security and to use constructively the wealth that could be generated from their extensive natural resources for the improvement of their society. Instead, their resources are being dissipated in corruption and conflict, a state of affairs that benefits only the warmongers.
Russian officials said a Liberian-flagged tanker was attacked and a crew of 23 Indian nationals rescued
An oil tanker off Russia’s Black Sea coast was struck by a naval drone, triggering a huge fire and black smoke cloud that blanketed parts of the resort city of Sochi, Russia’s transport ministry has said.
The transport ministry said a Liberian-flagged tanker had been attacked and that “crude oil is burning openly in the waters of the Black Sea”.
Tom Walker responds to a letter that said first past the post is the lesser of two evils for voters. Plus letters from Susanna Dammann and Steve Smart
It is common in the argument against proportional representation (PR) to reach for Italy as a cautionary tale, as Gian Lorenzo Spisso does in his letter (A proportional representation voting system could spell disaster for Labour, 30 September). The irony is that Italy does not actually have a proportional system: it has a mixed system. If we want to assess PR, we should look at countries that actually use it – Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark – hardly synonymous with political instability.
Also, small parties or weak local representation are not unique to PR. The tiny Democratic Unionist party held the balance of power at Westminster less than a decade ago under first past the post (FPTP), while the Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru wield influence disproportionate to their UK-wide vote because their support is geographically concentrated.
Martyn Thomas wonders how any rational person can argue that independent oversight and regulation will be sufficient
Once again a frontier AI model has been withdrawn because it fails safety tests (OpenAI scraps release of new model over safety concerns in internal testing, 28 September). There is the usual call for “independent oversight and regulation”, though never any explanation of how this would work or, most importantly, what evidence should persuade a regulator that an AI system is adequately safe.
There is a long engineering tradition of regulating safety-critical software systems, such as those controlling aircraft or nuclear power stations; international standards require “safety cases” – rigorous analyses that show that the possible hazards have been identified and controlled and that the probability of an accident is extremely low.
John Fisher recalls meeting a Casualty actor offering medical assistance to a passenger on a plane
Re Adrian Chiles’s article on TV medical dramas (I have a new favourite medical drama – and now I want to have a nasty accident in Pittsburgh, 30 September), my wife (a nurse) and I were on a flight back from Malta when the pilot called for any doctor or nurse on board to assist the cabin crew. My wife went to the back of the plane and found a hysterical woman freaking out on one of the seats. Standing over her were a cabin crew member and another woman, “attending” her. My wife said: “Oh, are you a doctor or a nurse?” She said: “No, I’m an actress, but I’ve been in several episodes of Casualty.”
The cabin crew member told her to clear off, and my wife looked after the hysterical woman. Some of these actors really get lost in their parts. John Fisher Eastleigh, Hampshire
John Plowright reflects onhow unemployment was viewed by Germans and the fear the KPD sparked
Philipp Ruch believes that the impact of the 1929 Wall Street crash cannot explain the Nazi breakthrough at the 1930 Reichstag election, as the full effects of Black Thursday “didn’t fully arrive in Germany until July 1931” (‘Hitler was a lazy criminal who slept in until noon’: why most of what we think we know about the rise of the Nazis is wrong, 1 October). But unemployment more than doubled between 1928 and the 1930 election, and that fact alone might be thought sufficient to explain the change in Nazi fortunes. Not so, says Ruch, for “in regions where unemployment was high, the Nazi party performed relatively poorly. If anything, unemployment was a factor contributing to anti-fascist resilience.”
This, however, marks a failure to appreciate how rising unemployment was seen by most Germans at the time. Not only did they see it as signifying one aspect of the failure of the coalition parties in government to manage the economy competently, but they also rightly regarded it as fuelling the rise of the Communist party of Germany (KPD) – with it being the other great political beneficiary of the Wall Street crash along with the National Socialist German Workers’ party. As the KPD grew, so the Nazi party grew – as it was perceived as the only party with the resolve and the numbers (thanks to the brownshirts) to stop the communists seizing power on the streets.
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