Teenage boys’ easy access to violent sexual images is creating a crisis for them – and for women, argues the anti-porn campaignerViolence against women is never far from the news, but currently it is high on the agenda – and porn features again and aga…
Sajid Javid working on radical plan to merge social care with health in England
Proposal aimed at freeing up NHS beds and offering home care could be included in white paper on reformRadical plans for a new national care service under which health and social care would be delivered by the same organisation are being actively consi…
Selma Blair: ‘Things fell into place when I was diagnosed with MS’
Hollywood actor Selma Blair talks honestly and with refreshing humour about how her life has changed, her groundbreaking documentary – and the comfort of famous friendsSelma Blair is telling me a joke about three tampons walking down the road: heavy fl…
A third of police forces referred sex assault claims to watchdog
Twenty-seven allegations about officers passed on in week Couzens sentencedAlmost a third of police forces in England and Wales referred allegations of sexual assault and harassment against their own officers to the police watchdog in the days followin…
The Observer view on benefit cuts | Observer editorial
The goverment’s erosion of financial support for low-paid parents consigns their children to a life of povertyThe government enacted the biggest ever overnight benefit cut last week. In one fell swoop, low-paid parents and unpaid carers of disabled peo…
Tories’ manifesto pledge to build 300,000 houses a year now ‘almost impossible’
Shortages of material, labour and drivers put the party’s mid-2020 target in serious jeopardy, say analystsBoris Johnson’s election pledge to build 300,000 new houses a year is in serious jeopardy in the face of labour and material shortages that are c…
Daniel Craig gives £10,000 to fathers walking for suicide prevention charity
Men say ‘just brilliant’ that the actor helped publicise charity walk in memory of their daughtersDaniel Craig has donated £10,000 to a fundraising challenge by three fathers who lost their daughters to suicide.Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen are …
Statue of pioneering MP Barbara Castle joins recent memorials to prominent British women
Depiction of veteran Labour MP latest in series of sculptures of significant women, including Diana Princess of WalesBarbara Castle, the pioneering British female politician and prominent national figure from the 1950s to the 70s, has been commemorated…
Coronavirus live news: UK reports 34,950 cases as two million receive booster jabs; Italy records 46 deaths
UK has recorded 133 Covid-related deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the latest figures; Italy has registered 4.7m coronavirus cases to dateUnions call for tighter Covid safety measures in schoolsRussia reports record daily death toll as Kremlin…
Birmingham cultural gem at risk as developers eye jewellery quarter
An industrial hub for 200 years, the area’s historic workshops are being turned into flatsIn the dusty workshop basement of luxury jeweller Deakin & Francis, grooves have been worn into the wood of workbenches used by generations of skilled hands t…