2 h. ago ‘Even with segregation, they dressed up and danced’: the radical joy of 1960s Indigenous deb balls

In 1966, 16-year-old Norma Ingram was ‘presented’ to Sydney society. Now her granddaughter, the playwright Dalara Williams, has written a play celebrating the historic vibrancy of RedfernGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailOn a Friday night in April 1966, 16-year-old Norma Ingram was one of seven young Aboriginal women formally “presented” as part of the inaugural Sydney Indigenous debutante ball at Paddington Town Hall. “It was a lot of that old English stuff, ‘coming out into society’,” the Wiradjuri woman says of the event, which was attended by some 200 Aboriginal people.Revellers passed under a boomerang arch to enter the hall, which was festooned with Indigenous motifs in ochre colours. Ingram wore a white ballgown. “We were all just teenagers,” she says of her debutante cohort. “It was fun for us, and we made a whole lot of new friends.” Continue reading...

Culture

7 d. ago Labour wants more timber frame houses: What's good and bad about them?

Wood-framed homes are greener - but how much do they cost, and can you get a mortgage?

Politics

8 d. ago Ontario’s police force using ‘growing ecosystem’ of Israeli spyware – report

Findings raise questions about extent and scope of Canadian authorities’ use of cyberweaponsResearchers have uncovered “possible links” between Ontario’s provincial police force and an Israel-based military-grade spyware maker called Paragon Solutions, raising questions about the extent and scope of Canadian authorities’ use of cyber weapons.The new findings were published by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which tracks and identifies digital threats against civil society, and come three years after a parliamentary committee in Canada called for Ottawa to update the country’s privacy laws in the wake of press reports that the national police force was using spyware to hack mobile phone devices. No laws were ever passed to address the controversy. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Ontario’s provincial police force could be using Israeli spyware, report finds

Report on ‘possible links’ raises questions about extent and scope of Canadian authorities’ use of cyber weaponsResearchers have uncovered “possible links” between Ontario’s provincial police force and an Israel-based military-grade spyware maker called Paragon Solutions, raising questions about the extent and scope of Canadian authorities’ use of cyber weapons.The new findings were published by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, which tracks and identifies digital threats against civil society, and come three years after a parliamentary committee in Canada called for Ottawa to update the country’s privacy laws in the wake of press reports that the national police force was using spyware to hack mobile phone devices. No laws were ever passed to address the controversy. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago The truth about the deadly drug ketamine that killed The Vivienne and left my friends in nappies... few realise exactly what it does

Ketamine use has more than tripled among young people in the last 12 years. The drug is wreaking havoc on society at large and was responsible for drag queen The Vivienne's death.

Events

1 week ago Sluggish year for slugs as experts predict fewer numbers this spring

After a bumper year for the slimy molluscs in 2024, the Royal Horticultural Society says numbers will be down this spring.

Politics

2 w. ago Savills hopes return to office will provide a boost to business, as shares fall despite profit rise

High-end estate agent Savills saw shares fell sharply on Thursday, despite the group unveiling higher profits and a dividend increase.

Economics

2 w. ago ‘I don’t feel part of society’: how Covid is still taking its toll five years on

The social, educational and financial impact is still making itself felt, especially for those who continue to mournFive years ago, on 11 March 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. In the intervening years, more than 7 million people worldwide have been reported to have died from Covid. For most people, life as they remember it before the outbreak has returned to the way it was before. However, respondents to a Guardian callout reflect a more complex picture for those who are still affected.While many reported feeling happier that working from home has allowed for a more flexible work-life balance and that eating more healthily and exercising has become a priority, many others described how they still live with what happened. Continue reading...

Science

2 w. ago When politicians tell us to focus on growth we need to ask: ‘Why, and for whom?’

Isolate growth from public good and you are simply planning for breakdown. My research shows that a resilient society should be rooted in wellbeing, not wealthFive years ago, we were beginning to face the imminent reality of lockdown. We were confronted with an uncertain future in which our habitual ways of coping, succeeding, displacing and overworking were going to be put mercilessly on hold because of an unprecedented existential threat. And for a few months we lived through a see-saw of emotions: public and private grief at the scale of loss; anger and confusion over the restrictions imposed, withdrawn, re-imposed; exhaustion at the pressure of sustaining basic public services – and also a kind of guilty, sporadic excitement at possibilities we hadn’t guessed at. Clearer skies, silent roads; time; a sense of what mattered and who mattered, to us as individuals and to the whole of society. Fragile shoots of some sort of renewed spiritual imagination pushed a centimetre or so thro...

Politics

3 w. ago Persimmon to post higher profit as interest fall aids housing market recovery

Persimmon is set to see a bounce back in profits next week after two years of steep declines, as the UK housing market made a slow recovery in 2024

Economics

3 w. ago Homebuyers hit with huge blow as little known fee on top of mortgage costs rises

According to the latest data from the financial comparison website Moneyfacts, the average fee charged on a fixed-rate mortgage deal has risen by £89 since 2020, going from £1,040 to £1,129

Economics

3 w. ago Coventry Building Society sees yearly profit fall as mortgage costs ease

The building society, which is the second largest in the UK, bought The Co-operative Bank at the beginning of the year.

Economics

3 w. ago Capita 'moving at pace' with cuts as it swings back to profit despite revenue fall

The company's efforts to slash costs resulted in a pre-tax profit of £116.6m in 2024, a significant turnaround from the £106.6m loss reported the previous year, despite an 8% decline in revenues

Politics

3 w. ago Edinburgh Festival Fringe should be given same status as Olympics, says outgoing boss

Shona McCarthy is to step down after nine years in the role at the helm of the Fringe Society

Sport

3 w. ago AI superintelligence will demolish society as we know it in one year, tech CEO proclaims

Dario Amodei is urging governments to wise up quickly and figure out how daily life will work when Artificial Intelligence is 'better than all of us at everything'

Science

3 w. ago Mortgage approvals fall as borrowing still costly compared to 'cheap money era'

The number of mortgages being approved to home buyers fell back in January, following an increase in December, according to Bank of England figures

Economics

4 w. ago ‘He looks half the man he was’: brother of Israeli hostage on seeing him pleading for release

Sighting of Evyatar David in Hamas video brought joy to his brother Ilay but his appearance indicated his sufferingWhen Hamas brought two captive Israelis to watch Saturday’s release of six of their fellow hostages and then beg for their own liberation, it was purposely jabbing at a deeply painful divide in Israeli society.Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal were 22-year-old best friends when they were kidnapped at the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023. The Hamas video showed them sitting in a minivan watching the propaganda-laden handover ceremony, and then turning to the cameras to plead with Benjamin Netanyahu to agree a second phase in the current ceasefire, which would allow the release of all the remaining 59 hostages (only a minority of whom are thought to be still alive). Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Taylor Wimpey expects rising house sales amid planning reforms

Falling mortgage costs will help sales, the housebuilder said, while recent planning changes will help it get more houses approved.

Politics