17 h. ago France has a massive debt crisis. So why is it spending billions a year subsidising business? | Alexander Hurst

The government is on the brink of collapse over planned austerity. Instead it must face up to the costs of its unnecessarily rigid labour marketAs someone who has always been against austerity, I find France, with a national debt at 114% of GDP and a budget deficit of 5.8% of GDP, a conundrum. Despite years of denunciation from his left and far-right opponents that Macron has engaged in “ultraneoliberalism”, there hasn’t been any. Not on a macro level, anyway, where both French government spending (57.3% of GDP) and tax receipts (51.4% of GDP) are among the highest in the world, including social spending, which outpaces any of its European neighbours.At the same time, it’s impossible to have spent the past decade in France without encountering the widely shared perception and accusation that public services are in decline. Doctors and nurses denounce a labour shortage in public hospitals; people who live in rural areas denounce the closing of rural train lines; students and academic...

Economics

3 d. ago In pictures: 'Euphoric' Maclean brothers reach Australia after setting new world record in Pacific row

The moment they saw Cairns on the horizon is a moment the Maclean brothers will never forget.

Politics

3 d. ago Edinburgh's rowing Maclean brothers arrive in Australia and break Pacific world record

A new world record is set following the 9,000 mile crossing. Today, pizza will be eaten.

Politics

6 d. ago US deportation flights hit record highs as carriers try to hide the planes, advocates say

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights reach record highs, the airlines running the trips have taken steps to make it more difficult to track the planes used to carry shackled people across the country and around the world

Events

6 d. ago Fertility rate hits record low in England, Scotland and Wales

Last year’s total fertility rate of 1.41 for England and Wales was lowest since comparable data was first collected in 1938, ONS saysThe fertility rate for England and Wales has fallen for the third year in a row to reach a record low, figures show.The total fertility rate across both nations, meaning the average number of live children women can expect to have across their child-bearing life, stood at 1.41 in 2024, down from 1.42 in 2023, the lowest since comparable data was first collected in 1938, according to the Office for National Statistics. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago England and Wales fertility rate falls for third consecutive year

Last year’s total fertility rate of 1.41 was lowest since comparable data was first collected in 1938, ONS saysThe fertility rate for England and Wales has fallen for the third year in a row to reach a record low, figures show.The total fertility rate across both nations, meaning the average number of live children women can expect to have across their child-bearing life, stood at 1.41 in 2024, down from 1.42 in 2023, the lowest since comparable data was first collected in 1938, according to the Office for National Statistics. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago 'Just when you thought it couldn't get worse': Number of rape victims abandoning their cases reaches record high, as officials call on Crown Prosecution Service to 'urgently do better'

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been accused of betraying victims as the number dropping out of their case has doubled in the last two years. Pictured: File photo

Events

9 d. ago Ibiza Final Boss reaches new career milestone as he parties with record label owner

It's not uncommon for unexpected guests to pop up at major festivals such as Creamfields, but in the case of UK music fans, the Ibiza Final Boss is the king of unexpected

Politics

1 week ago Premier League sets summer transfer record 11 days before window shuts

Total spending on transfers in the top flight has reached a record sum after Leeds completed a deal for Noah Okafor

Politics

1 week ago Britain's debt soars under Labour: UK in the red by an extra £186BILLION since last year's general election

From the end of July 2024 to the end of last month, the UK's national debt rocketed from £2.53trillion to £2.71trillion, the study of official figures found.

Economics

2 w. ago Top executives’ pay in UK hits record high – reaching 122 times of average worker

It marks the fourth year in a row that chief executives have taken home a record amount

Economics

2 w. ago Wrexham smashes its transfer record by signing Broadhead in a deal worth up to $13.5M

Wrexham’s spending has moved into a new stratosphere after the team owned by Hollywood celebrities signed winger Nathan Broadhead from Ipswich in a club-record deal that could reportedly reach 10 million pounds ($13.50 million)

Economics

2 w. ago Students accepted on UK degree courses reaches record high – Ucas

The figures comes as school and college leavers across the country are receiving their A-level results.

Politics

2 w. ago US sanctions Mexican drug cartel associates accused of scamming elderly Americans

The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on more than a dozen Mexican companies and four people it says worked with a powerful drug trafficking cartel to scam elderly Americans in a multimillion-dollar timeshare fraud

Events

2 w. ago Dale Webster, surfer who rode waves for 14,642 consecutive days, dies aged 77

Surfer rode waves daily for over 40 years straightStreak reached 14,642 consecutive surfing daysGuinness record-holder dies at age 77 in CaliforniaDale Webster, the Northern California surfer who paddled out every day for more than 40 years, has died at the age of 77. News of his death was shared on social media by friends and fellow surfers. No cause of death was given.Known as Daily Dale and Daily Wavester, Webster holds a Guinness world record for the longest streak of consecutive days surfed: an extraordinary 14,642, a stretch that began in 1975 and ended in 2015. His feat required him to surf at least three waves a day, rain or shine, in sickness or in health, through frigid Pacific waters and the shark-rich lineup off Sonoma County. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago The national debt has reached a record $37 trillion, the Treasury Department reports

Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ set to ramp up government borrowing even further

Economics

3 w. ago US national debt reaches a record $37 trillion, the Treasury Department reports

The U.S. government’s gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, setting a new record

Economics

3 w. ago US court says Trump’s Doge team can access social security numbers and other sensitive data

Court refuses to block ‘department of government efficiency’ from accessing data such as citizenship statusUS politics live – latest updatesA US appeals court on Tuesday rejected a bid by a group of unions to block the Trump administration government downsizing team known as the “department of government efficiency” (Doge) from accessing sensitive data on Americans.The Virginia-based fourth US circuit court of appeals in a 2-1 decision said the unions were unlikely to prevail on claims that Doge would violate federal privacy laws by accessing data at the US Department of Education, treasury department, and office of personnel management. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago In Trump’s America, vaccination rates are declining and measles is spreading | Katrina vanden Heuvel

Trump and RFK Jr have made every effort to undermine one of the major civilizing advances of the 20th century – our public health infrastructureNew data from the CDC suggests a grim back-to-school tradition emerging: in 2024, kindergarten vaccination rates declined for the fifth consecutive year. Meanwhile, vaccine exemptions reached a record high.These statistics became all the more disturbing last fall when, shortly after 286,000 children began their educations without proof of full immunity against measles, a man who has bragged about never getting a flu shot was re-elected to the presidency. Since then, the US has contended with its largest measles outbreak in three decades, while the leaders who should be stamping out this crisis are instead fanning the flames. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Huge blow to Canary Islands as tourists ignore 'bleak' warning

Despite a wave of anti-tourist protests across Spain in May, international tourism to the country and its islands has reached record-setting heights - with British tourists leading the pack

Events