6 d. ago Four in 10 fear travelling on London's public transport, crime data reveals

Passengers worry about drunkness, fighting and anti-social behaviour, the survey reveals

Events

6 d. ago The Guardian view on UK attitudes to Europe: Labour is following where it could be leading | Editorial

There are signs of ministerial courage in making the case for closer ties to our neighbours, but the government could go further and fasterBritain’s relationship with the European Union was not a prominent issue in national debate when Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister, and Downing Street has striven to keep it that way. Labour strategists have seen Europe as a fissile topic, and Sir Keir’s opposition to Brexit in the 2016 referendum as a liability with swing voters. The prime minister has moved Britain closer to Europe, but in timid increments. The summit that formally “reset” relations early this year was long on statements of ambition, but short on substance. The government’s private recognition that economic logics impel Britain back into a European orbit has been in constant tension with fear of making that case in public.The balance now appears to be shifting. In a speech on Wednesday, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister responsible for EU relations, made the...

Politics

7 d. ago The Guardian view on Nigel Farage’s mass deportation plan: Trumpism in a union jack | Editorial

Reform UK’s leader isn’t offering border control. He’s dismantling democratic constraints and replacing them with fear and authoritarian fictionNigel Farage wants you to believe Britain could deport 288,000 people annually. That’s nearly 800 a day – 30 times the current rate of asylum-related returns. This is a fantasy concealing his real aim: to destroy public trust in democratic institutions, crush legal constraints and turn fear into power. Mr Farage isn’t trying to fix the asylum system. In fact, he wants to dismantle the political framework necessary to achieve that goal: the treaties, parliamentary conventions and centuries of legal protections. In their place, a Reform government would operate by executive fiat cloaked in nationalist rhetoric.“Operation Restoring Justice” is a louder, more extreme version of Rishi Sunak’s failed 2023 strategy to detain everyone, deport everyone and process no one. This led to a backlog of unheard asylum claims, spiralling hotel costs and publ...

Politics

9 d. ago Russell Kane cosies up to a hamster: best podcasts of the week

The comedian returns with a spin-off of his hit series about evilness – now applied to animals. Plus, Tracy Beaker actor Dani Harmer spills the tea on the magical Jacqueline Wilson“Is this creature a misunderstood marvel or a furry little psychopath?” That’s what comedian Russell Kane is asking in this animal-themed spin-off series from his hit Evil Genius podcast. He’s starting (dangerously) small with the hamster. Helping him to decide whether they are “pet shop pin-ups or nugget-size narcissists” are fellow funny woman Laura Smyth and zoologist and hamster expert Jules Howard. Hollie Richardson Widely available, episodes weekly Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago ‘The room started to spin, my breath grew short’: could I conquer my fear of public speaking?

For years, speaking in public has triggered panic attacks. So to overcome them, I road-tested some popular methods, from psychotherapy to virtual realityMy vision is fuzzy, my heart is racing and my lungs are emptying of oxygen. I’ve just been asked to speak in a meeting at my first graduate job on a fashion magazine. My task is simple – read out the week’s social media stats – but I can’t make it through. I cut the presentation short. I sit down, murmuring an apology, my eyes stinging with tears.This isn’t the first time this has happened. I had my first panic attack during a university class presentation. As the room started to spin and my breath grew short, I ditched most of what I’d prepared just to reach the end of my speech as fast as possible. When I returned to my seat, the lecturer carried on as though nothing had happened, but I was mortified. It had blindsided me. I’d enjoyed public speaking at school. Since when had I become such an anxious wreck? Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago The Guardian view on asylum myths: when truth loses, scapegoating takes over Britain’s migrant debate | Editorial

Labour’s cautious fixes for immigration and asylum policy face a toxic public mood shaped by fear, falsehoods and far-right provocationIn politics, numbers rarely speak for themselves. They must be framed and interpreted. They are often weaponised. In Britain’s increasingly toxic debate over asylum and migration, the question isn’t just how many asylum seekers arrive on small boats. It’s what those numbers are made to represent – and why polls suggest a large proportion of the public now believes things that are simply untrue.Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has staked her political credibility on restoring a sense of grip over the asylum system: reducing the backlog by processing cases, accelerating returns of those with no legal claim to stay and launching an as yet small-scale “one in, one out” returns deal with France. In balancing operational realism with symbolic reassurance, Ms Cooper walks a knife-edge between policy and perception. Continue reading...

Events