United Kingdom

    If you voted for Bernie Sanders, have sea-punk green hair, and wear a pin declaring Capitalism Is the Crisis, you may already be familiar with David Graeber’s writings on the takeover of our lives by bulls jobs. Graeber, an anthropology professor at the London School of Economics, was a mover and shaker in the Occupy Wall Street movement and is well known for his approachable critiques of neoliberal free market ideology. His new book, Bulls*** Jobs: A Theory (Simon & Schuster; $27), sprang from a shorter essay he published in 2013 in a feminist-activist magazine called Strike, which quickly struck a nerve. (One that  kept thrumming: on a Monday morning in 2015, an anonymous group plastered the London Underground with quotations from the writings.) Huge swathes ...

    Government admits it is checking if Theresa May's Brexit customs plan is legal Lawyers are examining whether Theresa May’s plan for trading with the EU after Brexit is legal under international law, her deputy has admitted. David Lidington, the cabinet office minister, also acknowledged that senior ministers had made serious criticisms about the technical detail behind the so-called customs partnership. It would be a “week or so” before the inner cabinet was ready to fully examine both the partnership plan and the rival “max fac” model based on smart technology, he said. However, Mr Lidington denied the involvement of lawyers presented a further hurdle, saying: We test the legal risks involved. This is just a normal routine part of policy This is what always happe...

    Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Thomas Markle was set to perform the role every bride hopes her father will be able to fulfil, walking his daughter down the aisle. But if the speculation is confirmed, Meghan Markle’s father will not be by her side as she walks into the medieval chapel to exchange wedding vows with Prince Harry. That role may fall to a male friend of Harry and his bride to be, someone whom she trusts and can provide comforting supporting as she walks into her new life as a member of the royal family. Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland will be in the wedding congregation but without her father there is likely to be something missing beyond a trusting arm to hold on to. Before the ceremony at Windsor Castle’s St George’s Chapel Mr Markle was expected to pe...

    The former Labour foreign secretary will share a stage on Monday with former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and the Tory chair of the Commons Treasury committee Nicky Morgan to urge MPs to vote down Theresa May’s Brexit deal with Brussels if it risks damaging the UK economy. Reports have suggested the prime minister is braced to drop her favoured plan for a customs union with Europe amid pressure from hardliners in her cabinet. Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, Miliband told the Labour leader not to back the government’s plan to leave the single market. The warning for Jeremy Corbyn is if he is not very careful he will be the midwife of a hard Brexit that threatens the living standards of the very people he says he wants to stand up to represent, he said. The ...

    Shoppers are deserting the high street in greater numbers than during the depths of the recession in 2009, creating a brutal climate that is putting thousands more retail jobs at risk. The coming days will be crucial to the future of a handful of household names, including Mothercare and Carpetright, which are trying to persuade investors to make vital cash injections so they can jettison unwanted stores. There is also the spectre of job losses at Poundworld, the struggling discount chain, which is being cut adrift by its American owners. Dwindling shopper numbers tally with weak spending figures for April, which show Britons slashed spending on gadgets, furniture and even nights out. Consumer spending dropped 2% last month, according to Visa’s consumer spending ind...

    Many aspiring first-time buyers may be looking to make their first home their forever home, by holding out for a family-sized house rather than starting off with a smaller property, research suggests. Nearly a third (32%) of people are aiming to dig their heels in for a detached home when they purchase their first property, Yorkshire Building Society found. And nearly half (49%) would consider a semi-detached house in their property search. But less than a quarter (24%) of aspiring first-time buyers said they would be happy to end up with a studio or flat, the survey of more than 900 people expecting to buy in the next 12 months found. Traditionally, people may have aimed for a larger family-sized home following several moves up the property ladder. But with many...

    Cancer sufferers are being put at risk and care for patients undergoing surgery is severely compromised as a result of constant staff shortages on wards, according to devastating first-hand testimony from inside the NHS. An astonishing dossier of concerns raised by nurses about the impact of staffing levels on patients reveals that nurses with the right skills are often in short supply, full staffing levels are becoming a rare event, and some emergency patients are being sent home as a result. The testimony, compiled from 18,000 anonymous submissions from hospital nurses and shared with the Observer, states that some nurses are being asked to complete procedures beyond their expertise, while many vulnerable patients are not being given the emotional support they nee...

    With just over a week to go until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say I do at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, it’s to be presumed that the former Suits actress has well and truly received the sign of approval from the Royal Family. After all, who wouldn’t welcom with open arms a women’s rights activist, philanthropist, Global Ambassador for World Vision Canada and ELLE UK writer who has penned essays on finding her voice as a mixed race woman? It’s exactly these attributes that make Markle so endearing to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, according to royal expert and managing editor of Daily Break, Kelly Lynch. Lynch recently told Express.co.uk that the royal couple are likely to embrace Meghan’s feminist beliefs. She said: Both the Duke and Her Ma...

    Opposition to the latest attempt to revive grammar schools remains undimmed, as the government published details of its plans to pump funds into making more places available at selective schools in England. The government is arguing for expanding school admissions on the basis of exam results for children at 11 - but its latest effort appears unlikely to win converts despite the claim by the education secretary, Damian Hinds, that it will promote social mobility. Kiran Eyre, a governor of a state school with a high proportion of pupils from disadvantaged families, said he was appalled by the government’s plan. There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that increasing grammar school places improves progressive educational outcomes, said Eyre, a governor of Coombe ...

    Theresa May has challenged Donald Trump on the impact of sanctions against Iran which will affect UK firms doing business there, amid a growing European backlash. In a phone call dominated by Iran, the Prime Minister and President agreed to hold talks between the UK and US governments on the effect of sanctions on British companies. The sanctions clash came as some European countries, including France and Germany, served notice that they are considering counter measures to allow their firms to keep trading with Iran. President Trump announced plans for sanctions when he confirmed on Tuesday that he was pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal which he said was rotten, horrible and one-sided. Within minutes of the President's announcement, Mrs May, French presid...