A viral essay has caused outrage in the US with its argument that the poverty line for a family of four is now $136,500. But is this so wrong? Have you heard that a family of four in the US is now considered poor if their household income is under $136,500 (£103,300) a year? Don’t @ me about the maths – I’m just the messenger. The person behind this calculation is Michael Green, who is chief strategist and portfolio manager for Simplify Asset Management. I think this means that he makes large sums of money by fiddling with even larger sums of money. When not doing that, Green writes a newsletter and recently published a viral piece on Substack arguing that the poverty line, calculated as $31,200 by the Department of Health and Human Services, is a “broken benchmark”. These days a family with a low six-figure income is officially “the new poor”, he reasoned. Green’s essay has sparked numerous rebuttals, with people arguing that he had turned the poverty measure into a middle-class measure. “It’s completely disconnected from reality,” the economist Kevin Corinth said, for example, noting that the $136,500 figure was higher than the US median household income of $83,730. “It’s laughable to put a poverty line far above the median income in the United States.” Continue reading...

From the trauma and triumphs of Olympic cyclist Bradley Wiggins to the secret life of a match fixer The Chain Bradley Wiggins, (HarperCollins) The Tour de France winner’s autobiography begins with him sneaking into his walk-in wardrobe and doing a line of coke off his Olympic gold medal: the final emblematic descent from his crowning summer of 2012. And yet for all the personal lows chronicled here – addiction, self-harm, the collapse of his marriage, the haunting memories of his difficult father and of a coach who sexually abused him – this is not your classic misery memoir. Disarmingly honest and roguishly humorous, it is a journey of rediscovery: a man knocked sideways by the toxic winds of sport and celebrity, finally learning to stand straight again. The Escape: The Tour, the Cyclist and Me Pippa York and David Walsh (Mudlark) In a previous life Robert Millar was one of this country’s greatest cyclists: a stern Glaswegian who won the King of the Mountains jersey at the 1984 Tour de France. Now known as Pippa York, she returns to the race in the company of the journalist David Walsh. It’s a freewheeling, fascinating read that defies genre: part travelogue and part memoir, it dances between present and past, sporting observation and self-reflection, drugs that help you cheat and drugs that help you live. And for all the pain and anguish that gets unlocked here, this is a book without a bitter or hateful bone in its body. Continue reading...

Project on ‘very poorly understood’ terrain poses immense geological hazard, endangering fragile ecosystems When an earthquake in 2002 struck in a remote pocket of Alaska, the shock was the strongest ever recorded in the interior of the state. But, miraculously, an oil pipeline that crossed directly over the fault line was unscathed. Engineers behind the design of the 800 mile system were prepared. Knowing the high likelihood of seismic activity along the route, which bisected the Denali fault, they constructed sections where the pipeline rested on rail girders, allowing it to sway and shear without snapping. Continue reading...

Officials hew closely to secret memo which gives legal cover to firing on boats even if it would kill people on board Trump administration officials have defended carrying out a follow-up strike on a drug boat that killed survivors on 2 September by arguing that its objective was to ensure the complete destruction of the boat, an action the Pentagon had internal legal approval to conduct. The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing on Monday that Adm Frank Bradley, who oversaw the operation and gave the order for the second strike, directed it to sink the boat. Continue reading...

Champions South Africa face Italy, Georgia and Romania Ireland and Scotland in pool with Uruguay and Portugal The host nation Australia will face their traditional rivals New Zealand at the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027 after the draw was made in Sydney on Wednesday. The Wallabies, hosting a second men’s tournament, were guaranteed to face a top-ranked nation in Pool A due to a current world ranking of seventh, and the renewal of their fierce rivalry with the All Blacks is perhaps the most appetising possible outcome from the draw. The potential for a “Bledisloe Cup” opening match to kick off the global showpiece, on 1 October 2027 in Perth, will be a hugely attractive prospect for fans. Chile, playing at a second Rugby World Cup after their debut in France in 2023, and debutants Hong Kong are also in Pool A. England, who won the men’s tournament in Australia 22 years ago, have been pitted against their Six Nations rivals Wales, with Tonga and Zimbabwe the other sides in Pool F. Wales famously defeated England at their home tournament a decade ago before a second loss, to Australia, consigned the hosts to an early exit. Continue reading...

City of London corporation names Albert Island near City airport in Docklands for meat and fish markets A former industrial site in London’s Docklands has been named as the new home for the capital’s ancient Smithfield meat market and Billingsgate fish market, under plans unveiled by their owner. The proposal by the City of London Corporation – the governing body that runs London’s Square Mile and also operates the markets – would relocate both to Albert Island. Continue reading...

Exclusive: CEO says decision taken with ‘utmost regret and sadness’ after supreme court ruling on definition of a woman The Women’s Institute will no longer accept transgender women as members from April following the UK supreme court ruling on the legal definition of a woman, the Guardian can reveal. Melissa Green, the chief executive of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, said the organisation had taken the decision with the “utmost regret and sadness”, adding it had “no choice” but to exclude trans women from its membership. Continue reading...

From a cranberry katsu curry to a dozen thickly glazed doughnuts, the biggest chains are getting Christmassy. I found out which seasonal meals will leave you carolling and carousing – and which will leave you cold By now, most major fast food outlets will have launched their festive special. There is no established framework for what “festive” means, and no recognised metrics of Christmassyness. It could be indicated by a lurid green/angry red colour in a place you’re not expecting it (McDonald’s Grumble Pie, I’m looking at you); or an existing thing, made into a more seasonal shape, or the introduction of a quintessential Christmas ingredient, such as a brussels sprout (though seriously, food giants, get over yourself if you think it’s cinnamon – this is an autumn spice). I am not here to critique the essentials of fast food (I love it). If you want someone who will come over like the critic in Ratatouille, you’re just going to have to go and rewatch Ratatouille. I am merely here to eat six festive specials, and ask myself: do I feel Christmassy, punk? Continue reading...

PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox; Eyes Out/Blumhouse Games Psychedelic visuals and a promising premise are let down by tired game design in this first-person horror with an appearance from the synthpop pioneer Video games have delivered a feast of singular and wondrous sights in 2025: ecological fantasias teeming with magical beasts; stunning, historically obsessive recreations of feudal Japan. But here is an end-of-year curio: psychological horror game Sleep Awake serves us synth-rock pioneer Gary Numan stepping into what is perhaps the schlockiest role of his life – a gigantic floating head named Hypnos. This late-stage cameo is not quite indicative of the game as a whole; the handful of hours prior to Numan’s arrival are more mournful than madcap. Mostly, you explore the dilapidated, tumbledown streets of what is thought to be the last city on Earth. This setting is a magnificent work of imagination. You see it through the eyes of a young woman named Katja, who moves along rooftops, gazing out upon a barren, lifeless hinterland, into labyrinthine streets whose darkness and arcane logic recall the stirring subterranean etchings of Italian artist Piranesi. Continue reading...

The many elegant South Korean brands dominated the year, but France’s faultless Mimétique and the reasonably priced The Ordinary also make the cut One can’t reflect on this year’s best skincare without acknowledging the domination of South Korean brands. Collectively, Yepoda, TirTir, Anua, Aestura, KraveBeauty, Beauty of Joseon, Dr Althea, Innisfree, Laneige and Then I Met You – to name but 10 of dozens – have succeeded in tempting droves of British consumers away from traditional products and towards very hydrated, unagitated and glassy-looking skin. Space forbids me from covering all their impressive product launches, and so I’ll pick out Beauty of Joseon’s Relief Sun Rice + Probiotics SPF50+ to wave the Korean flag on the nation’s behalf. Continue reading...

For a limited time only, buy a fine art print featuring a standout selection of Tom Gauld’s cultural cartoons from 2025. This exclusive, two-week drop is your opportunity to own a collectible piece straight from the Guardian’s celebrated Book section. Available until 17 December Buy your prints here Tom Gauld was born in 1976 and studied at Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal College of Art. He draws weekly cartoons for the Guardian and New Scientist magazine. He has created a number of comic books and a picture book for children. He lives in London with his family. The Vampire’s Bookshelves Continue reading...

Comments come after Putin rejected peace deal after US talks and warned that Russia is ‘ready’ for war with Europe Back to Brussels, the foreign ministers from European Nato countries showed little patience with Moscow this morning. “What we see is that Putin has not changed any course. He’s pushing more aggressively on the battlefield,” Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said in comments reported by AP. “It’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t want to have any kind of peace.” Continue reading...

Tell us about your standout stage production of the year – we’ll feature a selection of your favourites We would like to hear about your favourite theatre shows of 2025. Which play captured your heart? Maybe a dance company moved you? Or a musical left you speechless? Please briefly explain why (100 words max) by filling in the form below and we will feature a selection of them. Continue reading...

Gloria Swanson is extraordinary as faded film-star Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s cameo-packed self-referential masterpiece about tinseltown ghosts and delusions Billy Wilder’s film starring Gloria Swanson as a reclusive former silent movie star, and William Holden as a young wannabe writer who becomes her kept man, more than ever looks not merely like tinseltown satire or LA noir, but a ghost story. It’s the ultimate film about how the screenwriter is always the loser and the chump. You can tell that Norma Desmond (Swanson) is washed up because she has actually written a screenplay – which is, however, more than Joe (Holden) ever achieves in the course of this film. Sunset Boulevard’s own script, co-written by Wilder with Charles Brackett and DM Marshman Jr, is of course superb. And after 75 years, we can appreciate the movie’s sober judgment about the dangers of cinephilia and Hollywood ancestor worship. The street name itself, with its dying fall, is an occult omen of the eerie and macabre things that happen here. David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive had the same chill. The street name is about the final ending, and this is one of the very few films of any sort with a really satisfying ending: the way in which the delusional old celebrity, her eyes pinwheeling, is finally induced to come placidly down the stairs to surrender to the authorities. She grimaces and gurns directly into the lens at the very last, rather like Anthony Perkins in Psycho – a film that incidentally was very much influenced by this one. Continue reading...

Fertilising arable land with human waste leaves array of toxins that could re-enter food chain, study finds More than 520 chemicals have been found in English soils, including pharmaceutical products and toxins that were banned decades ago, because of the practice of spreading human waste to fertilise arable land. Research by scientists at the University of Leeds, published as a preprint in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, found a worrying array of chemicals in English soils. Close to half (46.4%) of the pharmaceutical substances detected had not been reported in previous global monitoring campaigns. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Brazil’s environment minister talks about climate inaction and the course we have to plot to save ourselves and the planet Soon after I returned home to Altamira from Cop30, I found myself talking about dinosaurs, meteors and “ambassadors of harm” with Brazil’s environment minister, Marina Silva. No one in government knows the rainforest better than Marina, as she is best known in Brazil, who was born and raised in the Amazon. No one is more aware of the sacrifices that environmental and land defenders have made than this associate of the murdered activist Chico Mendes. And no one worked harder to raise ambition at Cop30, the first climate summit in the Amazon, than her. So what, I asked, had it achieved? Continue reading...

Updates from the event in Sydney Any thoughts? Email Angus Tonight’s draw will allocate the lower-ranked teams first and be conducted in band order starting with Band 4, followed by Band 3, then Band 2, and concluding with Band 1. For each band, the allocation of teams to pools will follow this sequence: First team drawn: Pool F Second team drawn: Pool E Third team drawn: Pool D Fourth team drawn: Pool C Fifth team drawn: Pool B Sixth team drawn: Pool A Bowl 1: Chicken Twisties Bowl 2: Arancini balls Bowl 3: Prawns Bowl 4: M&Ms Continue reading...

Revenues jumped 40% to nearly £2bn after debt-ridden utility hiked water bills sharply in April Thames Water has reported a leap in half-year profits to £386m after bills rose by nearly a third, even as it warned it faced huge funding uncertainties that could result in a rapid collapse into government control. Britain’s biggest water company on Wednesday said it had swung into profit for the six months to September, after losing £230m in the same period in 2024. Continue reading...

This year’s outstanding tracks – from post-punk rap to indie-disco and operatic pop – as voted for by 30 Guardian music writers *** 20 Continue reading...

It contains enough steel to go round the world twice – and even has a fake breeze to flutter the star-and-stripes flag in its lobby. If this colossus is just the first of a new breed of bulky supertalls, is Britain next? Among the slender needles and elegant spires of the Manhattan skyline, a mountainous lump has reared into view. It galumphs its way up above the others, climbing in bulky steps with the look of several towers strapped together, forming a dark, looming mass. From some angles it forms the silhouette of a hulking bar chart. From others, it glowers like a coffin, ready to swallow the dainty Chrysler building that trembles in its shadow. It is New York’s final boss, a brawny, bronzed behemoth that now lords it over the city with a brutish swagger. Fittingly, this is the new global headquarters of JP Morgan, the world’s biggest bank. The firm enjoys a market capitalisation of $855bn (£645bn), more than Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup’s combined, and it looks as if it might have swallowed all three inside its tinted glass envelope. Last year, for the first time, it made more than $1bn a week in profits. Chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon likes to boast of its “fortress balance sheet”, and he now has an actual fortress to go with it – built at a cost, he revealed at the opening, of around $4bn. He has certainly made his mark. It would be hard to design a more menacing building if you tried. Continue reading...

Christy faced months of bureaucratic trauma. For terminally ill people, the assisted dying bill must not create further obstacles Three years ago, I sat in a hotel in Zurich, awaiting my flight home, wondering how I was going to get through the next few weeks and months. Having been with my wife, Christy, at Dignitas the day before, I was hoping I would avoid prosecution. That day had been the most profound day of my life, full of great sadness, but also great love, and a sense of peace that Christy had been able to die as she wished, without going through the inevitable pain and difficulty that she dreaded. A month earlier, she had written in her diary: “I don’t feel particularly frightened of the death itself. I am frightened about having to let go of life. I feel I have lived life to the absolute full … But … I’m not prepared to go on living this painful and difficult life as it continues to worsen.” Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s an easy process to go to Dignitas. It is not. Christy had six months of covert bureaucracy and constant stress that someone might find out and stop her from going, as well as anxiety about the legal jeopardy I would face. Dave Sowry is a retired systems analyst and a board member of the campaign group My Death, My Decision Continue reading...

One donor tells FT that Reform leader described an agreement as ‘inevitable’, despite denials from both sides Nigel Farage has told donors he expects a deal or merger between his Reform UK party and the Conservatives before the next general election. Reform donors told the Financial Times that the leader expected his party to join with or make a deal with the Tories. Continue reading...

Plus: the shambles that was 1950 World Cup qualifying, and plenty more brawling teammates Mail us with your questions and answers “Has any player been shown a second yellow card while being substituted for not leaving the pitch correctly?” wonders Ken Foster. They have indeed, Ken. Let Robin Horton take you back to a bitter January in 1980, when Stoke City were the visitors to Burnley in the FA Cup third round. “Stoke’s Denis Smith, already on a yellow card, limped towards the touchline with an injured ankle, only to linger on the touchline as substitute Paul Johnson was not properly warmed up,” Robin recalls. “Referee Kevin McNally therefore sent Smith off for time-wasting. McNally was not in Stoke’s good books; Burnley won the tie via a penalty, and Stoke’s Ray Evans also got his marching orders, for what manager Alan Durban described as ‘heavy sarcasm’.” That’s as good a reason for a dismissal as we can remember. Continue reading...

Even Steve Smith struggles under lights and selection of Will Jacks is the right approach by the tourists There has been a lot of discussion over the past week about day-night Tests, how to approach them and whether they produce quality cricket. Stuart Broad described them as a lottery but Australia’s outstanding record would suggest that actually the best team normally prevails, and skill should win the day. The question for England is whether they have it in them to dominate in relatively unfamiliar conditions, to win key battles at key moments and to take control. I remember the day-night Test in Adelaide in 2017, when I was with the England team as batting coach. I personally enjoyed the spectacle and felt it was a good challenge for the players. We lost that match despite going into it having played four first-class games and the first Test in Brisbane, so we had a volume of cricket under our belt. A pink-ball Test was something new, but the players all felt they were up to speed in terms of match cricket. This England side are nowhere near, and that is a concern. You need what I call your match-head on, and that only comes from playing matches. I’m firmly of the view that you can have all the nets sessions you want, but it’s not the same – when you play a loose drive in the nets there is no consequence, a lack of precision goes unpunished. In a match you have to walk off. Continue reading...

Arsenal represent Europe in four-game tournament Matches to be played in London from 28 January Fifa has been unable to sell TV rights to its first global women’s club competition, the Champions Cup, which is taking place in London from 28 January. The Champions League holders, Arsenal, will represent Europe in the competition that features the winners of the continental championships. The situation has echoes of Fifa’s struggle to sell TV rights to the men’s Club World Cup this year, bought by the global streaming platform Dazn, which sold a $1bn stake to the Saudi Arabian vehicle SURJ Sports Investment. Continue reading...