A number of idyllic-looking homes in estates owned by King Charles and Prince William do not meet energy standards for rentals• Royal estates rent out homes that fail to meet legal energy efficiency standardsThis summer, the duchy of Cornwall got a new-look website with a bold statement of intent at the top: “We’re on a mission to become a world-leading impact organisation.”Updating the website will have been the easiest part of that mission. Upgrading hundreds of ageing, mostly rural, rented cottages, farmhouses and country houses will be one of the hardest. Continue reading...

15 Aug 2026 16:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

From chefs to paramedics, workers tell the Guardian how they are coping and unions outline the changes needed in the workplaceIn the sweltering kitchen of the Plimsoll pub in north London, the head chef, Joshua Swinney, has a frozen tea towel wrapped around his neck to combat the heat.As temperatures exceeded 35C (95F) in the capital, workers who were not lucky enough to be in air-conditioned offices sweltered in the heat. Continue reading...

14 Aug 2026 05:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Dating apps such as Bumble forced to adapt as ‘swipe fatigue’ growsBumble was supposed to be different. When it launched in 2014, it offered women a simple proposition: if you matched with a man, you had to make the first move. The rule was meant to make online dating safer and less intimidating, while giving women control over who got to speak first.This week, Bumble abandoned it. Continue reading...

14 Aug 2026 13:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Taiwan practised cutting off internet for the first time amid concerns about the safety of the undersea cables that form its ‘digital lifeline’In Taipei, the streets swiftly empty as air raid sirens ring out and alerts ping on mobile phones. Police officers usher any stragglers into shelters, leaving the capital suddenly deserted.In cities across Taiwan, these kinds of drills are a fact of life every year, amid the growing threat posed by China across the strait, but this time there is something different. Continue reading...

14 Aug 2026 03:17 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

'I know my age group has called the young lazy, entitled snowflakes,' says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, who has been writing for the Guardian for nearly 50 years. 'But I know whose side I’m on and it’s not my own generation’s.'Polly believes that the social contract between younger and older generations has been broken, with gen Z and millennials set to be worse off than their parents in the face of soaring unemployment, stagnating wages and ballooning house prices. New research carried out for the BBC suggests that people in their 20s are facing a worse start to adulthood than any other generation in almost half a century, with more than 40% of 25-year-olds now living with their parents.Watch to find out why Polly thinks her generation owes the younger ones an apology - and how they can right these wrongs Continue reading...

14 Aug 2026 09:55 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

In Taipei on Thursday, the streets swiftly emptied into shelters as air raid sirens rang out and alerts pinged on mobile phones. These kinds of drills are the norm in cities across Taiwan, amid the growing threat posed by China across the strait. But this time, internet speeds were drastically cut, simulating a coordinated attack for the first time. Rafqa Touma speaks to Yu-chen Li, Guardian researcher on China affairs, who was on the ground‘Tiktok wouldn’t open at all’: Taiwan simulates an internet blackout, with an eye on China threat Continue reading...

14 Aug 2026 08:22 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Global food prices have hit their highest level in over three years. We are told this is due to rising oil and energy costs, but how exactly do they affect prices? The most reported reason is that transport and fertiliser are to blame, but the reality is that the oil and gas industry is far more integrated in our food production than many of us realise. To get a better understanding, Josh Toussaint-Strauss takes a closer look at the production processes of three categories of food: meat, processed staples and fruit and vegetables. What he discovers is a level of involvement that is shocking Continue reading...

13 Aug 2026 10:27 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN