New research into mutations in sperm helps us better understand why they occur, while debunking a few myths in the process, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
Macron is solely responsible for the deadlock in French politics
BILL GREENSHIELDS reviews the president's contortions as he tries to avoid appointing a government of the election-winning New Popular Front
French President Emmanuel Macron gestures at the Elysee Palace as French left-wing coalition accuses Emmanuel Macron of denying democracy after he has rejected the New Popular Front's candidate to form a new government following last month's inconclusive election, August 27, 2024 in Paris
CAROL WILCOX argues for the proper implementation of the land value tax, which could see unused plots sold off and landlords priced out of landlordism, potentially resolving the housing and planning crises
The ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was based on evidence of a pattern of violence and hatred targeting Arabs and Muslims, two communities that have a large population in Birmingham — overturning the ban was tacit acceptance of the genocidal ideology the fans espouse, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
LINDA PENTZ GUNTER reports from the one of 2,700 protests against the Trump government’s power grabs, on a day when seven million people defied fear-mongering in a outpouring of joy and hope in what might be the biggest protest in US history
Our trust makes 3,200 home visits caring for 227 patients despite 198 Israeli checkpoints around Bethlehem; this compassion which transcends boundaries has lessons for the debate on end-of-life care in Britain too, writes FATHER GEOFF BOTTOMS
There is no chance of defending and renewing an NHS which is still savagely undermined by having to pay mark-ups of up to 23,000 per cent to Big Pharma — let’s take control of pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution, writes DREW GILCHRIST
FRANCE’S ongoing electoral crisis has been directly and deliberately created by the head of state President Emmanuel Macron, in the name of “institutional stability” — playing into the hands of the fascist-led National Rally.
Macron says that the winners of the election, the New Popular Front (NPF) — the coalition of the Communist Party, France Unbowed, the Socialist Party and the Ecologists — cannot possibly be allowed to form a government as they would “immediately” be brought down, since they do not have an overall majority of seats in the National Assembly.
Of course Macron fails to remember that he happily appointed Gabriel Attal to head up a minority government of his own Ensemble party in 2022 — the second “Macronist” minority government during his presidency — and, with this memory lapse, feels able unilaterally to reject Lucie Castets, the prime ministerial candidate nominated by the winners of the most seats in the Assembly.
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As heavy industry flees and public-sector strikes paralyse the nation, the French leader’s increasingly desperate attempts to rule without a majority reveal the deep crisis at the heart of European liberal democracy, writes KEVIN OVENDEN
