The Guardian - Australia

With affordability a major election issue, the incumbent is trying to ward off her democratic socialist challenger At the end of 2022, the four largest US cities – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston – all had Black mayors. It was a historic alignment made possible by the aftereffects of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement and the unprecedented wave of protests following the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Six years on, only one of those mayors remains: the embattled Karen Bass

Voters are turning against the Republicans. But the clearest possible message is needed to safeguard democracy The psychologist Jennifer Freyd identified a pattern often used by perpetrators: deny, accuse, and reverse victim and offender. More than one observer has noted that Donald Trump employs that pattern politically. With polls suggesting Republicans are likely to lose the House and perhaps the Senate too in the midterms, the man who refused to accept Americans’ democratic verdict in 2020 i

Maxxing is selfish, desperately try-hard and often futile. Instead of pushing your endeavours to the limit, minning means doing them less, if at all Public service announcement: fellow citizens, we have maxxmaxxinged. It has been close for a while, but now we have gone over the edge – reached, and passed, maximum maxxing. The tipping point was a week in which we saw reports of Namemaxxing. If you can’t decide between two baby names, pick them both. Suggestions included blending Maeve and Avery t

The simplicity of breathing; the sweetness of laughter; the privilege of lying on a bed. Buddhism teaches us how to enjoy the small pleasures Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life There is a particular Buddhist story that reassured me I had found the right path. The story goes that Prince Siddhartha Gautama was deep in spiritual practice – arduous, unforgiving practice. He had tried everything from breath-holding to extreme fasting. Bu

The Australian swimming great on her decision to retire, her health and fertility journey – and her ‘intense’ former coach From a life tracing the black line three metres below the water’s surface, to one marked by shades of grey, Ariarne Titmus is still adapting. Now 26, and two years removed from her final competitive event, she recognises her excellence as a swimmer only partly prepared her for what came next. “I look at a lot of things in my life pretty black and white, which is probably not

Centre of downturn shifts away from Sydney and Melbourne, but after such strong growth most homeowners still sit on sizeable gains Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian home values have dropped for a seventh consecutive month, with prices in the capital cities now falling at the fastest pace in 40 years as rising mortgage rates scare off buyers. Cotality data shows the centre of the downturn is also shifting away from Sydney and Melbourne toward the mid-sized sta

Systemic racism is not a glitch in our institutions, it is a design feature – and the seeds of it lie in our constitution In my years of reading reports, attending inquests and watching new inquiries restate old findings, I have asked myself the same question that haunts so many Indigenous lawyers, activists and academics: why does nothing change? The machinery of reform keeps turning. Policies are rewritten, programs renamed, strategies relaunched. Each generation of government promises transfo

Cash was king in those days, and that money was enough to last me for a month as I slowly travelled from Australia back to the UK Read more in the kindness of strangers series It was a hot night in 1989 when my wallet – stuffed with $1,000 cash – fell out of my pocket. After university, I left the UK and went travelling in Australia for a year. I saw the delights of the east coast – mostly from various building sites, as I worked my way around doing long hours in the blistering sun. But I loved

The first major legal challenge against Australia’s under-16s social media ban is set to heard in the high court on Tuesday – 11 months on from the policy taking effect. As similar bans are adopted across the world, the challenges – from online giant Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project - will argue that the ban prevents young people from political communication. Technology reporter Josh Taylor speaks to host Reged Ahmad about whether this is the beginning of the end for Labor’s world-leading

Exclusive: Mark Jones, once on track for one of the Liberal party’s most powerful roles, is now instrumental in One Nation’s expansion Get our daily political email, free app or daily news podcast In 2023, a young and ambitious Liberal moderate was on the brink of securing one of the most powerful roles in the party: state director of the New South Wales branch. Three years later, he is playing a key role in selecting and vetting One Nation candidates determined to beat his former colleagues. Mu

Academics and lexicographers are exploring how swearing is tied to national cultural identities – and how the internet may cause new, creative cursing to ‘flourish’ Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email From Kath & Kim’s “pack of shunts” to Colin from Accounts’ call to “Go and trim your fuckin’ hooves for netball, cunt!”, the way Australian TV shows have incorporated creative vulgarities into their dialogue mirrors the way people like to swear – and linguistic researchers say younger gener

Last year, she got sober and an official diagnosis. It’s not the first time a new understanding about herself has reframed the Sydney artist’s music – and life In 2021, just before the release of her second album, Sydney singer-songwriter Odette – full name Georgia Odette Sallybanks – was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. As she said at the time, this threw new light on the songs she had written in the murky depths of constant rumination. She renamed the album from Dwell to Herald

The team’s management needs to offer decisions that make sense, rather than spurious justifications for ones that don’t No homecoming for the Australian Test team will ever be as hostile as the aftermath of the sandpaper debacle in 2018, but the team making the equivalent trip from South Africa in 2026 will still find that some knives are out. Having led 1-0 after Durban, reversing a trend of poor starts, the side managed to surrender the series across the next two contests, bowled out for 99 in

Exclusive: Move to scrap legal requirement to set aside water for environment is ‘extreme even for the NT CLP government’, green group says Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Northern Territory government has been accused of making a “blatant and shameless” attack on nature by planning to delete a legal requirement that water must be allocated to the environment. In what has been described as the latest in a series of attacks on the environment by the NT’s Country Li

Chair of National Gallery’s First Nations advisory group says the technology is undermining artists’ agency and the authenticity of their work Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast AI is taking First Nations art and turning it into “Temu slop”, the Pitjantjatjara artist Sally Scales has said. Scales, the chair of the National Gallery of Australia’s First Nations advisory group, said the technology is undermining the agency of First Nations artists and the authenticity of th

Cost of living has loomed over this election cycle as workers and unions champion candidates fighting for higher wages and tackling rising prices For millions of Americans heading to the polls on Tuesday, affordability is a constant and worsening issue, and it’s been a prevailing concern this election cycle. In Lorain county, Ohio, Gina Jones and her co-workers at the Lorain county job and family services have been on strike since February 2026, the longest public sector strike in Ohio history a

Ukrainian president says Moscow must be shown that support for Kyiv will not diminish; US says interest also growing for limited Black Sea ceasefire. What we know on day 1,712 Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the Oleshky ceasefire shows that de-escalation steps with Russia are possible, while the US says there is growing interest for a truce in the Black Sea. Zelenskyy said the humanitarian operation in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky “clearly demonstrates that de-escalation steps are

After secret visits and a live blind tasting, judges unanimously crown Cambodian cafe in light industrial area as home of Darwin’s best laksa Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email The people of Darwin take their laksa seriously. They slurp spicy, coconut-enriched curry soup noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They stalk their favourite stalls and sellers at legendary markets such as Mindil beach, Parap and Rapid Creek. And they bring their own containers – round, red and made in Austr

Defence, the NDIS and health responsible for much of increased government outlays and treasurer Jim Chalmers has few levers to pull Get our daily political email, free app or daily news podcast “Will the prime minister acknowledge reality … and admit Labor’s out-of-control spending is forcing families and small businesses to pay more for everything?” That was the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, kicking off parliamentary question time on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Following the news that Margot Robbie’s turn on Neighbours is fated to be clipped into a microdrama, Ima Caldwell explains the ins and outs of the rapidly growing medium of social media soap operas, werewolves and all 10 chaotic questions with Michael Theo: ‘I want to be on Dancing with the Stars! Would a top hat be too much?’ The moment I knew: He loved to travel, I had a fear of flying. I expected him to scull his beer and wish me well Leading questions: ‘My sister-in-law is nearly 40 but cann