The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

Will Norway’s slick modern model succeed where the class of ’94 failed?

Ståle Solbakken’s fast, flexible side are far from the no-frills unit that last made the World Cup but new challenges await

If Norway’s highly fancied generation need a warning from history they need only look back 32 years and study the lessons from another searing, suspenseful American summer. They had raced through qualifying at England’s expense to reach their first World Cup since 1938; their top players were starting to make it in the Premier League and through the euphoria shone a confidence that a place in the knockout stage, at least, was there to be seized.

“When we got there we didn’t manage to even get close to the quality of play we had produced in qualification,” remembers Lars Bohinen, one of the silkier elements in a side that, under Egil Olsen, became renowned for an uncompromising and no-frills approach. “That’s the biggest disappointment when I talk now to my old teammates. We never got near to performing at the level we needed.”

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Starmer says he hopes social media ban for under-16s will come into force next spring – UK politics live

Prime minister announces ban, saying social media is making children unhappy and unsafe

Starmer acknowledges some teenagers will get round these restrictons. But that does not make the rules pointless, he says.

Will it mean that no child ever looks at social media again? No.

But look, this might shock you, but it doesn’t shock parents of teenagers; they get around other laws too.

Some technology companies want us to think that social media is unchangeable, part of an almost natural order.

But we have to resist that kind of learned helplessness. We have agency, we can change it, and we will.

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Trump presides over spectacles of violence like a dysfunctional Roman emperor | Moira Donegan

The sordid UFC event represents his own efforts to symbolically fuse the federal government with his person, to insist that he is America and is the state

Hitler dreamed of a 1,000-year Reich; Putin is said to have baroque dreams of territorial conquest meant to restore a dubiously historical empire he calls “Greater Russia”. Sure, there are people around Donald Trump who imagine using his rise to power to establish some sort of grand, civilizational project: there are the white nationalists who dream of a country purged of those they deem racially impure; there are the Christian nationalists who imagine a future theocracy in which women wear long braids and skirts, and don’t vote; there are the techno-reactionaries who imagine a future of interplanetary colonies, techno-assisted eugenics, and polygamous harems.

But Trump himself is conspicuously small in his dreams: his are comparatively little ambitions, not extending far beyond the reach of his ego and his senses.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

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Ban on Palestine Action was lawful, court of appeal rules

Judges overturn decision of high court that government proscription of group under Terrorism Act was wrong

The high court was wrong to rule that the ban on Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws was unlawful, the court of appeal has concluded.

A five-strong panel, including the two most senior judges in England and Wales, overturned February’s decision of the lower court that the proscription of the direct action group, the first to be banned under the Terrorism Act, was wrong.

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Formula 1 News

Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website

Vasseur praises ‘very outstanding’ Hamilton in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton won his first Grand Prix with Ferrari at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

VK: Voorpagina

Volkskrant.nl biedt het laatste nieuws, opinie en achtergronden

Libanese leger waarschuwt burgers nog niet terug te keren naar het zuiden

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Gommers: we mogen mensen nooit meer alleen laten sterven

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Maatregelen mogen nooit meer zo streng worden dat mensen niet bij stervende geliefden mogen zijn, zei ic-arts Diederik Gommers in een verhoor van de parlementaire enquêtecommissie corona. "Dit soort maatregelen mogen wij nooit meer nemen."

Gommers was zichtbaar aangedaan toen hij over de strenge maatregelen in onder meer verzorgingshuizen begon. "Je kunt niet alleen doodgaan, daar ben je niet voor op de wereld gezet."

In onder meer verzorgingshuizen waren de maatregelen zo streng dat mensen amper of geen bezoek mochten ontvangen. Veel ouderen zijn daardoor overleden zonder dat naasten hen nog konden bezoeken.

Volgende pandemie

"Het is heel belangrijk dat we over dit soort essentiële dingen zeggen: dit doen we nooit meer", aldus het voormalig lid van het Outbreak Management Team (OMT).

Ook als de volgende pandemie een ziekte is met een ernstiger ziektebeeld, zoals ebola, moeten dit soort maatregelen niet meer worden genomen volgens Gommers.


Vleesverwerker Vion verkoopt ook voedselservicetak

BOXTEL (ANP) - Vleesverwerker Vion Food Group heeft een akkoord bereikt met Group of Butchers over de verkoop van zijn Food Service Business. Het is volgens Vion de laatste stap in de reorganisatie van het bedrijf, waarbij het zich vooral wil gaan focussen op activiteiten in de Benelux.

De verkoop omvat de Vion Food Service Holding, Salomon Foodworld en productielocaties in Großostheim en Holzwickede. Eerder deed het bedrijf al drie slachterijen in Duitsland van de hand, in Buchloe, Crailsheim en Waldkraiburg. "Onze volledige focus ligt op Nederlandse veehouders, activiteiten en ketens, gericht op de bediening van nationale, Europese en verdere exportmarkten", aldus topvrouw Tjarda Klimp.

Sinds 2021 lijdt Vion jaarlijks verlies. Ongeveer drie jaar geleden begon het bedrijf met een transformatieprogramma, waarbij de aandacht vooral uitgaat naar de Benelux. Slechter presterende Duitse onderdelen moesten sluiten of werden verkocht.

Vion is een producent van vlees, vleesproducten en plantaardige alternatieven.


The Register

Biting the hand that feeds IT — Enterprise Technology News and Analysis

UK Treasury hunts CTO on salary that may not compute for top tech talent

His Majesty's Treasury (HMT) is looking for a new chief technology officer, offering an annual salary of up to £77,000 – less than some elite graduates might expect in their first job at a tech vendor. HMT promises "an exciting opportunity to influence decision making that affects the whole of the UK." The successful candidate also gets a generous civil service pension, with an employer contribution of nearly 30 percent. The salary range is from £69,820 to £77,000 for a role that can be based in London, Darlington (North East England), or Norwich (East Anglia). "HMT is a fast‑paced, policy‑driven organisation with a diverse user base of several thousand staff, including ministers, senior officials and analysts, all reliant on secure, resilient and responsive digital services," the job ad says. The role offers "a unique opportunity to work at the centre of government, operating at pace, influencing major decisions, and ensuring technology effectively supports ministers and the Treasury's critical role in stewarding the UK economy." These are the kinds of users less forgiving of tech problems, as they are responsible for controlling public spending, directing the UK's economic policy, and achieving sustainable economic growth at a time when the public expects both good services and low taxes. The incoming CTO will do all this with a "predominantly Microsoft‑based technology ecosystem, including Microsoft 365, Azure and associated security and endpoint tooling, delivered through a largely outsourced, multi‑tower operating model." Leading technical staff and dealing with multiple strategic suppliers, the lucky individual is expected to define technology strategy, standards, and architecture, all while giving taxpayers value for money. Weighty expectations also come with the people side of the job, since the CTO needs to be "a trusted technical adviser to enable informed decisions" both inside HMT and across other Whitehall departments. This being 2026, the job ad mentions AI as one of the technologies the role is expected to champion. What the ad does not mention is another looming headache: HMT must decide by December whether to move its finance and HR systems from Oracle Fusion to Workday, or stick with Oracle and diverge from the government's overarching £1.7 billion shared services strategy – which HMT signed off. No pressure, then. ®

Gommers zegt dat Code Zwart heel dichtbij was. Maar ook dat een minimum van 1.150 IC-bedden een onmogelijke taak is

‘Beste Tweede Kamer, neem het wetsvoorstel voor een verplichte capaciteit van 1.150 IC-bedden in de ziekenhuizen níet aan”.