The Free Birth Society was selling pregnant women a simple message. They could exit the medical system and take back their power. By free birthing. But Nicole Garrison believes FBS ideology nearly cost her her life. This is episode one of a year-long investigation by Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne

Wes Streeting’s plan to make booking easier made sense. Then I encountered an AI triagist, a stubborn receptionist and a Kafkaesque vicious circle

A couple of months ago the health secretary, Wes Streeting, rolled out his latest master plan to save the NHS. From 1 October, it became compulsory for all GP practices in England to offer the online option for patients to request non-urgent appointments or medical advice throughout core working hours (8am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday).

The doctors’ union might not have much liked it, but it made sense to regular punters like me. It seemed like a common sense means of avoiding the maddening early morning scramble for the few available appointments, hanging on for an age, only to be told all the slots have gone. Or worse, just have the phone go dead on you.

Simon Hattenstone is a features writer for the Guardian

Our writer tried out seven activities: forget novelty mugs and aftershave – these are the gifts they’ll actually appreciate

• The best Christmas gifts for 2025

Want to give the ultimate waste-free gift, or buy someone something they didn’t even know they wanted? Then try an experience they won’t quickly forget, or stash away at the back of a kitchen cupboard.

You can experience almost anything these days, from pig petting to a “smash it” rage room where you choose a weapon and break things (yes, really). But for this guide, I tried seven more palatable experiences to suit a range of tastes, ages and budgets: experiences that felt unusual but that your recipient might actually enjoy – and some (as I did with life drawing) they might want to take up as a hobby. Most experiences were local to me in London, but all activities selected have alternatives nationwide, of which we’ve listed a few below.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems’ Gentleman Ed rips into Starmer for staying silent on The Donald’s US security strategy

With little more than a week to go until the Christmas recess, the Commons is in festive overdrive. Demob happy. A few minutes in to the year’s penultimate prime minister’s questions with MPs from both sides shouting and cheering, the speaker interrupted proceedings to say: “We don’t need the panto auditions any more.” To which the natural response was: “Ooh yes we do.” Because that’s pretty much the whole purpose of PMQs at the best of times. A feelgood experience for some. A feelbad experience for others. Noise with no substance.

No one embraces the panto spirit more than Kemi Badenoch. Kemi has come to realise that the bar is actually quite low for her to remain as Tory leader. All she has to do is be a little bit better than Keir Starmer at PMQs. Which is turning out to be a lot less difficult than she imagined. Sometimes just standing up is enough.

As the first learning-disabled artist to win the UK’s most prestigious art award, Kalu has smashed a ‘very stubborn glass ceiling’. Her facilitator reveals why her victory is so seismic – and the secrets of her party playlist

The morning after the Turner prize ceremony, the winner of the UK’s most prestigious art award, Nnena Kalu, is eating toast and drinking a strong cup of tea. Everyone around her is beaming – only a little the worse for wear after dancing their feet off at the previous night’s party in Bradford, and sinking “a couple of brandies” back at the hotel bar. I say hello to Kalu, offer my congratulations, and admire the 59-year-old’s beautifully manicured creamy pink nails. But the interview is with her facilitator, Charlotte Hollinshead, who has worked with the artist since 1999. Kalu has limited verbal communication skills; she has learning disabilities and is autistic.

As for Hollinshead, she is struggling to encapsulate the enormity of the win: for Kalu herself; for ActionSpace, the organisation that has supported her for 25 years; and for the visibility and acceptance of artists with learning disabilities within the wider art world. “It’s unbelievably huge,” she says. “I have to think back to where we started, when there was absolutely no interest whatsoever. I’d sit at dinner parties with friends in the art world. Nobody was interested in what I did, or who we worked with. We couldn’t get any exhibitions anywhere. No galleries were interested. Other artists weren’t interested. Art students weren’t interested. We have had to claw our way up from the very depths of the bottom.”

We asked you to share your views on your children’s use of social media and how the ban is affecting your family. Here is what you told us

For some parents, social media sucks up their children’s time and steals them away from family life, instilling mental health issues along the way. For others, it provides their children with an essential line to friends, family, connection and support.

When Australia’s social media ban came into effect on Wednesday, millions of under-16s lost access to their accounts and were prevented from creating new ones.

Britain aligns with some of Europe’s hardline governments in calling for change to allow Rwanda-style migration deals

• Analysis: Can weakening human rights ever protect them? Labour’s gamble raises fears on the left

The UK has joined some of Europe’s hardline governments in calling for human rights laws to be “constrained” to allow Rwanda-style migration deals with third countries and more foreign criminals to be deported.

Twenty-seven of the 46 Council of Europe members including the UK, Hungary and Italy have signed an unofficial statement that also urges a new framework for the European convention of human rights, which will narrow the definition of “inhuman and degrading treatment”.

Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and others to discuss peace plan as US tries to push through peace deal

Leaders of the “coalition of the willing” group of nations will hold a video call on Thursday as chaotic American efforts to push through a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine reach a crunch moment.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said his officials would hand over a revised version of a peace plan to US negotiators on Wednesday before the call with leaders and officials from about 30 countries.

Exclusive: Experts warn mixed messaging from Daniel Elkeles causes confusion and could undermine public faith in official guidance

• Should people wear a mask in public if they feel unwell with flu?

An NHS leader who said people with flu symptoms “must wear” a face mask in public risks causing “confusion” among the public over official guidance on how to fight the virus, health experts have warned.

The number of people in hospital with flu in England is at a record level for this time of year. At least six hospitals across the UK have told patients to stay away due to a surge in flu cases sweeping the country this week.

Move is major escalation of US pressure campaign against South American country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro

• US politics live – latest updates

US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against the South American country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

The US president confirmed the operation on Wednesday, telling reporters: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela - a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually. And other things are happening so you will be seeing that later and you will be talking about that later with other people.”