We hold power to account. Our journalists investigate, interrogate and report without fear or favour. | | Women’s rights supporters have criticised Bridget Phillipson for not signing off new guidance relating to female-only spaces |  | Gordon Rayner Associate Editor | Eight months on from the landmark Supreme Court ruling defining sex under the Equality Act as biological, why has the Government still failed to issue instructions on how it affects single-sex spaces?
The answer is that Bridget Phillipson, the women and equalities minister (as well as Education Secretary), is standing in the way.
It is her job to issue a code of practice to businesses and public bodies explaining what they must do to protect single-sex spaces such as lavatories and changing rooms in light of the judgment.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) sent her its draft of that code of practice for her approval on Sept 4, expecting it to be given legal status promptly, but Phillipson has other ideas, it seems.
In a court hearing last month, the minister made clear that she did not agree with the EHRC’s interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling, saying its advice that trans women – biological males – should be banned from women’s toilets and changing rooms, was “trans-exclusive”.
She argued that an outright ban on members of one sex using facilities reserved for the opposite sex would mean mothers could not take their “infant sons” into changing rooms at swimming pools and pregnant women could not use male loos during a theatre intermission if there was a queue for the ladies’.
Her “laughable” arguments have been attacked by the Conservatives and sources in Whitehall, who say she is using “every excuse in the book” to avoid passing the EHRC guidelines into law.
The Government claims she is not blocking the guidelines, but is simply taking her time to get it right.
Read the full story here ➤ | | Bill Gates is pictured in two photos with unknown women |  | Cameron Henderson US Reporter | Pictures released by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate of Bill Gates posing alongside women are set to pile pressure on the Microsoft founder.
The 68 new images, released by Democrats yesterday, have been dropped on the eve of today’s much-anticipated deadline, when the Department of Justice is required to release publicly all remaining documents it has on Epstein.
They also include a number of troubling photos where quotes from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita have been scrawled in black ink on a woman’s body. | The book by Nabokov charts an academic’s grooming of a child named Lolita | The images of Gates, as well as a host of other prominent figures including Woody Allen, Noam Chomsky and Steve Bannon, are likely to rouse speculation about the powerful associates of Epstein.
In one text message exchange shared by the Democrats on the House committee, two individuals talk about scouting for girls and paying $1,000 for them.
One girl is described as an 18-year-old, and her departure city is listed as being in Russia. “Maybe someone will be good for J?” an unidentified texter wrote. The photos citing Nabokov’s Lolita, his masterpiece about an academic’s inappropriate relationship with a child, will play into concerns about the terrible nature of the paedophile’s crimes.
Photos of Epstein with a police officer will also fuel conspiracy theories about how he was able to evade detection.
Read the full story here ➤ | | Kemi Badenoch To combat the surge in misogyny in Britain, we must focus on punishing the actual perpetrators Continue reading ➤ Sherelle Jacobs Blackpool is a microcosm of all that’s wrong with Britain Continue reading ➤ Liam Kelly Who would pay for the BBC’s current crop of lame dramas? Continue reading ➤ | From Westminster to Washington… Follow trusted coverage of the stories that are shaping our world. | | Travis Head kisses the wicket after reaching his century at his home ground | Adelaide was 10 degrees cooler on Friday than yesterday, when temperatures touched 40C, reports Will Macpherson. But that has not made it a more hospitable place for England’s cricketers, who will be tucking into Christmas dinner 3-0 down in the Ashes barring a miracle.
England were hanging by the thinnest of threads at the start of the day. And that is where they stayed as it neared its end. Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer fought bravely with the bat to limit the first-innings deficit to 85, but Travis Head, the pride of South Australia, took the game away from them once more with his second century of the series. It was a painful lesson in how to hammer home an advantage.
See how the day’s play unfolded here ➤ | | Britain poured £72m into refurbishing HMS Bulwark, only for the warship to be axed mid-upgrade. The vessel has now been sold to Brazil for just £20m – a fire sale critics call a “spectacular failure”. As the ship prepares to hunt drug cartels under the name NDM Oiapoque, the Royal Navy faces a gaping black hole in its ability to carry out amphibious operations, and difficult questions about why taxpayers footed the bill for a refit Britain will never see. Continue reading ➤ | | | Never mind calls to screen Adolescence in schools – according to James Buckley, teenage boys would be better off watching his delightfully puerile Noughties comedy The Inbetweeners. Over pints with Chris Bennion, the actor talks about how important it is to let young men make mistakes and whether the four Inbetweeners will ever return to our screens. Continue reading ➤ | | | In sport, women hold influence in various forms: the athletes who use their platform to advocate for change, the coaches who develop elite sportspeople and the administrators who have the power to make things happen. All feature in Telegraph Sport’s countdown of the 50 most influential women in sport in 2025. Continue reading ➤ | | | Prof Tony Heagerty is an expert in heart health, but even he doesn’t believe in total restriction at Christmas. One day of goose fat-roasted potatoes isn’t going to do much harm he says; neither is turkey smeared with butter and a coat of bacon or Christmas pudding and mince pies with double cream. Doing it repeatedly for 30 days, however, is another matter. His advice? Steer clear of party food and don’t hold back on the veg. Continue reading ➤ | | | After decades of hard work, it would be a shame to scupper your retirement plans at the final hurdle – planning ahead is vital. From maximising your state pension to building an emergency buffer, our guide details 10 expert-backed practical steps to take in the five years before you finish working. Continue reading ➤ Below are two more articles I hope you find helpful: | | The Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker | Ballet The Nutcracker ★★★★★ Is there, anywhere in the world, a classier or more beautiful helping of Christmas entertainment than the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker? Or, for that matter, a more intoxicatingly Christmassy one? I doubt it. Francesca Hayward danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy as well as it can ever have been danced, at once regal, serene, dynamic, filling the huge stage with movement, and the human embodiment of sparkle: pure magic.
Read Mark Monahan’s verdict here ➤ Television The Salt Path Scandal ★★★★☆ The Salt Path Scandal is a diligently researched contribution to the year’s biggest literary controversy and adds an arresting new piece of evidence; a letter that potentially corroborates a central element of the scandal. Raynor and Moth Winn have denied various claims made about the story. But if even half of it were true, what shameless grifters they would be. Streaming on NOW.
Read the full review from Anita Singh here ➤ Books I Suffer Therefore I Am by Pascal Bruckner ★★★★★ Pascal Bruckner is one of France’s, and the West’s, foremost philosophers; his work is less well-known in Britain than it should be. He has made a formidable reputation for attacking contemporary mindsets, notably the self-hating, anti-Westernism of the Left, the masochism of Western guilt, and the obsession with noxious and illogical identity politics. All those themes converge in his masterful new book, which dissects victimhood, perhaps the most toxic feature of current discourse.
Read Simon Heffer’s review here ➤ | A bridge too far Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
The Tamar Bridge, connecting Plymouth to Saltash, isn’t usually trumpeted as one of this country’s great feats of engineering, but I will always have a soft spot for it. I grew up in Cornwall, and on train journeys back from excursions to the far-northern climes of (say) Exeter, the sight of its towers and cables meant that we had reached the home stretch. Actually, in my case, there were still two hours to go at least, but I tried to forget about that bit.
There’s been much talk of bridges recently, following Chris Moss’s article on the 10 that we should all aim to cross at least once. While acknowledging that the Ponte Vecchio has a lot going for it, Telegraph readers had a few other suggestions.
Anthony Smith, for example, “would nominate the Pont de Normandie over the mouth of the Seine, mainly because when you drive over it you feel like you are going up so steeply and it seems so high.”
Chris Petty, meanwhile, put in a word for “Devil’s Bridge in Wales: three bridges built on top of each other, not to mention the bridge that the Devil put up in the story of the place”.
Heather Sharp felt that “Clifton Suspension Bridge merited inclusion”. She added: “I once crossed the Golden Gate Bridge as thick fog was rolling in. It enveloped us, before clearing to make way for blue sky”.
Alas, for Graham Tuer, “most bridges are more impressive to look at than to be on. The Millau Viaduct is one such. There is a road that passes beneath it, from which you can get a great view”. Do you agree? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of From the Editor PM, for which you can sign up here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was TERRITORY. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow.
Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. | |
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