‘Handmaid’s Tale future’: Reform’s Matt Goodwin sparks outcry with fertility comments
Reform UK’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection has been accused of wanting a “Handmaid’s Tale future” after unearthed YouTube footage revealed he called for “young girls and women” to be given a “biological reality” check.In a clip posted to his personal YouTube channel in November 2024, Matt Goodwin stated that “many women in Britain are having children much too late in life”.He said: “We need to also explain to young girls and women the biological reality of this crisis.Many women in Britain are having children much too late in life and they would prefer to have children much earlier on.”The comments, first reported by the Independent, have sparked a furious backlash, with one MP describing it as an “alt right fantasy” and an equality campaigner calling it “truly troubling”.
The revelations come days after the paper revealed Goodwin previously suggested people who don’t have children should be taxed extra as punishment,Sarah Owen, the chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, said the comments were “deeply offensive” and appeared to blame women for the declining birthrate,“For anyone with fertility issues, like me who struggled with miscarriage after miscarriage, to say [to them] we should be paying more tax for not having children or that it is our fault is deeply offensive, as it is for LGBT+ people or women who can’t afford to have kids,” she said,“It’s clear he didn’t run this grotesque idea past any women in real life,”Natalie Fleet, the Labour MP for Bolsover, who was groomed and became pregnant as a 15-year-old, said her pregnancy had happened at a “biologically great age” and she had experienced a “physically perfect pregnancy and easy birth”.
But, she added, she had been through “hell on earth”.Addressing the former academic on social media, she wrote: “Is this the kind of thing you’ll be wanting to see in our Handmaid’s Tale future?” A reference to the Margaret Atwood novel set in a dystopian future.In a separate podcast with the rightwing author and commentator Jordan Peterson, Goodwin also appeared to agree with the host’s claim that universities have become hotbeds of “politically correct authoritarianism” because they are full of “childless women”.In a February 2025 clip, Peterson said there were three predictors of “politically correct authoritarianism”, of which the first was “being female”, at which point Goodwin interjected and added: “I was going to say that.”Peterson added that an “ethos of harm avoidance” had proliferated because universities “became dominated by not only women – this is even worse, I might as well go in all the way – childless women”.
Goodwin responded: “Yeah, actually there are a couple of papers on that Jordan, I’m sure you’ve seen, I think Cory Clark,I’ve read a couple I think showing basically the feminisation of higher education over the last 50 years,”A Reform spokesperson said the two men “were discussing peer-reviewed academic studies showing clear psychological differences between men and women, which influence their views of cancel culture”,Responding to queries about Goodwin suggesting in 2023 that the government “remove personal income tax for women who have two or more children”, the party said Goodwin had not called for childless women to be taxed more but it was time for a “grown-up, mature debate about how we can encourage people to have more children and support British families”,Hannah Spencer, the Green party candidate in Gorton and Denton, said women were struggling with the cost of living, caring responsibilities and health inequalities in NHS services.
“I wish the Reform candidate put more time into addressing problems and less into looking for divisive, easy answers,” she said.Penny East, the chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said the “idea that we should be telling young girls they have a moral obligation to have children earlier is both dystopian and deeply sexist […] Suggesting early motherhood is a civic duty is truly troubling.”Writing on social media, the Walthamstow MP, Stella Creasy, said: “I long for the days when a midlife crisis for men like this meant getting a motorbike and a leather jacket, not trying to [get] elected so they could indulge their alt right fantasies about ensuring women were pregnant as soon as they were fertile and then didn’t go to university.”
Even amid rising economic uncertainty, now is not the time to hug your job
After all the employee protests over the past few years – the “great resignations”, the “quiet quittings”, the “bare-minimum Mondays” and “coffee badgings” – we have finally arrived at “job hugging”.Amid all the economic uncertainty and the rising costs of everything, people aren’t feeling as confident as they once were. Instead of slacking off while you hunt for something better, everyone’s scared about losing their jobs. With all the news about big corporate layoffs and the ominous and still-undefined threat of AI, it’s understandable that people are hugging their jobs.A recent report from job search site Monster
Treasury considering changes to Australia’s contentious tobacco excise, as calls grow for a freeze
Experts say a freeze on the federal government’s contentious tobacco excise should be considered, after the Treasury revealed it was modelling the impacts of cigarette prices on demand amid a booming black market.Lachlan Vass, a research manager at the e61 Institute, said the Treasury’s examination of “price elasticity” and demand for tobacco would be a necessary step to costing potential reforms to the excise.Jim Chalmers, the treasurer, and Mark Butler, the health minister, have previously rebuffed any suggestion that reducing the sky-high cost of cigarettes was the solution to curbing the black market trade, which has ballooned over the past five years and smashed a $17.8bn hole in the budget since 2020-21.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailBut when asked at Senate estimates last week why a cut to the excise couldn’t be considered as part of a wider strategy to curb the illegal tobacco trade, Katy Gallagher, the finance minister, left the door open to a change in excise policy
California’s billionaires pour cash into elections as big tech seeks new allies
Tech billionaires are leveraging tens of millions of dollars to influence California politics in a marked uptick from their previous participation in affairs at the state capitol. Behemoths such as Google and Meta are getting involved in campaigns for November’s elections, as are venture capitalists, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and Palantir’s co-founders. The industry’s goals run the gamut – from fighting a billionaire tax to supporting a techie gubernatorial candidate to firing up new, influential super political action committees (Pacs).The phenomenon squarely fits the moment for the state’s politics – with 2026 being the year that Politico has dubbed “the big tech flex”.Gavin Newsom, California’s tech-friendly governor who’s been quick to veto legislation that cramps the sector’s unfettered growth, is reaching his term limit
No swiping involved: the AI dating apps promising to find your soulmate
Dating apps exploit you, dating profiles lie to you, and sex is basically something old people used to do. You might as well consider it: can AI help you find love?For a handful of tech entrepreneurs and a few brave Londoners, the answer is “maybe”.No, this is not a story about humans falling in love with sexy computer voices – and strictly speaking, AI dating of some variety has been around for a while. Most big platforms have integrated machine learning and some AI features into their offerings over the past few years.But dreams of a robot-powered future – or perhaps just general dating malaise and a mounting loneliness crisis – have fuelled a new crop of startups that aim to use the possibilities of the technology differently
India v Pakistan: T20 Cricket World Cup – live
7th over: Pakistan 47-4 (U Khan 29, S Khan 2) Usman Khan isn’t done yet, he glances for four past the keeper and then uses his feet to get out to an Axar Patel length ball and drive down the ground for a second boundary in the over. Oh ye of little faith! (It is still done though)6th over: Pakistan 38-4 (U Khan 21, S Khan 1) Varun Chakravarthy dance through an over of googlies and flippers that costs just four runs. Barring something mid boggling, this game is done.5th over: Pakistan 34-4 (U Khan 18, S Khan 0) Shadab Khan joins Usman Khan in the middle. He’s nearly pinned first ball by Axar too but this one was sneaking down leg
Winter Olympics 2026: GB glory in mixed team snowboard cross final, Brignone wins women’s giant slalom – live
Good start from Bankes and she knows she can reel Casta but there is a threat in third from Moioli … A little bobble from Casta and Bankes shifts into gold medal position … Can she stay in pole position into the final section? YES! GREAT BRITAIN WIN GOLD! Their first ever Olympic medal in this event!Bankes is cool, calm as she crosses the finish line. Meanwhile, Nightingale has absolutely launched himself into the GB fans. Italy take silver and France with the bronze.Aha, Graham Searles is here to relieve me, so I’ll budge up and allow him to get settled and ready for that final coming up seven minutes from now. Peace out
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