Women voters in Makerfield, Scotland cricketers, Peptides, Sex work book

The UK's political future may hinge on a single by-election in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, where women voters are being targeted with messages on cost of living, immigration, and local services. BBC political correspondent Alex Forsyth reveals a fiercely competitive race with 14 candidates, including Andy Burnham’s bid to position himself as a leadership contender, and the controversial past of Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon, whose alleged sexist comments have become a campaign flashpoint. Meanwhile, Restore Britain’s female candidate Rebecca Shepard is attempting to gain traction by directly appealing to women with a hardline stance on immigration. On the sports front, Scotland’s women’s cricket team made history with their first-ever T20 World Cup victory over Ireland, a moment celebrated by players like Priya Naz Chatterjee and CEO Trudy Lynblade, who discuss the team’s growth and the cultural shift needed to elevate women’s cricket in a traditionally male-dominated sport. This progress comes after a damning 2024 McKinney Report exposed systemic sexism within Cricket Scotland. In a powerful personal narrative, anthropologist Sina Plembeck shares the intimate stories of four migrant sex workers from Thailand and Nigeria, revealing how their lives are shaped by migration, trauma, and the financial lifeline they provide to families back home. Her book, *Global Sex*, challenges taboos and exposes the human cost of global inequality.