Now in her ninth decade, Irene Onion (right), a retired teacher and organist, has plenty of experience of playing hymns for children. Aged 83, she has now written her own — a celebration of God’s bounty through the seasons.

“Sing, sing, sing”, which she co-wrote with James Dixon, the activity coordinator at the Old Vicarage Residential Home in Bakewell, was in part inspired by a challenge to create an alternative to “All things bright and beautiful”, a hymn that Mrs Onion confesses to thinking “Not again!” about when she was asked to play it. The new hymn, composed on Apple’s Garage Band music software, comprises verses that move through the farming seasons: “Sing hallelujah About the summer light Whose golden rays Lengthen the days And hold back darker nights.”

A visit to All Saints’, Bakewell, opposite the home, inspired the duo to write a joyful hymn that children would enjoy singing, Mr Dixon recalled this week. A “skipping melody” was chosen, and Mrs Onion found chords to match.

Read it all and you may find the audio link there.

Highlight of my working week: speaking to Irene Onion about writing her first hymn aged 83. We share our taste in hymns. https://t.co/Zz8TdxKLBD

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) October 31, 2025

The Trump administration is wielding the possibility that parts of the economy are in a recession as it raises pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, hoping to ensure that the central bank will bear the blame for any economic weakness.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Stephen Miran, President Trump’s appointee to the Fed’s Board of Governors who is on a temporary leave from his job leading the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, this week struck a downbeat tone about the health of the world’s largest economy. Mr. Bessent went so far as to say some sectors were already contracting. He did not specify which sectors, but high mortgage rates have put housing and adjacent industries such as construction under pressure.

“I think that there are sectors of the economy that are in recession,” Mr. Bessent said on CNN on Sunday. He described the economy as being in a “period of transition” because of a pullback in government spending to reduce the deficit. He called on the Fed to support the economy by cutting interest rates.

Mr. Bessent’s remarks added to pressure on the Fed and deflected blame from Mr. Trump in case the economy does ultimately face a downturn, reinforcing a strategy that has been in place since the start of the year. As the administration has imposed aggressive tariffs on nearly all of America’s trading partners and slashed federal spending, potentially slowing growth, it has sought to pin blame squarely on the Fed in the event of an economic downturn.

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New w/ @arappeport: The Trump admin is wielding the possibility that parts of the economy are in a recession in an attempt to raise pressure on the Fed to cut rates. The hope is that the central bank will bear the blame for any downturn https://t.co/KWNqktMXov @nytimes

— Colby Smith (@colbyLsmith) November 4, 2025

President Trump’s global tariffs ran headlong into a skeptical Supreme Court on Wednesday, with justices across the spectrum expressing doubt that a 1970s emergency-powers law could be read to provide the president unilateral authority to remake the international economy and collect billions of dollars in import taxes without explicit congressional approval.

But even if the court strikes down the tariffs Trump initiated on his self-declared Liberation Day last April, the justices gave little indication how they might unwind the president’s signature economic policy and favorite diplomatic tool. That left unclear whether previously paid duties would be refunded or whether Congress could be invited to step in, perhaps by ratifying the levies retroactively.

“It seems to me like it could be a mess,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett said during the later stages of an oral argument that ran nearly three hours.

Solicitor General John Sauer took heat from all sides as he pressed the administration’s argument: that the president’s power to regulate foreign financial transactions when he declares an emergency includes the authority to impose tariffs. Tariffs were taxes, a majority of justices agreed, and many were dubious that Congress would so casually surrender to the executive its core constitutional power to raise revenue.

“The Constitution is structured so that if I’m going to be asked to pay for something as a citizen, that it’s through a bill that is generated through Congress,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “But I’m not going to be taxed unless both houses” of Congress and the president “have made that choice.”

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And that is a wrap on the SCOTUS arguments.

After that argument, if I were the Trump Administration, I'd be burning the midnight oil over the next couple of weeks drawing up tariff backup plans. A clear majority of the Justices appeared skeptical that IEEPA authorizes the type…

— Peter Harrell (@petereharrell) November 5, 2025

When Ms. Harmon prays, she does so like she’s talking to her best friend. She turns to God for everything from small things – “I really want my baby to sleep tonight” – to big things, like where to buy a house or how many children to have.

A friend gave her a box that says “Give it to God” on the cover, and she writes her prayer items on sticky notes to place inside. The list ranges from praying for friends who are trying to conceive or who are looking for a job, to her own highs and lows with postpartum anxiety and depression.

Ms. Harmon’s current church, about an hour north of Denver, is about half young married couples. Her moms’ group is about 30 to 35 women. There’s no substitute for church in person, she says, pointing to the Bible chapter in Hebrews that encourages Christians to be in community.

“Doing life with other people is so rich,” she says. “I see why He calls us to that.”

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Ms. [Bekah] Harmon’s current church, about an hour north of Denver, is about half young married couples. Her moms’ group is about 30 to 35 women. There’s no substitute for church in person, she says, pointing to the Bible chapter in Hebrews that encourages Christians to be in…

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 5, 2025

In the United States, 12% of married couples with at least one spouse in their 30s or 40s have two incomes and no kids, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of federal data.

This group, often referred to as “DINKs,” has grown slightly over the past decade. In 2013, 8% of married couples in the same age range were DINKs.

The share of dual-income couples with kids has also inched up slightly since 2013, while the share of single-income couples with kids has decreased from 34% to 27%.

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Dual income, no kids: What we know about ‘DINKs’ in the U.S. https://t.co/4X1NRQ8vqE

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) November 3, 2025

O Lord God of time and eternity, who makest us creatures of time that, when time is over, we may attain thy blessed eternity: With time, thy gift, give us also wisdom to redeem the time, lest our day of grace be lost; for our Lord Jesus’ sake.

A mythical creature flying high over Glastonbury Tor. pic.twitter.com/FdKOQDDuF5

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) November 5, 2025

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

–Revelation 12:1-12

Autumn in Acadia National Park, Maine.

Have a great day all! pic.twitter.com/qCt1WUyITm

— Edit Karacsony (@editkephoto) November 4, 2025