‘I wanted to help another family’: four surrogates on how they feel about the surrogacy discourse

The Guardian spoke with surrogates across the US about what they think of the controversy surrounding the practice

‘I’d like to explain why I was such a monster back then’: six writers on the apologies they wish they’d made

From making life hell for a young teacher to doubting the motives of a caring foster mother, Olivia Petter, Derek Owusu, Annie Lord and other writers repent for past bad behaviour

The Black women who choose to have children on their own: ‘We’re going in eyes open’

With growing support networks online and in person, these moms say they’re changing the narrative around Black single motherhood

Want to start lazymaxxing? Here are some low-effort ways to improve your life

CEOs may like to get up at the crack of dawn and go for a run, but I prefer optimising my life with lie-ins, trashy films, swearing and coffee, writes Arwa Mahdawi

Chat to strangers and let your kids be bored: how to embrace a ‘slow September’ – and enjoy life more

The pressure to self-optimise at the start of the new school year can lead to disappointment and burnout. Instead, here are seven ways to slow things down and reap the benefits

Experience: I didn’t know I was pregnant until I gave birth

There’d been no morning sickness, cravings or tiredness. My mum didn’t believe I’d had a baby – even after seeing her on FaceTime

I’m giving birth as a battle rages over maternity care in Ireland. We shouldn’t have to pay to feel safe

An unfair two-tier system is, at last, giving way to universal state care. But private interests and highly paid doctors are resisting, says journalist Caelainn Hogan

Digested week: As wildfires rage, should I buy a helicopter or marry a guy with a bunker?

Plus, train toilet roulette, an astonishingly stoic hiker and the tradwife paradox

Les Mills, New Zealand Olympian behind global gym chain, dies aged 91

He and his wife opened first Les Mills gym in Auckland in 1968 and family later introduced workout programs including BodyPump taught worldwide

A US champion of ‘freebirthing’ always claimed there had been no maternal deaths linked to the movement. Is Stacey Warnecke the first?

Guardian investigation exposes full links between a US business linked to baby deaths around the world and Australian ‘birth keeper’ Emily Lal, the central witness at the inquest into the death of a Melbourne wellness influencer