Victims commissioner tells chancellor cutbacks and national insurance hike creating ‘existential crisis’ for rape and domestic abuse charities

The government has cut millions of pounds in funding for victims’ services, prompting warnings that “criminals will go unpunished” unless it urgently changes its position.

The Victims’ Commissioner has written a letter to chancellor Rachel Reeves, shared exclusively with the Observer, saying a combination of funding reductions and the upcoming employers’ national insurance increase was creating an “existential crisis” for charities. The commissioner and charities in the sector are calling for an urgent funding increase in the next spending review, which concludes this spring.

Last week’s much-trumpeted Anglo-US meeting has not reduced concerns about Ukraine, Nato or tariffs – or boosted confidence in the UK government

Most people I know were ­concerned about the prospect of a second Trump presidency; but we did not have a vote. However, those Republicans who elected him should have been mindful of the old Chinese proverb: be careful what you wish for.

A classic example has been provided recently in the columns of the New York Times. On 17 December, the rightwing columnist Bret Stephens wrote: “Here’s a thought for Trump’s perennial critics, including us on the right. Let’s enter the new year … by dropping the lurid comparisons to past dictators, by not sounding paranoid about … the ever-looming end of democracy.”

The author’s first novel since 2013 – a stately sisterhood saga about a group of women whose lives haven’t turned out quite as planned – continually reframes our understanding of the quartet, practically offering four books for the price of one

The cute rodent helps combat drought and boosts biodiversity. Its rewilding is welcome and long overdue

The first time I laid eyes on a beaver was a couple of years ago on the Devon farm of Derek Gow, the farmer turned rewilder, who brought the furry rodents back to the UK 30 years ago.

It was magical. Sitting in the June dusk, the pink-and-purple sky was reflected in the still ponds of the beaver habitat. Suddenly, ripples emerged from the lodge and the head of a kit – a baby beaver – popped up from underwater.

This powerful portrait – an imaginary album cover – depicts one of many female Iranian vocalists banned from performing after the 1979 revolution

The Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian began her career as a photojournalist but, one after another, the publications in which her pictures appeared in Tehran were banned. In 2002, she switched her focus from news to art, though the boundaries between the two are porous. She took this photograph in 2011 as part of a project that featured professional Iranian female singers who, since the 1979 revolution, had been banned from performing or recording solo because of the regime’s interpretation of Islamic law.

Tavakolian made images of the singers as if they were in recording studios, mouthing their words or, as she described it, “performing in their mind in front of a large audience”; she also made imaginary album covers, like this one, for her muted divas. “For me,” she said, “a woman’s voice represents a power that if you silence it, imbalances society, and makes everything deform. I let Iranian women singers perform through my camera while the world has never heard them.” The project was called Listen. The ban on solo singing is still in place.

Women Power is at Villa Bassi Rathgeb Museum, Abano Terme, Italy from 22 March to 21 September

From villas in Galicia and walks in La Gomera, to a new parador near Madrid and a horse fair in Jerez

It is easy to avoid big resorts in the Canaries – the smaller islands have a handful of little towns with rural hotels dotted around. Hikers love lush La Gomera, with walks through the laurel forests in the Garajonay national park and along dramatic terraced hillsides overlooking the Atlantic.