Democracy is in the balance as Americans prepare to go to the polls

• You can order your own copy of this cartoon

Workers for plane maker have been on strike for a month, adding woe to the struggling company’s many concerns

Boeing workers have tentatively scheduled a vote on a proposed labor deal that could signal the end of the strike on which they went more than a month ago, their union said on Saturday.

A contract ratification vote is expected this upcoming Wednesday, 23 October, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said in a post on X .

At half-time, the billing of this fixture as a top of the table extravaganza felt like a breach of the Trades Descriptions Act. What happened next owed plenty to Celtic defensive deficiency and Aberdeen’s refusal to wilt. At four minutes past five, with 101 minutes on the clock, time was called on an extraordinary encounter. The sharing of four goals was fair; if Celtic are as generous in Champions League action against Atalanta on Wednesday, the outcome will be a grisly one for Brendan Rodgers. Jimmy Thelin’s Aberdeen still tie Celtic at the summit of Scotland’s top flight.

Celtic had been so comfortable at the break that it was impossible to see this coming. Aberdeen lacked belief and anything approaching fluency. The visitors’ jitters were clear with 12 minutes played, when the goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov conceded possession directly to Arne Engels. Celtic’s record signing hit the crossbar with an angled effort.

Not since the 20th century have Aston Villa claimed this many points from their first eight Premier League games. They eventually finished sixth that season, but did not do anything so outrageous as beat Bayern Munich along the way. When will the Unai Emery era reach its ceiling?

There is little sign of it doing so at the moment, with Villa sticking resolutely to the heels of the division’s dominant trio, while racking up Champions League wins to boot. Since losing to Arsenal at the back end of August, Emery’s team have now strung together a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions, this latest win coming at the expense of a Fulham side whose supporters’ thoughts had prematurely begun to wander towards potential European football of their own next season, so impressive was their own early-season form.

Rasmus Højlund’s winner was a strike of certifiable skill and will bring a calmer vibe to Erik ten Hag and his troubled Manchester United after they claimed three points for the first time since the defeat of Southampton in mid-September.

On 62 minutes Brentford were pinned back by their right corner flag. The ball was claimed, Christian Eriksen slid a pass to Bruno Fernandes, and his no-look flick to Højlund was as sweet as the striker’s deft dink over Mark Flekken as Brentford’s visiting goalkeeper went to ground.

• Fans of Klopp’s former club display banners at game
• Mainz beaten 2-0 by Leipzig; Leverkusen beat Frankfurt

Jürgen Klopp has been criticised by fans of his former club Mainz for his decision to join energy drinks company Red Bull and oversee its network of clubs. Mainz supporters held banners during their team’s Bundesliga game against Leipzig – a Red Bull-backed club – in which they addressed their former hero.

“Have you forgotten everything we gave you?” asked one huge banner behind one of the goals, referring to Klopp’s tearful farewell speech when he left the club after 18 years as a player and coach in 2008.

New research reveals men pay little heed to women in mixed-sex teams

Single-sex teams are something for the football pitch, not the workplace. It’s not the 1950s. Many studies show the benefits of mixed teams: among scientists, for example, they produce more impactful research .

But does it matter how mixed they are? Yes, for the women in them, concludes fascinating American research . In a couple of experiments, undergraduates were randomly assigned to small (five or six people) male- or female-majority teams, who then worked together for a period as part of their studies.

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A government with access to personal information could deliver welfare and services much more easily – and could also be a bulwark against the tech giants’ business practices

The government will need to intrude into people’s lives more than ever to cope with spiralling demands on the state’s finances. In the transition to greener technologies, the need to track who is emitting carbon and where they are doing it will only intensify.

Last week’s announcement by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, that he is employing more people to monitor cars coming into the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to make sure they are fined is another example of big brotherism that his counterpart in Manchester, Andy Burnham, decided Mancunians would not countenance .

A new book of classic but simple recipes makes solo cooking more pleasure than chore

Like many people, I read a lot during the Covid-19 lockdown, and one of the books I enjoyed most in those strange, silent months was a memoir by the novelist Michèle Roberts called Negative Capability : an account of being alone, but not lonely. In the face of what people on social media like to call (ugh) self-care, Roberts wrote of her efforts to be good to herself after a painful rejection without recourse either to self-pity or to yoga. Four years on, I still sometimes pull it from the shelf when I’m feeling embattled. Radiant and meditative, a few pages are all I need to get going again; to remind myself to pay attention to everything, and by doing so both to recognise and to give thanks for what great good fortune I have.

I was, then, pleased but not wholly surprised to learn that Roberts is shortly to publish a cookbook: a charming little paperback that smells lightly of roasted endives and anchovy butter (obviously I’m speaking metaphorically; my early copy carries the scent of fresh paper, though I predict this will change quite soon). To make a proper supper for yourself is, after all, a kind and tender thing to do if you’re under pressure – and her book contains only recipes for one person. For the absence of doubt, however, I must stress it isn’t the kind of manual that has you making lasagne, to be frozen in individual portions. The dishes included are at once more simple and more luxurious than that. Mussel salad with ravigote sauce. Rabbit with mustard. Steak with bordelaise sauce. So many micro feasts, and every one of them nourishment for body and soul.