Politics
‘They can shape the outcomes they claim to forecast’ – could Polymarket influence an election?
A platform backed by Peter Thiel and advised by Donald Trump Jr. is taking anonymous crypto bets on UK elections, missile strikes and the death of world leaders. In Britain no regulator will touch it, writes Ian Tucker in this in-depth guide to so-called "prediction markets"
Tech
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Contact? Source? Or friend? The curious connection between Michael Wolff and Jeffrey Epstein
The New York media insider has 100 hours of interviews with the dead sex offender. But the Epstein files also reveal an intimate 20-year history of emails between the two men that seems far more than journalistic, writes Ellie Leonard
News
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Palantir's social media manifesto is a blueprint for technofascism
The surveillance firm’s viral X post calls for hard power, conscription and the end of pluralism. AI expert and academic Mark Coeckelbergh on what happens when technology becomes the gateway to authoritarianism
Palantir
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Iran is winning the propaganda war against Trump – brick by brick
Tehran’s viral videos satirising a Lego-style president have harnessed the power of AI – and Maga’s debasing of political discourse – and turned it against the US, writes disinformation expert Nina Jankowicz
Tech
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With Orbán gone, has the British far right lost its magic money tree?
Hungary’s new PM has described his predecessor’s funding of propaganda bodies as criminal and vowed to investigate. This could be bad news for ultraconservatives in the UK – and around the rest of the world, writes Alice McCool
Politics
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The five ways Trump could attempt a coup, by fascism expert Timothy Snyder
Despite the debacle in Iran, a president at war has several pressure points at his disposal to postpone, restrict and ultimately cancel democracy, writes the historian
Politics
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John Simpson: Today, governments can get away with anything. Israel is getting away with journacide
There used to be some sense that killing a reporter would mean serious consequences. Now that understanding has vanished, writes the BBC’s world affairs editor
Politics
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Israel is waging war on Lebanon. Why is the world calling it a "ground operation"?
I’ve known Lebanon for three decades. What’s happening there now is an invasion. This is Gaza 2.0 – and the world is barely paying attention. By Carole Cadwalladr
Politics
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In a world of war, abuse and rising fascism, ‘woke’ was never the enemy
Mainstream conservatives and even centrists rounded on progressive culture as though it were a threat to society. Now they see where the real threat lay, writes Dorian Lynskey
Politics
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General Sir Richard Shirreff: Trump is trapped in a doomed war. What should Britain do now?
The US is deploying tactics without strategy in its hubristic attack on Iran. The UK cannot afford to join it in its mistake, writes the former senior Nato commander
News
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‘It beggars belief’: MoD sources warn Palantir’s role at heart of government is threat to UK’s security
Experts say that claims UK data remains under government ownership miss the point that the company has the capability to build its own detailed picture of the British population, and even infer state secrets. Report by Charlie Young and Carole Cadwalladr
News
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This is Netanyahu’s war. Trump was just afraid of missing out
For four decades, the Israeli premier has wanted to attack Iran but could never persuade a US president to join him. Former diplomat Arthur Snell asks: what’s changed?
News
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The public remembers Iraq. Why doesn't the press?
Seven in 10 Britons are sceptical about UK involvement in Iran, but their newspapers have other ideas. Some of us recall the last time Fleet Street was so disastrously in favour of war, writes former Observer home affairs editor Martin Bright
Politics
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Hooked on dopamine, fuelled by testosterone, powered by AI: this is the broligarchs’ war
Three weeks ago, briefly, the world was focused on Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of women and girls. Now, as conflict rages, the tide of hyper-masculinity has risen again, writes Carole Cadwalladr
Politics
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Parliament: this House urgently needs more plumbers
Britain’s ailing construction industry should be embracing high-profile figures like builder-turned-MP Hannah Spencer. And why is the built environment media largely ignoring this positive news, asks architecture writer Phineas Harper
Culture
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For GB News’s funders, a £130m loss is a small price to pay for vast influence
The channel of “reactionary rage bait” has just released its latest accounts, which are yet another demonstration that there’s no shortage of funds on the right of British politics, argues Sam Bright
Politics
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