In the rainforest of Belize, archaeologists are uncovering neighborhoods, local markets and urban farms that shed new light on daily life in the ancient world By Ellen Ruppel Shell | Photographs by Neil Ever Osborne
A lock of hair, advances in genetic science and the Smithsonian’s 15-year quest to conclusively resolve an enduring question: Did Thomas Jefferson father Sally Hemings’ children? Dr. Richard Kurin, Ambassador at Large, Smithsonian Institution. Author, History by a Hair Portraits by Joshua Rashaad McFadden
Astronomers, astrophysicists and art historians are on a luminous quest to unlock the real-world secrets of classic paintings and literature By Michael Ray Taylor
After centuries of setbacks, the European bison faces a new challenge: surviving in a primeval forest that isn’t its true home By Marta Zaraska | Photographs by Kasia Strek
With Sudan still in the midst of conflict and the largest humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world, this magazine shows the complexity of the crisis and the political dynamics behind the headlines. In collaboration with independent Sudanese media platform Ayin Network, the Big Story explores the impact of the war on civilians, from the interruption of education to how displacement is changing the face of the country. We hear from revolutionaries turned fighters, and activists in exile who can’t escape the war, even outside Sudan’s borders. How does the revolutionary dream continue and what does it mean for the goal of civilian rule?
Also in this edition, a report from Syria on attacks against the Alawite minority, a long read exploring how Palestine became a focus of international anti-colonial solidarity, and is the AI apocalypse really on its way?
TAKE BACK THE LAND
The land beneath our feet is what sustains us – from it we can produce food, construct shelter and build livelihoods. But, it’s also a cultural marker and a source of identity. Its control has been a long-favoured tool of colonizers, wealth hoarders and polluters, while its fiercest protectors – often Indigenous peoples – are criminalized, violated and dispossessed. This edition hears from struggles to take back the land in Brazil, Bangladesh, Kenya and North America. We also launch our new series ‘Decolonize how?’ which will explore what people are doing to dismantle the impacts – and current realities – of British-linked colonialism.
The controversial discovery that our brains can generate new neurons surprisingly late in life is now prompting a rethink of adult brain health, pointing the way to better treatments for stroke, dementia and depression By Jamie Ducharme
Often described as a genius, physicist Sabrina Pasterski built and flew her own plane by the age of 16 and is now developing a mind-bending idea that could finally unify gravity and quantum theory By Miriam Frankel
Deadlock is possible, as neither the bloc of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main challenger appear likely to win a majority. But there are still paths to a new government.
The Israeli prime minister outperformed both expectations and his rivals by playing on Jewish voters’ fears of Arab political power and potential security threats.
France’s second city, five years into a presidential development plan, is grappling with the social strains that have fueled protests across the country.
A Chinese businesswoman who had a close relationship with Jensen Huang was found to be passing intelligence to Beijing. President Trump was briefed and took no action.
The move followed a Times report about the role Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign played in recruiting candidates to draw votes from the Republican incumbent.
How many grinning faces, jubilant crowds and celebrating politicians can you fit into a single issue of the Guardian Weekly? That’s not a question that often troubles us, but the spectacular triumph of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, winning a historic second-round vote after losing the first to rightwing opponent Flávio Bolsonaro, and the victory of the student-led campaign against autocrat Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia gave me a happy problem to solve this week. In an era when the right seems to be riding high in the world, popular pushbacks against strongmen politicians is something to celebrate.
For our Brazil cover story, Tom Phillips and Tiago Rogero report on the reaction to Lula’s victory and how he pulled eventual success from the jaws of what, until the first results came on Sunday evening, seemed a probable defeat. As government health minister Alexandre Padilha said that evening: “It’s a massive victory – not just for Brazil. It’s also an important signal to the rest of Latin America and to the world.” But, as commentator Jordana Timerman cautions, Brazil has been an exception in Latin America in successfully resisting Donald Trump’s attempt to achieve hegemony over the region.
Spotlight| ‘Pure arrogance’ Google has been in the dock in Finland over the illegal felling of hectares of woodland for its datacentres, reports Miranda Bryant
Science| Out of the blue Why are more planes encountering invisible air turbulence, what can they do about it and what effect will more frequent incidents have on travellers, asks Patrick Keneally
Feature| Bent out of shape? Competitive yoga may sound like anathema to some devotees of the ancient practice but, as Anita Chaudhuri discovers, there is a movement among some yogis to make it an Olympic sport
Opinion| Lame duck presidents can be dangerous beasts If Democratic midterm gains hamper Donald Trump at home, we should be very worried about what he might do abroad when foreign policy is his last bastion of power, says Steve Bloomfield
Culture| Stay faithful As the second series of Celebrity Traitors draws to its conclusion, Michael Hogan meets the people who made it the world’s biggest TV show and finds out why Claudia Winkleman never wants to leave the castle
THE NEW STATESMAN: The latest issue features Tom McTague defending the magazine’s radical spirit, arguing that every publication needs a driving project. Emily Lawford examines the modern Conservative party, noting that true believers remain undeterred by recent electoral failures. Nicholas Harris uses Cornish nationalism as a mirror for broader British politics, while Andrew Marr warns Labour against falling for opposition election strategies. Internationally, JS Rafaeli critiques the Israeli state following an arrest in the West Bank. Finally, the collection includes a public letters feature emphasizing legal equality.
In defence of the New Statesman’s capital-R Radical spirit
Last week’s open letter in support of Sally Rooney, calling for the Terrorism Act to be amended to protect free expression, generated an extraordinary response. Not all of it has been positive, of course. While many readers wrote in to endorse the letter, others argued – reasonably and often forcefully – that it was Rooney who was to blame for the situation, not the government. She has chosen, of her own volition, to self-censor by going out of her way to breach a law that, irrespective of its merits, should be followed because it is the result of a democratic process. One reader, Peter O’Halloran, from Cavan, Ireland, was among many who got in touch to make this point: “While taking a moral stance is, of course, to be admired, surely the law is the law?”
It is an inherently dishonest way to run a country By Will Dunn
In recent decades, a sinister new force has assumed power in Westminster. They can appear in any political party. They are formidable at converting politicians to their cause. They’re not the Blob, or the Deep State, or the Lizard People. They’re worse. They are the Budgetarians, and no matter which party is in power, they are running the country.
Don’t try to read the mind of the British Everyman By Anoosh Chakelian
Every few weeks, I am surveyed for my opinions – not as a journalist, but as a human – by a polling firm. Five years ago, our household was chosen by whatever magical selection process these companies concoct to be part of a polling panel, answering questions about everything from pension literacy to the state of our neighbourhood to how we feel on an emotional scale about heat pumps.
I sometimes wonder how to answer. Should I tick “yes” that I’ve heard of political buzz terms such as “levelling up” or “net zero”? Would someone of my demographic have come across them if it hadn’t been for having a job like mine? And am I being misleading about my media habits if I tick that I read every newspaper, multiple times a month, even if it’s only for work?
Addressing supporters after midnight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot, who leads a bloc of opposition parties, both expressed confidence that they will lead Israel’s next government. Vote counting could take days.
Senator Darline Graham is struggling to replicate her late brother’s success. Republicans lead in the Florida Senate race and Democrats are up in Minnesota.
Officials in Argentina said Mr. Bolsonaro entered the country by land and then flew to Ecuador. Brazilian police had asked him to hand over his passports.
One high-speed passenger train rear-ended another one near Toledo, months after a crash involving the same carriers killed dozens and stunned the country.
To protect Mexico’s tourism-reliant economy, the Navy is fighting a massive sargassum bloom that dumps thousands of tons of seaweed onto Caribbean beaches daily.
The socialist cash that collected capitalist trash by David I. Backer
Today, the crossroads of socialism and barbarism meet in cities across America. In New York, Seattle, and Chicago, organizers have seized local and state authority, empowering mayors Zohran Mamdani, Katie Wilson, and Brandon Johnson—and a nonnegligible number of other politicians—to pursue the left project municipally. These local victories, won in the years since 2020, have kicked off a positive feedback loop and inspired yet more socialists to run for office in our time. The candidates tell us they want to collectivize the relations of production. Can they?
Last winter, the Mexican Army killed its main foe. Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes was spending a Sunday in Tapalpa, a tourist town just south of Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco. Maybe Oseguera, a cartel leader who rose to international infamy over the past two decades, was there to visit the sixteenth-century chapel that’s nestled behind the main square, or maybe he wanted to admire the town’s snake-decorated fountains. In all likelihood, he was confident that authorities in that part of the country would ignore him spending time in the state that gave its name to his organization, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación.
On reality television, all tenants are squatters by Michael Friedrich
A bouncer-looking guy with a steel-wool goatee lies his way into a woman’s Washington State home, posing as an inspector. He moves from room to drywall-covered room, testing smoke alarms. The home’s occupant, a quiet, middle-aged woman named Sally Barton Jeffries, offers the guy a glass of water. Her place looks cozy enough, furnished with an orange sectional, a checkered rug, and a table in the eat-in kitchen. She mentions that she has lived there for nine months.
Before we saw a single parakeet, we heard them: a disembodied static that grew louder as we approached Hither Green Cemetery in southeast London. It was an early evening in late June, and we had come to witness an invasion. By the time my friend and I reached the cemetery’s western edge, the clamor was all-encompassing. We hopped the fence and picked our way across the gravestones. Above us now were the birds themselves, their kryptonite-green plumage, scab-red beaks, pearly black collars, and trailing tail feathers unmistakable: Psittacula krameri, the ring-necked parakeet.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
