TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT: The latest issue features ‘Fighting Over King Arthur’ – Marion Turner on a legend’s global appeal.
The versatility of Arthur and his legends By Marion Turner
Nigerian scammers and their targets By Sally Hayden
How William Empson viewed Virginia Woolf’s diaries By Mark Thompson
Frida Kahlo, iconized: ‘I would not like to become famous’ By Miranda France
THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘End Of The Pier Show’ – What Farage’s election gamble says about the state of British politics.
The curtain came down last week on the summer sideshow of the Clacton byelection, called by Nigel Farage amid mounting scrutiny of his finances.
For our big story this week, Daniel Boffey explores what this campaign – in which the Reform UK leader’s main challenger was a parody candidate called Count Binface – tells us about the current state of politics in Britain.
Farage’s byelection win brought the situation full circle as, shortly after he was declared victor, parliament’s standards watchdog announced it had reopened its investigation into him, report Rowena Mason and Peter Walker.
Analysing the result, political correspondent Alexandra Topping brands the contest futile and says that while Farage aimed to make the financial questions surrounding him disappear, it was the MP himself who has been absent from the political stage over the past few weeks.
Spotlight | Scramble for soldiers
As battlefield losses mount, Pjotr Sauer asks whether Vladimir Putin will order another mobilisation
Science | Wing and a prayer
A disease threatening bat species has spread to northern Canada. Trina Moyles reports on the race to find a cure
Feature | A hymn to the weekend
In 1926, Henry Ford gave his employees both Saturdays and Sundays off – and the two-day chunk of time to party, pray or simply do nothing was born. Now the weekend has changed beyond recognition, says Jess Cartner-Morley
Opinion | Meet the second most dangerous man in the US
As chief US diplomat, Marco Rubio could do great good. But, says Simon Tisdall, his pandering and neglect are a disgrace we shouldn’t ignore
Culture | Through my eyes
As their new album is released, Sam Smith talks to Juan A Ramírez about fans, fame and finding sanctuary in New York
HARPER’S MAGAZINE: Erin Somers charts the rise and fall of cultivated meat, Barrett Swanson reports on the Ugly People Festival in Italy, Kyle Berlin on the French bestseller whose controversy divided the country, a pseudonymous memoir of a government official in Beijing, Finn Brunton on prediction markets and crypto-anarchism, Thomas Frank on the Obama Center, Kasia Boddy reviews William Kennedy’s Albany Trilogy, five stories from Diane Williams, and more.
The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t by Erin Somers
A weekend at the Ugly People Festival by Barrett Swanson
Prediction markets and the triumph of crypto-anarchy by Finn Brunton
FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘The End Of The Alliance?’
Learning to Live in a Post-American World by Mark Leonard
Preparing for a World of Synthetic Pathogens by Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall
Congress Must Lead to Compete With Beijing by Bill Cassidy
The Case Against Pessimism and the Path to a New Allied Order by Kurt M. Campbell and Rush Doshi
State Representative Angie Nixon, a progressive firebrand, used grass-roots enthusiasm to defeat a moderate. Can it carry her to victory in November?
Mykhailo Fedorov, a popular young leader who was fired last month, said Russia should not be allowed to dictate when Ukrainians can choose their next government.
Iran has survived decades of sanctions. Faced with more, it is likely to escalate rather than surrender, analysts said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada was less definitive about what the intense talks produced, saying “important work” remained.
SpaceX and other companies want to put millions of satellites into space. Could orbit run out of room?
For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. New evidence tells a different tale
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will soon launch to unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter
Neuroscience is revealing how our brains are wired for narrative
The G.O.P. holds every statewide elected office and has drastically swung voter registration. A new congressional map has added four Republican-leaning seats.
Intensifying restrictions have hit every part of the territory’s dealings, spurring worries about whether the Palestinian Authority can remain solvent.
Seven years ago, President Trump failed to disarm North Korea and walked away. Could the same thing happen with Iran?
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are taking the social media giant to trial in the first bellwether federal case over child harm.
Parents in the industry are practicing moderation and restraint at home. They might be onto something.
COMMENTARY MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘How We Won The War On Terror’ – 25 Years after 9/11
by Tod Lindberg
On September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush gave a major speech to Congress and the country in which he outlined the coming U.S. response to al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attack. He said, “Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated.” Thus began what would soon be known as the “Global War on Terror,” or GWOT, in its unlovely acronym
It’s a confusing time to be a man. For decades, the cultural left has insisted that “toxic masculinity” is roaming the land, threatening women’s safety and rights.
Two possible paths, one pro-American, one not. Where will the Kingdom go?
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features “Diana Ejaita’s “Before the Plunge” – A moment of stillness.
The SAVE America Act is just one part of a package that includes an executive order and threats of prosecution, all in an effort to make Trump’s math work. By Amy Davidson Sorkin
In D.C. and the Dakotas, at rodeos and powwows, celebrating the country means taking in pride and disappointment and fellow-feeling. By Rachel Monroe
As extreme heat overwhelms the Continent’s great cities, they are racing to transform themselves for a climate that they were never built to withstand. By Eric Klinenberg
China is exporting more than A.I. models. It wants to influence chatbots, raising fears that Beijing’s narratives will spread with the technology.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment of loyalists to top jobs suggests he is prepared to keep the country on a war footing and to quash domestic dissent.
President Trump said a cease-fire agreed to in June would lead to limits on Iran’s nuclear program and finish the conflict, but the countries appear far apart.
President Trump wants to curtail military exercises with South Korea, saying they were hostile to North Korea. But under Mr. Kim, the North has become increasingly belligerent toward the South.
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