5 hours ago As Trump returns to the White House, and Putin’s forces advance – what next for Ukraine in 2025?

Ukraine is facing an array of issues heading into 2025, underscored by the anxiety of what the re-election of Donald Trump could mean for the country’s future. Tom Watling speaks to politicians, military experts and aid workers to discover what next year could look like

Politics

8 hours ago As a student in London I yearned for home, until I found paradise: a vast old villa with perfect housemates | Andrew Martin

We cooked ragu and listened to records while lying on chaises longues. Then the M11 link road was built – and everything changedIn our end of year series, writers and public figures remember the place or time when they felt most at homeIn the mid-1980s, I was in my early 20s and was reading for the Bar in London. I was living in a mouldy Balham bedsit and returning regularly to the comfort zone of my native York, when a friend told me a room was going in a shared house in Leytonstone.I wasn’t expecting much of E11. I wasn’t expecting trees, for example, but my walk from the attractive art deco tube station took me along roads better described as avenues. The house itself seemed almost the last one in London, an illusion created by the proximity of Wanstead Flats. It was a rangy, detached 1920s house, white with a red roof, and it had a name, but I’ll just call it the villa.Andrew Martin is an English novelist; his latest book is The Night in Venice Continue reading...

Society

19 hours ago The Guardian view on digital media: the case for better regulation must be made | Editorial

Over the holidays, this column will explore next year’s urgent issues. Today we look at the crisis in western democracy, Donald Trump’s victory and the role played by digital mediaIn November 2020, shortly after Donald Trump’s defeat in the US presidential election, Barack Obama observed that America risked entering “an epistemological crisis”. The prospect of Mr Trump’s return to the White House in January validates his predecessor’s premonition.Mr Obama was talking about media fragmentation and polarisation: different segments of society existing in discrete information spaces; arguments no longer drawn from a common reservoir of facts; no shared reality, no foundation of truth. “Then by definition the marketplace of ideas doesn’t work,” he said. “And by definition our democracy doesn’t work.” Continue reading...

Politics

24 hours ago Trump to restore White House Diet Coke button as Bidens move out in whirlwind Inauguration Day turnaround

When Donald and Melania Trump enter the White House next year, they'll find it looks like it did when they left it four years ago - down to the Diet Coke button on the desk of the Oval Office.

Politics

24 hours ago ‘A place to heal’: Native tribes urge Biden to protect sacred lands before leaving White House

Environmental groups are also petitioning Biden to protect Sáttítla, Kw’tsán and Chuckwalla in CaliforniaHidden amid a vast expanse of snow-brushed pines in northern California is a rare, half-million-year-old volcano called Sáttítla. Thousands of years ago, its flows created crystalline mountains of obsidian and dim grey bands of pumice rock, which from a bird’s-eye view look like ripples of taffy.“When you’re there, you really do feel like you’re in another world, or on the moon or even another planet,” said Brandi McDaniels, a member of the Pit River Tribe in northern California, whose ancestral homelands encompass the area. “The way it glistens and twinkles – deep black, but shiny like diamonds.” Continue reading...

Politics

24 hours ago Donald Trump’s return to the White House has some critics worried — others are ready for a fight

While some critics brace for Donald Trump’s return to the White House, others are ready for a fight.

Politics

24 hours ago President Biden gives incredible drone tour of White House in final Christmas Day message

President Joe Biden has given the world an incredible drone tour of the White House in his final Christmas Day message.

Politics

29 hours ago Support for Ukraine ‘until it wins’ falls sharply in western Europe, poll finds

YouGov survey finds negotiated end to war with Russia is preferred option in four out of seven countriesReadiness to support Ukraine “until it wins” has fallen sharply across western Europe at a critical time for the country, a survey suggests, as Donald Trump’s forthcoming return to the White House raises questions over the future of US military assistance to Kyiv.December polling by YouGov in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the UK found public desire to stand by Ukraine until victory – even if that meant prolonging the war – had slumped in all seven countries over the past 12 months. Continue reading...

Politics

36 hours ago Trump’s net worth rose by billions this year despite legal challenges and a wild stock market. Here’s what it is now.

President-elect’s net worth, tied to the value of TMTG shares, fluctuated heavily during 2024

Politics