54 h. ago Why is defence such a hard sell? The same reason Starmer is struggling in the polls | Martin Kettle

Decades of failures have left liberal democratic governments unable to command public confidence when it really mattersDefence reviews and foreign policy resets seem to turn up almost as often as the Sussexes’ lifestyle brand relaunches these days. Labour’s strategic defence review this week comes less than two years after the Conservatives’ hardly less detailed defence white paper in July 2023, which in turn was a “refresh” of Boris Johnson’s ambitious integrated review of defence and foreign policy of March 2021. By this measure, it must be doubtful if, come the 2030s, analysts will look back on Keir Starmer and John Healey’s review and say it broke the mould.The Labour government was entitled to try to put its own stamp on defence policy, of course, and its review team of George Robertson, Richard Barrons and Fiona Hill did a good, reasonably independent job. Yet this 2020s pattern of repeated strategic adaptation and refocus feels like the new normal now. It is also true that gr...

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3 d. ago ‘Saying Trump is dangerous is not enough’: Bernie Sanders on Biden, billionaires – and why the Democrats failed

The senator and twice Democratic presidential hopeful is on tour with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez trying to build a new progressive movement. He reveals why he thinks Republicans are scared to speak up and what went wrong for Kamala Harris in 2024‘I think what Trumpism is about, is an understanding that the system in America is not working for working-class people,” says Bernie Sanders, sat in the Guardian’s offices in London. “In a phoney, hypocritical way, Trump has tapped into that. His quote-unquote ‘solutions’ will only make a bad situation worse.”In person, Sanders’ 83 years read differently than in photograph, perhaps because of how conversational he is. His voice is magnetic – a Brooklyn accent that feels both warm and tough. “But what I have been aware of, and I’ve talked about it for years, is that in America, the very richest people are doing phenomenally well, while 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck.” Continue reading...

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1 week ago ‘An autoimmune disorder’: how Trump is turning American democracy against itself

Unlike autocracies such as Russia or China, the US has strong liberal guardrails to prevent a dictatorship. But Trump has a plan for dismantling themThere is some mystery surrounding Donald Trump’s moves to dismantle many cherished principles of American history and its culture of governance: his globalization denialism; his romance with Russia; his demolition of universities; his contempt for European values and histories; his campaign to humiliate Canada. These are all known examples, but it can be hard to see across them to discern anything like a unified theory of Trumpism.There are two possibilities here. One is that there is no rhyme or reason to Trump’s actions. He is simply a randomizing generator of chaos. The other is that there is a method. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Trump hints at investigation into timing of Biden's cancer diagnosis: 'Someone's not telling the facts'

The US president has questioned how doctors failed to diagnose his Democratic predecessor, 82, until after he had left the White House in January

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2 w. ago Biden ‘failed this country’ by seeking second term, says Beto O’Rourke

Ex-Texas representative, who lost gubernatorial election to Greg Abbott, joins Democrats lambasting former presidentJoe Biden “failed this country in the most important job that he had” by deciding to run for another term as US president before dropping out of the election that returned Donald Trump to the White House, where he has unflinchingly assaulted democratic norms, the former representative Beto O’Rourke said recently.“We might very well lose the greatest country that this world has ever known,” the Texan who has unsuccessfully run for the presidency and his state’s governorship said on Pod Save America. “And it might be in part because of the decision that Biden and those around him made to run for re-election.” Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Democrats are failing against Trump. We need a new generation in 2026 | Alexandra Rojas

The absence of opposition has been stunning. Americans are losing faith in the party’s ability to solve our problemsAfter more than 100 days of the Trump administration, it’s clear how unprepared Democratic leadership has been for this moment.Words can hardly describe just how far Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the administration have gone to serve the interests of their fellow billionaires, undermine our economy and kill hundreds of thousands of jobs while dragging our basic civil liberties and constitution through the buzzsaw to illegally disappear countless immigrants and send them to privately funded domestic prisons and torture camps abroad.Alexandra Rojas is executive director of Justice Democrats Continue reading...

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4 w. ago Crass, flashy, outrageous: Trump media blitz redefines meaning of presidential

White House communications have adopted a Trumpian air that’s ‘either completely malevolent or completely brilliant’There was a disturbance in the Force. Donald Trump celebrated “Star Wars Day” this week with an AI-generated image of himself as a muscle-bound warrior holding a red lightsaber in front of two US flags and eagles.It seemed like a bit of fun but appeared on the White House’s official X account with a dark political message: “Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You’re not the Rebellion – you’re the Empire. May the 4th be with you.” Continue reading...

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4 w. ago David Tennant makes ‘antichrist’ dig at Donald Trump AI pope image

David Tennant took a swipe at Donald Trump after the US president posted an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope on social media while hosting Have I Got News for You on Friday (9 May).

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4 w. ago US politics live updates: majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s higher education approach, poll finds

Fifty-six percent of Americans said they disapprove of Trump’s approach to higher education, while about four in 10 express approval in new AP pollThe quote Trump is referring to from George HW Bush comes from the former president’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on 18 August 1988.And my opponent won’t rule out raising taxes. But I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again. And I’ll say to them: Read my lips. No new taxes.But Bush’s mistake was that he made that anti-tax pledge in the first place and stuck to it in the first part of his presidency. His courageous 1990 reversal on fiscal policy set the stage for a decade of economic growth that eventually achieved budget surpluses.The budget deal that Bush reached with congressional Democrats in 1990 may indeed have contributed to his failure to win re-election in 1992. There is no question that the timing was terrible. The m...

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4 w. ago Trade deals, global wars and AI Jedi posts: where is Trump’s focus? – podcast

Jonathan Freedland and the senior Washington editor of Semafor, Elana Schor, discuss what the US president is choosing to make a priority, and what he’s neglecting in returnOn Thursday, the White House announced a framework for a US-UK trade deal. Earlier in the week, when asked for his take on India’s missile attack on Pakistan, Donald Trump replied: “I get along with both.” But before all of that, on an otherwise quiet Sunday, the US president announced tariffs on foreign films and the reopening of Alcatraz. Throw in the White House posting another AI-generated image of Trump – this time featuring a lightsabre, muscly arms and two bald eagles – and you have one chaotic week.Archive: BBC News, CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, Sky News, Sky News Australia Continue reading...

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last month Luke, I am an INTJ? Darth Vader would slice hurtful colleagues in half – not take them to an employment tribunal

An NHS worker received £28,989 after being compared to the Sith Lord because of a Star Wars-themed Myers Briggs test. But I’d rather be Darth than Obi-WanThis is undeniably a bad time to be Darth Vader. A few weeks ago, Tony Gilroy revealed that Vader would not be appearing in his Andor series, despite fans assuming that he would play a significant part in its climax. A few days ago, the White House shared an AI-generated image of Donald Trump as a confusingly musclebound Sith Lord, subtly undermining Vader as the go-to Star Wars baddie. And now a woman has been awarded almost £30,000 for being compared to him.Yesterday, it was reported that NHS blood donation worker Lorna Rooke had received £28,989.61 from a Croydon tribunal after complaining that a colleague had taken a Star Wars-themed Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test on her behalf online, and then informed her that her results aligned with Darth Vader. This upset Rooke and made her feel so unpopular that she resigned...

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