5 h. ago The Guardian view on Trump and Zelenskyy: Ukraine deserves better than 'better than we feared' | Editorial

In Washington, European leaders helped steer the US president away from his embrace of Vladimir Putin’s talking points. But for how long?The verdict on Donald Trump’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders on Monday depends entirely upon the metric used. The great fear was that this might prove a disaster along the lines of the US president’s dressing down of the Ukrainian leader in February – a scenario so plausible that Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and other key European leaders dropped everything to dash to the White House themselves in support.Following his red carpet welcome for Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Mr Trump reportedly backed the idea that Ukraine should hand over the Donbas to achieve a peace deal. Even if one were naive enough to think that the Kremlin would see that as an end to conflict, rather than a staging post for a later offensive, it would not be a “land swap” but a land grab that Ukraine – for go...

Politics

13 h. ago Jeremy Clarkson is finally offering ‘banned’ product at pub after huge demand

‘Clarkson’s Farm’ star was inundated with thousands of requests for food item – and has pulled out all the stops to keep his punters happy

Sport

29 h. ago The Guardian view on Britain’s AI strategy: the risk is that it is dependency dressed up in digital hype | Editorial

The UK’s plans seem to outsource sovereignty for phantom efficiency. Public services provide the data and power while US tech giants reap the rewardsThere was a time when Britain aspired to be a leader in technology. These days, it seems content to be a willing supplicant – handing over its data, infrastructure and public services to US tech giants in exchange for the promise of a few percentage points of efficiency gains. Worryingly, the artificial intelligence strategy of Sir Keir Starmer’s government appears long on rhetoric, short on sovereignty and built on techno-utopian assumptions. Last week Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, was promoting the use of AI-generated discharge letters in the NHS. The tech, he said, will process complex conversations between doctors and patients, slashing paperwork and streamlining services. Ministers say that by applying AI across the public sector, the government can save £45bn.But step back and a more familiar pattern emerges. As Cecil...

Events

29 h. ago The Guardian view on food and farming: climate chaos hits crops hard – and that should worry everyone | Editorial

Last year’s floods have been followed by heatwaves. Ministers must throw their weight behind resilient, adaptable agricultureBritish farmers are, of course, not the only people who are suffering from the effects of this summer’s heatwaves. Across Europe and the Middle East, record-breaking temperatures are threatening lives as well as livelihoods. France has experienced its largest wildfire since 1949, while across Europe an estimated 500,000 hectares of land have burned.But farmers are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather, which has a direct impact on crop yields. So reports of a second consecutive year in which food growers in parts of the UK are seeing dramatic falls in production should concern the British public. Access to food is frequently taken for granted in the world’s wealthiest nations. But increased food insecurity is among the dangerous effects of the climate crisis, as well as being worsened by Trump’s tariffs, and geopolitical instability including the war in U...

Events

53 h. ago The Guardian view on the Alaska summit: there must be no more gifts to Vladimir Putin | Editorial

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy heads to Washington amid talk of land swaps, European leaders must have his backHours after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin departed from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska on Friday, Moscow officials reported that two more villages in Ukraine’s east had been seized by Russian forces. It was a grimly apt postscript to a “peace summit” that allowed a pariah leader to posture on the world stage, but signally failed to achieve the outcome that its host claimed to desire.Mr Trump had suggested that he would be “unhappy” if a ceasefire were not agreed during discussions with Mr Putin. There would, he warned, be “severe consequences” if his guest proved unwilling to end the war. Predictably, no ceasefire announcement was forthcoming, and the sanctions Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened, but never imposed, have been kicked into the long grass. Instead, the US president offered a crucial concession to Mr Putin, concurring that a cessation of hostilities sh...

Politics

53 h. ago The Guardian view on regulating cosmetic procedures: rogue operators must be tackled, but aren’t the only problem | Editorial

Tighter rules over treatments including fillers and Botox will send a message, but resources will be needed to enforce themThe enormous popularity of beauty treatments, including dermatological fillers and Botox injections, is not solely an issue for health regulators. Changing norms and aspirations about appearances, and the way that these are marketed mainly to women and girls, are a cultural and economic phenomenon that requires wider consideration. While attitudes to these procedures and aesthetics vary, many people – including some cosmetic surgeons – are concerned that younger women account for a growing share of a highly lucrative and growing market.The death last year of 33-year-old Alice Webb in Gloucestershire, after a non-surgical Brazilian butt lift, as well as multiple reports of injuries, and the deaths of at least 28 women who have travelled to Turkey for cosmetic treatments, have increased the pressure on ministers to tighten the law. Wes Streeting’s a...

Politics

60 h. ago ‘Pray for rain’: wildfires in Canada are now burning where they never used to

Canada’s response to the extreme weather threat is being upended as the traditional epicentre of the blazes shifts as the climate warmsRoad closures, evacuations, travel chaos and stern warnings from officials have all become fixtures of Canada’s wildfire season.But as the country goes through its second-worst burn on record, the blazes come with a twist: few are coming from the western provinces, the traditional centre of destruction. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago The Guardian view on the collapse of environmental talks: petrostates blocked a global plastics deal, but we must not despair | Editorial

The failure of UN talks in Geneva should anger us all. The increasing threat to our health, our environments and wildlife must be addressed. By ensuring the collapse of UN talks seeking the first legally binding agreement on tackling plastic pollution, blockers in Geneva have failed the next generation. Most states are willing, even determined, to act. But the US joined petrostates obstructing action. Their children too will live to regret that.To say that plastics are part of our lives from cradle to grave is an understatement: microplastics have been found in placentas, as well as blood and breast milk. While we can’t yet be certain of the full impact of the substances, we know that many have been linked to health effects and that foetuses, infants and young children are highly vulnerable. Microplastics have been shown to damage human cells in laboratory experiments, and a review published this month documented how exposure is associated with increased risks of miscarriage, stillb...

Economics

4 d. ago The Guardian view on France’s wine crisis: the answer to claret could be clairet | Editorial

Consumers are drinking less red wine than ever. Producers need to revive the fresher and lighter vintages that their medieval ancestors once harvestedThese are always anxious weeks in the Bordeaux vineyards, where 15% of France’s wine is grown, including in celebrated places like Chateau Latour and Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. In earlier years, this ritual anxiety among the region’s winegrowers had a pleasingly folkloric quality. In the middle of August, the grapes would ripen and their colour start to turn. About 45 days from now, tradition dictates, it will be time to start picking the 2025 vintage. As the wine writer Edmund Penning-Rowsell put it: “To pick or not to pick is the most momentous decision in the winemaking year in Bordeaux.”This once timeless rhythm is now collapsing. Part of the problem is the climate crisis. Bordeaux still benefits from its moderate Atlantic climate. But south-west France is getting much hotter and drier. Even in the Gironde region, maximum temperatu...

Events

6 d. ago I went to UK's poshest farm shop 90 minutes from Wales — first thing I noticed wasn't the food

The farm shop a short drive from Wales has been in the news again this week because US vice president JD Vance arrived with a huge entourage of security and police

Politics

6 d. ago Jeremy Clarkson to finally offer ‘banned’ product at pub after huge demand

‘Clarkson’s Farm’ star was inundated with thousands of requests for food item – and has pulled out all the stops to keep his punters happy

Events

8 d. ago The Guardian view on RFK Jr’s vaccine cuts: an assault on science from a politician unfit for his office | Editorial

The decision by the US health and human services secretary to remove mRNA research funding is ill-informed and dangerousScience is not black and white. It’s more complicated and more exciting. It’s a constant process of exploration. An adventure into the unknown. Scientists come up with theories about what might be going on, and then test them. They don’t always get it right. Far from it. But inch by inch, testing, failing and trying again, they make progress.Robert F Kennedy Jr, during Senate confirmation hearings for the role of secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), seemed to get that. Those who feared what a vaccine sceptic might do in that role breathed again. “I’m going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job and make sure that we have good science that is evidence based I’m not going to substitute my judgment for science,” he said.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to...

Politics

9 d. ago The Guardian view on attacking the ECHR: the real target is judicial independence and the rule of law | Editorial

The populist right sees the European convention as a soft target in a longer campaign to degrade democratic checks and balancesMost British citizens have little contact with human rights law, which is as it should be in a mature democracy. Widespread anxiety about basic freedoms is a feature of more repressive regimes.Many people will only have heard of the European convention on human rights (ECHR) in the context of the last Conservative government’s failed attempts to dispatch asylum seekers to Rwanda, or in a handful of incidents where convicted criminals or terrorist suspects have avoided deportation to jurisdictions where they might face inhumane treatment. Such cases are amplified by politicians who are hostile to the whole apparatus of human rights law. The Strasbourg court that adjudicates on breaches of the ECHR is denounced as an enemy of British sovereignty. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago The Guardian view on climate finance: crumbling under a second Trump presidency | Editorial

Voluntary climate commitments were supposed to be a step towards progress. A change in political climate has revealed their weaknessesEarlier this month, as Nordic countries were hit with an unprecedented heatwave and wildfires in the US began spurting “fire clouds”, Barclays pulled out of the net zero banking alliance. The story may have seemed less alarming than extreme weather, but it has existential implications, as the finance sector quietly surrenders its former climate commitments.The initiative forms part of the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), a voluntary network of banks that Mark Carney, formerly the UN’s special envoy on climate action and now Canada’s prime minister, launched in 2021. At the time, the alliance, which encourages banks and asset managers to work towards the goals of the Paris agreement, seemed like an optimistic step in the right direction. Mr Carney described it as a “breakthrough”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Jeremy Clarkson says it looks like Diddly Squat Farm has had a 'catastrophic' harvest this year as he warns it is bad news 'for anyone who eats food'

The former Top Gear presenter warned that the potentially worrying harvest on his 1000-acre farm in Oxfordshire is bad news for 'anyone who eats food'.

Events

1 week ago Jeremy Clarkson tells of ‘disastrous’ time at Diddly Squat farm: ‘A worry for anyone who eats food’

TV star said there would be ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth’ if a similar scale disaster had affected ‘any other industry’

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on Israel’s Gaza takeover plan: a destructive act that must be stopped | Editorial

Benjamin Netanyahu has embarked on an operation that guarantees fresh miseries and will solve absolutely nothingIsrael’s planned takeover of Gaza would be an act of destructive futility. It would solve absolutely nothing. It will merely pile fresh military, humanitarian and political problems on to the mounds of those already created in the conflict. It will make every human agony worse, not better. Governments around the world must do whatever they can – the US above all – to stop it.There is still time. The plan announced on Friday is for an operation to take military control of Gaza City, home to a million displaced Palestinians. They will be forcibly evacuated, yet again, to the southern Gaza Strip over the coming weeks. Aid distribution is certain to be a secondary consideration, logistically challenging and woefully inadequate for a population where malnutrition is already severe. The threat to life in Gaza, including to the remaining Israeli hostages captured on 7 Octobe...

Politics

1 week ago The Guardian view on Putin’s propaganda: the strongman myth hides great strategic weakness | Editorial

The Russian president had a friend in Donald Trump but a paranoid addiction to war prevents him doing a dealFor a quarter of a century, Russian media have cultivated a myth of Vladimir Putin’s inspired leadership. State propaganda allows no hint of presidential fallibility. When things go wrong, official news ignores the setbacks. When problems cannot be downplayed, Mr Putin is portrayed as the wise corrector of errors made by underlings.Foreign perceptions of Mr Putin have been shaped by this image. It has been boosted online by Kremlin influence operations and embraced by nationalist politicians who admire the Russian president’s methods of domestic control and contempt for the rule of law.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago The Guardian view on the London Stock Exchange: its struggles are symptoms of a broken growth model | Editorial

The Guardian view on the London Stock Exchange: its struggles are symptoms of a broken growth model | Editorial  The Guardian

Politics

1 week ago South African farmer 'shot women scavenging for food and fed their bodies to pigs'

Zachariah Johannes Olivier is alleged to have gunned down Lucia Ndlovu, 34, and Maria Makgato, 45, when he found them looking through waste at his pig farm in Limpopo province.

Events