17 h. ago The Guardian view on Tilly Norwood: she’s not art, she’s data | Editorial

The first 100% AI actor is a cause for alarm. But the human connection of great acting can never be replacedThe threat to human creativity from technology took another step closer this week with the appearance of Tilly Norwood, the first 100% AI-generated actor. Unsurprisingly, her unveiling at the Zurich film festival in a comic sketch called AI Commissioner caused an outcry. Emily Blunt described the film as “terrifying” and the actors’ union Sag-Aftra condemned it as “jeopardising performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry”.There is much that is problematic about Norwood, not least the message her “girl-next-door vibe” sends to young women. But the more serious point is that her face has been made from those of real actors without their knowledge or consent. Her lighthearted debut masks the fact that she is part of a new model of media production that rides roughshod over longstanding norms and laws governing artists and their work. Hollywood has been anticipating Norwood...

Politics

41 h. ago The Guardian view on the Manchester synagogue attack: a tragic wake

An assault of this kind was widely feared. Now that it has happened, Britain faces a choice between deeper division and greater toleranceThe attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester was outrageous. It took two innocent lives, and several others were injured. Yet it could have happened almost anywhere. It is an event with wider national meaning and lessons. On Thursday morning, Britain looked over the edge into one of the dark places to which modern public life has been heading. Having looked and seen, Britain now needs to learn and step back.The violence began around 9.30am, just as morning prayers were being held on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s most solemn and sacred day. The synagogue was inevitably well attended. Yet within a short period of time, two Jewish victims lay dead from stabbing, with four others injured, outside what ought to be a place of prayer and community. The attacker was then himself shot and killed, possibly as he attempted to get inside t...

Events

41 h. ago The Guardian view on climate policy: Britain needs clean power, not culture wars | Editorial

Kemi Badenoch’s plan to scrap the Climate Change Act is reckless. Ed Miliband offers a bolder, fairer vision. The future must be built on renewablesLet’s scrap Britain’s successful climate law so we can burn more gas, lose investment and have higher bills. Crazy as it might seem, that is the message of Kemi Badenoch’s new energy strategy. The Conservative leader proposes to repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act in favour of a plan to “maximise oil and gas extraction”, and remove all legally binding carbon targets. It’s pitched as pragmatism. But it’s a lurch into ideological self-harm.Britain’s energy problem isn’t its climate legislation, which is admired globally, backed by industry and supported by the public. It’s that this country remains too dependent on volatile fossil fuels. Emissions targets are not the reason for high bills. It is gas prices, which skyrocketed after Russia invaded Ukraine. They set UK electricity prices. In Europe, they don’t – that’s why bills are lower...

Events

4 d. ago The Guardian view on catastrophe in Darfur: The world has looked away, but Sudan’s civilians can’t wait any longer | Editorial

A brutal war has been fuelled by outside powers. Diplomatic efforts must be intensifiedWhen the history of the 21st century is written, the name of El Fasher will surely appear on its bleakest pages. The besiegement of the city by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has lasted more than 500 days. Families are surviving on animal feed. An estimated 260,000 civilians face a terrifying choice: to stay and die of starvation or in an airstrike – or attempt to flee and face rape, robbery and death.El Fasher is the last major city in Darfur still defended by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) – and allied fighters – in the bloody and unrelenting struggle with the RSF, which has lasted almost two and a half years. Yet a conflict that has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis has remained largely ignored as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have consumed international attention. In the runup to the UN general assembly in New York last week, the US finally appeared to be ma...

Politics

5 d. ago The Guardian view on AI and jobs: the tech revolution should be for the many not the few | Editorial

Britain risks devolving its digital destiny to Silicon Valley. As a TUC manifesto argues, those affected must have a greater say in shaping the workplace of the futureIn The Making of the English Working Class, the leftwing historian EP Thompson made a point of challenging the condescension of history towards luddism, the original anti-tech movement. The early 19th-century croppers and weavers who rebelled against new technologies should not be written off as “blindly resisting machinery”, wrote Thompson in his classic history. They were opposing a laissez-faire logic that dismissed its disastrous impact on their lives.A distinction worth bearing in mind as Britain rolls out the red carpet for US big tech, thereby outsourcing a modern industrial revolution still in its infancy. Photographers, coders and writers, for example, would sympathise with the powerlessness felt by working people who saw customary protections swept away in a search for enhanced productivity and profit. Unlice...

Politics

5 d. ago The Guardian view on the 2025 Booker prize: bringing posh bingo to the BookTok generation | Editorial

With this year’s shortlist announced live to the public, Britain’s most prestigious literary award is finding ways to engage new audiencesWith its reputation for stuffiness and elitism, the Booker prize may seem unsuited to the age of social media. Back in the 1980s, when writers’ spats and affairs made headlines, the winning ceremony was televised by the BBC. It was the book world’s Oscars. Today, the idea of tuning in to watch the dinner-suited literati tuck into supper in London’s oak-panelled Guildhall seems preposterous. But the UK’s most prestigious literary prize still needs to reach as wide an audience as possible. How do you sell “posh bingo”, as Julian Barnes memorably dubbed it, to the BookTok generation?It is no longer enough to tell people what they should be reading. Readers expect to be part of the conversation – to be in the bingo hall. This year’s shortlist was announced live by the chair and former Booker prizewinner Roddy Doyle at an event at London’s So...

Politics

8 d. ago The Guardian view on Nato airspace incursions: Russia is testing European and US will. It won’t stop here | Editorial

The escalation in recent days is raising alarm. It forms part of Moscow’s broader pattern of probing and provocationThe sheer volume of headlines tells its own tale. Russian drones over Poland and Romania. Russian fighter jets in Estonian airspace. Russian aircraft buzzing a German naval frigate in the Baltic Sea. Unidentified drones over Copenhagen and Oslo airports. Most recently, in the early hours of Thursday, further drones appearing at other Danish airports.In just over a fortnight, European states have reported a striking spate of incursions into their airspace. Russia has repeatedly denied responsibility and questions remain over individual events: so far, Denmark has said only that a “professional actor” was at work in the airport incidents and that it can’t rule out Russia. But overall, there is a pattern which fits clearly into Moscow’s longer record of provocations and often implausible deniability – and which amounts to a notable escalation. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago The Guardian view on Ireland’s presidential election: a contest with consequences | Editorial

Since 1990, the heads of state of Britain’s closest neighbour have played important soft power roles. This needs to continueThe idea that the next head of state might be an elected one is as remote from British experience as a visit to the far side of the moon. But it is hardly an unthinkable proposition, and you do not have to travel as far as the moon to see such a process taking place in a smooth and dignified manner. In fact, you only have to travel to Ireland.Next month, Ireland will elect a successor to President Michael D Higgins, who has served two seven-year terms as the occupant of Áras an Uachtaráin (in bygone days the Viceregal Lodge) in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. Mr Higgins has done the largely ceremonial job with charm, toughness and imagination. He has been good for Ireland, and good for British-Irish relations at a difficult time. In 2014, he made the first state visit to Britain by an Irish president. He is not a large man, but he leaves big shoes to fill. Con...

Politics

9 d. ago The Guardian view on Trump’s support for Ukraine: a welcome but not reliable vote of confidence | Editorial

Having exhausted a failed policy of appeasement, the US president may at last be ready to put pressure on Moscow The judgment of a man who fails to distinguish between aggressor and victim when describing the Russia-Ukraine war is not worthy of respect. Unfortunately, when that man is the US president, his opinion cannot be ignored.Earlier this year, Donald Trump asserted that Vladimir Putin had “all the cards” and urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make peace in terms that resembled surrender. This week, Mr Trump declared that Kyiv might achieve total victory, liberating all territory currently under Russian occupation.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

9 d. ago The Guardian view on the climate crisis: green energy is booming – but fossil fuels need to shrink too | Editorial

The planet is nearing dangerous limits. Yet progress on clean energy shows what’s possible. With political will, cooperation can still avert the worst of the climate crisisAll is not lost, Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate chief, told the Guardian last week. But the latest planetary health check from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is a brutal reminder of how close the Earth is being pushed beyond repair. Seven of the nine planetary boundaries are now breached, with ocean acidification added to the danger list. Yet the world has proved that cooperation works: the ozone layer is healing, air pollution controls are working. A decisive test looms at the end of the month, when governments must file new climate pledges, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This is no time to ease off: the fossil-fuel era must end, and the clean‑energy transition must accelerate.There is real concern that big emitters, including China and the EU, will fall short of what is n...

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s hate for opponents: practising politics the wrong way | Editorial

The president’s admission is more than bravado. By blurring truth and criminalising dissent, he is dismantling the US’s free-speech order from withinAt Sunday’s memorial for the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump paid a peculiar tribute. Having quoted Mr Kirk’s words of forgiveness, he put aside the script. “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie,” he said. “I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them.” It was a stark and clarifying admission. Mr Trump does not seek to criminalise hate speech so much as to criminalise speech he hates.The US is being dragged into a state of emergency. Speech is framed as terrorism. Satire is rebranded as enemy propaganda. Employers punish workers for personal posts. The predictable result is a chilling climate of surveillance and reprisal, in which citizens learn to keep quiet. The assassination is not just being used to police manners; it is being used to reconstruct the public square so that dissent equals disloyalty, and...

Politics

1 week ago The Guardian view on UK recognition of a Palestinian state: this must be a call to action, not conscience

The diplomatic groundswell, and Israel’s increasing isolation, come late. They must be the beginning of a renewed effortDeath rains down on Gaza City. Starvation stalks the north of Gaza. Israel has now killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians.The prospects of even a ceasefire look dim, never mind a long-term settlement. But formally announcing the UK’s recognition of a Palestinian state on Sunday, Sir Keir Starmer remarked: “The hope of a two-state solution is fading but we cannot let that light go out.” Canada and Australia announced recognition too ahead of the United Nations summit in New York on Monday, in a wave spearheaded by France. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Adolescence cleaning up at the Emmys: the importance of grassroots drama training | Editorial

Theatre schools are in crisis. More must be done to nurture young talent like Owen Cooper across the countryAs well as the urgent social problems raised by Adolescence – online misogyny and radicalisation – the show’s phenomenal success has drawn attention to a growing cultural issue: the importance of grassroots drama schools and clubs, and working-class representation on TV.Last Sunday, 15-year-old Owen Cooper became the youngest male actor to win an Emmy, for his performance as the teenage murder suspect Jamie Miller. Amid the celebrations, the founders of Drama MOB in Manchester, where Cooper attended weekly classes for two years, rightly pointed out the crucial part this training played in landing him the role, an impact the young actor acknowledged in his acceptance speech.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...

Events

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Trump’s state visit to Britain: plenty of glitter, but this was gilt, not gold | Editorial

The hyperbole is in sharp contrast to the actual achievements, but in this new era minimising damage and buying time look like winsAn unprecedented second state visit for a US president. An “extra-large” guard of honour. The UK rolled out not only the red carpet, royal welcome and golden carriage but also the superlatives for Donald Trump’s visit. Sir Keir Starmer’s hyperbole on the memorandum of understanding on tech made his guest look almost understated: the prime minister boasted that the transatlantic partnership paved the way for new technologies to “amplify human potential, solve problems, cure diseases, make us richer and freer”.Yet there was an inverse relationship between the pomp and ceremony of this trip and its real import, between the grand declarations of amity and the actual state of transatlantic ties. The US president soaked up the sycophancy and was obliging enough to hymn the “priceless” relationship. But while Mr Trump grumbled that Vladimir Putin had “real...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on the Lib Dem conference: speaking for parts of England | Editorial

Sir Ed Davey’s party has plenty to look forward to, but also difficult choices to makeThe two largest parties in the House of Commons approach the 2025 autumn conference season with trepidation. Both Labour and the Conservatives are spooked by collapses in voter support and by the rise of Reform UK. Party anxiety, internal disagreements and even grassroots revolts seem possible at both of their conferences.The third-largest party, the Liberal Democrats, have no such worries at all. They start their conference in Bournemouth this weekend in resilient mood. Having won 72 Commons seats in 2024 – the best result by any third party for a century – Sir Ed Davey’s party cemented those gains in the 2025 English local elections. While Labour and the Tories lost both votes and seats to Reform UK, the Lib Dems did the reverse, gaining seats and capturing three county councils. As a result, Sir Ed claimed the Lib Dems were now “the party of middle England”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s Ukraine strategy: talking tough and doing very little isn’t working | Editorial

Last week’s incursion into Polish territory by Russian drones was an ominous escalation. But the US president keeps finding reasons not to actBack in January, with Donald Trump’s campaign promises to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours” still fresh in the memory, there was genuine unease in Moscow over the US president’s intentions. When Mr Trump mused that “high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions” on Russia might be necessary, one high-profile and pro-war Moscow commentator wrote: “It’s better to prepare for the worst. Soon, we’ll look back on Biden’s term with nostalgia, like a thaw.”How wrong can you be? Since then, the US president has repeatedly talked the talk without coming close to walking the walk. In May, when Vladimir Putin rejected a 30-day ceasefire, and peace talks in Turkey went nowhere, a “bone-crushing” US sanctions package failed to materialise. An 8 August deadline for Mr Putin to agree to a ceasefire somehow morphed into a red carpet welcome in Alas...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on the UN’s genocide finding: Britain – and the world – can no longer look away | Editorial

A UN commission has found Israel’s war in Gaza ranks among history’s greatest crimes. The UK government must stop hiding behind legal fictions and recognise the realityA United Nations commission of inquiry has now said what Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights organisations, as well as many genocide scholars, have already argued: that Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide. The commission finds that mass killings, attacks on vital infrastructure, starvation, displacement and denial of medical care meet the legal definition of history’s gravest crime. It finds genocidal intent “the only reasonable inference” from both the statements of Israel’s leaders and the conduct of its forces in Gaza.Against this, Israel’s repeated assertions that it is acting in lawful self-defence ring hollow in the face of overwhelming evidence and a deliberate pattern of destruction. The UN’s conclusion imposes moral clarity. It also demands political action, especially from those, includi...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on the UK’s dangerous moment: as Labour falters, the far right mobilises | Editorial

Political leadership is missing just as Britain needs it most. The government must step up as others stir division and disillusionment growsPeter Mandelson’s exit from public office in disgrace over his links to the millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should have been a low point for the government. Instead, it exposed a leadership in trouble, with further to fall. Sir Keir Starmer defended his ambassador after No 10 had seen the emails that sank him. Whether or not the prime minister read them, the damage is becoming institutionalised. Labour looks adrift – consumed by infighting as darker forces gather beyond Westminster.At the weekend, more than 110,000 marched through London in Britain’s largest far-right rally in decades. Organised by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, and billed as a “festival of free speech”, it quickly descended into conspiracy theories, Islamophobia and anti-migrant bigotry. There was violence: 26 police officers were injured. St...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on the future of the EU: in search of a braver, bolder vision for a new era | Editorial

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is right about the challenges Brussels faces. Far more ambition is required if they are to be metDelivering her state of the union address in Brussels last week, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, painted a grim but accurate picture of the challenges faced by Europe as the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close. “A world of imperial ambitions and imperial wars,” she noted, is “a world in which dependencies are ruthlessly weaponised. And it is for all of these reasons that a new Europe must emerge.”Few would quibble with that analysis. As Ms von der Leyen spoke, the news that Nato aircraft had shot down Russian drones over Poland graphically underscored her point. In an era of great power rivalry in which the United States has become an unreliable ally, there is an emerging consensus that the European Union must be more robust in defending its own interests and cha...

Politics

3 w. ago The Guardian view on Bolsonaro’s coup conviction: a landmark for Brazilian democracy – but this fight isn’t over | Editorial

Though the far-right former president has been held accountable for overseeing the plot, supporters at home and abroad still rally to his causeA populist president refused to accept his defeat at the ballot box, insisting that the election had been stolen. A far-right mob stormed the country’s institutions in his support. Yet democracy prevailed. And then, on Thursday, Brazil’s supreme court sentenced the former president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for leading a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2022 elections and “annihilate” democracy through a coup. The sprawling plot was both modern and crudely old school – extending from an online disinformation campaign to undermine faith in the voting system, to aborted plans to assassinate the newly elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, and the supreme court justice investigating Bolsonaro. It culminated in the riots in Brasília in January 2023.Four of the five judges on the panel found Bolsonaro guilty...

Politics