47 h. ago The Guardian view on the public’s dinomania: passion for palaeontology endures through the ages | Editorial

From blockbuster movies like Jurassic World Rebirth to documentary series, the appetite for these ancient creatures appears inexhaustibleOn-screen discussions of DNA and off-screen scientific consultants notwithstanding, no one goes to see a Jurassic Park movie for its realism. Yet one of the less convincing moments in Jurassic World Rebirth, the latest in the franchise, is unrelated to oversized velociraptors. It’s the palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis complaining of shrinking public interest in his field.This spring, the BBC revived its 1999 hit series Walking With Dinosaurs. Not a week goes by without headlines announcing the discovery of a new species or new theories on how they behaved. Publishers produce an endless stream of dino-related fact and fiction, particularly for children. Palaeontology – at least when focused on the dinosaurs of the Mesozoic, or our hominin forebears – has long exerted an extraordinary hold on the public imagination.Do you have an opinion on the issues...

Politics

3 d. ago The Guardian view on Labour’s welfare rebellion: Starmer must learn from his mistakes | Editorial

A poorly devised cuts policy was mis-sold as reform and MPs were dismissed when they pointed out the problemA clash between the government and Labour MPs over disability benefits was foreseeable long before this week’s Commons rebellion. That doesn’t mean a crisis was inevitable. Compromise might have been reached before the 11th-hour climbdown that averted a defeat in parliament.The conflagration that burned a lot of Sir Keir Starmer’s authority was all the greater because trust had broken down. The twin causes were failure of political judgment in Downing Street and bad policy. The prime minister underestimated the potency of MPs’ objections to the withdrawal of personal independence payment (Pip) from disabled people, and overestimated the capacity of his whips to bully and cajole his party into accepting the changes.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...

Politics

3 d. ago The Guardian view on the graduate jobs crunch: AI must not be allowed to eclipse young talent | Editorial

Entry-level tasks are being taken over by new technology. Businesses and government must not sacrifice the next generation on the altar of techAs annual degree ceremonies take place on campuses across the country this month, new graduates will doubtless be turning their thoughts to enjoying some stress-free time off. Given the current state of the labour market, some may be forced to make that break a long one.For university leavers, these are worrying times. A mounting pile of data suggests that accessing the kind of entry-level jobs that traditionally put degree holders on a path to professional success is becoming ever harder. One report published last month by the job-search site Indeed found that the market for young people fresh out of university is tougher than at any time since 2018. Compared with last year, the number of jobs advertised for recent graduates is down 33%.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response o...

Politics

4 d. ago The Guardian view on Europe’s heatwave: leaders should remind the public why ambitious targets matter | Editorial

With net zero targets under attack from the populist right, dangerously high temperatures should refocus mindsAt times like now, with dangerously high temperatures in several European countries, the urgent need for adaptation to an increasingly unstable climate is clearer than ever. From the French government’s decision to close schools to the bans in most of Italy on outdoor work at the hottest time of day, the immediate priority is to protect people from extreme heat – and to recognise that a heatwave can take a higher toll than a violent storm.People who are already vulnerable, due to age or illness or poor housing, face the greatest risks from heatwaves. As well as changes to rules and routines, public health warnings are vital, especially where records are being broken and people are unfamiliar with the conditions. In the scorching European summer of 2022, an estimated 68,000 people died due to heat. Health, welfare and emergency systems must respond to those nee...

Politics

4 d. ago The Guardian view on Trump’s aid cuts and development: the global majority deserve justice, not charity | Editorial

Funding is plummeting as needs grow, with the closure of USAID, the slashing of UK and European aid budgets, and the obstruction of debt reform and cancellationWhen one door closes, you would hope that another opens. As USAID was formally shut down on Monday, a once-in-a-decade development financing conference was kicking off in Seville. But while initially intended to move the world closer to its ambitious 2030 sustainable development goals, it now looks more like an attempt to prevent a reversal of the progress already made.A study published in the Lancet predicted that Donald Trump’s aid cuts could claim more than 14 million lives by 2030, a third of them among children. For many poor countries, the scale of the shock would be similar to that of a major war, the authors found. More than four-fifths of the US agency’s programmes have been cut, with surviving projects folded into the state department. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s China deal: rare earths pave the green road to militarisation | Editorial

Clean tech’s key minerals now drive western rearmament, reviving extractive ambition and exposing the toxic cost of dependenceIt’s an irony that the minerals needed to save the planet may help destroy it. Rare earth elements, the mineral backbones of wind turbines and electric vehicles, are now the prize in a geopolitical arms race. The trade agreement between Washington and Beijing restores rare earth shipments from China to the US, which had been suspended in retaliation against Donald Trump’s tariffs. Behind the bluster, there has been a realisation in Washington that these are critical inputs for the US. They are needed not just by American icons such as Ford and Boeing but for its fighter jets, missile guidance systems and satellite communications.This understanding suggests that Washington will scale back some of its countermeasures once Beijing resumes delivery of rare earths. The paradox is that to reduce its dependence on China, the US must depend on Beijing ...

Events

8 d. ago The Guardian view on annihilation in Gaza: the deaths mount, but the pressure has ebbed | Editorial

Israel’s attack on Iran overshadowed the ongoing carnage. Its allies are complicit in the horror; they must instead help to build a future for Palestinians“We cannot be asking civilians to go into a combat zone so that then they can be killed with the justification that they are in a combat zone.” It defies belief that the Unicef spokesperson, James Elder, should have needed to spell that out this week. And yet each day Palestinians continue to be killed while attempting to collect aid for their families from food hubs in Gaza, forced to make a lethal choice between risking being shot and letting their families slowly starve. More than 500 have died around the centres since the system was introduced – yet, with attention fixed on Israel’s attacks on Iran, there has been little to spare for recent deaths.The Israeli military has given shifting accounts of events. But soldiers told the newspaper Haaretz that commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds that posed no threat. The Israel...

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on the Nato summit: Europe must take the path of strategic self

Donald Trump upholds the alliance for now, but the era of confidence in US security guarantees is overThere is more to Nato than article 5 of its founding charter, but the alliance depends on that commitment to mutual assistance. Enemies are deterred because an attack on one is understood as an attack on all. That is why Donald Trump’s record of ambivalence has been so destabilising.Nato leaders, gathered for their annual summit in The Hague this week, were heartened to hear the US president say he is “with them all the way”. It was a stronger affirmation of the alliance’s purpose than the one he had given the previous day. Asked about his commitment to article 5, Mr Trump equivocated, saying: “It depends on your definition.”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 China, Africa and disappearing donkeys: an unexpected crisis offers a clue to perils ahead | Editorial

The surging export of hides created domestic tensions – and shows how globalisation plays out in unexpected waysWhat can help to protect women’s health, boost the incomes of impoverished families and thus allow girls to avoid early marriage? What – when it disappears – can set back children’s education, damage mental wellbeing, drive conflict within communities and become a vector for racial hatred?The humble donkey has rarely been in the spotlight. Yet Chinese demand for its skin proved so destabilising that African governments agreed to a continent-wide ban on the slaughter of the animal for its hide last year. This week, officials are meeting in Ivory Coast to discuss implementation.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...

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on Trump’s vacillating approach to Iran: a ceasefire is welcome, but the danger isn’t over | Editorial

Better diplomacy than war, but the US president’s inconsistency and Benjamin Netanyahu’s political needs increase the dangers in this Middle East crisisDonald Trump declared a ceasefire that would last “for ever”. Or perhaps not. Within hours, he had attacked both Israel and Iran for breaking the deal he took credit for, though there seemed to be a precarious peace. But the volatility of events owes much to the unpredictability of Mr Trump’s own rhetoric and actions. The Middle East crisis will continue to overshadow the Nato summit in The Hague, intended to shore up support for Ukraine.It is just over two weeks since Mr Trump told Israel’s prime minister not to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, hoping for a deal with Tehran. Benjamin Netanyahu ignored him – and within hours, as Fox News celebrated the Israeli offensive, the president sought to associate himself with it. He demanded Iran’s unconditional surrender and threatened its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...

Politics

1 week ago The Guardian view on Palestine Action: if red paint is terrorism, what isn’t? | Editorial

Labelling direct action as an act of terror criminalises dissent, chills speech and redefines nuisance as extremism under the banner of national securityThe UK government’s intention to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 marks a significant escalation in the treatment of civil disobedience. It elevates a group known for throwing red paint at buildings and military aircraft into the same legal category as al-Qaida and Islamic State. If there’s a serious threat from these activists, we’ve yet to see it – just a ministerial statement discussing civil disobedience in the language of counterinsurgency.If this is all that Palestine Action can be accused of, then the government is wrong. Ministers are setting a dangerous precedent by using terror laws to outlaw protest – and penalising protesters not for violence but for making a nuisance and vandalism. The cost will be felt in press freedom, political accountability and the right to resist. The home secretary’s statem...

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on maternity care failings: Wes Streeting’s new inquiry must learn from past mistakes, not repeat them | Editorial

The health secretary deserves praise for trying something new. But links between poor care and overstretched staff must not be avoidedThe announcement of a new inquiry into maternity care failures in England, including the shockingly higher risk of mortality faced by black and Asian mothers, indicates an overdue recognition that improvements are needed. From the devastating 2015 review of a decade of failure at Morecambe Bay, to last year’s birth trauma report from MPs, there is no shortage of evidence that women face unacceptable risks when giving birth on the NHS. The question is whether a review chaired by Wes Streeting himself can achieve what previous ones have not.His role as chair is not the only novel aspect of this inquiry. A panel including bereaved parents will share their experiences and knowledge, alongside expert evidence. This format should focus minds on the human consequences of systemic failures, including mother and baby deaths, and on the need for accountabi...

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on Trump bombing Iran: an illegal and reckless act | Editorial

The US president has chosen war at Israel’s behest. He may imagine he has scored an easy win, but the world is likely to pay a steep priceDonald Trump was predictably quick to claim victory following the illegal US strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities: “Completely and totally obliterated,” he crowed. Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and sycophants at home rushed to fawn over his “courageous” and “brilliant” decision. The most senior US military official, Dan Caine, offered a more muted assessment: it was “way too early” to know the full outcome despite severe damage. We cannot yet know whether the blow has ended Iran’s nuclear aspirations – or will spur it to pursue the bomb. It may be weeks or months, too, before Iranian retaliation plays out, with all its potential repercussions.Two nuclear-armed states have gone to war on the unevidenced claim that a third state is on the verge of acquiring its own nuclear arms. In March, the US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said I...

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on extreme weather: build national readiness – or let everyday life keep breaking down | Editorial

Britain faces rising climate threats, yet lacks a country adaptation plan. Urgent, coordinated investment is needed to protect lives and infrastructureBritain’s four-day heatwave – made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis – is expected to claim about 600 lives. Researchers say high temperatures from Thursday to Sunday would lead to a sharp rise in excess mortality, especially among older people in cities such as London and Birmingham. They forecast the deadliest day as Saturday, with temperatures above 32C and about 266 deaths. These are not abstract figures, but lives cut short by a threat we understand, yet remain unprepared for.Young people seem to grasp this. In a YouGov poll last week, roughly a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds said they hoped there wouldn’t be a heatwave – while more than two-fifths of older people welcomed the sunshine. That generational split isn’t just cultural. It reflects an entirely rational anxiety: younger people face a future living in a climate...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Our Story With David Attenborough and The Herds: a new theatre of the Anthropocene | Editorial

A cinematic immersive experience and stampeding animal puppets are bringing the climate emergency into the cityAs parts of the UK swelter, this week brought yet more alarming reports of increasing temperatures, extreme weather events and dwindling chances of meeting the global 1.5C target. It was the UK’s warmest spring on record and its driest in more than 50 years.Communicating the urgency of our predicament without provoking despair and hopelessness is an intractable challenge, especially when it comes to children. But two trail-blazing theatre experiences are bringing the breakdown of the natural world into urban metropolises, and raising the alarm with such immediacy that even those of us fortunate enough to live in places that have so far been relatively unaffected by the climate crisis must pay attention. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Trump and Iran: Netanyahu’s war has no visible exit | Editorial

The US president promised to keep his country out of conflicts. The Israeli prime minister has other ideasThe maxim that wars are easy to start and hard to end does not appear to be troubling Benjamin Netanyahu. For the Israeli prime minister, conflict is an end as much as a means, extending his political survival. Under international pressure – however belated and insufficient – over the slaughter in Gaza, he launched the attack on Iran. Initially presented as essential to prevent Tehran from the imminent acquisition of a nuclear bomb, a claim running counter to US intelligence, it is increasingly discussed as the path to bringing down the regime. The defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “can no longer be allowed to exist”.Donald Trump has generally seen armed conflict as a trap rather than an escape route. He said that the US would “measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the war...

Politics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on assisted dying: a momentous bill that needs further attention | Editorial

Kim Leadbeater has led a strong campaign, but concerns about the likely impact on vulnerable people remainThe central issue before MPs, as they decide how to vote on the latest version of Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill, is how to value individual autonomy relative to collective responsibility for vulnerable members of society when making regulations around the end of life. Should terminally ill people be allowed to end their lives with medical help? If so, under what safeguards? The question remains ethically, medically and legally complex.Technological and social changes enabling people to live much longer have created challenges around the resourcing of care and experiences of ageing and dying. There are profound questions about how we manage the final stages of life – and what we owe to those living through them. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Israel, the US and Iran: you can’t bomb your way out of nuclear proliferation | Editorial

The age of disarmament is over. But military action only increases the dangers instead of ending the threatEighty years after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and 40 years after the US and Soviet Union pledged to reduce their arsenals, the threat of nuclear war has resurged with a vengeance. The age of disarmament is over, a prominent thinktank warned this week: “We see a clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, sharpened nuclear rhetoric and the abandonment of arms control agreements,” said Hans M Kristensen of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.The world’s nine nuclear-armed states have amassed the equivalent of 145,000 Hiroshima bombs. Israel’s illegal attack upon Iran is purportedly a last-ditch attempt to prevent it joining this club – as Israel did long ago, though does not admit it. While Tehran possesses the capacity to develop a nuclear weapon if it chose to, US intelligence believes it has not made that decision – and would stil...

Events

2 w. ago The Guardian view on HS2 delays: a chance to break the cycle of costly failure | Editorial

The Guardian view on HS2 delays: a chance to break the cycle of costly failure | Editorial  The Guardian

Events

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Gaza’s engineered famine: stop arming the slaughter – or lose the rule of law | Editorial

As Palestinians starve amid the rubble, western governments defend Israel, fund armed aid and dismantle the very rules they claim to upholdGaza’s cries have been drowned out by Israel’s strikes on Iran, and the diplomatic pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu over the suffering has ebbed. Yet as the industrialised world urges de-escalation in the Middle East, the devastation continues. On Tuesday morning, witnesses described Israeli forces firing towards a crowd waiting for trucks loaded with flour, leaving more than 50 dead. These are not stray bullets in wartime chaos, they are the outcome of a system that makes relief deadly.As Médecins Sans Frontières declared this week, what is unfolding in Gaza is “the calculated evisceration of the very systems that sustain life”. That includes homes, markets, water networks and hospitals – with healthcare continually under attack. Last week, a UN commission found that more than 90% of the Gaza Strip’s schools and universities have be...

Politics