As Ukraine continues its attempt to change the narrative of the war with Russia by mounting an incursion into the Kursk region, Dan Sabbagh and photographer Julia Kochetova visited the eastern front, where Russian troops are continuing their costly and brutal advance. In the mining city of Pokrovsk, once considered the safest place in the Donbas, they found residents packing their bags and preparing to flee as the sound of the guns comes ever closer.
Rebecca Ratcliffe travelled to the epicentre of one of the most underreported – and potentially dangerous – flashpoints on Earth. On Thitu Island, in the South China Sea, Rebecca met members of a small Philippine fishing community facing down the might of China.
Keir Starmer tried to prepare Britons for tax rises in the government’s October budget with the message that things will get worse before they get better – Larry Elliott asked if talking down the UK economy risks being a self-defeating exercise. John Crace was on excellent form dissecting the doom-fest.
After Robert F Kennedy Jr abandoned his presidential bid and endorsed Donald Trump, Adam Gabbatt looked back on an endlessly bizarre campaign and what his decision means for Trump and Harris, in our US election newsletter, The Stakes.
As Germany’s regional elections approach, the Long read carried a revealing profile of Björn Höcke, the head of the AfD’s most radical faction, whose critics accuse him of using language that echoes the Third Reich. A court case put that question to the test. Alex Dziadosz attended the trial in an attempt to make sense of the man dragging Germany to the far right.
Katie Thornton’s in-depth feature on south Louisiana’s fast disappearing land and rising sea levels, told the incredible story of Windell Curole, who defied the US federal government to build a vast levee to protect his community from deadly flood waters. It’s a fascinating history of human and environmental intervention on the Mississippi, with striking photos and drone footage from Thalía Juárez.
In a week when Donald Trump shared deepfake images that claimed he’d been endorsed by Taylor Swift, Yuval Noah Harari warned about the divisive dangers of AI in an exclusive extract from his new book Nexus, while investigative reporter Ariel Bogle looked at how a banned Australian promoter of cancer “cures” was hijacked by generative AI technology.
The much-anticipated return of Oasis prompted celebrations, plaudits, a dash for tickets – and some dissenting voices. Our panel of writers gave their views on what made them great and Alexis Petridis wrote a smart piece on why they still matter … while Simon Price was uncompromising on behalf of those who remain underwhelmed.
We ran a beautiful photo essay from Ollie Tikare, which recounted his positive and inclusive experience at the Notting Hill carnival in London, underlining how the event epitomises the success of Britain’s multiculturalism, while Neha Gohil and Lanre Bakare wrote about the renewed importance of the festival since far-right riots earlier this month.
Following the death of the former England football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, Paul Hayward and Simon Hattenstone (who interviewed him only a few weeks ago for our Saturday magazine) paid their own tributes to a much-loved sporting figure.
I love The Guide newsletter every week, and I particularly enjoyed this guest edition from Rachel Aroesti on whether we’ve reached peak poptimism. If you want to have your finger on the cultural pulse, then sign up here.
One more thing …Like his other tour de force novels on the sport’s defining moments, The Damned United and Red or Dead, Munichs by David Peace is about much more than football. And just as his Red Riding quartet of Yorkshire noir thrillers and his definitive miner’s strike novel GB84 have stayed with me for years, so his gripping re-rendering of the impact of the Munich air disaster deserves to resonate far beyond those with an interest in what happens on the pitch.
