The latest tranche of the Jeffrey Epstein files have been in the public domain for less than two weeks, but already their contents have sent shock waves around the world.
Nowhere is this more true than in Britain, where the fallout has come to the door of Keir Starmer over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington, amid questions about how much the prime minister knew of his former envoy’s links to Epstein.
Starmer looks to have weathered the immediate pressure to resign this week, despite having lost his influential chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the scandal. But the vultures are still circling and it seems a matter of when, rather than if, the prime minister will go. Kiran Stacey weighs up the possible challengers from within the Labour party, while Oliver Holmes and Chris Michael consider why the scandal hit home so hard in the UK.
Spotlight | The last post for press freedom in the US? Jeff Bezos’s axing of more than 300 jobs at the Washington Post has renewed fears about the resilience of America’s democracy to withstand Donald Trump’s attacks. Ed Pilkington and Jeremy Barr report
Technology | The continuing risks and rewards of AI As policymakers and tech executives prepare for the next global AI summit in India, an annual safety report highlights the issues that will be at stake, writes Dan Milmo
Interview | Can Zack Polanski pull off a green revolution in the UK? With polls and membership at an all-time high, the UK Green party is having a moment – and it’s largely down to the party’s charismatic (if slightly cheesy) new leader. Simon Hattenstone went on the road with him
Opinion | What links UK politics and Epstein? A thick seam of contempt We’re often told the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, is a ‘decent’ man. But in appointing Peter Mandelson he chose political convenience over doing right, argues Nesrine Malik
Culture | The sign language of Margaret Calvert Airports, road signs, typefaces … the design legend revolutionised how Britain looked and her brilliantly clear designs are still used today. Catherine Slessor met her
With their resistance to violent authoritarianism, the people of Minneapolis have renewed the spirit of Dr. King’s call for “the positive affirmation of peace.”
If the Trump administration were truly concerned with fraud in social services spending, it wouldn’t start with childcare, and it wouldn’t start with Minnesota.
COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE: The fine art issue, featuring Seurat, art in literature and Sir Antony Gormley, plus Ampthill Park House and the long-eared eagle owl.
Cast in the same mould
Sir Antony Gormley examines the parallels between his own Reflect and the Adriaen de Vries bronze of Antiope and Theseus
Don’t believe in modern love?
With Valentine’s Day looming and singlehood rising, Will Hosie seeks dating tips from the finest minds among the Ancients
Ford momentum
Harry Pearson enjoys the thrill of splashing through the countless fords criss-crossing the rivers and streams of the British Isles
Luxury
Jonathan Self is bewitched by the poetry of poesy rings and Amie Elizabeth White says ‘if you only buy one Derby boot…’
Life in the fast lane
Norfolk farmer Gavin Lane tells Julie Harding of the sleepless nights he has endured since taking the reins at the CLA
Sir Thomas Drew and Hélène Duchêne’s favourite paintings
His Majesty’s Ambassador to France and the French Ambassador to the Court of St James share their artworks of choice
Country-house treasure
John Goodall glimpses early-20th-century life at Mapperton House in Dorset in the form of a black-and-gold satin dress
A house of collections
In the second of two articles, Jeremy Musson explores the exceptional modern collection in the historic setting of Ampthill Park House in Bedfordshire
The legacy
Carla Passino hails the artworks amassed by Sir William Burrell
Where the wild things are
Exotic animals from around the world were unveiled to European eyes by artists such as Dürer and Stubbs, finds Michael Prodger
Winging it
Mark Cocker profiles the elusive and elegant long-eared owl
Interiors
Arabella Youens lauds a London drawing room and Amelia Thorpe keeps the home fires burning
Floral geometry
Banish the gloom with glorious winter-flowering Camellia japonica, suggests Charles Quest-Ritson
Slow and steady wins the race
Tom Parker Bowles savours the boozy boeuf à la Bourguignonne
Travel
Ben Lerwill delves into the story of space travel when he touches down at NASA HQ in Houston
Arts & antiques
Georges Seurat’s sublime French seascapes are taking centre stage at the Courtauld Gallery in London, reveals Carla Passino
Write side up
Art has long drawn inspiration from literature — from Ovid and Virgil to Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll, discovers Carla Passino
‘Art arises,’ Auden writes, ‘out of our desire for both beauty and truth and our knowledge that they are not identical.’ We want things two ways, which analysis says we cannot have; but for a moment a poem lets us, in a way that discursive prose, for instance, cannot.
Alexandre Kojève described his book on Hegel as ‘very bad’, and he had a point. His take on ThePhenomenology of Spirit is not only misleading but slapdash, dogmatic, frivolous and flamboyant. The characters he filled it with, from the Master and Slave to the Sensualist and the Sage, sound rather like Mr Worldly Wiseman, Madam Bubble and Mr Sagacity in Pilgrim’s Progress.
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue features The Anniversary Issue: Dhruv Khullar on Ozempic, David Remnick on Joe Rogan, Ava Kofman on a surrogacy scandal, and more.
Until now, Trump always seemed unembarrassed to crow about his side hustles. But, if the Emirati payment was kept secret, what else might be? By David D. Kirkpatrick
Can Ozempic Cure Addiction?
GLP-1 drugs, which have helped some people curb drug and alcohol use, may unlock a pathway to moderation. By Dhruv Khullar
What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn’t Know, Either
Researchers at the company are trying to understand their A.I. system’s mind—examining its neurons, running it through psychology experiments, and putting it on the therapy couch. By Gideon Lewis-Kraus
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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