The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor last week, after allegations he had shared confidential information with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sent shock waves around the world.
What happens next is unclear, but the ramifications will go far beyond the former prince, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein. It was one of the most consequential days for Britain’s monarchy in generations, shattering the traditional aura of royal mystique and raising questions of accountability, deference and whether the royal family should have acted sooner.
In a powerful essay for our big story this week, Stephen Bates asks whether the royal family can survive the unfolding scandal.
Spotlight | The limits to the supreme court’s assent Last week’s declaration by the conservative-heavy court that Trump’s sweeping tariffs are unlawful is a major setback for the president, writes Ed Pilkington
Health | Why big pharma stands to gain from weight-loss pills Oral tablets could bring obesity treatment into the mainstream, with the sector predicted to be worth $200bn by the end of the decade. Julia Kollewe reports
Special report | The road to war in Ukraine In a remarkably detailed piece drawing on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders, Shaun Walker explains how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans – and why nobody believed them
Opinion | A degree? A trade? Every rung for young people is a trap Is it to be a degree and heavy debt when graduate jobs are shrinking? Or forgoing a degree, knowing society still worships them? Confused, angry: who wouldn’t be, asks Jason Okundaye
Culture | Big in Beijing (but less so in Blackpool) James Balmont’s band, Swim Deep, plays to crowds of hundreds across the UK – but in China, they perform in front of tens of thousands. And they’re not the only ones
Jean-Paul Thorbjornsen is a leader of THORChain, a blockchain that is not supposed to have any leaders—and is reeling from a series of expensive controversies.
Fast, stealthy, and cheap—autonomous, semisubmersible drone boats carrying tons of cocaine could be international law enforcement’s nightmare scenario. A big one just came ashore.
Allison Nixon had helped arrest dozens of members of the Com, a loose affiliation of online groups responsible for violence and hacking campaigns. Then she became a target.
Ian McKellen Swings from Shakespeare to Gandalf to Virtual Reality
On a visit to New York, the actor reflected on mortality and coming out, and unleashed an Elizabethan anti-ICE monologue on “Colbert” that went viral. By Henry Alford
James Talarico Puts His Faith in Texas Voters
The Senate candidate believes that Democrats can win by appealing to higher values. Can he succeed in the age of Trump? By Tad Friend
Why the World Cup Can Feel Like War
Soccer stadiums can be dominated by violence, tribalism, chauvinism, and near-religious fervor‚ animated by the memory of old hostilities and the power of ritual. By Ian Buruma
The Trial of Gisèle Pelicot’s Rapists United France and Fractured Her Family
After fifty-one men were convicted, Pelicot became a feminist hero. But additional accusations left her children struggling to accept her new role. By Rachel Aviv
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE:The 2.22.26 Issue features Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Gisèle Pelicot; Caitlin L. Chandler on Europe’s harsh new immigration policy; Reid Forgrave on the olympic cross-country skier Jesse Diggins; and more.
In 1994, the Olympics were rocked by a giant skating scandal. When it was all over, three athletes waited for their medals. Interviews by Charley Locke
The Sahara has cycled between eons of bountiful life and arid desolation. What will it mean when the world’s largest desert turns green once again? By Henry Wismayer | Photographs by Marcus Westberg
Choreography that changed the language of dance, avant-garde costumes by runway designers, music that defined a new American sound. As her company turns 100, an inside look at the enduring world of Martha Graham. Photographs by ioulex | Text by Jacoba Urist
She was known as Vicky With Three Kisses—a German radio star whose singing and sweet talk comforted weary Nazi soldiers. She was actually a secret weapon in a little-known Allied propaganda effort. By April White
In central Texas, ranchers are beset by threats, from coyotes to drought and foreign competition. To protect their flocks from predators and help preserve their own way of life, they’re turning to the ancient know-how of man’s best friend. By Chris Pomorski | Photographs by Jordan Vonderhaar
In A House for Miss Pauline, the Jamaican novelist Diana McCaulay examines her family’s shadowy history by telling the story of a woman who builds her house with the remains of the manor of a former slave plantation.
Four years after their full-scale invasion, the Russians are trying to freeze Ukraine into submission by relentlessly attacking the country’s energy grid.
What Bernie Sanders brought to the job of mayor of Burlington and what he did with it help explain what matters to him and how he fits into American political argument.
Bernie for Burlington: The Rise of the People’s Politician and the Transformation of One American Place by Dan Chiasson
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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