More than 3 billion people worldwide log on to Meta’s apps every day, the sort of reach most aspiring global megalomaniacs can only dream of. It’s also one of the main reasons why the decision by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta – the company behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads – to scrap its third-party factcheckers in the US is so significant.
That Zuckerberg, who has been under huge pressure from US president-elect Donald Trump, made the decision is hardly surprising. But it should be another worrying moment for anyone who is concerned about the survival of objective truth.
Spotlight | The devastation of Los Angeles Gabrielle Canon reports from Pacific Palisades, where the traumatised and displaced have been picking over the wildfire-ruined remains of beloved homes and communities
Feature | Caroline Darian interview The daughter of Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot is coming to terms with being the child of both victim and perpetrator in the biggest rape trial in French history. Angelique Chrisafis hears her story
Feature | The deadliest beings on the planet Microscopic bacteriophages are everywhere – it’s estimated that they can infect and destroy between 20% and 40% of all microbes every day. But some scientists believe phages can help in the f ight against superbugs. ByJackson Ryan
Opinion | We forget Sudan at our peril Almost two years into a civil war, Sudan is facing anarchy, famine, genocide – and ambivalence from the rest of the world, writes Nesrine Malik
Culture | By a thread – the art of Doris Salcedo The Colombian artist Doris Salcedo transforms collective grief into art, confronting the scars of conflict and displacement with delicate yet powerful creations. Tim Adams spoke to her
Democrats displayed more depression than anger in the weeks following Donald Trump’s 2024 victory. Alas, partisans on the progressive left and their camp followers among conventional liberals could avoid succumbing to nihilism for only so long. An occasion to indulge their negative passions came along soon after the election in an act of cold-blooded murder on a predawn December morning in midtown Manhattan.
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT (January 15, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Bloomsbury treasures’ – Newly discovered poems and photographs…
This week’s @TheTLS featuring Jonathan Rée on a new translation of Kapital; @knott_sarah on motherhood; @sophieolive on two newly discovered Woolf poems; Estelle Shirbon on Baalu Girma; Emma Greensmith on hybrid creatures; @bjkingape on cats – and more pic.twitter.com/4EfVcWxJQR
Tiffany Daneff savours the exotic surroundings of Tresco Abbey Garden, where the temperate climate of the Isles of Scilly has created a colourful paradise
Box of tricks
The devastation of box blight is well documented, but what can we do to save our hedges? Charles Quest-Ritson investigates
Now that’s what I call pulling power
The ox may have disappeared from the fields of Britain, but that mighty beast of burden still plays a huge role in agriculture across the globe, finds Laura Parker
‘Make way for Her Majesty’s gloves!’
You’ve got to hand it to Cornelia James, suggests Katy Birchall, as she recounts the incredible rise to prominence of our late Queen’s favourite glove-maker
Amie Atkinson’s favourite painting
The actress selects a heavenly landscape that has fired her imagination since childhood
The legacy
Tiffany Daneff pays tribute to Beth Chatto, whose ‘right plant, right place’ philosophy inspired her Essex dry garden
Top seats
The best chairs and benches for the garden, with Amelia Thorpe
Cool schools
Non Morris taps into the expert knowledge of Troy Scott-Smith, Charles Dowding and Tom Stuart-Smith as she digs into some of Britain’s best garden courses
Town versus Earl
John Goodall charts the history of The Lord Leycester and its outstanding medieval buildings in Warwickshire that have been given a whole new lease of life
See you on the top deck
To celebrate the centenary of London’s covered double-decker bus, Rob Crossan hops aboard for a whistle-stop tour of our capital’s public transport
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell keeps her cool with a sparkling selection of jewellery inspired by ice
Interiors
Arabella Youens admires a sitting room in London and Amelia Thorpe answers the call of the wild with animal accessories
Kitchen garden cook
Earthy leeks take centre stage in winter for Melanie Johnson
Be still, my beating art
An obsession with Emma, Lady Hamilton led painter George Romney to produce his finest pieces, reveals Carla Passino
THE NATION MAGAZINE (January 14, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Jazz Off The Record’ – In the late 1960s, the recording industry lost interest in America’s greatest art form. But in a small, dark club on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, jazz legends were playing the …
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