Category Archives: Opinion

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE – APRIL 25, 2026 PREVIEW

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE: The latest issue features America prepares for the midterms‘….

America is vulnerable to electoral vandalism

Too many no longer believe elections are fair

Tim Cook wrote a winning recipe for Apple

Will it work for his successor?

How to bolster the arsenal of democracy

America’s new defence-tech industry should be a model for Europe

The high price of forever wars

Binyamin Netanyahu is quick to start conflicts, but shows no ability to end them

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – MAY 14, 2026

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features Jed Perl on the Whitney Biennial, Fintan O’Toole on the president’s precarious sanity, Nicole Rudick on June Leaf’s unique vision, Clare Bucknell on know-it-alls, Julian Bell on Joseph Wright of Derby, Dennis Lim on low-resolution cinema, Elaine Blair on the Guerrilla Girls, Mark O’Connell on a death in London, Martin Filler on David Adjaye’s demons, Nick Laird on the complete Seamus Heaney, Rosa Lyster on the evaporating salt lakes, Susan Tallman on Manet and Morisot, poems by Paul Muldoon and Fiona Sze-Lorrain, and much more.

‘The Right Amount of Crazy’

In Trump’s strategy of feigning madness to get what he wants, there is no longer any border between pretense and actual irrationality. By Fintan O’Toole

Charlatans & Bores

The profile of the pedant has changed surprisingly across time periods and cultures, but what’s constant is that nobody wants to be called one.

On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-It-All by Arnoud S.Q. Visser

‘The Music of What Happens’

Seamus Heaney’s complete poems, following on editions of his letters, prose, and translations, confirm the extent of his achievement.

The Poems of Seamus Heaney edited by Rosie Lavan and Bernard O’Donoghue, with Matthew Hollis

Manet and Morisot: Game On

An important exhibition showcases a painterly repartee that altered the trajectory of the two artists’ work and, by extension, modern art itself.

Manet and Morisot – an exhibition at the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, October 11, 2025–March 1, 2026, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, March 29–July 5, 2026

THE NEW YORK TIMES – THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2026

A New Era and New Leadership: The Generals Who Are Running Iran

The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ushered in a form of collective leadership in the country, with more power for the Revolutionary Guards.

Reported Ship Seizures Intensify Anxiety in Oil Markets

Oil was hovering above $100 a barrel and there were no public signs of a breakthrough in peace efforts.

Navy Secretary Is Fired as Infighting Shakes Pentagon

John Phelan is leaving the Pentagon after months of tension with Pete Hegseth and other leaders. The tumult comes as the Navy has been engaged in war with Iran.

$106 Billion Loan Reflects E.U.’s View That Peace in Ukraine Is Far Away

The delayed funding, which was approved today, is heavily weighted toward military spending, unlike previous European packages.

Will Bulgaria’s New Leader Cast His Lot With Europe or Russia?

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE – MAY/JUNE 2026 PREVIEW

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘How (Not) to Fight and Economic War

The Real War for Iran’s Future

Who Will Determine the Fate of the Islamic Republic?

The Third Islamic Republic

A War’s Unintended Consequences—for Iran, the Middle East, and the Global Order

The Iran Imperative

How America and Israel Can Shape a New Middle East

How to Fight an Economic War

A Field Manual for a Ruptured World

The Iran Shock

And the Dangerous Allure of Energy Autarky

Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – APRIL 24, 2026 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Holier than thou’ – How Trump and Vance met their match in the Pope…

The Trump administration’s efforts to validate their incoherent war on Iran with some sort of Christian moral authority have led to a few, shall we say, interesting moments recently.

After bizarrely berating Pope Leo XIV as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”, Donald Trump posted (and later deleted) a meme of himself as a Christ-like figure healing the sick. The self-styled “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth then confused what he evidently thought was a biblical passage with a bastardised version of a speech from the Quentin Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction.

Perhaps most damagingly of all, the vice-president, JD Vance, took Leo’s carefully considered thoughts on the concept of the “just war” as an opportunity to lecture the pope on theology.

Spotlight | Starmer and the scandal of Mandelson’s vetting
The British prime minister came under huge pressure to resign this week over what he knew about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US, even though he had failed Foreign Office security vetting. Pippa CrerarJessica ElgotPaul Lewis and Kiran Stacey spearhead our coverage

Science | The magic of mushrooms
Fungi play a key role in ecosystems and storing carbon, so African scientists are championing the preservation of “funga” as much as flora and fauna, writes Whitney Bauck

Feature | When older relatives lurch to the far right
It starts with a “back in my day” nostalgic meme – then suddenly your elders are sharing AI-generated “boomerslop” and repeating conspiracy theories … Simon Usborne speaks to families dealing with rightwing political rifts

Opinion | Our governments are woefully underprepared for the AI revolution
Every wave of new tech has come with a doomsday scenario. But governments just aren’t planning a human response on the scale required, warns Larry Elliott

Culture | How the female gaze caught the attention of film, TV and fiction
From passionate romantasy novels to premium television dramas, culture is bringing the agency, desires and interior lives of women to the fore. It’s proving good for business, but is this a permanent revolution, asks Deborah Linton

THE NEW YORK TIMES – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2026

Iranian Forces Claim Seizure of 2 Ships After Trump Extends U.S.-Iran Truce

Iran said it had attacked and seized two cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz, state media reported. Both sides were seeking to exert control in the waterway.

Trump Ridiculed Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal. He May Have to Accept Similar Terms.

Threat of Evictions Darkens Russia’s Rosy Picture of Occupied Ukraine

A new law forces Ukrainians in the captured regions to get Russian title deeds or risk losing their homes.

Hungary Drops Its Opposition to $106 Billion Ukraine Loan

After months of impasse because of objections from Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, E.U. ambassadors took a critical step toward disbursing the money.

The Spectator World Magazine – April 27, 2026

Holy war | The Spectator

THE SPECTATOR WORLD: The latest issue features ‘Holy War’ -The truth about Trump’s battle with Pope Leo…

What’s really behind Trump’s clash with the Pope?

Donald Trump’s latest clash with the Catholic Church stunned even the most hardened veterans of culture-war X. According to the President of the United States, the Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV, the conspicuously holy spiritual leader of 1.3 billion people, is “WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy.” He also claimed that, “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

A change has come over Trump

Geostrategists used to fret over the “Eastern Question” or the Maginot Line or the Missile Gap. Today there is no doubt that the overriding geostrategic question of our day is whether the President of the United States is playing with a full deck. With the US-Israeli war on Iran failing, and depleting much of both

How Trump loses friends and alienates people

Melania’s mysterious messaging

THE NEW YORK TIMES – TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2026

Uncertainty Surrounds U.S.-Iran Talks as Cease-Fire Nears End

Vice President JD Vance was set to return to Pakistan for peace talks, U.S. officials said, though Iran has not confirmed that its negotiators will attend.

The Cole Disaster Drove the U.S. to Develop New Warship Defenses

The Navy destroyers enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports carry weapons fielded after a U.S. warship was attacked and nearly sunk more than 25 years ago.

‘Immediate Results’ vs. ‘The Long Game’: The U.S. and Iran Face Off

Virginia Voting Today on Map That Could Hand 4 House Seats to Democrats

Republicans have built a small advantage from the gerrymandering clash so far, but Virginia voters could change that.

Japan to Sell More Weapons Abroad, Breaking With Postwar Pacifism

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reversed limits on arms exports as Japan faces rising threats from China and unpredictability from its main ally, the United States.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – APRIL 27, 2026 PREVIEW

The cover for the April 27 2026 issue of The New Yorker on which three people are playing a basketball game on a court.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Christoph Niemann’s “West Fourth” – One of the city’s most iconic courts.

J. D. Vance’s Bumpy Ride

It wasn’t the first time that Trump had debased someone who serves him. It wasn’t even the first time that Vance had had to downplay a blasphemy-themed A.I. image. By Amy Davidson Sorkin

When Your Digital Life Vanishes

A broken phone or corrupted drive can mean the loss of work, evidence, art, or the last traces of the dead. But sometimes data-recovery experts can summon lost files from the void. By Julian Lucas

How Professional Wrestling Prepared Linda McMahon for Trump’s Cabinet

The Education Secretary ran the W.W.E. for years with her husband, Vince, an unstable man who, like her new boss, has a genius for inflaming the crowd. By Zach Helfand

Was Raphael the Runt of the Renaissance?

Many have called him boring, a peddler of simpleminded beauty. At the Met, a blockbuster exhibition restores his standing. By Zachary Fine

THE NEW YORK TIMES – MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2026

Tehran Sends Mixed Signals on Talks After U.S. Seizes Ship

An Iranian official vowed retaliation for the U.S. attack on a vessel near the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran’s president said the war “benefits no one,” as an American delegation prepared for more talks.

The Forces of Scarcity Hitting Asia May Soon Spread Across the World

The war in Iran and its energy bottlenecks hit the Asia-Pacific hard, and scenes of crisis there indicate that problems are multiplying and spreading.

Trump Administration to Begin Refunding $166 Billion in Tariffs

The government will debut a system to repay importers two months after the Supreme Court struck down tariffs at the heart of President Trump’s trade policy.

Epstein Craved Harvard Connections. Many There Were Eager to Help.

New documents reveal what professors did to help Jeffrey Epstein get inside the university’s gates.

The Killer Robots Are Coming. The Battlefield Will Never Look the Same.

Ukraine is using unmanned ground vehicles armed with bombs, guns or rockets to carry out attacks and keep its soldiers out of harm’s way.