business

An attempt by three former MPs to force the UK government to hold an inquiry into the impact of Russian disinformation on the Brexit vote and other recent elections has failed at the European court of human rights. The Strasbourg court ruled on Tuesday that countries had a “wide margin” in determining how to tackle … Read more

I attended an American writers’ conference in Texas, just before the world plunged into Covid-19 lockdowns. Between panels and networking, I spent my time wandering around the book fair, leafing through titles and peppering publishers with questions. “How many translated works are in your catalogues? How do you discover authors from outside the US? And … Read more

A million petition signatures in 10 days? That should tell a government something: that a huge number of citizens aren’t happy with what it has just done, but also that they still believe in their democracy and its ability to course-correct. In response to pressure from farmers’ unions and the agricultural lobby, on 8 July, … Read more

● ● • We dissent to changes to NASA’s Technical Authority capacities that are driven by anything other than safety and mission assurance. The culture of organizational silence promoted at NASA over the last six months already represents a dangerous turn away from the lessons learned following the Columbia disaster. … Read more

A recent heatwave in the Mediterranean Sea has been so severe that scientists are concerned for marine life. The human-induced climate crisis is making marine heatwaves more intense and prolonged, with sea surface temperatures off the coast of Mallorca since late June frequently exceeding 30C (86F). Portugal’s maritime authority said the southern Algarve had experienced … Read more

France is skint, but the French are in denial. To judge by the howls of outrage from the left and the hard right of the French political spectrum, you would think the prime minister, François Bayrou, had just taken a Javier Milei-style chainsaw to public services, announced Doge-style mass layoffs or imposed swingeing pay cuts. … Read more

As European politicians begin to pack their suitcases and head to the beach, they do so against a domestic backdrop that begins to look distinctly ominous. In Britain and France, nationalist populist parties consistently lead in the polls. In Germany, the particularly extreme Alternative für Deutschland is neck and neck with the conservative CDU. Specific … Read more

Perhaps the most striking part of the surge of controlled fury that ended this heavyweight title fight wasn’t the short right or the clubbing left that took Daniel Dubois down midway through the fifth round. It was Oleksandr Usyk’s smile before the second of those shots. More of a snarl perhaps, or a baring of … Read more