Barely a day passes, it seems, without Keir Starmer talking to another European leader or preparing for a continental summit. The crisis over Ukraine has very much pushed the UK closer towards the centre stage than at any point since Brexit. But is this a new era or a false dawn? One thing is certain: … Read more
A day after landing on the moon, the robotic Athena spacecraft built by Intuitive Machines of Houston is dead. In an update on its website on Friday, the company confirmed that Athena had tipped onto its side — the same fate that befell its first lunar lander, Odysseus, last year. With its solar panels unable … Read more
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/mar/07/martin-rowson-europe-donald-trump-vladimir-putin-cartoon
Syria is reportedly sliding back towards civil war, as its various factions demand devolved authority. It is at root the same issue, that of local autonomy, that led to regional unrest in Ukraine and splintered leadership in Palestine. It underlies the devastating conflicts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All these places … Read more
In 1965, the British government blocked the BBC from broadcasting The War Game, a pseudo-documentary film it had commissioned depicting just what a nuclear attack on the UK would entail. The film, the government judged, was simply too “horrifying” for the public. Two decades after that, The War Game finally aired, prior to the release … Read more
new video loaded: Debris Rains Down After SpaceX Starship Test Flight transcript Back transcript Debris Rains Down After SpaceX Starship Test Flight While the Starship’s booster successfully returned to the launchpad, the upper-stage spacecraft failed in space and lost several engines and attitude control, tumbling in space. “What an incredible sight to see. The super … Read more
Athena didn’t crash. But what did happen to it? Hours after the 15-foot-tall robotic spacecraft arrived at the moon’s surface, closer to the lunar south pole than any spacecraft has been, it remained unclear whether its touchdown was smooth enough to perform its intended work, or if it toppled over in the process, potentially limiting … Read more
Rum, a diamond-shaped island off the western coast of Scotland, is home to 40 people. Most of the island — 40 square miles of mountains, peatland and heath — is a national nature reserve, with residents mainly nestled around Kinloch Bay to the east. What the Isle of Rum lacks is artificial illumination. There are … Read more
Intuitive Machines landed a robot on the moon last year. Can the Houston company do it again, but keep the spacecraft upright this time? The company’s second lander, named Athena, launched on Wednesday evening on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is now on an arcing path to … Read more
With a mixture of regret, laced with incredulity, European leaders gathered in Brussels to marshal their forces for a power struggle not with Russia, but with the US. Even now, of course at the 11th hour, most of Europe hopes this coming battle of wills can be averted and the Trump administration can still be … Read more