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  • The Week Evening Review
    A royal favour, Israel's plan for Gazans, and AI slop rock

     
    TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

    Is Macron's state visit the start of improved relations?

    Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Britain for the first state visit by an EU leader since Brexit, as the UK seeks to restore ties with the bloc.

    "Few scenes convey British pomp and soft power more than the King and Queen in a carriage procession through the picturesque streets of Windsor," said the BBC. But at a time of "jeopardy" in Europe, this visit promises "much more than ceremony", with "genuine hope" that both nations will be strengthened. 

    What did the commentators say?
    Less than two months have passed since UK and EU agreed to "reset" relations, but those with France, in particular, have already "warmed considerably", the BBC said. It's not so long since Boris Johnson "accused France of wanting to punish the UK for Brexit", but "that "difficult chapter appears to be over".

    Defence cooperation "is the most significant aspect of this rapprochement", said Le Monde. Since Brexit, Europe has "shifted into a new era: that of large-scale war waged by Russia against Ukraine". And Britain and France are leading the "coalition of the willing" in Europe, "seen as capable of guaranteeing Ukraine's security in the still distant event of a peace agreement".

    As the leaders of the only two nation states with nuclear weapons, and two permanent members of the UN Security Council, Keir Starmer and Macron have "a particular responsibility" – that of "taking a leading role in strengthening Europe in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia and a decreasingly supportive US".

    Only a few years ago, Johnson sent Royal Navy frigates to Jersey during a dispute with France over fishing rights, and Liz Truss "declined to say" whether she considered Macron "to be a friend or foe to Britain", said The Guardian. Now, amid "acute geopolitical instability", it is "overwhelmingly in the interests of both countries", as well as Europe, "that a fully functioning entente cordiale is restored".

    What next?
    Defence, growth, security, migration and French tactics on tackling small boats are likely to be discussed during Macron's visit. He and Starmer are also expected to dial in to speak to other allied leaders looking to support any future peace deal in Ukraine.

     
     
    QUOTE OF THE DAY

    "A man of great conviction, profound self-belief and with a direct and sometimes abrasive tone, he generated strong reactions from all sides."

    David Cameron pays tribute to Tory grandee Norman Tebbit, who has died at the age of 94. The Margaret Thatcher loyalist had a "tremendous impact" on "our country and my party", Cameron said on X.

     
     
    THE EXPLAINER

    Israel's plan for confining all Gazans in 'humanitarian city'

    Benjamin Netanyahu is back in the White House this week to discuss a possible US-brokered ceasefire with Hamas, but his defence minister has stolen the headlines with another controversial proposal: to force Palestinians into what he termed a "humanitarian city" in Gaza.

    What is the plan?
    Defence boss Israel Katz told reporters yesterday that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare to establish a new zone in southern Gaza, on the rubble where the city of Rafah stood.

    Katz said the plan was for the IDF to control the perimeter of the site, which would initially accommodate about 600,000 displaced Palestinians, most of  whom have been living in the coastal al-Mawasi area. They would go through "security screening" before entering – but once inside, they would not be allowed to leave.

    Eventually, the whole population of Gaza would be moved there, in what he called the "emigration plan", said Haaretz. But the IDF would not run the site or distribute aid, Katz added.

    What else do we know?
    Reuters has reportedly seen a proposal, created after 11 February and carrying the name of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, that outlined "a vision of replacing Hamas' control over the population in Gaza". The plan describes the camps as "voluntary" places where Palestinians could "temporarily reside, deradicalise, re-integrate and prepare to relocate if they wish to do so", the news agency said.

    The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation insisted that the presentation seen by Reuters was "not a GHF document". A senior US official said "nothing of the like is under consideration" and the US State Department declined to comment.

    What has the reaction been?
    The plan would break international law, said Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer. "While the government still calls the deportation 'voluntary', people in Gaza are under so many coercive measures that no departure from the strip can be seen in legal terms as consensual."

    Driving someone out of their homeland during a war is a "war crime", Sfard told The Guardian. And "done on a massive scale", like that described by Katz, "it becomes a crime against humanity".

    The Israeli defence minister has laid out plans for "a concentration camp", said Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust historian and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "It is neither humanitarian nor a city."

     
     

    Poll watch

    Reform UK is on course to win next May's Welsh Parliament elections with 28% of the vote, followed by nationalist party Plaid Cymru on 26%, new polling suggests. Of 883 adults surveyed by More in Common for Sky News, 23% intended to back Labour in the contest for the Senedd, with the Tories on 10%. 

     
     
    IN THE SPOTLIGHT

    The Velvet Sundown: the hit band that doesn't exist

    A four-piece band of "shaggy-haired rockers" arrived on the music scene seemingly out of nowhere last month with a blend of "laid-back 1970s-inspired rock and modern indie pop", said CBC.

    But "savvy listeners" quickly realised that "something was off" about The Velvet Sundown. The band have never performed in person or given interviews and their album artwork bears the "hallmarks of generative AI". 

    'Soulless lacklustre'
    Following digging by internet sleuths, the "band" was confirmed to be a "synthetic music project", created with the help of artificial intelligence tools, said Rolling Stone.

    Music critics and technology experts pieced together the "technical quilt" that could make an AI-generated album possible, said The Atlantic. ChatGPT can create "plausible" lyrics: "Dust in the Wind", The Velvet Sundown's most popular track, contains lines such as "dust on the wind / boots on the ground / smoke in the sky / no peace found". And software such as Suno can generate "instrumentation and vocals" with just a few prompts.

    The result may be "soulless lacklustre" and "milquetoast moodiness", but that could be the key to the album's success. Its monotony appears ideal in an era where listeners are simply looking for music to "drown out everything else".

    'Theft dressed up as competition'
    Whether hoax or experiment, "paying punters" do "deserve to know if the band we are listening to is fake", said TechRadar. Yet many streaming platforms refuse to label music as generated by AI. Such music is now such an "easy way to generate revenue", suggesting an "absolute deluge" of generated content is "on the way" to our streaming platforms.

    Musicians are alarmed. The Velvet Sundown is "theft dressed up as competition", said Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and founder of Fairly Trained, which campaigns for AI companies to respect creators' rights. This technology has the potential to impact livelihoods and is "exactly what artists have been worried about", he told the BBC.

     
     

    Good day 🦸‍♂️

    … for superhero fans, as the new "Superman" film gets off to a flying start with rave reviews. James Gunn's flick, which hits cinemas on Friday, is a “bold yet faithful” recreation of the DC icon, said critic Bryan Sudfield on X. 

     
     

    Bad day 💳

    … for Monzo, which was fined £21 million by the Financial Conduct Authority for failing to employ adequate anti-financial crime controls. An investigation revealed that the digital bank accepted customers using "implausible" addresses including 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and even its own premises.

     
     
    picture of the day

    On yer bike

    Dutch cycling champion Mathieu van der Poel swerves a bee at the start of the Stage 4 of the Tour de France, after creating a buzz by claiming the leader's yellow jersey with a Stage 2 victory on Sunday.

    Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images

     
     
    Puzzles

    Daily crossword

    Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

    Play here

     
     
    THE WEEK RECOMMENDS

    Secluded writing retreats

    "Some say everyone has a novel in them," said The Times, "and the recent boom in self-published books suggests it could be true." Whether you're a successful author with a "three-book publishing deal" or embarking on your  first writing project, "the hardest part of the process is getting started". 

    Here are some of the best writing retreats to put pen to paper in peace.

    Silk Road Slippers, Marrakech
    Alexandra Pringle, Bloomsbury's editor-in-chief, and Alex von Tunzelmann, the historian and author of the bestselling "Indian Summer", are helping writers to "unlock" their literary skills at this "book camp" in Marrakech, said the Financial Times. The "fully immersive" five-day workshop includes everything from "hands-on exercises" to "one-on-one feedback" and talks from a star-studded line-up of guest authors (Alan Hollinghurst had "top billing" at the spring masterclass). silkroadslippers.com

    Hawkwood College, England
    "If you're looking for total luxury, Hawkwood isn't for you," said Laura Hackett in The Times. The 19th century country house, in Stroud, has a "well-worn feel", with "creaking floorboards" and threadbare sofas, "but for me this was all part of its charm". The five-day course that I attended there was run by horror writer Ally Wilkes and freelance editor Cat Camacho, and their "real skill" was making us feel "comfortable enough to share our work with strangers". hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

    How Fiction Works with Claire Keegan, Ireland
    Claire Keegan's summer retreat in Co Carlow tackles the ins and outs of fiction, with a focus on several key components of the novel. This course is very much centred around theory and you'll need to complete a reading list before arriving, said Hackett in The Times. "But if that sounds exciting rather than daunting, you'll have the chance to learn from one of contemporary fiction's great writers." ckfictionclinic.com

     
     

    Statistic of the day

    29.2%: The salary increase being sought by resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, who have voted to stage a fresh round of walkouts in England over the long-running pay dispute. The British Medical Association said strike action lasting up to six months could still be averted if the government agreed to bring salaries back to "full pay restoration".

     
     
    instant opinion

    Today's best commentary

    Police finally wake up to the dangers of cannabis
    Melanie Phillips in The Times
    "Is the smoke finally starting to clear over cannabis?" says Melanie Phillips, as police chiefs call on officers to "crack down" on use of the drug. "For years, a handful of campaigners, scientists and journalists" were "mocked" for arguing that the "liberal orthodoxy on cannabis was the road to ruin". We were "scornfully dismissed", but "now the British police appear to be joining the dots". The challenge is to "persuade a liberal establishment that still persists in its dopey haze". 

    Starmerism is disintegrating
    Aaron Bastani in The New Statesman
    The more voters see of Keir Starmer, the "less enthusiastic" they become, writes Aaron Bastani. The "sell" of Starmerism was "dangerously" simple, but we now know that with "little growth, an ageing population and fragmenting politics", the government needs "more than rhetorical allusions to competence and a nice haircut". The PM needs an "analytical lens" and an "ideology", but "don't bet on that happening before the next general election", because it would "require a capacity for self-criticism".

    Oasis represent a self-confidence that is all but extinct in Britain today
    Suzanne Moore in The Telegraph
    Nostalgia is "a helluva drug" and it's "freely available and widely consumed", especially as Oasis reunion gigs "refill the air with an irresistible 1990s snarl", says Suzanne Moore. "Nothing like" this band "could happen today", because everything is "different now". We're "nostalgic" for their "unbridled, rebellious confidence", which "seems to be a thing of the past" in a world is "full of worries about the advance of AI, climate change" and "perpetual war".

     
     
    word of the day

    Pterosaur

    A flying reptile that soared above the dinosaurs more than 200 million years ago. Scientists have identified a new species of pterosaur after using modern scanning techniques on an ancient jawbone unearthed in Arizona back in 2011. The Smithsonian-led team of researchers have named the creature Eotephradactylus mcintireae, meaning "ash-winged dawn goddess".

     
     

    In the morning

    Hollie will be back tomorrow with all the latest headlines in our Morning Report, which also includes a look at the fraudsters stealing millions with fake wills.

    Thanks for reading,
    Jamie

     
     

    Evening Review was written and edited by Jamie Timson, Rebecca Messina, Hollie Clemence, Elliott Goat, Harriet Marsden, Sorcha Bradley, Chas Newkey-Burden, Irenie Forshaw, Natalie Holmes, David Edwards and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations from Stephen Kelly.

    Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; Abed Rahim Khatib / Anadolu via Getty Images; The Velvet Sundown; Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images; Nature Picture Library / Alamy

    Morning Report and Evening Review were named Newsletter of the Year at the Publisher Newsletter Awards 2025
     

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