'Russia seems fully committed to helping Hamas and Iran'
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day

Putin is helping Hamas to hurt the West
Josh Rogin for The Washington Post
Russian president Vladimir Putin told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Russia was trying "to help normalize the situation" in the Gaza Strip, says Josh Rogin in The Washington Post. But Moscow is in fact "on the side of Hamas and its patron, Iran". And its "main foreign policy goal" is to "distract" the world from its "atrocities" in Ukraine, while "seizing the opportunity to ramp up its violence" there. A senior Hamas official has praised Russia's assistance, while Russian officials and outlets have "unanimously blamed" the US for the crisis. "Moscow's interest is in stoking it, not solving it," says Rogin.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Neglecting social care would be folly for Labour
Will Lloyd for The Times
"If we consider pure, staggering misery"then social care is "the worst crisis facing Britain", says Will Lloyd in The Times. Hundreds of thousands of people cannot get out of bed, dress themselves or eat properly without help, but the problem of our "greying population" goes ignored by the public. The British have "no idea" what to do with elderly people, except to "banish" them to "solitude and pain". But social care must be an "urgent priority" for the next Labour government. "The treatment of the elderly in Britain shames our society."
The Five-Day Office Week Is Dead
Nicholas Bloom for The New York Times
Working from home is here to stay, says Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor Stanford University, in The New York Times. "I can prove it with data." Occupancy rates in offices this month were "shocking": 50% of February 2020 levels. The number has "flatlined" all over the US: blue and red states, coastal and inland. Hybrid working has "killed the return-to-office hype". Working from home has "major benefits" for society, including for the climate and parenting. And "despite the noise some business executives made to the contrary", remote work makes sense financially. "What is profitable in a capitalist economy sticks."
Half a million of us want to donate our data to British science, but it's languishing unused because of privacy fears
Polly Toynbee for The Guardian
"I delight in messages from UK Biobank," says Polly Toynbee in The Guardian, "the world's most advanced genetic database". Back in 2006, she signed up to this "magnificent project" along with half a million others aged between 40 and 69, and they have "sequenced my genome" and stored samples for future researchers seeking causes and cures. But an "alarming" email tells her her GP has not been sharing vital updates on her health with the biobank – "despite you giving us your permission when you first joined". Even though it is de-identified, this "vital data" is languishing in GPs' computers. Only one in five UK Biobank volunteers have their GP information collected, "despite our wishes". Our data is not for "trivial or suspect use, but for the good of humankind".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
America's favorite fast food restaurants
The Explainer There are different ways of thinking about how Americans define how they most like to spend their money on burgers, tacos and fried chicken
-
Law: The battle over birthright citizenship
Feature Trump shifts his focus to nationwide injunctions after federal judges block his attempt to end birthright citizenship
-
The threat to the NIH
Feature The Trump administration plans drastic cuts to medical research. What are the ramifications?
-
'Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present'
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Germany lifts Kyiv missile limits as Trump, Putin spar
speed read Russia's biggest drone and missile attacks of the war prompted Trump to post that Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!'
-
'Organ donation is kindness'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'These businesses have appealed to generations'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'The national appetite has been waning'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'The more complex question of why remains'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'Cracks are beginning to appear in the wall'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'We're seeing that global conversation play out in real time'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day