Speculation abounds in the US about whether the Democratic Party will replace Joe Biden on its 2024 presidential ticket – and if so, with whom. One name consistently put forward by pundits is California's Governor Gavin Newsom.

Regardless of whether Biden steps aside following his poor debate performance last week, Newsom looks likely to remain in the spotlight. The governor has long been a rising face of his party and could emerge as a presidential front-runner in 2028.

Beginnings and governorship
Born in San Francisco in 1967, Newsom's early interest in politics was instilled in him by his father, a state appeals court judge. The future governor studied political science at Santa Clara University, before making his way up the totem pole in San Francisco politics in the 1990s.

Newsom was the city's mayor from 2003 to 2011, and then jumped into state politics as California's lieutenant governor. He was elected governor in 2018, beating his Republican challenger by nearly three million votes, and was re-elected in 2022.

As governor, Newsom has focused on the state's behavioural health care system, combatting retail crime, building global climate partnerships and launching the Reproductive Freedom Alliance. But his tenure has also been controversial: he faced a recall vote in 2021 amid "mask mandates", "shuttered schools" and "sluggish vaccine rollouts", said CalMatters, and crime and homelessness continue to plague California. However, he was able to fend off the recall attempt by a large margin.

Future aspirations
Despite all the talk, replacing Biden doesn't appear likely. The president has said he intends to stay in the race, and Newsom said Democrats "aren't going to turn our backs because of one performance", adding: "What kind of party does that?" 

Many Democrats are excited about Newsom's prospects in 2028, however. While "other potential White House aspirants are quietly laying the groundwork for the future", said The Washington Post, "the second-term governor has been more of an attention-seeking missile". Newsom has been "darting across the country and the world stage as he courts a broad array of Democratic constituencies who could be helpful in a future presidential run".

Andy Murray's appearance in the Wimbledon men's doubles this afternoon marks the beginning of the end of one of the UK's greatest sporting careers.

Murray's impending retirement leaves a feeling of "profound sadness", said Oliver Brown in The Telegraph, and a "crater" to fill in British tennis.

'Grind and graft'
The Scottish player has claimed three Grand Slam titles, including two at Wimbledon, and a stint as world No.1, as part of a generation of "all-time greats", said Tumaini Carayol in The Guardian. Achieving these victories "usually meant" beating two of the formidable trio of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at each tournament, and "absorbing many defeats in the process".

But that is why Murray "deserves every accolade and more", said Brown. While Federer "made tennis look blissfully easy", Murray "reminded everyone that it was hard" and showed "grind" and "graft" in overcoming the odds to win.

The 37-year-old has remained "ever the competitor" in his long battle against injury, having been "struck down in his prime", said Andy Sims in The Independent. Now, Murray and the British public have been "robbed" of the "chance of a proper send-off", after a back injury forced him to withdraw from the Wimbledon's men's singles, bringing an "outstanding era in British sport to a sad end".

'Will never be another'
The debate over who is the "greatest British sportsperson of all time" is "skewed by personal preference", said Kevin Palmer at Tennis365, but Murray has achieved so much in a "truly global" sport.

Ending Britain's "77-year wait for a homegrown male champion" at Wimbledon in 2013 is surely enough to put Murray "top of that list", said the Irish Independent. His win marked a turning point in what had "long since become a national embarrassment".

But more than his victories, it is the "perseverance" and "determination" that Murray has shown throughout his career that make him Britain's greatest sportsperson, said Martin Samuel in The Times. While "no doubt, his achievements will be matched, even overtaken" one day, there "will never be another" like him.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Starlight Express" is back, four decades after making its West End debut.

Critics "sneered" at the show in the past for "lacking sophistication", said Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph, and, admittedly, Richard Stilgoe's lyrics can be as "bland as an old British Rail sandwich". But director Luke Sheppard and his team have infused the new production with "magic and life-affirming meaning".

The gleaming revival is "bigger, camper and more preposterously OTT" than the 1984 original, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. Yet somehow, this "bizarre juggernaut" manages to pull it off.

It begins "gently enough", with a child called Control playing with trains before drifting off to sleep. What follows, said Tim Bano in The Independent, is a "two-and-a-half-hour neon fever dream" in which roller-skating trains in "iridescent costumes" zip around the stage as steam engine Rusty (Jeevan Braich) competes with rivals Greaseball and Electra to win over observation car Pearl.

The "wafer-thin" characters leave you longing for more personality, said David Benedict in Variety, but Howard Hudson's skilful lighting "ignites and punctuates everything", with lasers, pulsing lights and "intense washes of turquoise and purple" giving the show a thrumming energy.

It's more "spectacle than sense", said Bano in The Independent, but "Starlight Express" is designed to "delight your inner child – which it really does".

Starlight Express is at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, London, until June 2025.

Election campaign is a reminder of the Britain beyond the Square Mile
John Oxley in City A.M.
Election day is the perfect way to "fall back in love with our country", says John Oxley. As the results roll in, we discover 650 constituencies, each "with its own pockets of prettiness, local peculiarities and perfect pubs". So forget the "gaffes, slogans and sleep deprivation" of election season, and focus on our country's "diversity, charms, quirks and complexity". And indeed, "how much people care about the place and things that matter to them".

I never thought I'd argue for rearmament. But a looming Trump presidency changes everything
George Monbiot in The Guardian
A Trump win in the US presidential race "should bring an end to our abiding fantasies about a special relationship", writes George Monbiot. While the UK and US have "built a romantic fairytale of enduring love", Trump's presidency could mean the nation, already a "questionable friend", may threaten "our peace, security and wellbeing". So, "with great discomfort, I find myself open to arguments for rearmament" to protect ourselves and "support other European nations".

The curse of influencer publishing
Sarah Manavis in The New Statesman
In publishing, there has been a "slow creep" of "social media-famous-first personalities" securing book deals, says Sarah Manavis. Handing out "fat advances and big marketing budgets" will only lead to "influencer ubiquity" and the quality of a book "slowly dropping down the list of reasons to put something on shelves". Ultimately, an influencer-led approach to publishing will short-change the reader, with "no room left for good books".