Nuclear missiles, underwater vehicles and robot dogs were the stars of a parade in Beijing this week to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. In a display of military might that offered a "rare look" at China’s new armoury, said The New York Times, a cavalcade of missiles and armoured vehicles "rolled past Tiananmen Square" as jets "screamed across the sky".

What are these latest weapons?
China showed off its liquid-fuelled intercontinental strategic nuclear missiles, which have the "entire world under its strike range", according to state media. Beijing also revealed its first air-launched nuclear missile, the JL-1, which was displayed on a military truck. Experts say China's new hypersonic missiles are the "finest set in the world", said The Times. They have a range of 746 miles, a Mach 8 speed and are designed to take out ships at sea.

Prompted by the destruction of Russia’s tanks by Ukrainian artillery and drones in their ongoing war, China's military has also been equipped with lighter, more agile new tanks to replace the standard PLA Type 99A.  And Beijing paraded two types of extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicles, said The Independent, as well as lasers able to intercept drone attacks and other "low-end threats".

But it was the robot dogs who "stole the show", said Indian news site Mathrubhumi. The "unsettling wolves" have "enhanced combat features, including mounted cameras for real-time reconnaissance" and "precision strike capability", to be deployed in what Beijing calls "intelligentised warfare".

What does it mean for the rest of the world?
The new weaponry is an "open message" that China's restoration as a superpower is "almost complete", said The Times. As to what it might do with that power, new armoured ground vehicles indicate that Beijing may be preparing for "possible rapid deployment" to Taiwan, said The New York Times. The world should also pay attention to the new mobile truck- and ship-mounted laser air defence weapons, which could represent a major barrier to any enemy’s "ability to blunt Chinese military movements", said CNN.

Amid slowing book sales and a decline in reading for pleasure, the popular TikTok community BookTok has offered a lifeline for the publishing industry. But "the line between influencer and creator is becoming increasingly blurred", said The Bookseller – a trend that threatens to seriously disrupt the industry's status quo.

'Embrace' the romance
Racking up hundreds of billions of views with their book reviews and recommendations, BookTok creators have real influence over what bookstores stock and what their customers buy. Novels by authors such as Colleen Hoover and Sarah J. Maas have topped bestseller lists off the back of social media buzz.

For fans of romance, in particular, BookTok has created space to "loudly and proudly embrace" the genre, which "historically hasn't gotten the respect it deserves", said Carly Tagen-Dye in People magazine. "Romance-specific" bookstores are now opening across the US.

Classic and literary fiction has been boosted too, said Arabella Grace in The Boar. After book influencers including Jack Edwards shared gushing reviews of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "White Nights", the 1848 novella became one of 2024's bestsellers.

'Pressure to read an incredible amount'
BookTok's influence has downsides, however. One "rather glaring problem" is a lack of diversity, said Tyler McCall in The Cut. "Almost every author who has found life-changing success" through BookTok is white, an "extension" of the "racial inequity in the publishing industry overall".
 
The viral- and algorithm-driven nature of BookTok also often means "the same works are pushed over and over again", said Leila Herrmann in Vogue. And BookTok culture comes with "pressure to read an incredible amount", sometimes removing the joy from reading as creators suggest "ultra-short books to help viewers boost their end-of-year tally". 

But critics who dismiss BookTok as "shallow" or "consumeristic" really do "miss the point", said Yarimar Bonilla in The New York Times. Ultimately, BookTokkers "are encouraging people to read", and "not for grades or prestige but to find joy and sanctuary in deeply troubling times".

London: St Mary’s Wandsworth Pier, Battersea SW11
This striking Belgian Spitz barge, originally constructed to transport grain, offers panoramic river views. 4 suites, family bath, 2 receps, decked garden. £1.549 million; River Homes

Oxfordshire: Mill House, Abingdon
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London: Lion House, Hampton TW12
This Grade II house, on historic Thames Street, has the River Thames, Hampton Court Palace and Bushy Park all within easy reach. The attractive property combines beautiful period features and modern design. 5 beds, 2 showers, 2 receps, kitchen/breakfast room, utility, conservatory, garden, parking. £1.3 million; Dexters

Berkshire: St. Patrick’s Lodge, Charvil
A fabulous house set in grounds of 1.3 acres with more than 400ft of river frontage. Principal bed with dressing room, 2 further beds, 2 baths, 5 receps, terrace, summerhouse, boat house. £2.8 million; Savills

Donald Trump is unpopular. Why is it so hard to stand up to him?
The Economist's editorial board
"Most Americans disapprove" of Donald Trump, says The Economist, but "he moves much faster than the lumbering forces that constrain him", and the Republican Party "always lets him have his way". Meanwhile, the independent institutions that "oppose" the president "suffer from a co-ordination problem". Behind all this "lurks the ugly reality" of his "vindictiveness and intimidation". And while the "main task of opposition falls to the Democrats", they seem, "to put it kindly, confused" about how to challenge Trump.

Lily Allen’s lack of self-awareness shows in her stance as cultural gatekeeper
Kara Kennedy in The Telegraph
Lily Allen is the "high priestess" of the "cultural elite" that doesn’t like people displaying the English flag and believes it’s "virtuous to stay quiet, head bowed, eternally apologetic", writes Kara Kennedy. The singer "lectures England on how it ought to behave, but lives far from the realities she so freely diagnoses". For her and her "fellow celeb globetrotters, sneering at patriotism is a way to prove their sophistication", but "for the rest of us, it looks very much like disdain".

Racism is not 'hate'
Donald Earl Collins on Al Jazeera
Racism is "not primarily about hate", writes historian Donald Earl Collins. Whether "structural, institutional, interpersonal" or "internalised", it’s about "maximising power and wealth by ensuring that those who are its victims lack the resources necessary to resist". Those who benefit "muddy the waters with the assumption that everyone is equally racist, rendering systemic racism irrelevant and invisible". Until we recognise racism as a "system of power and profit", it "will continue to structure inequality and violence on a global scale".