‘The cruel politics that pit struggling Americans against each other’

LZ Granderson at the Los Angeles Times

“American capitalism requires abundance to truly thrive, and yet capitalists prefer the illusion of exclusivity and scarcity to control the market,” says LZ Granderson. “What has long kept the power out of the hands of the people has not been a lack of resources” but a “lack of compassion, particularly among the poor themselves.” This “calculus is cruelly effective. Instead of uniting people, turn one group of poor people against another so that politicians don’t have to help either group.”

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‘There will be blood: Threats against “NAZA’ directors are real and dangerous.’

Haaretz editorial board

Israelis’ “extreme responses” to the new documentary “NAZA,” which “almost no one has seen,” have now “turned into explicit threats and dangerous violence against the filmmakers and their families,” says the Haaretz editorial board. “The work of making the filmmakers fair game” began when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he “plans to advance legislation revoking the citizenship of anyone who ‘defames IDF soldiers.’” The government is “marking Israelis as traitors, and the unbridled mob is starting to hunt them.”

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‘Congress is trying to rip away college athletes’ hard-earned money’

Matt Ford at The New Republic

The Protect College Sports Act bill “would ‘protect college sports’ from the athletes who play them,” says Matt Ford. The PCSA is a “life raft” for the NCAA after “illegally suppressing college athletes’ earning potential for decades.” College players were “finally able to pursue fair-market compensation for their services thanks to a series of major court rulings,” but now the NCAA and its “allies are trying to keep as much of the money that college athletes generate as possible.”

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‘Why the US urgently needs more platelet donors’

Robert Glatter and Peter Papadakos at Time

The American Red Cross’ “latest appeal” deserves “national attention,” say Robert Glatter and Peter Papadakos. The organization “urged Americans to schedule blood and platelet donations, warning that the blood supply ‘remains vulnerable’ after recovering from critically low levels during a summer shortage. It called on donors of all blood types to make appointments now.” The Red Cross “estimates that nearly half of donated platelets go to patients receiving cancer treatment.”

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‘Colin Kaepernick set an example. Nobody wants to follow it.’

Will Leitch at The Washington Post

Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who knelt during the national anthem, desperately “wanted to play,” says Will Leitch. But as the “maelstrom he set off exploded, every NFL team chose not to roster him.” Kaepernick “wouldn’t retreat from his fundamental protest against police violence and oppression of Black people,” even if it meant losing his job. It “turned out the main lesson of it was the high cost of standing firm on belief, particularly against an organization as powerful as the NFL.”

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‘Dear Ed Sheeran, fence-sitting is so last century: Musicians can no longer opt out of politics.’

Zoe Williams at The Guardian

Since the rapper Macklemore was dropped as a support act on Ed Sheeran’s ‘Loop Tour,’ “every other opening act has pulled out,” says Zoe Williams. Sheeran, “seeking to stay out of politics, has become, in this moment, the most political artist in the world.” The “concern” of many of the involved artists was that “they were facing not just censorship but censorship by billionaires: specifically Robert Kraft, who demanded Macklemore’s removal with the threat of axing the whole show from his Gillette Stadium.”

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‘Trust in America’s food safety system is crumbling — Congress can restore it’

April McClain Delaney at The Hill

The agencies that “keep our food safe have been hollowed out,” says April McClain Delaney. As evidenced by this summer’s cyclosporiasis crisis, tainted lettuce is increasingly common, but the Trump administration “cannot tell us why these outbreaks happen or, in many cases, where they came from,” and “there is no clear plan to prevent” the next one. The “former director of the FDA’s food safety center” says the “people whose job” it was to “warn Americans” about outbreaks were “eliminated in last year’s cuts.”

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‘China cares more about AI victory than safety’

Seth Center at The Washington Post

As the former State Department envoy who “co-led the first U.S.-China AI dialogue, I fear the coming talks will not save us,” says Seth Center. “I expect China to again downplay safety risks” and “portray itself as an altruistic savior dedicated to ensuring that the developing world gains AI access.” Meanwhile, it will “keep doing everything it can to get ahead.” Chinese “models do not currently match U.S. models in safety performance that matters — thwarting access to the most dangerous capabilities.”

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‘The American age is over’

Phillips Payson O’Brien at The Atlantic

“In the past six months, America’s power, long exemplified by the world’s best warfighting equipment and most highly trained military personnel,” has “proved insufficient to defeat Iran, an economically stagnant regime armed with cheap missiles,” says Phillips Payson O’Brien. For years, “virtually everyone thought that, in a crisis, Washington could draw on deeper reserves.” This “assumption about America’s fundamental strength reassured allies and deterred foes,” but it also “promoted a complacency.” Trump’s war with Iran has “revealed” just how much “American might has decayed.”

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‘We found the most galling argument of the upcoming Supreme Court term’

Jacob D. Charles at Slate

“This fall, the Supreme Court will entertain a Second Amendment challenge to the prohibition of assault weapons in Viramontes v. Cook County,” says Jacob D. Charles. “The challengers — a few individuals who want to own such weapons, along with some gun-rights advocacy organizations,” argue that the Constitution “prohibits” them from “protecting themselves.” But their “precise argument depends upon judges second-guessing — indeed, overruling — the decision that millions of American people made about these weapons.”

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‘Dementia cases are set to triple by 2050. Here’s how we can improve early detection.’

Anna Chodos at the San Francisco Chronicle

About “one in three” people “85 and older” have dementia, says Anna Chodos, and it’s “estimated that half” of those living with it “do not get a diagnosis.” But patients would “live longer and experience better brain function if they were given the chance.” Earlier evaluation can include “identifying and addressing sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity, hearing and vision loss, and poorly controlled vascular risk factors.” It also means “helping people find ways to be as physically, socially and cognitively active as possible.”

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‘Oura will struggle to justify pulse-racing $16bn valuation’

Jennifer Hughes at the Financial Times

The Oura smart rings maker’s “upcoming initial public offering” is a “sign of investor interest” in “preventive healthcare,” says Jennifer Hughes. Still, it will “need endorsements of a more scientific kind.” As “care costs soar, the health-related uses become more valuable.” The device’s “continuous monitoring might flag a problem sooner than a patient’s next routine medical visit,” and clinical studies are using Oura data. But for it to be “more than a lifestyle gadget,” the brand must “overcome doctors’ concerns.”

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‘When a return to the office is a return to sex discrimination’

Gleb Tsipursky at The Hill

A recent Organization Science study analyzed “everyday gender discrimination” and found that women experience “far fewer gendered offenses when working remotely,” says Gleb Tsipursky. As employers “roll out return-to-office rules, the risk is clear: Mandates are not neutral. They can recreate the exact conditions that drive women out of roles, teams and entire fields.” The “core takeaway is not that remote work is perfect.” It’s that “location changes exposure to bias.”

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‘There’s a reason Europe is so obsessed with immigration’

Anton Jager at The New York Times

Immigration worries in Europe “outstrip objective reality,” says Anton Jager. The topic has “become a prism through which all the continent’s ills are viewed.” The continued flow of “outsiders” into European capitals is “held responsible for a gamut of problems, from poor social services to wage stagnation to crime.” But while migration is “assailed as a threat to Europe’s identity,” that identity is hazy. It “falls to migration to fill the void at the center of Europe’s self-image.”

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‘We are ignoring the cause of homelessness and how to solve it’

Michele Steeb at USA Today

What if Americans “judged success not by whether people had housing but by whether they discovered or rediscovered who they were created to become”? says Michele Steeb. The federal government’s “Housing First approach” made “housing placement the primary intervention and measure of success while removing expectations for treatment, sobriety, employment, or progress toward self-sufficiency. In doing so, it too often treated the symptom of homelessness” while “leaving the deeper human crises that frequently accompany and perpetuate it unaddressed.”

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‘Can a party be leftist and Zionist?’

Tamam Abusalama at Al Jazeera

Can a “party or an individual be both leftist and Zionist”? says Tamam Abusalama. The “short answer” is “no.” Touted in “Israel and beyond as a legitimate ideological belief,” being both is a “political technology designed to shield Zionism from any critique while preserving the structures of oppression.” Whatever “position early Zionists staked out on the political spectrum, what the movement ultimately produced — the state of Israel — was in direct contradiction with the anti-colonial, anti-racist politics the left was supposed to stand for.”

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‘Vance’s childcare plan pits parents against each other’

Mary Ellen Klas at Bloomberg

“Should the federal government give subsidies to parents who stay home to care for their young kids? Absolutely,” says Mary Ellen Klas. “Should it also subsidize childcare for working parents? For sure. This shouldn’t be an either-or question, but the Trump administration’s new childcare subsidy plan” would “force working parents” to “compete with married, at-home parents for the same pool of funds.” In order to “meet parents’ affordability needs,” the government must “recognize that families have diverse childcare needs.”

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‘The US right still paints Muslims as the “enemy.” But they are fighting for a brighter future for Americans.’

Nesrine Malik at The Guardian

“Members of a diaspora of Muslim background are breaking through and accumulating, as New York magazine says, ‘clout,’” says Nesrine Malik. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “both the expression of that cohort and the catalyst of its recognition as an emerging force. They care deeply for their local communities but also for those in Gaza and beyond.” At the same time, the “Islamophobia that began in 2001 has only further burrowed into the fabric of American society.”

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‘Elon Musk is reusing Trump’s anti-trans strategy. It’s unlikely to work.’

Paul Waldman at MS NOW

Musk is “spending at least $100 million on the midterm elections to support the Republican Party,” says Paul Waldman, employing a “barrage of ads targeting Democrats for not being sufficiently supportive of discrimination against transgender Americans.” But these efforts “will probably fail.” As for how Democrats should respond? “Frightened hedging won’t work. When Democrats say, ‘I support trans rights but I also have concerns,’” it only reinforces the “idea that they’re weak and unprincipled.”

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‘Yes, children really are getting dumber’

Allysia Finley at The Wall Street Journal

“Rapid advances in artificial intelligence have been matched by an astonishing decline in student learning,” says Allysia Finley. “Covid school shutdowns” don’t “appear to be the primary culprit, given that scores fell in countries that kept schools mostly open.” Instead, the “two common denominators across most countries” where reading and math scores have fallen are “increasing classroom distractions and reliance on artificial intelligence.” Kids now “spend much of class playing games and watching videos on devices.”

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‘11 hantavirus deaths in Argentina were a warning’

Abraar Karan at The Washington Post

The “recent Andes hantavirus outbreak on the Hondius cruise ship has seized international attention after three passengers died” and the incident is a “warning sign of where the world’s pandemic prevention system still has weaknesses,” says Abraar Karan. While “there is no way to avoid outbreaks, proactive approaches could reduce risk.” More “detailed predeparture screening could help shipboard doctors diagnose sick patients better,” although “this approach is only as foolproof as the people who are reporting their exposures.”

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‘The crisis in Sudan is much worse than what is acknowledged’

Zia Salik at Al Jazeera

In the “streets of Sudan’s capital, the destruction was apocalyptic,” says Zia Salik. The “difficulty in accessing many areas, and the sense that this is a complicated war in a faraway place, means the crisis has not received anywhere near the international attention it needs.” For “many people, the greatest fear now is that the unending war in the west of the country will result in Sudan, one of the largest countries in Africa, splitting in two.”

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‘What leaders get wrong about the ROI of AI’

Katy George at Time

“If you ask most executives about AI right now, the conversation quickly turns to one question: where is the return?” says Katy George. That is “not because AI isn’t delivering value. It’s because many organizations are still looking for value in the wrong places.” AI’s impact “shows up in greater insight, more predictive power, in-task skill building and the ability to evaluate more scenarios before acting.” But “those gains don’t fit neatly into traditional metrics.”

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‘States need to come clean on SNAP fraud’

Gov. Larry Rhoden at Newsweek

One “practical example of a resource that should be managed with care is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),” says Gov. Larry Rhoden (R-S.D.). Americans “should take great pride that such a program exists, but that should inspire diligence in its oversight.” States with “higher error rates — in the double digits in many cases — warrant attention and accountability to ensure program integrity is upheld nationwide.” The “solution starts with bringing greater transparency to the issue.”

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‘Why so few babies? We might have overlooked the biggest reason of all.’

Anna Louie Sussman at The New York Times

Having kids is “not simply a matter of affordability, the buzzword so often invoked to explain why people are choosing to have smaller families,” says Anna Louie Sussman. Overall, people are “having fewer children both in countries that offer very little and in those renowned for their generous family benefits.” What “unites these disparate cultures, policy environments and demographics” is people’s “inescapable and crushing sense that the future is too uncertain for the lifelong commitment of parenthood.”

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‘Nothing to fear, much to gain from Flock cameras’

Jason Riggs at The Minnesota Star Tribune

A “common misconception when discussing license plate reader cameras is that ‘each camera records passing vehicles and compiles the license plates into a time-stamped database,’” says Jason Riggs. Police “are not here to monitor your every move.” The cameras “are designed to notify law enforcement only when a license plate connected with a crime crosses their path.” Using them “can make all the difference when searching for a vehicle,” and “throughout the country, this technology has proven to be lifesaving.”

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‘The immeasurable endurance of the women of Gaza’

Huda Skaik at The Nation

“Even in the face of such brutality, Gazan women persist,” says Huda Skaik. They “carry their communities, serving as pillars of endurance amid the ruins of a society that has been all but erased.” Women in Gaza “have become both the primary caretakers and providers, responsible for securing food, water and shelter, caring for the injured, and sustaining their families.” Their “suffering is both physical and psychological, yet they continue to care for the next generation.”

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‘I’m not a pundit, I just play one on TV’

Christian Schneider at the National Review

When “physicians get political, they damage the medical profession’s reputation,” says Christian Schneider. In “recent years, the medical profession has endured a thorough battering, with doctors exposing themselves as just as misinformed and politically motivated as the general public.” Nowhere “has this provided more comedy than in President Donald Trump’s attempt to fill the spot of U.S. surgeon general in his administration.” The “diminishment of the medical profession by a wannabe political physician class has real-world consequences.”

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‘Turn on, tune in, cash out … the US right used to fear psychedelics. Now it wants to sell them.’

Kojo Koram at The Guardian

Trump “signed a new presidential executive order to accelerate mainstream access to medical treatment based on psychedelic drugs,” but “this executive order has not come out of the blue,” says Kojo Koram. Long “caricatured as a marker of countercultural decadence, psychedelics have been rebranded by recent clinical research as potentially transformative mental-health treatments.” It’s a “worldview that has found a comfortable new home” in an “administration that is, against all odds, transforming America’s relationship with drugs.”

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‘How Putin and Zelenskyy view the war in Iran’

Sudarsan Raghavan at The New Yorker

Nearly “two months into Iran’s war, its ripple effects are being felt around the world,” says Sudarsan Raghavan. The “war is also having a less visible, yet potentially more consequential, impact on some of the world’s other conflicts and crises.” The war in Ukraine is “increasingly connected to the Middle East conflict.” It is “in Russia’s favor to prolong the war in Iran” because the “longer it lasts, the longer Washington’s attention is not on Ukraine.”

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‘Could Ozempic save families from addiction and foster care?’

Naomi Schaefer Riley at The Boston Globe

GLP-1 drugs “like Ozempic and Wegovy are often called miraculous for their ability to promote weight loss, reduce the risk of diabetes and even lower the likelihood of dementia,” says Naomi Schaefer Riley. But “what if they can help combat drug and alcohol addiction by tempering cravings and ultimately prevent parents from losing their children to foster care?” This “class of drugs has wide-ranging health benefits and few side effects compared to other medically assisted treatments.”

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‘Religions all over the world are being blasphemed and perverted’

Janice Kennedy at the Toronto Star

Religion is “having a moment. And not in a good way,” says Janice Kennedy. No “matter its name, religion usually embraces three elements: faith in a divinity, rites and rituals honoring that faith and an inviolable moral code.” But this is “abased and abused by con artists twisting religion to fit insufferable egos and despicable political ends.” Committing “terrible deeds in the name of an almighty god is abhorrent to all people of good will.”

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‘When capital can think, who pays?’

Ravi Kumar S, Andreea Roberts and Simone Crymes at Newsweek

In the U.S., AI adoption is “growing at a remarkable pace,” but Americans are “concerned” about “layoffs tied to automation,” say Ravi Kumar S, Andreea Roberts and Simone Crymes. So how should “public policy support” the transition? One answer: a “shift in how automation is taxed relative to human labor.” If capital is “taxed more and labor less, replacing people with AI is no longer the cheapest path,” and using AI to “augment human workers” instead “becomes a more attractive option.”

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‘Birthright citizenship made me American. We can't lose it.’

Cynthia Choi at USA Today

On his “first day back in office,” Trump issued an executive order “seeking to deny citizenship to certain U.S.-born children,” says Cynthia Choi. But birthright citizenship is as “fundamental” to our country as “freedom of speech.” This is “not some isolated policy debate.” It’s a “broader effort by the Trump administration to put an end to multiracial democracy.” Children without citizenship will be denied “access to education, public benefits and the basic rights that come with belonging.”

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‘Missile warfare is faster, deadlier and harder to control’

Hal Brands at Bloomberg

The Iran conflict “demonstrates how the spread of powerful, accurate missiles is changing warfare around the globe,” says Hal Brands. Even “relatively weak states now have fairly accurate weapons that can strike hundreds, even thousands, of miles away.” This means “fewer sanctuaries: Facilities and geographies that were once secure are now vulnerable to attack.” That could be “challenging” for the U.S., since “even relatively weak adversaries will be able to hold U.S. bases, perhaps even the homeland, at risk.”

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‘AOC finally takes a position that makes sense on military aid to Israel’

Zeeshan Aleem at MS Now

On Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who “struggled to take a clear position on supporting Israel in the past,” pledged to vote “against all military aid to Israel,” says Zeeshan Aleem. This was a “striking shift for a potential 2028 White House hopeful who, should she enter the race, would be the standard bearer for the democratic socialist left.” Her decision “does not just reflect demands on the left but the changing dynamics of the Democratic Party.”

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‘Social media bans for kids fuel censorship for adults’

Louise Perry at The Wall Street Journal

Parents “tell pollsters that they’re worried about the effect of social media on their children. Nonetheless, they persist in buying smartphones for them,” says Louise Perry. That’s why there is “increasing appetite for laws banning social media for those under 16.” If “parents are legally obliged to keep their kids off social media, the coordination problem is solved.” But “laws intended to protect children from the horrors of the internet could be used by governments to protect themselves from criticism.”

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‘Here is the common thread among college athletes accused of fixing games’

Mark Mitchell at the Chicago Tribune

Indictments “accusing a large number of basketball players of throwing college games have predictably triggered indignation,” but they “focus almost entirely on what these athletes did and how it might affect all of college sports while largely ignoring where they came from,” says Mark Mitchell. Many “come from areas with very low rates of economic mobility.” Why “do high-stakes failures — academic, disciplinary and now criminal — occur so persistently among talented young people from the same kinds of places”?

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‘It’s time for the world to boycott the US’

Donald Earl Collins at Al Jazeera

The U.S. has, “over the past year, consistently violated international norms and laws,” says Donald Earl Collins. Short of “civil strife, civil war, or military action, there is no other way for the world to disrupt U.S. aggression except through massive economic pressure.” If the “world wants the U.S. to do better by its own people and to act as a better nation-state on the global stage, it must act collectively to boycott and divest from U.S. influence.”

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‘New foreign aid rules will threaten lives’

Susana T. Fried and Alicia Ely Yamin at The Progressive

New foreign aid restrictions “will threaten the lives of people around the world, especially women and people who don’t fit into the administration’s narrow, unscientific categories of gender,” say Susana T. Fried and Alicia Ely Yamin. The “rules seem designed to avoid some of the inevitable litigation they will trigger, but will likely run afoul of domestic law in some countries.” The U.S. has “abandoned the planet’s most vulnerable people and is bullying others to assist with its discriminatory dirty work.”

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‘One factor will decide how much you enjoy TV next year’

Alan Sepinwall at The New York Times

If Netflix’s purchase of Warner Bros. goes through, Netflix and HBO “will become one,” says Alan Sepinwall. This “consolidation would mean that the streaming wars,” a “competition that resulted in innovative and exciting programming,” are over. Will TV “return” to being “low on risk, low on cost and concerned only with producing programming that brings in the biggest possible audience”? Netflix “can’t take its corporate victory as validation of its programming philosophy. It must not just absorb HBO; it must embrace the HBO approach.”

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‘Yes, women’s rights are under threat around the world. But we have found hope in unlikely places.’

Rahila Gupta at The Guardian

You might think that “women’s rights are being concreted over,” says Rahila Gupta. But “I found women’s resistance erupting like green shoots through the cracks.” Perhaps the “most inspirational advance in women’s rights” is “taking place in the unlikeliest of places”: the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (popularly known as Rojava). Here, women “have pinned their colors to secularism in recognition of the pernicious impact of religion” on their “freedoms.”

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‘Here is to a quarter century of US military havoc’

Belen Fernandez at Al Jazeera

It is “hard to understate the extent to which global events have been shaped by the military excesses of the United States” over the last 25 years, says Belen Fernandez. George W. Bush launched the “‘global war on terror,’” Barack Obama dropped “26,172 bombs on seven different countries” in his final year in office and Joe Biden expanded Washington’s “support for Israeli massacres of Palestinians.” Now, Trump’s “newly rebranded Department of War goes about blowing up boats willy-nilly off the coast of Venezuela.”

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‘We don’t need New Year’s resolutions. We need rest.’

Rachel Bearn at Time

“Conventional wisdom is that we should reinvent ourselves at the beginning of the new year,” says Rachel Bearn. But “January is not the time for reinvention,” it’s the time for “radical rest.” In winter, we should “follow nature” and “create our own version of hibernation,” preparing “slowly and quietly for the year to come.” When we “align ourselves with nature’s slower rhythm, we discover a gentler form of progress — the quiet kind that builds strength beneath the surface.”

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‘America needs a mass movement — now’

David Brooks at The Atlantic

“For the United States, the question of the decade is: Why hasn’t a resistance movement materialized here?” says David Brooks. “Left unopposed, global populism of the sort Trumpism represents could dominate for a generation.” But for the “most part, a miasma of passivity seems to have swept over the anti-Trump ranks. Institution after institution cuts deals” with the administration and only “in private” will business leaders “complain about the damage Trump is doing.” In time, “submission becomes a habit too.”

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‘The Gaza ceasefire won’t win back young Americans for Israel’

Andreas Kluth at Bloomberg

Trump has brokered a “ceasefire that could, possibly, mark the beginnings of peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” says Andreas Kluth. But “something has shifted in the U.S. too, as recent polls show.” Half of Americans “think that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza” and 59% have an “unfavorable opinion of the Israeli government.” The “most salient split is no longer between Democrats and Republicans” but rather “between the young and old.” The young are “angry at Israel.”

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‘Are we about to enter an age of leisure? Don’t bet on it.’

Sarah O'Connor at Financial Times

“Some investors are betting” that AI will “reduce the length of the work week and give people more free time,” says Sarah O’Connor. But it is “highly uncertain” that AI will “deliver a substantial boost to economic productivity,” or that “economic gains will be widely distributed.” Workers may not “‘cash in’ those proceeds in the form of extra leisure” anyway, as U.S. workers “seem to have abandoned the pursuit of shorter working hours since the 1970s.”

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‘The psychology of fear, and why some people love being scared on Halloween’

Jennifer Borresen and Karina Zaiets at USA Today

“When we get scared, along with a rush of adrenaline we also get a release of endorphins and dopamine,” say Jennifer Borresen and Karina Zaiets. This “can result in a pleasure-filled sense of euphoria.” Of course, to “enjoy a scary situation, we have to know we’re in a safe environment.” Fear also “creates distraction, allowing us to relax from things that usually preoccupy our minds.” Haunted houses “first emerged during the Great Depression as parents made up ways to distract youngsters.”

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'Each hopes to be spared by the figurative firing squad, but predictably, none will be'

Viet Thanh Nguyen at Time

The Trump administration is "weaponizing the fear of the other and promoting a moral panic" around "refugees and immigrants" who are "seeking to replace white people," says Viet Thanh Nguyen. But the "mechanisms of deportation or the state punishing its enemies are unlikely to stop with Venezuelans or advocates of a Palestinian state," because "authoritarian power will not be satisfied with one sacrifice." It will eventually "require more, since that power thrives on the spectacle of punishment."

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'The public needs to know that psychedelics aren't magic pills'

Jules Evans at The New York Times

A "once left-wing psychedelic movement" has become "tightly entwined" with the Trump administration and the tech right, says Jules Evans. The "pro-psychedelic lobby" is "hopeful" that RFK Jr.'s Health and Human Services will "trim the red tape in the FDA's approval process for psychedelic treatments." But this may entail "approving them too quickly and without adequate protections." While mind-altering drugs are "very promising as a mental health treatment," they also "carry serious risks."

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'The world has abandoned us to a fate of constant, deadly bombardment'

Manal Qaed Alwesabi at Al Jazeera

"In the first week of April, the United States carried out air raids across Yemen," says Manal Qaed Alwesabi, a Yemeni journalist. "I often hear people say that what we are suffering cannot compare to what is happening in Gaza. My fellow Yemenis see pain as a matter of comparison, not a matter of justice — as if the pain must compete against another to be recognized." Yemenis are being "reduced" to "mere numbers in international agency reports and news broadcasts."

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'Budget-conscious travelers are pulling back over concerns about the economy'

Thomas Black at Bloomberg

Southwest "gained a loyal following" as a "low-cost airline," but it is now "getting walloped — and at the worst possible time as it revamps its business model," says Thomas Black. Southwest is in the process of "making historic changes to its service model," breaking tradition by "adopting assigned seating" and "charging for checked bags." But Southwest "remains a domestic airline and will feel the full brunt of whatever happens to the U.S. economy."

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'Trump is behaving as if he has no opponents that matter'

Jamelle Bouie at The New York Times

In the "right-wing world," there is a "belief in the immateriality of popular political opposition to Trump — a sense that it is less the response of ordinary people with agency than it is a plot by outside agitators," says Jamelle Bouie. Trump has "never recognized the legitimacy of opposition against him," but to succeed in any conflict," a "skilled leader needs the ability to take a read of the land." His "refusal to recognize dissent may end up being his "fatal miscalculation."

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'Israel sees the truth as a threat to be eliminated'

Dave Zirin at The Nation

Oscar-winning documentarian Hamdan Ballal was recently thrown into jail. Basel Adra, his codirector on "No Other Land," told The Associated Press: "We came back from the Oscars and every day, there is an attack on us. This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like punishment." In an effort to "silence Ballal" and keep Palestinians from "speaking truth," Israel's "solution is to just kill the artists," says Dave Zirin.

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'Intuition severed from science cannot solve the mental health crisis'

E.J. Dickson at The Cut

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed opening "wellness farms" where "children addicted to drugs" or "taking prescribed psychiatric medications, like SSRIs and Adderall," could "detox," says E.J. Dickson. "The idea that health may be arrived at by a type of purity, by throwing away chemical compounds and healing ourselves with fresh air, has deep emotional appeal" — but "wellness farms, like so much else proposed in the second Trump administration," may easily become a "means of control."

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'The only thing certain with the Trump administration is uncertainty, and Europe must plan accordingly'

Michael John Williams at Foreign Policy

There was once a "firm European belief in the steadfast commitment of Washington to the security of Europe," but "today, that no longer holds," says Michael John Williams. "Europe must act in accordance with this reality." Luckily, "plans for a European nuclear deterrent exist in the archives, and the European Union would do well to dust them off." Without America, Europe "finds itself unarmed in a dangerous, nuclear world."

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'Where is the line between the right to speech and the right to reach?'

Fay M. Johnson at The New York Times

"I've spent years working at some of the world's largest social media platforms," says Fay M. Johnson, a former trust and safety product executive at Meta and Twitter. "I've seen how the right kind of moderation can improve conversations, and how the wrong kind — or none at all," can "spread hate and spill into real-world violence." While "free speech is essential for a healthy democracy," social media platforms must make thoughtful decisions "about what speech to broadcast and how widely."

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'It largely comes down to societal expectations of how much men should do at home'

Heather Long at The Washington Post

New research from Nobel Prize-winning economist Claudia Goldin "looks at the global fertility decline through the lens of macro economics" and speaks to the "anxieties shared by many women of my generation," says Heather Long. The findings suggest that "in places where men do more around the house, fertility rates are higher" and in places "where they do less, rates are lower." This "won't change unless the guy's expectations about what he's 'supposed to do' changes," Goldin tells Long.

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'Americans have allowed the so-called government to trample our God-given right to eat food that might kill us'

Rex Huppke at USA Today

Jim Jones, head of the FDA's food division, has "stepped down" to "protest" the "mass layoffs" happening under President Donald Trump's administration, says Rex Huppke. These layoffs "included people who review the safety of food ingredients." Now that RFK Jr. is "in charge of America's health," Huppke adds, "true lovers of liberty like myself will be free to eat whatever we want, happy in the knowledge it hasn't been 'inspected' by any 'health expert' to make sure it's 'safe.'"

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'Nostalgia for terrible things may sound absurd, but many people experience it'

Olga Khazan at The Atlantic

It is not unusual to "feel nostalgic for times that were difficult, unpleasant, or downright bad," says Olga Khazan. "Some people miss the early, eerie first few months of the pandemic, when time seemed to have stopped." The reason for this phenomenon, according to researchers: "Humans look to our past selves to make sense of our present. Reflecting on the challenging times we've endured provides significance and edification to a life that can otherwise seem pointlessly difficult."

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'The Mountain West's mega-McMansion problem'

Sasha Abramsky at The Nation

The "story of states such as Wyoming is a story of displacement," and "state legislators throughout the West have tended to work in unholy alliance with wealthy real estate lobbies," says Sasha Abramsky. An "influx of wealthy people from around the country has caused housing prices to soar." This has "real consequences for the people living in the region, many of whom can no longer afford to buy a house, let alone find an affordable place to rent."

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'A less brutal alternative to IVF'

Kristen V. Brown at The Atlantic

New scientific techniques are raising the possibility that IVM, in vitro maturation, "could be a viable alternative to IVF — at least for some patients — and free thousands of aspiring mothers from brutal protocols," says Kristen V. Brown. Many women seek IVF, in vitro fertilization, because they are "approaching their 40s and have few eggs left; they will likely never be good IVM candidates." But it "might work just fine for patients with blocked fallopian tubes, single and LGBTQ people, and young women."

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'Really, Dr. Phil? Oprah's celebrity doctor debases himself in the very city that made him a star.'

Chicago Tribune editorial board

We "don't have show trials nor do we ritualistically lambaste such people in service of political power or television ratings," so "we were astonished to see Phil McGraw, a man who uses a sobriquet that includes the word 'doctor,' embedding himself with ICE," says the Chicago Tribune editorial board. We "get why Donald Trump's Department of Justice wants him there: It implies that such people won't just be removed; they'll be humiliated at the same time."

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'The hidden cost of Florida Gov. DeSantis' immigration fight with fellow Republicans'

Miami Herald editorial board

Florida is "in a state of upheaval, driven by the ambitions and maneuverings" of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), says the Miami Herald editorial board. The "effectiveness of his ability to effectively lead the state is coming under scrutiny." The "duty of the governor is to govern and DeSantis is spending a lot of his time with publicity stunts." Floridians "reelected him by an overwhelming majority to serve as their governor, not to pick fights."

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'What are the emotional risks of losing a student to such an injustice?'

Larry Strauss at USA Today

As President-elect Donald Trump plans for the largest deportation operation in American history, "I am left wondering where that leaves me and my colleagues, those of us whose students are the children of — and in some cases themselves — the people the Trump administration plans to make refugees of," says Larry Strauss. Many teachers "anticipate facing difficult choices," not just about "cooperating with authorities," but also in "dealing with the aftermath of fractured families and shattered lives."

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'I suggest we consider eye contact as an art form'

Michael Chad Hoeppner at Time

"Eye contact, once a cornerstone of human connection, is becoming increasingly rare in our screen-dominated lives," says Michael Chad Hoeppner. "This decline reflects a cultural shift away from face-to-face engagement, one that has profound implications for how we communicate and connect." Attempting more regular eye contact will "give you an opportunity to connect more deeply and vividly with those around you, allowing you to notice the subtleties of human interaction that enrich your day-to-day experiences."

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'Why do we game?'

Stephen Bush at The Financial Times

"Why are ancient dig sites littered with backgammon sets and mancala pieces? Why do ancient urns depict Achilles and Ajax bent in concentration over some sort of dice game? I think there are two answers," says Stephen Bush. "The first is that gaming is a lot of fun," and the second is that "gaming doesn't only entertain: gaming often reveals." While "games amuse us," they also "tell us truths about our characters that are often kept hidden."

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'Russia … cannot be allowed to once again escape accountability'

Max Boot at The Washington Post

After an Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed on Christmas Day, killing 38 people, an investigation "concluded that a Russian antiaircraft missile most likely brought down the plane," says Max Boot. While "Russian spokesmen blamed a bird collision," the Kremlin, "given its history, has not earned the benefit of the doubt." If Russia is responsible, "the question now is what, if anything, the West will do about it," Boot adds. This is "another argument" for increased "support for Ukraine in resisting Russian aggression."

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'We look at the repentant Ebenezer and think: C'est moi!'

Roger Rosenblatt at The New York Times

Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" has "continued to speak to modern readers, offering moral lessons that have only grown more relevant over the decades," says Roger Rosenblatt. Ebenezer Scrooge, whose "sole concern is his own material enrichment," has such enduring appeal "because in many ways, he is us." We are all capable of "selfishness and greed," but "so too are we capable of fantastic generosity and selflessness," Rosenblatt says. "Dickens understood this."

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'From Washington to Hollywood, the gaslighting never seems to end'

Nicole Russell at USA Today

Actor Blake Lively has sued "It Ends With Us" director Justin Baldoni. "Lively alleges that Baldoni sexually harassed her during filming, then launched a sophisticated smear campaign to cover it up," says Nicole Russell. And "if the lawsuit's allegations are true, I also fell victim to the smear campaign's manipulations." In the entertainment industry, "like in the world of politics, we are constantly told what to think about the personalities involved," though they "trick us into believing that we thought of it ourselves."

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'I view the current vaccine controversies with dismay'

Roger Allen at The Philadelphia Inquirer

A lawyer "linked to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the incoming leader of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine," says Roger Allen. "Polio might seem like a disease of the distant past, but I know its dangers firsthand." Revoking governmental approval of the Salk vaccine — which "has been able basically to eradicate polio from the world" — would "pose a grave threat to public health."

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'This holiday, ask questions like a reporter'

Elizabeth Harris at The Atlantic

To avoid fighting about politics, "I decided to approach my family like a reporter," says Elizabeth Harris. "I wasn't looking to have a back-and-forth; I was looking for information. I wanted to know what they thought and why." While "none of my family members was so persuaded by our conversations that they switched their party affiliation," the discussions became easier, and "for everyone involved, it got harder to dismiss the people on the other side, whose views we often see in caricature."

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'Our relationships with friends are as important as those with family'

Youyou Zhou at The Washington Post

Recent data "shows that people of all age groups are spending far less time with friends than they did 20 years ago," says Youyou Zhou. We are "spending more time by ourselves, probably with our phones or in front of screens." The "most sustainable way to increase our time with friends," Zhou adds, is "not to create new or exciting adventures," but rather to "integrate friends into ordinary activities, such as sharing meals, watching films at home and grocery shopping."

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'Sports breed civility'

Frederick J. Ryan Jr. and James Washington at the Los Angeles Times

"Football's popularity, and its brutality, always takes heat for its role in the larger culture of violence," say Frederick J. Ryan Jr. and James Washington. But while the "growing emphasis on curbing the game's long-term health risks, especially its connections to brain injury," is important, "too much is learned from football to cast it aside." Sports "gather us together" and keep us from "turning further inward, deeper into the isolation and paranoia that fuel our present crisis."

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'Mangione has enjoyed an online fandom unlike any witnessed in recent history'

Ross Barkan at The Guardian

Gen Z's politics are a "harbinger of a new political order," says Ross Barkan. "Average people" are "sick of the wealthy and the famous," which explains the popularity of the "ultimate anti-influencer, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione," the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. "Over the next decade, the great clashes might not be between left and right," but "those who are open about their disdain for existing institutions and those who seek a new order."

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'Higher education has always been a tool of American soft power'

Somdeep Sen at Al Jazeera

"President-elect Donald Trump has promised to launch an all-out attack on American universities as soon as he returns to the White House," says Somdeep Sen. For example, "he could easily create an environment, and pass regulation, that would pressure institutions to move away from DEI initiatives," and he may also limit "minority and marginalized communities' access to higher education" with his promise to scrap federal loan forgiveness programs. "American universities may not have a choice but to accept their fate and adapt."

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'Thanks, Dogue, but I'll skip the Gucci dog carrier'

Maddy Butcher at The Washington Post

There is an "apparently shrinking minority of people who consider coddling and fancy accoutrements antithetical to good dog ownership," says Maddy Butcher. Any "worthwhile 'investment' in a dog involves time and energy but not much money." People should "use dogs for what they were bred to do, if you can, and treat them like, well, dogs." Dogs "tend to be healthier and happier when their lives have a point. Pretend jobs are fine!"

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'It's time for US sports teams to recognize the power of Latino fans'

Xavier A. Gutierrez at Time

An "undeniable trendline in our cultural landscape is the unmatched power of sports," but "somewhat still overlooked is the massive impact Latinos have on this industry's success," says Xavier A. Gutierrez. It is "clear that sports are driving our American culture, and Latinos are the primary growth drivers of the sports industry," so for "any organization seeking to future-proof its success, focusing on Latino fans is a smart place to start."

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'You're wrong about 'Saturday Night Live'

Christian Schneider at National Review

'Saturday Night Live' is "neither as good nor as bad as we remember it," says Christian Schneider. There is the "'SNL' that we all remember watching as youths and into adulthood," where "our favorite recurring characters and cast members firing off catchphrases that are still burned into our brains." But "there is also the 'SNL' as it actually ran," as "oftentimes, this 'SNL' can be completely different from the one that lives in our memories."

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'Antimicrobial resistance is dangerous in more ways than one'

Anthony McDonnell at the Financial Times

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), where "bacteria, fungi and viruses develop resistance to the drugs used to treat them — is rendering our arsenal of antibiotics ineffective," says Anthony McDonnell. But "lesser known, but equally important, is the impact that AMR might have on our global economy." Even a "small dent can have a huge impact," and "investing in treatments and new drugs will save healthcare systems money in the long run, and offer a return of $28 for every dollar invested."

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'The real question Harris and Trump should answer about marijuana'

Leana S. Wen at The Washington Post

The "question Kamala Harris and Donald Trump should answer is not whether marijuana should be legal, but what comes next," says Leana S. Wen. How would they "help people afflicted with wide-ranging consequences of cannabis use?" Laws "already protect Americans from inhaling secondhand tobacco. When will leaders propose — and enforce — similar laws for marijuana?" We should "see presidential candidates acknowledging these negative health effects as they lay out a national educational campaign."

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'I was a Secret Service agent. Protecting presidents is not like in the movies.'

Bill Gage at The Hill

Many people "criticizing the Secret Service have no professional experience in conducting complex protective operations at the presidential level," says Bill Gage. But "U.S. Secret Service protective operations do not just happen. Most take weeks of planning and involve multiple components." The Secret Service's "budget should be increased so that it can hire more special agents," but "even with these improvements it still won't be like the movies." The agency "cannot keep tabs on everyone."

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'Apple CEO Tim Cook is right. The US manufacturing workforce is in crisis.'

Allison Danielsen at the Chicago Tribune

There has "never been a time when the need to match job seekers with the nation's most needed jobs has been as critical," says Allison Danielsen. There is a "gap between supply and demand for engineering," and the "skill sets that those engineers will require are sorely lacking, creating the possibility that nearly a third of all engineering roles will remain unfulfilled." It is "critical that we create a robust pipeline for young people" to "explore and build career paths."

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'Microsoft's Three Mile Island deal is great news'

Bloomberg editorial board

Microsoft's deal reopening Three Mile Island "could prove highly consequential," said the Bloomberg editorial board. Meeting "global climate goals by 2030 will require some $1.2 trillion in added clean-energy investment each year," and a "nuclear splurge — especially in the U.S., where generation has stagnated for decades — is long overdue." Microsoft's deal is a "welcome vote of confidence that nuclear is not only essential to fighting climate change and powering new technologies, but it's also exceedingly safe."

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'Our solution to the housing crisis'

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Tina Smith at The New York Times

It's "becoming nearly impossible for working-class people to buy and keep a roof over their heads," and Congress "must respond with a plan that matches the scale of this crisis," say Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.). Instead of "treating real estate as a commodity, we can underwrite the construction of millions of homes and apartments that, by law, must remain affordable." These "models of rent caps and homeownership are already working around the world."

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'Paging Hezbollah: How Israel will follow up exploding beepers'

Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet at the New York Post

It seems Israel was able to "infiltrate Hezbollah's communications supply chain and implant small explosives," say Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet. Something is "abundantly clear: Israel resides in Hezbollah's communications network, as well as in Iran's air defense network, and has established dominance in the cyber domain — and now its supply chains." For Israel to "reveal this level of penetration into Hezbollah's command and control communications, something big is likely in the making."

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'Get this under control': Mark Robinson's anti-birth control tirade spoils Trump's Project 2025 spin'

Amanda Marcotte at Salon

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has "explicitly sneered at the idea of birth control," and "Donald Trump and his allies want voters to believe that Robinson's views are an outlier and not reflexive of what Trump intends to do if he wins office," says Amanda Marcotte. The "truth is this hostility to contraception is baked right into Project 2025." This is "why Republicans in Congress continue to block efforts to enshrine contraception rights into law."

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'Hired teen hitmen test limits of Swedish justice'

Elisabeth Braw at Foreign Policy

Swedes "used to think of teenage killers as an American problem, but now they're a domestic one," says Elisabeth Braw. Sweden has been trying to "rein in the country's rampant gun violence by stiffening prison sentences" for 15-to-17-year-old murderers. These teens are "sent to youth centers for rehabilitation treatment," but the "effectiveness of such treatment is questionable and has been further undermined by offenders' habit of escaping." Sweden's "plans for more prison sentences make eminent sense."

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'9/11 victims deserve transparency. Not a plea deal with terrorists.'

Troy G. Rosasco at USA Today

The "entire 9/11 community deserves full transparency and to be involved in the conversation regarding any plea deals" for the 9/11 plotters, says Troy G. Rosasco. The "handling of the case behind closed doors is nothing less than a stain on the memory of all the victims and an insult to those suffering today," and "both presidential nominees should state their positions on plea negotiations with the 9/11 terrorists."

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'How Harris roped a dope'

David Frum at The Atlantic

Trump "was pushed into broken-sentence monologues," during the debate, while Harris' "debate prep seemed to have concentrated on psychology as much as on policy," says David Frum. Harris "drove Trump and trapped him and baited him — and it worked every time." The debate "will put an end to the Trump claim that Harris is a witless nonentity unqualified to engage in debate," as Harris "dominated and crushed him, using as her principal tools her self-command and her shrewd insight."

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'Tucker Carlson's history lessons'

The Wall Street Journal editorial board

Holocaust rationalization is "false history, and dangerous to the extent it might influence the young and uneducated to believe it," and "critics of Mr. Carlson's interview are rebutting his nonsense, not canceling him," says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. Carlson "can't spread bad history and expect it to go unchallenged." The "rise of social media has made bad ideas and demagoguery easier to spread, especially when promoted by prominent media or political figures."

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'What Beyoncé's snub at the CMAs says about country music's dangerous hierarchy'

Taylor Crumpton at Time

If "country music is one big happy family, Black women are its bastard daughters," says Taylor Crumpton. Beyoncé not receiving a CMA nomination means the "message is clear: If country music is the music of America, then everyone who is not straight, male, and white isn't legitimate." Whether "country music grants them legitimacy or not, Black women will continue on without it," and they "do not need to seek validation from the institutions that dehumanize them."

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'How to talk to Colombia's largest criminal group'

Elizabeth Dickinson at The New York Times

The Gaitanistas in Colombia have "become one of the most powerful organized criminal groups in South America," says Elizabeth Dickinson. Many Colombians "have come to prefer having the Gaitanistas around because they offer protection," and "this perception is part of the group's strategy." Colombia's government "should gauge the Gaitanistas' true interest in peace and what it expects in return. But they "must be ready to walk away if the group takes advantage of dialogue to expand or consolidate."

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'America wants a debate, not a spectacle — it's up to the moderators to set the stage'

Jeffrey M. McCall at The Hill

The "moderators from ABC News, David Muir and Linsey Davis, will also be under the microscope" during the presidential debate, says Jeffrey M. McCall. They "must come through for America's voters, making sure the presidential face-off is conducted with decorum, fairness and genuine substance." ABC "has already made one mistake by assigning two moderators to the debate when one would do just fine," but they "have a great opportunity to help raise the level of discourse."

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'On 9/11, America faced foreign attackers. Today, the danger comes from within.'

The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board

The 9/11 anniversary "brings promises to 'never forget,'" but it is "also worth remembering what else has been lost along the way," says The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board. Increasing domestic terror attacks "underscore the assessment by Homeland Security that white supremacists here pose the same terror threat as ISIS to the United States," and "instead of winning the war against violent extremists, a domestic enemy is knocking on the door of the Oval Office."

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'Medieval theology gives old take on new problem — AI responsibility'

David Danks and Mike Kirby at the Miami Herald

It "seems that no one, or no one thing, is morally responsible for the AI's actions," say David Danks and Mike Kirby. Present "theories of moral responsibility simply do not seem appropriate for understanding situations involving autonomous or semi-autonomous AI systems." Medieval philosophers "held that someone's decisions result from their will, operating on the products of their intellect." These "older ideas might help us today think through how an AI system and its designers might share moral responsibility."

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'This is the world we live in now. Get used to it.'

Nesrine Malik at The Guardian

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's standing ovation from U.S. Congress last week ushered in a "new phase of the war in Gaza — one in which it is not only tolerated as an unfortunate necessity, but is seen as something for which unquestionable support will continue," says Nesrine Malik. This "represents a dissolution not only of international law, but a fundamental human law." While the "sanctity of human life" is what "separates us from barbarism," Israel's war on Gaza has become the "status quo." 

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'The immigrant workforce of America's dairy farms must be protected'

Abdullah Shihipar at The Boston Globe

Americans have seen "headlines about the spread of avian flu for months," and "many wonder if the H5N1 bird flu will develop into a pandemic similar to COVID-19," says Abdullah Shihipar. There have been 14 reported human cases so far and "clearly, America's farmworkers are on the front line" of the risk. Many of them are "exploited immigrant laborers" who "need to be protected" to "prevent a broader pandemic."

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'Warmth helps her avoid the backlash that women … face for showing power'

Cydney Hurston Dupree at the Los Angeles Times

As Kamala Harris works to become the next U.S. president, the "strongest tool in her arsenal is her words," says Cydney Hurston Dupree. "Coverage of Harris throughout her vice presidency has repeatedly ridiculed her speech," with detractors calling her use of language "bizarre and mystifying." But while "some leaders choose to emphasize dominance," Harris chooses to "aim for warmth," which is a "brilliant strategy that can win her the presidency."

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'The outside world has heard little of the horrors'

The Times editorial board

The civil war in Sudan, which has been ongoing for more than a year, is "one of the most brutal, destructive and pointless conflicts in the world," says The Times editorial board. "An epidemic of violence has led to mass rapes and thousands of women being forced into child marriage or sexual slavery," but "no attempt to halt the war or start peace negotiations has yet shown any effect," as the world is "preoccupied with conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza."

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'Ford's EV Stockholm syndrome'

The Wall Street Journal editorial board

Ford's "expensive bet on electric vehicles isn't paying off," says the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. The company is working to comply with government EV mandates, and this means that Ford is "supporting the administration's regulation because it wants to socialize EV losses across the industry." The White House is "using subsidies and mandates to take companies captive to its climate agenda." Ford is the "latest business to come down with Stockholm syndrome, but it won’t be the last."

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'The evolution of Bill Maher'

Nicole Hemmer at CNN

"Bill Maher has built a brand as a risk-taking contrarian," says Nicole Hemmer. Years ago, there "was a time when Maher could say something shocking. You wouldn’t know it from reading his new book." Despite the comedian's reputation, Maher's "worldview is built not on transgression — nothing here is likely to shock you — but rather a relentless nostalgia for the good old days, before Democrats went 'woke' and Republicans went coup-crazy."

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'The end of polio is in sight. What have we learned?'

Richard Conniff at The New York Times

The potential eradication of polio will be a "result of what may seem like a counterintuitive strategy," says Richard Conniff. This is because the "medical tools needed to detect and contain any disease work best in the hands of the people most directly affected by it." If given these tools, developing nations can "apply the lessons learned in this fight against infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, measles, typhoid fever and others yet unknown."

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'Sam Alito's flag flew upside down. Are his ethics?'

Ruth Marcus at The Washington Post

The upside-down flag at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's house "shouldn't come as much of a surprise," says Ruth Marcus, because he "has been doing the moral equivalent for years — and at the office, which is way worse." Alito is the "Fox News-iest of justices, most likely to pick up on conservative media talking points and most predictably partisan." But the "recusal standard that applies to all federal judges ... hits home when it comes to Alito."

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Brexit-regretting ex-pats are ready to punish the Tories

Paul Waugh in The i Paper

A recent move by the UK government means "British expats will now have a 'vote for life', no matter how long they live overseas", writes Paul Waugh in The i Paper. "Unlike the traditional image of expats being typical Tories, the Brexit referendum radicalised many of them against the party." It means that in "giving expats votes for life" Rishi Sunak "could end up fuelling a backlash against his Government at the next election".

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Is Emmanuel Macron secretly hoping for a Trump victory?

Gavin Mortimer in The Spectator

A Donald Trump victory in November "would hasten Emmanuel Macron's ambition for a United States of Europe", writes Gavin Mortimer in The Spectator. "So reviled is Trump by the European elite that they would regard a 'disengagement' from his America as a merciful release." When they need to elect a president for a federal Europe "there will be only one contender: the globalists' golden boy, the darling of the Davos set" – Macron, of course. 

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From bot reporters to the loss of a legendary editor, the Daily Mirror is hanging by a thread

Jane Martinson in The Guardian

"The decline of newspapers is not new, but it will still feel bleak until a reliable source of funding for proper reporting is more readily found," writes Jane Martinson in The Guardian. After swingeing cuts at many papers in recent years, it's "hard not to worry about the future of mass market news that isn't from just one plutocratic viewpoint and local news that isn't provided by a machine". 

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From Windrush to the Post Office, I find a Britain losing its faith in fair play

Anoosh Chakelian in The New Statesman 

A "murmur is rumbling across the country", with "angry beads sweat gathering on the nation’s stiff upper lip", writes Anoosh Chakelian in The New Statesman. "Suspect Covid contracts, the hypocrisy of partygate and poor conduct in public office" are compounding a sense of a loss of faith in fairness. Even a change of government "risks simply running the same machine – stuck in its centralised-globalised muddle of shoddy outsourcing, false economies and groupthink". 

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Fate of Grangemouth shows we’re way off-track

Juliet Samuel in The Times

"The Tories want you to know that the world is getting more dangerous," writes Juliet Samuel in The Times. "Yet they are doing precious little to prepare Britain for this danger; in fact, quite the opposite". There are many government documents "waffling about the need for 'resilience'", but it is "still pursuing policies that make us ever more dependent on others". Britain needs "a broad initiative in the free world to regain competitiveness".

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The world cannot depend on the US to keep trade peace

Alan Beattie in the Financial Times

"When it comes to giving pirates a hard time to keep the arteries of global trade flowing, the US is definitely your go-to country," writes Alan Beattie in the Financial Times. Recent engagement in the Red Sea "underlines that the US's most critical work protecting supply chains is in hard-edged geopolitical and military situations". But as its "motives are more strategic than economic", its actions are "subject to political shifts".

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Supporting Michaela

The Telegraph editorial board

The recent High Court action against head teacher Katherine Birbalsingh, "a hate figure for the Left", for stopping Muslim pupils from engaging in prayer rituals at her Michaela Community School in London "is a travesty", says The Telegraph in its editorial. Birbalsingh "insists on enforcing rules of behaviour and upholding values that a generation or two ago would have been completely unremarkable". Now "it is time someone senior in the Government spoke up to support" her.

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There Are Too Many Ways to Exercise

Yasmin Tayag in The Atlantic

"We are living in a golden age of fitness," writes Yasmin Tayag in The Atlantic. "With workouts to accommodate every skill level, interest, time commitment, and social capacity, it should be easier than ever for novices to find one and get started". Yet  "instead of finding a workout that suited me, choice overload left me even more inert, and less motivated, than I was when I started my search".

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Make amends, Fujitsu

Daily Mail editorial

Fujitsu should not "expect credit for issuing humble apologies and offering compensation" over the Post Office scandal, said the Daily Mail in its editorial. It has had to be "dragged kicking and screaming to this point", and has finally "confessed having known for years that the Horizon IT system it supplied had faults". "Until Fujitsu makes amends, shouldn't ministers blacklist it from receiving lucrative Government contracts?"

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Rising inflation makes a speedy interest rate cut less likely

Kate Andrews for The Spectator

Today's surprising rise in inflation "is not the update politicians and central bankers were hoping for, but as far as monthly data goes, it's not the end of the world either", writes Kate Andrews for The Spectator. It does mean though that "the prospect of interest rate cuts happening sooner rather than later were dampened" as the Bank of England is "going to want to be certain about its inflation data before it looks to cut the base rate".

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Greggs has become too big – we've created a charmless monster

Josh Barrie for the i Paper

"At what point does our love of Greggs sausage rolls become an unhealthy obsession?" asks Josh Barrie for the iPaper. Recent figures "show that almost £2 of every £100 spent in UK bricks-and-mortar hospitality is in Greggs" and "I worry we've created a monster". "When Britain is witnessing 10 closures a day in the sector", it must be said: "Britain cannot survive on sausage rolls alone".

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The media's 'deplatform Trump' strategy will backfire

Fred Bauer for UnHerd

Since Donald Trump left the White House the media has taken the approach of "deplatforming him", writes Fred Bauer for UnHerd. But this may "prove counterproductive for Trump's foes" as deplatforming "only reinforces" the message that he "stands alone against the combined forces of the American elite". "With trust in the press at near-record lows, Trump could have worse foils than major media outlets."

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There is only one realistic way to reduce the number of Channel deaths

Sunder Katwala in The Independent

The recent deaths of five migrants trying to cross the "icy" English Channel were "a sombre reminder" of our need for a functioning asylum system, writes Sunder Katwala, director of non-partisan think-tank British Future, for The Independent. But the row over the government's "troubled Rwanda policy" highlights how "deeply divided" our politicians are on the issue. The Rwanda bill, if passed, would remove just 1% of asylum seekers, and fails to provide alternative safe routes. It increasingly looks "less like a deterrent, than a distraction". 

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The most durable force in American politics: Trump's ties to his voters

Michael C. Bender and Katie Glueck in The New York Times

Donald's Trump's "decisive victory" in this week's Iowa caucus "revealed a new depth to the reservoir of devotion inside his party", say Michael C. Bender and Katie Glueck in The New York Times. His Republican supporters "adore" and have "rallied behind" the former president, despite the the 91 felony charges against him, and despite being offered "viable alternatives" in Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Trump's connection with his supporters has "unleashed one of the most durable forces in American politics".

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Look at this beautiful Japanese toilet and tell me – why is Britain so useless at public loos?

Alberte Lauridsen in The Guardian

Few issues are "more emblematic of the deterioration of civic infrastructure" than Britain's lack of public toilets, writes architect Alberte Lauridsen for The Guardian. The nation's "once-extensive network of civic lavatories has been abandoned, sold or turned into novelty bars". The "gaping holes in basic sanitary provision" put libraries and cafes under pressure as alternatives, and disproportionately affect people with medical conditions. By contrast, the "architecturally outstanding" new toilets in countries such as Japan and Norway put our "lamentable loos" to shame.

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Is Davos still worthwhile?

Financial Times editorial board

The "globalist raison d'être" of Davos is in retreat, say the Financial Times's editorial board. As threats to world stability multiply, the annual World Economic Forum, taking place this week, risks becoming an "echo chamber". Yet the event's "true purpose" lies in its "unmatched power as a giant networking opportunity". Despite the expense and rambling scope, the appeal of a "snowy week of networking and partying" remains "undimmed". Ongoing attendance is guaranteed by "the simple fear of missing out".

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If the Tories don't act, there will soon only be smoking rubble left

David Frost in The Telegraph

The results of a poll showing the Tory party is facing a 1997-style wipeout are "stunningly awful", says David Frost in The Telegraph, and the party will "lose, and lose bad, unless we do something about it". The problem is the Tories "aren't dealing with people's real problems". The only way to "rescue the position" is to "be as tough as it takes on immigration" and other key policy areas.

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Ireland's last nuns are dying out. Can we condemn their abuses – and admit the good they did too?

Dearbhail McDonald in The Guardian 

Nearly three decades after the "catastrophic eruption" of abuse scandals in Ireland, the nation is still reckoning with "the legacy of an unholy communion between church and state", writes Dearbhail McDonald in The Guardian. But many nuns are "devastated" the abuse will "cancel the positive contribution and life's work of their majority". While assessing the impact of Catholicism, "can we hold these truths, the achievements, as well as the abuse?"

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MLK's 'dream' no closer to reality

Anthony Moretti for CGTN 

As America marks what would have been Martin Luther King's 95th birthday today, the nation is "no closer to realizing" his "dream of racial equality", says Anthony Moretti on CGTN. In healthcare, politics and economic standing, African Americans face "pernicious" racism, a barrier to their overall progress. "Almost 61 years after King delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech", there is "no dream. But it does resemble a nightmare."

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Customer service is surely designed to irritate – it must be

Stefano Hatfield on the i news site

The Post Office scandal revealed the "mix of incompetence, carelessness and built-in complexity" Britons must deal with when dealing with a "modern, monolithic corporation", writes Stefano Hatfield on the i news site. Talking to "faceless entities when something has gone wrong" is to experience "Orwellian doublespeak". These may be "first world problems", but they show a society where "everyone 'listens', nobody hears". Everything is the "customer's fault" and there is "zero accountability".

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Britain is a poorer, sicker place. No wonder disability claims have trebled in a decade

Polly Toynbee in The Guardian

There has been an "astonishing" threefold rise in people on disability benefits, writes Polly Toynbee, and the key reasons are obvious. The government's own figures tell a "miserable story" of how austerity has "inflicted real damage" on the health of the nation and our healthcare system. "Battered" by cuts, and with "public services reduced to emergencies only", little wonder that "we are a sicker country".

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South Africa goes to war against Israel at the ICJ

Amotz Asa-El for The Jerusalem Post

"Hitler's death was just several hours away when he dictated the will in which he tried to disown the war that was his," writes Amotz Asa-El for The Jerusalem Post. Now, while the "scales" of the conflicts "are different", the "absurdity is all the same", as "Israel, while facing a genocidal enemy, is the one dragged to the International Court of Justice in The Hague for that very charge".

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A knighthood would undermine everything Alan Bates has fought for

Symon Hill on the i news site

Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates and others who challenged the "outrageous" Post Office convictions should "certainly be celebrated", writes author and activist Symon Hill for the i new site. Yet the push for Bates to be given a knighthood will "do nothing to stop something like this from happening again", but rather "just papers over the cracks".

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The cult of diversity is becoming dangerous

Allison Pearson in The Telegraph

How "deeply depressing" that "diversity is trotted out as the answer to a problem which urgently requires a lot of good men", writes The Telegraph's Allison Pearson, after Defence Secretary Grant Shapps suggested women are the solution to the Armed Forces recruitment crisis. Diversity hires are "not exactly looking that clever at the moment", with the "unremarkable" and now disgraced Paula Vennells surely having only "secured the top job at the Post Office because she ticked a box".

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Justice on the horizon for brave postmasters

The Daily Mail editorial 

"It can be cliched to describe a frightening, disorientating situation as Kafkaesque," says the Daily Mail's editorial. But "no word more perfectly sums up the horrendous ordeal" suffered by the sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of swindling money on the basis of evidence from the faulty Horizon IT system. A mass absolution is the "right" decision, but "until those responsible for this appalling scandal are finally held accountable, the victims will always be denied true justice".

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Europe is the sick man of the global economy

John Rapley on UnHerd

The "real sick man of the world economy at the moment is Europe", writes author and academic John Rapley for UnHerd. By the IMF's reckoning, "six of the world’s 10 worst-performing economies last year" are to be found on this continent. And "it looks to be a case of economic long Covid", with European governments now lacking funds to invest in "fixing the problems they had let fester before the pandemic".

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Why it's time to wear face masks again

Sean O'Grady for The Independent

Covid-19 "isn't over" and mandatory mask-wearing is "a common-sense, precautionary step that will probably slow the spread of the disease", says The Independent's Sean O'Grady. Even if "you yourself are asymptomatic", if wearing masks can "save a single person from long Covid per hospital per year, it is well worth everyone doing their bit".

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Worst impulses of populism won't be quelled by numbers and data

Finn McRedmond for The Irish Times

Like other countries, Ireland "is vulnerable to the populist wave cresting over Europe, to the increasing factionalism general to the Continent", writes Finn McRedmond for The Irish Times. "Weathering that storm requires careful positioning" ahead of the nation's next general election, with a focus on constant reminders that "perhaps your ideological opponent has a point, no matter how ugly it may appear to you". 

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It's time the King distanced himself from Prince Andrew

Alexander Larman in The Spectator 

With more "embarrassing" revelations about Prince Andrew from the Epstein files, King Charles's "continued loyalty to his disgraced younger brother" is an area in which he "deserves criticism", says Alexander Larman in The Spectator. If he hopes to protect his reputation in the "extended honeymoon" of public opinion he is enjoying, the King must cut ties with the Duke of York "both publicly and privately".

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Paula Vennells has become a scapegoat

Simon Kelner on the i news site  

Paula Vennells's decision to return her CBE for services to the Post Office amid ongoing scandal is "nothing but a sideshow", writes Simon Kelner on the i news site. While she "has to shoulder much of the blame for this institutional disgrace", Vennells is only the "symbolic face of corporate heartlessness".

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A regional war in the Middle East is already happening

The National editorial board 

People are "rightly concerned" about the concept of escalating violence in the nations that surround Israel, says The National's editorial board, but "regional conflict is already under way" with Israel responsible for the "lion's share of cross-border attacks". But other forces should not be let "off the hook" as Hamas and Hezbollah are clearly "unconcerned" about the impact of their actions on civilians. 

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Republicans aren't talking to Gen Z voters. If they were, they’d be tackling these issues

Sara Pequeño for USA Today 

Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump are fighting "for the attention of the nation" in TV appearances this evening, says Sara Pequeño for USA Today. But if any of them hope to secure the White House, the party must "get more moderate". 

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Facebook's Tolerance for Audio Deepfakes Is Absurd

Parmy Olson in Bloomberg 

"In the same amount of time it would take to toast a slice of bread", says Parmy Olson in Bloomberg, Joe Biden's voice could be cloned and shared on Facebook. The platform would then "slap a warning label" on the audio clip "but leave it up" – an "antiquated policy" that "could prove disastrous in a divisive election year", because fake audio "can have a more sinister effect" than faked video.

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Sadiq Khan's magic money tree

The Telegraph editorial board 

In "good news" for London commuters, planned Tube strikes have been called off after Mayor Sadiq Khan "managed to conjure up an extra £30 million to offer the RMT" union, says The Telegraph editorial board. The "bad news" is that this is merely a "foretaste of a Labour government prepared to punish the taxpayer and push up borrowing to appease their union paymasters".

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Sunak's sunlit uplands do not exist – not for me, you, or the Tories

Andrew Fisher on the i news site 

Rishi Sunak and his government are "spinning" a "narrative" that we are entering the "sunlit uplands", writes Andrew Fisher, the Labour Party's former executive director of policy, for the i news site. But the reality "remains grim", with stealth taxes, council tax and rent hikes and a cost-of-living crisis. What UK households need is "more security", which is why "it's never been more important to join a union, whether that's a trade union or a tenants' union". 

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The New York Times has lost the plot – and I should know

Suzanne Moore in The Telegraph 

Whether Taylor Swift "is as gay as a window" is "none of my business", says Suzanne Moore in The Telegraph. What "is my business is when respectable news organisations muddle opinion, polemicism and reporting". And "what I find alarming" is The New York Times's decision to publish a "huge essay speculating on a celebrity's sexuality based on nothing but fantasy". 

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The 2024 Golden Globes Were a Near-Total Disaster

Richard Lawson in Vanity Fair

This year's Golden Globes ceremony "felt particularly desperate", says Richard Lawson in Vanity Fair. Host Jo Koy opened with "a horrid, sophomoric mishmash of lazy jokes" that "suggested a disaster in the making". There were "bizarre" segments and a "messy, irregular program" that "undermined the grandeur these things are supposed to evoke". The ceremony "used to be a flawed jewel" of awards season; last night's show was "a near-total disaster".  

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Will Ed Davey have to quit over the Post Office scandal?

Steerpike in The Spectator

Ed Davey "is notable for his frequent calls for public figures to resign after their failings in office", says Steerpike in The Spectator. Now the Liberal Democrats' leader, who was postal affairs minister from 2010-12, is "accused of 'fobbing off' those affected" by the Post Office scandal. He has previously called for "every Conservative MP who cares about integrity to decency" to resign; "perhaps it's time for Davey to show some himself and quit…"  

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Spain Is Doing Something Brave

Omar G. Encarnación in The New York Times 

Spain's new amnesty law, which provides a "blanket pardon" for many who were "caught up" in the illegal Catalan independence referendum in 2017, is a "bold – even a brave – attempt to put an end to the Catalan crisis", says Omar G. Encarnación in The New York Times. It "stands in striking contrast" to the opposition parties' "playbook for defeating separatism in Catalonia", and "offers a better remedy for democratic coexistence in Spain". 

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No wonder Britain isn't having more babies

Sebastian Payne in The Times 

"Woeful policymaking means the state is artificially stifling families," writes Sebastian Payne, director of centre-right think tank Onward, in The Times. "The problems mount from the off, starting with money worries before a child is even conceived." Many of the country's "challenges" will "worsen if our birthrate is left to wither". We need a "new deal for parents"; the UK "will be thankful in decades to come for some bold steps now".   

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The junior doctors' strike is becoming Labour's problem – and it has no easy answers

Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian

Recent industrial action has revealed a "wider malaise" among young professionals, says Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian, "something the next government will inherit". The opposition party could previously "get away with" calling for ministers to "get back round the table", but is now "deep into the era" where "power shifts decisively away from a government". And "all anyone wants to know is what the next lot would do instead".

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Sunak plays it safe with election announcement

Isabel Hardman in The Spectator

The prime minister "is – not unusually – playing it safe by saying his 'working assumption' is that the election will be in the second half of this year", rather than the predicted spring date, writes Isabel Hardman for The Spectator. Rishi Sunak "knows from watching what happened to Gordon Brown's Election That Never Was the dangers of ramping up speculation without following through", but "that doesn't mean he won't change course and go for the May election" after all. "But dampening the chatter about it is a sensible tactic." 

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Jews shouldn't let October 7 change us for the worse

Josh Kaplan in The Jewish Chronicle

The Jewish community's collective New Year's resolution should be to "be open-minded towards our critics", Josh Kaplan suggests in The Jewish Chronicle. "Not every single person who disagrees with the mainstream Jewish opinion on Israel wishes us all dead", and "there are good, normal people with critical views" of Israel. To assume otherwise "diminishes something in us and ensures that the debates around the Middle East will only get more poisonous and all-consuming".

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If you don't eat at restaurants weekly, you can't complain about their demise

Josh Barrie on the i news site

"Vast parts" of the UK's restaurant industry look "increasingly vulnerable", says Josh Barrie on the i news site, following "a number of high-profile closures" in the opening days of 202 . The rule that "if a business is good enough, it will succeed and survive unsavoury times" no longer seems to apply, in part because British diners are "often still far too suspicious, believing restaurants to be overpriced".

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Luke Littler was glorious in defeat, in a sport the snobs hate – what could be more British than that?

Zoe Williams in The Guardian

Most professional sports reward virtues such as athleticism, training and physical endurance, writes Zoe Williams in The Guardian. But darts is different. "The irony, self-mockery and playfulness of codifying a sport that requires skill but no exertion is probably as close to the embodiment of British values as many of us would be prepared to skate."

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The Met needs to focus on cracking down on crime in the capital rather than investigating Israel

The Telegraph editorial board

An appeal by the Metropolitan Police to travellers arriving at London airports for witnesses to report alleged war crimes committed in Gaza has "caused serious concern among British Jews and threatens a diplomatic rift with Israel", said The Telegraph in its leader. While the Met must abide by international war crime warrants, "it is questionable whether it should be actively soliciting information in this way".

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Nigel Farage terrifies the Tories, but the Lib Dems will win more seats

Paul Waugh on the i news site

"There are plenty of reasons to be sceptical about Reform UK’s chances of political progress in 2024," writes Paul Waugh on the i news site. Nigel Farage "may be the only figure who could make Reform UK a real threat", but for him "the ultimate prize may be a Tory wipeout followed by a begging plea to rejoin them and help rescue them from opposition".

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The propaganda that damned Ukraine

Chas Freeman Jr. on UnHerd

The "propaganda machines" in the West have "worked overtime to ensure that we take passionate sides, believe what we want to believe, and condemn anyone who questions the narrative we have internalised" in Ukraine, writes retired US diplomat Chas Freeman Jr. on UnHerd. "The consequences for all have been dire."

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'Post Office scandal is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history'

The Mirror editorial board 

The Post Office scandal has now cost taxpayers in excess of £1 billion, and "there is probably no amount of money that could adequately compensate the 555 postmasters wrongly accused of theft", says The Mirror's editorial board. Many were "grotesquely jailed", with some dying before their convictions could be overturned, yet their treatment by the authorities "remains appalling" . As another year begins, "it is scandalous they are still battling for justice and for those responsible for their suffering to be held to account".

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The truth behind Hamas's birth has been forgotten

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on the i news site

The "agenda and aggravations" of Hamas can be likened to those of the IRA, "a group that doesn't give a damn about the suffering its actions cause to their own people", writes Yasmin Alibhai-Brown for the i news site. Gaza's militant rulers have "turned the legitimate Palestinian cause into a hate-fuelled religious crusade". But while Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer "bang on" about "evil Hamas", journalists should also question "how Israel created and sustained Hamas", yet do not, "because that would upend the propaganda".

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In Britain and the US, elections signify democracy. They also mask its decline

Rafael Behr in The Guardian 

This bumper election year would be a "cause for celebration, if democracy consisted only of the act of voting", says Rafael Behr in The Guardian. But leaders such as Donald Trump grab power by using "demoralisation" to "discredit the idea that elections make a difference". While UK politics is "reassuringly tepid" in comparison, Rishi Sunak "indulges the Trumpian side of British conservatism". So, "the question is not whether Britain is immune, but how soon the rot can be stopped". 

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It's time we stop pressuring ourselves to be 'happy'

Anne McLaughlin in The National 

Over the Christmas and New Year period, "we are all supposed to be happy", writes SNP MP Anne McLaughlin for The National. But as 2024 begins, she suggests that "we would all be a lot 'happier' if we didn't keep trying to be so happy". Seeking "connection, fulfilment and purpose" instead would leave us "a whole lot happier this time next year". 

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Trump’s Final Battle Has Begun

Frank Bruni in The New York Times

Donald Trump has repeatedly called the 2024 presidential race the "final battle", said Frank Bruni in The New York Times. And he "just may be right", at least in terms of how "profoundly meaningful the 2024 election could be" if he is the Republican presidential nominee. And if he wins the election, "the America that he moulds to his self-interested liking may bear little resemblance to the country we've known and loved until now". 

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Sunak is ready to take lessons from Romney

Katy Balls in The Times 

Rishi Sunak met the failed 2012 US presidential candidate Mitt Romney last year and "there are hints that Sunak is learning lessons from him", said Katy Balls in The Times. Sunak's priorities "appear to have a closer resemblance to Romney’s 2012 blueprint" such as a big tax cut over several years, a cut to spending, energy self-sufficiency and better schools. But the question for Tory MPs is "whether this adds up to a plan to stop [Keir] Starmer or a route to respectable defeat".

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How progressive ideology hijacked the festive season

Gareth Roberts in The Spectator 

"Fireworks at New Year are the purest distillation of the spirit of frippery," said Gareth Roberts in The Spectator. So Sadiq Khan "appending a civic lecture to a firework display" was like "adding tripe to a trifle". And ITV "decided to ring in the New Year with a toe-curlingly sanctimonious montage of ludicrously wealthy actors, including Glenn Close and Idris Elba, lecturing its viewers about climate change", said Roberts. "For heavens' sake, bureaucrats and boondogglers – take a day off!"

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Can technology’s 'zoomers' outrun the 'doomers’'?

 John Thornhill in the Financial Times 

The Oxford physicist David Deutsch's "principle of optimism" says that all knowledge that does not contradict the rules of physics can eventually be obtained through the application of science and reason, says John Thornhill in the Financial Times. AI is opening up new avenues for discovery, and many "zoomers" in Silicon Valley believe we should be "racing ahead with technological development at full speed", while "doomers" caution over the "collateral harms of new technology". But "the principle of optimism is a comforting theory, albeit a largely unprovable one, to carry into the new year". 

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Christmas is canceled in the land of Jesus' birth

Queen Rania Al Abdullah in The Washington Post

Bethlehem usually comes alive at Christmas, writes Queen Rania of Jordan in The Washington Post, but not this year. In the Holy Land, "celebrations have been canceled". In the occupied West Bank, one Bethlehem church's nativity scene has the infant Jesus among "the rubble of a bombed-out building". International organisations are calling Gaza "a graveyard for children. How perverse that the Holy Land should be described as something so profoundly unholy."

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Spate of Iranian executions cannot go unchallenged

Jawad Iqbal in The Times

Iran's mullahs are "waging an increasingly deadly war against their own people", says Jawad Iqbal in The Times. More than 127 Iranians have reportedly been executed since October, including women and children, despite international bans on the death sentence for minors. There is also "more than a whiff of suspicion that the regime is taking advantage of the world's focus on Gaza" to quietly crack down on opponents and dissidents.

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Britain's declining birth rate is becoming a problem too big to ignore

Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph

"Fears of a demographic decline are growing across Europe," writes Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph. But what should be a "dry, statistical topic" is being treated as a "dangerous conspiracy theory of the far right". Some believe that discussions of the "birth gap" should "not be allowed to take place", despite plummeting birth rates. But the "natalism debate" matters; it's about the future of society. Politicians who won't address these issues "may well end up forced to make way for those who will".

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'It's behind you': Panto helped me beat depression

Beverley Callard on the i news site

"The fun and laughter of pantomime is the perfect antidote for the dark and cold weather outside," says actress Beverly Callard on the i news site. In 2010, "I struggled badly with severe clinical depression" and "the magic of pantomime is almost healing for me". Panto offers "a sense of escapism" and "a healthy dose of slapstick", as well as "an opportunity to shout and cheer. People always feel happier after a show."

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Bad to the Bone: is this the sleaziest parliament of all time?

Andrew Grice in The Independent

"Why is the current parliament so sleazy," asks Andrew Grice in The Independent. Partly it's down to an independent complaints system for staff, introduced in 2018. But "it also reflects the calibre of those who become our not-so-honourable members". As a wave of misconduct claims since 2019 shows "even lowly backbenchers can think they are a god to be worshipped by their staff and abuse their positions".

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I love the British Museum, but what I've learned about the depth of its crisis fills me with dread

Charlotte Higgins in The Guardian

The British Museum's decision to accept £50 million from BP is "remarkable in its tone-deafness", says Charlotte Higgins in The Guardian. "Put this calamitous decision together with the story of the thefts, and what transpires is an institution gone dangerously off the tracks." Chair George Osborne deserves some credit, but "functioning institutions operate with their trustees in the background, quietly supporting and challenging. Not, like Osborne, becoming the story."

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Mahmoud Abbas Must Go

Samer Sinijlawi in The New York Times

Mahmoud Abbas's leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has "failed to deliver democracy to his people… and failed to ensure they can live a dignified life", writes Samer Sinijlawi, chair of the Jerusalem Development Fund, in The New York Times. The PA could bring unity back to Gaza and the West Bank "only if there are fundamental changes in the authority's structure – and that includes removing Abbas and his cronies from power".

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French feminism is being corrupted

Dora Moutot on UnHerd

"Having raged for years in the UK and US, the transgender debate has finally hit France," says Dora Moutot on UnHerd. In the Sixties, French philosophers challenged the idea that there is a single innate meaning in anything. But in the US "activists like to apply theory to the real world". Now "that language and ideology is seeping into French culture and taking hold of young imaginations".

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Esther’s has been a life well-lived, she deserves the same for her death

Carole Malone in the Daily Express

Esther Rantzen and all other terminally ill people "have a right to say when and how they go", says Carole Malone in the Daily Express, after the television presenter, who has Stage 4 lung cancer, revealed she has signed up for Dignitas. No one should have to suffer a "long, painful and undignified death", and "we must salute this powerhouse of a woman" for using the "time she has left" to campaign for assisted dying in the UK. 

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Why the Colorado decision disqualifying Trump was absolutely right

John Avlon in CNN

The Colorado Supreme Court "just decided that the US Constitution still matters", writes political analyst John Avlon for CNN, in the wake of Donald Trump's removal from the state's 2024 election ballot. Although the former president wasn't at the Capitol on 6 January 2021, "it's clear that he incited a riot" . With the case now heading to the Supreme Court, the decision is "far from a slam dunk". But it is "absolutely right", as "without accountability, coup attempts are just practice".  

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2023 has shown us the misery big-power politics creates. Here's how we can do things differently

Margus Tsahkna in The Guardian 

The "triumph of peace over war" is vital to our "rules-based" world order, writes Estonia's Foreign Affairs Minister Margus Tsahkna for The Guardian, or so the decades-old story goes. Yet "we are witnessing the horrors that this system was supposed to have long ago eliminated", with Russia's "full-scale aggression" and "deteriorating violence and instability" across the globe. At this "pivotal moment in world history", the "only certainty" is that "fundamental change" is needed to strengthen institutions from the UN to the ICC. 

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In defence of Miss France

Kathleen Stock on UnHerd 

The "shock" decision to crown a "short-haired, flat-chested woman" as Miss France has triggered uproar, says Kathleen Stock on UnHerd. Critics claim the beauty contest has succumbed to “le wokisme” in deviating from the traditional winning formula of "voluminous hair, big teeth, an hourglass figure, and eyes sufficiently wide apart that you look ever-so-slightly like a startled faun". But Stock questions whether the status quo is really at threat, because ultimately, "gazing at a truly beautiful face is a source of huge pleasure, and always will be".  

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Trump Is About to Hear a Big Fraud Verdict

Timothy L. O'Brien on Bloomberg 

As Donald Trump's civil fraud trial in New York concludes, the irony is that the state where he made his fortune "may send him into financial exile", writes Timothy L. O'Brien on Bloomberg. His various trials are happening while Trump is "well on his way to securing the Republican nomination for the presidency". But regardless of the outcomes, he is a "threat to the rule of law and a threat to democracy".

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Jimmy Lai trial must reflect Hong Kong's judicial independence not political pressure

South China Morning Post editorial board 

"The level of international interest" in the trial of former media tycoon Jimmy Lai "is unparalleled", says the South China Morning Post editorial board. But this trial "is not just about him"; the "judicial independence" of Hong Kong "will also be under scrutiny". The case is important for the city's "international profile, image and reputation", so the court must "carry out its duty… without fear or favour". 

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Lack of transparency

The Telegraph editorial board 

Four Conservative MPs are being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, but for precisely what "we do not know", writes The Telegraph editorial board. The official charge is "significant damage to the reputation of the House as a whole, or of its members generally", which "on the face of it, sounds serious". But what is clear is that "constituents and the public" both "should be told" what is going on, for transparency's sake.

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£600 for a Christmas day dinner? Rip off Britain at its worst

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on the i news site

It is hard to feel "merry, or full of festive cheer" given the "world is in such a perilous state", says Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on the i news site. But to make matters worse, certain establishments "charging £600 per person for Christmas lunch are fully booked up". This is the fault of "millionaires and billionaires" who have "distorted the leisure and hospitality sectors" with their excess. "That maddens me. And should madden you too."  

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Alex Batty's dark fairytale has a very practical ending

Libby Purves in The Times

The decision of British teenager Alex Batty to escape a "hippyish community" in France is "something to applaud", writes Libby Purves in The Times. While the "idea of being 'off-grid' has many charms", children "are not chattels and we may not cram them into a mould". As such Alex's "nerve to step away from parental eccentricities and determinations" should be embraced. He has used "timeless teenage courage" to chart his own path.  

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How far is Keir Starmer willing to go to reform the NHS?

The Telegraph editorial board 

As Keir Starmer ponders the "NHS permacrisis", he is "taking aim at the inefficient use of the organisation's resources", says The Telegraph's editorial board. He is "quite right", but has he "correctly diagnosed the disease"? An "injection of funding" may help, but "it will be disappointing if this is the extent of his ambition". Only by admitting "many issues are the result of its state-dominated structure" will the NHS  achieve "meaningful reform". 

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UK Government must share what help it's giving to Israel

Kenny MacAskill in The National

As we prepare to "celebrate the birth of a child in a manger in Bethlehem", a mere "40 miles down the road, children are dying in hospitals" due to war, says Kenny MacAskill MP in The National. Britain "cannot have any complicity in the atrocity being perpetuated in Gaza" and Rishi Sunak must cease "being supine to both Israel and President Biden, who can stop this". 

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Boasting season is upon us – and it can't end soon enough

Emma Beddington in The Guardian 

"Be careful out there", warns Emma Beddington in The Guardian, as "it's boasting season". The end of the year often brings a "desire to scream success from the rooftops". But it is important "not to feel threatened by other people's expression of pride". Instead, "find a coping strategy" such as "That's wonderful!" because "anything that adds a drop to the leaky pot of human happiness is worth embracing". 

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If a woman can be raped in broad daylight on a train, there are tough questions for all of us

Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian

Ryan Johnston was sentenced to nine years in prison for raping a 20-year-old woman on the Tube in front of a horrified French tourist and his young son, a "horrific crime" that "shatters any illusions we may still have about when, where and how such things can happen", writes Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. It "punches through all women's comforting illusions about when and how we are safe".

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US should join the world's nations in demanding a Gaza cease-fire

Los Angeles Times editorial board

Hamas atrocities, "no matter how evil", do not justify Israel's "casual conflation of legitimate militant targets and Palestinian civilians", says the Los Angeles Times. Since a brief ceasefire last month, Israel's bombing of Gaza has been – "difficult as it is to fathom – even more brutal". The United States "should choose a path that might make peace in the future still possible. It should reverse its position against a cease-fire."

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Britain is paying the deadly price for telling the public to 'protect the NHS'

Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph

"Thousands of people" are dying from preventable causes and missed diagnoses, writes Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph, and "too few are willing to ask why". So far this year, he notes, an "astonishing" 32,000 more have died in the UK than would be expected from the five-year average. The Covid inquiry should look at "excess deaths" and "consider it a pandemic in its own right", but "this will never happen". 

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Here's some Christmas cheer: Trump may fail

Gerard Baker in The Times

"Let me end 2023 with an exercise in the audacity of hope and make the case that there is just – just – a chance that [Donald] Trump loses the Republican primary," writes Gerard Baker in The Times. "History tells us" the former president's lead in the race for his party's nomination could "crumble" once the primaries start. "Is it possible? Barely. Is it conceivable? Yes. It is conceivable. Happy Christmas!"

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The starkest poverty for 60 years is hurting democracy

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The i Paper

The UK is the world's sixth largest economy, yet roughly six million Britons are locked in "very deep poverty", writes Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The i Paper. Those living an "almost subsistence existence", who "see no prospect of life improving", are "highly unlikely to vote", so the next election could be "the most unequal in 60 years". Good democracies "include and develop" their poorest citizens. "Ours excludes and neglects them."

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Will the hard right really sweep Europe in 2024? If it does, here's what could happen

Nathalie Tocci in The Guardian

There is much talk of a "renewed far right surge" in Europe, writes Nathalie Tocci in The Guardian. This fear has "ebbed and flowed" since several major far-right gains last year, and is "back with a vengeance" after Geert Wilders' triumph in the Netherlands. Political winds in Europe are "clearly blowing to the hard right", threatening support for Ukraine, consensus on migration and climate goals. "None of this bodes well." 

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The Crown is going out in a blaze of camp glory

Alexander Larman in The Spectator

Say what you like about "The Crown", says Alexander Larman in The Spectator, but the show has "gone out in a blaze of either glory or outrage". What began as "a reasonably sober and nuanced drama" has transformed itself into "Eastenders with RP accents". "Purists and royal historians will carp at its tastelessness and excess, but for sheer unbridled entertainment, there's unlikely to be anything to match it this Christmas."

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In Ukraine, the risk isn't stalemate. It's defeat

Lee Hockstader in The Washington Post

An "unspeakable potential endgame" in the Russia-Ukraine war is "being uttered out loud", says Lee Hockstader in The Washington Post: "Kyiv is at risk of losing." Ukraine's fate is "hanging in the balance", not because of its inability to recapture territory nor Russia's advantages, but thanks to US Republicans and Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán impeding aid from the US and the EU. 

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It's time for the West and the rest to talk to each other as equals

Kishore Mahbubani in the Financial Times

Something "profound" is happening in the world, said Kishore Mahbubani in the Financial Times: a "metaphysical detachment of the West from the rest". Billions are silently losing respect for Western countries, where "incompetence has replaced competence" and formerly well-ordered societies become politically volatile, as demonstrated by the rise of Trump. The West and the global south "have to talk to each other", but as equals. "The condescension must end."

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What it really takes to fix a monstrosity like climate change

Auden Schendler in The New York Times

There were "glimmers of hope" from Cop28, said Auden Schendler in The New York Times. But mostly, there were cop-outs. The "purely voluntary" commitment by fossil fuel companies to better capture potent greenhouse gas methane, lauded as a "breakthrough", is merely a way to "appear beneficent while continuing to traffic in oil and gas". Overall, the climate summit's propsals for voluntary commitments – on methane, on renewables, on phasing out fossil fuels – were "theatre". 

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It turns out that Sunak can do politics after all…

John Rentoul in The Independent

Rishi Sunak triumphed on the Rwanda bill so "decisively" that expectations on what comes next "have to be adjusted", said The Independent's chief political correspondent John Rentoul. The government should be "confident" of getting the bill through the Commons. Nevertheless, voters will judge the policy's success by its results. If it fails to stop the boats, "the crisis of the Sunak government will just keep rolling on".

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My two weeks of French exchange were lonely – but life-changing

Jemima Lewis in The Daily Telegraph

A foreign language exchange was "a rite of passage for my generation", said Jemima Lewis in The Daily Telegraph. But now, only 25% of state schools offer the opportunity, and MPs warned this week that "numbers are sliding fast". But to learn a language properly, "immersion is the only option". Students leave exchanges "braver, worldlier and more resilient" than when they arrived. 

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The new 'Rwanda deal' was a shock to Rwandans. We know this is no place for asylum seekers

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza in The Guardian

Britain's Rwanda migrant deal "should be opposed on the basis of the facts", says the former Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza in The Guardian. Human rights in Rwanda are "appalling", meaning no migrant will get a "real solution" here. Many Rwandans "disapprove of the deal" but "fear of the authorities" means they will not speak out. Consequently, efforts to transfer migrants "must be stopped" until Britain "has supported the country to improve".

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Labour is failing to build a new political consensus

Adrian Pabst in The New Statesman  

After "millions of working-class voters abandoned Labour for the Tories" in 2019, it appeared to mark a "realignment of British politics", writes Adrian Pabst in The New Statesman. But it was a "false dawn". As a general election looms again, Labour must seize the opportunity to "put clear blue water between its politics and that of the government", advocating for "social moderation and economic transformation" if it hopes to win.

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The reasons for a Gaza ceasefire are mounting by the day

The National editorial board  

Ahead of a UN ceasefire vote, the international community is "working diligently to not only end the war but also to help Gaza's suffering civilians", says The National's editorial board. However, "the longer this conflict continues, the harder it will be" to bring relief to Gazans. "The time has long passed for all sides to reverse out of this dead end." But with help, the war can end. "The time to accept it is now." 

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It's time the BBC put Have I Got News for You out of its misery

Michael Deacon in The Telegraph 

"Have I Got News for You" was once the "sharpest satire on TV", writes Michael Deacon in The Telegraph, but "for over 20 years now, the show has been almost unalleviated rubbish". Satire should "afflict the comfortable", but the programme now "flatters the comfortable", namely "the type of liberal-left graduate professionals who all share exactly the same opinion of Boris Johnson, as well as of Brexit, Rwanda, Trump and just about everything else".

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Why Nigel Farage failed on 'I’m a Celebrity…'

Gareth Roberts in The Spectator

"I'm a Celebrity" is intended to be a "bubble of fun that takes place as far away as it is possible to get", says Gareth Roberts in The Spectator, so Nigel Farage was "never" going to win the jungle crown. The presence of a politician on the show is an "intrusion" comparable to "putting Marmite in a trifle". And as for winning over "doubters"? Farage was "affable, certainly, but also rather dull".  

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Is Britain Ready to Be Honest About Its Decline?

Matthew Brooker in Bloomberg

To reverse its "relative economic decline", Britain must tackle both "golden thinking" and "inertia", argues Matthew Brooker in Bloomberg. The UK "isn't going to reinvent itself as a manufacturing powerhouse", nor was Brexit a "golden pathway to the promised land of Global Britain". And soaring use of food banks and "15 years of zero wage growth should have been enough of a hint already that something might need to change". But "is Britain ready for the conversation?" 

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Royal Mail is putting the Grinch to shame

Iain Dale in The Telegraph

The "unreliable" and "too expensive" Royal Mail has "transformed itself into the Christmas Grinch", writes Iain Dale for The Telegraph. The postal service is "seeking to penalise festive cheer" by slapping a "peak surcharge" on mail sent over the Christmas period, which will only "discourage more letter sending". With its reputation "shot to pieces", Royal Mail is "losing friends fast", but "it really needn't be this way". 

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Don't dodge Wham! this Christmas … just lean in

Sathnam Sanghera in The Times

"Last Christmas" by Wham! is the "perfect festive tune", says Sathnam Sanghera in The Times. So he "cannot condone" the "increasingly popular" annual social media game #Whamageddon, in which players compete to "go as long as possible through the festive period without hearing the song". No cover version has "got close" to the "perfection" of George Michael's vocal performance. The then 21-year-old also wrote, produced and played every instrument on the track, and that he died on Christmas Day 2016 "gives it added poignancy". 

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