In a weekend that saw India-Pakistan tensions threaten to erupt into all-out war, our reporters Hannah Ellis-Petersen in India, Aakash Hassan in Kashmir and Shah Meer Baloch in Pakistan covered the unfolding missile strikes and reprisals. Amid the crisis, Hannah profiled the man calling the shots in Pakistan, army general Asim Munir. After diplomatic efforts to bring the nuclear-armed neighbours back from the brink finally swung into action, Hannah and Shah told the story of how the shaky ceasefire was brokered. Jason Burke warned that a new battle looms over who takes control of the narrative, and Helen Davidson and Amy Hawkins looked at how the week of skirmishes had served as a wake-up call to the potency of Chinese weaponry.
Shaun Walker interviewed Volodymr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on the eve of proposed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, during which the Ukrainian president said he hoped the current period of frantic diplomacy and high-stakes gambits would result in Donald Trump understanding that Vladimir Putin is the real obstacle to a peace deal. Guardian Europe columnist Nathalie Tocci also went to Kyiv and found bravery, hope and Ukrainians with a new confidence in themselves.
Millions will cast their votes in Romania, Poland and Portugal this weekend in an electoral “super Sunday” to determine the direction of their democracies at a time of heightened political, commercial and economic tensions. Our Europe correspondents produced a rundown of the situation in each country with enhanced visuals.
In a week dominated by the UK Labour government’s controversial rhetoric about reducing immigration, Politics Weekly UK’s John Harris spoke to Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy about why she and others are so concerned about Keir Starmer’s language. Political correspondent Peter Walker looked at how Starmer’s speech in which he said the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers” contained an echo of Enoch Powell’s 1968 “rivers of blood” speech, the most infamous in modern British political history. Columnist Zoe Williams summed up the feelings of many who hoped for better from a Labour government, asking: “Is there anyone in top-level meetings saying: ‘This will not make Reform less obnoxious. This will not make them more moderate, and it will not stop people voting for them. All it will do is make your own supporters despair.’”
After covering her trial, Hannah Al-Othman had an exclusive interview with Nicola Packer, the British woman cleared last week of illegally terminating a pregnancy. She explained that she is speaking out to try to ensure there is never again an abortion trial in England.
Kiran Stacey and Dan Milmo revealed that UK technology secretary Peter Kyle held 28 meetings with people in or close to the tech sector in six months, prompting allegations he used his position to push big tech’s agenda. Dan’s accompanying analysis was full of expert voices on how Labour’s emphasis on tech-driven growth has led to an imbalance of access to No 10. Rowena Mason got a great exclusive about how the House of Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, kept almost 300 gifts including dozens of bottles of alcohol and food hampers.
After obtaining a much anticipated book on Joe Biden’s decline, our chief Washington correspondent David Smith was the first to report on its damning insights from former Biden advisors, and the actions of aides and senior Democrats that propelled Trump back to the White House. Lauren Aratani reported the findings of our poll that revealed many Americans are holding off on big life decisions due to economic anxiety under Trump, and Marina Hyde considered Trump’s plans for a new Air Force One, AKA “a state-of-the-art griftliner from the Qatari royal family”.
The aftermath to Trump’s election victory was marked by concern about a widespread shift to the right among young men (see below for more) and the rise of the online “manosphere”. Australia’s recent election bucked that trend with young men proving more likely to swing towards Labor. Caitlin Cassidy explored why. Similarly, after the Liberals’ terrible showing among female voters, Kate Lyons and Krishani Dhanji looked at what the party (which this week elected the more moderate Sussan Ley as its new leader) can do to win back conservative women.
Everton’s men’s football team play their last game at Goodison Park on Saturday (the club on Tuesday revealed the famous old ground would be refitted for its women’s side). Andy Hunter wrote some retrospectives including interviews with club legends Colin Harvey and Duncan Ferguson; Tom Jenkins’s picture essay took readers on a tour of the ground’s history and fans’ love of the stadium; and David Squires’s one-hit cartoon on the subject was a funny tribute.
I enjoyed Nesrine Malik on Michelle Obama’s podcast IMO (she was prepared to sneer but ended up hooked); Gaby Hinsliff on the false university dream peddled to today’s young adults of well-paid jobs and stable futures; Gwyn Topham on why there’s a shortage of train drivers in the UK; Hettie O’Brien’s long read on convicted lawyer Stephen David Jones; Astrid Probst’s meeting with 100-year-old Edgar Feuchtwanger, whose Jewish family were once Adolf Hitler’s neighbours (and who is perhaps the last living person to have met the Nazi leader); Sarah Lee’s backstage photos at the Bafta TV awards; Ben Beaumont-Thomas’s rare interview with pop superstar the Weeknd, and Elif Shafak on why novels bring us together in fractured times.
One more thing … I spend most weekends visiting a beloved elderly relative and it’s the only time I ever watch terrestrial TV these days. I’ve been astonished by the quality of old films that are on BBC Two (in the UK) most Saturdays in the early afternoons. In recent months we’ve watched The Train, The Shop Around the Corner, The Third Man and High Society, and they’re all perfect.
