Beginning July, state will become the first to charge an 11% excise tax, on top of federal and sales taxes, with an aim to reduce gun violenceStarting in July 2024, California will be the first state to charge an excise tax on guns and ammunition. The new tax - an 11% levy on each sale - will come on top of federal excise taxes of 10% or 11% for firearms and California's 6% sales tax.The National Rifle Association has characterized California's Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act as an affront to the constitution. But the reaction from the gun lobby and firearms manufacturers may hint at something else: the impact the measure, which is aimed at reducing gun violence, may have on sales. Continue reading...

Super Pac has run ads opposing the congressman and supporting his opponent as he criticizes Israel's military campaign in GazaA Super Pac affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has revved up its campaign spending, pouring $2m into a New York congressional primary to oppose the progressive incumbent Jamaal Bowman.Campaign finance disclosures released this weekend showed the Super Pac, called United Democracy Project (UDP), spending about $1m in support of Bowman's opponent, the moderate Democrat George Latimer and $1m in negative advertisements opposing Bowman. If the group succeeds in defeating Bowman, it will deliver a significant blow to the progressive wing of the House. Continue reading...

Council members condemn NYPD's pre-emptive, retaliatory and cumulatively aggressive' conduct at protest on SaturdayOutrage was growing on Monday to a cumulatively aggressive" response by the New York police department to a weekend pro-Palestine street rally in Brooklyn, in which officers were caught on video beating protesters who had already been detained.Cellphone footage by witnesses at Saturday's gathering in Bay Ridge showed NYPD officers - including two wearing the uniforms of police commanders - punching at least three people on the ground. Continue reading...

We must make sure nothing like this happens again', Rishi Sunak exclaimed. Except it willRemember Hillsborough? Remember Grenfell? Remember the Post Office Horizon scandal? Of course you do. So you probably don't have much faith in organisations and government to tell the truth. Because on every occasion, what you get from politicians is a lot of hand-wringing. Bucketfuls of faux piety. Verging on the lachrymose. Not forgetting the sincerity. Always the sincerity.This. Must. Never. Be. Allowed. To. Happen. Again," they say. Talking extra slowly and over-emphasising each word. Because this time they think the public might be watching them. Because this time they expect to be believed. Read my lips. I'm an honest broker." Except we all know they're not. That every time they say this mustn't happen again, there's another thing coming just round the corner they had said must never happen again. Continue reading...

The high court decision to allow an appeal against extradition is good news. But a political resolution to this saga needs to be soughtGiven the real possibility of his extradition within days to face espionage charges in the United States, Monday's high court decision granting JulianAssange leave to appeal was a last-ditch victory for good sense. Mr Assange and his lawyers now have some months of breathing space, during which the search for a political resolution to his case can continue. Fourteen years into this protracted saga, that would be by far the mostdesirable outcome.Handing Mr Assange a legal lifeline, the high court rightly judged US assurances that Mr Assange could seek" to rely in court on first amendment protections to be less than a guarantee. Its decision, though related to Mr Assange's status as a non-US national, underlined the broader risks of pursuing a trial on the basis of charges put together by Donald Trump's justicedepartment in 2019.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Two installations host a 24/7 live stream in both cities, but a small number of visitors initially abused the opportunityThe live video portal linking Dublin, Ireland, to New York, New York, has reopened after unruly behavior got the modern art sculpture temporarily shut down.The two installations making up the Portal - created by the Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys - host a 24/7 live stream in both cities so people can see and interact with each other. One installation is located in the Flatiron district of New York, and the other is on Dublin's popular O'Connell Street. Continue reading...

LIV golfer's final-round charge captured viewers' imagination and provided so many of the major's memorable momentsXander Schauffele won the 106th US PGA Championship but Bryson DeChambeau brought the thunder. Four days at Valhalla served as a reminder of DeChambeau's star quality in a sport which has been fractured, possibly beyond repair, by the arrival of the SaudiArabianbacked LIV tour. Some shrugged when DeChambeau departed the PGA Tour for LIV; in Kentucky, he proved he has lost none of his ability to command attention. DeChambeau fell one stroke short of a playoff after Schauffele nervelessly holed out from 6ft on the 72nd green.I felt like I had my B' game pretty much," DeChambeau said. My putting was A+, my wedging was A+, short game was A+, driving was like B. I shot 20 under par in a major championship. Proud of myself for the way I handled adversity. Definitely disappointing, but one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the majors. I said this was closing time, but it will be closing time hopefully over the next couple of majors." Continue reading...

Investigation ongoing as authorities say explosion at home, where propane leak was found, was unusual because it did not cause a fireFour people in rural Missouri died when an explosion that could be heard 10 miles (6.2km) away occurred at a house.The explosion occurred Saturday night near the unincorporated town of Goodhope. The Douglas county sheriff, Chris Degase, said the home was undergoing renovations, and a propane leak was found. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the state fire marshal's office and local officials continued investigating on Monday. Continue reading...

Successive home secretaries and the courts have been spineless in pandering to the US governmentAlmost obscured on its perch outside the Royal Courts of Justice, amid the crush of camera crews and vociferous supporters of Julian Assange, was the statue of Samuel Johnson, a man who also knew the importance of getting information out to as wide an audience as possible. To keep your secret is wisdom," is one of his better known observations, but to expect others to keep it is folly."The high court decision to grant leave to appeal to Assange was a further reminder to the US authorities and their apologists in Britain of the folly inherent in their attempt to extradite and jail a man whose main offence is publishing the shameful secrets of the US government and its armed forces. In a just world, the court would have brought this whole absurd legal process to an end there and then, but the fact that an appeal has been granted is both a defeat for the US and renewed cause for hope for Assange.Duncan Campbell is a freelance writer who worked for the Guardian as crime correspondent and Los Angeles correspondentDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

The Rubyglow pineapple was created in Costa Rica after 16 years of research and only a few thousand are produced each yearA limited-edition pineapple priced at $395 - a cost many would find exorbitant - is being sold at a southern California produce store as the bustling specialty fruit market expands.While the average family may not be able to spring for the costly fruit, the expensive pineapple is a visible reminder of the demand among wealthy customers for luxurious produce. Continue reading...

The club's phenomenal wealth, and its supreme competence, has led to an excellence that is both predictable and a perhaps a little dull

Bird Key, a nesting sanctuary bought for a song in mid-1980s, is for sale for $31.5m as a golden opportunity for a developer'Environmental advocates in Florida say they are heartbroken that a wealthy investor who once intended to save a historic private island as a seabird preserve now wants to sell it for development into Miami's most exclusive address".Bird Key, one of only two natural islands in upper Biscayne Bay, was named by British surveyors in 1770 during the reign of George III for its abundant wildlife, and has served as an unspoiled nesting sanctuary since then to scores of species of native birds, including egrets, cormorants, herons and pelicans. Continue reading...

After outrage in the UK about the skyrocketing cost of a scoop, how does the rest of the world compare?The cost of two ice-cream cones topped with bubble gum has famously risen to 9 in some parts of the UK. With inflation rampant in several countries around the world, is the price of cooling down on a hot day creeping up globally? Continue reading...

The upside-down flag at Samuel Alito's house after the Capitol attack reveals how disgraceful our supreme court has becomeThese people can't help themselves. Last week, the New York Times revealed that during the days after the violent attack on the Capitol on 6 January 2021, when the US supreme court was still considering whether to take up cases challenging Joe Biden's election victory, the home of the supreme court justice Samuel Alito, in suburban Virginia, flew a pro-coup flag. The Times printed photos of the American flag flying upside-down on a pole in Alito's front yard; by January 2021, the upside-down flag had become a well-known symbol of the so-called Stop the Steal" movement, champions of Donald Trump who supported his legal and violent attempts to overthrow the 2020 election.At the time, pro-Trump social media groups were encouraging supporters to fly their flags this way; upside-down flags had been carried by some of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol, just a few days before the symbol appeared outside Alito's house. In the election case that was then before the court, Alito voted to hear Republican challenges to the election results. But he didn't get enough of his colleagues to vote his way. Not that time. Continue reading...

Independent presidential candidate listed home in foreclosure as address, but is not listed in public searches as one of its residentsRobert F Kennedy Jr has listed a home in foreclosure for non-payment as his voting address, though he does not own the property and is not listed in public searches as one of its residents, according to online records.In a statement late Sunday to the New York Post, which first reported on the home in question and how neighbors have never seen him there, the independent candidate's presidential campaign insisted that the property was his official address". Continue reading...

The Minnesota star's shapeshifting brilliance helped the Timberwolves oust the defending NBA champions in a pulsating seven-game seriesThis isn't the way things were supposed to end. When the Denver Nuggets bolted to a 20-point lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves halfway through the deciding game of the Western Conference semi-finals, it seemed as if the final chapter of this engrossing, hectic, epic series was written: the defending champions, stunned and humiliated in Games 1, 2 and 6, had risen off the canvas to deliver the decisive blow at the decisive moment. Then something happened. Anthony Edwards happened.Edwards, the No 1 pick in the 2020 draft, has long been described as the future face of the NBA. At 22, he's already the undisputed leader of the Timberwolves - an impressive achievement in itself, given he plays with another former No 1 draft pick (Karl-Anthony Towns), an all-time defensive great (Rudy Gobert), and a wily veteran guard (Mike Conley Jr). Boxed out of Game 7's opening exchanges by a Nuggets defense happy to give the oft-misfiring Gobert open looks, Edwards scored just four points in the first half, and his third quarter began in inauspicious fashion: a shot from beyond the arc clunked off the lip of the rim, then he airballed another attempt. He shook the failures off, reasserted himself in defense, then ran the length of the court for an easy layup. Continue reading...

Stella Assange said the judges deliberating on the extradition case against her husband had 'reached the right decision' after Julian Assange was granted leave to appeal. Speaking outside the high court in London, the lawyer and human rights activist also called on the Biden administration in the US to drop the case

Genesis White Bull had decorated her cap with traditional Lakota decorations including a feather plume, which school staff cut offA high school in New Mexico has apologized after a video went viral of staff confiscating the feathered graduation cap of a student before its commencement ceremony.Farmington high school senior Genesis White Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, had decorated her graduation cap with traditional Lakota decorations including beadwork and an aopazan, a white feather plume. Continue reading...

Jury selection to begin as Nima Momeni accused of murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee in April last yearProceedings begin Monday in the trial of Nima Momeni, the 38-year-old tech entrepreneur accused of murdering Cash App co-founder Bob Lee in San Francisco last year in a saga that has shaken the tech community.Momeni is accused of stabbing Lee, 43, to death in the early-morning hours of 5 April last year. The two were acquaintances, and had allegedly disputed over Lee's relationship with Momeni's sister, Khazar Elyassnia. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has launched one of his most scathing attacks yet on Donald Trump's record of racism, suggesting that the former US president would have reacted differently to the January 6 2021 insurrection if it had been led by Black people.The remarks, at a dinner hosted by a civil rights organisation in a critical swing state, pointed to an intensifying battle between Biden and Trump for African American voters before November's presidential election

The trailblazing musician was a powerful force for change and unity, and his legacy continues to inspire millions. He deserves his homeland's highest honourHe is a 20th-century global icon but not officially designated a national hero in his own land. In a recent interview at the Bob Marley: One Love movie premiere, Jamaica's prime minister, Andrew Holness, disclosed that his government was considering again the longstanding petitions to award its highest honour to the legend. Marley's's profound impact on music and Jamaican culture is undeniable. From Kingston to Harare, he stood for social justice and freedom and against colonialism. To have decades of deliberation by politicians on whether to declare him a national hero is baffling.From baby boomers to generation X, growing up in the Caribbean was enriched by a vibrant and resonant tapestry of diverse music. The formative backdrop was artists such as Sam Cooke, Sparrow, Jim Reeves, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire and Bob Marley. All could be heard back to back on the airwaves. Reggae was growing internationally, with Marley paving the way for the multitude of Caribbean artists to come. Continue reading...

Iran declares five days of mourning after president killed in a crash in fog-covered mountains. Plus, the film enfant terrible Harmony Korine on mowing lawns after burning out

The prospect of a high school or college reunion elicits shame, dread and regret. What if going could actually be good for your mental health?Both of us have 25th college reunions fast approaching. And as we write this, neither of us has registered. The emotions that these events tend to inspire - most notably shame, dread and regret - loom so large in our psyches that we spent the pandemic co-writing a novel that hinges on reunion-phobia.Apparently we're not the only ones. A friend of ours, Rebecca, hasn't mustered the courage to RSVP to her 20-year-college reunion in June. I am terrified," she said. I both really want to go and I really don't want to go."Rachel Dodes and Lauren Mechling co-wrote The Memo: A Novel, out from Harper Perennial on 18 June Continue reading...

Biden will be remembered as a president who could have restrained Israel but instead made the US complicit in this warWith great fanfare, Joe Biden confirmed on 8 May that his administration had suspended one weapons shipment to Israel, delaying the delivery of 3,500 bombs that can cause devastating casualties when dropped on population centers. Biden said he warned Israeli leaders that he would also block artillery shells and other munitions if Israel went ahead with a ground invasion of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, where 1.4 million Palestinians have taken shelter.It seemed Biden had finally decided to use the most effective leverage he has over Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and his extremist government to force an end to Israel's devastating war in Gaza. But less than a week later, it became clear that Biden had backtracked and he will continue sending Israel far more weapons than the one shipment he held back. Last Tuesday, the Biden administration notified Congress that it would move ahead with more than $1bn in new arms deals for Israel.Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor at New York University Continue reading...

Abe Dane once had doubts about voting security. His work as an elections administrator changed his view: These are people just like me'Abe Dane would be the first to admit he had concerns about election fraud during the 2020 election. He believed the elections in his own county, where he had worked the polls, were clean - but he wasn't sure about other counties in the state, where unfounded claims of fraud swirled in 2020.That was before he took a position in local election administration. Now, with first-hand experience, Dane, the director of elections in Hillsdale county, Michigan, is confident in the process. Continue reading...

Hyping conspiracy theory that Democrats are bringing people into US to vote for Biden, extremists try to tie immigration to electionsDozens of Donald Trump's allies and election denialists, including extremists like lawyer Cleta Mitchell and ex-adviser Stephen Miller, are promoting a bill to bar non-citizens from voting in federal elections, even though it's already illegal and evidence that non-citizens have voted in federal races is almost nil.The push for the bill is seen as further evidence of extremist tactics used by ex-president Trump and his Maga movement to rev up his base of supporters for the 2024 election with outlandish claims designed to scare-monger over election fraud and far-right rhetoric detached from reality. Continue reading...

The US president Joe Biden asks at civil rights event: what do you think he would have done ... if Black Americans had stormed the Capitol?'Joe Biden has launched one of his most scathing attacks yet on Donald Trump's record of racism, suggesting that the former US president would have acted differently to the January 6 2021 insurrection if was led by Black people.The remarks, at a dinner hosted by a civil rights organisation in a critical swing state, pointed to an intensifying battle between Biden and Trump for African American voters ahead of November's presidential election. Continue reading...

Hastily established racial equality schemes are being shuttered. What survives is a movement that's achieving real changeIf 2020 was the year that Black Lives Matter went mainstream, 2024 was the year it died. Quietly, without even the customary whimper, the trappings of diversity so frantically sought and flamboyantly brandished after those protests four years ago are being discarded.Like so many of the promises and pledges of the pandemic era, those of its accompanying racial equality movement have been swallowed whole by reality. But it's worth remembering how large, how global, how fashionable it all was at the time. There were big, iconic moments, such as the removal of statues in Europe and the US, that triggered soul-searching about our history, and which opened up productive avenues of reappraisal. And there were others that four years later you cringe to remember: the black squares on social media, Nancy Pelosi taking the knee wearing kente cloth, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner also taking the knee while looking soberly into the camera. Continue reading...

Republican senator's comments come as he is considered among Trump's top candidates for vice-presidentThe Republican Florida senator Marco Rubio said on Sunday he would not commit to accepting the 2024 presidential election results, insisting that if it's unfair" his party will go to court and point out the fact that states are not following their own election laws".Rubio's statements on Meet the Press come as he is considered among former president Donald Trump's top candidates for vice-president. Trump has continuously said falsely that the 2020 election was stolen. Continue reading...

From Moises Caicedo's brilliance to Jurgen Klopp's goodbye, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the top-flight weekendAny concerns that it would be a nervy day for Manchester City were erased by Phil Foden a minute into their title coronation. The Premier League Player of the Season delivered the performance of the week to hand City their fourth successive title. It took all of 79 seconds for Foden to kick off the coronation. Continue reading...

Gaza protesters wore keffiyehs as Biden tried to assure the crowd: Your voices should be heard, I promise you I hear them'It was, in the end, an artful compromise.Joe Biden got to speak uninterrupted and renew his pitch to Black voters. Protesters got to make their point by wearing keffiyehs or raising a fist. Even the skies were merciful, hinting at but never quite unleashing rain. Continue reading...

Speech warmly received at historically Black college despite backlash from students in weeks leading to address over warJoe Biden told graduating students of Morehouse College that American democracy has failed the Black community, but vowed to continue fighting the poison of white supremacy", in a widely watched speech to a historically Black college during an election year.Despite a backlash from some students and alumni in the weeks leading up to Biden's commencement address, including over the Hamas-Israel war and concerns that Biden would use the speech as a campaign event, the president's address to the all-male school was warmly received. He used his speech to reaffirm his commitment to democracy in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, and to reiterate his call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Continue reading...

A school district in Houston has voted to redact chapters on vaccines and climate change, and parents and educators are worriedThe wave of book bans sweeping the US, typically reserved for works of fiction deemed controversial, has hit textbooks used in public schools, marking the next step in Republicans' war on education.The board of trustees for the Cypress Fairbanks independent school district in Houston voted 6-1 earlier this month to redact certain chapters in science textbooks, including those about vaccines, human growth, diversity, and climate change. Continue reading...

Irish rugby international who went on to become one of his country's most charismatic businessmenAs Ireland's best known and most flamboyant businessman, Sir Tony O'Reilly, who has died aged 88, was instrumental in changing the image of his country from that of a commercial backwater into one of a booming Celtic Tiger" economy. Never notably self-effacing, he once said: The Irish in many countries concealed their identities. I got the Irish to be rather proud of the Irish."But the career of the titan who had once been Ireland's richest man and a sporting hero ended in failure when, in a demonstration of hubristic over-reach, he was pursued through the courts for debts which, in spite of the sale of his houses and art collection, he was unable to pay, and he was declared bankrupt in 2015. Continue reading...

During a bombastic speech in Dallas, GOP frontrunner asks: Are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?'Donald Trump flirted with the idea of being president for three terms - a clear violation of the US constitution - during a bombastic speech for the National Rifle Association in which he vowed to reverse gun safety measures green-lighted during the Biden administration.You know, FDR 16 years - almost 16 years - he was four terms. I don't know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?" The ex-president and GOP presidential frontrunner said to the organization's annual convention in Dallas, prompting some in the crowd to yell three!" Politico reported. Continue reading...

The latest victims of the culture wars? Woke white goods. Because, apparently, energy efficiency and lower electricity bills are unAmericanIf you've ever wished your dishwasher used more water, or found your fridge too cheap to run, help is at hand. US Republicans have their sights set on one of the greatest scourges of our age: woke white goods.You may or may not remember last year's induction hobs are unpatriotic" idiocy. For the mercifully uninitiated, one of 2023's more niche culture war moments crystallised around an allegation that the Feds" were going to take away" gas stoves. This was demonstrably untrue: despite plentiful research demonstrating gas stove emissions are hazardous to human health, there was no proposed ban, just a statement from a consumer safety commissioner that any option is on the table" with harmful products; the White House almost instantly clarified that it would not support a prohibition. Shame: imagine the bootleg methane speakeasies. Continue reading...

A ballot measure on the legalization of recreational marijuana has been overshadowed by the vote on abortion rightsThe push to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida ramped up this week. Campaigners bankrolled by dominant players in the cannabis and CBD marketplace launched a $5m advertising blitz in support of a ballot measure in November's election that has so far been overshadowed by publicity for the one on abortion rights.Four commercials featuring retired military personnel, business owners, law enforcement officers and regular citizens began appearing on television, radio and the internet, leaning in heavily to themes campaigners believe will appeal to the 60% of voters amendment 3 needs to pass. Continue reading...

A Miss USA winner has handed back her crown, and another champion has resigned - is the lustre of the pageant starting to wear off?The US beauty pageant industry, in a concise summation made last week, is such a hot mess".Two reigning beauty queens have stepped down in as many weeks, and there may be more turbulence to come to an area of showbusiness that promotes a sheen of perfection - at least among its contestants - but is increasingly seen as out of date with modern social mores. Continue reading...

As a slew of Republicans went to the hush-money trial to show their fealty to their boss, the president tried to rise above itDonald Trump last week turned his New York fraud trial into a political circus and a platform for his election campaign while Joe Biden struggled to persuade voters that they're wrong about the economy.Trump engineered a parade of leading Republicans to demonstrate their allegiance outside the courthouse in downtown Manhattan even as his trial laid bare the swamp that is the former US president's professional and personal life. Continue reading...

Our desires are an essential part of who we are - as I discovered when I lost my appetite for six monthsMostly, walking down New York streets in spring sunshine is the cinematic, euphoric ideal of what it is to be alive. It's the thing I looked forward to for decades. It meant to me, back then as a kid in Ireland, listening to songs about Lexington and 14th Street, freedom: an almost deranged amount of freedom.Sometimes, though, walking down New York streets in spring sunshine is agonising in both a physical and spiritual sense. This may be so, for instance, if you have no health insurance and are very stupid. Like me. That was in February 2023. I had been in increasingly acute pain for days, but because of a stubborn ability to ignore bodily breakdown and also a reluctance to spend money on healthcare in the US when I was only visiting, I kept going until I collapsed into an urgent care centre that I luckily passed one evening as I was dragging myself with manic good cheer to another dinner, despite being barely able to walk. Continue reading...

Pundits say rising negative feelings to other parties threatens democracy. Apart from in America, new research tells a different storyThe frontrunner to be the next US president is spending his weeks in court, charged with a criminal offence related to an alleged sexual encounter with a porn star. This would normally be suboptimal from a campaign perspective, but to date is having no effect on support for Donald Trump.Moreover, whether you think the US economy is going gangbusters or collapsing depends not on whether wages and employment are rising but on whether you side with Democrats or Republicans, with the latter currently reporting that economic conditions are worse than in the depths of Covid. Continue reading...

When people were offered a window between New York and Dublin, puerile behaviour beat bridging worldsHow will technology change us as a species? In Silicon Valley, all prophesies seem to have converged into one: that it will usher in some sort of planetary Buddhist revolution. To read its mission statements and watch its Ted Talks is to hear phrases such as connectedness", common understanding" and overcoming barriers". You could probably pitch a social media platform and a spiritual handbook simultaneously these days: This will lead humanity to smiling, peaceful enlightenment."The soothsayers in Hollywood, meanwhile, see it differently. Introduce new tech within a blockbuster film and things tend to go one of two ways. Awe and then terror, as the product wreaks havoc on the planet; or alternatively, the rise of an emotionless new society, where, surrounded by intelligent machines, people start behaving a bit like robots themselves. The stereotypical sci-fi citizen is cold, sombre, aloof and efficient. In the minds of scriptwriters, at least, tech will at some point leach the very humanity out of us. Continue reading...

As he demonstrated at the launch of his pledge cards, the Labour leader has succeeded in de-risking perceptions of his partyWho scares wins. That has been the motto of many, often successful Conservative election campaigns. Fear may not be an edifying strategy for securing power, but the Tories have repeatedly demonstrated that it can be highly effective. Time and again, they have persuaded voters that Labour is just too risky to be trusted with government. The red scare" of 1924, whipped up with the aid of the fraudulent Zinoviev letter, brought an abrupt end to the short life of the first Labour government. The tax bombshells" dropped on Neil Kinnock in 1992 exploded his dreams of becoming prime minister. Tory claims that Ed Miliband would wobble atop a coalition of chaos" helped to floor that Labour hopeful in 2015. The big scare has often been a winning formula for the Tories.So it was pretty much inevitable that Rishi Sunak would press a quivering finger on the fear button. Not least because he is so short of any other ideas for making the general election look competitive for his party. He's previously tried marketing himself as MrStability, MrDelivery and Mr Change. None of these iterations has put a dent in Labour's headline poll ratings. They insistently place Sir Keir Starmer's party about 20points ahead of the Tories. In his most recent attempt at a relaunch, an exercise he performs almost as often as he changes his undies, the Tory leader tried another costume. This time he cloaked himself in the garb of MrSecurity. In what Downing Street puffed as a big speech, the prime minister tried to chill the country's bones with the warning that Britain is entering a very dangerous period. His ostensible subject was the threat from an axis of authoritarian states". His electoral purpose was to try to build an argument that voters will be safer sticking with him than taking a punt on Labour. Continue reading...

The Liverpool manager, who bows out today after nine years, knew football was the most important of least important things'It's not so important what people think when you come in," Jurgen Klopp observed on beingunveiled as Liverpool manager in October 2015. It's much more important what people think when you leave."Today is the day Klopp leaves. It is the final day of the Premier League season in England, and Manchester City will probably be (again) crowned champions. It is also the final day of Klopp's tenure as Liverpool manager, a moment that will wring the emotions, and not just at Anfield. Football is deeply tribal, but Klopp stepping down is an event that resonates well beyond Liverpool supporters, even beyond the world of football. Continue reading...

Even his defence minister knows that there can be no military solution to the war with HamasThe emotional vow by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, to destroy" Hamas after it massacred about 1,200 people on 7October 2023 was understandable. But in practice it was never a realisable aim. Eight months into the ensuing conflict, more than 35,000 Palestinians are dead, yet Hamas is still fighting in parts of Gaza that Israel's army thought it controlled, a new humanitarian crisis looms around Rafah, 640,000 people have been displaced again, and the agony of Israeli hostages and their families is daily renewed. Three more bodies were recovered on Friday.Defeating Hamas remains a vital objective for Israel and most western and Arab governments, as well as ordinary people appalled by its actions. But, from the very first, Netanyahu has failed, or rather refused, to articulate a day after" strategy for administering (and rebuilding) Gaza once its terrorist rulers are supposedly destroyed". Despite the evidence, he refuses to accept that military force alone will not work. Hamas's defeat, if it is to be permanent, must be political, legal, economic and psychological as much as physical. Continue reading...