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The Observer - May 24, 2026

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In this issue

May 24, 2026

Keir’s beers: No 10 plans World Cup pavement pints

Harold Wilson declared after England’s 1966 victory that “we only win the World Cup under a Labour government”.

1 mins

Reform candidate in Makerfield calls abortion ‘cowardly murder’

Reform UK’s candidate in the Makerfield byelection called abortion a “cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby”.

2 mins

Starmer eyes his legacy after accepting that his time in Downing Street ‘is at an end’

Galvanised by the prospect of being ousted the PM is pushing to get key projects over the line, including a social media ban for under-16s, say aides

3 mins

‘Social media is killing children. A lawless digital world shaped my son’s murderers’

As the government prepares to announce on Tuesday if it will ban social platforms for under-16s, parents and police warn that the focus on young people’s mental health overshadows extreme physical dangers

8 mins

Time will tell, mon ami... Mystery of the newest Poirot

There are clues for fans to solve as the BBC casts Agatha Christie’s enduring Belgian sleuth

3 mins

Bartlett sets to transforming 'podslop' into children's TV

Steven Bartlett, the entrepreneur and Diary of a CEO podcast host, is releasing an AI-generated children’s show that repackages lessons from his interviews with celebrities and business leaders for a younger audience.

1 mins

Writes and wrongs: the tale of The Serpent in the Grove

In the debate over whether a prize-winning story was penned by bot, Erica Wagner speaks to the writer himself — and still cannot be sure

4 mins

Investors offered a ticket to Elon Musk’s $2tn SpaceX lottery

SpaceX’s first offer of shares to the public, which began its prelaunch countdown last week, is arguably capitalism’s final frontier.

1 mins

Activist ‘feared for her life’ on Gaza flotilla

A UK-based pro-Palestine activist intercepted by Israeli forces on a flotilla heading to Gaza last week has said she feared for her life as she watched colleagues emerge bleeding and wounded from a shipping container.

2 mins

UK needs to form Cobra committee for AI, says Anthropic co-founder

Jack Clark admits he has no idea how the tech will transform our lives and economy, but it’s time to start planning for the disruption, he tells Patricia Clarke

5 mins

Number of graduates with £200,000-plus student debt triples in a year

More than 500 graduates owe at least £200,000 each after taking out student loans. This compares with five years ago, when no one had such debt with the Student Loans Company.

1 mins

British stars play key role as Club Kid lights up Cannes

It started as a murmur, then became a pounding backbeat to the final days of the festival. Sometimes it seemed there was just one question on the lips of the critics and film distributors scouting for the next breakaway hit in Cannes: “Have you seen Club Kid yet?”

2 mins

Did the CIA poison England’s chance of being 1970 World Cup champions?

Gabriel Gatehouse initially dismissed the idea the US had spiked goalkeeper Gordon Banks’s beer as a classic conspiracy theory. After a three-year investigation, he found a story of the political games played off the pitch — and enough evidence to believe it might be true...

7 mins

Chelsea’s Australian garden to put down roots in royal park

Some are targeted by kangaroos on midnight foraging raids. Others thrive in the deserts and arid climate of southern and western Australia.

2 mins

‘Every family has its myths. We were told our forebears mapped Ireland’

On a stroll along the East Lothian coastline, the author of Hamnet talks to Alex O’Connell about her peripatetic early childhood and sifting through family folklore to find the mapmaking ancestors who inspired her new novel

9 mins

It’s possible to disagree with the boss of the Southbank without closing him down

Misan Harriman is being hounded out of his job over accusations of antisemitism – but is there more to the demands for his departure, asks Andrew Anthony

5 mins

Corruption, Cuba, revenge: Republicans fear Trump will spell midterm meltdown

With Cuba apparently now in his sights, along with enemies in his own party, the erratic president has become a source of existential angst for those seeking re-election this autumn, Hugh Tomlinson writes

2 mins

‘It’s shocking we’re going through it all again’: scientists race for vaccine as Ebola ravages Congo

Weeks after the first known case, researchers say that funding cuts have left the west African country vulnerable to the deadly virus — yet a vaccine is potentially just months away

6 mins

Europe must find its voice as the US turns its back on Ukraine

In April 1999, Tony Blair flew to the US for a summit marking the 50th anniversary of Nato.

3 mins

More than 90 dead in China’s worst mining disaster for decade

More than 90 people have been killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China, in the worst mining disaster in the country for more than a decade.

1 mins

Iran tightens its grip on Strait of Hormuz with ‘mafia-esque’ tolls

As the impasse over the vital waterway continues, Tehran has taken the initiative by demanding fees for transit and threatening underwater cables

3 mins

Whatever your fantasy of the perfect Labour leader, Andy Burnham wants to be it

The mayor of Greater Manchester likes to be liked. That’ll be a problem if he’s faced with the tough choices of government

4 mins

Behind every political fall is a family left to endure the cruel cost

How must it feel, these turbulent days, to be the family of a politician under pressure?

2 mins

A tale of two fires: in Milan, nine convicted — at Grenfell, we’re still waiting

In August 2021, a huge fire ripped through the 18-storey Torre del Moro in Milan.

4 mins

This survey of the poor is rich reading

The rise of Reform UK — the self-proclaimed anti-elite people’s party — has certainly forced a recognition of the impact of inequality, if not in quite the way the party intends.

4 mins

We need to fight impunity. Leonard Cohen knew the law wasn't enough

The songwriter’s work reminds us that even amid breakdown, human understanding and ethical direction remain possible

6 mins

Not helping

A crisis in Africa shows that humanitarian aid cuts are not just cruel, but self-defeating

2 mins

Mindy Kaling

The hardworking multitasker is rewriting the workplace comedy, says Barbara Ellen

4 mins

Grote's bertholdia moth

When I was a caterpillar everything was right. I never worried about anything apart from where the next meal was coming from and, since I ate leaves and lived in a tree, there was never a very high level of anxiety.

2 mins

Felicity Lott

From gawky girl to one of Britain’s most feted sopranos, she was known for her wit and modesty

3 mins

‘Unfireable’ Musk to neuter shareholders in SpaceX IPO

The tycoon is engineering total control in perpetuity, although the $1.75tn valuation of his company is being called ‘absurdly high’, writes Barney Macintyre

3 mins

James Murdoch moves into ‘fairer media’ with Vox deal

In signing a $300m deal to buy half of New York-based Vox Media, James Murdoch joins liberal billionaires Laurene Powell Jobs at the Atlantic and John Henry at the Boston Globe in attempting to defend struggling US media operations.

1 mins

The Boardroom Sensemaker M&S cyber hack shows it pays to prep

M&S has revealed a pre-tax profit of £671m for 2025, down roughly a quarter from a year earlier, after a cyber-attack last spring cost the supermarket £131m.

2 mins

Fewer staff, better productivity. That might have been the plan all along

The UK unemployment rate now stands at 5%. Outside the pandemic, it hasn’t been that high in a decade.

3 mins

Magnificent lesson on AI's power

The theology of AI is the topic of Leo XIV's first papal encyclical, to be published tomorrow.

1 mins

Wes Streeting's wealth tax would not be easy to levy

Would-be prime minister Wes Streeting's proposal for a \"wealth tax that works\" is certainly smart politics, combining populist rich bashing with the pragmatic goal of ensuring that more money actually flows to the Treasury.

1 mins

What is the impact of backing Musk? Investors can't agree

Some of the first backers of Elon Musk's companies were \"impact investors\" who aim to achieve a specific social or environmental goal and make money at the same time.

1 mins

Labour mustn't shy from driving home the high cost of Farage's Brexit

Alarmed by the threat from Reform, Labour politicians queuing up to succeed a prime minister who does not want to go are tying themselves in knots over their wish to rejoin the European Union.

2 mins

Read all Stories from The Observer