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The Observer

The Observer

Note to party leaders: let Farage get in your heads and you are doomed

What is Nigel Farage’s superpower? It is not a talent for government, because the old blowhard has never been so much as the parliamentary undersecretary for paper clips.

4 min  |

May 04, 2025

The Observer

You and I are gonna live for ever ... as avatars, at least

For $199, you can live for ever. At least that’s the promise of an app called HereAfter AI, which might let you haunt your family for generations.

2 min  |

May 04, 2025

The Observer

Neom's advisers worry as future under review

Is an emergency review of project costs the beginning of the end for the $500bn boondoggle in the Saudi Arabian desert, asks

2 min  |

May 04, 2025

The Observer

Hackers boast of ransom attacks on high street chains

A computer hacking “cartel” has claimed credit for attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods.

1 min  |

May 04, 2025

The Observer

Trump's first 100 days

At a rally to mark the first three months of the second coming of Donald Trump, the US president claimed that it had been “the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country”.

1 min  |

May 04, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

British businesses fear US-style wave of crypto 'debanking'

A senior employee of a publicly listed, UK-registered crypto company struggles to get a mortgage because his salary is paid by a crypto business.

2 min  |

May 04, 2025

The Observer

Robots at No 10: Starmer forges ahead with Al to 'rewire' the state

A data science unit of 'disruptors and innovators' starts work in Downing Street this week. Its Cummings-esque mission? Reinvent how government operates

6 min  |

April 27, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

'Heartbreaking': Columbia tears itself apart in a futile struggle to make nice with Maga

Confronted with a hostile government, the liberal bastion at first capitulated then seemed to backtrack.

6 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

A hip op ruined my trip but the insurer won't pay

I have been waiting four months for a payout on my travel policy after I had to cancel my holiday to have a hip replacement.

2 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

BP back in deep water as hedge fund demands spending cuts

BP’s boss, Murray Auchincloss, may be forced to scrap the oil firm’s share buyback programme over the next year unless oil prices recover, analysts say. Results for the Q1 are due on Tuesday and the picture isn’t pretty.

1 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Mammon prays for an audience with new pope

No man can serve both God and money, but Pope Francis did try to make the leading devotees of mammon more virtuous by welcoming them warmly into the Vatican.

1 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Echoes of the stagnant society

In this age of soundbites, it made a good headline: \"Starmer warns Trump 'don't start a trade war\" Oh, so well intentioned.

3 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Matt Clifford: the power broker behind the UK's Al agenda

No 10's unofficial machine learning tsar is seeking to bake the technology into the UK's economic future, writes Patricia Clarke

5 min  |

April 27, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

Australia's zeal for teal has faded. Yet climate could still sway this election

Eco matters have fallen down the agenda since 2022 but, a week before the polls, voters are still looking for alternatives to the main parties.

5 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Revealed: Andrew Tate's brother accused of coercing 30 women into online sex work

Tristan Tate is far less well known than his notorious elder sibling, but new evidence suggests he holds a central role in their alleged criminality

8 min  |

April 27, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

Was it the courts, was it the cops, was it the Sun? So who killed Just Stop Oil?

As the climate activists stage their farewell protest, David Taylor talks to veteran campaigners about why they did it, what they achieved - and where they are going next

7 min  |

April 27, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

Crucial choice facing the next pope: reform or alienate a new generation

Francis shook up the Catholic church to acknowledge the gulf between its ways and the ways of the world. Now it falls to his successor to bring about change, argues

3 min  |

April 27, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

Valentin-Yves Mudimbe

Philosopher, poet and novelist who challenged 'Heart of Darkness' clichés about the African continent

3 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Action on rogue asylum advisers

Sham lawyers and banned advisers have been increasingly identified acting as middlemen in the immigration system, according to the Home Office.

1 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Super-charged surgery cuts lists

NHS waiting lists have been cut by almost 50,000 in deprived areas by running operating theatres like Formula One pit stops.

1 min  |

April 27, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

'Despite all the adversity she faced, she was the light that lifted so many'

The life of Virginia Giuffre, and her battle to expose the financier Jeffrey Epstein as a child sex trafficker, was commemorated with tributes after her family announced yesterday the 41-year-old had died at her home in Australia.

3 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Petal power: farmers turn to wildflowers to save their crops

Farmers seeking to protect their orchards from one of the most “devastating” pests in nature are cultivating a new weapon: flowers.

1 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Talk of Generation K is moral panic - but why is ketamine use on the rise?

Reports of an epidemic are overblown but increased abuse reflects the habits of young people in danger of becoming lost to the drug

4 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Drama, politics, intrigue... Electing a pope is the stuff of novels - and Amen to that

I lost my journalistic virginity at the age of 29 in the back of Michael Heseltine's limousine, travelling north with him on a visit to Liverpool. It was 1987.

4 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Nick Clegg The EU must reinvent itself... or die

Seventy-five years ago the idea of the European Union was born with these words.

2 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

An offer to Europe

The world has changed. Britain can renew the EU and be a part of it

3 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

Orange-tip butterfly

A week in the life? That's a laugh. More like a life in the week. If I make it to four weeks I'll be one of the luckiest orange-tip butterflies that ever took wing. Though I'm not inclined to measure success in number of days. Number of females more like. One would be good.

2 min  |

April 27, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

'When I am out training, I feel I'm with Elsie': the Southport dad in the race of his life

David Stancombe is running in the London Marathon to raise money in memory of his daughter, one of the three girls killed in the attack on a dance class last year. He and his wife Jenni talk to Paul Hayward

5 min  |

April 27, 2025

The Observer

After I broke my neck my husband looked after me – now I care for him

In the first of a new fortnightly column Melanie Reid explains how a riding accident changed her life, and the challenges of being a carer now

4 min  |

April 27, 2025
The Observer

The Observer

Part-LA, part-Dubai: Vietnam today, five decades after the fall of Saigon

Each day at 9am sharp, the low rumble began. Russian-made Mig fighter jets screamed over Ho Chi Minh City last week, followed swiftly by Vietnamese air force helicopters. Below, soldiers in fatigues marched past artillery crews firing mock shells from canons pointed across the Saigon River.

2 min  |

April 27, 2025