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The UK prime minister calls out the reckless amplification of conspiracy theories by the world’s richest man on child sexual abuse. Good On Monday, Sir Keir Starmer rightly defended robust debate but insisted it “must be grounded in facts, not lies”, in response to Elon Musk’s falsehoods about his role in dealing with child sexual exploitation. The prime minister has wisely not engaged Mr Musk directly, partly because the world’s richest man is a member of Donald Trump’s inner circle . Sir Keir recognises this epistemic crisis as a coordinated campaign to spread disinformation, sow division, and erode trust. As the philosopher Lee McIntyre aptly notes : “The truth isn’t dying – it’s being killed.” The goal is clear: to create groups in society that unquestioningly accept an authoritarian leader’s word. In this way, opinions are no longer based on facts but rooted in identity. Disinformation becomes a potent political weapon, making voters believe falsehoods while distrusting – even ...

Away from the spotlight sportsmen and women are helping tackle disadvantage and inequality and can have a huge impact As we anticipate what sport will bring us in 2025, we might be tempted to look ahead to the major international tournaments in rugby, cricket and football. But there’s another space to consider, less glamorous but absolutely vital, where sport is making an increasingly significant contribution to society – the growing cadre of sportsmen and women working as mentors in support of young people facing challenges and disadvantages. Organisations such as the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust (DKHT) , Dallaglio Rugbyworks , Football Beyond Borders and Streetgames use sportsmen and women to provide support, encouragement and a trusted connection for young people trapped in complex adverse situations around the country. Just turning up at a sports session isn’t enough; it’s about creating a relationship with a trusted mentor within that setting. Continue reading... from The Guardi...

Tributes paid to Lib Dem peer and former Wales culture minister who introduced free entry to museums Tributes have been paid to Jenny Randerson, a “titan” of Welsh politics who introduced free entry to museums in Wales, after her death at the age of 76. Lady Randerson brought in the measure while a minister in the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition in the Welsh parliament between 2000 and 2003. She died on Saturday. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/enFvAiC

The PM can at least take comfort from the fact that the Tories are struggling just as much as he is Six months after Labour’s biggest landslide in a generation , the new government is already in the mire. The poll lead on which Starmer’s majority was built has already all but vanished, leaving Labour in a three-way dogfight with the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s resurgent Reform UK , while, further down, both the Greens and Liberal Democrats have also made gains. Voters have historically given new governments the benefit of the doubt, with most holding their ground or gaining support in their first six months. Blair’s first two new Labour governments enjoyed polling honeymoons. Starmer has had no such luck. Labour’s seven-point decline since the election has been exceeded only once in the past four decades – by the Conservatives’ eight-point fall in the wake of “ Black Wednesday ” in 1992. Starmer’s early approval ratings are also worse than any PM at this stage except Major after...

His trilogy captured my heart – and while Amis, Bradbury and Jacobson spoke to me, Lodge’s writing had an extra something David Lodge, Campus Trilogy novelist and academic, dies aged 89 ‘It’s largely thanks to him that the British comic novel remains in good health’: David Lodge remembered by Jonathan Coe David Lodge was already a lauded novelist in 1987, when I arrived at the unassuming doors of Foster Court on Malet Place to study English literature and language at University College London. Lodge had taken the same course there himself more than 30 years before, got a first and went on to do a master’s there, too. His name was spoken with pride in hushed, reverent tones – and this was a department that would happily dismiss anything published after 1850 as hopelessly modern. I dutifully bought Changing Places to see what the fuss was about. The campus novel was a serious literary genre then – Kingsley Amis, Malcolm Bradbury and Howard Jacobson were prominent names and their n...

Factory closures highlight the turbulent shift to a green economy, exposing political challenges and the urgent need for a equitable move to net zero One of the biggest political battles of the future began to take shape in 2024, yet it did not centre on Westminster. Instead, try Grangemouth in central Scotland, Port Talbot in south Wales and Luton in the south of England. Their stories were not front-page staples, but each was of huge significance – locally, nationally and economically. Grangemouth is Scotland’s sole oil refinery, whose owners confirmed in September that it would shut, to be replaced by a terminal taking in imported fuel – with nearly 400 workers losing their jobs. In the last days of September, the only remaining blast furnace at Port Talbot was shut down, as part of a restructuring that will cost 2,800 employees their jobs. At the end of November, staff at Vauxhall in Luton were told the plant would shut, ending 120 years of the carmaker...

The deadly assault on crowds in the US city echoes those elsewhere. A bigoted and kneejerk reaction will not dispel the threat from terrorism The deadly attack on new year revellers in New Orleans , which killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more, was all the more terrible for its familiar characteristics. The method of attack – ploughing a vehicle into crowds – and the decision to strike those celebrating at a time associated with togetherness and joy are now far too well recognised internationally. It is less than a fortnight since a man used a car to kill at least five, including a nine-year-old child, at a Christmas market near Magdeburg in Germany. Part of the grimness of this event is that ordinary activities that should require no special protections are now guarded as a matter of course – and that even such precautions can prove inadequate. Bollards were reportedly being upgraded in New Orleans ahead of next month’s Super Bowl, and patrols and barricades were being u...

Over the holidays, this column is looking ahead at the urgent issues of 2025. Today, the expansion of the partnership between Beijing and Moscow It is almost three years since Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin declared a friendship with “no limits” – weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, they have retreated from such rhetorical enthusiasm. The “no limits” language was quickly dumped, probably at Beijing’s behest. When Mr Putin visited in May last year, he claimed that he and his counterpart were “ as close as brothers ”. Mr Xi more coolly called the Russian president “a good friend and a good neighbour”. China has conspicuously not reciprocated Mr Putin’s description of it as an ally. Yet the partnership continues to broaden and deepen, to western alarm, across economic, political and military fronts. The US Council on Foreign Relations recently assessed it “the greatest threat to vital US national interests in sixty years”. The last 12 months saw unpr...