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1 week ago | 
theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Harriet Sherwood |Eleanor Biggs |Sami Kent
On Wednesday, 133 cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel to select the next pope. It is called the conclave and it is one of the oldest election processes in the world. For days – perhaps even weeks – the cardinals in Rome will vote again and again until one candidate wins a two-thirds majority. Then, and only then, will they be named as the successor to Pope Francis. It is, as Guardian journalist Harriet Sherwood explains, an election rich in ceremony and ritual.
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2 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Mehdi Hasan |Alex Atack |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Elizabeth Cassin | +1 more
“So many things have shocked me about the past 100 days,” says the Guardian US columnist and author of Win Every Argument, Mehdi Hasan. “Even for me, even the person who was saying it’s going to be so bad, it’s much worse than even I thought.”What’s been shocking to Hasan about Donald Trump’s second term so far is not the policies – they were laid out on the campaign trail – but the lack of resistance.
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2 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Kiran Stacey |Helen Pidd |Hattie Moir |Eleanor Biggs |Tom Glasser |Courtney Yusuf | +1 more
Runcorn, a town in Cheshire, has not been the most politically interesting place in recent memory. In fact Runcorn and Helsby has been a safe Labour seat for decades. Then the MP Mike Amesbury resigned after punching a constituent, triggering a byelection. Now Reform UK are nipping at Labour’s heels in the battle for the ward. Helen Pidd has been out in the town to find out what voters think about the government and Nigel Farage.
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3 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Elizabeth Cassin |Helen Pidd |John Harris |Eleanor Biggs
John Harris speaks to the Today in Focus podcast about how music helped him connect with his autistic son, James. He tells Helen Pidd what he’s learned about the way some autistic people experience music, and how songs opened up the world for James. Plus, they discuss the challenges and stereotypes autistic people still face.
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4 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |Amy Hawkins |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Courtney Yusuf
After a fortnight in which Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs evolved into an escalating trade war with China, a sense of defiant nationalism has been building in the east Asian country.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |John Harris |Eleanor Biggs |Elizabeth Cassin
When James was a child, he loved playing songs over and over. I Am the Walrus, by the Beatles. Autobahn, by Kraftwerk. “He hears emotion in music. I know that for a fact,” James’s father the Guardian journalist John Harris tells Helen Pidd. After James’s autism diagnosis, John found that music was a great way for them to connect, which he explores in his new book, Maybe I’m Amazed: A Story of Love and Connection in Ten Songs.
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2 months ago | 
theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Patrick Wintour |Pjotr Sauer |Eleanor Biggs |Raphael Boyd |Tom Glasser | +2 more
After weeks of diplomatic tension, on Tuesday the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced that Ukraine had signed up to a 30-day ceasefire agreement. As the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, explains to Michael Safi, this deal would cover the whole of Ukraine and by accepting it, Ukraine will again receive military aid and intelligence sharing from the US.
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2 months ago | 
theguardian.com | Lucy Hough |Eleni Courea |Ruth Abrahams |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Elizabeth Cassin
On Friday, the MP Rupert Lowe criticised Nigel Farage in an interview with the Daily Mail, saying Reform UK was a “protest party led by the Messiah”, and that it was “too early to know whether Nigel will deliver the goods” and become prime minister. The next day, Lowe was suspended by the party. Reform UK published a statement making a series of allegations against him, including that he had made threats against the party chair, Zia Yusuf.
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2 months ago | 
theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Jon Henley |Eleanor Biggs |Ruth Abrahams |Rudi Zygadlo |Courtney Yusuf
On Thursday, after the US decided to halt military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, European leaders in Brussels agreed to a massive and unprecedented increase in defence spending. The Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, explains to Michael Safi that this €800bn fund marks a new era for the union and will mean tearing up fiscal rules to loosen borrowing. For some member states, such as Germany, achieving this defensive autonomy will require profound constitutional changes.
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2 months ago | 
theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Courtney Yusuf |Phil Maynard
“I’d quite like to just try and get a deposit together, to buy a house and stuff.”After Mark* saw an advert for a financial trading website, he signed up to what he believed was access to an adviser who called herself Lilliana. Through long phone calls together, Mark believed that he was making investments and that they were generating lucrative returns. But when he tried to access his earnings, he found himself on a slippery slope that ended with him losing all of his life savings.
