Oliver Laughland

2 days ago | theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Oliver Laughland |Natalie Ktena |Joel Cox |Sami Kent

“This is the future, man,” a SpaceX fan tells Oliver Laughland as they look over at a giant rocket. “It’s a weird combination of the wild wild west and the brand new future!”The rocket stands in Starbase, Texas, and the Guardian US southern bureau chief was visiting at a very particular time: as the area home to Elon Musk’s pioneering space company was poised to vote in an election to officially transform the place into its own city.

2 weeks ago | msn.com | Oliver Laughland

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2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Oliver Laughland

Along a flat coastal highway in south-east Texas, surrounded by wetlands and open plains, the artefacts of a new American oligarchy appear in quick succession. Three towering rockets stand upright on the horizon. A fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks speeds by. A large mural of the Shiba Inu “doge” dog stares ahead, its arms crossed. There is a 12ft-tall bust of the world’s richest person, painted in bronze, facing a dusty roadside. “ELON aka MemeLord”, a plaque beneath reads.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Laurence Topham |Tom Silverstone |Oliver Laughland

The world’s richest person has placed his mission to Mars in a low-income county near the US-Mexico border. As a small cluster of voters connected to SpaceX decide to incorporate their own ‘Starbase city', Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone meet environmental opponents, space enthusiasts and residents who decry the gentrification Musk's expansion has brought

3 weeks ago | ca.news.yahoo.com | Oliver Laughland

A controversial chemical plant in the centre of Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” region has indefinitely suspended all production following dire financial results, the facility’s operators announced on Tuesday.