Xavier Greenwood

3 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Xavier Greenwood

Donald Trump has said that the US would be a “fool” not to accept a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar to be put to use as the new Air Force One. So what? Even many of his allies disagree. Trump has flown around the Middle East this week in a whirl of billion dollar deals and head-spinning diplomacy. But he hasn’t been able to shake questions about his presidential transport.

3 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Xavier Greenwood

Keir Starmer said yesterday that Britain would “finally take back control of its borders” as he published a white paper designed to bring down net migration significantly by the next election. So what? That’s Reform in the rearview mirror. Starmer criticised people who “will try to make this all about politics”. But it’s through the lens of politics that the prime minister will be judged and he has staked his leadership on an issue that outfoxed his predecessors.

3 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Xavier Greenwood

The 20-year anniversary of the Glazer family buyout does not mark a happy day for fans To be a Manchester United fan in the age of the Glazers is to step into an LS Lowry painting. It is to be a small, faceless figure on a slow lope towards a game, wanting to move but fixed in place by the brush strokes. Protests haven’t worked, nor the burning of effigies and death threats. The club went on sale once, but it wasn’t sold.

1 month ago | observer.co.uk | Xavier Greenwood

A US YouTuber has been arrested, freed on bail and ordered to remain in India after he visited an uncontacted tribe on a restricted island and left them a can of Coke as a ‘peace offering’. So what? Mykhailo Polyakov can count himself lucky. Seven years earlier, an American missionary was killed when he tried to convert the islanders to Christianity. In the intervening years the Sentinelese people, the most isolated tribe in the world, have also cemented their status as the most famous.

1 month ago | tortoisemedia.com | Xavier Greenwood

India has promised a “very loud response” to the killing of 26 tourists by suspected militants in the disputed region of Kashmir. What those three words mean is the big unanswered question. A little known Islamist group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, but fingers have been pointed at Pakistan, which denies involvement. New Delhi has previously accused Pakistan of harbouring and supporting separatist violence in the two-thirds of Kashmir occupied by India.