US elections 2024

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      North Carolina court rules RFK Jr’s name must be taken off state ballots

      by

      A North Carolina appeals court on Friday ruled that Robert F Kennedy Jr’s name must be taken off state ballots for president, upending plans in the battleground state just as officials were about to begin mailing out the nation’s first absentee ballots for the 5 November presidential election.The intermediate-level court of appeals issued an order granting Kennedy’s request to halt the mailing of ballots that included his name. The court also told a trial judge to order the state board of elections to distribute ballots without Kennedy’s name on them. No legal explanation was given.State law otherwise requires the first absentee ballots to be mailed or transmitted no later than 60 days before the general election, making Friday the deadline. The process of reprinting and assembling ballot packages would probably take more than two weeks, state attorneys have said. The ruling could be appealed.Kennedy, the nominee of the We the People party in North Carolina, had sued last week to get off the state’s ballots after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump. But the Democratic majority on the state board of elections rejected the request, saying it was too late in the process of printing ballots and coding tabulation machines. Kennedy then sued.Rebecca Holt, a Wake county superior court judge, on Thursday denied Kennedy’s effort to keep his name off ballots, prompting his appeal. In the meantime, Holt told election officials to hold back sending absentee ballots until noon Friday.A favorable outcome for Kennedy could assist Trump’s efforts to win North Carolina. The Republican nominee won the state’s electoral votes by just 1.3% over Joe Biden in 2020.More than 132,500 people – military and overseas workers and in-state civilian residents – have requested North Carolina absentee ballots so far, the elections board said.In an email, Paul Cox, state board attorney, told election directors in all 100 counties after Friday’s ruling to hold on to the current ballots but not send them. More than 2.9m absentee and in-person ballots have been printed so far.No decision has been made on appealing Friday’s decision, Cox wrote, and removing Kennedy and running mate Nicole Shanahan from the ballot would be “a major undertaking for everyone”, Cox wrote.Since Kennedy suspended his campaign, the environmentalist and author has tried to get his name removed from ballots in several states where the race between Trump and Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, is expected to be close.Kennedy on Wednesday sued in Wisconsin to get his name removed from the presidential ballot there after the state elections commission voted to keep him on it. Kennedy also filed a lawsuit in Michigan but a judge ruled on Tuesday that he must remain on the ballot there.Read more about the 2024 US election

      US election — live updates

      Harris campaign raised $361m in August, triple the amount of Trump campaign

      If Trump wins the election, it will doom our efforts to slow climate disaster

      Presidential poll tracker

      Who is running for president? More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      South Park creators to ignore Trump when show returns in 2025

      by

      The creators of the Emmy-winning series South Park intend to ignore Donald Trump when the irreverent animated show returns for a 27th season in 2025, they said in a rare interview.“I don’t know what more we could possibly say about Trump,” Matt Stone told Vanity Fair in reference to the former US president whose life is seemingly consumed by unadulterated drama.Stone added that part of the strategy for intentionally avoiding mention of the current Republican nominee for November’s presidential race is how much of “a mind scramble” it can be to satirize such a contest.“We’ve tried to do South Park through four or five presidential elections, and it is such a hard thing,” said Stone, who launched the series in 1997 alongside Trey Parker on Comedy Central. “And it seems like it takes outsized importance.“Obviously, it’s fucking important, but it kind of takes over everything and we just have less fun,” he added in the interview, which was posted on Thursday.Part of the reason that South Park’s latest season received a tentative 2025 release date was to give time for Paramount+ – the platform which now streams the show – “to figure all their shit out”, Stone remarked. But Stone also said, “honestly, it’s on purpose,” that he and Parker were skipping the electoral showdown between Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice-President Kamala Harris.The posture that Stone laid out to Vanity Fair strikes a marked contrast with how South Park addressed the 2016 presidential race that Trump unexpectedly won against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. In the show, an elementary school teacher character voiced by Parker ran for president, defeated Clinton and served in the Oval Office for multiple seasons, adopting a look and style that was clearly inspired by Trump.Thursday’s interview in Vanity Fair described how Stone and Parker mounted a “36-hour mad dash to make an episode about the 2016 election after being stunned (like most of the rest of the country) about Trump’s victory”.Trump has offered commentators – satirical or otherwise – plenty of more material since, including by losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden and being convicted in May of criminally falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to an adult film actor who has alleged an extramarital sexual encounter with him.Among numerous other legal problems, he is facing three more criminal indictments stemming from his efforts to nullify his defeat to Biden as well as his retention of government secrets after his presidency – and he survived an assassination attempt at a political rally in July.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSouth Park centers on the adventures of a group of four, mostly foul-mouthed boys who are growing up in a town in Colorado. The show has profanely satirized an overwhelmingly wide range of topics, managing to win critical acclaim and establish itself as an unusually long-running program despite some viewers finding its content too offensive.Its creators are also famous for The Book of Mormon – their Tony-winning musical – along with the cult classic films BASEketball and Team America: World Police. More

    • 150 Shares119 Views

      in US Politics

      Backlash for JD Vance after calling school shooting a ‘fact of life’

      by

      America’s ideological split over gun control has spilled over into the presidential campaign after JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, voiced regret that school shootings had “become a fact of life” in the US.Vance’s comments – in the wake of the latest deadly shooting, at Apalachee high school in Georgia – ignited a political row after Democrats depicted them as evidence of a lack of empathy while Republicans claimed the remarks had been taken out of context.Vance called for more security measures in schools without mentioning gun control, while Democrats including Kamala Harris and the US president, Joe Biden, want a ban on assault-style rifles, more background checks and other gun safety action.Asked about the Georgia shooting while speaking at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday evening, Vance said: “I don’t like this. I don’t like to admit this. I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realise that our schools are soft targets.”The boy who is charged in the Georgia school shooting is 14 years old.Vance continued: “We’ve got to bolster security at our schools so that a person who walks through the front door … and wants to kill a bunch of children – they’re not able to. As a parent, do I want my kids’ school to have additional security? No, of course I don’t. But that is increasingly the reality that we live in.”The remarks, which were prefaced by an attack on the pro-gun control stance of Harris, the Democratic nominee for president in this November’s election, were immediately seized on by the Harris campaign.“School shootings are not just a fact of life,” the Democratic nominee posted on X (formerly Twitter), linking to footage of Vance’s comments.“It doesn’t have to be this way. We can take action to protect our children – and we will.”Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, had accused Harris of wanting to “take law-abiding citizens’ guns away from them”.Republicans and Democrats have become increasingly polarised on gun control, with one party standing on the issue of gun owners’ rights and the other identifying with efforts to bring stricter controls.But the row between the two presidential tickets was overshadowed by Republican anger at the Associated Press, which had been accused of misrepresenting Vance’s comments in a post on X.“JD VANCE says school shootings are a ‘fact of life,’ calls for better security,” read the post. It was subsequently taken down and replaced with a more nuanced version providing greater explanation.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and says the US needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia,” the second iteration read. A second follow-up post said: “This post replaces an earlier post that was deleted to add context to the partial quote from Vance.”The posts were greeted with derision on X, with the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, writing: “AP stand for Associated Propaganda.”On Thursday night, Tim Walz, the governor or Minnesota and Harris’s running mate on the Democratic ticket, posted to X, Elon Musk’s social media platform formerly called Twitter, a clip of Vance’s speech, and commented: “This is pathetic. We can’t quit on our kids – they deserve better.”Trump, responding to a question on the Georgia shootings at a Fox News town hall meeting from the Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday, said: “It’s a sick and angry world for a lot of reasons and we’re going to make it better, and we’re going to heal our world.”The former president has been accused of showing a lack of sympathy after previous shooting episodes. In response to a deadly assault in Perry, Iowa, last January that killed three people, he said: “It’s just horrible, so surprising to see it here. But we have to get over it – we have to move forward.”A 14-year-old suspect, Colt Gray, is in police custody and is expected to be tried on four counts of murder over Wednesday’s shooting in Georgia, which left two pupils and two teachers dead. The authorities have pressed second-degree murder charges against his father, Colin Gray, for allowing his son to posses the gun. More

    • 188 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      The Kamala Harris campaign has Fox News grasping at straws – literally | Margaret Sullivan

      by

      Watching Fox News these days is like being at open-mic night at a marginal comedy club.Rightwing pundits, like a lineup of amateur comics, are trying out their new material and hoping it kills. So far, not so much.Take Jesse Watters (please). The primetime successor to Tucker Carlson was grasping at straws – yes, literal straws – the other day as he looked for a way to put down Tim Walz. How best to mock the popular Minnesota governor who is Kamala Harris’s running mate?“Women love masculinity and women do not like Tim Walz, so that should just tell you about how masculine Tim Walz is,” Watters said on the roundtable talk show he co-hosts, The Five.With that setup, he tried to prove his point.“The other day you saw him with a vanilla ice-cream shake. Had a straw in it. Again, that tells you everything.”The joke, or whatever it was, didn’t really land. Most people know that Walz is the opposite of a wimp. He’s a famously regular guy – America’s dad – who will use his newfound power to demand that all Americans own jumper cables and know how to use them.The straw-grasping is getting a little desperate these days as Harris and Walz spread their forward-looking message, and as their rivals – the felon and adjudicated sex offender Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance – prove themselves less appealing by the day.“Fox is really feeling the loss of Tucker Carlson right now,” theorized Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, the progressive media-watchdog non-profit, who watches a lot of rightwing cable news as part of his job.“He was very effective at lifting something from the rightwing fever swamp and making it into a coherent message” that could spread through the conservative ecosystem.Failing Tucker’s contributions to the commonweal, Fox and its pundits are floundering. They keep trying new approaches to replace their well-honed attacks on Biden – his family’s supposed corruption (“Biden crime family”) and his age (“senile”).Over the past week, Fox tried to gin up controversy over Harris’s “code-switching” – the use of a different accent or speaking style when speaking to Black audiences. Fox’s White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed the question at an official press briefing.“Since when does the vice-president have what sounds like a southern accent?” Doocy demanded. The press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, dismissed him and moved on after posing a query of her own: “Do you think Americans seriously think this is an important question?”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMaria Bartiromo focused on this “southern accent” scandal on her Fox Business show, using a clip of Harris speaking to an audience in Detroit about how unions have helped win benefits for all Americans, like paid sick leave and a five-day work week, by repeating the phrase: “You’d better thank a union member.”The pro-Trump cable network didn’t help its own cause with that one. “The funny thing about Fox News being mad at Harris for code-switching,” one observer noted on X, “is they had to play the clip of her talking about how great unions are over and over again.” You can’t buy that kind of media exposure.The well-circulated photograph of Tim Walz’s family members wearing pro-Trump T-shirts fizzled, too, though it got a good ride on Fox for a day or two. Soon enough, it became clear that these were mostly distant cousins, a Nebraska branch of the family. Walz’s sister told the Associated Press she didn’t even recognize them. Walz does have an older brother who favors Trump, but most Americans are familiar with family disputes over politics.Gertz told me that Fox pundits were sent reeling by Harris’s ascension and are “very shook by the ‘weird’ narrative” that Tim Walz has popularized. That’s the idea that Trump, Vance and their ilk are deeply strange people – way out of the mainstream with their nasty putdowns of “childless cat ladies” and their outlandish conspiracy theories. It applies all too well to the Fox personalities as well as the politicians they promote.There’s time, of course, for Fox to come up with an effective message. Until something hits, we’re going to see a lot of painful tryouts.The alternative, of course, is obvious: just don’t turn it on.

      Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture More

    • 213 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      What’s at stake in the US election? The climate for the next million years | Bill McKibben

      by

      .Svg-clip-paths-container.svelte-1yf4410{width:0;height:0}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Titlepiece;src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{grid-area:header;width:100vw;overflow:clip;position:relative;height:230vh;background-color:#121212;margin-left:-10px;padding:0}@media (min-width: 30em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:-20px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2 * -1 – 21px)}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2 * -1 – 21px)}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2 * -1 – 21px)}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2 * -1 – 21px)}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{height:210vh}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24:before{display:block;content:””;position:absolute;width:1px;height:100%;left:calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2);background-color:#606060}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24:after{display:block;content:””;position:absolute;width:1px;height:100%;top:0;right:calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2);background-color:#606060;z-index:11}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{height:300vh}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24:before{left:calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24:after{right:calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24:before{left:calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24:after{right:calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24:before{left:calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24:after{right:calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{position:sticky;top:0;left:0;width:100vw;height:100vh;z-index:0;opacity:.65;overflow:hidden}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{width:740px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{width:980px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{width:1140px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{width:1300px}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{height:100vh;width:100vw;background-position:center;background-size:cover;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;overflow:hidden}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{width:740px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{width:980px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{width:1140px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{width:1300px}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24{z-index:2;clip-path:url(#rip-left)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{z-index:4;left:-1px;clip-path:url(#rip-right)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;background-color:transparent;z-index:1;padding:0}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 800px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper-animate.svelte-1cslg24{margin:0 auto}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper-animate.svelte-1cslg24{height:200vh}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{background-color:transparent;width:100vw;height:70vh;display:flex;align-items:center}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24:has(h1){height:90vh;align-items:self-start;padding-top:20%}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{height:70vh;width:740px;align-items:center;padding-top:unset}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{height:100vh;width:640px}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-standfirst.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-headline.svelte-1cslg24{font-size:24px;margin:0 10px;font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Headline Full,Guardian Egyptian Web,Georgia,serif;font-weight:500;line-height:1.1;color:#fff;text-shadow:0px 0px 6px rgba(0,0,0,.7);opacity:.5;transition:opacity .5s ease;text-wrap:balance}@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-standfirst.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-headline.svelte-1cslg24{opacity:1}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-headline.svelte-1cslg24{font-size:40px;position:relative}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-standfirst.svelte-1cslg24{font-size:32px}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-headline.svelte-1cslg24{font-size:48px}}.Stakes-header .text-wrapper .new-headline span{display:block}.Stakes-header .text-wrapper .new-headline span:after{content:””;display:block;position:absolute;bottom:-20px;background-image:url(https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/08/21/LINE-53.png);width:275px;height:20px;background-size:contain;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:top left;transform:rotate(-2deg)}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header .text-wrapper .new-headline span:after{width:320px}}.Stakes-header .text-container .text-wrapper .new-standfirst.animate-in,.Stakes-header .text-container .text-wrapper .new-headline.animate-in{opacity:1}.ios .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24,.android .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:0}.ios .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper-animate.svelte-1cslg24,.android .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper-animate.svelte-1cslg24{height:140vh}.ios .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24,.android .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{height:70vh}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Headline Full;src:url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:Guardian Titlepiece;src:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive{margin-left:160px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive{margin-left:240px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{max-width:620px}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{max-width:100%}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{margin-left:0}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{max-width:620px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-showcase{max-width:860px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{max-width:1100px}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width));position:relative;left:50%;right:50%;margin-left:calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width))!important;margin-right:calc(-50vw + var(–half-scrollbar-width))!important}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{transform:translate(-20px);width:calc(100% + 60px)}}@media (max-width: 71.24em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{margin-left:0;margin-right:0}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{transform:translate(0);width:auto}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive .element-immersive{max-width:1260px}}.content__main-column–interactive p{color:#121212;max-width:620px}.content__main-column–interactive ul{max-width:620px}.content__main-column–interactive:before{position:absolute;top:0;height:calc(100% + 15px);min-height:100px;content:””}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{border-left:1px solid #dcdcdc;z-index:-1;left:-10px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{border-left:1px solid #dcdcdc;left:-11px}}.content__main-column–interactive .element-atom{margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-bottom:12px;padding-top:12px}.content__main-column–interactive p+.element-atom{padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;margin-top:12px;margin-bottom:12px}.content__main-column–interactive .element-inline{max-width:620px}nav+section{display:none}nav+aside{display:none}aside+section{display:none}#maincontent{margin-top:0}.content–interactive-grid{position:relative;grid-template-areas:”title” “header” “media” “media” “lines” “meta” “body”;grid-template-rows:[title-start header-start media-start] auto [title-end header-end lines-start media-end] auto [lines-end meta-start] auto [meta-end standfirst-start] auto [body-start] auto [body-end]}.content–interactive-grid #headline,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=headline],.content–interactive-grid .headline,.content–interactive-grid .standfirst,.content–interactive-grid #standfirst,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=standfirst]{display:none}.content–interactive-grid .article-header,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=title],.content–interactive-grid #main-media,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media]{z-index:10;height:-moz-fit-content;height:fit-content}.content–interactive-grid .article-header a,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=title] a{position:relative}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.content–interactive-grid .article-header a:hover,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=title] a:hover{text-decoration:none}}.content–interactive-grid .article-header a:after,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=title] a:after{content:””;display:block;position:absolute;top:22px;background-image:url(“https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/09/05/red-scribble-2_(1).png”);width:90px;height:20px;background-size:contain;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:top left;transform:rotate(-2deg)}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content–interactive-grid .article-header a:after,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=title] a:after{top:25px;width:110px}}.content–interactive-grid .article-header a,.content–interactive-grid .article-header span,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=title] a,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=title] span{color:#fff;text-shadow:0px 0px 6px rgba(0,0,0,.7)}.content–interactive-grid .article-header .content__labels span a,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels span a{display:none}.content–interactive-grid #main-media,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media]{align-self:flex-end;margin-inline:-10px;padding-inline:10px;width:100vw}.content–interactive-grid #main-media figcaption,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media] figcaption{margin-bottom:0;padding-bottom:6px;margin-inline:-10px;padding-inline:10px;background-color:#121212b8}@media (min-width: 23.4375em){.content–interactive-grid #main-media,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media]{margin-inline:-20px;padding-inline:20px}.content–interactive-grid #main-media figcaption,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media] figcaption{margin-inline:-20px;padding-inline:20px}}.content–interactive-grid #main-media figcaption,.content–interactive-grid #main-media figcaption span,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media] figcaption,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media] figcaption span{color:#999}.content–interactive-grid #main-media figcaption span svg,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media] figcaption span svg{fill:#999}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.content–interactive-grid #main-media,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media]{width:unset;display:flex;justify-content:flex-end}.content–interactive-grid #main-media figcaption,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=media] figcaption{width:-moz-fit-content;width:fit-content}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content–interactive-grid{grid-template-areas:”title . .” “header header header” “. . media” “. . media” “. border lines” “. border meta” ” body body body” “. . .”}.content–interactive-grid .keyline-4,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],.content–interactive-grid #meta,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta]{position:absolute;left:-160px;max-width:140px}.content–interactive-grid .keyline-4,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines]{top:14px}.content–interactive-grid #meta,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta]{top:27px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content–interactive-grid .keyline-4,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],.content–interactive-grid #meta,.content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta]{left:-240px;max-width:220px}}.content–interactive-grid .standfirst-links{padding-top:25px}.content–interactive-grid .standfirst-links ul >li >a{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Headline Full,Guardian Egyptian Web,Georgia,serif;font-size:1.25rem;font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:115%}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content–interactive-grid .standfirst-links{padding-top:7px}}.content–interactive-grid figure.element-atom+figure+#sign-in-gate+p:not(:has(em)):first-letter,.content–interactive-grid figure.element-atom+figure+#sign-in-gate+p:has(em)+p:first-letter,.content–interactive-grid figure.element-atom+figure+p:not(:has(em)):first-letter,.content–interactive-grid figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em)+p:first-letter{float:left;font-size:7rem;line-height:5.75rem;text-transform:uppercase;box-sizing:border-box;margin-right:4px;vertical-align:text-top}.content–interactive-grid .element-atom{height:0;margin:0;padding:0}.content–interactive-grid .element-atom+figure.element-inline{height:0;margin:0;padding:0}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content–interactive-grid .italic-p:has(em){margin-top:8px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content–interactive-grid .italic-p:has(em){margin-top:10px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content–interactive-grid .no-italic-p{margin-top:5px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content–interactive-grid figure.element-showcase{margin-left:-170px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.content–interactive-grid figure.element-showcase{margin-left:-250px}}#maincontent h2,#feature-article-container h2,#standard-article-container h2,#comment-article-container h2{position:relative;margin-top:48px;max-width:620px}@media (min-width: 71.25em){#maincontent h2,#feature-article-container h2,#standard-article-container h2,#comment-article-container h2{margin-top:56px}}#maincontent h2:before,#feature-article-container h2:before,#standard-article-container h2:before,#comment-article-container h2:before{content:””;width:calc(100vw – 1px);left:-10px;height:60px;display:block;position:absolute;top:-30px;background-image:url(https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/09/03/tear-2-mob.png);background-size:contain;background-repeat:no-repeat}@media (min-width: 30em){#maincontent h2:before,#feature-article-container h2:before,#standard-article-container h2:before,#comment-article-container h2:before{left:-20px}}@media (min-width: 41.25em){#maincontent h2:before,#feature-article-container h2:before,#standard-article-container h2:before,#comment-article-container h2:before{width:659px;top:-17px;background-image:url(https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/09/03/tear-2-wide.png)}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){#maincontent h2:before,#feature-article-container h2:before,#standard-article-container h2:before,#comment-article-container h2:before{width:739px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){#maincontent h2:before,#feature-article-container h2:before,#standard-article-container h2:before,#comment-article-container h2:before{width:979px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){#maincontent h2:before,#feature-article-container h2:before,#standard-article-container h2:before,#comment-article-container h2:before{top:-48px;left:-181px;width:1139px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){#maincontent h2:before,#feature-article-container h2:before,#standard-article-container h2:before,#comment-article-container h2:before{left:-260px;width:1299px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){#maincontent h2:after,#feature-article-container h2:after,#standard-article-container h2:after,#comment-article-container h2:after{content:””;width:3px;height:44px;position:absolute;top:-30px;left:-11px;background-color:#fff}}#maincontent h2:nth-child(odd):before,#feature-article-container h2:nth-child(odd):before,#standard-article-container h2:nth-child(odd):before,#comment-article-container h2:nth-child(odd):before{transform:scaleX(-1)}#maincontent h2:nth-child(odd):after,#feature-article-container h2:nth-child(odd):after,#standard-article-container h2:nth-child(odd):after,#comment-article-container h2:nth-child(odd):after{height:33px;top:-19px}.ios #standard-article-container,.ios #feature-article-container,.android #standard-article-container,.android #feature-article-container{overflow:clip}.ios h2,.android h2{position:relative;margin-top:48px;max-width:620px;font-size:24px;line-height:1.15;font-weight:500;font-style:normal;padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:2px}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){.ios h2:before,.android h2:before{background-image:url(https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/09/03/tear-2-mob-dark.png)}}.ios .Stakes-header .text-container .text-wrapper h2:before,.android .Stakes-header .text-container .text-wrapper h2:before{display:none!important}.ios .article-kicker,.android .article-kicker{padding:0}.ios .article-kicker__section,.android .article-kicker__section{display:none}.ios .article-kicker__highlight,.android .article-kicker__highlight{display:unset;position:absolute;top:4px;left:10px;text-shadow:0px 0px 6px rgba(0,0,0,.7);color:#fff;z-index:20}.ios .article-kicker__highlight:after,.android .article-kicker__highlight:after{content:””;display:block;position:absolute;top:22px;background-image:url(“https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/09/05/red-scribble-2_(1).png”);width:90px;height:20px;background-size:contain;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:top left;transform:rotate(-2deg)}.ios #article-header #headline,.ios #article-header [data-gu-name=headline],.ios #article-header .headline,.ios #article-header .standfirst,.ios #article-header #standfirst,.ios #article-header [data-gu-name=standfirst],.ios #feature-header #headline,.ios #feature-header [data-gu-name=headline],.ios #feature-header .headline,.ios #feature-header .standfirst,.ios #feature-header #standfirst,.ios #feature-header [data-gu-name=standfirst],.android #article-header #headline,.android #article-header [data-gu-name=headline],.android #article-header .headline,.android #article-header .standfirst,.android #article-header #standfirst,.android #article-header [data-gu-name=standfirst],.android #feature-header #headline,.android #feature-header [data-gu-name=headline],.android #feature-header .headline,.android #feature-header .standfirst,.android #feature-header #standfirst,.android #feature-header [data-gu-name=standfirst]{display:none}.ios #article-header #main-media,.ios #feature-header #main-media,.android #article-header #main-media,.android #feature-header #main-media{height:0}.ios #article-header #main-media figcaption,.ios #feature-header #main-media figcaption,.android #article-header #main-media figcaption,.android #feature-header #main-media figcaption{display:none}.ios #article-body .element-atom,.ios #feature-body .element-atom,.android #article-body .element-atom,.android #feature-body .element-atom{height:0;margin:0;padding:0}.ios #article-body .element-atom+figure.element-image,.ios #feature-body .element-atom+figure.element-image,.android #article-body .element-atom+figure.element-image,.android #feature-body .element-atom+figure.element-image{height:0;margin:0;padding:0}.ios #article-body .element-atom+figure.element-image .figure__inner,.ios #feature-body .element-atom+figure.element-image .figure__inner,.android #article-body .element-atom+figure.element-image .figure__inner,.android #feature-body .element-atom+figure.element-image .figure__inner{height:0!important}.ios #article-body .element-atom+figure.element-image figcaption,.ios #feature-body .element-atom+figure.element-image figcaption,.android #article-body .element-atom+figure.element-image figcaption,.android #feature-body .element-atom+figure.element-image figcaption{display:none}.ios #article-body .element-atom+figure.element-image+p:has(em)+p:first-letter,.ios #feature-body .element-atom+figure.element-image+p:has(em)+p:first-letter,.android #article-body .element-atom+figure.element-image+p:has(em)+p:first-letter,.android #feature-body .element-atom+figure.element-image+p:has(em)+p:first-letter{float:left;font-size:11.85rem;line-height:8.75rem;text-transform:uppercase;box-sizing:border-box;margin-right:4px;vertical-align:text-top;margin-top:8px}.ios #article-body .standfirst-links li:before,.ios #feature-body .standfirst-links li:before,.android #article-body .standfirst-links li:before,.android #feature-body .standfirst-links li:before{display:none}.ios #article-body .standfirst-links ul >li >a,.ios #feature-body .standfirst-links ul >li >a,.android #article-body .standfirst-links ul >li >a,.android #feature-body .standfirst-links ul >li >a{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Headline Full,Guardian Egyptian Web,Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:115%;color:#c70000}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){.ios #article-body .standfirst-links ul >li >a,.ios #feature-body .standfirst-links ul >li >a,.android #article-body .standfirst-links ul >li >a,.android #feature-body .standfirst-links ul >li >a{color:#ff4e36}}.ios #article-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em) a,.ios #feature-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em) a,.android #article-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em) a,.android #feature-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em) a{color:#c70000;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-color:#dcdcdc;background-image:none}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){.ios #article-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em) a,.ios #feature-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em) a,.android #article-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em) a,.android #feature-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em) a{color:#ff4e36}}.ios #article-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:not(:has(em)):first-letter,.ios #article-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em)+p:first-letter,.ios #feature-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:not(:has(em)):first-letter,.ios #feature-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em)+p:first-letter,.android #article-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:not(:has(em)):first-letter,.android #article-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em)+p:first-letter,.android #feature-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:not(:has(em)):first-letter,.android #feature-body figure.element-atom+figure+p:has(em)+p:first-letter{float:left;font-size:11.25rem!important;line-height:8rem!important;text-transform:uppercase;box-sizing:border-box;margin-right:4px;vertical-align:text-top;margin-top:16px!important}
      @font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Light.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-LightItalic.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:300;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Regular.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-RegularItalic.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:400;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Medium.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-MediumItalic.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:500;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Semibold.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-SemiboldItalic.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:600;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Bold.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BoldItalic.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-Black.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:normal}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Headline Full”;src:url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-headline/noalts-not-hinted/GHGuardianHeadline-BlackItalic.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:900;font-style:italic}@font-face{font-family:”Guardian Titlepiece”;src:url(“https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2”) format(“woff2”), url(“https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff”) format(“woff”), url(“https://interactive.guim.co.uk/fonts/garnett/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf”) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{grid-area:header;width:100vw;overflow:clip;position:relative;height:230vh;background-color:#121212;margin-left:-10px;margin-left:-10px;padding:0}@media(min-width: 30em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:-20px}}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2 * -1 – 21px)}}@media(min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2 * -1 – 21px)}}@media(min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2 * -1 – 21px)}}@media(min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2 * -1 – 21px)}}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{height:210vh}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24::before{display:block;content:””;position:absolute;width:1px;height:100%;left:calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2);background-color:#606060}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24::after{display:block;content:””;position:absolute;width:1px;height:100%;top:0;right:calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2);background-color:#606060;z-index:11}}@media(min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{height:300vh}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24::before{left:calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24::after{right:calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24::before{left:calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24::after{right:calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24::before{left:calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24::after{right:calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{position:sticky;top:0;left:0;width:100vw;height:100vh;z-index:0;opacity:0.65;overflow:hidden}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{width:740px}}@media(min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{width:980px}}@media(min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{width:1140px}}@media(min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{width:1300px}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{height:100vh;width:100vw;background-position:center;background-size:cover;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;overflow:hidden}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{width:740px}}@media(min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{width:980px}}@media(min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{width:1140px}}@media(min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{width:1300px}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-left.svelte-1cslg24{z-index:2;clip-path:url(#rip-left)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .image-wrapper-right.svelte-1cslg24{z-index:4;left:-1px;clip-path:url(#rip-right)}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;background-color:transparent;z-index:1;padding:0}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 740px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 980px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 1140px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 81.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 1300px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}@media(min-width: 71.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-container.svelte-1cslg24{padding:0 calc((100vw – 800px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px)) / 2)}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper-animate.svelte-1cslg24{margin:0 auto}@media(min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper-animate.svelte-1cslg24{height:200vh}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{background-color:transparent;width:100vw;height:70vh;display:flex;align-items:center}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24:has(h1){height:90vh;align-items:self-start;padding-top:20%}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{height:70vh;width:740px;align-items:center;padding-top:unset}}@media(min-width: 61.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{height:100vh;width:640px}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-standfirst.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-headline.svelte-1cslg24{font-size:24px;margin:0 10px;font-family:”Guardian Headline”, “Guardian Headline Full”, “Guardian Egyptian Web”, Georgia, serif;font-weight:500;line-height:1.1;color:white;text-shadow:0px 0px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);opacity:0.5;transition:opacity 0.5s ease;text-wrap:balance}@media(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-standfirst.svelte-1cslg24,.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-headline.svelte-1cslg24{opacity:1}}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-headline.svelte-1cslg24{font-size:40px;position:relative}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-standfirst.svelte-1cslg24{font-size:32px}.Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper .new-headline.svelte-1cslg24{font-size:48px}}.Stakes-header .text-wrapper .new-headline span{display:block}.Stakes-header .text-wrapper .new-headline span:after{content:””;display:block;position:absolute;bottom:-20px;background-image:url(“https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/08/21/LINE-53.png”);width:275px;height:20px;background-size:contain;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:top left;transform:rotate(-2deg)}@media(min-width: 46.25em){.Stakes-header .text-wrapper .new-headline span:after{width:320px}}.Stakes-header .text-container .text-wrapper .new-standfirst.animate-in,
      .Stakes-header .text-container .text-wrapper .new-headline.animate-in{opacity:1}.ios .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24,.android .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24.svelte-1cslg24{margin-left:0}.ios .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper-animate.svelte-1cslg24,.android .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper-animate.svelte-1cslg24{height:140vh}.ios .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24,.android .Stakes-header.svelte-1cslg24 .text-wrapper.svelte-1cslg24{height:70vh}
      .Svg-clip-paths-container.svelte-1yf4410{width:0;height:0}
      This is the first part of the standfirst This is the second part of the standfirst Headline what’s at stake?
      View image in fullscreenHere is the biggest thing happening on our planet as we head into the autumn of 2024: the Earth is continuing to heat dramatically. Scientists have said that there’s a better than 90% chance that this year will top 2023 as the warmest ever recorded. And paleoclimatologists were pretty sure last year was the hottest in the last 125,000 years. The result is an almost-cliched run of disasters: open Twitter/X anytime for pictures of floods pushing cars through streets somewhere. It is starting to make life on this planet very difficult, and in some places impossible. And it’s on target to get far, far worse.Here’s the second-biggest thing happening on our planet right now: finally, finally, renewable energy, mostly from the sun and wind, seems to be reaching some sort of takeoff point. By some calculations, we’re now putting up a nuclear plant’s worth of solar panels every day. In California, there are now enough solar farms and wind turbines that day after day this spring and summer they supplied more than 100% of the state’s electric needs for long stretches; there are now enough batteries on the grid that they become the biggest source of power after dark. In China it looks as if carbon emissions may have peaked – they’re six years ahead of schedule on the effort to build out renewables.And here’s the third biggest thing in the months ahead: the American presidential election, which looks as if it is going down to the wire – and which may have the power to determine how high the temperature goes and how fast we turn to clean power.Donald Trump gave an interview last week, in which he laid out his understanding of climate change:
      “You know, when I hear these poor fools talking about global warming. They don’t call it that any more, they call it climate change because you know, some parts of the planet are cooling and warming, and it didn’t work. So they finally got it right, they just call it climate change. They used to call it global warming. You know, years ago they used to call it global cooling. In the 1920s they thought the planet was going to freeze. Now they think the planet’s going to burn up. And we’re still waiting for the 12 years. You know we’re down almost to the end of the 12-year period, you understand that, where these lunatics that know nothing, they weren’t even good students at school, they didn’t even study it, they predict, they said we have 12 years to live. And people didn’t have babies because they said – it’s so crazy. But the problem isn’t the fact that the oceans in 500 years will raise a quarter of an inch, the problem is nuclear weapons. It’s nuclear warming … These poor fools talk about global warming all the time, you know the planet’s going to global warm to a point where the oceans will rise an eighth of an inch in 355 years, you know, they have no idea what’s going to happen. It’s weather.”
      I’ve quoted this at length because this could again be the most important man on the planet, talking about the most important issue the planet has ever faced. And he’s gotten every word of it wrong. It’s gibberish.View image in fullscreenBut it’s gibberish in the service of something very important and very dangerous: doing all that he can to block the energy transition, in America and around the world. His friends at Project 2025 have laid out in considerable detail how you translate that gibberish into policy. It lays out in loving detail many of the steps his administration would use to bolster oil, gas and coal while sidetracking sun and wind. These include ending the effort to spur EV production in Detroit; ending support for renewables (Trump has promised to “kill wind”, whatever that means); and reversing a crucial 2009 finding from the EPA that carbon dioxide causes harm, a position that undergirds much of the federal effort to rein in climate pollution. He has also – chef’s kiss – promised to close down the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, otherwise known as the people who measure how much the temperature is rising. That’s on the grounds that those measurements are “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry”.‘Drill, baby, drill’In return for this endless largesse (beginning on day one, Trump said, he would become a dictator in order to “drill, baby, drill”), he has asked the industry for only (Austin Powers moment here) “one billion dollars” in campaign contributions. Big oil is doing its best. As the Washington Post reported a couple of weeks ago, Harold Hamm, one of the country’s most prominent frackers, is working the phones to come up with as much cash as possible. Hamm is working “incredibly hard to raise as much money as he can from the energy sector”, said a Trump campaign aide. “We’ve gotten max-out checks from people we’ve never gotten a dollar from before.”Can Trump reverse the tide towards renewable energy? No, not entirely – it’s too strong, based on the ever-falling cost of sun, wind and batteries. Even in Texas, HQ of the hydrocarbon cartel where the state legislature has tried to pass laws limiting renewables, the undeniable economics of clean power continue to surge. The Lone Star state is now leading the nation in installing batteries on its grid, a good thing given the ongoing spate of climate disasters that strain and stress the state’s system.But he can slow it down considerably. America’s buildout of renewables is dependent, among other things, on overcoming the bewildering array of permitting requirements that make every transmission line a harrowing bureaucratic battle. At the moment, the Biden-Harris White House has a dedicated team at work, with senior officials assigned to senior projects, constantly bird-dogging them to make sure that they get built on schedule. That would disappear, replaced with a new set of bureaucrats deeply invested in making sure these projects didn’t happen.At least as bad would be the effect around the world. Last time, Trump withdrew America from the Paris climate accords, badly denting the momentum those talks had produced. This time he’d do the same and more – he’s promised, for instance, to end Biden’s pause on liquefied natural gas export terminals. These are designed to take huge volumes of US gas and ship it to Asia, where it will undercut the move to renewables. It is the last real growth strategy the oil industry has, and it is the biggest greenhouse gas bomb on the planet.View image in fullscreenIn essence, Trump would give every other oligarch in the world – Vladimir Putin, the king of Saudi Arabia, and on down the list – license to keep pumping away. If the biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases is not going to play a role, why should anyone else feel any pressure? As Project 2025 quite clearly declares, Trump would “rescind all climate policies from its foreign aid programs” and “cease its war on fossil fuels in the developing world”. (Though Trump has claimed not to know anything about Project 2025.) The global climate talks in Brazil next year and the 2026 version in Australia – currently shaping up to be the last huge chance for global cooperation – would be turned on their heads.There are ways to calculate the meaning of all this. The UK-based NGO Carbon Brief, for instance, said earlier this year that “a victory for Donald Trump in November’s presidential election could lead to an additional 4bn tonnes of US emissions by 2030 compared with Joe Biden’s plans”. Just for perspective, that’s a lot: “This extra 4bn tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2030 would cause global climate damages worth more than $900bn, based on the latest US government valuations. For context, 4GtCO2e is equivalent to the combined annual emissions of the EU and Japan, or the combined annual total of the world’s 140 lowest-emitting countries.” It’s like finding an extra continent full of greenhouse gases.But worse than the totals is the timing. If a Trump administration was merely going to be a four-year interregnum, it would be annoying. But in fact it comes at precisely the moment when we need, desperately, acceleration. We’re on the edge of breaking the planet’s climate system – we can see it cracking in the poles (the Thwaites glacier now undermined by warm seawater), in the Atlantic (the great currents now starting to slow) and in the Amazon (where savannafication seems to be gathering speed). The earth’s hydrological system – how water moves around the earth – has already gone kaflooey, as warm air holds far more water vapor than cold.The world’s climate scientists have done their best to set out a timetable: cut emissions in half by 2030 or see the possibilities of anything like the Paris pathway, holding temperature increases to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, disappear. That cut is on the bleeding edge of the technically possible, but only if everyone is acting in good faith. And the next presidential term will end in January of 2029, which is 11 months before 2030.If we elect Donald Trump, we may feel the effects not for years, and not for a generation. We may read our mistake in the geological record a million years hence. This one really counts. More

    • 188 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      The mainstream press is failing America – and people are understandably upset | Rebecca Solnit

      by

      The first thing to say about the hate and scorn currently directed at the mainstream US media is that they worked hard to earn it. They’ve done so by failing, repeatedly, determinedly, spectacularly to do their job, which is to maintain their independence, inform the electorate, and speak truth to power. While the left has long had reasons to dismiss centrist media, and the right has loathed it most when it did do its job well, the moderates who are furious at it now seem to be something new – and a host of former editors, media experts and independent journalists have been going after them hard this summer.Longtime journalist James Fallows declares that three institutions – the Republican party, the supreme court, and the mainstream political press – “have catastrophically failed to ‘meet the moment’ under pressure of [the] Trump era”. Centrist political reformer and columnist Norm Ornstein states that these news institutions “have had no reflection, no willingness to think through how irresponsible and reckless so much of our mainstream press and so many of our journalists have been and continue to be”.Most voters, he says, “have no clue what a second Trump term would actually be like. Instead, we get the same insipid focus on the horse race and the polls, while normalizing abnormal behavior and treating this like a typical presidential election, not one that is an existential threat to democracy.”Lamenting the state of the media recently on X, Jeff Jarvis, another former editor and newspaper columnist, said: “What ‘press’? The broken and vindictive Times? The newly Murdochian Post? Hedge-fund newspaper husks? Rudderless CNN or NPR? Murdoch’s fascist media?”These critics are responding to how the behemoths of the industry seem intent on bending the facts to fit their frameworks and agendas. In pursuit of clickbait content centered on conflicts and personalities, they follow each other into informational stampedes and confirmation bubbles.They pursue the appearance of fairness and balance by treating the true and the false, the normal and the outrageous, as equally valid and by normalizing Republicans, especially Donald Trump, whose gibberish gets translated into English and whose past crimes and present-day lies and threats get glossed over. They neglect, again and again, important stories with real consequences. This is not entirely new – in a scathing analysis of 2016 election coverage, the Columbia Journalism Review noted that “in just six days, The New York Times ran as many cover stories about Hillary Clinton’s emails as they did about all policy issues combined in the 69 days leading up to the election” – but it’s gotten worse, and a lot of insiders have gotten sick of it.In July, ordinary people on social media decided to share information about the rightwing Project 2025 and did a superb job of raising public awareness about it, while the press obsessed about Joe Biden’s age and health. NBC did report on this grassroots education effort, but did so using the “both sides are equally valid” framework often deployed by mainstream media, saying the agenda is “championed by some creators as a guide to less government oversight and slammed by others as a road map to an authoritarian takeover of America”. There is no valid case it brings less government oversight.In an even more outrageous case, the New York Times ran a story comparing the Democratic and Republican plans to increase the housing supply – which treated Trump’s plans for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants as just another housing-supply strategy that might work or might not. (That it would create massive human rights violations and likely lead to huge civil disturbances was one overlooked factor, though the fact that some of these immigrants are key to the building trades was mentioned.)Other stories of pressing concern are either picked up and dropped or just neglected overall, as with Trump’s threats to dismantle a huge portion of the climate legislation that is both the Biden administration’s signal achievement and crucial for the fate of the planet. The Washington Post editorial board did offer this risibly feeble critique on 17 August: “It would no doubt be better for the climate if the US president acknowledged the reality of global warming – rather than calling it a scam, as Mr Trump has.”While the press blamed Biden for failing to communicate his achievements, which is part of his job, it’s their whole job to do so. The Climate Jobs National Resource Center reports that the Inflation Reduction Act has created “a combined potential of over $2tn in investment, 1,091,966 megawatts of clean power, and approximately 3,947,670 jobs”, but few Americans have any sense of what the bill has achieved or even that the economy is by many measures strong.Last winter, the New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who has a Nobel prize in economics, told Greg Sargent on the latter’s Daily Blast podcast that when he writes positive pieces about the Biden economy, his editor asks “don’t you want to qualify” it; “aren’t people upset by X, Y and Z and shouldn’t you be acknowledging that?”Meanwhile in an accusatory piece about Kamala Harris headlined When your opponent calls you ‘communist,’ maybe don’t propose price controls?, a Washington Post columnist declares in another case of bothsiderism: “Voters want to blame someone for high grocery bills, and the presidential candidates have apparently decided the choices are either the Biden administration or corporate greed. Harris has chosen the latter.” The evidence that corporations have jacked up prices and are reaping huge profits is easy to find, but facts don’t matter much in this kind of opining.It’s hard to gloat over the decline of these dinosaurs of American media, when a free press and a well-informed electorate are both crucial to democracy. The alternatives to the major news outlets simply don’t reach enough readers and listeners, though the non-profit investigative outfit ProPublica and progressive magazines such as the New Republic and Mother Jones, are doing a lot of the best reporting and commentary.Earlier this year, when Alabama senator Katie Britt gave her loopy rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address, it was an independent journalist, Jonathan Katz, who broke the story on TikTok that her claims about a victim of sex trafficking contained significant falsehoods. The big news outlets picked up the scoop from him, making me wonder what their staffs of hundreds were doing that night.A host of brilliant journalists young and old, have started independent newsletters, covering tech, the state of the media, politics, climate, reproductive rights and virtually everything else, but their reach is too modest to make them a replacement for the big newspapers and networks. The great exception might be historian Heather Cox Richardson, whose newsletter and Facebook followers give her a readership not much smaller than that of the Washington Post. The tremendous success of her sober, historically grounded (and footnoted!) news summaries and reflections bespeaks a hunger for real news.

      Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell’s Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility More

    • 188 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Debate camp, role play and rival advice: Trump and Harris prepare for showdown – podcast

      by

      Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will meet face to face on the debate stage next Tuesday. Jonathan Freedland speaks to Paul Begala – who helped Al Gore to prepare for his 2000 debate against George W Bush – about what the 2024 candidates will be doing to prepare.
      What can they do to increase their chances of coming out on top, and will this debate be as election-defining as the last?

      How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump tells Jewish donors they would be ‘abandoned’ if Harris is elected

      by

      Donald Trump told Jewish donors on Thursday that they would be “abandoned” if Kamala Harris becomes president.In his speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, the Republican presidential candidate also said he would ban refugee resettlement from “terror-infested” areas such as Gaza and arrest “pro-Hamas thugs” who engage in vandalism, an apparent reference to the college student protesters.While Trump sketched out few concrete Middle Eastern policy proposals for a second term, he painted a potential Harris presidency in cataclysmic terms for Israel.“You’re going to be abandoned if she becomes president. And I think you need to explain that to your people … You’re not going to have an Israel if she becomes president,” Trump said without providing evidence for such a claim.Under both Trump and Joe Biden, similar numbers of Palestinians were admitted to the US as refugees. From fiscal year 2017 to 2020, the US accepted 114 Palestinian refugees, according to US state department data, compared with 124 Palestinian refugees from fiscal year 2021 to 31 July of this year.Trump also said US universities would lose accreditation and federal support over what he described as “antisemitic propaganda” if he is elected to the White House.“Colleges will and must end the antisemitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support,” Trump said, speaking remotely to a crowd of more than 1,000 donors.Protests roiled college campuses in spring, with students opposing Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and demanding institutions stop doing business with companies backing Israel.Republicans have said the protests show some Democrats are antisemites who support chaos. Protest groups say authorities have unfairly labeled their criticism of Israel’s policies as antisemitic.The Association of American Universities, which says it represents about 70 leading US universities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In the United States, the federal government does not directly accredit universities but has a role in overseeing the mostly private organizations that give colleges accreditation.The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s speech.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe Democratic presidential candidate has hewed closely to the president’s strong support of Israel and rejected calls from some in the Democratic party that Washington should rethink sending weapons to Israel because of the heavy Palestinian death toll in Gaza.She has, however, called for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling the situation there “devastating”.Health authorities in Gaza say more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli assault on the enclave since the 7 October 2023 attacks led by Hamas.Approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed in the surprise attack and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.The subsequent assault on Gaza has displaced nearly its entire 2.3 million population, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the world court that Israel denies. More