World news Archivi - Page 5 of 927 - politic-news.space

More stories

138 Shares130 Views
in US Politics
Legal cases could prise open Epstein cache despite Trump’s blocking effort
by Evelyn Reynolds 3 August 2025, 12:00
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump vowed that his administration would release a tranche of documents in the criminal investigation into disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.But since Trump returned to the White House, his promises have fallen flat, with few documents released – and backtracking about releasing more records. The lack of disclosure has prompted not only dissatisfaction among those seeking information about Epstein’s crimes, but political flak Trump can’t seem to deflect, especially about his own relations with the convicted sex trafficker.But where political pressures have so far failed, legal pressures that have largely sailed under the radar of the fierce debate about Epstein’s crimes could yet succeed and bring crucial information in the public eye.Several court cases provide some hope that even if Trump’s justice department fails to make good on calls for transparency, potentially revelatory records about Epstein, his crimes and his links to some of the most powerful people in the US might still see the light of day.Moreover, it is possible that the justice department’s unusual request to unseal grand jury transcripts, in Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal cases, could also undermine opposition to it releasing records.One lawsuit brought by the news website Radar Online and investigative journalist James Robertson stems from their April 2017 public records request for documents related to the FBI’s investigation of Epstein. This request came years after Epstein pleaded guilty to state-level crimes in Florida for soliciting a minor for prostitution – and before his 2019 arrest on child sex-trafficking charges in New York federal court.Radar and Robertson filed suit in May 2017 after the FBI did not respond to their request; the agency ultimately agreed that it would process documents at a rate of 500 pages per month, per court documents.“Despite the FBI identifying at least 11,571 pages of responsive documents, 10,107 of those pages remain withheld nearly 20 years after the events at issue,” according to court papers filed by Radar and Robertson.Although Epstein killed himself in custody awaiting trial, and Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence, the FBI is fighting release of more documents. The agency has invoked an exception to public records disclosure that allow for documents to be withheld if their release would interfere with law enforcement proceedings.The Manhattan federal court judge overseeing this public records suit sided with the FBI’s citation of these exemptions, but Radar is pursuing an appeal that could be heard in the second circuit court of appeals this fall.“In court, they insist that releasing even one additional page from the Epstein file would hurt their ability to re-prosecute Ghislaine Maxwell in the event the supreme court orders a new trial,” a spokesperson for Radar said.“It’s a flimsy rationale and we are challenging it head on in the court of appeals. Our only hope of understanding how the FBI failed to hold Epstein accountable for over a decade – and preventing future miscarriages of justice – is if the government releases the files.”It’s also possible that the justice department’s request to release grand jury transcripts in Epstein and Maxwell’s cases could bolster arguments for the release of records.“The DoJ’s core argument against disclosure for the past six years has been that it would jeopardize their ability to put – and keep – Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. They say that releasing even a single page could threaten their case,” the Radar spokesperson said. “Naturally, any support they offer to release material undermines their claims.”Separately, developments in civil litigation involving Epstein and Maxwell could also potentially lead to the disclosure of more documents surrounding their crimes.A federal judge in 2024 unsealed a cache of documents in the late Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre Roberts’s defamation case against Maxwell. Some documents were kept under seal, however, and journalists pursuing release of documents appealed against that decision.On 23 July, the second circuit decided that it found “no error in the district court’s decisions not to unseal or make public many of the documents at issue”, but it also ordered the lower court to review possibly unsealing them.Robert’s attorney Sigrid McCawley reportedly said she was “thrilled with the decision” and also said she was “hopeful that this order leads to the release of more information about Epstein’s monstrous sex trafficking operation and those who facilitated it and participated in it”, according to Courthouse News Service.Others who have represented Epstein victims have called for disclosure of public records – and voiced frustration about being stonewalled in their pursuit of documents.Jennifer Freeman, special counsel at Marsh Law Firm, who represents Epstein accuser Maria Farmer, previously told the Guardian she had made a public records request for information related to her client, with no success.Spencer T Kuvin, chief legal officer of GoldLaw and an attorney for several Epstein victims, hopes that public records battles could help pull back the veil on Epstein information.“I think that the Foia requests will absolutely assist in the disclosure of information. The DoJ has made blanket objections citing ongoing investigations, but through Foia litigation the courts can test those objections by potentially reviewing the information ‘in camera’,” Kuvin said. “This means that an independent judge may be appointed to review the information to determine whether the DoJ’s objections are accurate or just a cover.”Roy Gutterman, director of the Newhouse School’s Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University, cautioned that calls for disclosures – and even government requests to release some files – might not be a panacea for access to extensive documents.“This case is already complicated, and there were already too many cooks in the very crowded kitchen, and it’s getting more crowded as more public interest grows in the grand jury materials as well as the now-settled defamation case,” Gutterman said.But stonewalling could also continue. With the public records requests, it’s possible that US federal authorities could still successfully cite the investigation exemption and keep documents out of pubic view.“Using Foia for FBI and law enforcement materials related to this case, might be a creative newsgathering tactic, but the law enforcement exemption the government is citing might be legitimate because some of the materials are grand jury materials and some other materials might include private or unsubstantiated allegations,” Gutterman said.“The reporter in me thinks there is an important public interest in revealing these documents, but the law might end up keeping most material secret. Even with the widespread and growing public interest, it might be too big an ask to unseal a lot of this material.“Practically speaking, the DoJ might also be very selective in which materials it would want to release as well because of the political element involved here, too.” More
188 Shares137 Views
in US Politics
Despite Trump, the US economy remains surprisingly resilient. But for how long? | Richard Partington
by Evelyn Reynolds 3 August 2025, 09:51
Chaotic and unpredictable, keeping up with Donald Trump’s volatile trade war – never mind his presidency – can be tough.Back in April after his “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, the talk was of the president crashing the global economy. Then, after a Wall Street backlash, the world learned the acronym “Taco”, which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”. Now, things are heating up again.The president’s decision to hit US trading partners – including Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan – with new tariffs after his self-imposed 1 August deadline certainly reignites a threat to the world economy. Dozens of countries have been left reeling, and US consumers are expected to pay a heavy price.However, there is a sense that things could have been worse. Nowhere more clearly is this reflected than on Wall Street: despite the chaos of the president’s trade war, the stock market remains close to record levels.After the latest escalation on Friday, and some worrying US jobs numbers, share prices took a hit, sliding by about 1%. But this is a setback rather than a rout.A further slide could be ignited by this capricious president. Trump’s decision to fire the official in charge of labour market data and his war on the independence of the US Federal Reserve will make matters worse.But despite the warnings of untold economic damage from the US tariff war earlier this year, the American economy has proven surprisingly resilient in recent months.Last week, the president seized on US growth figures showing the economy had expanded at an annualised rate of 3% in the second quarter, far in excess of the 2.4% rate predicted on Wall Street. Could the “fake news” media have it wrong? Are tariff wars “good, and easy to win,” as Trump claims?While inflation has ticked up, from 2.4% in May to 2.7% in June, it is well below the peak that followed the height of the pandemic disruption and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and is far from hitting the levels feared.Back in April, in a country wrought with division, Democratic voters reckoned inflation was on track to hit 7.9% within a year, while Republicans said it would collapse to 0.9%.Butthere is good reason why the US economy has so far defied the prophecies of Armageddon. For starters, the hot-cold nature of Trump’s tariff war means investors still anticipate further deals will be done to avoid the worst threats from ever materialising. The toughest tariffs introduced on Friday are only just arriving, too, meaning any impact has yet to emerge.Most countries have not hit back with retaliatory measures, which would have dramatically worsened things by putting international trade into a deeper tailspin.Meanwhile, knowing full well the dangers of this erratic president, businesses have been planning for months to avoid the worst-case scenarios.US companies rushed to stockpile goods before the trade war, helping them to keep prices down for now. Some firms have taken a hit to profits, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank, reckoning this is better than testing struggling American consumers – worn out by years of high inflation – with further price increases.The tariff costs are also being spread by multinationals, by increasing prices across the markets they operate in. In one high-profile example, Sony has put up the price of its PlayStation 5 by as much as 25% in some markets, including the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. But not in the US.Still, there are signs that consequences are coming. When US businesses exhaust their pre-tariff stockpiles, it is likely that prices will creep higher. Meanwhile, the uncertainty of an erratic president is hitting jobs and investment.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionLast week’s US jobs market data has reignited fears over the resilience of the American economy. Tariffs are weighing on business confidence and steadily creeping into consumer prices.GDP growth of 3% might appear robust on the face of things, but this figure was heavily influenced by the 0.5% fall in output in the first quarter, when the surge in US firms rushing to beat Trump’s tariffs distorted activity. Growth in the first half averaged 1.25%, markedly slower than the 2.8% rate for 2024 as a whole.Part of the reason Wall Street remains sanguine about this is the continued belief that things could have turned out worse. Deals are still expected, with the pause in tariffs for key US trade partners Mexico and China suggesting this most clearly.The investor view is that rather than tariffs the president would prefer a string of box-office moments in front of the TV cameras with trade partners paying tribute to the court of Trump.However, it would be wrong to underestimate the self-described “tariff man’s” love of border taxes. And even though his most extreme threats will be negotiated down, the final destination will still be much worse than before. An economic hurricane might be avoided but a storm is still the last thing businesses and consumers need.Britain’s US trade deal is a case in point. A 10% US tariff on British goods has been welcomed as a big victory for Keir Starmer given the alternative, but it is still far worse than before.British cars will face a tariff rate four times higher than previously, costing jobs and growth in Britain while hitting American consumers in the pocket.For the US consumer, the average tariff had been close to 2% before Trump’s return to the White House. After his 1 August escalation, that figure leaps to about 15% – the highest level since the 1930s.Almost a century ago a similar wrong-headed protectionist approach in Washington made the Great Depression far worse: the Smoot-Hawley tariffs hit the US and triggered a domino effect among the main industrialised nations, ultimately leading to the second world war.In the unpredictability of Trump’s trade war, hope remains that similar mistakes can be avoided. But significant damage is still being done. More
125 Shares135 Views
in US Politics
Durham disclosures further undermine Gabbard’s claims of plot against Trump
by Evelyn Reynolds 2 August 2025, 13:00
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of US national intelligence, hoped to uncover evidence that Barack Obama and his national security team conspired to undermine Donald Trump in a slow-motion coup.But if her crusade was aimed at proving that Obama embarked on a “treasonous conspiracy” to falsely show that Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump, Gabbard made a mistake. A previously classified annexe to a report by another special counsel, John Durham – appointed towards the end of Trump’s first presidency – has further undermined Gabbard’s case.It was a quixotic enterprise from the start.After all, the 2019 report from Robert Mueller, the original special counsel appointed to investigate the Russia allegations, and a bipartisan five-volume report the following year from the Senate intelligence committee – then chaired by Marco Rubio, now Trump’s secretary of state – both affirmed the offending January 2017 intelligence community assessment, which expressed “high confidence” in Russian interference.Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, seemed to validate the intelligence’s premise in 2018 when, standing beside Trump at a news conference in Helsinki, he admitted wanting him to win.The newly unclassified 29-page document from Durham, made public this week, contains a deflating conclusion for Gabbard. It confirms that Russian spies were behind the emails that were originally released as the result of a Russian cyber-hack of internal Democratic information channels and which Trump supporters believed showed the campaign of Hillary Clinton, his 2016 opponent, conspiring to accuse him of colluding with Moscow.“The office’s best assessment is that the July 25 and July 27 emails that purport to be from Benardo were ultimately a composite of several emails that were obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of the US-based thinktanks,” Durham writes. He is referring to Leonard Benardo, of the Open Society Foundation, funded by George Soros, a philanthropist and bete noire of Trump’s Maga base.One of the emails purportedly from Benardo proposes a plan “to demonize Putin and Trump” and adds: “Later the FBI will put more oil on the fire.”That message and others, including from a Clinton foreign policy aide, Julianne Smith, became part of the so-called “Clinton Plan intelligence”. Benardo and Smith disputed ever writing such emails.In his 2023 report annexe, released on Thursday in heavily redacted form, Durham at least upholds Benardo’s disavowal – concluding that it has been cobbled together from other individuals’ emails to produce something more incriminating than the actuality.For Gabbard, who is feverishly trying to prove the existence of a “deep state” determined to sabotage Trump, emails suspected to have been confected by Russia is hardly a brilliant look in her evidence package.Some former intelligence insiders find that unsurprising – dismissing the idea as a Trump-inspired fiction. “Trump is lying when he speaks of a ‘deep state’,” said Fulton Armstrong, a retired CIA analyst who served under Democratic and Republican administrations. “But if there were one, it would not be Democrat. The culture of that world is deeply Republican.”The national intelligence director – who has never served in the intelligence services or sat on its eponymous congressional committee when she was in the House of Representatives – is likely to see Durham’s finding as immaterial to her quest to put Obama officials on trial for “manufacturing” intelligence.But Gabbard’s insistence – echoing her boss’s view – on the existence of a plot to torpedo Trump was dismissed on Friday by John Brennan, the CIA director under Obama, who told the New Yorker that Obama issued instructions that intelligence showing Russian meddling to be kept hush-hush, at least until polling day, to ensure a fair election.“He made very clear to us [that] he wanted us to try to uncover everything the Russians were doing, but also not to do anything that would in any way interfere in the election,” Brennan said.Gabbard has cited a 2020 House of Representatives intelligence committee report – endorsed only by its Republican members – challenging the assertion that Putin wanted to Trump to win.However, Michael Van Landingham, one of the CIA authors of the 2017 intelligence assessment now in her crosshairs, said credible intelligence cast the Russian leader’s motives in an unambiguous light.“The primary evidence to get to Putin’s mindset was a clandestine source that said, essentially, when Putin realized that Clinton would win the election, he ordered an influence campaign against Hillary Clinton,” Van Landingham told PBS News Hour.“Then we saw a series of events that happened with the hacked US materials by the Russian special services or intelligence services to leak those materials similar to the information a clandestine source had provided. At the same time, we saw lots of members of the Russian media portraying Donald Trump in a more positive light.“There was other information … collected by the US intelligence community … over time, having a high-quality, clandestine source telling you that Putin was counting on Trump’s victory, having members of the Russian state saying Trump would be better to work with because of his views on Russia that don’t represent the US establishment, all of those things gave us high confidence that Putin wanted Trump to win.” More
150 Shares135 Views
in US Politics
India to still buy oil from Russia despite Trump threats, say officials
by Evelyn Reynolds 2 August 2025, 12:48
Indian oil refineries will continue to buy oil from Russia, officials have said, before threatened US sanctions next week against Moscow’s trading partners over the war in Ukraine.Media reports on Friday had suggested India, a big energy importer, would stop buying cheap Russian oil. Trump later told reporters that such a move would be “a good step” if true.“I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia,” he said. “That’s what I heard. I don’t know if that’s right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens.”However, official sources in India, quoted by the news agency ANI, rebutted Trump’s claim, saying Indian oil companies had not paused Russian imports and that supply decisions were based on “price, grade of crude, inventories, logistics and other economic factors”.Trump’s remarks came a day after the White House announced tariffs of 25% on all Indian goods, along with a penalty for buying arms and energy from Russia amid the war in Ukraine.Trump has given an 8 August deadline for Vladimir Putin to stop the war or risk further sanctions on tariffs on countries that import Russian oil.Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Indian state-owned refineries had suspended Russian oil purchases amid the tariff threats and narrowing price discounts.But on Saturday, the New York Times cited two unnamed senior Indian officials who said there had been no change in Indian government policy related to importing Russian oil. One said the government had “not given any direction to oil companies” to cease buying oil from Russia.“These are long-term oil contracts,” one of the sources said. “It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight.”The sources cited by ANI said Indian oil refineries operated in full compliance with international norms, and that Russian oil had never been directly sanctioned by the US or EU. “Instead, it was subjected to a G7-EU price-cap mechanism designed to limit revenue while ensuring global supplies continued to flow.”They added: “India’s purchases have remained fully legitimate and within the framework of international norms.”The sources also noted that if India had not “absorbed discounted Russian crude combined with Opec+ production cuts of 5.8 mb/d [millions of barrels a day], global oil prices could have surged well beyond the March 2022 peak of US$137/bbl [a barrel], intensifying inflationary pressures worldwide”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionRussia is the top oil supplier to India, responsible for about 35% of the country’s supplies. India says that as a major energy importer it must find the cheapest supplies to protect its population against rising costs.On Friday, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said: “We look at what is available in the markets, what is on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances.”Jaiswal added that India had a “steady and time-tested partnership” with Russia.This partnership has been a point of contention for the White House, with Trump posting on Truth Social on 30 July that while India was “our friend”, it had always bought most of its military equipment from Russia and was “Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE – ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!”In a second post, Trump added: “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.”Ukraine’s military said on Saturday it had hit oil facilities inside Russia, including a refinery in Ryazan, causing a fire on its premises. The strike also hit an oil storage facility, a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory. More
163 Shares127 Views
in US Politics
The US is complicit in genocide. Let’s stop pretending otherwise | Mehdi Hasan
by Evelyn Reynolds 2 August 2025, 10:00
Can we finally stop pretending that what we have been witnessing in Gaza over the past 22 months is a “war,” a “conflict,” or even a “humanitarian crisis”? Many of the world’s leading human rights and humanitarian groups – including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders – agreed months ago that what is being livestreamed to our phones on a daily basis is indeed a genocide.This week, Israel’s own leading human rights group announced that it had reached “the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip”. In other words, said B’Tselem, “Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip”.The debate over whether or not Gaza is a genocide is, effectively, over. So can we now also stop pretending that we are mere bystanders to this genocide? That our sin is one only of omission rather than commission? Because the inconvenient truth is that the US has not just looked the other way, as tens of thousands of Palestinians have been besieged and bombed, starved and slaughtered, but helped Israel pull the trigger. We have been complicit in this genocide, which is itself a crime under article III of the Genocide convention.As retired Israeli Maj Gen Yitzhak Brick acknowledged in November 2023: “All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the US. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability … Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”In fact, given Brick’s assessment, I would argue that what we have witnessed in Gaza from the US government is worse than complicity. It is active participation in an ongoing genocide.Donald Trump has given Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and his far-right government not only the green light to “clean out” Gaza and “finish the job”, but also the arms, intel and funds to do so. When Netanyahu launched his blockade of all food and aid going into Gaza in March, he emphasized it was done “in full coordination with President Trump and his people”. “Over the past six months,” Axios reported in late July, “Trump has given Netanyahu an almost free hand to do whatever he wants in Gaza.” An Israeli official told the site: “In most calls and meetings Trump told Bibi: ‘Do what you have to do in Gaza.’”Trump’s Republican allies in the House and Senate are even more gung-ho. Forget complicity; Congress is filled with GOP cheerleaders for genocide, from Senators Tom “bounce the rubble in Gaza” Cotton to Lindsey “level the place” Graham. The newest member of the House, Randy Fine, a Republican representative of Florida, has called for the nuking of Gaza and said just days ago that Palestinians in Gaza should “starve away” until the Israeli hostages are all released. (A reminder that incitement to genocide is also a crime under Article III of the Genocide convention.)But we cannot let Democrats off the hook either. The first 16 months of this mass slaughter unfolded on a Democratic president’s watch. From the get-go, Joe Biden gave Netanyahu and his cabinet of génocidaires everything they needed – 2,000-lb bombs to drop on refugee camps filled with Palestinian children? Check. UN security council vetoes to prevent the passage of resolutions calling for a permanent ceasefire? Check. The burial of internal US government reports warning of war crimes and famine in Gaza? Check.It wasn’t just Biden. The vast majority of Democrats in Congress spent much of 2024 casting vote after vote to keep arming, funding and whitewashing the mass killing of Palestinian civilians. Even now, in the summer of 2025, seven high-profile Democratic senators were happy to take a smiling photo with Netanyahu, including the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who claims talk of genocide is antisemitic and says his job “is to keep the left pro-Israel”.Then there is the US media’s complicity in this genocide. It isn’t just the Radio Rwanda wannabes over at Fox, where the morning host Brian Kilmeade has said it was hard “to separate the Palestinians from Hamas” and the primetime host Jesse Watters has said “no one wants” Palestinian refugees and “demographically [Palestinians] are a threat”.There are also genocide enablers in the liberal media. Those who repeatedly insist Israelis have a right to defend themselves while never asking whether Palestinians do. Those who parrot Israeli government talking points while sanitizing the violence inflicted on Gaza. Palestinians, remember, are not killed by Israeli bombs or bullets; they just “die.”US newsrooms have bent over backwards to present “both sides,” even when one side has been deemed genocidal by some of the world’s leading scholars on genocide. The New York Times, per an internal memo obtained by the Intercept, instructed journalists covering Gaza to limit the use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to “avoid” using the phrase “occupied territory” when referring to the West Bank and Gaza.One study of media coverage, also published by the Intercept, found that “highly emotive terms for the killing of civilians like ‘slaughter’, ‘massacre’, and ‘horrific’ were reserved almost exclusively for Israelis who were killed by Palestinians, rather than the other way around”. Another study, published in the Nation, found that “with one exception the Sunday shows covered and debated [Gaza] for 12 months without speaking to a single Palestinian or Palestinian American”.Go beyond the media. Elite US institutions are also disgracefully complicit in the annihilation of Gaza, from the Ivy League universities that punished anti-genocide protesters on campus; to the white-shoe law firms that disqualified anti-genocide applicants for jobs; to the big tech companies accused by a UN special rapporteur of profiting from the genocide.Most Americans, of course, don’t want to believe that our country is helping commit one of the 21st century’s worst atrocities. But, again, we must stop pretending. Our complicity and collusion are clear. As my Zeteo colleague Spencer Ackerman has written: “This is an American genocide as much as it is an Israeli one.”The US supplied and then resupplied the bombs and bullets used to kill tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians; the US facilitated the destruction of homes and hospitals; the US signed off on the starvation of children. These are the undeniable facts.And so to the Biden and Trump administrations, to Democrats and Republicans in Congress, to the US media, I say this: history will judge you. For the bombs you sent, the votes you cast, the lies you told. This will be your shameful legacy when the dust finally settles in Gaza, when all of the bodies have been pulled from the rubble. Not defending your ally or fighting terrorism, but non-stop complicity in a genocide; aiding and abetting the crime of crimes.
Mehdi Hasan is the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of the media company Zeteo. More
163 Shares135 Views
in US Politics
Good, mad and ugly: the US economy’s performance under Trump – in charts
by Evelyn Reynolds 2 August 2025, 09:00
According to Donald Trump’s White House, the US economy is booming, inflation is dead and jobs are surging. A blizzard of economic reports has cast a pall on such claims in recent days.This week’s data on Trump’s early economic record was mixed – good, mad and ugly – with jobs numbers so weak he reached for the catchphrase he once used to build himself into a reality TV star: you’re fired.The picture is chaotic, with robust headline growth in the world’s largest economy, wild swings in trade, and a remarkable slowdown in the labor market.For six months, Trump has staged an extraordinary campaign to overhaul the global economy and extract concessions from Washington’s allies and rivals by threatening and imposing steep tariffs on their US exports.But the unpredictable, erratic rollout of this strategy has already had bizarre consequences.Resilient-ish growthOn the surface, at least, this week’s deluge of data opened with good news: the US economy returned to growth in the second quarter, with gross domestic product (GDP) – a broad measure of economic health – expanding at a rate not seen since last summer.But this followed an unexpected contraction in the first quarter, and underlined some more concerning figures, such as a 15.6% drop in private domestic investment. Businesses have been struggling to keep up with the hour-by-hour jerks and jolts on sweeping economies policies.Yes, there was good growth in the last quarter but in the first six months, the US economy grew at a mediocre 1.2%. The Wall Street Journal called it “the weirdest GDP report ever”.Imports surge and plungeDelve a bit deeper, and you start to see how the US economy is grappling with a series of extraordinary forces as Trump hammers out his trade strategy.Firms spent much of the first quarter waiting for the president to reveal his plans for tariffs: which countries would be targeted, at what rates, and when. They stockpiled, triggering an unprecedented surge in imports that pushed growth into the red.In the second quarter, however, as Trump started to ramp up his economic attacks, imports tumbled at an equally astonishing pace. Net exports – how much a country exports more than it imports – boosted GDP.Interest rates on holdThis is Trump’s least favorite chart. Despite his many public demands, threats and attacks, the Federal Reserve has not yet cut interest rates this year.Why? Jerome Powell, the central bank’s chair, has repeatedly argued it should wait and see the impact of the president’s trade strategy before moving. Fed officials are worried that inflation – despite Trump’s claims that it has collapsed on his watch – has actually remained stubborn, and might rise as a result of his tariffs.This has gone down extremely poorly in the White House, where officials are counting down the weeks until Powell’s term as chair ends next May.Jobs growth stallsData released on Friday fundamentally changed the way US policymakers and politicians think about the economy. Until then, many inside the Fed thought everything was broadly ticking over nicely – and Trump administration officials claimed they were overseeing a boom in activity.But July’s employment report revealed far fewer jobs were created that month than economists had expected, and revised down estimates for May and June by an astonishing 258,000. Job creation has stalled.“Look, this jobs report isn’t ideal,” Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House council of economic advisers, told CNN, before suggesting that fading uncertainty around trade and fiscal policy would lead to significant improvement.“It’s all going to get much, much better from here,” he added. More
138 Shares79 Views
in US Politics
The inside story of the Murdoch editor taking on Donald Trump
by Evelyn Reynolds 2 August 2025, 08:03
:root .content–interactive,:root .content–interactive-grid,:root .furniture-wrapper,:root #article-header >div,:root #feature-header >div,:root #article-header >h1,:root #feature-header >h1{opacity:0}:root.interactive-loaded .content–interactive,:root.interactive-loaded .content–interactive-grid,:root.interactive-loaded .furniture-wrapper,:root.interactive-loaded #article-header >div,:root.interactive-loaded #feature-header >div,:root.interactive-loaded #article-header >h1,:root.interactive-loaded #feature-header >h1{opacity:1;transition:opacity .3s ease}@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://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-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-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://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.ttf) format(“truetype”);font-weight:700;font-style:normal}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-column-gap:0px;grid-template-columns:100%;grid-template-areas:”media” “title” “headline” “standfirst” “lines” “meta” “body”}@media (min-width: 30em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption{padding:0 20px;max-width:620px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:100%;grid-column-gap:10px;grid-template-areas:”title” “headline” “standfirst” “media” “lines” “meta” “body”}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent{padding-right:80px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:620px 300px;grid-template-areas:”title right-column” “headline right-column” “standfirst right-column” “media right-column” “lines right-column” “meta right-column” “body right-column” “. right-column”}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid #maincontent,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid #maincontent{padding-right:unset}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:140px 1px 620px 300px;grid-template-areas:”title border headline right-column” “. border standfirst right-column” “. border media right-column” “. border body right-column” “. border . right-column”}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid .content__standfirst{padding-bottom:0}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid figure.element–immersive figcaption{padding:4px 0 0}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta],.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta],#comment-body .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],#comment-body .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta],[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta],#feature-body .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],#feature-body .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta]{grid-area:2/1/5/2}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],#comment-body .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines],#feature-body .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=lines]{height:-moz-max-content;height:max-content;margin-top:5px}#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta],.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta],#comment-body .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta],[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta],#feature-body .content–interactive-grid [data-gu-name=meta]{margin-top:18px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){#article-body >div .content–interactive-grid,.content–interactive >div .content–interactive-grid,#comment-body .content–interactive-grid,[data-gu-name=body] .content–interactive-grid,#feature-body .content–interactive-grid{grid-template-columns:219px 1px 620px 80px 300px}}body.ios .article__header .standfirst__inner p,body.android .article__header .standfirst__inner p{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;font-weight:500}body.ios .article__header .article-kicker__section,body.android .article__header .article-kicker__section{display:block}body.ios .article__header .article-kicker__section:first-letter,body.android .article__header .article-kicker__section:first-letter{text-transform:uppercase}body.ios .article__header .keyline-4,body.android .article__header .keyline-4{padding-top:12px!important}body.ios .article__header .meta__misc .byline__author,body.android .article__header .meta__misc .byline__author{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;font-weight:700}body.ios .article__header .meta__misc .byline__author a,body.android .article__header .meta__misc .byline__author a{font-weight:700}body.ios .article figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android .article figure.element-image .figure__inner{height:auto!important}body.ios .article figure.element-atom+p,body.android .article figure.element-atom+p{margin-top: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://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff2) format(“woff2”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/GTGuardianTitlepiece-Bold.woff) format(“woff”),url(https://assets.guim.co.uk/static/frontend/fonts/guardian-titlepiece/noalts-not-hinted/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,.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}@media (min-width: 61.25em){figure[data-spacefinder-role=inline].element{max-width:620px}}:root{–dateline: #606060;–headerBorder: #dcdcdc;–captionText: #999;–captionBackground: hsla(0, 0%, 7%, .72);–feature: #c70000;–new-pillar-colour: var(–primary-pillar, var(–feature))}.content__main-column–interactive .element.element-atom,.element.element-atom{padding:0}#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#article-body >div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,.content–interactive >div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#comment-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,[data-gu-name=body] hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type,#feature-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p{padding-top:14px}#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#article-body >div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,.content–interactive >div .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,.content–interactive >div hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#comment-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#comment-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,[data-gu-name=body] .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,[data-gu-name=body] hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#feature-body .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,#feature-body hr:not(.last-horizontal-rule)+p:first-letter{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:111px;line-height:92px;float:left;text-transform:uppercase;box-sizing:border-box;margin-right:8px;vertical-align:text-top;color:var(–drop-cap, var(–new-pillar-colour))}#article-body >div hr+p,.content–interactive >div hr+p,#comment-body hr+p,[data-gu-name=body] hr+p,#feature-body hr+p{padding-top:0}#maincontent .element.element–showcase.element-showcase figcaption,#feature-article-container .element.element–showcase.element-showcase figcaption,#standard-article-container .element.element–showcase.element-showcase figcaption,#comment-article-container .element.element–showcase.element-showcase figcaption{position:static!important;width:100%;max-width:620px}.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px))}@media (max-width: 71.24em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{max-width:978px}.element.element–immersive.element-immersive figcaption{padding-inline:10px}}@media (max-width: 71.24em) and (min-width: 30em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive figcaption{padding-inline:20px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em) and (max-width: 61.24em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{max-width:738px}}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{margin-left:-10px!important;margin-right:0!important;left:0}}@media (max-width: 46.24em) and (min-width: 30em){.element.element–immersive.element-immersive{margin-left:-20px!important}.element.element–immersive.element-immersive figcaption{padding-inline:20px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper{display:grid;grid-column-gap:20px;grid-row-gap:0px;grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end meta-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(5,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start] .75fr [standfirst-end meta-start] auto [meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #headline >div:first-child,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] >div:first-child,.furniture-wrapper .headline >div:first-child{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper #meta,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]{position:relative;padding-top:2px;margin-right:0}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst .content__standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst .content__standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] .content__standfirst{margin-bottom:4px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst ul li,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst ul li,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] ul li{font-size:20px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst li a,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst li a,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] li a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] a{border-bottom:none;background-image:none!important;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder, #dcdcdc)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] li a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:1px solid var(–headerBorder);padding-bottom:0}}@media (min-width: 61.25em) and (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p:first-of-type,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p:first-of-type{border-top:unset}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper figure{margin:0 0 0 -10px}.furniture-wrapper figure[data-spacefinder-role=inline].element{max-width:630px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(2,1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(7,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] 80px [title-end headline-start] auto [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] auto [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{content:””;width:540px;position:absolute;top:0;background-color:var(–headerBorder);height:1px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p{border-top:unset}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before{content:””;width:1px;background-color:var(–headerBorder);height:100%;position:absolute;top:0;left:.5px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start] repeat(3,1fr) [meta-end standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(8,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] .75fr [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}.furniture-wrapper #meta:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]:before{width:620px}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]:before{left:-.5px}}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels >div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels >div{padding-top:2px}.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1{font-weight:600;max-width:620px;font-size:32px}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1{max-width:540px;font-size:50px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines]{margin-right:0}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines]{display:none}}.furniture-wrapper .keyline-4 svg,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=lines] svg{stroke:var(–headerBorder)}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper #meta,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta]{margin-right:0}}.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__social ul li a span,.furniture-wrapper #meta .meta__comment,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__social ul li a span,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .meta__comment{border-color:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper #meta .content__meta-container_dcr >div >gu-island,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .content__meta-container_dcr >div >gu-island{display:none}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{margin-left:-10px;padding-left:10px;position:relative}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{padding-top:2px}}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] p{font-weight:400;font-size:20px;padding-bottom:14px}.furniture-wrapper figure{position:relative;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:2px;grid-area:portrait}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper figure{margin-bottom:0}}@media (max-width: 46.24em){.furniture-wrapper figure{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));margin-left:-10px}}@media (max-width: 46.24em) and (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper figure{margin-left:-20px}}.furniture-wrapper figcaption{position:absolute;bottom:0;padding:4px 10px 12px;background-color:var(–captionBackground);color:var(–captionText);max-width:unset;width:100%;margin-bottom:0;min-height:46px}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span{color:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span svg{fill:var(–headerBorder)}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span:nth-of-type(1){display:none}.furniture-wrapper figcaption span:nth-of-type(2){display:block;max-width:90%}@media (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper figcaption{padding:4px 20px 12px}}.furniture-wrapper figcaption.hidden{opacity:0}.furniture-wrapper #caption-button{display:block;position:absolute;bottom:10px;right:8px;z-index:100;background-color:var(–captionBackground);border:none;border-radius:50%;padding:6px 5px 5px}.furniture-wrapper #caption-button svg{transform:scale(.85)}@media (min-width: 30em){.furniture-wrapper #caption-button{right:10px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive:before{top:-12px!important;height:calc(100% + 24px)!important}}.content__main-column–interactive h2{max-width:620px}:root:has(.ios,.android){–darkBackground: #1a1a1a;–feature: #c70000;–darkmodeFeature: #ff5943;–new-pillar-colour: var(–primary-pillar, var(–feature))}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:root:has(.ios,.android){–new-pillar-colour: var(–darkmode-pillar, var(–darkmodeFeature))}}body.ios #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .element-atom:first-of-type+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter{color:var(–secondary-pillar, #000)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__header,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__header,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__header,body.android #feature-article-container .article__header,body.android #standard-article-container .article__header,body.android #comment-article-container .article__header{height:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper{padding:4px 10px 0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels{font-weight:700;font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;color:var(–new-pillar-colour);text-transform:capitalize}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline{font-size:32px;font-weight:700;padding-bottom:12px;color:#121212!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image{position:relative;margin:14px 0 0 -10px;width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image .figure__inner,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image a{background-color:transparent;width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst{padding-top:4px;padding-bottom:24px;margin-right:-10px}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)!important;background-image:none!important;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder, #dcdcdc);border-bottom:none}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li a:hover,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta{margin:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__byline span{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc{padding:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg{stroke:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .element–showcase #caption-button{display:flex;padding:5px;justify-content:center;align-items:center;width:28px;height:28px;right:14px}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body{padding:0 12px}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.android #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.android #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive),body.android #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive){margin:0;width:calc(100vw – 24px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image:not(.element–thumbnail):not(.element–immersive) figcaption{padding:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body figure.element-image.element-immersive{width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px))}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted:before{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a{color:var(–primary-pillar);background-image:none;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:6px;text-decoration-color:var(–headerBorder)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose a:hover{text-decoration-color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper{background-color:#1a1a1a}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline{background-color:unset;color:var(–headerBorder)!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst p{color:var(–headerBorder)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .byline__author,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta span.byline__author a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__misc svg{stroke:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element-image.element–showcase figcaption{color:var(–dateline)}body.ios #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.ios #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.ios #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.android #feature-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.android #standard-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted,body.android #comment-article-container .article__body .prose blockquote.quoted{color:var(–new-pillar-colour)}body.ios #feature-article-container #article-body >div,body.ios #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.ios #feature-article-container #feature-body,body.ios #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-body,body.ios #standard-article-container #article-body >div,body.ios #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.ios #standard-article-container #feature-body,body.ios #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-body,body.ios #comment-article-container #article-body >div,body.ios #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.ios #comment-article-container #feature-body,body.ios #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-body,body.android #feature-article-container #article-body >div,body.android #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.android #feature-article-container #feature-body,body.android #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.android #feature-article-container #comment-body,body.android #standard-article-container #article-body >div,body.android #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.android #standard-article-container #feature-body,body.android #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.android #standard-article-container #comment-body,body.android #comment-article-container #article-body >div,body.android #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div,body.android #comment-article-container #feature-body,body.android #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body],body.android #comment-article-container #comment-body{background-color:var(–darkBackground)!important}body.ios #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #standard-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #article-body >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container .content–interactive >div .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #feature-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-letter,body.android #comment-article-container #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-letter{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, #ffffff)}}body.ios.garnett–type-comment #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android.garnett–type-comment #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst{padding-top:24px;margin-top:0}.prose h2{font-size:24px}body.ios #feature-article-container #caption-button,body.ios #standard-article-container #caption-button,body.ios #comment-article-container #caption-button{padding:6px 5px 0}body.android #feature-article-container #caption-button,body.android #standard-article-container #caption-button,body.android #comment-article-container #caption-button{padding:4px 4px 0}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:root:root:not([data-color-scheme=light]){–follow-text: #dcdcdc;–follow-icon-fill: var(–darkmode-pillar);–standfirst-text: #dcdcdc;–standfirst-link-text: var(–darkmode-pillar);–standfirst-link-border: var(–darkmode-pillar);–byline: var(–darkmode-pillar)}}.furniture-wrapper.has-guardian-org-logo #meta gu-island[name=Branding],.furniture-wrapper.has-guardian-org-logo [data-gu-name=meta] gu-island[name=Branding]{display:block!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,.furniture-wrapper #headline h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline h1,.furniture-wrapper .standfirst div p,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst div p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst] div p{font-weight:500}:root body{–weekend-essay-bg: #fff4f2;background:var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2);–article-section-background: var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2);–sub-meta-background: var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2)}[data-gu-name=lines]{display:none}.furniture-wrapper{position:relative}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper{grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start meta-start] .3fr [standfirst-end meta-end portrait-end]}}.furniture-wrapper .article-header,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title]{position:relative;height:70px}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels{height:inherit}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels:after,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels:after{content:””;display:block;width:70px;height:70px;background-image:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1753893334/book.gif);background-size:contain;background-position:center;background-repeat:no-repeat;position:absolute;bottom:0;right:0}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels:after,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels:after{width:110px;height:110px}}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels >div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels >div{height:100%}.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels >div:after,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels >div:after{content:””;display:block;width:calc(100vw – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:1px;background-color:#dcdcdc;position:absolute;bottom:0;left:-10px}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels >div:after,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels >div:after{left:-20px;width:738px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper .article-header .content__labels >div:after,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels >div:after{display:none}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper .article-header,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title]{height:80px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper .article-header,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title]{height:125px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper #headline,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline],.furniture-wrapper .headline{margin-top:-2px}}.furniture-wrapper #headline >div >div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] >div >div,.furniture-wrapper .headline >div >div{padding-bottom:0}.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper{height:100%;position:relative;overflow:hidden;padding-bottom:24px}.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a{max-width:unset}.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1:hover,.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1:hover,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a:hover,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1:hover,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a:hover{text-decoration-thickness:2px;text-underline-offset:6px}.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span{line-height:115%;font-weight:500;font-size:36px}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,.furniture-wrapper #headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=headline] .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper h1,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper a,.furniture-wrapper .headline .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper .byline span{font-size:50px}}.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{position:relative;padding-top:4px}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{padding-top:0}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper .standfirst,.furniture-wrapper #standfirst,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=standfirst]{padding-top:2px}}.furniture-wrapper #meta .content__meta-container_dcr gu-island[name=Branding],.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=meta] .content__meta-container_dcr gu-island[name=Branding]{display:block}.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{position:relative}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media]{grid-area:portrait}}.furniture-wrapper #main-media >div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] >div{position:relative}.furniture-wrapper #main-media div+span,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] div+span{display:block}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure{height:100%;margin-left:0}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img,.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption{width:calc(100vw – 40px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));height:auto;margin-left:20px;padding:10px 0}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption{margin-bottom:10px;padding:10px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before{content:””;display:block;width:calc(100vw – 20px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));background-image:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1753893334/frame.png);background-size:contain;background-position:center;background-repeat:no-repeat;position:absolute;top:0;left:10px;height:inherit}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img{width:670px;height:auto;margin-left:5px;padding:15px 10px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before{width:700px;left:-10px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption{width:650px;margin-left:15px;margin-bottom:15px;padding:15px 10px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure{margin-left:10px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before{width:470px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img,.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption{width:450px;margin-left:0}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img{padding:10px 0}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption{margin-bottom:10px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before{width:550px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img{width:520px;margin-left:5px;padding:10px 5px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption{width:510px;margin-left:10px;margin-bottom:10px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before{width:630px}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure picture img,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure picture img{width:600px;padding:15px 0}.furniture-wrapper #main-media figure figcaption,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure figcaption{width:600px;margin-left:5px;margin-bottom:15px}}.furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] #caption-button{right:15px;bottom:20px}@media (min-width: 46.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] #caption-button{right:45px;bottom:30px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] #caption-button{right:15px;bottom:20px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] #caption-button{right:20px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){.furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] #caption-button{bottom:30px}}.furniture-wrapper #main-media .no-media-div,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] .no-media-div{display:flex;justify-content:center;align-items:center;width:100%}.furniture-wrapper #main-media .no-media-div p,.furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] .no-media-div p{font-size:24px;font-weight:500;line-height:115%;color:var(–byline-anchor);font-weight:700;text-decoration:underline;display:block}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive{margin-left:0}.content__main-column–interactive:before{display:none}}.content__main-column–interactive aside[data-spacefinder-role=supporting]:has( >blockquote){background-color:var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2)!important}.content__main-column–interactive p:first-of-type:first-letter{font-weight:300!important}.content__main-column–interactive hr+p:first-letter,.content__main-column–interactive .progress-bar-wrapper+p:first-letter,.content__main-column–interactive p.drop-cap:first-letter{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;font-weight:300;font-size:111px;line-height:92px;text-transform:uppercase;float:left;margin-right:8px;vertical-align:text-top;box-sizing:border-box;color:var(–drop-cap, var(–new-pillar-colour))}.content__main-column–interactive h2{color:#8d2700;font-size:28px;font-style:normal;font-weight:300;line-height:normal;margin-bottom:8px}@media (min-width: 71.25em){.content__main-column–interactive h2{font-size:32px}}.content__main-column–interactive h2:has(strong){font-weight:500!important}.content__main-column–interactive figure:has( >iframe){background-color:var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2)!important}:root[data-rendering-target=apps] .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper],:root[data-rendering-target=apps] [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper]{display:block;margin-top:10px}:root[data-rendering-target=apps] .meta__byline gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] span,:root[data-rendering-target=apps] [data-component=meta-byline] gu-island[name=FollowWrapper] span{font-size:14px}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){:root[data-rendering-target=apps] body{–article-section-background: #1a1a1a;–weekend-essay-bg: #1a1a1a}:root[data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper .article-header:after,:root[data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=title] .content__labels:after{background-image:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1753893334/book-white.gif)}:root[data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure:before,:root[data-rendering-target=apps] .furniture-wrapper [data-gu-name=media] figure:before{background-image:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1753893334/frame-white.png)!important}}body.ios,body.android{background-color:#fff}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline{font-weight:500}@media (prefers-color-scheme: light){html:has(body.ios,body.android){background-color:var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2)}}html:has(body.ios,body.android) body.ios,html:has(body.ios,body.android) body.android{–opinion-primary: #c74600;–byline-anchor: var(–opinion-primary, #c74600);–primary-pillar: var(–opinion-primary, #c74600)}@media (prefers-color-scheme: light){html:has(body.ios,body.android) body.ios,html:has(body.ios,body.android) body.android{background-color:var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2)}}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){html:has(body.ios,body.android) body.ios,html:has(body.ios,body.android) body.android{–weekend-essay-bg: #1a1a1a;–opinion-primary: #ff7f0f}html:has(body.ios,body.android) .garnett–pillar-opinion:not(.garnett–type-media).ios .article__body,html:has(body.ios,body.android) .garnett–pillar-opinion:not(.garnett–type-media).ios .tags{background-color:unset}}body.ios #feature-article-container,body.ios #standard-article-container,body.ios #comment-article-container,body.android #feature-article-container,body.android #standard-article-container,body.android #comment-article-container{background-color:var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2)}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper{grid-column-gap:20px;grid-row-gap:0px;grid-template-columns:[title-start headline-start meta-start standfirst-start] repeat(5,1fr) [title-end headline-end meta-end standfirst-end portrait-start] repeat(5,1fr) [portrait-end];grid-template-rows:[title-start portrait-start] .25fr [title-end headline-start] 1fr [headline-end standfirst-start] 1.25fr [standfirst-end meta-start] auto [meta-end portrait-end]}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper{display:flex;flex-direction:row nowrap;justify-content:space-between;position:relative}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels{font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-weight:700;line-height:115%}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .content__labels a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, #c74600);text-transform:none!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img{width:70px;height:70px}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white{display:none}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif{display:none}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container.book-gif-white,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper .gif-container img.book-gif-white{display:block}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after{content:””;display:block;width:100vw;height:1px;background-color:#dcdcdc;position:absolute;bottom:0;left:-10px}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper{grid-area:title}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after{width:50vw}}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .title-and-gif-wrapper:after{background-color:#606060}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper{grid-area:headline}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a{font-size:36px;font-style:normal;font-weight:500;line-height:115%}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, #c70000)}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline a{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, #c74600)!important}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .avatar,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .avatar,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .avatar,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .avatar,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .avatar,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta__byline .avatar{display:none!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper h1.headline{margin-bottom:0;padding-bottom:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline{font-style:italic!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline .byline__author,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline .byline__author,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline .byline__author,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline .byline__author,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline .byline__author,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .byline .byline__author{font-style:normal!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media{height:auto;aspect-ratio:4/5;background-color:transparent}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element{height:100%!important;margin-left:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .figure__inner,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .figure__inner,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .figure__inner{position:relative;top:0;left:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner{background-color:transparent;overflow:visible;padding:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element img{width:calc(100vw – 40px);margin-left:20px;margin-top:25px}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img{margin-top:13px}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption{height:auto}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p span,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption span,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p span,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption span,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p span,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption span,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p span,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption span,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p span,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption span,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption p span,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element figcaption span{display:block;max-height:unset;position:relative;color:var(–captionText, #999)}@media (min-width: 46.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element{max-width:unset!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before{left:10px;width:calc(100vw – 20px)}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img{width:calc(100vw – 60px);margin-left:30px;margin-top:40px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before{width:calc(50vw – 20px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px))}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img{width:calc(50vw – 40px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));margin-left:18px;height:auto;padding:0;margin-top:10px}}@media (min-width: 71.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before{top:-4px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before{left:-20px}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element .element__inner img{width:calc(50vw – 90px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));margin-left:12px;height:auto;margin-top:-10px;padding-top:21px}}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element:before{background-image:url(https://interactive.guim.co.uk/atoms/2025/04/2025-weekend-essay-test/assets/v/1753893334/frame-white.png)}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before{width:calc(100vw – 20px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));left:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img{width:calc(100vw – 20px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));margin-left:0;padding:10px}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img{width:calc(50vw – 30px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));margin-left:5px;height:auto;padding-top:21px}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image img{width:calc(50vw – 70px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));margin-left:5px;height:auto;margin-top:-10px;padding-top:21px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image{height:100%;max-width:620px!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before{width:calc(50vw – 20px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px));left:0;height:100%}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media figure.element.is-first-image:before{left:-20px}}@media (min-width: 46.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media #caption-button{bottom:45px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper #main-media{grid-area:portrait;max-width:620px!important;height:auto}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element{position:relative;margin-top:0}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner{position:absolute;top:15px;left:20px;width:calc(100vw – 40px);height:auto}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner img,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner img,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner img,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner img,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner img,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner img{width:100%;height:100%;-o-object-fit:cover;object-fit:cover}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button{right:24px;bottom:20px}@media (min-width: 46.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element .figure__inner{width:680px;height:auto;top:10px;left:10px}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element #caption-button{bottom:25px}}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper figure.element{width:calc(50vw – 20px – var(–scrollbar-width, 0px))}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst{margin-top:0!important;padding-top:8px!important;padding-right:10px!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst:before{display:none}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner p,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner a,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst__inner li{font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:500;line-height:115%;padding-bottom:0}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .standfirst{grid-area:standfirst}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta{padding-top:0!important}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published{position:relative}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after{content:””;display:block;width:100vw;height:1px;background-color:#dcdcdc;position:absolute;bottom:0;left:-10px}@media (min-width: 61.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta{grid-area:meta;display:block}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after{width:50vw}}@media (min-width: 81.25em){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__misc,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__misc,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__misc,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__misc,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__misc,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__misc{margin-left:0}}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta .meta__published:after{background-color:#606060}}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta:before,body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .keyline:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta:before,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .keyline:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta:before,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .keyline:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta:before,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper .keyline:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta:before,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper .keyline:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .meta:before,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper .keyline:before{display:none}body.ios #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper aside.element-rich-link,body.ios #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper aside.element-rich-link,body.ios #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper aside.element-rich-link,body.android #feature-article-container .furniture-wrapper aside.element-rich-link,body.android #standard-article-container .furniture-wrapper aside.element-rich-link,body.android #comment-article-container .furniture-wrapper aside.element-rich-link{display:none}body.ios #feature-article-container #comment-header #cutout-container,body.ios #standard-article-container #comment-header #cutout-container,body.ios #comment-article-container #comment-header #cutout-container,body.android #feature-article-container #comment-header #cutout-container,body.android #standard-article-container #comment-header #cutout-container,body.android #comment-article-container #comment-header #cutout-container{display:none!important}body.ios #article-body,body.ios #feature-body,body.android #article-body,body.android #feature-body{background-color:var(–weekend-essay-bg, #fff4f2);margin-top:6px}body.ios #article-body hr,body.ios #feature-body hr,body.android #article-body hr,body.android #feature-body hr{height:1px;border:0;margin-bottom:3px;background-color:#dcdcdc;width:150px;margin-left:0;margin-top:48px}body.ios #article-body p:not(:has(span)):first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #article-body hr+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-body p:not(:has(span)):first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #feature-body hr+p:first-letter,body.android #article-body p:not(:has(span)):first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #article-body hr+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-body p:not(:has(span)):first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #feature-body hr+p:first-letter{font-family:Guardian Headline,Guardian Egyptian Web,Guardian Headline Full,Georgia,serif;font-weight:300!important;font-size:111px;line-height:92px;float:left;text-transform:uppercase;box-sizing:border-box;margin-right:8px;vertical-align:text-top;color:var(–drop-cap, var(–secondary-pillar))}body.ios #article-body h2:has(strong),body.ios #article-body .prose h2 strong,body.ios #article-body .prose h2 b,body.ios #feature-body h2:has(strong),body.ios #feature-body .prose h2 strong,body.ios #feature-body .prose h2 b,body.android #article-body h2:has(strong),body.android #article-body .prose h2 strong,body.android #article-body .prose h2 b,body.android #feature-body h2:has(strong),body.android #feature-body .prose h2 strong,body.android #feature-body .prose h2 b{font-weight:500!important}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios #article-body hr,body.ios #feature-body hr,body.android #article-body hr,body.android #feature-body hr{background-color:#606060}body.ios #article-body hr+p:first-letter,body.ios #feature-body hr+p:first-letter,body.android #article-body hr+p:first-letter,body.android #feature-body hr+p:first-letter{color:var(–new-pillar-colour, #ff5943)}body.ios #article-body p >a,body.ios #feature-body p >a,body.android #article-body p >a,body.android #feature-body p >a{text-decoration:none!important}}body.ios #article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #feature-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #article-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #feature-body >div .element-atom:first-of-type+p:first-of-type:first-letter{font-weight:500}body.ios #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.ios [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-body .element-atom+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-body .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android #comment-body .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+.sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter,body.android [data-gu-name=body] .element-atom+#sign-in-gate+p:first-of-type:first-letter{font-weight:300!important;padding-top:0}body.ios h2,body.android h2{color:#8d2700;font-size:28px;font-style:normal;font-weight:300;line-height:normal;margin:28px 0 8px}body.android #cutout-container{display:none}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){body.ios .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper:after,body.android .portrait-mainmedia__headline-wrapper:after{background-image:repeating-linear-gradient(to bottom,#606060,#606060 .0625rem,transparent .0625rem,transparent .25rem)}body.ios #comment-body p:not(:first-of-type):first-letter,body.ios [data-gu-name=body] p:not(:first-of-type):first-letter,body.android #comment-body p:not(:first-of-type):first-letter,body.android [data-gu-name=body] p:not(:first-of-type):first-letter{color:#fff!important}body.ios #comment-body h2,body.ios [data-gu-name=body] h2,body.android #comment-body h2,body.android [data-gu-name=body] h2{color:var(–byline, #c74600)}} More
150 Shares107 Views
in US Politics
Trump’s first-term labor statistics chief denounces ‘groundless firing’ of successor – live
by Evelyn Reynolds 1 August 2025, 21:01
Bill Beach, a former Heritage foundation economist who was picked by Donald Trump in 2018 to oversee labor statistics, denounced on Friday what he called the “totally groundless firing of Dr Erika McEntarfer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics at BLS”.Beach added that Trump’s order to remove the bearer of bad news on jobs “sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau”.He also co-signed a statement with Erica Groshen, who served as the commissioner before him, from 2013 to 2017, which began:
Today, President Trump called into question the integrity of the Employment Situation report that the BLS released this morning. He accused BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of deliberately reporting false numbers to reflect poorly on this administration. This baseless, damaging claim undermines the valuable work and dedication of BLS staff who produce the reports each month. This escalates the President’s unprecedented attacks on the independence and integrity of the federal statistical system.
The President seeks to blame someone for unwelcome economic news. The Commissioner does not determine what the numbers are but simply reports on what the data show. The process of obtaining the numbers is decentralized by design to avoid opportunities for interference. The BLS uses the same proven, transparent, reliable process to produce estimates every month. Every month, BLS revises the prior two months’ employment estimates to reflect slower-arriving, more-accurate information.
This rationale for firing Dr McEntarfer is without merit and undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision-making by businesses, families, and policymakers. US official statistics are the gold standard globally. When leaders of other nations have politicized economic data, it has destroyed public trust in all official statistics and in government science.
Other experts and elected officials were equally scathing in their response to Trump’s move.“This will make it difficult to trust government sources on economic and financial data,” Rohit Chopra, the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, wrote. “Many businesses and investors use these data sets to determine where they want to launch or grow, so this will have real costs.”“Instead of helping people get good jobs, Donald Trump just fired the statistician who reported bad jobs data that the wanna-be king doesn’t like,” Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator and bankruptcy law expert, posted.“No. Mr. President,” Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, wrote. “In America, you do not fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for releasing a jobs report that you don’t like. That’s what authoritarians do. We need serious economists in these positions, not hacks who will only tell you what you want to hear.”US stocks slumped on Friday, with the S&P on track for its biggest daily percentage decline in more than three months as Donald Trump unveiled new import tariffs on dozens of trading partners and a surprisingly weak jobs report spurred selling pressure.Shares in Amazon also fell after the company failed to meet expectations for its Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit.Just hours before Trump’s latest self-imposed tariff deadline on Friday, the president signed executive orders imposing import taxes on goods imported from around the globe, including key trading partners such as Canada, Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the 27-nation European Union.Investor confidence was also hit by new data showing that US job growth slowed more than expected in July, and was significantly lower than previously reported in May and June. Those job numbers prompted Trump to fire the messenger, commissioner of labor statistics Erika McEntarfer.The jobs report significantly pushed up expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next meeting in September.According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 101.60 points, or 1.60%, to end at 6,237.79 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 472.78 points, or 2.24%, to 20,649.67. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 543.97 points, or 1.23%, to close at 43,587.01.
Donald Trump said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in “appropriate regions” in response to “highly provocative statements” from former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who said yesterday that the US president should remember Moscow had Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities. It comes amid a spiralling war of words with Medvedev as tensions rise over Trump’s efforts to get Russia to end its war in Ukraine or face economic sanctions. Medvedev had earlier said that Trump’s threats to sanction Russia and a recent ultimatum were “a threat and a step towards war”.
Leaders of more than 60 countries were plunged into a fresh race to secure trade deals with the US after Trump unleashed global chaos with sweeping new tariff rates last night. Our story is here and a table of all the tariff rates for each country is here.
Trump ordered the firing of the federal government official in charge of labor statistics, hours after data revealed jobs growth stalled this summer, prompting accusations that he is “firing the messenger”. In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed (with no evidence) that Erika McEntarfer had “faked” employment figures in the run-up to last year’s election, in a bid to boost Kamala Harris’s chances of victory, and implied she “manipulated” today’s numbers for political reasons. “We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified,” Trump wrote.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released revised job stats today which showed the US economy added only 73,000 jobs in July, far lower than expected, amid ongoing concerns with Trump’s escalating trade war. In the report, the BLS also slashed the number of jobs added in May, revising the figure down by 125,000, from 144,000 to only 19,000, and in June, which was revised down by 133,000, from 147,000 to just 14,000 – a combined 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
Trump also said once again that Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, should also be “put out to pasture”, as he continued to insist the US economy is booming on his watch and implore the Fed to lower interest rates. The Fed later announced that Federal Reserve governor Adriana Kugler will resign from the central bank’s board as of 8 August, leaving a key vacancy for Trump to fill ahead of schedule.
Ghislaine Maxwell was “routinely moved” to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas, a senior administration official has told NBC News, due to safety concerns. “Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd. Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to significant safety and danger concerns,” the official said of Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes. She has appealed to the supreme court to overturn her conviction.
Continuing his attacks and baseless claims that the employment figures released today were “manipulated” for political reasons, Trump said the numbers were “rigged” to make him and his party look bad.He wrote on Truth Social:
In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad – Just like when they had three great days around the 2024 Presidential Election, and then, those numbers were ‘taken away’ on November 15, 2024, right after the Election, when the Jobs Numbers were massively revised DOWNWARD, making a correction of over 818,000 Jobs — A TOTAL SCAM. Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell is no better! But, the good news is, our Country is doing GREAT!
The Federal Reserve has announced that Adriana D Kugler will step down early from her position as governor of the Federal Reserve Board on 8 August.Her term was due to expire in January, but her early resignation gives Donald Trump an opportunity to more quickly appoint someone who could eventually replace Jerome Powell as chair.In a speech earlier this month, the New York Times notes that Kugler said the Fed should not cut interest rates “for some time” as tariffs trickle through to consumer prices.Responding to Ghislaine Maxwell’s move to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas, a senior administration official has told NBC News that prisoners are “routinely moved” due to safety concerns.“Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd. Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to significant safety and danger concerns,” the official said of Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice.In a statement earlier today responding to Maxwell’s move from a Florida facility to the one in Texas, the family of Virginia Giuffre, along with Maxwell and Epstein accusers Annie and Maria Farmer, said:
It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received.
The New York Times (paywall) notes that the Senate confirmed Erika McEntarfer to the post of commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2024 in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. Among her supporters at the time was then senator and now vice-president JD Vance.Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s labor secretary, has said she “wholeheartedly” supports the president’s firing of Erika McEntarfer to “ensure the American People can trust the important and influential data coming from [the Bureau of Labor Statistics]”.Trump ordered McEntarfer’s firing hours after data revealed that jobs growth had stalled this summer and administration officials scrambled to explain the lackluster report.“A recent string of major revisions have come to light and raised concerns about decisions being made by the Biden-appointed Labor Commissioner,” Chavez-DeRemer wrote in a post on X.She said William Wiatrowski, the deputy commissioner, would serve as acting commissioner during the search for McEntarfer’s replacement.California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, may call a special election in November to begin the process of redrawing the state’s congressional maps in response to Texas’s plans to change their own maps to help Republicans keep their majority in the House of Representatives.Donald Trump is pushing Texas and other Republican-dominated states to carry out mid-decade redistricting that will favor the GOP and potentially stop Democrats from retaking control of the House in next year’s midterm elections. Governors in Democratic-led states have responded by warning they will move to redo their own maps if Texas goes ahead with its plans, which could create an additional five Republican-leaning districts.California is viewed as the best opportunity for Democrats to pick up seats through gerrymandering, but voters will first have to approve changes to an independent redistricting commission that was given the power to draw congressional districts in 2010.Speaking at a Thursday press conference, Newsom said “a special election would be called, likely to be the first week of November” to approve the changes.“We will go to the people of this state in a transparent way and ask them to consider the new circumstances, to consider these new realities,” the governor added.The party out of power typically regains control of the House in a president’s first midterm election, as the Republicans did under Biden in 2022 and Obama in 2010, and Democrats did during Trump’s first term in 2018.Newsom argued that another two years of unified Republican control of Congress would be especially harmful for California, noting that Los Angeles residents were still waiting for lawmakers to approve aid from the wildfires that ravaged the region earlier this year.“They’re doing a midterm rejection of objectivity and independence, an act that we could criticize from the sideline, or an act that we can respond to in kind – fight fire with fire,” Newsom said.While Republicans could gain the most seats by redrawing Texas’s maps, Ohio, another red state, must also redraw its maps before next year’s election, and there’s talk of redistricting to the GOP’s advantage in Missouri and Indiana.Democrats are seen as having a more difficult path to improving their odds of winning the House majority through redistricting, often due to their states’ embrace of independent commissions intended to draw fair congressional amps.Voters created the California Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2008 to draw its legislative maps, and in 2010 expanded its powers to congressional districts. Newsom said, “We’re not here to eliminate the commission,” but rather to respond to what he described as “the rigging of the system by the president of the United States.“And it won’t just happen in Texas. I imagine he’s making similar calls all across this country. It’s a big deal. I don’t think it gets much bigger,” Newsom said.In the same Truth Social post, Trump said Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell should also be “put out to pasture”, as he continued to insist the US economy is booming on his watch.
The Economy is BOOMING under ‘TRUMP’ despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting ‘Kamala’ elected – How did that work out? Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should also be put ‘out to pasture’.
Donald Trump has said he’s ordered the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, hours after data showed US employment growth was weaker than expected for the last few months.McEntarfer was nominated by former president Joe Biden to serve in the role in 2023 and was confirmed by the US Senate the following year.In a Truth Social post, Trump suggested (with no evidence) McEntarfer had “faked” the employment figures in the run-up to last year’s election, in a bid to boost Kamala Harris’s chances of victory, and implied she “manipulated” the numbers for political reasons.“We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified,” Trump wrote.“Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”The bureau released revised job stats today which showed the US economy added only 73,000 jobs in July, far lower than expected, amid ongoing concerns with Trump’s escalating trade war.In the report, the BLS also slashed the number of jobs added in May, revising the figure down by 125,000, from 144,000 to only 19,000, and June, which was revised down by 133,000, from 147,000 to just 14,000 – a combined 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.Here is my colleague Andrew Roth’s report:Donald Trump has said that he has deployed nuclear-capable submarines to the “appropriate regions” in response to a threatening tweet by Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev, suggesting that he would be ready to launch a nuclear strike as tensions rise over the war in Ukraine.In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump wrote that he had decided to reposition the nuclear submarines because of “highly provocative statements” by Medvedev, noting he is now the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council.Medvedev had earlier said that Trump’s threats to sanction Russia and a recent ultimatum were “a threat and a step towards war”.Donald Trump also continues to voice his frustration over the war Russia continues to wage in Ukraine, writing on Truth Social earlier (before the submarine announcement):
I have just been informed that almost 20,000 Russian soldiers died this month in the ridiculous War with Ukraine. Russia has lost 112,500 soldiers since the beginning of the year. That is a lot of unnecessary DEATH! Ukraine, however, has also suffered greatly. They have lost approximately 8,000 soldiers since January 1, 2025, and that number does not include their missing. Ukraine has also lost civilians, but in smaller numbers, as Russian rockets crash into Kyiv, and other Ukrainian locales. This is a War that should have never happened — This is Biden’s War, not ‘TRUMP’s.’ I’m just here to see if I can stop it!
As Trump and Medvedev have traded taunts in recent days following Trump saying on Tuesday that Russia had “10 days from today” to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or be hit, along with its oil buyers, with tariffs, Moscow has shown no sign that it will comply with Trump’s deadline.As my colleague Shaun Walker reports from Kyiv, Vladimir Putin has not responded to Trump’s ultimatum. He has claimed he wants a “lasting and stable peace” in Ukraine but has given no indication that he is willing to make any concessions to achieve it, after a week in which Russian missiles and drones again caused death and destruction across Ukraine.“We need a lasting and stable peace on solid foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and would ensure the security of both countries,” said Putin, speaking to journalists on Friday, a week before Trump’s new deadline for hostilities to cease.Trump has said if Russia and Ukraine do not come to an agreement to end the war by next Friday, 8 August, he will impose a package of economic sanctions on Russia.Per my last post, Medvedev on Monday accused Trump of engaging in a “game of ultimatums” and reminded him that Russia possessed Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort after Trump told Medvedev to “watch his words”.Medvedev has emerged as one of the Kremlin’s most outspoken anti-western hawks since Putin sent tens of thousands of troops to launch his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Reuters notes that while Kremlin critics deride him as an irresponsible loose cannon, some western diplomats say his statements illustrate the thinking in senior Kremlin policymaking circles.The Associated Press also notes that with his frequently wielded nuclear threats and lobbing of insults at western leaders on social media, some observers have argued that Medvedev is seeking to score political points with Putin and Russian military hawks with his extravagant rhetoric.The escalation from Trump comes amid a spiralling war of words with the former Russian president over Trump’s efforts to get Russia to end its war in Ukraine.Trump yesterday called Medvedev a “failed former president”, writing on Truth Social that he should “watch his words” and is “entering very dangerous territory”.
Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!
Medvedev, who was prime minister of Russia from 2012 to 2020 and is a very vocal supporter of its invasion of Ukraine, has ridiculed Trump’s ultimatum to the Kremlin to reach a peace deal. He wrote on X earlier this week:
Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10 … He should remember 2 things:
1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran.
2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war.
Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!
In another post on X, Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, called US senator Lindsey Graham “gramps”, after he told him to “get to the peace table”.
It’s not for you or Trump to dictate when to ‘get at the peace table’. Negotiations will end when all the objectives of our military operation have been achieved. Work on America first, gramps!
The jabs continued on Telegram, where Medvedev threatened Trump with a cold war-era doomsday weapon known as the “Dead Hand” – a Russian nuclear system designed to automatically launch a retaliatory strike.
If a few words from a former Russian president can cause such a nervous reaction from the supposedly powerful President of the United States, then clearly Russia is right about everything and will continue its own way.
And as for the ‘dead economies’ of India and Russia and ‘stepping into dangerous territory’ – well, let him recall his favorite movies about the ‘walking dead,’ as well as how dangerous the supposedly non-existent ‘Dead Hand’ can be.
Donald Trump has said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in “appropriate regions” in response to threats from former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who said on Thursday that Trump should remember Moscow had Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities.Trump said in a post on Truth Social:
Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that. Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter! More

World news

More stories

Legal cases could prise open Epstein cache despite Trump’s blocking effort

Despite Trump, the US economy remains surprisingly resilient. But for how long? | Richard Partington

Durham disclosures further undermine Gabbard’s claims of plot against Trump

India to still buy oil from Russia despite Trump threats, say officials

The US is complicit in genocide. Let’s stop pretending otherwise | Mehdi Hasan

Good, mad and ugly: the US economy’s performance under Trump – in charts

The inside story of the Murdoch editor taking on Donald Trump

Trump’s first-term labor statistics chief denounces ‘groundless firing’ of successor – live

ITALIAN LANGUAGE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE