Opinion | The Guardian
Articles about Opinion | The Guardian
Cheesy? Yes. Cringe? Absolutely. That’s why High School Musical is still our secret passion | Rachel Chang
I watched the filming of the first jazz-hands epic. Two decades on, its sparkle hasn’t faded – and now it’s back on the London stage, says journalist Rachel Chang
One thing must now be clear to Andy Burnham. The rightwing press is on a war footing – and he’s the enemy | Jane Martinson
Farage was its champion, now it’s Badenoch – and the aim is the PM’s defeat at all costs While the merits of a so-called Britannia shield to protect Britain from missiles and drones are debatable, the Conservatives’ proposal did achieve one thing last week: the very idea of the shield was used to anoint a political leader. In a significant development, little observed amid the hullaballoo of news events, Kemi Badenoch’s uncosted, pie-in-the-sky plans to build a £10bn anti-missile system were enthusiastically heralded by the rightwing press.
In Liverpool I saw the tough choices Louise Casey faces on social care – starting with who will pay? | Polly Toynbee
Preparing her first report on England’s social care system, the peer says ‘everything is on the table’. This should include older people’s wealth, rather than taxes on younger workers, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
Europe’s big election season is about to kick off. It could change everything | Nathalie Tocci
If far right nationalists gain power in four big countries simultaneously, we are in for a dramatic Trumpian tilt, says Guardian Europe columnist Nathalie Tocci
The Guardian view on Narendra Modi’s gen Z crackdown: he cannot arrest his way out of a democratic crisis | Editorial
Editorial: Young protesters have exposed the limits of a strongman’s authority. Crushing dissent risks deepening the democratic crisis he should confront
The Guardian view on the Liberal Democrats: now is not the time to change leader | Editorial
Editorial: Ed Davey’s critics want headlines, but their leader’s strategy wins seats. Undermining him could help the rightwing parties into power
When AI is subject to less regulation than your fridge, something is startlingly wrong | Richard Hermer
Let’s be clear: the risk to humanity is unprecedented. Without an urgent public debate and robust use of international law, we will lose control of the future, says Labour life peer Richard Hermer
Ben Jennings on Reform’s pledge to suspend the UK asylum system – cartoon
The party’s most hardline immigration policies to date have been condemned by refugee charities and others as ‘unworkable’
Remember the disabled adults who need social care | Letters
Letters: Readers respond to John Harris’s article on the need to consider disabled people of working age when reforming the care system
A new approach to tackle sexual abuse in schools | Letters
Letters: Responding to an editorial on the extent of sexual abuse of pupils by their peers, a reader calls for more nuance and compassion. Plus a letter from Donna Hill
Those other battles of Hastings | Letters
Letters: In response to a report that rare footage of a 1966 re-enactment has been found, Sue Jenkins recalls her own that year. Plus a letter from Bryn Hughes
The surprising benefits of food rationing | Letters
Letters: Among the hardships of the second world war, a restricted diet with little sugar did little harm, write Roger Wilkinson and Helen Keats; plus a letter from Jane Robbins
As a scientist, here’s what worries me about the suspected Russian plague victim | Devi Sridhar
Russia’s silence over the death of a lab worker underlines that pandemic preparedness amounts to nothing if information on threats is withheld, says public health expert Devi Sridhar
I don’t have children. So who will I leave my precious possessions to when I die? | Kiran Sidhu
The quirky vase, the owl candlestick, my mother’s ring – these items hold part of me and carry with them an existential problem, says journalist and writer Kiran Sidhu
The Gulf has entered a new era of instability. If its leaders think they can rely on old alliances, they are wrong | Nesrine Malik
The latest attack by Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia may prove to be more calamitous for the region than the world imagines, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
The Guardian view on mental health: overdiagnosis is not the problem facing young people | Editorial
Editorial: Parity of esteem with physical healthcare remains a distant prospect. Ministers must do more to tackle rising distress
The Guardian view on the US, Russia and the international criminal court: Trump’s assault on the rule of law intensifies | Editorial
Editorial: A fuel deal with Vladimir Putin, and sanctions against the legal institution, ram home the president’s belief that might is right
Finally, a helpful intervention in the ‘overdiagnosis’ wars. But where’s the money to answer this tragedy? | John Harris
There is much to agree with in the Fonagy review into mental health support. Without serious public funding, however, its approach won’t work, says Guardian columnist John Harris
The more Putin escalates his attacks on Europe, the more Europe should support Ukraine | Timothy Garton Ash
Moscow’s imperialist strongman believes decadent European democracies can be cowed. Our job is to prove him wrong, says Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash
‘Gaza is a moral tear in the universe’ – Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor | Radical Thinking
Are we really living through ‘end times fascism’? The authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor think so. In a new series from the Guardian, the pair speak to Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty in an extended interview. From Trump 2.0 and the rise of the tech billionaire to Gaza and the ongoing climate emergency, Klein and Taylor argue we are not just lurching from crisis to crisis, but are in a new and dangerous moment in history. However, they haven’t given up hope of a fightback.
Andy Burnham is lucky – Polanski, Farage and Badenoch all seem determined to help him | Jonathan Freedland
Everywhere the PM turns, he finds generous adversaries. They have made his early days in No 10 so much easier, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
A promising future now looks perilous for election loser Zack Polanski. He sowed, now he reaps | John Harris
There was a real chance of a Green byelection win in Holborn and St Pancras. He made bad decisions and cost his party dear, says Guardian columnist John Harris
You have a higher chance of getting cancer at a younger age than your parents. So what went wrong? | Devi Sridhar
Some change in our lifestyles and environments over a generation has caused this increased risk. What, exactly, is a mystery, says chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Devi Sridhar
Not since 9/11 has the UK faced such a security crisis – and threat to our liberal principles | Gaby Hinsliff
The combination of Iranian, Russian and Chinese aggression is deeply concerning: just how much more concerned with security should the country be?, asks Guardian columnist Gaby hinsliff
Here’s what connects the Cornell alleged rape case to those before: accused men not being held to serious account | Emma Brockes
There was progress after #MeToo, but not enough. Certainly not enough to shift the assumptions that still protect men and denigrate victims, says Guardian columnist Emma Brockes
Zack Polanski had the chance to show real leadership. He blew it | Rafael Behr
A toxic debate over anti-Zionism leaves the Green leader looking like a passenger in the movement that carried him to the top, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
Trump wants control of South America. If Bolsonaro Jr wins in Brazil, that could become a reality | Steve Bloomfield
The US president has taken credit for far-right victories across Latin America, but those wins have had more to do with fears of gang crime than his meddling, says journalist Steve Bloomfield
I heard one thing loud and clear in Andy Burnham’s landmark speech: the left has won the arguments | Owen Jones
The PM’s stated trajectory is a rebuke to past Tory and Labour governments. The challenge now is to make his project progressive in word and deed, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones
Burnham has a clear vision for Britain – but not for how it fits into a troubled world | Rafael Behr
The Labour leader has set out his plans with passion and ambition, but the story he tells lacks a vital chapter on managing global chaos, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
As AI models go rogue, do you still trust OpenAI and Anthropic to stop them? I don’t and neither should you | Chris Stokel-Walker
The need for independent regulation grows more obvious by the day. We must keep this tech in check before it’s too late, says technology writer Chris Stokel-Walker
Andy Burnham talks about ‘public control’ of the utilities but it’s a minefield. We can lead him through it | Will Hutton and Andy Haldane
Nationalisation is not the ultimate answer for companies like Thames Water – but they could be run for the public benefit Will Hutton is a journalist and political economist. Andy Haldane is a former chief economist of the Bank of England Continue reading
Earl Spencer SLATES the king. Charles DESTROYS Spencer. If only Diana were here to click on it | Marina Hyde
It’s a battle for hearts and minds – and TikTok, and the ’Gram. Just as it should be. #royalbeef Reading the extracts from Earl Spencer’s book about his sister Diana, and the king’s two-footed takedown of it, it’s hard to escape the idea that Spencer and the Windsors are just elite content creators now.
How’s your apocalypse stockpiling coming on? Three weeks in, mine has hit a few snags | Emma Brockes
Cans of tuna, sparkling water and an old torch – if the end of the world came for me now I’d struggle, but it’s hard to know how to prepare for an unknown threat, says Guardian columnist Emma Brockes