News, culture and style

The Epstein tapes

Watching JeffTube

Jeffrey Epstein’s emails are a source of scrutiny and scandal, but thousands of recently released video and audio files have received less attention. The recordings – of private calls and conversations between the late sex offender and his friends – may prove even more compromising

By Alexi Mostrous

Lamine Yamal

Burning out in Barcelona

FCB’s young superstar is outpacing even Lionel Messi, but he risks exhausting his talent too quickly, Rory Smith writes

Artificial intelligence

Meet the vibe lawyers

AI chatbots are wreaking havoc in the justice system. An increasing number of people are using them to make complaints or defend themselves in court, Patricia Clarke reports

Estonia

Putin’s next target

Four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, military analysts are wargaming scenarios of a widening conflict which could put Nato’s Article 5 as soon as 2028, Nina Kuryata, Bernard Gray and Giles Whittell report

For today

Trump’s position on the Chagos Islands deal gives Starmer a real headache

Geopolitics

Jasper Corbett

Trump’s position on the Chagos Islands deal gives Starmer a real headache

Epstein scandal

Xavier Greenwood

Explained: Peter Mandelson’s arrest

The BBC wins no marks for its production at the Baftas

A bad edit

Seun Matiluko

The BBC wins no marks for its production at the Baftas

What Sarah Ferguson’s (many) books say about her

Woe is me

Lily Isaacs

What Sarah Ferguson’s (many) books say about her

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Photos of the fall

It started with a picture of a walk in Central Park. The chronology of Andrew’s demise under the influence of Jeffrey Epstein can be starkly told by four now infamous photographs. This is the story of a prince who willingly sold his soul

The Epstein files

Tanya Gold

With Andrew’s fall, the royal family’s spell over the public has been broken

Andrew Rawnsley

The Peter Mandelson scandal has turned ‘No drama Starmer’ into a lurid soap opera

David Olusoga

No one anticipated an easy reign for Charles III but this mess will go down in history

Ada Barumé

“My best pal”: Mandelson and Epstein

Rape culture

Unspeakable truths

In her memoir, Gisèle Pelicot examines the language of sex and violence, in the bedroom, the chatroom and the courtroom. She insists that the way men talk about women always matters