Pain and glory

Laughwashing in Saudi Arabia

This weekend marks the first-ever Riyadh Comedy Festival, with Jimmy Carr, Aziz Ansari, and Dave Chappelle on the bill. It’s being reported they are each being paid upwards of $375,000 to perform in a country which severely restricts freedom of speech. What does Trump’s cryptic “good luck to all” at the UN really mean for Ukraine - and should we be worried? Is the breakthrough on Huntington’s disease The News Meeting’s first genuinely good news story?  Giles Whittell is joined by The Observer’s International Editor, Steve Bloomfield, and reporters Rachael Healy and James Tapper as they pitch the top story of the day ** Listen to The Observer’s new culture podcast We Have Notes: https://shows.acast.com/we-have-notes-with-liv-little-and-miranda-sawyer **Join us at the next News Meeting Live: https://observer.co.uk/our-events Follow us on Social Media: 
@ObserverUK on X 
@theobserveruk on Instagram and TikTok
@theobserveruk.bsky.social‬ on bluesky  Host: Giles Whittell, Deputy Editor-In-Chief
Producer: Amalie Sortland
Executive Producer: Rebecca Moore To find out more about The Observer: Subscribe to TheObserver+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content
Head to our website observer.co.uk 
Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists

MAGATok is on the cards

The US government says it has agreed a deal which would see a portion of TikTok owned by US investors.    Writer: Stephen Armstrong Producer: Poppy Bullard Host: Ada Barume Episode photography: Joe Mee Executive Producer: Rebecca Moore  

The repercussions of Trump’s autism press conference

This week the President made the erroneous link between pregnant women taking paracetamol to autism. What happens now that trust in basic pain relief is shaken? Has Reform miscalculated with its climate-skeptical stance? And Nike has teamed up with Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS - but is their new campaign crossing the line by sexualising female athletes? Giles Whittell is joined by journalist and author David Aaronovitch, the Observer’s National News Editor Claudia Williams and reporter Jon Ungoed-Thomas as they pitch the top story of the day  

Ben & Jerry’s without Jerry

Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of the iconic ice cream brand, resigned after he claimed the company had been “silenced” on issues like Gaza.   Host: Tomini Babs Writer & Producer: Amalie Sortland Episode Photography: Sophia Fenton Executive producer: Rebecca Moore