Photo of Fred Harter
Fred Harter

Reporter

Fred is a reporter at The Observer who writes for the Sensemaker daily newsletter and contributes coverage across print and digital. He has reported from over a dozen countries and was previously a freelance correspondent in Ethiopia, reporting for the Guardian, The Times and others.

Photo of Fred Harter

Fred Harter

Reporter

Fred is a reporter at The Observer who writes for the Sensemaker daily newsletter and contributes coverage across print and digital. He has reported from over a dozen countries and was previously a freelance correspondent in Ethiopia, reporting for the Guardian, The Times and others.

  • Fred Harter
    Food, energy and mortgages ... the next economic casualties of the Iran war

    Britons are being told not to panic, but price rises are inevitable if the Middle East conflict drags on

    Sun, 5 Apr 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Bloodbath in Sudan

    On Sunday rebel forces in Sudan captured the key city of el-Fasher.  Reports suggest that tens of thousands of people were killed in a matter of days.  

    9 min • S1, E1224

  • Fred Harter
    A pledge by the Tories to resume drilling in the North Sea is no silver bullet

    It will have a negligible impact on bills and could hamper the green transition

    Thu, 2 Apr 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Why is Trump splitting with MAGA over Epstein?

    President Trump has spent his political career promoting conspiracy theories for electoral gain, now he’s trying to shut down one of the most enduring of the lot.

    7 min • S1, E1150

  • Fred Harter
    America is leading the world to a very dark place

    Global democratic freedoms have declined for the 20th consecutive year

    Mon, 30 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    The autocrats are taking over the world

    Three out of four people now live under some kind of authoritarian rule, and the trend is growing. So how did we lose our love of liberties?

    Sun, 29 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Big tech finally faces its big tobacco moment

    Meta and YouTube have been found liable in a landmark addiction trial

    Fri, 27 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Donald Trump says Iran is begging him to strike a deal. Tehran tells a different story

    An expedient end to the war appears unlikely as both sides demand terms neither can accept

    Thu, 26 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Trump’s maximal war gains have yielded mixed results

    The US also has limited control over what Iran does next

    Wed, 25 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Sharon Nesmith, the British army’s highest flying dame

    The British army can now boast of a woman in every rank

    Sun, 22 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Kent is in the grip of an ‘unprecedented’ meningitis outbreak

    The government plans to start offering vaccines to students in Canterbury

    Wed, 18 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Vladimir Putin is the main beneficiary of the Iran war

    The conflict has boosted Moscow’s oil revenues and deprived Kyiv of vital air defence systems

    Mon, 16 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan has built a $9bn empire on crypto bets

    His platform allows punters in the US to make wagers on practically anything from elections to wars and world events

    Sun, 15 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Trump’s ‘America, F**k Yeah’ doctrine and the war with Iran

    Bombing the Iranian regime with little thought of what comes next suggests a foreign policy driven by pure swagger – a Team America approach to global power

    Thu, 12 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    The election of a former rapper in Nepal is a triumph for protesters

    Now Balendra Shah has to deliver

    Wed, 11 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Chinese export figures defy gravity of Trump’s tariffs

    Beijing has seen growth in European and Asian markets

    Wed, 11 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    The US has left one Iranian target curiously untouched

    Roughly 90% of the country’s oil exports flow from a single island

    Wed, 11 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Australia grants asylum to members of the Iranian women’s football team

    Players will be in danger at home after refusing to sing the national anthem

    Tue, 10 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Cancer deaths in the UK fall to historic low

    Better screening and medicines are behind the decline

    Tue, 10 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Oil prices boomerang on fears of Iran war and claims of Trump

    The president has calmed markets – but reality may still bite

    Tue, 10 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Keir Starmer is a punching bag of the US president

    Trump’s criticisms may work to the prime minister’s advantage

    Mon, 9 Mar 2026

  • Fred Harter
    Nasa altered the orbit of an asteroid circling the Sun

    New research shows that catastrophic strikes on Earth can be prevented

    Sun, 8 Mar 2026

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