Ideas | The Observer

USA

If ‘war is hell’, what exactly is Pete Hegseth fighting for in Iran?

The US defence secretary’s gunslinging rhetoric shows plenty of machismo – but precious little clarity about why America is bombing the Middle East

By Erica Wagner

Opinion

The special relationship

Philip Collins

Trump says Starmer is no Churchill. He has no idea what that means

President’s insult reveals he knows little about the early career of the UK’s wartime prime minister – or the values of the current one

Social media

Lily Isaacs

What do teenage boys see on TikTok?

To find out, Lily Isaacs posed as a 19-year-old called Joe. She was fed a diet of porn and misogynistic dating advice

Iran

Jack Straw

Iran’s resilience has been forged by adversity

Victimhood is part of the country’s religion and forms a national narrative that no aerial bombardment can shake

Race

Kenan Malik

Why Labour lost the minority vote in the Gorton and Denton byelection

It wasn’t sectarian politics that cost the party support, but the same class disaffection reshaping working-class voting across Britain

The Observer view

Keir Starmer’s answer to Donald Trump shows principle, not pandering

After the Ayatollah

It’s time the royal family got on their bikes

Save our students

Olivia Ovenden

Dubai’s influencers discover you can’t curate a war

As missiles sailed through the sky above the UAE, some of its more vocal expats were aghast that life in the Middle East is not all low tax and M&S

Andrew Rawnsley

Andrew Rawnsley is The Observer’s chief political commentator

Gorton and Denton will force Labour to rethink – it is no longer the only anti-Reform option

Don’t underestimate the Windsors’ ruthless drive to survive

Keir Starmer’s leadership hangs between survival and collapse

Kenan Malik

Kenan Malik is an Observer columnist

A slur was shouted at the Baftas – but what followed was more dispiriting

The AI threat is far greater than job losses

Anatomy of the Maga right

Ruling on Palestine Action is a timely defence of free speech and civil liberties

Eva Wiseman

Eva Wiseman is an Observer columnist

Chatbots can break your heart

Why slime is the start of the slippery slope for tween skincare

The naked dress trend is a bum steer on the red carpet

The beautiful and damned: the grisly truth about beauty procedures

James Harding

A passport, a history, and the country that took us in

James Harding explains why claiming a German passport was a way to celebrate his family’s history and the culture of Britain, the place which welcomed them

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