This was a vote against delusions of a ‘51st state’ and economic warfare, rather than an endorsement of the Liberals’ policies

Yesterday, as Canadians went to the polls, US president Donald Trump suggested that if Canada became part of America, they could vote for him instead. But in truth, Canada becoming the 51st state wasn’t a prerequisite for Canadians to vote on Trump. It was Trump who set the stakes of this election anyway, beginning almost as soon as he took office. His threats against Canada, both economic and existential, were the backdrop of this campaign. An unexpected crisis on our doorstep.

And now, the Liberal party, led by Mark Carney, has won a fourth term in office, a result that would have seemed unthinkable just a few months ago, before Trump’s unprecedented intervention.

Colin Horgan is a Toronto-based writer and a former speechwriter for Justin Trudeau

Spain and Portugal report power supplies almost back to normal after day of chaos across the Iberian Peninsula

Portuguese infrastructure minister Miguel Pinto Luz has once again suggested that the power cut originated outside Portugal, as the search for answers continues, Diário de Notícias reported.

Lisbon metro appears to be back up and running.

This irresistible love story braids the personal and the political – from Brexit to who gets to use the spare room as an office

There are not many romantic novels that include Brexit, Boris Johnson’s ICU stay and the “Edstone”. Then again, not many political novels begin with a classic meet-cute. Jessica Stanley’s UK debut, Consider Yourself Kissed, is – to misquote Dorothy L Sayers – either a political story with romantic interludes, or a romance novel with political interludes. It is also the kind of book that, for a certain kind of reader, will immediately become a treasure.

That meet-cute, then: Coralie, a young Australian copywriter, and Adam, a single dad, swap homes for a single night. Adam looks like a shorter, younger Colin Firth; Coralie waits in vain for him to tell her that she looks “like Lizzy Bennet, a known fact at school”. Coralie considers Adam’s neat bookcase of political biographies, including – to her joy – those of Australian politicians. Adam considers Coralie’s piles of “those green-spine books by women”. They fall in love, books-first, fairly instantly. And the reader who knows immediately that battered green spines mean Virago Press, and that what is being implied by Coralie’s careful collection is key to not just her character, but the character of this novel as a whole – that reader will also be irresistibly, hopelessly in love by chapter three. (If this meet-cute does nothing for you, you’re in the wrong place.)

Trump has cut off Ukraine aid, brokered and lost a ceasefire in Gaza and took a sledgehammer to world commerce

• 100 days of Trump

For US foreign policy, Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office were the weeks when decades happened.

In just over three months, the US president has frayed alliances that stood since the second world war and alienated the US’s closest friends, cut off aid to Ukrainians on the frontlines against Vladimir Putin, emboldened US rivals around the world, brokered and then lost a crucial ceasefire in Gaza, launched strikes on the Houthis in Yemen and seesawed on key foreign policy and economic questions to the point where the US has been termed the “unpredictable ally”.

Trump has wasted no time in trying to remake the US in his image – with results that are sweeping, vengeful and chaotic

• 100 days Trump – interactive

He has blinged it with gold cherubs, gold eagles, gold medallions, gold figurines and gilded rococo mirrors. He has crammed its walls with gold-framed paintings of great men from US history. In 100 days Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into a gilded cage.

The portraits of Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan and other past presidents gaze down from a past that the 47th seems determined to erase. Trump is seeking to remake the US in his image at frightening speed. The shock and awe of his second term has challenged many Americans’ understanding of who they are.

In this warm documentary, three siblings clear out their enormously grand childhood home in Oxfordshire where among the happy memories are those of cruelty

This warm, gentle documentary from Suzanne Raes is about a family – and a family home – that might have interested Nancy Mitford or Wes Anderson. Maybe it takes a non-British film-maker to appreciate such intense and unfashionable Englishness; not eccentric exactly, but wayward and romantic. It is about a trio of middle-aged siblings’ from the Impey family who take on the overpoweringly sad duty of clearing out their enormously grand childhood home in Oxfordshire. The huge medieval manor house Cumnor Place, with its dozens of chimneys, mysterious rooms and staircases was bought by their late mother, the neuroscientist Jane Impey (née Mellanby), with the proceeds of the sale in 1966 of a postcard-sized but hugely valuable painting, Rogier van der Weyden’s Saint George and the Dragon.

Impey died in 2021 and her husband, author and antiquarian Oliver Impey, died in 2005; this left their grownup children with the task of coming to terms with the memory of growing up in what is clearly an extraordinary place. It is magical and chaotic, haunted by these two dominating personalities, full of books, papers, paintings (who knows if there is another one that might be as valuable as the one Mrs Impey sold to buy the place?), huge grounds with a swimming pool, bizarre objects and items everywhere which speak of Oliver Impey’s preoccupation with the image of the dragon.

The president has begun his second term at a whirlwind pace, slashing the government, upending international alliances, challenging the rule of law and ordering mass deportations

Law-abiding migrants sent to foreign prisons. Sweeping tariffs disrupting global markets. Students detained for protest. Violent insurrectionists pardoned. Tens of thousands of federal workers fired. The supreme court ignored.

The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second term have shocked the United States and the world. On the eve of his inauguration, Trump promised the “most extraordinary first 100 days of any presidency in American history”, and what followed has been a whirlwind pace of extreme policies and actions that have reshaped the federal government and the US’s role in the world.

• US Open doubles champion admits exceeding limit for an IV infusion
• 27-year-old says he has developed a nervous tic because of the case

Grand slam doubles champion Max Purcell has accepted an 18-month ban for breaching anti-doping rules, with the Australian saying he has developed a nervous tic and anxiety because of the case.

The 27-year-old entered a voluntary provisional suspension in December after admitting to breaching Article 2.2 of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program “relating to the use of a prohibited method”.

A powerful speech in the Bundestag made her famous and has inspired young voters to fight back against the far right

The latest tattoo on Heidi Reichinnek’s lower right arm reads “Angry Woman”. A “present to myself”, she says, after the unexpected return to the German parliament of her party, Die Linke (The Left), in February’s elections.

Months before the vote, it had been widely predicted the far-left party, successor to the east German communists, would be decimated. But the naysayers were proved wrong: Die Linke won nearly 9% of the vote, an increase of almost 4% on the previous election, giving them a healthy 64 seats in the new Bundestag.

Israel’s genuine friends abroad, from governments to Jewish communities, must mobilise to help us end this terrible war

• Ami Ayalon is a former director of Shin Bet and a former commander-in-chief of Israel’s navy

I spent close to 40 years working as a public servant for the state of Israel, including as commander of the navy and head of the Shin Bet, protecting Israel and defending it from external and internal threats. Several weeks ago, along with 17 other colleagues who have also dedicated their lives to Israel’s security and welfare, I made a decision that the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is so under threat that it is not just my responsibility, but obligation, to sound the alarm.

The 18 of us took out a full-page advert in two major Israeli broadsheet papers. In it, we made clear that the very fabric of the state of Israel and the values on which it was founded are being eroded. The truth is that our hostages in Gaza have been abandoned in favour of the government’s messianic ideology and by a prime minister in Benjamin Netanyahu who is desperate to cling to power for his own personal gain. Our government is undermining the democratic functions of the state to shore up and protect its own power. It is forcing us into a perpetual war with no achievable military objectives and which can only result in more loss of life and hatred.

Ami Ayalon is a former director of Israel Security Agency (the Shin Bet) and a former commander-in-chief of Israel’s navy

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Real Madrid could not live with his relentlessness but how will Rice fare against João Neves, Fabián Ruiz and Vitinha?

Declan Rice went into Arsenal’s Champions League quarter‑final against Real Madrid knowing it was a chance to go to another level. Rise to the occasion against the kings of Europe and people would see the midfielder in a different light. Remember the boy who was kicked out of Chelsea at 14? The tearful one who travelled across London for a trial at West Ham, went on to captain them to their first trophy in 43 years, and left for £105m? Well, the thing you need to know about him is that he has never been afraid to meet a challenge head on and make people think twice about questioning his talent.

So Rice backed himself when he faced Madrid and left Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Luka Modric and Aurélien Tchouaméni in the shade by producing man-of-the-match displays in both legs. He drove Arsenal on, powering them forward, bending the tie to his will. Madrid, the reigning European champions, could not live with his relentlessness. There was hype around Rice’s duel with Bellingham, but it did not live up to much. There was no debate about who dominated the battle between the two leaders of England’s midfield.

Belfast rappers post apology to families of David Amess and Jo Cox after footage emerges of apparent call to kill MPs

Kneecap have apologised to the families of murdered MPs David Amess and Jo Cox after footage emerged in which the Irish-language rappers purportedly call for politicians to be killed.

Criticism of the group has been mounting – including from Downing Street and the Conservative leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch – since a video emerged from a November 2023 gig appearing to show one person from the group saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”

Researchers have compared the monotreme’s traits with the Kryoryctes cadburyi, an ancient water-dwelling creature that lived in Australia more than 100m years ago

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Australia’s burrowing echidna evolved from a water-dwelling ancestor in an “extremely rare” biological event, scientists said in a new study of the peculiar egg-laying mammals.

With powerful digging claws, protective spikes and highly sensitive beaks, echidnas are well suited to a life shuffling through the forest undergrowth. But a team of Australian and international scientists believe many of the echidna’s unusual traits were first developed millions of years ago when its ancestors splashed through the water.

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President will ease some duties on foreign parts in domestically manufactured cars, administration says

• Business live – latest updates

Donald Trump plans to cushion the impact of his tariffs on US carmakers by easing some duties on foreign vehicle parts, his administration has said.

“President Trump is building an important partnership with both the domestic automakers and our great American workers,” the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said in a statement provided by the White House.

• Donald Trump praises team’s win over Kansas City Chiefs
• No official reason for players who chose not to attend

Donald Trump feted the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles at the White House on Monday, but several players, including quarterback Jalen Hurts, decided to skip the celebration.

Hurts and other players cited scheduling conflicts as the reasons for their absences, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Early voting in the Australian federal election begins on Tuesday 22 April. Find out everything you need to know before Australia goes to the polls on 3 May, 2025

We want to hear how people have been affect by the major power outages across Spain and Portugal

Major power outages hit Spain, Portugal and southern France on Monday, affecting millions of people.

Many traffic lights ceased to function, metros and trains were halted, and people struggled to get mobile phone signal.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

UK grocery inflation has edged up this month, as consumers are hit by rising food prices.

Data provider Kantar has reported that supermarket prices rose by 3.8% per year in the four weeks to April 20, up from 3.5% a month earlier.

“Chocolate confectionery prices rose by 17.4% this period, the fastest of any category, but that didn’t stop the British public treating themselves this Easter. The volume of chocolate eggs sold through supermarket tills still grew by 0.4% on last year, while at the dinner table lamb was the most popular fresh meat joint, followed by beef and pork.

Some households chose to indulge in less seasonal fare as the sun came out and they dusted off the barbecue, with burger sales shooting up by 31% over the last month.”

The way in which regulations are being applied to bioethanol is undermining the commercial viability of our business. We are having constructive discussions with the UK Government to explore regulatory options to improve the position. There is no guarantee that these discussions will be successful, and we will either mothball or close the Vivergo plant if necessary.

Playing host to two FA Cup semi-finals less than 24 hours apart, as well as more than 150,000 fans, means a busy time for staff at Wembley. We take a look at the preparations

It takes a great deal of organisation and a lot of staff, working across a variety of roles, to deliver these two huge fixtures. More than 12,000 staff worked at Wembley over the two days. Many worked both days and through the night to ensure everything was in place.

Matchday mascots wait to greet the players as they arrive at Wembley for the first of the weekend’s FA Cup semi-finals.

Young Serbians are keen to celebrate the Yugoslav era, and offering tours of their country in vintage Yugos is a fun way of doing it

‘Jump in, comrade,” my driver honks and calls out the window of the smallest, boxiest car I’ve ever seen: the communist vintage Yugo. I’m setting off on a tour of Yugoslav-era Belgrade with driver Vojin Žugić from Yugoverse tours, a company in the business of cold-war nostalgia. The car is a time capsule, with its little cube headlights, cranky gear stick and cassette player. Its horn sounds delightfully cheeky, and the smell of diesel and old leather seats is strong. We trundle around the Serbian capital for half a day, taking in communism’s most striking bridges and sites, honking merrily at the many drivers who overtake us. All of them smile and wave, for the Yugo holds fond memories in this part of the world.

Driving around the hippodrome next to Ada Bridge, or under the gravity-defying arch of the experimental brutalist Genex tower, it’s easy to get caught up in Žugić’s nostalgia – even though he’s only 24. “I love the feel of the mechanics, the simple geometry,” he says of the car. We park at the tower and take the lift to the top floor at 140 metres for spectacular city views from its spaceship-like windows. When it was designed in 1977, this was architecture of an imagined socialist utopia. Though the concrete is a bit shabby up close, the tower has kept its photogenic appeal. Just like our Yugo.

The Patrick Melrose author brings his trademark dark wit and flinty compassion to this wide-ranging sequel

Edward St Aubyn’s previous novel, 2021’s Double Blind, was something of a challenge even for his devotees. Leaving aside the usual gripe that he is never quite as compelling without the shield of his authorial alter ego Patrick Melrose, the obsessive nature of the book’s inquiry into bioethics, narcosis, psychotherapy, oncology, venture capitalism and inheritance made too heady a cocktail to be more than sipped, a few pages at a time. I struggled with it until the very last scene, a charity bash where a schizophrenic young man takes his first terrified steps in employment as a waiter and happens upon a woman who, unknown to both, is intimately related to him. Their chance encounter was intensely moving and tautly suspenseful – you felt an immediate longing to know what would befall them.

That longing is now answered in Parallel Lines, which picks up the narrative five years later and reintroduces its cast of interestingly troubled characters. Francis, a botanist pursuing a rewilding project on a Sussex country estate, has now joined an NGO in Ecuador trying to save the Amazonian rainforest. He’s also raising a son with his wife, Olivia, a writer producing a radio series on natural disasters and wondering whether Francis can resist the amorous lures of his philanthropist boss. Olivia’s best friend, Lucy, is in the throes of treatment for a brain tumour, the traumatic reverberations from which have forced her boyfriend – wild man plutocrat and drug fiend Hunter – to seek refuge with “compassion burnout” at an Italian monastery, where he’s hosted by a gentle abbot, Guido.

Sweet documentary about Sean DeLear, of LA punk band Glue, who never landed a major record deal but was famous among celebrities

That’s Sean DeLear, pronounced like “chandelier”, born Anthony Robertson in 1964. You probably haven’t heard of him: DeLear was the lead singer of a band called Glue on the underground post-punk scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s and 90s. On stage, he performed in drag, singing punk songs dressed like a 1960s go-do dancer in cute little dresses. The band never landed a major record deal, and DeLear died from cancer in 2017. This sweet, scrappy documentary has been lovingly put together by his friend Markus Zizenbacher.

It’s not the first posthumous attempt at recognition for DeLear. In 2023, his teenage diary, written in 1979, was published under the title I Could Not Believe It. Extracts of this queer black memoir are read here on the voiceover – and they are glorious. Even aged 14 years old, living with his Christian parents in a conservative suburb of Los Angeles, DeLear was proudly, joyfully gay, though this was before the terror of Aids. The interviews in the film with his mum and brother, an evangelical pastor, feel a little bit thin; his family accepted his sexuality, they say, but not much else.

A poetic new exhibition of dreamlike black and white images captures the country’s contemplative beauty, from lonely Torii gates to sprawling temple trees

1,000 tonnes of dog waste hits the ground daily in the UK – how can we reduce its environmental impact? Scientists weigh up the best options, from flicking it into the undergrowth to reusing newspapers

When Laura Young got Cooper the cavapoo in 2020, she knew that single-use plastic poo bags weren’t going to cut it. “Having a dog is a lifestyle extra,” says the 28-year-old environmental scientist. “I was aware that I wanted to try not having a negative environmental impact.” But where to start? The shelves seemed to be divided into two camps: bog-standard, single-use plastic wisps, and shiny, expensive bags brandishing eco buzzwords. “I was conscious that compostable bags weren’t the solution,” says Young. “But initially that’s all I could find and so that’s what I bought.”

Often marketed as biodegradable, compostable or made from an alternative material such as cornstarch, they promise a more environmentally friendly option than single-use plastic. (Plastic poo bags, frequently made from low-density polyethylene, will sweat in landfill for thousands of years, breaking down into harmful microplastics and releasing climate-warming methane as they go.)

Victorian supreme court judge tells jury that charges relating to Simon Patterson have been dropped

The trial of Erin Patterson for allegedly murdering her in-laws by serving them a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms has started in a Victorian court.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her house in South Gippsland in 2023.

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Persad-Bissesar, 73, who was prime minister from 2010-2015, remains the only woman to ever have led the twin-island Caribbean nation

sVoters in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) have ousted the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) party, electing the United National Congress’ (UNC) Kamla Persad-Bissessar as prime minister of the twin-island Caribbean nation.

The victory marks a remarkable comeback for Persad-Bissesar, 73, who previously served as prime minister from 2010-2015, and remains the only woman ever to have led the country.

Canadian PM right candidate for the moment in success shaped more by chance than meticulous planning

Mark Carney, the economist, banker and politician, has long professed a simple article of faith when navigating through crisis: “A plan beats no plan.”

And his rapid ascent to Canada’s top job might be taken as evidence of such preparation.

With Labour losing votes to pro-European parties, an intriguing new deep-dive makes clear that the public mood has shifted

It’s nearly nine years now since Britain lost its collective mind.

More than enough time, then, to put the Brexit referendum into perspective. Leavers have moved on to the point where only 11% of British voters still kid themselves that it’s turned out brilliantly. It’s remain politicians who had started to look strangely stuck in the past, still frightened of sounding too pro-European in case they somehow woke the monster. But joyfully – now there’s a word I haven’t typed much lately – it looks like something is finally shifting.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

British defence firms have reportedly warned staff not to connect their phones to Chinese-made EVs

Mobile phones and desktop computers are longstanding targets for cyber spies – but how vulnerable are electric cars?

On Monday the i newspaper claimed that British defence firms working for the UK government have warned staff against connecting or pairing their phones with Chinese-made electric cars, due to fears that Beijing could extract sensitive data from the devices.

A simple, fragrant, restorative soup, plus a chickeny twist on the classic Indonesian-Malay aromatic ‘dry’ curry

Comfort food means different things to different people, and today’s recipes are what do it for me. Rasam is the dish I crave whenever I’m feeling under the weather, because it gives me a boost. This thin, brothy soup is considered to be very good for digestion, so in Malaysia we often serve it at the end of a meal. Rendang, meanwhile, originated in Indonesia before becoming popular across south-east Asia, and is now particularly associated with Malaysia. It is spicy, sweet and very fragrant, because it features both lemongrass and lime leaves. I learned how to cook it from my mum and auntie back at home in Seremban – Mum’s version uses fresh green chillies, but I also add some dried kashmiri chillies, to give it a darker colour and, in my opinion, a better flavour, too. As with many Malaysian recipes, it all begins by making a kari paste, which you can do well in advance, if you wish. Mum taught me to cook the meat separately from the paste, but nowadays I tend to cook them together in the same pan for ease.

Maintaining a positive mood and eating more fruit may also help lower risk, researchers find

Drinking champagne, eating more fruit, staying slim and maintaining a positive outlook on life could help reduce the risk of a sudden cardiac arrest, the world’s first study of its kind suggests.

Millions of people worldwide die every year after experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), when the heart stops pumping blood around the body without warning. They are caused by a dangerous abnormal heart rhythm, when the electrical system in the heart is not working properly. Without immediate treatment such as CPR, those affected will die.

As they pass through different hands, cooking utensils can magically connect us to loved ones who are no longer with us

I have long felt that kitchen objects can have a life of their own. Even so, I found this eerie. One August day in 2020, I was going to fetch clothes out of the washing machine when suddenly a cake tin fell at my feet with a loud clang. It wasn’t just any cake tin. It was the heart-shaped tin I had used to bake my own wedding cake. I wouldn’t have thought much of it except that it was only two months since my husband had left me, out of the blue.

Nearly 23 years ago, this giant metal heart had been brand new. My husband-to-be had told me he liked fruit cake but hated glace cherries. For our wedding, I decided to bake him a rich, dark fruit cake with no cherries and chopped-up dried apricots to take their place. There are photos of us cutting the cake together looking blissfully happy. We would soon be on our way to Venice for our honeymoon.

Just Stop Oil, the climate activism group behind motorway blockades, petrol station disruption and tomato soup attacks on major artworks, has disbanded after staging a final action in London this weekend. To find out why the group has decided to hang up the famous orange high-vis, Madeleine Finlay hears from our environment correspondent Damien Gayle who has been covering Just Stop Oil since its inception. He explains how policy wins and policing crackdowns combined to bring the movement to a close, and what the future of climate activism could look like in its wake

What next for climate activism now Just Stop Oil is ‘hanging up the hi-vis’?

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Billionaire appears to have been asked to pressure friend to return to China to help pursue out-of-favour official

The Chinese regime enlisted Jack Ma, the billionaire co-founder of Alibaba, in an intimidation campaign to press a businessman to help in the purge of a top official, documents seen by the Guardian suggest.

The businessman, who can be named only as “H” for fear of reprisals against his family still in China, faced a series of threats from the Chinese state, in an attempt to get him to return home from France, where he was living. They included a barrage of phone calls, the arrest of his sister, and the issuing of a red notice, an international alert, through Interpol.

Exclusive: Several governments are attacking or weakening media independence, Civil Liberties Union for Europe says

Media pluralism in many EU member states is being increasingly strangled by a high concentration of ownership, even in countries with traditionally free media markets, according to a report that concludes press freedom is crumbling across the bloc.

The report, produced by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) based on the work of 43 human rights groups from 21 countries, said several EU governments were attacking press freedom or weakening media independence and regulation.

Exclusive: Documents indicate government gave embassy contact details while arms factory protest was investigated

The UK government shared contact details of counter-terrorism police and prosecutors with the Israeli embassy during an investigation into protests at an arms factory, official documents suggest, raising concerns about foreign interference.

An email was sent on 9 September last year by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) to Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, with the subject matter “CPS/SO15 [Crown Prosecution Service/counterterrorism police] contact details”.

In a bar in Bali, Ashley King was given a lethal drink. A day later, she realised she was going blind. She thought all her dreams were over – but the reality proved very different

The last night of Ashley King’s holiday shouldn’t have been especially memorable. It was 30 August 2011, and she and her best friend, Krista, went out barhopping in the tourist town of Kuta in southern Bali, as they had done many times before. King and Krista are from Calgary in Canada, and had decided to spend a year travelling after their high school graduation. They planned to explore the island of Bali, but King’s credit cards were stolen and Krista ran out of money, so they were stuck in Kuta, a party district.

In one of the swankier bars on the strip, King was given a fruity vodka cocktail in a reusable plastic bottle, so she could dance without spilling it. She was drunk, she says, but not notably so. After nursing their hangovers the next day, she and Krista went to the airport at midnight: King was travelling to New Zealand for the rugby World Cup, and Krista to Australia.

Artists created an AI ‘minister of latecomers’, who encourages people to compensate for years lost, and a tool calculating exactly how late to turn up

Changes to France’s pension system have been a hot potato for French presidents for decades, bringing disgruntled people on to the streets, leading to civil unrest and nationwide strikes that have brought the country to a standstill.

Two years ago, in the face of bitter opposition, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, passed a law raising the general retirement age from 62 to 64 and the issue appeared to have been put to bed.

Eurocentric assumptions and bullying resource-grabs are justified causes of outrage in the global south

Donald Trump has disrupted the global economy with his disastrous tariff wars and appears hell-bent on gutting transatlantic relations. I am hoping he has also unwittingly injected new life into the EU’s struggle to wean itself off overreliance on Washington.

A vast network of trade and aid agreements connects the EU with more than 70 countries. The union could become an important standalone global actor and even thrive in a multipolar world. But it must first shed its Eurocentric worldviews, complacent policymaking and double standards.

Shada Islam is a Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs. She runs New Horizons Project, a strategy, analysis and advisory company

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

The US playwright and anglophile behind much-revived comedies has a flair for crime and is following a crowd-pleasing Murder on the Orient Express with Death on the Nile

If you ever face a quiz question about the most performed theatre writers in the world, likely to have a play on somewhere every day, William Shakespeare, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Agatha Christie are all reliable answers but a fourth may surprise you: Ken Ludwig. He also has intriguing connections with the other three.

The popularity that made the American wealthy enough to have donated £1m to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is partly due – apart from his own much-revived comedies, Lend Me a Tenor (1986) and Moon Over Buffalo (1995) – to Christie. Ludwig’s 2017 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express has had hundreds of productions and is currently touring the UK. We meet when he is in London for a workshop on a second Hercule Poirot adaptation, Death on the Nile, which premieres in September.