Editorial: The state broadcaster has been struggling for years with its coverage of the most sensitive subjects, and bold changes must be made if it is to be rescued from its own worst instincts

© Getty

Democrats pointlessly kept the government shut down for 41 days (and still counting!), purely to satisfy their squalling left flank’s need to do something to “resist” President Donald Trump.

Every New Yorker should take a moment to mourn his death — and to salute the service in which he gave his life.

Don’t expect 1st Deputy Mayor-designate Dean Fuleihan to rein in an ounce of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani worst urges: He imposed no such restraint he when worked for Bill de Blasio.

Editorial: It was a calamitous error of judgement for ‘Panorama’ to edit Donald Trump’s notorious January 6 speech – but, in a more rational world, the corporation’s top brass would not have to pay such a heavy price. The BBC is unique in the world and still worth defending

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With Donald Trump circling and Labour ministers wavering, defending the corporation’s independence is now a test of national will

The chair of the BBC, Samir Shah, struck a defensive tone in his interview to explain the mess the broadcaster has found itself in. The impression was of an organisation under siege rather than one confidently self-correcting. Mr Shah will be busy. He must find a new director general after Tim Davie resigned. Gone too is the CEO of news, Deborah Turness. Both resigned after an exhausting rightwing campaign which cried bias at every turn and was energised by an absurd transatlantic attempt to paint the BBC as part of a global liberal conspiracy.

A giant like the BBC will make mistakes. The failure is not owning them fast enough and moving on. The corporation remains one of Britain’s few genuinely national institutions – and ministers say it is a “light on the hill” for people here and abroad. The BBC is the most trusted source of news in the UK, and among the top five worldwide. Yet awareness of that value has faded as the broadcaster struggled to articulate a clear civic mission. This is a strategic blunder in the face of competition from US big tech, which wants to monetise outrage rather than the truth. Viewed from that perspective the current row over the editing of Donald Trump’s speech for Panorama is a sideshow. The real fight is over what impartiality means – and who gets to decide.

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© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Editorial: Backed by Sir Stephen Fry, who himself disappeared 30 years ago, The Independent’s Christmas appeal aims to raise £165,000 to help the 70,000 children and teenagers who go missing in the UK each year to find a way back to safety

© Missing People

The ADL announced it's starting a “Mamdani Monitor” to hold the mayor-elect and his administration “accountable,” given his “long, disturbing record” on issues of concern to Jewish New Yorkers.

In a miscarriage of justice that's only likely to become more typical in the Mamdani era, Judge Ariel Chesler rejected Manhattan prosecutors' request for bail to instead release a vagrant with 20 priors who'd allegedly just slashed a church worker. 

A shocking incident should become an opportunity to address broader problems of misogyny

What does the experience of women at the top tell us about the rest? Those most vulnerable to sexual harassment, assault and abuse are, unsurprisingly, those who have less power or are treated with less respect: undocumented migrants; women in precarious employment; women with disabilities; LGBTQ women; young women and girls.

Paradoxically, that helps to explain why the assault of Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, has drawn such outrage domestically and internationally. A drunken man tried to kiss her neck and grabbed her chest as she spoke to citizens in the capital’s streets. It is the proof, captured on camera, that no woman is safe. You can be the most powerful person in the land and a man will still feel entitled to grope you, in front of the world, because you are a woman. When you object, some will complain that you are taking it too seriously, or that it is all made up. As Ms Sheinbaum herself remarked: “If they do this to the president, then what will happen to all the young women in our country?”

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© Photograph: Carlos Santiago/Eyepix Group/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Carlos Santiago/Eyepix Group/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Carlos Santiago/Eyepix Group/Shutterstock

Half of the country’s privately owned countryside is held by just 421 owners. New legislation suggests democrats still fear powerful interests

No other European country has such a narrow base of proprietorship as Scotland. Half of all privately owned rural land is held by 421 people or entities. The roots of such disparities lie in the past. The 18th- and 19th-century Highland clearances emptied the glens and readied them for private takeover. On the continent, and eventually in England, the great estates were broken up by inheritance and land taxes. By comparison, Scotland is still feudal in scale.

The passing of a land reform bill, its supporters say, will change that. But doubts remain. Its proponents say the legislation could allow the Scottish government to intervene in private land sales and require large estates to be broken up. At its heart is the so-called transfer test. This would see Scottish ministers notified before any land sale over 1,000 hectares. However, they lack an explicit veto. If they wanted a more democratic constraint, they could have adopted the Scottish Land Commission’s 2019 proposal for a public interest test – forcing big buyers to openly justify their purchases.

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© Photograph: Galbraith/PA

© Photograph: Galbraith/PA

© Photograph: Galbraith/PA

Editorial: The new management team at the watchdog must make sure staff are fit to practise and must learn from its past mistakes

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The increasing ferocity and frequency of tropical storms imposes an unbearable burden on countries including Jamaica

The geographically uneven risks from increasingly extreme and dangerous weather grow ever starker. As Jamaica and other Caribbean countries clear up after Hurricane Melissa, and Typhoon Kalmaegi heads west after killing nearly 200 people in the Philippines and Vietnam, the case for more international support to countries facing the most destructive impacts from global heating has never been stronger.

Last week’s five-day rainfall in Jamaica was made twice as likely by higher temperatures, according to initial findings from climate attribution studies. The current death toll across the Caribbean is at least 75. The economic and social costs are hard to quantify in a region that is still recovering from 2024’s Hurricane Beryl. Crucial infrastructure has been destroyed before the loans used to build it have even been paid off. Andrew Holness, Jamaica’s prime minister, estimates that the damage there is roughly equivalent to one-third of the country’s gross domestic product.

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© Photograph: Raquel Cunha/Reuters

© Photograph: Raquel Cunha/Reuters

© Photograph: Raquel Cunha/Reuters