News, culture and style

Politics

The end of the Burnham bounce

Early release, migrants and the heatwave: each of these challenges calls for difficult decisions, and any one of them could bring the new PM’s brief honeymoon in No 10 to a close

By Catherine Neilan

Heatwave

Los Angeles-upon-Thames

Reeling from its hottest, driest summer yet, ‘fire season’ is coming thick and fast for London. The city should heed the example of LA and not let good water go to waste, Evan Moffitt writes

Football

London’s loneliest man

With the departure of David Sullivan, it’s the end of an era for the Hammers – but a better one may be beginning, George Simms writes

Theatre

New friends in the north

Peter Flannery’s Bafta-winning drama was one of the great TV series of the 1990s. His new stage version returns to an even more divided – Britain, Andrew Hankinson writes

For today

Nigel Farage’s farcical byelection may still be useful for Reform

Clacton

Catherine Neilan

Nigel Farage’s farcical byelection may still be useful for Reform

Amanda Knox: ‘Afterwards, I get a real emotional hangover’

Comedy

Vanessa Thorpe

Amanda Knox: ‘Afterwards, I get a real emotional hangover’

Film

Wendy Ide

Tony is an audacious profile of the bad boy who became Anthony Bourdain

Why we’ve fallen for the quiet luxury of cucumbers

Kitchen cool

Helen Graves

Why we’ve fallen for the quiet luxury of cucumbers

Interview

Making the case for Lucy Letby

Rachel Aviv’s explosive reporting for the New Yorker cast doubt on the neonatal nurse’s murder conviction. In a wide-ranging conversation the investigative journalist discusses what her new book reveals about motherhood – and why she has never stopped asking questions

Ideas

The racism black academics face isn’t helped by leaping to Jason Arday’s defence

Academia

Kenan Malik

The racism black academics face isn’t helped by leaping to Jason Arday’s defence

Nothing makes me quite as wild as lyrical nature writing

Books

Melanie Reid

Nothing makes me quite as wild as lyrical nature writing

Why economists need to be better storytellers

Economy

Ben Zaranko

Why economists need to be better storytellers

The only man in the eating disorder therapy group

Body issues

Dom McGovern

The only man in the eating disorder therapy group

Time well spent

Further listening

In celebration of the quiet collaborator

Our critic selects the best tracks by artists who deserve to be recognised in their own right after helping others to greatness

From a German postwar illusionist to a Spanish political provocateur

Your essential guide from The Observer’s books desk

Further watching

From Mourinho to He Had it Coming

The Observer’s TV critic Barbara Ellen on the best new shows airing and streaming

Culture

Javier Cercas: ‘The only rule is that there are no rules’

Books

Francisco Garcia

Javier Cercas: ‘The only rule is that there are no rules’

Phoebe Bridgers’s Lost Weekend – a celestial confessional

Music

Kitty Empire

Phoebe Bridgers’s Lost Weekend – a celestial confessional

A Trial: After an Enemy of the People – magnetic Wagner Moura holds court in Edinburgh

Theatre

Vanessa Thorpe

A Trial: After an Enemy of the People – magnetic Wagner Moura holds court in Edinburgh

Books

Jenni Fagan

Carol Atherton’s gift of parenthood

Lifestyle

Allan ‘Seapa’ Mustafa: ‘I try not to worry what other people think of me’

An hour with...

Rich Pelley

Allan ‘Seapa’ Mustafa: ‘I try not to worry what other people think of me’

In the Neighbourhood: Ballydehob, West Cork

Travel

Tabitha Joyce

In the Neighbourhood: Ballydehob, West Cork

In Suffolk, a villa filled with a collector’s treasures

Design and interiors

Aimee Farrell

In Suffolk, a villa filled with a collector’s treasures

Recipes

Sophie Wyburd

Summer chicken salads

Investigation

Epstein’s ‘best pal’

Questions continue to swirl about the nature of the relationship between Peter Mandelson and the disgraced paedophile financier. A close reading of the Epstein files, and UK government documents, reveals him to be a complex and calculated man – who never should have been made US ambassador

By Tim Adams

Listen

The Mandelson Files: A Flying Start | Ep 1

Listen

The Mandelson Files: A Flying Start | Ep 1

World

After six years in solitary, Jimmy Lai’s prison letters foretell a martyr’s end

Hong Kong

Danny Vincent

After six years in solitary, Jimmy Lai’s prison letters foretell a martyr’s end

Iran

Ben Zand

Iranian dissidents hide from regime thugs as ‘wolves circle outside’

Ego and risk-taking may have consigned elite mountaineers to their deaths at 6,000m

Himalayas

Simon Usborne

Ego and risk-taking may have consigned elite mountaineers to their deaths at 6,000m

Bromance

I really love you, mate

From headlocks and hugs to declarations of undying love, the bromance is definitely back. But if male friendships are so important, so profound, why are they so lightly worn?

Sport

Showjumping

Samantha Weinberg

Showjumping made sexy: sport is rejuvenated by innovative tour

Alexia Putellas: ‘London City Lionesses are different – but it is what I was looking for’

Football

Jessy Parker Humphreys

Alexia Putellas: ‘London City Lionesses are different – but it is what I was looking for’

‘If I make 95, I’ll definitely give the decathlon a go’: Meet Britain’s fastest nonagenarian

Athletics

Ben Bloom

‘If I make 95, I’ll definitely give the decathlon a go’: Meet Britain’s fastest nonagenarian

Cricket

Cameron Ponsonby

The England cricket squad reset is here: expect less, enjoy more

Recipes

Nigel Slater’s summer vegetable green curry

Sweltering hot days call for something spicy, sour, refreshing, with a backnote of citrus and chilli – this coconut-scented green curry hits the spot

Food

Recipe

Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater’s marinated melon with elderflower and herbs

Wine

David Williams

Can boxed or tinned wine finally win over a cork romantic?

Recipe

Georgina Hayden

Georgina Hayden’s summer party cakes

Kismet, London: ‘This is uncommonly good cooking’

Restaurants

Rebecca Nicholson

Kismet, London: ‘This is uncommonly good cooking’

The Observer Book Club

Postcards Live!

This September, join us in our London newsroom to hear a top-flight cast of authors – Chloe Aridjis, Julian Barnes, Mark Haddon and Akshi Singh – read stories inspired by real postcards that go beyond the weather updates to offer love letters, secrets, disasters, laughter and delight

Health

Marianna Spring

Health misinformation killed my sister. She deserves justice

Hackers

Eva Wiseman

How a mystery hacker stole a year of my life

The highs and lows of a life of extremes

Daredevils

Andrew Anthony

The highs and lows of a life of extremes

Slow Newscast

Is mountaineering getting more deadly?

29 mins • S1, E429

Hard knocks: the cost of courage

40 mins • S1, E428

Who owns our water?

25 mins • S1, E427

Listen

We call her Emma

She was once Emma from London. Then she married a dictator – Bashar al-Assad, who has now been sentenced to death in absentia – and her life changed for ever. When the Arab spring led to civil war, did she know about the horrors unfolding around her? Did she try to stop them? Or was she complicit in the regime’s crimes? Who is the real Emma?

By Chloe Hadjimatheou and Gary Marshall

The Sensemaker

Britain is counting the costs of climate change in more ways than one

Labour cannot win with its early prison release scheme

US intelligence has raised new questions about how far Moscow is willing to go

Abdul El-Sayed’s primary victory shows progressive Democrats are in the ascendancy

Meet the Observers

To meet more of our team, click here

Video

Andrew Rawnsley

Associate Editor, Politics

Video

Wendy Ide

Chief Film Critic

Video

Rory Smith

Football Correspondent

New podcast series

Foundling

A newborn baby found on the verge of a remote country lane in Suffolk is adopted by a local family. Decades later, journalist Lucy Greenwell tracks her down. In this new series, Lucy finds a woman deep in her own search for the truth and a story far more tangled than either of them ever expected

Listen

Tortoise Investigates

Deep Water

In the high-stakes sport of freediving, athletes descend as deep as they can on a single breath. They are used to putting their lives at risk. Through her diving instructor, Lydia Gard discovered a new threat that could tear their community apart: drug use

Sweet Bobby

Kirat is a successful radio presenter. On Facebook she meets Bobby, a handsome cardiologist. He’s a catch. Soon, they get tangled up in a love affair full of lies and manipulation. Then… Kirat discovers a deception of almost unimaginable proportions. Alexi Mostrous investigates a very modern love story

Lucky Boy

Gareth’s whole life has been defined by a relationship he had 35 years ago when, as a 14-year-old schoolboy, he fell in love with an attractive young teacher at his school. He spent most afternoons in her bedroom. But when she walked out of his life, everything started to unravel. Chloe Hadjimatheou asks: who gets to be a perpetrator, and who gets to be a victim?

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The end of the Burnham bounce

Los Angeles-upon-Thames

London’s loneliest man

New friends in the north

For today

Nigel Farage’s farcical byelection may still be useful for Reform

Amanda Knox: ‘Afterwards, I get a real emotional hangover’

Tony is an audacious profile of the bad boy who became Anthony Bourdain

Why we’ve fallen for the quiet luxury of cucumbers

Making the case for Lucy Letby

Ideas

The racism black academics face isn’t helped by leaping to Jason Arday’s defence

Nothing makes me quite as wild as lyrical nature writing

Why economists need to be better storytellers

The only man in the eating disorder therapy group

Time well spent

In celebration of the quiet collaborator

From a German postwar illusionist to a Spanish political provocateur

From Mourinho to He Had it Coming

Culture

Javier Cercas: ‘The only rule is that there are no rules’

Phoebe Bridgers’s Lost Weekend – a celestial confessional

A Trial: After an Enemy of the People – magnetic Wagner Moura holds court in Edinburgh

Carol Atherton’s gift of parenthood

Lifestyle

Allan ‘Seapa’ Mustafa: ‘I try not to worry what other people think of me’

In the Neighbourhood: Ballydehob, West Cork

In Suffolk, a villa filled with a collector’s treasures

Summer chicken salads

Epstein’s ‘best pal’

World

After six years in solitary, Jimmy Lai’s prison letters foretell a martyr’s end

Iranian dissidents hide from regime thugs as ‘wolves circle outside’

Ego and risk-taking may have consigned elite mountaineers to their deaths at 6,000m

I really love you, mate

Sport

Showjumping made sexy: sport is rejuvenated by innovative tour

Alexia Putellas: ‘London City Lionesses are different – but it is what I was looking for’

‘If I make 95, I’ll definitely give the decathlon a go’: Meet Britain’s fastest nonagenarian

The England cricket squad reset is here: expect less, enjoy more

Nigel Slater’s summer vegetable green curry

Food

Nigel Slater’s marinated melon with elderflower and herbs

Can boxed or tinned wine finally win over a cork romantic?

Georgina Hayden’s summer party cakes

Kismet, London: ‘This is uncommonly good cooking’

Postcards Live!

Great reads

Health misinformation killed my sister. She deserves justice

How a mystery hacker stole a year of my life

The highs and lows of a life of extremes

Slow Newscast

Is mountaineering getting more deadly?

Hard knocks: the cost of courage

Who owns our water?

We call her Emma

The Sensemaker

Britain is counting the costs of climate change in more ways than one

Labour cannot win with its early prison release scheme

US intelligence has raised new questions about how far Moscow is willing to go

Abdul El-Sayed’s primary victory shows progressive Democrats are in the ascendancy

Meet the Observers

Andrew Rawnsley

Wendy Ide

Rory Smith

Foundling

Tortoise Investigates

Deep Water

Sweet Bobby

Lucky Boy

About

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