My piece for the Observer on Maduro's kidnapping, the rise of a rogue superpower, and the shocking weakness of the rest of the West: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

This weekend the Algerian poet Mohamed Tadjadit faces life imprisonment - or even the death penalty - because the regime fears his poetry. Is it too much to ask if the UK govt, which claims to defend human rights, can raise his case with their Algerian counterparts? observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Russia was banned from international football four days after they invaded Ukraine. After 22 months of war in Gaza and 63,000 killed, why is Israel's national team still allowed to play? My column in this week's @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/interna...

In this weekend's @theobserveruk.bsky.social: - why the far right in Japan is on the rise; - @nickywoolf.bsky.social on Epstein and conspiracies - the honeymoon is over for Ukrainians in Poland - why Hezbollah is taking lessons from Sinn Fein - + me on when to suck up and when to stand up to Trump

Max Americana: For @theobserveruk.bsky.social I wrote about America's attack on Iran, the myth of Trump's isolationism, and why the US's willingness to use force could lead to other nations reaching the same conclusion observer.co.uk/news/interna...

In this week's @theobserveruk.bsky.social, I wrote about Israel, Iran and the new age of impunity (essentially, why this really is as scary as it looks): observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Strong leader in today's Observer calling for the UK to formally recognise a Palestinian state: observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...

Trump's embarrassing fact-free racist diatribe about South Africa would be amusing if it wasn't so dangerous. Its roots lie in far-right conspiracy theorists, both in South Africa and the US: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Tried to imagine a centre-left government that offered legal aid to asylum seekers, spoke of the strength of "diverse communities" and promised to “prioritise the world’s most vulnerable”... turns out it exists in Canada observer.co.uk/news/interna...

I wrote this week about the time I gave Santa a lift in a rented Kia, the global influence of Jospeh Nye, and how Trump is killing America's soft power: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Kim Willsher's interview with Ekaterina Barabash, a Russian film critic turned Putin war critic, is superb: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Just because the corruption is in plain sight doesn't mean it's not corruption: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

Was about to confidently promote by column in Sunday's paper about how Freidrich Merz could become the new leader of Europe... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

For the second time in a week, the anti-Trump centre-left candidate has come from behind to win, while the mini-Trump has lost his seat. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

My column from Sunday's Observer on the creeping sense of authoritarianism across Africa: observer.co.uk/news/interna...

The new Observer is here, and it’s a thing of beauty

The final Observer produced by the Guardian and my last day as Head of News. Signed off with a front page on Gaza and enormous pride at what we’ve achieved over the past five years: numerous awards, great investigations, quite simply the best Sunday newspaper in Britain.

More jobs at the new Observer - we're also hiring a deputy news editor, to commission and edit both national and international news. Deadline is the end of this week: www.tortoisemedia.com/2025/03/26/d...

Journalism jobs! The Observer is hiring an entirely new team of international correspondents and contributors. It's a genuinely exciting chance to completely reshape global coverage at a UK national newspaper. First up, chief international correspondent: www.tortoisemedia.com/2025/03/13/c...