Alex O'Connell

Starmer’s incapacities are obvious. However he has a mandate. As soon as he is replaced in however an ‘orderly fashion’ British media bias will become deadly. One rule on lack of mandates for the right: another for the left. The cabinet must plan skilfully; it could get worse.

Labour’s vote share has halved in 22 months. Yes, there is anti-incumbent pressure in all democracies. The wider media ecosystem is intensely hostile. But without more sheer political craft and reasons for hope, Labour is trapped. Its task now is to change that. Can it? Will it?

PM also pledges to put Europe at the heart of his premiership and says deal will be announced shortly on youth mobility scheme for 18-30 year olds starting in 2027 observer.co.uk/news/politics/…

Keir Starmer says he wants a decade in Downing Street and will fight any challengers - my interview for @ObserverUK observer.co.uk/news/politics/…

Pope backs investigative journalists against Trumpian ‘Tower of Babel’ The pontiff showed no fear of the US administration in a letter blessing attendees at the @sirharrysummit in London and praising ‘communication that is capable of listening’, Lily Isaacs reports bit.ly/4tXNX8g

One hundred years of Attenborough, the man who taught me what love is bit.ly/4w3ZLqO

The ice could break observer.co.uk/news/columnist…

“The left needs to take this issue [the battle against antisemitism] seriously, to see it as intimately linked to the wider politics of freedom and equality.” My @ObserverUK column: observer.co.uk/news/columnist…

Starmer must be bold on rejoining the EU bit.ly/42Kgzpq

Keir Starmer urges Labour not to descend into “political infighting” as leadership speculation swirls. PM writes for @ObserverUK observer.co.uk/news/opinion-a…

“We need to have the courage and vision to support the Jewish community without destroying a fundamental and necessary right. Jews will be harmed too… if the right to protest is further eroded.” @joglanville1on the calls to ban pro-Palestinian marches: indexoncensorship.org/2026/05/bannin…

This Sunday! Every @LondonMarathon finisher's name and time over 48 pages in this special edition. Pick up a copy and keep it forever, available nationwide. #londonmarathon

‘I didn’t think coming out would still be a big deal. But it is’ says @russelldavies63 The man behind Queer as Folk and It’s a Sin is one of the great chroniclers of British gay life. He talks to Erica Wagner about his new show, Tip Toe, and the ongoing struggle for acceptance bit.ly/4cMhUlF

The Mandelson affair matters because it’s about the PM’s judgement - my latest piece for @ObserverUK observer.co.uk/news/politics/…

The Observer Walk with Mick Herron, the man who built Slough House On a stroll through Jackson Lamb's grimy London turf with @Tom_Gatti, the author visits the inspiration for Gary Oldman's headquarters and talks about AI stealing his style to write brownie recipes bit.ly/41S2FRR

Westminster is "broken" and "bonkers". A lively and revealing stroll with Hannah Spencer and her greyhounds. observer.co.uk/news/national/…

‘It’s what we call East Bank, mixing arts, science, humanities and design in a cultural district,' V&A director @TristramHuntVA says. Ahead of the new @vam_east museum opening in two weeks, Hunt tells @RSylvester1 that the arts should do more to celebrate philanthropists, and that his former party should rally around Starmer bit.ly/4c5sGSq

The Observer Walk with @TristramHuntVA: ‘Politics is so short-term and fickle. At the V&A you can transform things’ On a canalside stroll through London, the former Labour MP, now director of the @V_and_A, talks to @RSylvester1 about chopsticks, election night envy and why Thatcher was the last PM to understand fashion bit.ly/4c5sGSq

Inside Palantir’s growing grip on UK public services The UK government is becoming increasingly reliant on Palantir, a company co-founded by Peter Thiel, a libertarian Donald Trump supporter who once said: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” The $360bn tech giant, which is helping the Pentagon to identify targets in Iran, is now integral to the running of the NHS, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the police in this country. Palantir has almost 1,000 employees in the UK – 17% of its global workforce – and is moving next into local government. Coventry has become the first council to use its software to organise social care and special educational needs provision. The outcomes are impressive but critics fear the state is locked in a Faustian pact that raises questions about data security and creates vulnerabilities for the taxpayer. Read Rachel Sylvester's full piece at our link in bio.

Ed Miliband gets relentless bile from the right for his ‘ideological’ commitment to clean, cheap renewable energy - just as Nye Bevan once did for creating the NHS. Yet on March 25 97.7 % of our electricity was from renewables. A revolution is unfolding. observer.co.uk/news/columnist…