A ban alone will have limited impact and could make things worse. A good strategy needs more educational content – and more money

As a parent, I understand the appeal of the announcement on Monday by the prime minister that would prevent children under 16 from using social media. Right now, you are in constant battle with the infinite scroll for your child’s attention, while their impetus to explore the real world is subdued by endless entertainment always within reach. At best, their rapidly developing brains are rotted by a diet of the synthetic, sensationalist and shallow – humanity’s least impressive creative output catering to its lousiest instincts. At worst, they are being preyed upon by forces intent on manipulating, exploiting or recruiting them. You look around and wonder where they are, even as they are right under your nose. You worry they will never experience the boredom that leads to creativity and propels us forward.

The desire to protect children from an often hostile environment makes sense, and the ban sends a signal of what we deem acceptable, and maybe even opens up the possibility of a behavioural shift in how we use social media. But evidence from Australia, where similar legislation was enacted last December, is not encouraging. According to one study, two-thirds of young people retained their accounts, while 51% of those most affected by the ban now see less news. The fact is that this demographic get most of its news from social media feeds, consumed incidentally amid footage of fights, diet tips and dance crazes and conveyed by influencers whose shtick is authenticity not accuracy. But it is encountered nonetheless. If we remove access, we need to create alternative routes to news and information.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nick Ames, Lucy Ward and Jacob Steinberg as England start their World Cup in style

(RCA)
He can write a decent rousing chorus, but the Stargazing hitmaker’s influences couldn’t be more obvious if he tried – right down to a ghastly Galway Girl sequel

You know what you’re getting with Myles Smith, an artist who set his musical stall out early on. Before he was the winner of the rising star award at the 2025 Brits, he started out at open mic nights, performing selections from the oeuvres of Mumford & Sons, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran, still his avowed biggest influences today. The last in particular proved so impactful on the Luton-born singer that he even plays one of those funny small-scale acoustic guitars that have long been Sheeran’s trademark.

You could therefore deride Smith as someone who is intent on piloting his way to the middle of the road – and who is also a little passe. In 2026, even the world of the nice-guy pop-folk singer-songwriter seems to have moved on a bit, its big names either a touch grittier and more obviously rooted in Americana (Noah Kahan, Jelly Roll), or more flamboyant and knowing (Benson Boone), or, at the very least, bolstered by a traumatic backstory that underpins their lyrics (Alex Warren). But if Smith’s approach is a callback to a past era, nobody seems to have informed the public. His 2024 breakthrough, Stargazing, went platinum in 16 countries; it’s still in the UK Top 100 nearly two years after its release, and the follow-up Nice to Meet You is also a platinum seller. A Minute, a Moment – Smith’s 2025 EP that lasted as long as most albums – sold half a million copies in the US alone.

As the pornography platform has exploded in popularity, a side industry has emerged: middlemen who encourage young women into the industry, then take a large cut of their earnings

Markuss Hussle wants his online students to understand one thing: he knows how to make money. There is no subtlety involved. He gives an hour-long presentation in one video, sitting next to his silver Lamborghini. In another, he splices his money-making tips with footage of a ski weekend with his friends in Courchevel, in the French Alps, including shots of private jets, helicopters and a girlfriend in a fur coat. He claims the trip cost $100,000 (£75,000). He shows off his watches and his swimming pool and talks about how his mother worked three jobs as a cleaner until he “retired her” and bought her a home by the sea.

If you were not paying close attention to the spreadsheets and presentations interspersed with the motivational lifestyle content, you might guess he was offering guidance on how to trade shares or invest in cryptocurrency. There are a lot of performance graphs and much discussion of account management, optimisation, scaling, working smart and tripling profits.

We are told the natural world is ‘breaking down’. But forests don’t work like aeroplanes or human hearts

• A version of this piece was originally published on Aeon as Why we need to think again about ecosystem failure

The Amazon rainforest, according to a 2021 study, is losing its capacity as a carbon sink and now emits more than it absorbs. In the tropics, marine scientists are reporting that coral reefs are in decline, threatening fish stocks. Equally concerning is research into the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that helps regulate the climate and is at risk of collapsing this century. The entire global ecosystem appears to be losing its ability to function.

We find this view in newspapers, magazines, technical reports and the journals of learned societies. But thinking about the environment in terms of its functions is also how many of us tend to understand the world. We may think that forests exist to produce oxygen, wetlands to filter water and bees to pollinate our crops.

Of special interest to humanity is the relationship of biodiversity to the variety of services provided by ecosystems and, in particular, to the stability of the flow of those services, such as the maintenance of the gaseous composition of the atmosphere, preservation of soils, recycling of nutrients and provision of food from the sea.

Starmer’s EU reset is aimed at the conference room. Meanwhile Farage and the hard right mine ethnic resentment on the streets

What story does Britain tell itself about Brexit, 10 years after the vote that transformed the country? Watch TV or read the papers and you find one of two viewpoints: from the common room or the conference room.

The common room story is about chums and how they fall out. Friendships forged on hallowed playing fields and over Cotswold kitchen suppers, then dashed on the rocks of ambition. The new BBC documentary Brexit: A Very British Civil War is the latest in the genre, recounting what Dave said to Boris said to Michael said to Dom. It oohs at the deals struck over sets of tennis, and aahs at the then prime minister threatening dissenters with: “I will fuck you up for ever.” This is David Cameron as box office: the Scarface of the Bullingdon Club. And Brexit, you understand, was simply an Oxford fracas that got out of hand.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

Jamie Varley jailed for life and partner John McGowan-Fazakerley jailed for 25 years over death of Preston Davey

A secondary school teacher has been jailed for life for sexually abusing and murdering the baby boy he was adopting with his partner.

Jamie Varley, 37, was sentenced to a whole life order by a judge on Thursday for abusing and killing 13-month-old Preston Davey. It means he will stay in prison for the rest of his life and never be eligible for parole, Mr Justice Turner said.

Pete Hegseth said the US is prepared to reimpose a blockade against Iran if it fail to fulfil its commitments under the agreement

• Reaction: Donald Trump’s Iran deal met with anger, relief and incredulity

• Analysis: Trump’s Iran deal is result of unrealistic ambitions for an untenable war

Donald Trump had urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop blowing up buildings” during a phone call about Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper cited sources who overheard the phone conversation between the two leaders, whose relationship has grown increasingly hostile as the war raged on.

Two MPC members vote for a quarter-point rise but Bank argues rapid reaction risks creating volatility

• Business live – latest updates

The Bank of England has left interest rates on hold, arguing that reacting too quickly to inflation threats risked creating “undesirable volatility”, as the Iran war weighs on the UK economy.

Seven of the nine-person monetary policy committee voted to keep rates at 3.75% as the MPC weighed the threat of higher inflation against the prospect of an economic slowdown.

Kyiv says attack, which also forced evacuation at Russia’s biggest airport, was in response to strike on historic monastery

• Europe live – latest updates

Ukrainian drones have hit several locations across Moscow in Kyiv’s biggest air raid on the city since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, setting a major ⁠oil refinery on fire and forcing evacuations at the country’s largest airport.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, described the attack as a response to Russia’s striking of a historic Kyiv monastery complex earlier this week.