On this day: the birth of press freedom August 5, 2026 On 5th August 1735 John Peter Zenger was acquitted of seditious libel on the basis that the criticisms of the government he has printed in The New York Weekly Journal were true. It was a judgement that established the basis of press freedom on which western democracy still depends, writes Eliot Wilson By the end [...]
The only answers to over-tourism are prices or queues August 5, 2026 Major tourism sites are becoming over crowded as a result of rational herd behaviour. The inevitable result will be charges or queues, says Paul Ormerod Peak holiday season, and the media is full of stories and pictures of popular sites across Europe being overwhelmed by the crowds of visitors. Shots on social media show the [...]
The Debate: should we release female prisoners to make space for men? August 5, 2026 Could an answer to the prison overcrowding crisis be to let out women offenders? Two writers go head to head Yes: We are locking up women who’ve been failed by the system Right now, prisons contain women who shouldn’t be there. Prison doesn’t work and it harms women. Almost 70 per cent of women in [...]
Gary Stevenson is right, rich people want to help Britain – here’s how to let them do it August 5, 2026 Gary Stevenson and the ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ plan for a wealth tax is the wrong way to get wealth working for Britain. Here’s three much better ideas, says Nick Finegold A fortnight ago, 120 millionaires, including Gary Stevenson and Gary Lineker, wrote to Andy Burnham asking to be taxed more. I do not doubt their sincerity. [...]
David Brent was supposed to be a satire, now he looks like a model for political leaders August 5, 2026 Attention-seeking, self-absorbed and desperate to be liked, David Brent was meant to embody everything a leader should not be – but today’s media landscape rewards the very qualities Ricky Gervais satirised, says Tim Focas A Tiktok clip has gone viral for comparing Andy Burnham to David Brent. His cheesy mannerisms, dad dancing and guitar playing [...]
What Burnham could learn from BP’s pragmatism August 5, 2026 In 2020, BP unveiled a “major, necessary step in support of our purpose to reimagine energy for people and our planet.” The new strategy – “performing while transforming” – would see the firm “significantly scale-up our low carbon energy business” as part of a commitment “to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner [...]
The best weapon against AI slop is a good lunch August 5, 2026 City AM is rightly campaigning against AI slop but the best answer to the advance of the robots is human connection, and that’s what journalism and PR are best at, says James Millar Some years ago a leading mathematician, genuinely one of the cleverest people in the country, reassured me that AI would not make [...]
IPOs aren’t the new meme stocks August 5, 2026 The market may be producing bigger IPO stories. like SpaceX and Anthropic, but that doesn’t mean retail investors are blindly buying the hype, says Carl Hazeley If you only read the headlines, you’d think retail investors had found their next obsession: blockbuster IPOs. SpaceX has dominated the conversation again this week as investors digest its [...]
Britain has an AI minister – now it needs an AI answer August 4, 2026 The appointment of Kanishka Narayan, Britain’s first Cabinet-level minister for AI is an acknowledgement that this technology is the central economic question of the age, but the minister’s real test is whether he continues to build durable homegrown capability or instead subsidises dependency on non-European platforms, says Stefano Pasquali Kanishka Narayan’s appointment as Britain’s first [...]
Susannah Streeter: investors are bracing for tax rises August 4, 2026 The Notebook, where the City’s movers and shakers have their say. Today financial commentator Susannah Streeter takes the pen Usually, at this time of year we would be enjoying Médoc’s beautiful beaches, looking forward to long lunches, endless stretches of Atlantic coastline and enjoying the region’s famous wine as the sun sets. But the devastating [...]