ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT delve into the strange, active – and sometimes predatory – world of plants
“WAR — what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!” Today, over 50 years after Edwin Starr’s Vietnam-era song reached number one on the Billboard chart, people are searching desperately to figure out what the six-month war in Ukraine is good for.
Of course, it depends on who you ask. For the weapons manufacturers in the US, Nato and Russia, the Ukraine war is a delightful gift. Weapons are pouring into Ukraine and quickly expended.
The arms makers enjoy what they must consider a rare opportunity to showcase new and inventive systems in actual combat, before the eyes of customers and against competitive adversaries. The Ukraine war — thanks to near-hysterical media alarmism — finds new customers throughout eastern Europe and beyond.
Western nations’ increasingly aggressive stance is not prompted by any increase in security threats against these countries — rather, it is caused by a desire to bring about regime changes against governments that pose a threat to the hegemony of imperialism, writes PRABHAT PATNAIK
US tariffs have had Von der Leyen bowing in submission, while comments from the former European Central Bank leader call for more European political integration and less individual state sovereignty. All this adds up to more pain and austerity ahead, argues NICK WRIGHT
Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT
The German Chancellor seeks EU sanctions on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to prevent future governments from resuming Russian gas deliveries, delivering a devastating blow to German industry — and German workers, writes RAINER RUPP



