For Democrats, last week’s midterm elections were, for the main part, a triumph. With votes still being counted, the party had won a big swing in the House of Representatives and picked up governorships in key states. Tricky Senate seats in North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri were lost, however. The question then, asks Chris McGreal, is can the Democrats ever win back voters away from their strongholds in the cities? If they can, their path to the presidency – and future senate majorities – looks a lot simpler. The only way to do this, writes Jeffrey C Isaac, is to run in the opposite direction from Trumpism.
As last week contained days ending in the letter “y”, Donald Trump was – naturally – causing controversy. As well as a row with CNN’s Jim Acosta, Trump reacted to losing the House of Representatives by firing his attorney general Jeff Sessions and appointing Sessions’ chief of staff Matthew Whitaker to the role. What that means for the Mueller inquiry is not yet clear but, in the meantime, Stephanie Kirchgaessner – our DC-based investigations reporter – has compiled a list of areas where congressional Democrats can finally get their teeth into Trump’s scandals.
World leaders (with a notable, rain-based exception) gathered in France last weekend to remember the fallen soldiers of the first world war. Britain’s celebrations ranged from the Cenotaph on Whitehall to the nation’s football grounds. Perhaps the most moving tributes came on the UK’s beaches where Danny Boyle’s Pages of the Sea project created sand portraits of some of the those who died before Armistice. One of this week’s Eyewitness photos surveys the scene.
It took the murder of Jamal Khashoggi for many in the west to focus attention on the ongoing carnage in Yemen. This week, Bethan McKernan reports on the Saudi-led attack which has devastated the port of Hodeidah. Then Martin Chulov looks at how pushback from US and others has clipped the wings of the kingdom’s de facto leader Mohamed bin Salman.
It was a big week for another – much more peaceful, thankfully – heir apparent. Prince Charles turned 70 on 14 November. Queen Elizabeth’s oldest son is in his eighth decade of waiting for the top job, but as Caroline Davies reports in her profile piece, he knows how to keep busy – whether it’s by endless letter writing or interfering in architecture. When he does rise to the throne, will he be able to contain his activism?
We also have a long read on the bizarre history of the MEK, the Albanian-based Iranian exiles who have been accused of being both a terror group and a cult and whom hawks in the west – including John Bolton – hope will be the future of democratic Iran. And, finally, Tim Lewis looks at the dairy industry and wonders if rising concerns about animal welfare, paired with growing demand in vegan alternatives, spells the end for milk as we know.
