Here at Weekly, we really do take in the bigger picture.
With Russia launching strikes in Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad, and as Europe’s refugee crisis continued to roil, as yet another gun massacre took place in the United States, and headscarves became an election issue in Canada, this edition of the newspaper looks past such earthly goings-on and considers the search for life beyond Mars.
After water was found flowing on the Red Planet, Observer science editor Robin McKie looks at where life may be possible, and where we hope to delve. The Guardian’s science guru, Ian Sample, weighs up the dangers and the dilemmas Nasa faces in such exploration, including the potential to contaminate other worlds. These are fascinating ethical issues, and well worthy of deep consideration by the Weekly.
Online, you may want to check out columnist George Monbiot’s very sassy opinion piece, in which, after water on Mars, he asks if there’s intelligent life here on Earth. Of course, there is much more science coverage on the website, which you can access by clicking here.
Back on terra firma, we offer up two pages of analysis and contextual reporting on the war in Syria, which has driven so much despair and prompted the largest mass movement of people in decades. Some of the Guardian’s best correspondents identify the players in the Syrian conflict, the scenarios and assess Russia’s gambit in the region. One of our partner papers, the Washington Post, rounds out this coverage, reporting from Germany and from Slovakia, where doubts over offering asylum to refugees begin to grow.
On finance, we ask whether Volkswagen’s recent emissions scandal could spur a shift to electric vehicles. The death of diesel? It may well be. We also report on an ambitious trade deal sealed by 12 nations on Monday, which is the largest trade-liberalising pact in a generation. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, as it is called, is seen as a challenge to China’s growing dominance in the Pacific basin.
On our UK news pages, the chancellor, George Osborne, devolves £26bn in business rates to local authorities in a bit of a shocker at the Conservative party convention in Manchester on Monday. Political editor Patrick Wintour takes a look at the move.
Comment showcases Gary Younge, writing, yet again, about a gun massacre in the US, where there are too many post-shooting speeches and too little progress. From Europe, Natalie Nougayrède finds Vladimir Putin on the prowl in the Middle East, and says firm messages are urgently needed if we want better relations with Russia. Our editorial leader writers take on climate change in advance of key talks in Paris at year-end, finding reasons to be cheerful, and Germany, which they acknowledge has now become Europe’s pre-eminent state.
On the letters page, you shared your views on the United Nations, agriculture, trees, Donald Trump and the Queen. This page is always full of thoughtful observations and arguments. If you’d like to contribute, you can email us by clicking here.
In our deeper-read Review section, two Chinese entrepreneurs took on death in China, hoping to revamp the funeral industry. Things didn’t turn out as planned, reports Jonathan Kaiman.
On the lighter side of things, one of our other partner papers, Le Monde, taps into a current social trend: the hipster. It’s all about following eccentricities rather than brands, argues this lively piece of writing.
The Books pages look at grief, millennials, evolution and the weather. How’s that for variety?
On the Culture pages, Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo, the woman behind the brand Comme des Garçons, explains her uncompromising approach to fashion. Our reviews take in film, art in Australia and theatre in Wales.
Diversions are suitably diverting. Oliver Burkeman may not change your life, though he may make you smile. In sport, host nation England are out of their own Rugby World Cup, while the Toronto Blue Jays make it to the playoffs in Major League Baseball for the first time in 22 years. Despair and rapture on the same page. That’s just the nature of the game, isn’t it?
We may be a small publication, but we pack in a lot. And we do, indeed, take a big look at the wider world. I am happy for your thoughts on the editorial content, which you can share by emailing me here. Thanks for reading.
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