Elon Musk
Americans care less about Trump and more about gas and groceries
Having been told by a colleague last year that I was ‘The Spectator’s fiercest Trump critic’ (it was a less…
Don’t expect calm after the US midterms
US technology shares were sliding again yesterday. The drop, as the Financial Times puts it, marks ‘a continuation of a…
Will Sadiq Khan’s Oxford Street become a 1970s theme park?
I tried to think positive about the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, I really did. But on Monday evening, Christmas lights…
Ukraine is much weaker without access to Starlink
The full-scale war in Ukraine began with fast, armored advances that covered hundreds of miles in weeks. Then drones began…
In Texas, it’s Musk vs Talarico
Here’s an update on the state of Trumpism in America: last month, the richest man in world history threw $158 million into…
Where have all the children gone? A demographic winter sweeps the world
Decreased fertility, housing shortages and prohibitive childcare costs are all contributing to an ‘extraordinary wave’ of childlessness unrivalled since the Black Death
Trump relives high school with the tech nerds
Yesterday President Trump and a gaggle of tech barons appeared before the press pack on the White House lawn, fresh…
Curiouser and curiouser: The Strangers by Naomi Alderman, reviewed
This aptly titled novel might be Alderman’s weirdest book yet – a cross between a work of fiction and a memoir, whose main character, called Naomi Alderman, says gave her ‘a kind of freedom with both forms’
Would Grok’s Odyssey be better than Nolan’s?
Elon Musk, who does not rate Christopher Nolan’s film of The Odyssey very highly, has said: ‘Before this year ends,…
What will the successful cities of the future look like?
Gabriella Bennett visits 11 new architectural projects around the world to examine how war, climate change and an ageing population may be influencing urban planners
Why most scientists don’t want us to believe in life on Mars
All institutional incentives impel towards overcaution, says Steven Benner, so it’s safer to insist that there’s no life than to suggest there is and be proved wrong
Elon Musk should buy Xbox. Yes, really
Elon Musk is hardly lacking for toys. He can spend the morning digging vast tunnels with Hyperloop, the afternoon launching…
Portrait of the week: Burnham wins, Starmer resigns and a heatwave hits
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, stood outside 10 Downing Street and said that he would resign as leader…
The Spectator’s caught in the EU crosshairs
Is the flotation of Elon Musk’s SpaceX venture on the US Nasdaq exchange a beacon for the future of earthly…
Unravelling the infinite mysteries of physics
DeepMind’s brilliant co-founder Demis Hassabis hopes to ‘create a machine that can occupy a position in the cosmos once ascribed to an all-powerful divinity’
The Bezos-Musk rivalry and the changing power of media
Elon Musk knows something Jeff Bezos doesn’t. Each has had turns as the world’s richest man, and both are media…
Can superintelligent AI be regulated?
In the House of Lords on Monday there was a short discussion, prompted by a question from an ex-Labour minister,…
Is there a free-speech defense of Grok’s deepfakes?
There are scenes in blockbuster teen movies from the 1980s and 1990s that wouldn’t fly today. I think of Revenge…
Grok is the Botticelli of our time
Liz Kendall, the Technology Secretary, stood up in the Commons on Monday and thundered against Elon Musk, saying the government…
How many pubs are left in the UK?
Net freedoms The government was pressed to ban X over charges that Elon Musk’s AI app Grok is being used…
Hegseth’s vision is more Starship Troopers than Starfleet Academy
“Welcome to Starbase, Texas,” Elon Musk said from the stage Monday night, as the crowd whooped. “This is a city. It’s actually…
Britain’s X crackdown is no joke
The internet suddenly went down in Iran last night, as courageous Iranians continued to rise up against the Ayatollah. The…
America’s free-speech war on the EU
If I were a bookie, I would be making odds now about when the European Union will finally unravel and…
The scientific case for the existence of intelligent alien life
The foundation of science is based on the humility to learn, not the arrogance of expertise. When comet experts argued…
The new power players running the world
An Italian former political adviser warns of the tech bros and autocrats upending the international order while our elected leaders appease and procrastinate
