1. How did a billionaire with interests in Greenland encourage Trump to seize the region?
“On one of his first days in office, Donald Trump summoned one of his top aides to discuss a new idea. “Trump summoned me to the Oval Office,” John Bolton, the national security adviser in 2018, told The Guardian. He said that a prominent businessman had just suggested that the United States buy Greenland…”
A friend of US President Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune, is now doing business on the island. Guardian investigative reporter Tom Burgess explores the reasons behind Trump and Lauder’s obsession with Greenland.
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2. Dying on the Inside: As a prison officer, I saw how the system perpetuated violence
“There are hot spots for violence in prison. The exercise court, the bathrooms. There are peak times, too. Meal times and assembly periods are particularly volatile. But first thing in the morning is not the time when you would expect to hear an alarm go off.”
In this interesting long read, Alex South examines how the rise in prison murders in England and Wales is traumatizing inmates and staff, and making life more difficult for staff. But he wrote that even in prison, violence is not inevitable.
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3. ‘Her time has come’: Does Piet Mondrian owe its success to a cross-dressing lesbian artist living in Corniche Bay?
Piet Mondrian found fame, fortune, and glory through his grid-like paintings illuminated with primary colors. But did the Dutch painter’s ideas come from the lesser-known Marlow Moss? Joanna Moorhead has celebrated an extraordinary British talent who died in obscurity.
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4. The Secret of Friendship: Why socializing can help you live longer
This fascinating interview by Emma Beddington with neuroscientist Ben Raine explains how friendship and social connection, in what Raine calls the ‘post-interaction world’, can help you live longer.
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5. Women are brutal in the intense competition. What does that say about men?
The explosive popularity of gay hockey TV dramas reveals women’s desire for sex and romance without violence or hierarchy. I asked Julia Carrie Wong what could be said about heterosexual relationships in 2026 that many women imagine is about gay smut.
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6. “How do you tell the truth about this moment?”: George Saunders talks ghosts, deaths and Trump’s America
The author of Lincoln in the Bardo returns with another metaphysical tale. He spoke to Sophie McBain about Buddhism, party politics and the terrifying journey that changed his life.
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