Festive season special edition

If they check my social media posts at the border, I might well be on the first plane back, which tells you Trump’s talk about free speech is nothing but a sham

The president sees Orson Welles’s doomed mogul as a hero – and that’s why his next battleground is Hollywood

Flags waved, Trump ranted and raved, an ex-royal was depraved and the PM looked like he couldn’t be saved. It’s been one hell of a year

26 of our writers on their cultural highlights of the year

Our founder and editor-in-chief’s weekly highlights from the magazine

A Scottish geologist made a discovery that altered the way we see ourselves, and our planet. And yet his name is widely forgotten

Write to letters@thenewworld.co.uk to have your views voiced in the magazine

If they check my social media posts at the border, I might well be on the first plane back, which tells you Trump’s talk about free speech is nothing but a sham

Every year the president hosts a White House reception for the Washington press pack. This year he’s cancelled it, which perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise

Terranera, a tiny mountaintop hamlet of 50 residents, doesn't organise its festivities by the Christian calendar or tradition

A new nativity display in the centre of Brussels is so widely detested that it might have to be taken down early

If you really want to understand this country and who we are, you need to come here in December

The Golden Flake Tavern, Greggs’ new pub, brings colas (and beers) to Newcastle

French right wing MEPs are leading a campaign to ban words like ‘steak’ and ‘sausage’ from vegan food

Most politicians remain oblivious to the threat, especially on the left. But they must realise Putin could do to us what he’s done to Ukraine, without firing a shot

The president sees Orson Welles’s doomed mogul as a hero – and that’s why his next battleground is Hollywood

A hard core of American Catholic ultra-conservatives look at the White House and like what they see. The new man in the Vatican takes a different view

His motives for calling on religion look less like a personal awakening and more a cynical marketing ploy

Everyone knows No 10 briefs against members of the cabinet, but Starmer told the Commons it doesn’t. That, in a nutshell, is why political trust is dying out

Digging into the detail and data to separate the noise from the news

If you want to get near the US president, your face has to fit. And if it doesn’t, sorry - it’s time to go under the knife

A turbulent 2025 unfolded in striking contrasts – from apocalyptic climate disasters and surging global protests to the ever-present threat of war

Flags waved, Trump ranted and raved, an ex-royal was depraved and the PM looked like he couldn’t be saved. It’s been one hell of a year

26 of our writers on their cultural highlights of the year

They’re sexless, weightless and aerodynamically impossible – and have become mirrors for our hopes and fears

In 1975, Britain was mired in economic misery – but the nation’s most terrifying cook was determined that everyone should still eat well

Forget Die Hard. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is the perfect Christmas movie

IMDb’s breakout star of 2025 is charming, gifted and takes no nonsense

The Holy City was extracting money from tourists even when Mark Twain visited in 1867

The country’s wartime tradition of giving novels has become a key part of the season

Maybe we have decided to restore it to being a mere useful tool for data analysis, and not to let it run and ruin our lives

The Room in the Tower is his eighth festive special for the BBC: long may he continue

25 hopeful stories from technology in 2025

Feeling not quite Greek but not quite British, a young Georgios went down the route of many uncertain teenagers – he chose Top of the Pops as his guide

How much do you remember about what has been a political 12 months to forget?

The Reform leader has beaten off stiff opposition to be named the very worst of Westminster in 2025

A set of documents provides a unique window into earlier forms of the English language

An endorsement from the porn star underlines the hypocrisy at the heart of Nigel Farage's party