In this week’s newsletter:​ The government’s bid to speed up nuclear construction could usher in sweeping deregulation, with experts warning of profound consequences for nature

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When UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced last week that he was “implementing the Fingleton review”, you can forgive the pulse of most Britons for failing to quicken.

But behind the uninspiring statement lies potentially the biggest deregulation for decades, posing peril for endangered species, if wildlife experts are to be believed, and a likely huge row with the EU.

2025 ‘virtually certain’ to be second- or third-hottest year on record, EU data shows

Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of the poorest half of humanity, report finds

‘Even the animals seem confused’: a retreating Kashmir glacier is creating an entire new world in its wake

An exuberant, inspiring memoir from the New Yorker writer and author of The Orchid Thief

In 2017, 10 years after Susan Orlean profiled Caltech-trained physicist turned professional origami artist Robert Lang for the New Yorker, she attended the OrigamiUSA convention to take Lang’s workshop on folding a “Taiwan goldfish”. I was with her, a radio producer trying to capture the sounds of paper creasing as Orlean attempted to keep pace with the “Da Vinci of origami”, wincing when her goldfish’s fins didn’t exactly flutter in hydrodynamic splendour.

It was Orlean in her element: an adventurous student, inquisitive and exacting, fully alive to the mischief inherent to reporting – and primed to extract some higher truth. “When we first met you said something to me I’ve never forgotten,” Orlean told Lang. “That paper has a memory – that once you fold it, you can never entirely remove the fold.” Was that, she wondered, an insight about life, too?

In this week’s newsletter:​ The government’s bid to speed up nuclear construction could usher in sweeping deregulation, with experts warning of profound consequences for nature

• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

When UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced last week that he was “implementing the Fingleton review”, you can forgive the pulse of most Britons for failing to quicken.

But behind the uninspiring statement lies potentially the biggest deregulation for decades, posing peril for endangered species, if wildlife experts are to be believed, and a likely huge row with the EU.

2025 ‘virtually certain’ to be second- or third-hottest year on record, EU data shows

Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of the poorest half of humanity, report finds

‘Even the animals seem confused’: a retreating Kashmir glacier is creating an entire new world in its wake

From Essex to Istanbul, and from a soul music bar to a dramatic mountain pass, our tipsters share their personal travel highlights of the year

Moments after stepping off the bus, I wanted to text my friend: “What have I done to you, why did you tell me to come here?” As I weaved my way through coach-party day trippers, my initial suspicions dissipated. I came to swim, but Piran offered so much more. Venetian squares provided a delicately ornate backdrop, while cobbled passageways housed bustling seafood restaurants, serving the day’s catch. The majestic Adriatic was made manageable by concrete diving platforms, fit for all ages. Naša Pekarna stocked delightfully crisp and filling böreks , and the bar/cafe Pri Starcu – owned by Patrik Ipavec, a former Slovenia international footballer – married warm hospitality with ice-cold beer and delicious early evening refreshments.
Alex

Snuggle up under oak beams in front of a deep inglenook fireplace, stay warm with underfloor heating or enjoy your own wine cellar for festive entertaining

Snuggle up under oak beams in front of a deep inglenook fireplace, stay warm with underfloor heating or enjoy your own wine cellar for festive entertaining

From Essex to Istanbul, and from a soul music bar to a dramatic mountain pass, our tipsters share their personal travel highlights of the year

Moments after stepping off the bus, I wanted to text my friend: “What have I done to you, why did you tell me to come here?” As I weaved my way through coach-party day trippers, my initial suspicions dissipated. I came to swim, but Piran offered so much more. Venetian squares provided a delicately ornate backdrop, while cobbled passageways housed bustling seafood restaurants, serving the day’s catch. The majestic Adriatic was made manageable by concrete diving platforms, fit for all ages. Naša Pekarna stocked delightfully crisp and filling böreks , and the bar/cafe Pri Starcu – owned by Patrik Ipavec, a former Slovenia international footballer – married warm hospitality with ice-cold beer and delicious early evening refreshments.
Alex

Snuggle up under oak beams in front of a deep inglenook fireplace, stay warm with underfloor heating or enjoy your own wine cellar for festive entertaining

From Essex to Istanbul, and from a soul music bar to a dramatic mountain pass, our tipsters share their personal travel highlights of the year

Moments after stepping off the bus, I wanted to text my friend: “What have I done to you, why did you tell me to come here?” As I weaved my way through coach-party day trippers, my initial suspicions dissipated. I came to swim, but Piran offered so much more. Venetian squares provided a delicately ornate backdrop, while cobbled passageways housed bustling seafood restaurants, serving the day’s catch. The majestic Adriatic was made manageable by concrete diving platforms, fit for all ages. Naša Pekarna stocked delightfully crisp and filling böreks , and the bar/cafe Pri Starcu – owned by Patrik Ipavec, a former Slovenia international footballer – married warm hospitality with ice-cold beer and delicious early evening refreshments.
Alex