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The police have launched a criminal investigation into Peter Mandelson in the wake of a fresh cache of Epstein files being published by the US government. These appear to show that Mandelson passed sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein and his associates while he was a government minister and encouraged a US banker to try to intimidate then-chancellor Alistair Darling.
What had been a deeply embarrassing situation is now even more serious. And despite making moves to distance himself from Mandelson, Keir Starmer has questions to answer – including how much he knew about all this before appointing Mandelson as his ambassador to Washington.
Mandelson resigned from the House of Lords yesterday over the scandal, which is a relief to Starmer, who doesn’t have the power to remove him. But Mandelson will remain Lord Peter Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool. Constitutional expert Stephen Clear explains that as much as he’d like to, the prime minister cannot remove Mandelson’s title.
Scientists, meanwhile, are calling for urgent action on free-living amoebas – potentially dangerous organisms that can get into our water systems. One can even attack human brains. But in more reassuring news, this weeks Strange Health podcast reveals that cracking your knuckles, your neck or any other body part won’t harm you.
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Laura Hood
Senior Politics Editor, Assistant Editor
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Peter Mandelson and Keir Starmer pictured in February 2025.
Flickr/Number 10
Martin Farr, Newcastle University
In the space of a few hours, Mandelson’s future has now shifted from the certainty of ignominy to the possibility of prison.
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Peter Mandelson being inducted into the House of Lords in 2008.
Alamy/Stefan Rousseau
Stephen Clear, Bangor University
Peter Mandelson has left the Labour party over fresh revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. But can he be forced out of parliament?
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Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba.
Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock.com
Manal Mohammed, University of Westminster
These shape-shifting microbes can harbour deadly pathogens, and climate change is helping them spread.
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Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock
Katie Edwards, The Conversation; Dan Baumgardt, University of Bristol
From knuckle pops to neck crunches, joint cracking is common and oddly satisfying. But what’s actually happening inside the body?
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World
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Rod Thornton, King's College London; Marina Miron, King's College London
Kyiv is being told to give up territory which forms its main barrier preventing Russia from sweeping across Ukraine.
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Politics + Society
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Subhajit Basu, University of Leeds
In the UK, filming someone in public – even covertly – is not automatically unlawful.
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Arts + Culture
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Laura O'Flanagan, Dublin City University
This dynamic production of Synge’s 1907 play refuses to treat it as a museum piece.
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Jeff Scheible, King's College London
Both film and table tennis depended upon the invention of celluloid – which plastic ping pong balls are made from.
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Michael La Corte, University of Tübingen; Annika Vosseler, University of Tübingen
For the Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, the Hinematioro Pou is the material presence of an ancestor.
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Rachel Delman, University of Oxford
Hawks offered women both real and symbolic means to express gender, power and status within a male-dominated world.
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Business + Economy
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David McMillan, University of Stirling
Global political turmoil has fed into the dramatic price swings.
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Hadar Elraz, Swansea University; Jen Remnant, University of Strathclyde
It’s bad for businesses too.
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Environment
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Ed Hawkins, University of Reading; Ric Williams, University of Liverpool
The ocean is warming as the upper atmosphere is cooling – both as a result of excessive greenhouse gas emissions.
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Meera Iona Inglis, University of Glasgow; Andrew Walton, Newcastle University; Johannes Kniess, Newcastle University
Places like schools, hospitals and universities can help address the climate crisis by promoting a shift to more sustainable diets.
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Marc Hudson, University of Sussex
Governments have been warned about climate change for 70 years. They’re still suppressing the worst news.
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Health
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Bradley Elliott, University of Westminster
New research estimates genetic heritability of lifespan at 50% – double previous estimates.
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Clodagh Toomey, University of Limerick
Joint noises are common and often misunderstood. A physiotherapist explains why they happen and what they do, and do not, mean.
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Science + Technology
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Andrew Biggin, University of Liverpool
We may owe our existence to hot blobs of rock in the Earth’s interior.
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Berna Akcali Gur, Queen Mary University of London
Gateway is a planned outpost in lunar orbit, but can it survive a current re-think of the Nasa-led Artemis programme?
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The most clicked links from yesterday
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