The Observer Daily: A noisy political football

The best of The Observer, from across our newsroom View in browser A noisy political football The best of The Observer, from across our newsroom Alex O'Connell • Wednesday 2 July 2025 Dear friend, And so the vote was passed last night and the Welfare Bill lollops to the next staging post, considerably lighter than it was at the start of its journey. Melanie Reid, author of the fortnightly Who Cares? column in The Observer, has written about the dangers of using disabled people as a "political football". She knows of what she speaks: she is tetraplegic after breaking her neck and back in a riding accident in April 2010. Here she discusses the changing attitudes to social disability and why the government needs to be wary of stirring up further resentments. Click here to read the full piece → "The enemy of nonsense" – George Orwell Also in The Observer This Bob Vylan furore is a distraction from finding an end to the bloodshed The comments made by punk duo Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, whose vocalist Pascal Robinson-Foster led a chant of "death to the IDF", have resulted in an avalanche of discourse. Since the incident, the government has weighed in, the BBC has come under fire for airing the band's set and Bob Vylan's US visas have been revoked. David Aaronovitch makes his point of view on the topic clear. He writes: "It's hot, the world is going to shit but in a complicated manner, so what better way to distract yourself than by having a big row about rock stars, Palestine, Jews and the BBC?" It's a measured piece that is worth your time. Click here to read more → The great masculinity con by Tom Lamont       The "manosphere" – a term used to describe the masculinity-defined community of podcasters and online personalities – has been a frequent topic of conversation lately. The perceived threat of the phenomenon has caused a great panic across liberal hearts and minds. James Bloodworth has written a thoughtful study on the manosphere's impact, which Tom Lamont has reviewed for The Observer. He writes that Bloodworth uses his own experiences during a "how-to-get-laid course" he undertook in the 2000s to create "brave, clear and necessary writing, explaining the wobbly starting place from which so many young men go tumbling into bitterness and isolation". Click here to read more → 'Summer is always a shock, and we never learn' by Eva Wiseman         Temperatures may be beginning to dip in the UK after an excruciating heatwave that has left bedrooms roasting, pavements scorching and patience supplies melting away. But summer has just begun, and Eva Wiseman argues that we are never prepared – physically or emotionally – for what the season brings. "Summer flounces into cities just like that, all glittering and glamorous," she writes, "only to very quickly explode and attack." Click here to read more → Records broken at Wimbledon by Jessy Parker Humphreys     Things that can travel at 150mph: a peregrine falcon, a Eurostar train and now a tennis ball served by Mpetshi Perricard. Perricard's serve during his match against Taylor Fritz was the fastest recorded in Wimbledon history. But it wasn't enough to beat Fritz, in an contentious match turned on its head by a pre-curfew pause. Jessy Parker Humphreys covers another exciting day from Wimbledon, when rain has brought more untimely pauses in play.     Click here to read more → Listen Daily Sensemaker How did Budapest Pride become a once in a generation protest? Around 200,000 people attended Budapest Pride, defying the prime minister Viktor Orban's ban. Why did the event become the focus of anti-government protests?     Click here to listen → Thanks for reading. We'll be back tomorrow.   Alex O'Connell Associate editor The Observer   My Account To manage your newsletters, track tickets and more, go to the 'My account' page on the Observer website: Manage my newsletters Follow Follow The Observer on social media on your preferred platform:   The Observer     The Observer Food Monthly The Observer Magazine The Observer New Review   Listen Listen for free in the Tortoise app or wherever you get your podcasts: Want to change how you receive these emails? Update email preferences Copyright © 2025 Tortoise Media. All rights reserved. Did this email get caught in your spam filter? Add editor@newsroom.tortoisemedia.com to your address book to never miss an email again. No longer want to receive this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.