The Observer Daily: Sabrina Carpenter wants us to howl

The best of The Observer, from across our newsroom View in browser Sabrina Carpenter wants us to howl The best of The Observer, from across our newsroom Basia Cummings • Thursday 10 July 2025 Dear friend, If pop stars tell us something about ourselves, and the moment we're in, it's worth paying attention to Sabrina Carpenter. If you're not (yet) a fan, you might have noticed the furore around her recent album cover reveal. To some, the image of Carpenter on all fours, her hair held like a leash, was a retrogressive step for women's rights. To others, it was Carpenter in horny control of her own image and sexuality. It's a division in opinion that Carpenter plays with to great effect, writes our pop critic, Kitty Empire, who attended the second of her two nights at BST Hyde Park, performing to a 65,000-strong audience. There, Empire found a "newly minted superstar". "Carpenter may be retrogressive, but her charms are potent. She comes from a tried-and-trusted talent pipeline, and yet she still has the air of possessing agency and wit to burn. Everything she wears is sparkly, but her pop is full of intelligence. She is clever enough to climb on a cherry picker and aerially traverse the more budget section of the crowd at this very corporate festival (which is full of brand-sponsored VIP areas)." Click here to read the full review → "The enemy of nonsense" – George Orwell Also in The Observer England's yo-yo existence And breathe. After Saturday's shocker against France, the importance of last night's England game against the Netherlands could not be overstated. If England lost, it would be a disaster. Thankfully, we needn't have worried: in the end it was a breezy 4-0 win. Jessy Parker Humphreys is out in Switzerland, and reports that while the positive performance was welcome, a worrying yo-yo pattern is forming. Click here to read more → Texas was cursed with a perfect storm – but there's a bigger picture by Xavier Greenwood        The recent flash floods in Texas took the lives of more than 120 people, with more than 170 still missing. The scale and speed of the destruction was breathtaking, and soon after those angry and grieving looked for someone or something to blame. In today's Sensemaker, Xavier Greenwood writes that, yes, the Trump administration's sweeping cuts will directly impact the National Weather Service, in charge of flood monitoring and warnings. But geology, timing and climate change were the real villains on this occasion. This piece is part of The Sensemaker. It features calm and clear analysis on what's driving the news across tech, geopolitics, finance and culture. To get the full newsletter sent to your inbox every morning, sign up here. Click here to read more → If we don't fight for our juries, trial by AI is coming   by Michael Mansfield       Our justice system is deteriorating. Trials are being set years in the future, as the availability of courtrooms and judges hinder any hope of clearing a gigantic case backlog. One solution being proposed is to, in some cases, ignore the right to a trial by jury, and hand powers directly to judges. Michael Mansfield, the leading barrister and expert in civil liberties, says this is the wrong thing to target. He writes the jury is "one of the very few opportunities in which democracy comes to life…the next move, just around the corner, is trial by AI…cheap, quick – and prone to fiction." Click here to read more → Kae Tempest: 'I can't accept my blessings and reject the challenges' by Rebecca Nicholson        The era-defining poet from southeast London stunned crowds when he took to the stage at Glastonbury last month. At 39, Tempest has found success as an author, a poet, a musician and a playwright. His albums Everybody Down and Let Them Eat Chaos were nominated for the Mercury prize. This year Tempest came out as a trans man. Speaking to Rebecca Nicholson he says: "Part of me might wish [I'd transitioned] earlier in life, but another part thinks: you've got to a place that feels so good, why be mad at how you got there?" Click here to read more → Listen Daily Sensemaker Does Donald Trump support Ukraine? The US administration has U-turned again after pausing military aid to Ukraine last week     Click here to listen → Thanks for reading. We'll be back tomorrow.   Basia Cummings Editor, digital The Observer Brad Gray Production editor, digital 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.