1. How a billionaire with interests in Greenland encouraged Trump to acquire the territory
‘Trump’s Greenland concept was never absurd – it was strategic,’ Lauder wrote. Photograph: Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu/Getty Images
“One day during his first term, Donald Trump summoned a top aide to discuss a new idea. ‘Trump called me down to the Oval Office,’ John Bolton, national security adviser in 2018, told the Guardian. ‘He said a prominent businessman had just suggested the US buy Greenland …’”
The US president’s friend Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune, is now making deals in the island. Guardian investigations correspondent Tom Burgis explored the reasons behind Trump and Lauder’s fixation with Greenland.
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2. Death on the inside: as a prison officer, I saw how the system perpetuates violence
Such incidents are difficult to forget … the rise of murders in prison. Illustration: Callum Rowland/The Guardian
“There are hotspots for violence in prison. The exercise yard, the showers. There are peak times, too. Mealtimes and association periods are particularly volatile. But first thing in the morning is not when you expect to hear an alarm bell.”
In this gripping Long Read, Alex South examined how a rise of murders in prisons in England and Wales is traumatising inmates and staff, and making life harder for staff. But, he wrote, even in prison, violence isn’t inevitable.
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3. ‘Her time has come’: did Piet Mondrian owe his success to a cross-dressing lesbian artist who lived in a Cornish cove?
A Mondrian or a Marlow? … left, Moss’s White, Black, Red and Grey, 1932; right, Mondrian’s Composition (No 1) Gray-Red, 1935. Composite: Alice de Groot/Kunstmuseum Den Haag; Heritage Images/Getty Images
Piet Mondrian found fame, fortune and glory with his grid-like paintings lit with basic colours. But did the Dutch painter’s ideas come from the much-less heralded Marlow Moss? Joanna Moorhead celebrated an extraordinary British talent who died in obscurity.
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4. The friendship secret: why socialising could help you live longer
Neuroscientist Ben Rein at the brain museum in the University of Buffalo. Photograph: Brandon Watson/The Guardian
This fascinating interview by Emma Beddington with the neuroscientist Ben Rein, explaining how friendship and socialising, in what Rein has called “a post-interaction world”, can help you live longer.
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5. Women are feral for Heated Rivalry. What does that say about men?
It gets steamy between Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), left, and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) in Heated Rivalry. Photograph: Sphere Abacus/Sky
The explosive popularity of the gay hockey TV drama reveals women’s desire for sex and romance without violence or hierarchy. Julia Carrie Wong asked what is it says about gender relations in 2026 that so many women are fantasising about gay smut.
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6. ‘How do you really tell the truth about this moment?’: George Saunders on ghosts, mortality and Trump’s America
‘Death, to me, has always been a hot topic’ … George Saunders. Photograph: Benedict Evans/The Guardian
The Lincoln in the Bardo author is back with another metaphysical tale. He spoke to Sophie McBain about Buddhism, partisan politics and the terrifying flight that changed his life.
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