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Guardian View in 2026 for Burnham:  people will not reward Labour for a new model of the state but for making life cheaper, easier, and more secure. Cutting unprotected departments, cutting public investment, is not the option. It is about making public services from water, energy, transport to education and healthcare work efficiently and better for ordinary people.

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Roger McNamee, an early investor in Google and Facebook, writes this opinion piece in the Guardian newspaper saying that there are very serious problems in the way the "addiction" created by Facebook and Google products is affecting children. Lyrarc.com also points out that the reading and literacy scores in the U.S. and other countries are affected by how the new technology is used by digital gatekeepers. See our FAQ. Tim Berners Lee calls this a massive distraction for learning and youngsters. Melinda Gates has cited this as a problem she has faced in her own effort to raise her children.  Here is the main problem as stated by McNamee- of the millions of content pieces that can be shown the digital gatekeepers show only the content that is fit for their business model, and the best content from an educational point of view whether literacy, reading skills, civic literacy, all types of literacy and knowledge, is not only not the priority but is for the most part absent. He points out that that if not for the advertising business model this would be different- the focus could shift to experiences that educate, enrich and inspire users to better lives and better lifestyles. The smartphone has become pervasive in everyday lives to an astonishing degree- about 150 times a day with 2000 swipes and touches- to the point that it is changing the way people live and think without their realizing it. With it come new risks to the way we live and what we believe, like never before in history. ...

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Farhad Manjoo takes us through the origins of News Feed at Facebook, and its origins with Chris Cox who set up the News Feed operation in 2006 after leaving Stanford's computer science program at the age of 24. Manjoo describes the pain in Silicon Valley and many parts of America at the way the News Feed has acted as mere way of reinforcing people's own biases and creating different echo chambers for different biases. It has fragmented more than brought people together. The very idea of wiring people into the app as connecting people to talk to each other from different parts of the world and share different views is now called into question. Social media founders are also questioning whether wiring and connecting mean positive things in the context of what has happened with Google News, Facebook News Feed and Twitter in 2016-2017. The worst impulses have come to the fore, and it has happened to the point of shocking people who believed only positive things would come from technology and its application in news. Algorithm based news is open to error in many more ways than news discerned by human eyes and intuitive sense, and has the dangerous aspect of spreading misinformation like a wild fire on the internet. As Tim Berners-Lee points out the news is taken to the lowest common denominator because it is based on clicks, the social media sites make money on clicks and how often we click on something. Berners Lee says- “ the net result is that these sites show us content they think we’ll click on - meaning that misinformation, or ‘fake news,’ which is surprising, shocking, or designed to appeal to our biases can spread like wild fire.” Worse bots and people with bad intentions can game the system. The view at Lyrarc is that news was never intended to be taken up by algorithm based computer programs in the driver seat. Google started in 1998 and Google News started in 2006 making it only a decade old today,  Facebook started in 2004, and Facebook News is even more recent- less than a decade old. This is a period when “news” is experimenting with new technologies, and social media or search engines may never have been intended to serve as purveyors of news- that may never be their real role or purpose. For corrective action new developments have to take place taking technology out of the driver seat, and yet harnessing technology in other ways to help human eyes and intuitive sense work more productively, which is the vision at Lyrarc.   ...

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With car prices up Americans are holding on to cars for longer and this has reached 13 years in 2026 up 10% over a decade.  Higher interest rates, sticker shock at prices of new or used cars are causing Americans to get the most out of each car. Car prices on average as per Kelley Blue Book are $50,000 on average and this is up$10,000 in 10 years. Some are driving 2 cars one a newer 4-5 years old model and the other could have 100,000 or upto 200,000 miles if the driver has some knowledge of how to maintain it. Even if they can afford the jump in prices has made people pause before looking for a new car making it take longer to buy, to see if maintenance is the solution. Car dealers are fighting for every piece of the market in the service business, trying special offers, and selling many services all individually priced to wring the last dollar out of the business. Ford Motor is putting ads to change the perception that dealer repair is costlier than smaller repair shops. The certified preowned business is also growing as maintenance takes on a new dimension to increase the life of a good car.  ...

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Washington Post's new idea of developing content for social media platforms  (Third Newsroom) to cut losses of $77 million in 2023 by earning profit on social brand exercises, comes at a time when the risks of social media platforms to education of children and to their mental health are great. Social media platforms entry into the news business has led to old news companies first interacting with them over a decade and realizing that this was leading to gains for social media platforms and losses for the old news companies. For older news companies such as the NYT, WSJ, Washington Post and others in the US this was a period in which these companies lost control over their news content along with loss of revenues. Over the last five years the companies have become profitable managing their own content and increasing subscriptions. The Washington Post has run into problems and has a $77 million loss. It was sold to Amazon's Bezos for $250 million by the founding family in 2013.  It is now trying to revive its business by doing what failed for the NYT, WSJ and others- by embracing rather than rejecting social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and others using the News Movement idea of UK journalist Lewis and Winnett. That News Movement makes content for Instagram and TikTok but has not generated profits. Under Lewis as head of Washington Post news division, Matt Murray formerly editor of WSJ would as head of Third Newsroom develop this kind of content for social media platforms. This runs the risks of aiding the work of social media platforms at a time when TikTok has raised national security concerns in the US, and along with Instagram is being cited as part of social media platforms that are affecting the mental health of children. Its disastrous impact on the health of the Nation and its future comes from reducing focus on education and studies by diverting an average of 4.8 hours each day away from educational activity for the children that make up the future generation of this Nation. ...

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FIFA's $3 billion in revenue from ticket sales is 3 times what it was in Qatar, prices per game are double that in Qatar. What's going on? FIFIA is being accused of price gouging practices by the Attorney Generals of New Jersey and New York. Six games including the finals are to be played in the NY-NJ area. FIFA's Infantino says it will use $11 billion in soccer revenues (90% of tickets sold for the World Cup in the US/Mexico) for this nonprofit to do soccer projects around the world.  Fans are not happy with the way FIFA is extracting higher prices to put visiting the game beyond the reach of ordinary households. Shouldn't making  it possible to watch the game for ordinary income soccer fans also be part of FIFA's responsibility- instead of taking the opportunities for visiting soccer fields away from ordinary income people. 

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Germany's news and culture broadcasting service Deutsche Welle for listeners overseas was started in 1953. Its charter is to promote "democratic values," and "free exchange between peoples." It broadcasts in 30 languages and reaches 100 million people. The German government has increased its budget by 9.3% to 294 million euros, with new bureau in Kiev and planned expansion of the English news service. A new multimedia English language service DWNews will be launched in April 2015. The German language service faces uncertainty as it is not part of the expanded service, and Deutsche Welle has seen shrinking budgets for the last 15 years.

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Prospects for sales of new diabets drug from Merck Januvia, quick buildup of sales planned, drug has advantages over other treatments and drugs.

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See The Guardian's complete coverage on the Makerfield by-election and the convincing win of Andy Burnham to give Britain a new direction as he bids for the leadership of the Labour party and of Britain as prime minister.

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Putin visit to Beijing. Xi- Putin meeting in Beijing, May 20 2026 follows DJT visit by 2 weeks. China- Russia economic relations oil cover new oil and gas pipelines that reduce dependence for oil on the Persian Gulf region after Hormuz  Straits is blocked, and defense supplies for Russia in its war with Ukraine.

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BP has serious problems with its corporate culture, and with management board that has failed in finding a good CEO and a good chairman. BP chairman Manifold from a Irish Building Supplies company is removed for being too aggressive and "shouty," belittling colleagues. This is the thrid chairman in a short time and happens when a new CEO joined in April. The previous CEO was let go because of his green strategy and net zero goals that led to a decline in profits. The new CEO's job was to withdraw from the green strategy to tackle climate change and transition away from fossil fuels.

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The evolution of the Murdoch newspaper and television business from a small Adelaide newspaper News of Adelaide circulation 75,000 inherited from his father Keith Murdoch in the 1950's, is shown in this NYT report. It comes as a new generation is taking the place of the old. Rupert was then a student of 23 years at Oxford University in the 1950's. In the 1980's he acquired New York Post and The Times of London. By 1988 Rupert Murdoch shifted to use technology in the newspaper business. He followed this by acquiring other newspapers and setting up a television business Sky Television in the UK by 1989, and Fox News television channel in 1996. These television channels along with CNN and NBC, ABC now appeal to an older demographic in the mid to late sixties age. Much of the younger audience gets its information from the internet. Murdoch failed to develop the internet side of the business appealing to younger audiences. In this sense much of the influence of these older television channels is in a fluid shape likely to diminish in the future. ...

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District 10 for US Congress from New York City includes lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn- the Jewish community progressive left pro palestinian Mamdani/Brad Lander fighting Dan Goldman in Democratic primary. The infighting in the Jewish community in New York, Israel's largest in overseas countries, is over the same issue that has divided Israel pro Netanyahu vs anti Netanyahu factions with a new twist pro-Palestinian Jewish progressives and Mamdani supporters in the Jewish community as an added component for division. Israel's strong response to Iranian proxies in Lebanon, its war in Gaza, are causing the same disagreements that are being seen in Israel.

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The average age of readers is 59 years and 75% are male for the Wall Street Journal. WSJ has about 3.4 million digital subscriptions. Emma Tucker, editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal says, she doesn't want the Wall Street Journal to become the German car industry of news publishing. She is pushing for changes to bring younger and more diverse readers to the WSJ. Emma Tucker was deputy editor of The Times of London and Editor of The Sunday Times in 2020. Her new role requires managing 1200 journalists compared to 120 in earlier work. Audience data is part of her way of responding to new changes.

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Ted Koppel, managing editor of ABC's "Nightline" news program from 1980 to 2005, says it brings sadness to see the television networks drowning viewers in a flood of opinions designed to confirm their entrenched biases. Its good financially for the networks, he says, but not good for the American republic. He acknowledges the realities of today's journalism- scores of media options, a million or more clusters of consumers, who are harvesting as he puts it, information and news from like-minded providers. That is the way news and information is served up nowadays. And as he points out the shift of news from a public service to a profitable commodity is irreversible. At the same time talk is cheap, and the tendency for strongly held but unsubstantiated views is very prevalent. And yet the need for clear unobjective reporting is greater today than ever before. Covering news in other countries is now more needed than before, but foreign bureaus are expensive and such news harder to collect. As a result many foreign bureaus have seen severe cuts or were closed. Koppel cites Daniel Patrick Moynihan's observation that "everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."...

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World War II with Tom Hanks review- good for new generation of young people who have not seen Saving Private Ryan or documentaries made in ,the 70's. There are too many talking heads and not like in the 70's when survivors could give live accounts of what they saw, as they are dead by now. There is good new video footage.  Yet the war is of epic proportions on so many fronts, 20 episodes barely touch the major events of WWII, not to mention the events in Asia and Japan, the events in North Africa and Italy. Each of these areas has separate books in the work of Rick Atkinson who worked on it for a decade. Atkinson is interviewed by Rubinstein on C-SPAN showing that there is new interest in what happened in World War II. For the Asian side of the story the story does not start in 1939, the Japanese invasion and occupation of China is shown from the days after 1914 through the story of Gen. Joe Stilwell who is the American who for half a century to 1945 was America's main representative in China, and Franklin Roosevelt's and America's commanding general in China in the fight against the Imperial Japanese Army. The empathy of Stilwell for the Chinese people and his willingness to risk his life to help is simply amazing- and is something to take away from this book by Barbara Tuchman. There is a lot that America can be proud of in creating a rising tide in Asia that has lifted all boats. ...

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Daniel Akerson takes over as CEO of GM in Sept. 2010.