The Guardian

London predicted to be the first UK city to go diesel-free, largely because of the ultra-low emission zone Battery electric cars are poised to overtake diesels on Great Britain’s roads by 2030, according to analysis that suggests London will be the first UK city to go diesel-free. The number of diesel cars on Great Britain’s roads in June had fallen to 9.9m in June last year, 21% below its peak o…

How the tech CEO and ‘Dogefather’ made a mess of the year – from an apparent Nazi salute during his White House tenure to Tesla sales slumps and Starship explosions The year of 2025 was dizzying for Elon Musk . The tech titan began the year holding court with Donald Trump in Washington DC. As the months ticked by, one public appearance after another baffled the US and the world. Musk appeared to …

AI safety expert David Dalrymple said rapid advances could outpace efforts to control powerful systems The world “may not have time” to prepare for the safety risks posed by cutting-edge AI systems, according to a leading figure at the UK government’s scientific research agency. David Dalrymple, a programme director and AI safety expert at the Aria agency, told the Guardian people should be conce…

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions ponders the online world – from what’s despicable to what’s indispensable • This week’s question: can you really fake it to make it ? The internet has turned fringe belief into mainstream politics and policy – from authoritarianism to vaccines. With democracy itself threatened, is it time to go back to a previous world of la…

Revenues may be rising rapidly, but not by nearly enough to cover the wild levels of investment under way The US dictionary Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop”, which it defines as “digital content of low quality that is produced, usually in quantity, by means of artificial intelligence”. The choice underlined the fact that while AI is being widely embraced, not least by corpor…

Fraudsters use phishing to steal card details, which fund a spending spree using Apple Pay or Google Pay You get a call from your bank and the informed voice asks to you to confirm the personal details they have on file, which you do. You are then asked whether you bought something at an electrical retailer recently for £120 and spent £235 in Birmingham, but neither transaction rings true. The ca…

The novelty of eating at a diner owned by the richest person in the world seems to have worn off in just a few months Less than six months since it opened, Elon Musk’s Tesla Diner has the feel of a ghost town. Gone is the Optimus robot serving popcorn, gone are the carnivore-diet-inspired “Epic Bacon” strips, gone are the hours-long, hundred-person lines wrapped around the block. Even the restaur…

Platform is now Britain’s fourth most visited social media site as users seek out human-generated content Reddit, the online discussion platform, has overtaken TikTok as Britain’s fourth most visited social media service, as search algorithms and gen Z have dramatically transformed its prominence. The platform has undergone huge growth over the last two years, with an 88% increase in the proporti…

Defenders say AI can do good to fight the climate crisis. But spiralling energy and water costs leave experts worried During a golden sunset in Memphis in May, Sharon Wilson pointed a thermal imaging camera at Elon Musk’s flagship datacentre to reveal a planetary threat her eyes could not. Free from pollution controls, the gas-fired turbines that power the world’s biggest AI supercomputer were pu…

Hailing app will now act as agent rather than supplier outside London, avoiding VAT requirement, although change is not permitted in London Uber has swerved paying millions of pounds to the UK exchequer under Rachel Reeves’s new “taxi tax” after the ride-hailing app rewrote contracts with its drivers. The move came as rules announced in November’s budget took effect, which adjusted how VAT is pay…

New year fitness goals? An elliptical will put you through your paces without the joint strain – our reviewer worked up a sweat testing the best • The best treadmills A quick admission: I absolutely love an elliptical or cross trainer. They don’t always get the plaudits they deserve, but these low-impact cardio machines not only put less strain on your joints than a treadmill but also help you ge…

In this week’s newsletter: The year’s most popular stories reveal how play, power and politics collided in the past 12 months – and what you’re psyched for in 2026 • Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here With the best games of the year duly noted ( yours and ours ), I’d like to highlight some of the work we’ve done covering them. Reviewing the top-performing articles tha…

As 007 makes his gaming return, you can climb a mountain in Cairn, play a scaredy-cat in Resident Evil, and play a criminal couple in GTA VI Live your mountaineering fantasies and brave the elements in a wonderfully illustrated climbing game. You must carefully place climber Aava’s hands and feet to make your way up a forbidding mountain, camping on ledges and bandaging her fingers as you go. Lik…

PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5; Embark Studios The breakout hit, which has players coming together (or turning on each other) to battle intimidating robots in an apocalyptic future, is worth the hype Arc Raiders is an extraction shooter from Embark Studios – so, a game where you deploy into a map full of other players and do as much shooting and looting as you can before making an escape. This is my fir…

There was no shortage of fun and video games in the Diamond household in the last 12 months. Which ones did we play so much our thumbs hurt? And which one saved my soul? Let the ceremony begin … • The 20 best video games of 2025 So, how was 2025 for your household? Was it really all as good as you pretended it was on Facebook? Full of A-grades for the kids and riotous themed fancy dress birthday …