It’s Tuesday, June 23. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Kara Kennedy on why you need to stop shaming 40-something pregnant women, an Iranian singer gets lashed for not wearing her hijab, and more.
But first: Is Britain ungovernable?
Yesterday, UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced his plans to step down, less than two years after moving into No. 10 Downing Street. Starmer becomes the sixth prime minister to resign in the past 10 years. If the country cannot maintain stable political leadership, it raises the question: Is Britain ungovernable?
To make sense of this, we bring you two of our favorite Brits. Up first, Douglas Murray. In his column today, Douglas offers his diagnosis for where Starmer went wrong. The answer, he says, is all too familiar: a leader knowing what he was against, but not what he was for. Read Douglas’s column to understand not just the downfall of Britain’s PM, but what the country’s political leaders keep getting wrong.
Coincidentally, Starmer’s resignation came one day before the 10th anniversary of Brexit, the national referendum that severed Great Britain from the European Union—and triggered a decade of political turbulence. Today, Niall Ferguson marks that milestone by taking the long view—on Starmer’s departure, Britain’s divorce from the EU, and whether or not the country regrets it.
—The Editors
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I Know What Iran Does to Women Who Sing |
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A 29-year-old Iranian singer, Parastoo Ahmadi, is soon to receive 74 lashes by the Qom Provincial Criminal Court in Iran for singing without a hijab. Iranian American Masih Alinejad knows what it’s like to be targeted by the Iranian regime. Her crime was distributing anti-government pamphlets, and in her piece today she dissects Iran’s ban on women singing and asks: What will it take for the men to stop taking the stage in solidarity? | |
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Anne Hathaway Is Pregnant at 43—and the Internet Is Out for Blood |
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Birth rates are falling across the West, with governments racing to find a solution. But some who decry low birth rates, especially conservatives, shame women over 40 years old for having children. You can’t have it both ways, Kara Kennedy writes. The shame of an older pregnancy needs to go if society is going to make it out of the fertility crisis. | |
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Don’t Freak Out About Fruit-Flavored Vapes |
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The FDA recently expanded access to flavored vapes, prompting pushback from critics who worry they will fall into the hands of addiction-prone teens. Not so fast, write Sally Satel and Arielle Selya. In fact, as flavors such as mango and piña colada have entered the market, teen vaping has declined, while older, ex-smokers have instead jumped onto the fruity trend. | |
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From Teenage Soldier to Commander in Ukraine, with Mamuka Mamulashvili |
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For the latest episode of “School of War,” Aaron MacLean sat down with Mamuka Mamulashvili, a Georgian Legion Commander in Ukraine who became a soldier at the age of 14 during the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia. Mamulashvili talks about the mental toll of experiencing war at such a young age, and what a lifetime of fighting Russians teaches you about how they operate. | |
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