Donald Trump arrived at Windsor Castle this morning for the first day of his second state visit. The US president took part in a carriage procession through the royal estate with the King, and will later be treated to a military flypast and a lavish state banquet. Last night, Britain and America announced a “tech prosperity deal” that will see Microsoft, Nvidia, Google and OpenAI invest billions of pounds in UK computing infrastructure. Utah is seeking the death penalty for Tyler Robinson, who was charged yesterday with the murder of Charlie Kirk. State prosecutors released text messages in which the 22-year-old’s partner asked him if he “did it”, to which he responded: “I am, I’m sorry.” More than a quarter of driving tests in Great Britain are being taken in automatic cars, up from just over 5% less than 10 years ago. Insurer AA says the shift is largely due to the forthcoming ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030, which is pushing new learners towards electric vehicles.

The “quiet triumph” of King Charles

Donald Trump’s unprecedented second state visit isn’t just an opportunity for Keir Starmer to curry favour with the US president and secure new investment deals, says Tina Brown in The New York Times. It’s also a showcase for the “deft international statesmanship” of the King. Critics long wondered if the “opinionated, emotional” Charles – a man obsessed with the then-unfashionable issues of climate change and “hokey homeopathy” – could ever attain the “royal mystique” of his mother. Many assumed the septuagenarian’s reign would be merely transitional ahead of William, that his ambitions would essentially be limited to: “keep buggering on”. Instead, Charles’s first three years on the throne have been a “quiet triumph”.

It’s not just that many of the King’s previously mocked views have become mainstream. He helped ease some of the hurt feelings over Brexit, first by “buttering up the Bundestag” in fluent German and then by addressing the French Senate in “perfect French”. He signalled “official British disgust” with Trump’s claims that Canada would become the 51st US state by taking a swift trip to open parliament in Ottawa. Perhaps most striking was when he changed his schedule to host Volodymyr Zelensky for tea at Sandringham shortly after the Ukrainian president underwent his “shameful pummelling” in the Oval Office – a fundamentally decent gesture that Elizabeth II, with her “strict adherence to diplomatic diaries”, would never have countenanced. In this social media age, when the “mask of monarchy” is no longer possible, Charles is redefining how we expect a modern sovereign to behave. In doing so, he is becoming “the last man standing who can exude global gravitas”.

👑 🙄 Charles, I’m told, is tiring of William’s “self-righteous intractability” in the feud with Harry. He wants to “re-embrace” his younger son – if only he can keep his mouth shut. But Harry’s interview with The Guardian after their long-postponed reunion last week – in which the “imperturbably cocky” prince insisted “My conscience is clear” – suggests “the futility of expecting Harry Hotspur to play the old royal game”.

Sentences in books are getting considerably shorter, says The Economist. An analysis of hundreds of New York Times bestsellers shows that the average number of words per sentence has dropped from around 22 in 1931 to about 15 today. This shift is echoed in British parliamentary speeches, which have shrunk by a third in the past decade, and in the inaugural addresses of US presidents: George Washington’s scored 28.7 on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, denoting postgraduate level, whereas Donald Trump’s came in at 9.4, “the reading level of a high-schooler”.

Robert Redford, who died yesterday aged 89, had many qualities, says Christopher Howse in The Daily Telegraph. But I’m afraid I cannot forgive him for the effect All the President’s Men had on journalism. The 1976 movie fixed in the zeitgeist the myth of the “superpowered journalist” who heroically “hauls the nation’s polity back from disaster”. In doing so, it made American hacks even more “insufferably self-righteous” about speaking truth to power than they already were.

Why I feel sorry for the Prince of Darkness

At the risk of breaking up the “almost medieval orgy of shaming, name-calling and banishment”, says Matthew Parris in The Times, allow me to enter a defence of Peter Mandelson. First, I have zero doubt that the New Labour veteran had no notion of Jeffrey Epstein’s wickedness until his conviction – the late paedophile was clearly “living two lives”, given half the American establishment seem to have known him. Second, friends who know Mandelson well (I do not) tell me the “gushing appreciation” he showed Epstein is typical of how he conducts his friendships – “florid terms of endearment” are virtually routine, “almost ironic, almost a trademark”. And while Mandy’s continued friendship with Epstein after the latter’s conviction is embarrassing, his “chin-up consolations” look to me like a man knowing his friend was suicidal and “scrabbling for reasons” not to despair.

The question now is whether Mandelson will choose to “seek his revenge”, says Dan Hodges in the Daily Mail. He knows his political career is over, and he and Starmer have never been close (although he did reportedly have the Labour leader as a guest to his 2023 wedding). He still has several close allies in government, such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Business Secretary Peter Kyle. And because of his proximity to Starmer’s inner circle – in particular the all-powerful No 10 chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney – he knows where a lot of the bodies are buried. “Not least because he helped inter several of them.” Would anyone blame him for sticking the knife in? Starmer clearly turned a blind eye to Mandelson’s flaws in order to tap his “Machiavellian wisdom”, only to drop him at the first real sign of trouble. Mandelson is “not by temperament a vengeful man”. But in this instance “he has every right to be”.

Ukraine’s drone units have pioneered a new approach to killing, says Ken Harbaugh in The Atlantic: they’ve “gameified war”. Drone pilots are awarded points for eliminating certain targets – killing infantry, destroying artillery, and so on – with “point values” changing depending on how much of a threat military intelligence deems the battlefield asset to be at that point in time. If rocket launchers pose a particular danger one day, for example, they could be worth maximum points. Pilots can then exchange their points for items that make life at the front more bearable: the likes of new combat boots, electric kettles and upgraded night-vision goggles.

Ordinary parents have begun shelling out for “executive assistants” to help manage their busy schedules, says Callum Borchers in The Wall Street Journal, spending anything from $10 a month for a basic AI assistant to several thousand dollars for a part-time human. These mums and dads – desperate to keep the fridge stocked and plan weekly meals, schedule all their children’s after-school clubs, buy flowers for their mother-in-law, call the paediatrician and get to work on time – see it as an “investment that can pay for itself in increased productivity”. Guys. Do less.

It’s a “fantasy coffin”, says Misper Apawu in AP News, which has become a popular alternative to the traditional wooden look in Ghana. Originally common among the Ga people of the capital Accra, the beautiful boxes are designed not just to bury the deceased but to “embody the essence of their life”. To see more creative coffins – including a cruise ship, a crab, a red chilli and a school – click here.