“When surrogacy goes well, the result is a happy family that would not otherwise have existed. When it goes wrong, however, it can do so in unpredictable and emotionally crushing ways,” @helenlewis.bsky.social writes.

The Wild West of Commercial Surrogacy

Most of Europe bans it. The United Nations likens it to slavery. But in the United States, business is booming.

bit.ly

For the last year, I’ve been talking to people involved in the surrogacy industry. There are many happy stories, but also a very concerning lack of regulation. I’ll drop a gift link below.

The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 5d ago

Most of Europe bans commercial surrogacy. The United Nations likens it to slavery. But in the United States, @helenlewis.bsky.social reports, business is booming.

For the last year, I’ve been talking to people involved in the surrogacy industry. There are many happy stories, but also a very concerning lack of regulation. I’ll drop a gift link below.

The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 5d ago

Most of Europe bans commercial surrogacy. The United Nations likens it to slavery. But in the United States, @helenlewis.bsky.social reports, business is booming.

BTW, I have had some complaints that I (and other journalists) have not scrutinised Nathan Cofnas, the academic who exposed Arday. As it happens, I wrote a book with several chapters on the hereditarian account of IQ, and its links to support for eugenics.

"The simple truth of Parton’s style is that it made a diminutive, rags-poor girl from the backwoods feel bold enough to explore her gorgeous flute of a throat and sing in public." What a treat: @sallyjenx.bsky.social on Dolly Parton: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

The Truth About Dolly Parton’s Style

It wasn’t about showbiz. It was about sovereignty.

theatlantic.com

For the latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social podcast, we recommended our favourite books about journalism (after we arm-wrestled for who got to do Towards the End of the Morning): www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo3...

The Hacks Book Club: Private Eye writers pick their favourite books about journalism

YouTube video by Private Eye Magazine

youtube.com

Twenty years ago every aspiring journalist wanted to be a war correspondent, says Helen Lewis. Now the job barely exists, and nothing has taken its place. ➡️ Watch Page 94, the Private Eye podcast: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo3...

You: What's goin on? Me: Oh, nothing much. Just watching Jason Kelce's Liquid Death/Garage Beer PSA about harvesting human urine to power data centers.

NYC firefighters take care of their own like no other profession. That mattered after 9-11. It especially mattered to the Dowdell boys, as they dug through the World Trade Center wreckage. My story on their story. #NYFD #September11 www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

The Man Who Refused to Sit on the Sidelines

Kevin Dowdell, a lieutenant in an elite FDNY rescue unit, taught his sons to take action. When he disappeared on 9/11, they went to Ground Zero to search for him.

theatlantic.com

For my politics watchers and Iowa lovers: I rode bikes with Rob Sand across Eastern Iowa—and wrote about how he's doing something pretty different from other Democrats. My latest for @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

A Democrat in Name Only

Rob Sand isn’t progressive or moderate. What is he trying to be?

theatlantic.com

I watched the Patriot Games and I have a lot of thoughts www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Are the Patriot Games Great? No. Are They Fun to Watch?

Also no.

theatlantic.com

I have just read this incredible story (in print of all things) @helenlewis.bsky.social and on a day like today, worth reading on your lunchbreak or similar www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Paradise Revisited

What Darwin saw in the Galápagos

theatlantic.com

The latest in @theatlantic.com series of Dem presidential contenders is Jenisha Watts on Maryland governor Wes Moore, who has megawatt stage charisma but a faintly whiffy CV. She gets to the essential question: is that a problem or Birtherism 2.0? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Preacher

Wes Moore isn’t here to save the Democratic Party.

theatlantic.com

For the MAGA right, Nigel Farage just isn't hardline enough. So they have a new crush: Restore's Rupert Lowe, who will pander to their belief that Britain is a "shithole" over-run by socialism and sharia (gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Joe Rogan’s New British Crush

Rupert Lowe understands what the American right wants to hear.

theatlantic.com

Reading @helenlewis.bsky.social is one of my great pleasures in life and now I gift to you her un-put-downable and capsizingly funny piece on JD Vance's radio adventures. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

J. D. Vance’s Own Alien Abduction

The vice president has been replaced with a guy who’s just asking questions.

theatlantic.com

I don't usually write personal stuff, but a few words about my experience of being interviewed by Gary Stevenson. It started with a nice chat, comparing taste in hoodies... then the tone changed. He demanded to know why I'd deleted a tweet criticising him.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Americans were once members of a proudly literate society, but today, reading has declined across age groups, gender, and education levels. For The Atlantic’s August issue, @rosehorowitch.bsky.social explores the reading collapse—and its effects on civilization: theatln.tc/Q0QJpF8U

The advent of reading transformed society, and its decline will bring about changes of the same magnitude, @rosehorowitch.bsky.social writes. Can America—and civilization—survive the postliterate era?

The Age of Reading Is Over

Can civilization survive the postliterate era?

bit.ly

Nigel Farage wants a mandate for corruption. Hopefully he'll get a by-election versus a man wearing a bin instead: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Nigel Farage Wants a Mandate For Corruption

The British populist leader makes a Trumpian gamble.

theatlantic.com

"A trip to the Galápagos, where @helenlewis.bsky.social provides a spirited guide to everywhere Charles Darwin once visited (and evidently wreaked havoc along the way)? Say no more. I’m in."-@jacobfeldman.bsky.social on his top pick: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Paradise Revisited

What Darwin saw in the Galápagos

theatlantic.com

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Recorded in front of a live audience, David talks to geneticist & science writer @adamrutherford.bsky.social about Mark Romanek’s 2010 film of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. A story of cloning & organ donation exploring the meaning of mortality. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

Very probably my favourite ever thing to have researched and written: going to the Galapagos in the footsteps of Darwin. Unlike him, I did not ride a tortoise. Or drink its urine. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Paradise Revisited

What Darwin saw in the Galápagos

theatlantic.com

I had some bonus thoughts about masculinism over at my newsletter, including how "Gen Z boss and a mini" drove some internet users spare: helenlewis.substack.com/p/the-men-wh...

The Men Who Don't Want Women To Vote

Or work. Or have opinions.

helenlewis.substack.com

Beyond the ragebait of the manosphere lies a group of thinkers who want to turn back the clock on feminism. Far from being a fringe belief system, masculinism has become the single most important force uniting the American right. My latest for @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

The Men Who Don’t Want Women to Vote

Or work. Or have opinions.

theatlantic.com

Brilliant and essential. Everyone should read @helenlewis.bsky.social's new cover story, out today: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

The Men Who Want Women to Be Quiet

A virulent form of misogyny has become the single most important force holding together the American right.

theatlantic.com

Beyond the ragebait of the manosphere lies a group of thinkers who want to turn back the clock on feminism. Far from being a fringe belief system, masculinism has become the single most important force uniting the American right. My latest for @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

The Men Who Don’t Want Women to Vote

Or work. Or have opinions.

theatlantic.com

Gavin Newsom thinks the Dems lost in 2024 because they were weak. Everything he's done since—the memes, podcasts, Prop 50—is about projecting strength. An essential profile on the left's 2028 front-runner, by @helenlewis.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

"There is a valid tactical rationale for the prime minister’s reluctance to criticise the US right now, but it has to serve a strategic recognition that Britain’s future lies with Europe. There is not much evidence that this is the plan." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Is Starmer’s reluctance to criticise Trump smart tactics – or the sign of a man without a plan? | Rafael Behr

The PM won’t call out Trump over Venezuela, and won’t commit to Europe. His refusal to choose leaves vital choices for Britain to be made by others, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

theguardian.com

If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...