Four exhibitions in London this autumn remind us that creativity and imagination are the opposite of authoritarianism

There can rarely have been such a meeting of political jeopardy and artistic genius as in Florence in 1504. After the violent overthrow of the Medici family a decade earlier, and the execution of the zealot Savanorola in 1498, the new Florentine government, beset by ongoing wars with Pisa, was desperate for symbols to help stabilise the city’s fragile republic. To that end, Niccolò Machiavelli, the minister whose name has become synonymous with such political scheming, was among those instrumental in bringing the two towering artists of the age, Leonardo da Vinci, then 52, and Michelangelo, 23 years his junior, into direct competition to create those public statements, to help make Florence great again.

That ultimate artistic standoff is the subject of an exhibition entitled Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael now open at the Royal Academy in London. The context echoes down through the centuries. To begin with, Leonardo was invited to help decide the placing of Michelangelo’s statue David , which went on display that year; once together, however, the pair were seduced to produce for the walls of the council chamber rival frescoes of the two great military triumphs of Florentine history: the battles at Cascina and Anghiari. It was the first and last time they worked in the same room.

The chancellor will make the case for free trade as Labour is warned that it must choose between the United States and the European Union

The chancellor Rachel Reeves will use a keynote speech this week to promote free and open trade between nations as a cornerstone of UK economic policy, putting the Labour government on direct collision course with president-elect Donald Trump.

Reeves will use her first speech at the Mansion House – an annual showpiece for the chancellor – to outline a post-budget plan to “go for growth”. But as the UK government scrambles to respond to Trump’s emphatic victory, and the challenges it poses for Britain on vital issues of economic and foreign policy, the chancellor is expected to be clear that she will take the fight to Washington in defence of free trade.

Energy secretary says Britain must work on vital alliances with other countries following victory of climate-denier Trump

The UK must ramp up its efforts on renewable energy to foster national security in an increasingly uncertain world, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has warned, on the eve of a fraught global summit on the climate crisis .

He pledged that the UK would lead efforts at Cop29 to secure the global agreement needed to stave off the worst impacts of climate breakdown, in talks that have been thrown into turmoil by the re-election of Donald Trump as US president.

Donald Trump’s overwhelming mandate is a wake-up call for progressive parties who have lost touch with voters’ concerns

Donald Trump’s unexpectedly clearcut victory in last week’s US presidential election is a wake-up call for the progressive left in America and Britain. The hard-right Republican nominee made gains in almost all voter groups , including in swing state cities, middle-class suburbs, working-class manufacturing centres and rural and farming communities. Black, Latino, Native American and younger voters, on whose support his Democratic rival, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, had pinned her hopes, also went for Trump in larger than anticipated numbers. Polling suggesting a dead heat was wrong. Trump scored an undeniable nationwide triumph, winning both the electoral college and the popular vote.

The Democratic party’s inquest into what went wrong must honestly confront some uncomfortable truths. One concerns identity. It’s plain, on this showing at least, that membership of racial and ethnic minorities can no longer be blithely assumed to translate into support for a progressive left agenda. Another concerns priorities. Top-down policy agendas pursued by entitled and privileged social “elites” can alienate ordinary voters from all backgrounds. They simply cannot or will not relate to them.

The lesson of his first term is that he does what he says he is going to do: the UK must prepare

Wednesday 9 November 2016: a misty, drizzly day in Washington DC, an overwhelmingly Democrat city in trauma after the shock victory of Donald Trump in the election the previous day. A Washington rarity, a declared Trump supporter, was among a group of guests for lunch in the residence that day. I took him aside and asked whether Trump would be as radical and disruptive as the giants of American political journalism were predicting. “Not at all,” he said: “I know the guy. All that red meat was just for the campaign. I expect him to govern as a mainstream Republican.”

Fast forward to London, Wednesday 6 November 2024. I’m speaking at a business dinner about the election outcome and what will come next. I mention Trump’s commitment to levy 20% tariffs on all imports into America. One participant says he has just spoken to a friend in Arizona who knows Trump personally. This friend has said: “It’s not about instant action. Trump will use the tariffs as a threat, to persuade countries to act to get trade flows into balance.” Another participant says: “Trump has won his second term now. So he doesn’t need to fight any more. Surely he’ll calm down and focus on his legacy?”

The journalist and author reflects on the death of Twitter, his friendly rivalry with Louis Theroux, and tells his legendary Keith Richards story

If you could have learned one lesson earlier on in your life, what would it have been?

Don’t tweet. I remember right at the beginning of Twitter – and this is really indiscreet, so I hope the parties involved won’t mind – but I remember Matt Stone from South Park said to me, “Look at Lena Dunham. She’s got this incredible show on HBO. She’s can express herself in these beautiful ways on HBO. And then she goes and fucks it all up on Twitter.” And I agree. People who are able to write for a living shouldn’t fuck it all up on Twitter.

Jon Ronson is speaking in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Wellington, 20-26 November.

Four suspects still held on suspicion of violent acts and 50 people fined after violence against football fans

Amsterdam police expect to make more arrests after what authorities called “hateful antisemitic violence” against Israeli football fans, prosecutors said on Saturday.

Four suspects remained detained on Saturday on suspicion of violent acts, including two minors, and 40 people had been fined for public disturbance and 10 for offences including vandalism, prosecutors said.

• Updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off at Anfield
• Get in touch! Share your thoughts with Scott

Liverpool, top of the table at home and in Europe, and with 14 wins from their first 16 games in all competitions this season, are on a roll. Aston Villa were going pretty well for a while back there too, until letting in a last-gasp equaliser at home to Bournemouth, since when they’ve lost three on the bounce, albeit in three different competitions. But despite all that, Unai Emery’s out-of-sorts side remain sixth in the Premier League, bang-slap in the thick of things, so tonight’s showdown at Anfield still qualifies as a top-of-the-table clash. There are usually goals when these folk meet, too – recent 4-1 and 6-0 wins for Liverpool, a 5-0 and that 7-2 for Villa, a 3-3 draw last time out – and so while tonight’s kick-off time is a tad weird, the anticipation levels are nevertheless bubbling up nicely. Can you feel it? To borrow a line from the Great Danish Songbook: Saturday night, the air is getting hot, dee dee na na na. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!

Now 77, the playwright who has chronicled British life for 50 years, says he is stepping up his work rate as he has limited scope to tell important stories

Sir David Hare has charted the forces and habits shaping British life for more than half a century, on stage and on screen. His work for cinema stretches from the 1985 film of his play Plenty , starring Meryl Streep, to his screenplays for Damage , The Hours and 2016’s Denial . And his string of theatrical “state of the nation” accounts of political and moral dilemmas, with hits such as Pravda , starring Anthony Hopkins, The Absence of War , starring John Thaw, and Amy’s View , with Judi Dench, have regularly set the cultural agenda.

But now, at 77, Hare has revealed he is to seriously step up his work rate because he fears that, for him, it is already “five minutes to midnight” and so he has limited scope remaining to tell important stories.