In the headlines

Nato fighter jets have shot down Russian drones over Polish airspace for the first time during an overnight attack on western Ukraine, in what Warsaw called an "unprecedented violation" of its territory. Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has invoked Nato's Article 4, triggering a meeting of the alliance's members, saying: "This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two". Donald Trump has said he is "very unhappy about every aspect" of Israel's airstrike on Qatar yesterday, which killed five members of the terror group and a Qatari security official. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz reiterated this morning that his country would continue to "act against its enemies everywhere". An English sparkling wine has won a top fizz award, the first time the accolade has gone to a wine not from France's Champagne region. Nyetimber's Blanc de Blancs 2016 magnum, from West Sussex, won the "champion sparkling wine trophy" at the International Wine Challenge awards yesterday. Cheers.

Comment

Part of Mandelson's 10-page tribute to Epstein

Why Mandelson may survive

Peter Mandelson apparently revels in his nickname "the Prince of Darkness", says Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail. "It has never seemed so appropriate." Newly released messages written by the current British ambassador to the US in Jeffrey Epstein's 2003 "birthday book" depict an "extremely close" relationship between the two men. In a 10-page tribute, Mandelson describes the late paedophile as his "best pal" and an "intelligent, sharp-witted man". There is a picture of a smiling Mandy in a bathrobe chatting with Epstein, and standing in swimming shorts gazing out of a balcony window with the jokey caption: "You would spend many hours waiting for him to turn up..." Granted, when the book was made the police hadn't yet begun their investigations into Epstein. But the financier's "seedy" ways were clearly no secret. Can a man tainted by such scandal really stay on as our man in Washington?

Mandelson is of course "no stranger to scandal", says Daniel Johnson in The Daily Telegraph. He holds the rare distinction of having had to resign from government twice, during the Blair years. When the FT asked him about the Epstein scandal a few months ago, he responded: "I'm not going to go into this... frankly, you can all fuck off." But counter-intuitively, his unsavoury association with Epstein may render him "unsackable". Donald Trump is also tarnished by his connection to the disgraced financier, so for Keir Starmer to get rid of Mandelson over the issue would raise uncomfortable questions for the US president – something Starmer is desperate not to do. The omens aren't good: Mandelson said this morning he expected more "very embarrassing" details to come out. But don't be surprised if he makes another "Houdini-like" escape.

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Shopping

The Times has compiled a list of the trendiest products you can buy from the London Design Festival, which gets under way on Saturday. They include a transparent turntable made from aluminium and tempered glass; a butter knife partially made of melted-down waste plastic from the cult London bakery Pophams; a swan-shaped lemon squeezer from the surrealist brand Gohar World; a striped pleated paper lamp from the Royal Academy Shop; a stool made by the former graffiti artist David Samuel; and 21 different "cool and colourful" vases from The Conran Shop. Click on the image for more.

"I love you most ardently"

Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Men have forgotten how to talk to women, says Maureen Dowd in The New York Times. Social media is "bristling" with girls expressing "resentment, irritation, frustration and exhaustion" about the opposite sex. If you know a diffident young chap who's struggling to charm the ladies, perhaps he should read The Knowledge. That way, he'll never run out of amusing, interesting conversation. (Oh, and remind him to ask questions.)

Also today:

🔮 The 1948 study that demonstrated why horoscopes are total balls
🐻 Which world leader always – always – goes in for the bear hug
🧑‍🍼 Why progressives aren't having as many babies as conservatives
💥 How the Russians and Ukrainians are protecting their tanks from drones
🤖 OpenAI's full-length movie
💬 Golda Meir on Israel's choices

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