Richard Dawkins’ first work has thrilled fans and frustrated critics for five decades. The science has moved on, but any writer looking to supplant its place must learn its lessons

Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene was not predicted to be a success. Its initial print run, published this week in 1976, was just 5,000. It went on to sell millions, and is perhaps the most influential work of pop-science ever. For 50 years, it has been the go-to resource for the layperson seeking to understand evolution.

What accounts for its enduring power? Prof Dawkins’ central claim, that “we are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes” was provocative, stripping the messy stuff of human and other life down to a simple law. And yet the book is primarily concerned with proving that complex, selfless behaviour such as altruism in animals can emerge from these basic “selfish” drives, satisfyingly resolving an apparent paradox. Prof Dawkins – a zoologist by training – also succeeded in conjuring entertaining, vividly drawn vignettes of the lives of animals, from lions and ants to hawks and honeybees, to make his points.

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© Photograph: Roger Askew/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Roger Askew/REX/Shutterstock

ICJ judge Yuji Iwasawa’s jaunt to New York belies the danger he’s courting.

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A new spending plan highlights the squeeze that welfare spending puts on national security.

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Lula’s government targets losing opponent Flávio Bolsonaro.

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His chief rival should reject the prime minister’s anti-democratic vision and work with Palestinian Israeli parties

Benjamin Netanyahu has lost his mandate but not, so far, power. While final votes are still being tallied, most voters picked his opponents on Tuesday. His bloc’s share of seats remains the largest, but appears to have slumped by around 10, leaving it below the 61 needed for a majority in the Knesset. Palestinian Israeli parties surged, and are projected to almost double the 10 seats they held. The result is that Mr Netanyahu’s main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, a former head of the military, now faces a choice: fall into line with Mr Netanyahu’s racist fearmongering or work with Arab-led parties.

The prime minister who oversaw shocking security failures ahead of the Hamas atrocities of 7 October 2023 still pitches himself as “Mr Security”. On trial for corruption, he has persistently attacked democratic institutions, especially the judiciary. He embraced and then indulged the ultra-right as they cheered on brutal settler violence in the occupied West Bank. (Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich lost ground in these polls, but perhaps due to their vision’s permeation of mainstream politics more than a revolt against it.) Mr Netanyahu’s war on Iran has destabilised the region. The tens of thousands of Palestinians killed by his government’s genocidal war on Gaza have barely featured in the election campaign, but its cost for Israeli hostages and international support for Israel have been noted by voters.

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© Photograph: Alexi J Rosenfeld/Getty Images

© Photograph: Alexi J Rosenfeld/Getty Images

The election shows that it’s too soon to count out the Prime Minister.

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An ad for El-Sayed says Israel is the cause of inflation in the U.S.

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Havana’s bullies try to shut up U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz for calling out the regime’s corruption.

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If ever enacted, proposals by Marine Le Pen and the AfD leader, Alice Weidel, to hollow out EU institutions would be a continental act of self-harm

Following the Brexit referendum in 2016, Marine Le Pen was in a predictably celebratory mood. Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, she told one interviewer, was the first breach in the “Brussels Wall”. Ms Le Pen’s Front National party was at that point committed to taking France down the same path, given the chance. But as the UK’s self-inflicted economic wounds became a cautionary tale for the rest of Europe, the notion of Frexit was put on ice.

Instead, Ms Le Pen now hopes to lead far-right allies in hollowing out the EU from within. This month, both she and the leader of Alternative für Deutschland, Alice Weidel, outlined their visions of a “Europe of nations” in which EU institutions would be stripped of both cash and power. Ms Weidel’s “new deal for Europe” would abolish elections to the European parliament, and seek German opt-outs in areas such as migration, defence and common borrowing. Ms Le Pen’s party, now called National Rally, proposes slashing French contributions to the EU budget by 60% over a five-year presidential term, and ending the role of Brussels in proposing common policies for the 27 member states.

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© Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

© Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

The American people have a chance to allow the nation to glimpse the end of the Trump era and the start of something brighter.

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The SpaceX CEO misses the real ‘bloodthirsty warmongers’ in Moscow.

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The country’s stocks, bonds and currency plunge after the socialist wins.

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Gabriel Zucman tries to rebut a Hoover study. A tax and behavior education ensues.

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Trump officials push the idea of a U.S.-Russia-China joint candidate.

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The opposition leader’s return to Venezuela argues for an early date and process for a new election.

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If Israel’s election ends in a stalemate, the Prime Minister can stay in power to finish the job in Iran.

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