The country’s wealthy elite is aligning itself with the far-right politics of the Motorists party to stifle dissent

Oto Klempíř was for many years the frontman of JAR, a popular Czech funk-rock band. He was expelled from the band last year, not over creative differences, or even because of his collaboration with the secret police in the 1980s, but after he declared his intention to stand for parliament for Motorists for Themselves, a populist, nationalist, climate-sceptic party that is closely aligned with Maga ideology.

Klempíř is now Czechia’s culture minister and a leading figure behind an intensifying set of culture wars promoted by Andrej Babiš’s ruling coalition as it seeks to tighten its grip on power. Increasingly the government is borrowing methods favoured by Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Robert Fico in Slovakia.

Jan Bělíček is a journalist and editor in chief of the Czech media outlet Alarm

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© Photograph: Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images

The tech mogul’s midterm donations backing Republicans have made him the largest single-cycle political donor in modern US history

Elon Musk has poured so much money into US politics this midterms election cycle that his donations could fund half a dozen SpaceX rocket launches or buy thousands of Tesla Cybertrucks. At the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles, Musk could order more than 31.9m cheeseburgers with the money he has spent on the midterms.

Musk, the world’s richest person, has funnelled at least $445.77m into Republican-aligned political action committees (Pacs) and groups since last year, according to US Federal Election Commission data as of 29 October. The contributions have made him the Republicans’ most prominent financial backer and the largest single-cycle political donor in modern US history.

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© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

‘Compliance managers’ to have discussions with authority’s wealthiest customers in attempt to raise tax revenues

• Business live – latest updates

The UK’s tax authority is assigning dedicated “customer compliance managers” to more than 200 billionaires as part of a crackdown meant to raise £500m for the public purse.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said it had for the first time compiled a list of billionaires who are required to pay tax in the UK, regardless of whether they formally live in the country, to tackle a “wealthy tax gap” caused by those who do not pay what they ought.

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© Photograph: Rosemary Roberts/Alamy

© Photograph: Rosemary Roberts/Alamy

© Photograph: Rosemary Roberts/Alamy

Lawyers for the Southern Poverty Law Center say that federal prosecutors capitalized on the informant’s money problems and exposure to indictment to persuade him to assist the government.

© Jada Yuan/The New York Times

Oxfam says investing by rich in disaster recovery widens inequality and gives incentive to delay climate action

The world’s wealthiest people are not just profiting from the polluting causes of climate breakdown, they are also increasingly cashing in on the catastrophic consequences, according to a study by Oxfam.

The global equality organisation has found that the richest 0.1% of the world’s population are heavily invested in disaster preparedness, recovery and reconstruction – a market that is projected to grow from $70bn to $92bn a year by 2029.

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© Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

© Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

© Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

Chief executive agrees to remain in California for eight years even if state brings in one-off 5% wealth tax

Meta has struck a deal with Mark Zuckerberg to help him foot a possible California wealth tax targeting billionaires.

The social media company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp revealed on Wednesday night that the arrangement would keep its chief executive living in California, where Meta’s headquarters are located.

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© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

These yachts are highly popular with the ‘super-bourgeoisie’ – and getting bigger. Can anything be done to stop them destroying our seas?

Who knew? Apparently everyone did, apart from me: you don’t wear shoes on a superyacht. Now, about to step on to my first teak deck at the Monaco Yacht Show, I’ve got to take my trainers off, and I’m having a sock panic. Have they got holes? Do they even match? Do they smell?

To be honest, I’ve come dressed all wrong for Europe’s big annual superyacht trade exhibition. The code for men seems to be crisp and tucked in, blazers and chinos, navy and white, sculpted hair and designer sunnies. (I went colourful, loose, casual). For women, it’s something like Riviera elegance. Everyone – whether they’re Italian, French, English, German, American, exhibitors, buyers, brokers, charterers – seems to know each other. The international superyacht community seems to be a close-knit one, and I’m not part of it. Yet.

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© Photograph: Sam Wollaston/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sam Wollaston/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sam Wollaston/The Guardian

Regents Park, London
This year’s art fair is a jumble sale of mediocre paintings for the super-rich, while its Masters sibling hawks dinosaur skulls and sleazy 19th-century nudes. Welcome to the art market as its most grotesque

Naked people climb out of the earth and run around waving their arms and screaming, while someone with a bird’s head and wings plays the bagpipes. It’s my favourite artwork at this year’s Frieze but don’t go looking for this wildly imaginative outrage among the heaps of contemporary art at Frieze London. It’s a painting by a 16th-century follower of Hieronymus Bosch and is on view at Frieze Masters, the posher tent on the other side of Regent’s Park.

I’m sorry to say I was bored rigid in Frieze London. Many people attend, I imagine, hoping to be informed and excited by the newest, coolest art, but you’ll see more genuinely avant garde wonders in the Bake Off tent. There are endless paintings, none of which are much good, interspersed with photographs which tend to be a little better. The first thing here that held me at all was a two-metre-tall, inkjet print by Wolfgang Tillmans called Paul, nude, golf ball in which the naked Paul has his elbows on the floor and his close-cropped head bowed between them in apparent despair, while the white ball beside him eerily mirrors the pale flesh of his bony back. But it’s not new – it dates from 1994.

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© Photograph: Linda Nylind/Linda Nylind. Courtesy Frieze

© Photograph: Linda Nylind/Linda Nylind. Courtesy Frieze

© Photograph: Linda Nylind/Linda Nylind. Courtesy Frieze

Nach dem geplatzten Investorendeal treffen FIFA-Präsident Infantino und die Vertreter der UEFA erstmals wieder aufeinander. ZDF-Reporter Christoph Schneider berichtet aus Zürich.

Musk’s midterm donations, mostly for rightwing candidates and causes, surpass his contributions to Trump in 2024

• Send us your questions on how the US economy is shaping the midterm elections

Elon Musk has become the biggest political donor of the 2026 US midterm elections cycle, funneling about $366m into political groups and campaigns as he backs conservative candidates and rightwing causes. The world’s richest person has poured more than $276m into politics since July alone, some of the most rapid political spending in US history. He’s targeting key races that will determine which party controls the US Senate.

The New York Times first reported the spending numbers, which will be released in a federal filing on Thursday. Musk’s spending outpaces his 2024 presidential election contributions, in which he sunk nearly $300m into Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.

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© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Koos Bekker’s Newt estate encompasses luxury hotels, pubs and high street business, with local concerns including flooding

When South African billionaire Koos Bekker bought an old country estate in a sleepy corner of Somerset to turn it into a luxury hotel, residents thought it was a sign their area was on the up.

Walking through his peaceful manicured gardens, which feature a maze of apple trees twisted into perfect shapes using the espalier method, it’s easy to feel that all is well in this quiet, picturesque pocket of England.

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© Photograph: Commission Air/Alamy

© Photograph: Commission Air/Alamy

© Photograph: Commission Air/Alamy

TaxWatch contradicts claims about David Reuben’s departure and questions stories of super-rich exodus

• Apparent exodus of super-rich suggests UK is no longer billionaires’ playground

When the Sunday Times broke the news that David Reuben, one of the richest men in the UK, had apparently fled to the tax haven of Monaco, there was much pearl clutching. Reuben had moved from his Holland Park house in London to live full-time in the principality.

Labour’s tax regime was blamed and there were said to be fears there would be a cascading effect across the economy, with wealth draining from the UK. It was reported that he had probably left because of potential taxes on wealth in the upcoming budget.

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© Photograph: David M Benett/Getty Images

© Photograph: David M Benett/Getty Images

© Photograph: David M Benett/Getty Images

If recent complaints are believed, London and the UK are no longer welcoming for ultra-high net worth individuals

London was once globally renowned as the “billionaires’ playground”, where the world’s super-rich could relax in the Georgian townhouses of Mayfair undisturbed by the grasping hand of the state.

But if recent complaints by fleeing ultra-high net worth individuals are to be believed, the city is no longer as welcoming for those who consider themselves to be Britain’s most-persecuted minority.

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© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The founder of SpaceX, with billions of dollars in military contracts, joins several other defense industry executives on a Pentagon advisory board.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

For decades, the capital’s house prices raced ahead of the national average – but now they are falling in prime areas

An elegant Georgian facade, a full-width balcony and an exclusive address in South Kensington just steps from the Natural History Museum and the V&A. Yet the listing price of this west London flat at Queen’s Gate Gardens has dropped by nearly £1m since last year, to £4.4m.

It is far from an isolated case. A nearby house originally listed at £20m was slashed to £14m this year, says a local estate agent. In neighbouring Notting Hill, a stucco-fronted property that came to market two years ago at £16m is now being offered for less than £14m, they said.

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© Photograph: Diego Garcia/Getty Images

© Photograph: Diego Garcia/Getty Images

© Photograph: Diego Garcia/Getty Images

The 1938 mansion, Casa Encantada, once belonged to Conrad Hilton and was sold at foreclosure auction

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has been revealed as the new owner of a storied Bel-Air estate that quietly sold in July for a staggering $130m.

The 1938 mansion, Casa Encantada, was sold at an open-air foreclosure auction in Pomona, with the name of the buyer kept under wraps for months. The winning bid is now revealed to have come from a limited liability company linked to the venture capitalist and PayPal and Palantir co-founder, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the buyer’s identity.

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© Photograph: Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Analysis has shown the costs of daily essentials soaring in recent years, thanks in part to climate shocks, wars and geopolitical tensions

François Perrodo is what is known in motorsport as a gentleman driver. In June, he raced at Le Mans, earning a podium place. At the end of August he was back behind the wheel at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. This time he won.

Gentleman drivers are wealthy individuals who fund their own participation. The FIA governing body caps costs to keep racing accessible to such enthusiasts. But for self-confessed petrolhead Perrodo, it is well within his means.

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© Photograph: Paulo Maria/DPPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Paulo Maria/DPPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Paulo Maria/DPPI/Shutterstock

While global billionaires and multinational companies have been lured to its shores, many islanders feel left behind and priced out, with food bank use increasing

On a late Friday afternoon on the Channel Island of Jersey, tourists and locals are flocking to St Helier’s waterfront where the town’s sprawling beach has emerged at low tide.

In one direction, they face the calm waters of St Aubin’s Bay, ringed by a seaside promenade and punctuated with a tidal island hosting the 16th century Elizabeth Castle.

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© Photograph: imagegallery2/Alamy

© Photograph: imagegallery2/Alamy

© Photograph: imagegallery2/Alamy

Coming midterm elections are starting to be framed not as right versus left but instead the ‘well-fed versus the fed-up’

Brian Leeland, a 79-year-old Democratic voter in Detroit, had enough. Frustrated by the way the US media covers this febrile political era, from Donald Trump’s Washington to political campaigns across the country, he contacted the Guardian.

“Your decision to frame the race here as a simple progressive versus establishment choice is overly simplistic verging on lazy,” he wrote to this reporter, after our coverage of progressive Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign in the Democratic US Senate primary in Michigan. “As an electorate, we are not binary for the convenience of the media.”

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© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

Number of private jets has surged in recent years, but they do not pay commensurate portion of fees to FAA operations

A new report has put a spotlight on the rapid expansion of private jet travel in the US, revealing that owners are not paying their fair share of aviation tax despite the average owner’s wealth being $190m and private jets being up to 14 times more polluting than commercial flights.

The Institute for Policy Studies’ new report, High Flyers 2026, examines the growing use of private aircraft, the public infrastructure supporting them and the tax policies benefiting private jet owners.

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© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images