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Briefings are running a touch slower this week while we rebuild the foundations.See roadmap

Roadmap / What's new

What's new

Every change to Lowdown, newest first.

Updated 11 May 2026

April 2026

  • Roadmap and announcements

    25 April 2026

    A public roadmap shows what's coming next, and a dismissable bar highlights the latest news from Lowdown.

  • Briefings that expand as you read

    25 April 2026

    Each event leads with a crisp 40-80 word summary; the full analysis is there when you want it, hidden when you don't.

  • Faster page loads

    24 April 2026

    Briefings, topic pages and entity pages now feel instant on return visits — they used to wait for the server.

  • Each event covered once, not five times

    18 April 2026

    On developing topics, the same event used to appear in every briefing. Now it gets written up once and back-linked.

  • Full timeline for every person and organisation

    12 April 2026

    Entity pages now show a dedicated timeline of what each actor did, with a link to a full history.

  • Better illustrations on more entity types

    11 April 2026

    Sketches for products, military units, infrastructure, events, and technologies — not just people and places.

  • Editorial standards

    2 April 2026

    A public standards page sets out Lowdown's editorial code, including commitments during election periods.

March 2026

  • Map and timeline play together

    20 March 2026

    Scrolling through events on a topic page moves the map to match, and the play button steps through events in order.

  • "What to watch" section on every briefing

    20 March 2026

    A curated list of emerging patterns and things to look out for, drawn from across all events in the briefing.

  • Richer analysis panels on every event

    20 March 2026

    Events now show expert insight, economic analysis, historical context, key takeaways, and regional impact alongside the main text.

  • Editorial hero images on briefings

    20 March 2026

    Briefings and event pages display a full-width editorial image with smart cropping so the focal point always shows.

  • In-text links connect related events

    20 March 2026

    Inline references to earlier events open as popovers — follow the thread without leaving the page.

  • Source profile on every briefing

    20 March 2026

    See at a glance which countries and political leanings a story's sources come from, with a bias bar and editorial summary.

  • Day count in conflict briefing titles

    17 March 2026

    Conflict topics show the day number in the title so you always know exactly how long a situation has been running.

  • Homepage ticker shows actual events

    17 March 2026

    The homepage ticker now links directly to individual events with the correct date, not the briefing publication time.

  • Copy any briefing as Markdown or Slack text

    17 March 2026

    Every briefing and event page has a copy-as-Markdown and copy-for-Slack view so you can paste straight into your tools.

  • Inline source citations in briefings

    16 March 2026

    Contested claims and single-source facts now carry numbered footnote links so you can check the original source.

  • "Recent mentions" on entity pages

    14 March 2026

    Each entity page lists recent events where that person or organisation appears, with links through to the event.

  • Rich link previews when sharing

    12 March 2026

    Sharing a Lowdown link on social media or messaging apps now shows a proper headline, description, and image card.

  • Terms, privacy, and complaints pages

    10 March 2026

    Lowdown now has a full set of legal pages including terms of service, privacy policy, cookies, and a formal complaints process.

  • Live updates without refreshing

    10 March 2026

    Topic pages now automatically show new briefings the moment they are published, with no page refresh needed.

  • RSS and Atom feeds for every topic

    10 March 2026

    Follow any Lowdown topic in your RSS reader; machine-readable JSON and plain-text feeds are available too.

  • Country flags on sources

    9 March 2026

    Each source in a briefing's source list now shows the outlet's country flag so you can spot the geographic mix at a glance.