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Politics
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Is Andy Burnham seriously about to tour Britain like some medieval monarch? | Zoe Williams
The ‘King of the North’ is on the march – or rather, on a bus. But maybe he’d be better off staying at home and thinking than heading out to press the flesh Andy Burnham is going on a “listening tour”, travelling the country on a bus to find out what real people are concerned about. I’ve heard commentators rationalise the idea in various ways: apparently it underscores the difference between him and his predecessor, who only ever relaxed when he was out of the country; what else is Burnham going to do in recess, with his cabinet already chosen – organise his Post-it notes?; he’s been out of politics a long time, and many people will be only dimly aware of who he is; his speeches to date have had a very urban focus, and particularly with farming being this season’s crisis sector, he needs to broaden his sphere of interest to take in rural areas. Truly, the prime ministerial honeymoon period is like a one-year-old’s birthday party – all you have to do is stand up and smile, for everyone to clap. None of the rationalisations are in any way true: an in-person focus group, where you journey to discover a range of concerns you could figure out for yourself with one report from the Institute for Public Policy Research and half a brain, is exactly the kind of thing Starmer would have done, if he’d thought of it. There’s quite a bit to be getting on with, between now and September, since autumn’s looming crises – food shortages, energy price hikes due to the ongoing war in Iran – are plain, and there’s no better time to plan than when you don’t have the leader of the opposition yanking your chain. Burnham actually has tremendous household-level recognition, thanks to a combination of hinterland and eyelashes, as evidenced by the fact that even when contesting Makerfield he got mobbed every time he got out of a car. Now, the conditions devastating farmers , being the direct result of climate crisis, would be better addressed by a long-range strategy on the transition to renewables, not a chinwag. Continue reading...
People flocking to Spain to view solar eclipse could spark more ‘devastating’ wildfires
Northern Spain will be one of the best places in world to view phenomenon with 460,000 extra visitors expected Authorities in Spain have warned of an increased risk of fires when hundreds of thousands of people head to the hills and beaches to get a better view of Wednesday’s total solar eclipse . “The vegetation is extraordinarily dry and the smallest spark or carelessness could lead to devastating forest fires,” the environment minister, Sara Aagesen, said on a visit to Niebla in the south of the country, the site of Spain’s latest fire. Continue reading...
What could Andy Burnham do to block early release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers?
Outcry against policy is seen as PM’s first big test since taking over at No 10, but his options are limited PM urged not to change scheme to stop PC Andrew Harper killers’ early release Andy Burnham is said to be exploring “every option” to block the early release from prison of the killers of PC Andrew Harper under plans to alleviate the prison overcrowding crisis, amid public concern that they could be back on the streets next year. As he faces what is being seen as his first big test since becoming prime minister, what are his options? Continue reading...
PM urged not to change scheme to stop PC Andrew Harper killers’ early release
Manslaughter exemption would mean more releases would be needed within 18 months, Prison Service officials say Andy Burnham has been warned that changing the terms of the prisoners’ early release scheme so PC Andrew Harper’s killers are kept behind bars would force another spate of early releases before the next general election. Prison Service officials have told No 10 that adding an exemption so that those convicted of manslaughter, such as Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, remain in jail would mean further early releases would be needed within 18 months. Continue reading...
John Lewis managing director Peter Ruis quits job after less than three years
Surprise departure comes after department store chain’s chair warned of ‘really tough trading conditions’ Business live – latest updates The managing director of John Lewis has quit the job after less than three years in charge of the British department store chain, as the company faces “really tough” trading conditions. Peter Ruis will leave the business in order to “pursue new projects”, John Lewis said in a statement on Monday. Continue reading...
Francesca Hong, the progressive leading a ‘messy’ race for Wisconsin’s governor: ‘They’re tired of the status quo’
Hong, whose grassroots campaign has made her a frontrunner, aims for primary win after public skepticism from top Democrats and a last-minute shake-up As Francesca Hong surged ahead in the final weeks of the chaotic Democratic primary to be Wisconsin ’s next governor, the democratic socialist has become the internet’s main character. Donald Trump has mocked her old tweets, while major figures in her own party publicly questioned her ability to win a general election. The man she is vying to succeed even launched a late blitz in support of one of her rivals. Continue reading...
Louisiana warns beachgoers amid surge in flesh-eating bacteria infections
State confirms nine cases, including five deaths, from Vibrio vulnificus organism, which thrives in seawater Health officials in Louisiana are urging beachgoers to take precautions during a summertime surge in infections from a flesh-eating bacteria found in coastal waters. Louisiana has confirmed nine cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections this year, the state’s health department said last week in a news release. All were hospitalized, and five died. During the same period over the previous decade, Louisiana reported an average of seven cases and one death. Continue reading...
Crew of Zuckerberg yacht did not hear radio call to assist boat, Meta says
Small skiff ran out of fuel off Alaska and was helped by cruise ship even though Meta CEO’s vessel was closer Zuckerberg faces questions over why superyacht reportedly declined to help stranded boat The crew of a yacht owned by Mark Zuckerberg did not hear a radio call for a maritime assist from a small skiff that ran out of fuel off the coast of Alaska, and by the time it did, another nearby ship had already rendered assistance, a spokesperson for the Meta CEO said. The Alaska Beacon news outlet reported that the skiff had issued a call for assistance through the US Coast Guard last week and a nearby small cruise ship, the Wilderness Legacy, towed it into nearby Farragut Bay in south-east Alaska and refueled it. Continue reading...
An ambitious new project in Florida is giving marine scientists hope: ‘I just see so much potential’
Conservationists have created a ‘coastal corridor’ of ocean-based projects designed to preserve and nourish vulnerable marine life From disappearing manatees to bleached coral reefs , gender-changing turtles and oyster beds destroyed by hurricanes , no other state’s marine life faces the magnitude of climate-related challenges than Florida’s. Now, wildlife authorities are attempting to bring some cohesion to tackling the diverse slate of issues by borrowing from a playbook that has already proved successful on land. Continue reading...
What happens when medical students rely on AI – and never develop their own judgment? | Simar Bajaj and Joseph Sakran
AI’s danger isn’t just in experts losing the ability to reason. It’s that trainees may never learn how to do so in the first place In healthcare, there’s growing concern over doctors becoming less clinically adept as they increasingly rely on AI tools. But what about the trainees – medical students, residents and fellows – who are using these tools before they’ve built their own clinical judgment? The idea of deskilling implies that someone possessed an ability and then lost it. Here, the danger is not just deskilling but never-skilling. Although a doctor who has forgotten how to reason is recoverable, one who never learned how may not be. OpenEvidence, essentially an AI chatbot for clinicians, has given this concern its most concrete form. About two-thirds of US doctors actively use OpenEvidence, asking about puzzling symptoms, drug interactions, and clinical guidelines, getting responses within seconds, anchored in the latest research. Trainees, unsurprisingly, have also begun to use this AI tool in many of the same ways – but at a far more formative stage. Continue reading...
Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse
Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed? When Keyana Sapp, 31, went shopping for a new backpack, the brands he remembered as a kid were just not the same. He researched the companies, from North Face to JanSport and Eastpak, and soon realized they were all owned by the VF Corporation after a wave of acquisitions in the 2000s. After a Reddit post he made about his discovery picked up traction, he started looking at other types of consumer goods – cookware, shoes, tools, clothing. Continue reading...
Octopus Energy: use less electricity during solar eclipse
Firm urges customers to avoid running washing machines and dishwashers between 6pm and 8pm on Wednesday Where in the UK will get the best view of the solar eclipse? Business live – latest updates Great Britain’s biggest household energy supplier is calling on its customers to use less electricity this week during the deepest solar eclipse in almost 30 years. Octopus Energy has urged customers to avoid running washing machines and dishwashers between 6pm and 8pm this Wednesday as the moon is expected to block up to 95% of the sun over parts of Britain. Continue reading...
Police officer gets chance to drive £3.7m Ferrari seized in Met crackdown
Ninety vehicles confiscated in weekend operation including rare Ferrari Monza SP2, driven by someone without insurance or full licence A police officer got the opportunity to drive an open-top limited edition Ferrari in Mayfair, London, after the car was seized as part of a record-breaking crackdown on uninsured vehicles and dangerous driving. The Dubai-registered supercar, worth £3.7m, had been in the UK for just a day when it was confiscated by the police because it was being driven by someone with a provisional licence and no insurance. Continue reading...
Mexico seal place at 2028 Olympics after controversial VAR red card in U-20 win over US
El Tri seal Concacaf Under-20 championship at Azteca Chris Applewhite sent off after video review Cristóbal Alfaro scored twice as Mexico retained their Concacaf Under-20 title with a 2-0 victory over the United States in the final at the Azteca on Sunday. The victory booked Mexico’s place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics – the US have already qualified as hosts – but the match was overshadowed by a controversial red card. The US were reduced to 10 men just before half-time when Chris Applewhite received a red card after a VAR review for a challenge on Hugo Camberos, during which the US captain appeared to make minimal contact with his opponent. Continue reading...
Treasury ‘materially contributed’ to suicide of personal assistant, coroner finds
Chloe Moffat, 26, killed herself after disciplinary proceedings which coroner found be to be flawed The Treasury “materially contributed” to the death of Chloe Moffat, a 26-year-old personal assistant who took her own life after facing disciplinary proceedings, a coroner has found. Anna Crawford also found there was a risk of future deaths within the civil service from flawed handling of disciplinary proceedings. She said she would send a prevention of future deaths report to the head of the civil service, the Treasury, and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas). Continue reading...
‘Unprecedented, dangerous territory’: US north-west reckons with a summer of historic wildfires
Extreme conditions in Washington and Oregon have fueled fast-moving fires, leaving the region draped in toxic plumes – and the danger isn’t over Piles of twisted metal and ashen debris line the cul-de-sacs where the tranquil suburbs of Spokane, Washington , once stood. The scale of devastation from a historic fire season of wildfire in the Pacific north-west has come into sharper focus as firefighters wrangle a trio of blazes that consumed at least 846 structures on the eastern side of the state. Continue reading...
Candidate deadline nears for Ohio Republicans over Max Miller domestic abuse allegations – US politics live
Monday is last day Miller can resign and give his party time to find a replacement candidate Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. Today is the last day that Max Miller, the beleaguered US Republican representative from Ohio, can resign and give his party time to find a replacement candidate. Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Will Scharf, the staff secretary who helped secure approval for the $400m White House ballroom project, will become White House counsel and assistant to the president. Effective 1 September, Scharf will replace David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the private sector. Warrington formerly served as a personal counsel and a lawyer for Trump’s 2024 campaign. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she is going to freeze her eggs and will be sharing the process online. The progressive New York congresswoman, 36, revealed her decision to undergo fertility treatment in a series of Instagram stories this weekend. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, embraced Donald Trump’s suggestion that the two represent “VERY DIFFERENT” versions of the US, pledging to fight inequality while the president is “making billions of dollars off of you”. In a Saturday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself and the first lady, Melania Trump, beside a photo of El-Sayed, who is Muslim, and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, wearing a hijab. “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s [sic],” read the caption. Some of Taylor Swift ’s songs have been removed from videos posted on social media by Donald Trump ’s campaign and the White House, silencing efforts to mock the pop star. A video posted 3 August featuring the US president and the first lady, Melania Trump, watching fireworks was posted this month on TikTok with Swift’s song August. Continue reading...
Record 230 people cross Channel to UK as smugglers turn to ‘mega-dinghies’
Crossing in larger vessel highlights changing tactics despite increased enforcement on French coast UK politics live – latest updates Europe live – latest updates A dinghy carrying a record 230 people has arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the early hours of Monday. It is the clearest indication yet that people smugglers in northern France are adapting their business model and escalating their so-called taxi boat strategy to evade enforcement by UK and French authorities. Continue reading...
Roman shipwreck with 500 amphorae found off coast of Sicily
Discovery of 2,100-year-old vessel hailed as ‘one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years’ A 2,100-year-old Roman shipwreck carrying about 500 amphorae has been discovered 3 miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo in Sicily. Italy’s cultural heritage police, the Carabinieri, investigated the wreck with the help of divers and underwater cameras after receiving a tip-off from fishermen. The vessel was found at a depth of about 46 metres (151ft) and was carrying hundreds of amphorae – ancient two-handled ceramic jars with a narrow neck – thought to have been used mainly to transport wine. Continue reading...
Millions in Great Britain can now face emergency power cuts at short notice
Grid operator Neso can now respond with rolling blackouts as last resort without need for government powers Business live – latest updates Millions of households could face power cuts at short notice under new rules to help the electricity system operator avoid widespread blackouts when energy supplies run low. The changes, which come into effect this week, will make it easier for the national electricity system operator to call for rotating blackouts at short notice if power supplies are running short. Continue reading...
Netanyahu rejects US-backed 15-point Gaza peace plan | First Thing
Israeli PM is insisting on a full Hamas disarmament before the deal can be implemented. Plus, what it feels like to get locked into an opera performance that lasts nearly 24 hours Good morning. Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a US-backed 15-point peace plan for Gaza in a rare public break with Donald Trump. In a statement, Israel’s prime minister said he was confronting a “wave of rumours about Israeli weakness and Israeli withdrawals on all fronts” and rebuked US pressure to end wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran without Israel’s buy-in. What other developments have happened in the region? Iran has issued tough new demands for reopening the strait of Hormuz , while the United Arab Emirates said one of its ships was targeted by an Iranian missile over the weekend. Tehran said the strait of Hormuz would not open until the US “corrects its behaviour”. Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthis have claimed responsibility for an attack on a refinery in Saudi Arabia on Sunday morning. What impact is the conflict having on seafarers in Hormuz? The US-Iran war has stranded up to 20,000 seafarers , mostly Indian and Filipino crews, with none knowing when the nightmare will end. Seventeen seafarers have died since hostilities began, the majority following Iranian strikes. What sort of exercises did they take part in? Justin Vail, who leads the DC office of the non-partisan advocacy group Protect Democracy, said: “These tabletop exercises are a standard planning tool for experts and stakeholders to prepare for potential scenarios. We’re not predicting exactly what would happen. But we do want to create a realistic context that can help us identify gaps, test our assumptions, and strengthen coordination, and then ultimately develop some recommendations to increase our preparedness.” How has Trump been working to undermine confidence in US elections? Voting rights advocates pointed toward Trump’s July primetime address as indicative of the president’s intentions – rhetorical attacks on the integrity of voting machines and elections offices, potentially escalating into more direct interference. Trump threatened the broadcast licenses of networks that refused to carry that address live, and in his speech, he again implored Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would ban mail-in ballots nationwide and impose new identification requirements on voters when they register and report to polls. Continue reading...
Mother of Briton fatally shot by father in Texas urges Miliband to press US for new inquiry
Jane Coates says foreign secretary should draw attention to coroner’s finding that Lucy Harrison was unlawfully killed The UK foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, is being urged to push US authorities to reopen an investigation into a man who shot dead his 23-year-old British daughter while she was visiting him in Texas. Lucy Harrison, from Warrington in Cheshire, was fatally shot on 10 January 2025, the day before she was due to fly home to the UK. Continue reading...
Uefa, Concacaf and AFC push for Infantino to quit and discuss rival competitions
Confederations write open letter damning Fifa president Concacaf president Montagliani seen as top contender Uefa, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf will push for Gianni Infantino to resign after writing an open letter calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”. In a dramatic escalation of the war that has threatened to tear football apart since details emerged of the Fifa president’s failed Football Forward Enterprise scheme, the three governing bodies accused Infantino of “trust broken through deception” and condemned his failure to acknowledge that the proposal should not have been unilaterally launched. Continue reading...
‘Shoved the tube so hard it tore my nose’: Kurdish film-maker recounts ‘inhumane’ ICE force-feeding
Gabar Choli tells of how, for months, he was shackled, pinned and forcibly fed – and the physical and emotional scars the ordeal has left In June 2025, a sluggish and thin Gabar Choli, with sunken temples and bones visible under his skin, braced himself for the immigration detention center guards to charge into his cell once again. Choli was in a solitary confinement medical cell inside the Port Isabel service processing center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) detention facility in south Texas where immigrants arrested in Donald Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown are detained. Continue reading...