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Politics
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What chaos? Farage tries to distract with immigration plans – podcast
Nigel Farage has promised that Reform UK would call in the navy to tackle small boat Channel crossings. Will this familiar-sounding immigration policy distract from the party’s internal problems? Plus – as we learn more about Andy Burnham’s plans for devolution, is this the biggest rewiring of the UK state since the second world war? Read about Richard Tice being investigated by parliament’s standards watchdog here You can read Alexandra’s report on Andy Burnham’s trip to Dover here and about constitutional reform here Please keep sending your comments and questions to politicsweeklyuk@theguardian.com You can watch Politics Weekly on our YouTube channel here Continue reading...
July was driest month in southern England since records began
England and Wales provisionally record driest July in nearly 200 years, Met Office says July 2026 was the driest month in southern England since records began nearly 200 years ago, the Met Office has said. England and Wales also provisionally recorded their driest July since records began in 1836. Wales had its joint warmest July on record for mean temperature, and England recorded its second warmest July. Continue reading...
Trump administration sued for blocking insurance coverage of gender-affirming healthcare
Coverage for gender-affirming care is no longer covered by federal plans, and workers must pay out of pocket US federal employees and their families are joining a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration for blocking insurance coverage of gender-affirming healthcare. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) and the DC-based law firm Correia & Puth filed the lawsuit on Monday morning against the federal office of personnel management (OPM), arguing that the prohibition violates Title VII, which protects against sex discrimination. Continue reading...
Vampire-obsessed man detained after dumping animal corpses outside churches in New Forest
Benjamin Lewis, who believed drinking blood would prolong life, will be kept in hospital for treatment A man fascinated with vampires and graveyards who apparently believed he would live for ever if he drank blood has been detained in hospital after being caught dumping animal corpses outside churches in a British forest. Benjamin Lewis, 48, left the bodies of sheep and deer on the doorsteps of churches in the New Forest in Hampshire, frightening parishioners and upsetting farmers whose livestock he stole and slaughtered. Continue reading...
John Oliver on police surveillance: ‘Big Brother on steroids’
The host tore into ‘wildly invasive’ cameras, microphones and license plate readers that police use to track Americans John Oliver discussed the tools that police are using to keep track of Americans on the latest episode of Last Week Tonight. In recent years, the use of surveillance technology has exploded among local police forces due to decreasing prices and federal funding, with one local mayor comparing modern systems to “Big Brother on steroids”. Continue reading...
Wildfires hit eastern Washington state during 'extraordinary season' – video
More than 60,000 people have been evacuated and at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures destroyed, authorities said. The Spokane Area fire, which contains three separate blazes, has not yet been contained Continue reading...
Paris prosecutor investigates alleged bullying in government departments after suicide attempt
Internal inquiries also opened after two suicides and two attempted suicides of staff in departments connected to PM’s office The Paris state prosecutor has opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged workplace bullying after the attempted suicide of a staff member in a department connected to the French prime minister’s office, France Inter radio has revealed. The public radio station reported on Monday that two government workers in different departments had ended their lives in the past year, and two others had attempted suicide. The radio station said complaints of alleged workplace bullying had been made. Continue reading...
Kmart sells out of low-cost rival to Meta camera glasses across Australia amid warnings of ‘privacy nightmare’
Expert says people face being filmed without their consent as $89 Anko smartglasses sell out in stores and online Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Kmart has sold out of Anko-branded $89 camera glasses across Australia, which a digital rights expert says presents a “privacy nightmare” as people face being filmed without their consent. As of Monday, the clear-lens, black-rimmed glasses, which can capture images and record high-definition videos, were sold out at Kmart stores across Australia and online. Continue reading...
Most Sydney road tolls to keep rising after Transurban accused of blocking reforms
Handful of tollroads to get one-off price cuts but WestConnex toll to keep rising at least 4% a year Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The cost of using Sydney’s biggest toll road will continue to rise at least 4% a year after the multinational private operator was accused of blocking the state government’s push for sweeping reforms. Only a handful of Sydney’s motorways will receive one-off toll cuts under a deal announced by the state Labor government on Monday, as the tolling bill footed by taxpayers surpasses $1bn. Continue reading...
Alan Jones argues ‘rivalry’ and ‘treachery’ but after decades wielding the sword of public opinion, he’s the one on trial
His legal strategy was apparent from the very first. Jones will, it was explicitly stated, seek to undermine the ‘credibility and reliability’ of his accusers Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Alan Jones has enjoyed decades as the centre of attention, as the wielder of power. The booming voice, the vast radio audience, the bully pulpit of an eponymous TV show, the great and the good on speed-dial, a staffer in the prime ministerial office dubbed the “minister for Alan Jones”: these were not ancillaries peripheral to the Jones empire, they were central to it. Continue reading...
Sunday Times and Sun columnist Rod Liddle dies aged 66
Tributes paid across industry to provocative journalist who died after short illness The writer and broadcaster Rod Liddle, a prominent columnist for the Sunday Times and the Sun, has died after a short illness. Liddle, whose provocative style attracted both praise and criticism, also wrote for the Spectator magazine and earlier in his career edited BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He was 66. Continue reading...
Romania blasts rock to divert water from drought-hit Danube to nuclear reactor
Hungary and Romania face energy crisis as record-low river levels force atomic power plants to reduce output Europe live – latest updates Romanian naval forces carried out a controlled explosion to help redirect vital cooling water from the drought-hit Danube to the country’s last working nuclear reactor, as neighbouring Hungary said it may be able to eke out two more days of power from its only atomic plant. Hungary and Romania have been forced to shut down nuclear reactors cooled by the Danube for the first time, as record-low water levels deepen fears of an energy crisis across the region. Romania has declared a nationwide state of emergency throughout August stemming from a decline in electricity production after record low Danube river levels led to the shutdown at the Cernavodǎ nuclear plant. Continue reading...
Does Andy Burnham really hate London? He wouldn’t be the only one | Zoe Williams
Both left and right have it in for Britain’s capital. But is London a stabby wasteland, a den of faceless bureaucrats, or just a mess of overprivileged wokerati? ‘I’ve seen no evidence of Andy being anti-London,” the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, told the Evening Standard last week, which is quaint and adorable: evidence is so 2009. This is all about feels. Some feel that the prime minister disfavours the capital because he frequently mentions that neoliberalism hasn’t delivered a fair deal for the north of England; tacitly, then, someone’s deal has been unfair in the other direction, and that would be the south, which must be London. Where else would Burnham mean – Hastings? The institution of No 10 North gestures audibly towards there being some problem with the OG Downing Street, and the use of the words “Whitehall” and “Westminster” as anything but geographical denominations – connoting “faceless” or “out of touch” or “rigid” or “having contempt for the ordinary person” – gives strong anti-London vibes, since Whitehall and Westminster are, indisputably, in London. You could group all that as leftwing shorthand. For those moments when you want to describe a shallow, mammon-worshipping society, lurching blindly from one shiny, meaningless prize to the next, empty of proper feeling for others or for nature, “London” pretty well covers it. Continue reading...
Man who returned fire at In-N-Out gunman had done firearm training after 2021 mass shooting
Police credited Jordan Salinas with limiting number of victims in attack on restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho A healthcare worker returning fire on a 24-year-old gunman who killed three people and wounded several others an In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, has said his impulse to confront the attacker was “automatic” and “mechanical”. That description from 35-year-old Jordan Salinas came in an interview with the Idaho Statesman that was published on Sunday, providing a detailed account of actions that police credited with limiting the number of victims in the attack a day earlier. Continue reading...
Ceuta leader accuses Morocco over ‘atrocity’ of mass border crossing
Juan Jesús Vivas says influx seen as ‘at least encouraged or permitted’ by Rabat, as Spain demands EU solidarity Explainer: why is Ceuta a migration flashpoint? A growing chorus of voices have accused Morocco of helping to fuel the crisis in Ceuta, with the leader of the Spanish enclave describing last week’s border crossings as an attack on Spain’s territorial integrity that was seen as being “if not orchestrated, at least encouraged or permitted by Morocco”. Spain’s interior ministry said late last week that 48,300 of the roughly 50,000 people who had turned up in Ceuta, a tiny Spanish territory in north Africa, had been sent back to Morocco. The extraordinary influx had overwhelmed the city of 84,000 and set off a political crisis across the EU as some member states laid blame on Spain. Continue reading...
‘Clacton voters need a serious person’: the independent candidates taking on Nigel Farage – and Count Binface
Attieh Fard and Andy Erlam make their byelection pitch to voters, but Reform UK’s leader is conspicuously absent In the town square in Clacton, in the blazing midday sunshine, some of the candidates for the upcoming byelection made their pitch to a scattering of potential voters, passing Deliveroo drivers and a giant gull. But as the independent candidate Attieh Fard shouted into a megaphone that she would be a voice for Clacton, a passing youth shouted: “Where’s Binface?” Continue reading...
From living roofs to rainwater harvesting: the future of sustainable homes
A new book, Homes for Our Time, by Philip Jodidio, showcases the quiet revolution in green residential architecture Continue reading...
Arizona clergy who learn of child abuse in confessions aren’t required to report it, court rules
State supreme court rules in case of two bishops who were silent about three children abused by Mormon parents Clergy members in Arizona who learn of child abuse in the context of religious confession are not required to report it, the state’s supreme court has said in a ruling that protects what church leaders call the “seal of the confessional”. The panel’s ruling ends a long-running case in which three children who were sexually abused by their parents sued the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), also known as the Mormon church, and two bishops who became aware of the crimes but remained silent. In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org . In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood ( Napac ) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International Continue reading...
Single shark bite led to death of woman whose body was found on California beach, autopsy shows
Erica Fox left Lovers Point near Monterey in December alongside group of swimmers but never made it back A single, vicious shark bite was fatal for an ocean swimmer whose body was found on a California beach in December, a new autopsy report confirmed. Erica Fox, 55, drowned after that shark bite broke her pelvis and severed a major artery, according to the findings of the autopsy, which were first reported on by California’s Monterey Herald newspaper. Continue reading...
The right’s exploitation of the Ceuta migrant ‘crisis’ almost guarantees that it will happen again | Ruben Andersson
The EU’s panic and the lack of solidarity emboldens smugglers and the far right – and makes Spain even more vulnerable For the European hard right and the White House, it seemed almost too good to be true: left-liberal Spain punished with a migration crisis of its own making. The histrionics came right on cue. As thousands of mainly Moroccan citizens streamed into the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the tip of north Africa, Spain’s far-right party Vox decried a migrant “invasion”, blaming Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s regularisation and leftist politics. The Trump administration did the same. A senior Israeli diplomat goaded Madrid over its “colonial” territories while Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, called for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen area. Denmark and Finland backed Italy’s move and, b y the weekend, 22 EU leaders had penned a letter pointing an implicit finger at Madrid over its presumed failure to “relentlessly combat illegal migration”. Continue reading...
Farage admits he discussed returning as Reform leader months earlier than previously stated
Admission may undermine Farage’s account of circumstances surrounding £5m gift from crypto billionaire UK politics live – latest updates Nigel Farage has admitted he held talks about the possibility of returning as Reform UK’s leader months before the 2024 general election, potentially undermining his own account of the circumstances in which he received a £5m gift from a crypto billionaire. It was reported at the weekend Farage had struck a deal with the party’s then leader, Richard Tice, and the convicted fraudster George Cottrell to return to frontline politics. Continue reading...
Mauricio Pochettino agrees deal to stay as US coach through World Cup 2030
Pochettino joined US national team in 2024 Coach led US to last 16 at 2026 World Cup US men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino and the US Soccer Federation have agreed to a contract extension that will keep Pochettino attached to the program through 2030, US Soccer announced on Monday. The two sides had been actively engaged in discussions on a contract extension for several months, long before the USMNT’s disappointing, last-16 exit in this summer’s World Cup, with the federation making it clear it desired Pochettino to stay. Conversations picked up in the weeks following the World Cup, with the Guardian reporting last week that the sides had been in the “final stages” of agreeing to a deal. Financial details of the contract extension were not released, but Pochettino is expected to get a raise on top of the $6m per year he earned under his previous deal with the federation – already the largest outlay for a US head coach. Continue reading...
ICE agents descended on a cannabis farm. The lives of an army vet, a farmworker and professor changed forever
Raids on the Glass House Farms in California became a ‘litmus test’ for how much violence agents could inflict during Trump’s deportation campaign On a sunny morning last July, hundreds of heavily armed immigration agents in camouflage stormed a greenhouse complex in Camarillo, an hour north of Los Angeles . They came with face masks, guns, chemical munitions and armored tactical vehicles, blocking access along a road lined by produce fields. What unfolded next would irreversibly transform the lives of many there that day. Continue reading...
Man jailed for keeping dead mother’s body in freezer and pocketing her benefits
Christopher Phillips, who had been his mother Sylvia’s primary carer since 2008, given two years and four months in prison A man has been jailed for keeping his dead mother’s body in a freezer at their shared home for almost three years, during which time he received more than £70,000 of her benefits and other funds. Christopher Phillips, 60, stored the body of Sylvia Phillips, a retired company secretary, in the chest freezer in the living room of their house in the south Wales seaside town of Porthcawl. Continue reading...