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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
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Healey’s profiteering warning on food and fuel sparks retailer anger
Chancellor says the government wants to prevent shoppers being ‘taken for a ride’ at the pump or till The chancellor, John Healey , has said the government is standing by to prevent the public from “being taken for a ride at the pump or the till” as the Iran war continues to hit prices. While he said there had been “no significant evidence of so-called price gouging” during the crisis, he used a weekend column to tell the big retailers that ministers were “watching closely” for any signs of profiteering. Continue reading...
Cleveland police failed to arrest man who later killed two-year-old girl
Paedophile breached non-molestation order before killing and sexually assaulting girlfriend’s daughter Cleveland police failed to arrest a paedophile for breaching a non-molestation order, 18 months before he murdered and sexually assaulted his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter, Teesside crown court has heard. Isabelle Welsh died on 14 September 2025 after what police described as a “campaign of violence” against her. The two-year-old collapsed at her home in Teesside after she suffered weeks of abuse which left her with a body covered in bruises and 21 broken bones. Continue reading...
The Guardian view on global corporate tax: a $500bn prize that states must seize | Editorial
Donald Trump may reject the negotiations, but he cannot veto a global effort to make multinational companies answer to governments Governments are told that public services must shrink because money is tight. Yet a new Tax Justice Network report says that countries could capture an extra $500bn a year without raising corporate tax rates. The answer is to tax multinational profits where real economic activity happens – known as unitary taxation . No new profit is created. Revenue simply shifts from tax havens where profits are “booked” to the countries where workers produce and customers spend. Making that principle a global tax standard depends on UN talks opening in New York on Monday. Modelled on the UN climate regime, a fiscal framework convention would create the governing body and procedures, with protocols providing detailed rules. The UN wants agreement by late 2027. Donald Trump’s US walked out last year and urged others to follow. None did. Continue reading...
Nicola Jennings on Andy Burnham and the cost of living – cartoon
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Britain could face food shortages as drought continues, farmers warn
Wheat is half normal height, while England is seeing earliest ever harvest as farmers battle to salvage what they can of their crops Britain could face shortages of certain foods after parts of England faced a punishing drought, the president of the National Farmers’ Union has warned. Farms across the country faced floods over the winter, making planting extremely difficult, and now they do not have access to water in many parts of England as irrigation is being restricted due to drought. Continue reading...
Solar powers record share of Britain’s electricity mix in July
Farms and rooftop panels contribute 14.4% to the grid – and figures reveal a surge in new installations Solar energy supplied more power to Great Britain’s grid in July than in any previous month as households turned to rooftop panels to cut their energy bills. Solar farms and rooftop panels provided 14.4% of the country’s electricity after some parts of the UK recorded almost twice the average sunshine hours for the time of year. Continue reading...
Burnham to focus on keeping child rapists in prison as release scheme talks enter final day
Review goes down to the wire after ministers speak with victims’ representatives and support services Andy Burnham is focused on preventing the release of child sexual abuse perpetrators as part of the government’s early release scheme, as urgent talks on which serious criminals could be exempted go down to the wire. Government ministers are understood to have 24 hours to assess which criminals can be released early to free up prison space, with every exemption weighed up against the threat of the criminal justice system’s collapse. Continue reading...
National Gallery security staff segregated like ‘second-class citizens’, curator claims
Exclusive: Outsourced guards, largely from ethnic minority backgrounds, barred from staff hub for mainly white employees The National Gallery’s security staff, of whom the vast majority are from ethnic minority backgrounds, are facing shocking segregation, a senior curator has claimed. Its outsourced guards are barred from the building’s high-quality “hub” – bright and airy recreation rooms that are available to the institution’s mainly white employees. Continue reading...
Alan Jones trial on indecent assault and sexual touching charges begins in Sydney
The 85-year-old former broadcaster faces 22 charges from six different complainants in what is expected to be a four-month trial Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The high-profile trial of former broadcaster Alan Jones for indecent assault and sexual touching charges begins on Monday in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court and is expected to run for four months and hear from 76 witnesses. Judge Glenn Walsh will hear from six complainants who were allegedly indecently assaulted by the 85-year-old between 2003 and 2020. Continue reading...
A record number of First Nations people died in NSW prison custody last year. Advocates fear this year will be worse
Exclusive: Karlene Whitton says her son Matthew Roberts took his own life three months into his jail term. ‘I keep picturing it every night’ Warning: This article contains images and names of Indigenous Australians who have died Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast First Nations advocates warn that prisons in New South Wales could exceed the record number of Indigenous deaths in custody set last year , after two men died this month. Matthew Roberts, a 27-year-old Bundjalung, Yaegl and Gamilaroi man and father of two young boys, took his life inside Lithgow correctional centre on 7 July after he was remanded in custody in March. Another First Nations man, 21, died a week later at Clarence correctional centre. Continue reading...
Man arrested after Scottish woman found dead inside suitcase in Athens
Greek police say 26-year-old foreigner is believed to have left Elisabeth-Jane Ross’s body in derelict building A man has been arrested after the death of a Scottish woman whose body was found inside a suitcase in Athens. The 26-year-old man, who Greek police said was a foreigner, was arrested after the death of Elisabeth-Jane Ross. The 38-year-old’s body was discovered inside a suitcase by a homeless man in a derelict building in the Kypseli area of Athens on 18 July. Continue reading...
‘Stench of sleaze’: Farage struck deal over political return months before 2024 election, reports say
Labour chair accuses Reform of making ‘grubby pacts’ after contradictory reports emerge on timeline of events Reform UK is operating under a “stench of sleaze” Labour have said, after reports that Nigel Farage struck a secret deal to return as leader of Reform UK months before the general election. Farage was in discussions about a return to the political frontline from as early as March 2024, despite claiming that he had no intention of returning to politics until June 2024, the Sunday Times reported. Continue reading...
The rich get richer as Dodgers land ace Tarik Skubal in blockbuster trade
Defending champions send prospects to Tigers Cy Young-winning Skubal joins stacked rotation in LA The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired the biggest prize on the trade deadline market, getting two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night. Skubal got the news during the Tigers’ 8-6 win over the Athletics and was emotional after the game as he prepared to leave the team that drafted him in 2018 and developed him into a star to join the two-time defending World Series champions. Continue reading...
House prices slide across Australia as Middle East conflict and tax changes begin to bite
Cotality data shows a drop in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, as nation’s median home price falls about $19,000 below its March peak Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast House prices have fallen in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth as the market downturn spreads across Australia. New Cotality data, released on Monday, showed prices have fallen across most of the nation since May. Continue reading...
‘Tiger mum’ Lucy Powell on Labour’s vocational skills drive: ‘It’s about ambition for everybody’
New education secretary says it is ‘false trade-off’ by critics to suggest schools cannot pursue academic excellence alongside technical skills Lucy Powell has said she wants to be an ambitious “tiger mum” for all young people, whatever their route through education, after the government was accused of dumbing down England’s schools with plans to create more vocational routes. The new education secretary said secondary pupils should be able to pursue academic excellence as well as high-quality vocational training, and it was a “false trade-off” to suggest schools could not provide both. Continue reading...
Western Europe’s wildfire crisis retreats as Greece evacuates hundreds near Athens
High winds prevent firefighting aircraft from collecting seawater as flames spread through Attica Europe’s wildfire crisis fractured along starkly different fronts on Sunday: gale-force winds drove flames deeper into the Athens region and forced fresh evacuations, France guarded a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris against renewed spread, and Spain’s major fires finally stopped advancing. The centre of immediate danger was Greece. Gale-force winds drove flames deeper into western Attica, the administrative region that includes the capital, threatening villages and an industrial district outside the city of Megara as violent wind gusts prevented firefighting aircraft from collecting water from the sea. Continue reading...
Chaos of border crossing gives way to limbo for Moroccans on Ceuta’s streets
People among the more than 50,000 who entered Spanish enclave this week describe the journey and their prospects Four days ago, Youssef El Abbas saw an opportunity to reclaim the life he had lost years seven earlier. News was circulating that about 400 people had swum from Morocco to the neighbouring Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the north African coast, approximately 12 miles (19km) across the strait of Gibraltar from mainland Spain. Here was a chance for the 44-year-old Moroccan father of four to return to Spain, from which he had been deported when his residency expired after the loss of his job in Bilbao in 2019. Continue reading...
‘There’s no nurdle fairy’: thousands mobilise to clean up plastic spillage in north-east England
Volunteers painstakingly gather plastic pellets washing up on beaches after ship collision on 19 July “You’ve got a local community that really cares about the coastline,” said Alice Laverty, reflecting on the huge army of volunteers who had taken to crisis-hit beaches in north-east England with passion and only the most basic tools. “They’ve all got a dustpan, a brush, a bucket, a kitchen sieve.” On beaches from Cambois in Northumberland to Seaburn on Wearside, up to 2,000 dedicated volunteers have been painstakingly sifting through sand to find tiny, lentil-sized pellets of plastic. Continue reading...
The pro-Israel lobby has swayed US presidents since Truman. It must end with Trump | Ian Lustick and Eli Clifton
Our new book tracks the growth over nearly eight decades, of the most powerful foreign policy lobby in US history In 1948, with war raging in Palestine, Harry Truman found himself trapped. On one side were Zionist lobbyists and the president’s domestic political advisers, who were urging him to support the establishment of a Jewish state in as much of Palestine as possible. On the other were his top foreign policy and national security officials, led by the secretary of state, George C Marshall. Their unanimous recommendation was to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, which they believed would trigger war in the Middle East and endanger the future of US relations with the Arab and Muslim world. Continue reading...
EU citizens in UK get letters telling them post-Brexit residency rights were given ‘in error’
After years of building lives in UK, potentially hundreds of thousands of EU citizens are being told they have no right to remain The UK Home Office has started stripping some EU citizens of their post-Brexit residency rights, in a move that has raised concerns about Britain’s compliance with its withdrawal agreement with Europe. The UK internal affairs authority has told at least 100 people that they were given residency rights “in error”, disrupting their lives just as they come to the end of their five-year “pre-settled status” and prepare to upgrade to the permanent “settled status”. Continue reading...
‘He’s a narcissist’: could Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger win a new trial?
Convicted killer seeks to withdraw guilty plea and go to trial – but that could put death penalty sentence back in play Could Bryan Kohberger, convicted 13 months ago of the murders of four University of Idaho students, now find himself on death row? That’s one potential outcome of a perplexing petition he filed last week in which he claimed he was misled by his defense attorneys into pleading guilty. A new trial could grant the wishes of family members who hoped to see the 31-year doctoral criminology student convicted by a jury in open court and sentenced to death. Or is Kohberger simply following the example of many serial killers in attempting to gain control of the narrative and extend the suffering of his victims’ families? Continue reading...
Trump is determined to pursue his trade war – and he may be difficult to stop
The president’s minions have trawled the statutes to restore roadblocks to trade. The invocation of Smoot-Hawley looks especially dangerous Donald Trump may have found the killer weapon to punish countries at will: by imposing tariffs on their exports to the United States. The president has been looking for a new tool since February, when the supreme court struck down tariffs he slapped on virtually all of America’s trading partners based on the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA, on the spurious grounds that the US faced a variety of national emergencies. It’s become a parlor game among policy wonks to predict what new legal justification he would deploy to replace them. Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack Continue reading...
For most US small businesses, Trump’s tariffs aren’t the big issue they were
Tariffs are annoying and disruptive, but this round is less impactful – and business owners are taking them in their stride Rebounding from his defeat at the supreme court in February, Donald Trump has recently announced a new round of tariffs, invoking sections of various trade acts to levy amounts on industries and countries based on reasons ranging from “forced labor” to “excess capacity”. And how are small and medium-sized businesses in the US reacting? One word: snoozefest. Continue reading...
Can Mamdani plan for city-owned stores deliver cheap food for New Yorkers?
Food costs have soared but existing businesses fear unfair competition and programs elsewhere yielded mixed results Carlos Collado, a Dominican immigrant who owns five independent grocery stores in the Bronx and Manhattan, has succeeded over the last three decades despite obstacles that he blames on local and state governance. His stores have faced an increase in shoplifting, he said. The city has provided tax benefits to big corporations that opened grocery stores and took business away from his. Continue reading...