[!WARNING] 翻译质量评估未完全通过 (Quality Audit Failed) 发现以下潜在质量问题： - missing numeric tokens from source: 11.10 - Missing proper nouns in translation: Abhijeet Dipke, Address Broughton Castle, Adolf Hitler, Adrian Blomfield, Adrian Dunbar, African American, After Bresinski, After The Telegraph, After Yemeni Houthis, Agatha Christie
征服世界的 魅力踏板车
试图 挽回 特朗普
作者：Camilla Turner 周日政治编辑
韦斯·斯特里廷正寻求通过“共同努力”重新开放霍尔木兹海峡，并承诺使武装部队现代化，以修复英国与唐纳德·特朗普之间的“特殊关系”。
为了在伊朗战争爆发期间关系恶化后翻开新篇章，这位国防大臣告诉其美国同行皮特·海格塞斯，他希望在建立全球联盟以保障这一至关重要贸易航道航运安全方面开展合作。
斯特里廷先生和海格塞斯先生讨论了本周在伦敦举行会议的提案，届时将汇集来自多达 40 个国家的北约 (北大西洋公约组织) 盟友、国防部长和军事指挥官，包括海格塞斯先生和美国参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩将军。此前，欧洲国家曾在没有美国参与的情况下举行定期会议，然而此次峰会旨在经过几个困难的月份后协调各方关系。
“国防大臣与海格塞斯部长进行了一次非常热情的交谈，”一位接近斯特里廷先生的消息人士表示。“他们讨论了霍尔木兹海峡的情况以及盟友如何共同协作。”
该消息人士补充说，两人还讨论了“国防投资以及英国履行我们北约承诺的决心”。
斯特里廷先生向海格塞斯先生强调了英国军队现代化和改革的计划，此举将使其在无人机战争时代更具适应力。
在上周的法恩堡航展演讲中，斯特里廷先生表示，英国“正在构建一个由有人驾驶和自主平台组成的集成系统，为我们通往第六代战斗机系统搭建桥梁”。
斯特里廷先生的魅力攻势可能有助于向安迪·伯纳姆的怀疑者们提供保证——
作者：Tim Sigsworth 新闻记者
一名在童年时期被亲哥哥强奸的女性敦促安迪·伯纳姆永久禁止性犯罪者提前释放，因为她得知其兄长最快将在圣诞节被释放。
29 岁的夏洛特·麦奎恩表示，首相对提前释放计划的审查还远远不够，她要求他“承诺”确保在量刑改革下，没有性犯罪者和暴力犯罪者能够提前出狱。周四，伯纳姆先生宣布他正暂停该
18 商业 21 电视节目表 28 天气 31
……[新任]首相在华盛顿，而埃德·米利班德被任命为外交大臣一事在那里的反响并不理想。上周，米利班德先生在菲律宾举行的东盟 (东南亚国家联盟) 峰会期间，与他的美国同行马可·卢比奥举行了首次双边会议。斯特里廷先生还强调了英国致力于到 2035 年将国防开支提高至 GDP 的 3.5% —— 这是大多数北约 (北大西洋公约组织) 盟友已达成一致的目标。一名接近新任财政大臣约翰·希利的消息人士表示：“在约翰看来，任何政府的首要职责就是确保国家安全。财政可信度是我们经济安全和国家安全的基石。我们将履行对盟友的国防承诺。”
在两方敌对状态重启之际，伊朗对霍尔木兹海峡的封锁已成为德黑兰与华盛顿之间的核心冲突点。在最新的事件中，伊朗革命卫队 (伊朗革命卫队) 昨天表示，其部队在过去 24 小时内拦截了四艘试图通过该战略咽喉点的船只。英国海事贸易行动监测机构（UKMTO）也报告称，昨天在霍尔木兹海峡水域附近发生了一起涉及一艘油轮和不详军事力量的事件。目前尚未公布更多细节。据昨晚该国国家电视台报道，革命卫队的一位发言人表示，如果英国在战争中支持美国，它将成为一个“明确且合法的目标”。与此同时有报道称，中东地区敌对行动的最新升级威胁将使英国的财政缓冲空间缩减至仅 £7bn，因为这推高了国债收益率，使其再次回到 5% 以上。本周，伯纳姆先生将宣布他改革成人社会护理的计划，他曾表示愿意动用“政治资本”来支持一些可能不受欢迎的政策。
……[实施]审查计划，但目前尚不清楚此举是否为永久性措施。这一公告是为了回应公众的愤怒，因为杀害警察的人、诱拐强奸团伙成员以及造成死亡的酒驾司机即将被提前释放。
麦奎因女士此前已放弃了她的匿名权。当她的哥哥安德鲁开始对其进行“无数次”强奸时，她只有 9 岁，这种情况一直持续到她 13. 岁。当时他年龄在 11 和 15 岁之间，并对 5 项强奸罪、两项性侵罪以及两项对 13 岁以下儿童的侵入性袭击罪认罪。
作者：Craig Simpson 艺术记者
《电报》可披露，销售反犹太主义文本的伊斯兰书店已被授予为英国引进“技术”移民的权利。内政部 (英国) 已向一系列书店授予担保“技术工人”签证的权力，据认为这些书店已利用该权力将数十人引进英国。
部分书店销售的书籍声称犹太人具有“邪恶天性”，而其他文本被认为……
CLEMENT VIALA/INFOBASSIN.COM/ABACA/SHUTTERSTOCK
在吉伦特省，一场山火已烧毁超过 12,000 公顷土地，导致数千名居民和游客被疏散，当地房屋被毁。
作者：James Rothwell, Emily Smith, Samuel Montgomery 以及 Melissa Twigg
由于该地区被山火吞噬，居住在法国南部的英国侨民被迫离开家园，在冲天火墙的包围中逃生。
法国总统 埃马纽埃尔·马克龙 昨日部署军队以应对火灾，而从法国及其邻国西班牙疏散的人数已增加到 270,000 人以上。
西班牙官员已宣布进入紧急状态，并警告称，马德里附近的一场肆虐的山火已经“超出了”消防员的控制能力。
马德里大区主席 伊莎贝尔·迪亚斯-阿尤索 将这场大火描述为“该地区历史上最严重的火灾”，约 70,000 人被疏散或被要求留在室内。
在靠近东部城市巴伦西亚的马尼塞斯发生的一起另一起火灾中，一名男子死亡。
在法国南部，英国侨民向《电报》讲述了风向的改变如何导致大火转向他们的住所，并在数分钟内将他们的花园吞没。
由于火势在昨日几乎没有减弱的迹象，环法自行车赛 的组织者表示，将缩短赛事行程，以便重新部署安保力量。
去年在格洛斯特刑事法院受审。 麦奎恩（McQueen）在 2025 年 6 月被判处五年监禁，且最早在 2028 年之前不具备获释资格。然而，身为两个孩子母亲的麦奎恩女士被司法部告知，他符合该计划的提前释放条件，并可能在 12 月前出狱。
她告诉《电报》：“我被告知，在最坏的情况下，他可能在圣诞节前出狱。他去年 6 月被判刑，而且只被判了五年。我被告知他必须服刑三年，但实际上，他有可能在圣诞节前出狱。无论如何，他的判决就像是在打我的脸，因为他被判了五年，这根本不算什么。我一点也感觉不到安心。”
“我的一辈子都生活在恐惧之中，而过去的一年是我生命中第一次没有恐惧。我感到了平静，我的其他家人也是如此。”
英国监狱中的激进化威胁。其中一本在售的书籍是赛义德·库特布 的《里程碑》，这位极具影响力的穆斯林兄弟会 领导者在作品中抨击西方文明和“世界犹太人”。
其他在售的作品包括该兄弟会创始人 哈桑·班纳 以及被 内政部 (英国) 禁令封杀的传教士 Bilal Philips 的著作，后者的写作内容提供了关于殴打妻子的建议。所有经《电报》审阅的书籍在英国均可合法销售，没有迹象表明书店违反了任何规定。
技术工人签证证书是在 2020 年作为脱欧后移民改革的一部分推出的。该计划由 内政部 (英国) 下属的英国签证与移民局监督，允许注册雇主引进员工来填补达到特定技能水平的岗位。
然而，人们质疑许多进入该国的工人是否能被归类为“技术工人”。报刊亭和电子烟店等企业也在获得许可的范围内。
《电报》现可披露，伊斯兰书店也已发放了数十个...
特百惠 (Tupperware) 部落？星期日
部署到火灾现场。欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩宣布，欧盟其他地区已向法国和西班牙派遣了 11 架飞机和直升机。由于火灾的影响，马德里发出了严重空气污染警告；而法国内政部表示，正在考虑将波尔多市进行疏散的可能性。 约 197,000 人已从该港口城市周边地区被疏散——包括今年此时通常拥挤的度假胜地）——这很可能是该国在和平时期经历的最大规模的疏散行动。 法国已部署 1,500 名士兵，以协助波尔多附近的消防员，并且
家。我们一直都感到平静。然后收到这封信，我心想：“我以为我有三年的平静时光，有三年时间去尝试重建我的生活，并改善我的心理健康”。实际上，并没有。感觉就像是，无论我做了多少，无论我多么努力，这个系统都倾向于虐待者。” 她补充道：“我知道我们的监狱正处于危机之中。我知道那里已经满了，而这导致了其自身的问题。但关键是他们选择的类别。是暴力犯罪。是虐待儿童、恋童癖、强奸犯。”
昨天，一架经过改装、可释放高达 20 吨灭火剂的 A400M 军用运输机加入了已经执行灭火任务的小型飞机编队。 由于山火横扫该地区，进出波尔多的英国游客正获得替代路线和时间的建议。英国航空开始联系客户以“提供协助”，以备他们需要更改计划。 英国外交部一名发言人表示，政府正在支持受山火影响的英国公民，但未详细说明提供了何种形式的帮助。
作者：查尔斯·海马斯 (Charles Hymas) 内政编辑
安迪·伯纳姆被敦促将至少一座女子监狱改为男子监狱，以缓解过度拥挤的问题
以及罪犯的提前释放。 监狱活动人士、监狱狱警领导者和资深保守党人表示，首相应考虑将这一改变作为一系列替代措施的一部分，以避免更多罪犯被提前从监狱释放。 他们表示，伯纳姆先生应采用他之前在大曼彻斯特当局所开创的方法，引导女性在轻微犯罪时远离监狱，这些措施在八年内将该地区的监禁人数减少了 55%。
约翰·劳伦斯 为《电报》报道
自 2021. 年以来的签证。这部篇幅冗长的著作声称犹太人具有“邪恶的天性”，该书也在莱斯特地区的一家书店网站上销售。根据官方数据，该母组织持有签证许可，可能赞助了多达 10 个技术工人签证。该书店还提供一套名为《伊斯兰：复兴之路》的论文集，其中包含库特布和班纳的作品。 在东伦敦另一家伊斯兰企业的网站上，购物者可以购买比拉尔·菲利普斯的《认主独一基础》，该书主张“必须真诚地憎恨和鄙视非伊斯兰政府”。这本书在 2016, 年被监狱服务机构的督察标记为“极端主义”，督察坚持要求将其从监狱牧师处移除，同时还包括班纳和库特布的作品。 这家企业自 2021 年起已为外籍员工发放了多达 10 份担保证书。 《认主独一基础》也可以在塔村海姆莱茨另一家商店的网站上买到，该店在销售书籍的同时还销售长袍（thobes）和面纱（niqabs）等其他产品。该企业也为外籍员工发放了多达 10 份担保证书。所有这些企业均已被联系以寻求评论。 目前没有迹象表明这些组织有不当行为。
“在近 20 年的时间里，我们一直知道需要采取什么措施来减少女性的监禁，然而仍有数以千计的女性被送入监狱，”监狱改革信托基金会首席执行官、前司法部 (MoJ) 女性事务主管皮娅·辛哈表示。 “问题不在于缺乏政策、证据或良好意愿——而在于未能将其付诸实践。” 上周，在《电报》披露，杀害警察安德鲁·哈维的两名凶手——阿尔伯特·鲍尔斯和杰西·科尔——将在其 2019 年因过失杀人而被判处 13 年刑期的中途提前获释后，伯纳姆先生暂停了原定于 9 月启动的提前释放计划。 首相宣布对该计划进行审查。该计划允许杀人犯、强奸犯和其他严重罪犯在服刑一半时而非三分之二时获释。 被判处较轻罪行的囚犯将在服刑三分之一时获释。大约 6,000 人将在 9 月 2 日起 10 个月内获释。 辛哈女士在被任命为典狱长时扭转了利物浦“失败”监狱的局面，她提出了一个缓解监狱过度拥挤的六点计划，包括将一座女子监狱改为男子监狱，以及释放所有孕妇和带着婴儿的母亲。 将最大的女子监狱——位于萨里郡阿什福德的布朗兹菲尔德监狱 (HMP Bronzefield) ——改为男子监狱将释放 500 多个床位，而此前已有约 250 个
这些企业销售的书籍在英国并非非法，在某些情况下是通过多种主流平台销售的。 然而，在人们担心允许包括电子烟店在内的某些性质的企业支持移民英国之际，允许伊斯兰书店支持签证申请的决定受到了质疑。 改革英国党 (Reform UK) 的阿什菲尔德议员李·安德森告诉《电报》：“这是保守党 14 年失败的完美写照：我们引进的不是医生和工程师，而是销售‘圣战’书籍的伊斯兰商店员工。” “内政部竟然如此，简直令人难以置信。”
去年在英格兰和威尔士的监狱中，有孕妇或母亲及婴儿。 目前在英格兰和威尔士有 3,500 名女性被监禁，其中约 2,500 人因非暴力犯罪而被囚。她们约占监狱人口的 4% 。 保守党前司法大臣亚历克斯·乔克（Alex Chalk）在 2023-2024 年监狱空间耗尽而被迫引入紧急提前释放计划时表示，重新规划女性监狱是“绝对值得研究的”。他补充道：“这是一个助力，但并非万能灵丹。” 司法部（MoJ）声称，如果工党放弃提前释放计划，监狱空间可能在 11 月之前耗尽。监狱改革信托基金会（Prison Reform Trust）表示，部长们还应考虑减少在押囚犯的数量——目前该数字处于 16,000 人的历史高位（占所有囚犯的五分之一）——其方式是通过更严格地执行相关规定，即如果被告“没有立即”被判监禁的前景，则不应将其羁押在 custody 中。
内政部 (英国) 并没有意识到这一点。它在为公众利益审核签证担保人的基本职能上失败了。” 一名内政部 (英国) 发言人表示： “由于我们采取果断行动提高了技术人员的薪资门槛，这类企业极不可能获得许可证的批准。 “公司必须申请相应的担保许可证。持有许可证并不保证该许可证正在被使用，也不保证任何担保签证申请会被 [内政部 (英国)] 批准。 “持有担保许可证并不能保证获得签证，所有许可证的审批均基于个案决定。”
下图为麦奎恩 (McQueen) 与她的兄弟 安德鲁 (Andrew)， 后者被判定犯有强奸罪
新闻快讯
确实能开启美好的一天
一项研究发现，早餐确实是一天中最重要的一餐，因为它有助于平衡我们的饮食。数据表明，那些跳过一日首餐的人在纤维、铁和锌等关键营养素的整体饮食摄入方面表现较差。一项针对 128 名经常不吃早餐的青少年的研究发现，当他们在醒后不久进食正规餐食时，其饮食质量和营养状况有所改善。高蛋白早餐对饮食的健康影响最为显著。来自德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的艾玛·罗斯·布朗（Emma Rose Brown）表示：“我们的研究结果表明，增加早餐，尤其是富含蛋白质的早餐，可能是提高大龄青少年营养摄入的有效方法。”
六人被捕
昨日凌晨，一名男子在伦敦南部被刺，随后六名男子因涉嫌谋杀被捕。 警方在 4.37am 接到报案，称一名 22 岁男子因被刺伤被送往医院。 伦敦大都会警察局表示，该男子在医院死亡，其家属已获通知。 另有四名男子——其中三名 22 岁，一名 24 岁——也因非致命或非改变生活的刺伤被送往医院。他们随后均因涉嫌谋杀被捕。警方表示，另外两名年龄分别为 23 和 27, 岁的男子也被逮捕，涉嫌谋杀。
两名青少年被捕
在卢顿（Luton）的一家公园发生骚乱后，一名 17 岁少年因被刺伤死亡，两名青少年因涉嫌谋杀被捕。 贝德福德郡警方表示，周五在收到报告称看到多名青少年“携带大刀”后，警员被派往金斯威（Kingsway）娱乐场。 这名尚未确认身份的 17 岁少年被送往医院，但不久后死亡。 警方表示，两名于周五因涉嫌暴力骚乱被捕的男孩，现已被进一步逮捕，涉嫌谋杀。其中一名嫌疑人因伤势严重（但无生命危险）正在住院。
预计拍出 $22 高价
莫里西（Morrissey）在组建热门乐队 The Smiths 之前写的一批早年书信将进行拍卖，预计成交价为 £22,000.。 这些信件是写给伯明翰的一位笔友西蒙·皮特（Simon Pitt）的，后者后来成为了该市的桂冠诗人。这些信件写于该歌手 14 到 20 岁期间，其中一封信中莫里西写道：“我的雄心是成为一名摇滚明星、一名演员或一名作家。” 另一封信补充道：“我一直说我是一个天才，但没人理会。” 这些写于 1974 到 1979, 年间的信件将于 8 月 26 日在伦敦的 Dawsons 拍卖行作为独立拍品出售。在信中，莫里西还谈到了政治以及想要居住在美国的愿望。
本报是独立新闻标准组织 (IPSO) 的成员，并遵守其《编辑实操准则》。如果您对编辑内容有投诉，请访问 www.telegraph.co.uk/editorialcomplaints 或写信至我们的邮寄地址（见下方）的“编辑投诉”栏。如果您对我们的答复不满意，可向 IPSO 申诉，网址为 www.ipso.co.uk。
在格拉斯哥观众面前 完成苏格兰成年组首秀
作者：Fiona Tomas，发自格拉斯哥
凯特和格里·麦凯恩自豪地注视着他们的儿子肖恩在格拉斯哥举行的 Commonwealth Games（英联邦运动会）中代表苏格兰游泳。 这对夫妇的女儿玛德琳·麦凯恩在 2007 年于葡萄牙失踪，当时她三岁。周六，他们出现在托尔克罗斯国际游泳中心的观众席中，肖恩在那里完成了他的英联邦运动会首秀，也是他首次代表国家参加成年组比赛。肖恩的双胞胎妹妹阿梅莉也和父母坐在一起。 凯特穿着一件印有歌曲《Yes Sir, I Can Boogie》歌词的 T 恤，这首歌在周四晚上的开幕式上由苏格兰创作歌手卡勒姆·比蒂表演。 格里则穿着一件苏格兰游泳队的
OLI SCARFF/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
作者：Sarah Knapton 科学编辑
一项研究表明，伊丽莎白一世据传波动的脾气在一定程度上是由那些希望让臣民和竞争对手保持警惕的秘书们臆造出来的。 这位在 1558 年至 1603 年间统治了 44 年的“童贞女王”，经常被描绘成情绪化、不理智且易怒的形象。 然而，荷兰莱顿大学的博士生克洛达格·墨菲声称，她的许多信件中都包含顾问添加的内容，目的是让她显得更加难以捉摸，或者为了产生修辞效果。 “长期以来，历史学家一直将伊丽莎白描绘成一个脾气非常急躁的人，”墨菲女士说。 “据说她极其情绪化且不理智。当你观察到
作者：Tim Sigsworth 新闻记者
英格兰教会的一座法院裁定，玛丽安·费思富（MARIANNE FAITHFULL）的签名可以刻在她的墓碑上。一名教会法官表示，为了更好地代表这位歌手的“个性”，应当忽略墓地中禁止使用草书的规定。
费思富是歌手、词曲作者兼演员，是“摇摆六十年代”精神的化身。她在去年去世，享年 78 岁，安葬在伯克希尔郡阿尔德沃思（Aldworth）的圣玛丽教堂。
她的儿子尼古拉斯·邓巴（Nicholas Dunbar）现已说服英格兰教会灵活处理关于墓碑的规定，允许刻上她的签名。
今年早些时候，邓巴先生为这座位于一级保护建筑教堂（可追溯至 12 世纪）墓地中的墓碑申请了“许可书”（faculty）——这相当于教会的规划许可。
他表示：“我的母亲是一位世界闻名的录音艺术家和词曲作者，与阿尔德沃思有深厚的联系。我们希望在墓碑背面传达这一点，并附上一段她最后几首歌曲之一的摘录，下方刻上她的签名。歌词表达了她在晚年回归基督教信仰时的精神世界，而签名则表达了她的创造力。”
该签名违反了牛津教区制定的规定，该规定宣布墓碑上“不允许使用草书（即看起来像是用连笔书写的字体）”。
然而，教区首席教会法官大卫·霍奇（David Hodge KC）在费思富的案例中允许破例，因为该签名反映了她的“个性”。
他裁定：“对于任何一位词曲作者来说，还有什么能比截取一段自己的歌曲更能表达创造力的呢？还有什么能比她的签名图像更能表达她的个性，毕竟在漫长的音乐生涯中，费思富女士一定无数次通过签名给她的众多粉丝带来快乐。”
[[IMG_XXXX]] 上图：肖恩·麦卡恩（Sean McCann）参加 400 米自由泳决赛。 下图：他的父母和妹妹在预赛中为他加油。
（肖恩穿着）T 恤，而阿米莉（Amelie）则穿着一件印有绿洲乐队（Oasis）标志的上衣。
尽管自麦德琳（Madeleine）近 20 年前失踪以来，麦卡恩一家一直处于全球瞩目的焦点之下，但麦卡恩夫妇仍优先考虑给双胞胎子女肖恩和阿米莉提供正常的成长环境。
尽管麦卡恩夫妇一直将孩子的私生活屏蔽在公众视线之外，但在肖恩完成英联邦运动会首秀后，他的知名度将会提高。阿米莉也是一名高水平游泳运动员和三项全能运动员。
2007 年 5 月，当他们的父母在附近用餐时，姐姐麦德琳在葡萄牙普赖亚-达-卢什（Praia da Luz）的度假公寓中失踪，当时他们两人都只有两岁。
凯特（Kate）和盖里·麦卡恩（Gerry McCann）此前曾谈到，保护肖恩和阿米莉免受网络暴力以及他们所描述的关于其姐姐失踪事件的“伤人”阴谋论的挑战。
但他们的儿子在体育竞技最宏大的舞台之一实现了童年梦想，这将是他们往后深情回忆的时刻。现场响起了巨大的欢呼声。
（此处文字缺失/不连贯）……字母背后的历史，结果证明这是一种厌女主义的解读。“事实上，伊丽莎白（Elizabeth）的男性抄写员有时会故意在她的信件中加入情绪爆发，将其作为一种修辞策略。”
这位女王以暴躁著称，已故都铎王朝历史学家康耶斯·里德（Conyers Read）将其描述为“舌尖刻薄，脾气恶劣，几乎没有女性的委婉，也极少或完全没有女性的端庄”。
但近年来，历史学家开始思考，伊丽莎白的皇家愤怒是否是一种精心计算的政治表演。
伊丽莎白去世后留下了 3,000 多封信件，到目前为止，历史学家主要关注由她亲笔书写的 100 封左右的信件。
这项新研究则侧重于那些（由抄写员代笔的信件）……
由书记员和秘书执笔，他们经常在其中加入自己的修改。 在其中一份文件中，伊丽莎白的间谍头子弗朗西斯·沃尔辛厄姆编辑了一封信，使伊丽莎白看起来对苏格兰女王玛丽比实际情况更为愤怒。学者们表示，女王亲笔撰写的版本要温和得多。 伦敦城市圣乔治大学的君主制历史教授安娜·怀特洛克（Anna Whitelock）表示：“考虑到在很大程度上这是一个男人的世界，且当时人们认为女性受情感而非理性主导，男性撰写的关于伊丽莎白的所有记载很可能都强调了她的情绪波动。” 一位都铎研究作者表示：“当时人们的假设是女性不应成为领导者，而应结婚并被男性‘约束’。”
[[IMG_XXXX]] Marianne Faithfull 1967年，右； 墓碑对其作为 著名行为艺术家的 角色给予了 “生动的表达”， 下方
在肖恩的名字被读出时身在赛场内，一些观众挥舞着圣安德鲁十字旗。他在400米自由泳预赛中以3分52.65秒的成绩获得第四名，表现可嘉，并由此获得决赛资格，在决赛中排名第八。 “我太兴奋了，进来之前其实没指望能进决赛，尤其是考虑到竞争对手如此强劲，但我很高兴看到我做到了，”肖恩说道，并承认赛前感到紧张。“我不会说我感到压力，但在这么多观众注视下，我确实很紧张，我不仅想为自己表现好，也想为苏格兰队争光。我确实很紧张，但我很高兴能完成一次体面的游泳。” 关于主场支持，麦肯（McCann）说：“太神奇了，在整个比赛过程中我都能听到他们的声音。在最后100米冲刺时，他们激励我全力以赴。” 关于这位21岁小将的游泳心路历程知之甚少，在确认参加英联邦运动会之前，他一直处于低调状态，不过他已将目标定在获得2028年洛杉矶奥运会的参赛资格。 他说：“我认为奥运会始终是更进一步的目标，因此能够在这里代表苏格兰是一个很好的跳板。希望经过几年的努力能让我进入选拔范围。” 肖恩通过……获得苏格兰代表资格，
他是布莱克本和牛津教区的主教，他承认该设计由于在签名中使用了草体字，而“未能遵守” “适用的墓地规定”。 然而，他表示，他认为该规定旨在“确保纪念铭文可以毫无困难地被阅读”，而他认为这与费思福尔（Faithfull）的墓碑无关。 法官补充道：“拟议墓碑的设计具有吸引力且考虑周全。 “它将发挥三重功能：缅怀已故的玛丽安·费思福尔，安慰她的遗属，并向后人告知她的精神世界和创造力，生动地表达出她作为著名行为艺术家的角色。 “这座拟议的纪念碑将成为这座墓地的永久点缀。” 他还表示，圣玛丽教堂的牧师格兰特·芬索姆（Grant Fensome）牧师以及教会的教区委员会已经批准了这座墓碑。
作者：印度·麦克塔格特 (India McTaggart) 与 詹姆斯·德斯伯勒 (James Desborough)
英国最著名的花花公子可能不得不放弃他的“调情执照”，转而寻求某种更长久的关系，因为一名曾出演邦德女郎的演员敦促该系列的剧本新作者让 007 成为专一的人。
特里娜·帕克斯 (Trina Parks) 在 1971 年的《钻石是永远的》中与肖恩·康纳利 (Sean Connery) 共同出演，饰演刺客 Thumper，她呼吁新版詹姆斯·邦德成为一个更忠诚的伴侣，以“反映现代世界”。
帕克斯表示，她希望亚马逊 MGM (Amazon MGM) 能够重塑邦德女郎以及这位特工本人的叙事方式。
“当然，我希望他们保留浪漫元素，但也许不要给他安排那么多伴侣，”她说。
她补充道：“剧本必须真正反映现代世界，在这个世界里，女性是更强大的角色，并担任重要职位。”
这位美国女演员是第一位饰演邦德女郎的非裔美国人，她表示，在即将到来的邦德电影中选出的女性不应“仅仅是顺从地”与这位风度翩翩的间谍上床。
在制片厂寻找接替丹尼尔·克雷格 (Daniel Craig) 饰演 007 角色的新演员之际，她表示：“我希望这部新电影将女性置于与邦德平等的地位，并应对当今世界的现状。”
帕克斯表示，她希望新的邦德女郎在“身体和情感上都能与这位银幕英雄相匹配”。亚马逊表示，其面试将于 5 月中旬举行。
制片厂在邀请英国选角资深专家妮娜·戈尔德 (Nina Gold) 协助寻找新任邦德后，一直在进行试镜。戈尔德此前曾因在电影《哈姆雷特》(Hamnet) 中的工作获得奥斯卡奖提名，并因参与《权力的游戏》、《王冠》和《豺狼之日》而闻名。
近年来，关于谁将接任该角色的猜测盛传，包括亚伦·泰勒-约翰逊 (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)，36 岁，卡勒姆·特纳 (Callum Turner)，36 岁，以及哈里斯·迪金森 (Harris Dickinson)，30 岁，都被传为潜在的继任者。
帕克斯呼吁为亚马逊编写新版詹姆斯·邦德的《浴血黑帮》创作者史蒂文·奈特 (Steven Knight)，在剧中加入一个类似于 2002 年皮尔斯·布鲁森 (Pierce Brosnan) 主演的《再一次危险》中由 Halle Berry 饰演的 Jinx 这样的女性角色。这位前百老汇舞者现年 79 岁，她表示：“我不希望女性仅仅因为他长得帅就和他上床。”
以及为什么数以千计的非法移民留在英国
他出生于格拉斯哥的父亲。他在英联邦运动会上的表现——他参加了 400 米、800 米和 1500 米自由泳项目——可能会使他确立作为苏格兰最亮眼年轻游泳天才之一的地位。“从很小的时候起，我就非常喜欢竞争，”肖恩 (Sean) 说道。
“能像这样来到这里，在这么多观众面前，尽我所能地游泳，让所有艰苦的训练时间都变得值得。”
肖恩曾在英联邦青少年运动会和欧洲青少年锦标赛中参赛，他成为众人关注的焦点只是时间问题。
在拉夫堡大学 (Loughborough University) 本周早些时候发布的一段视频中（他在那里学习化学工程），肖恩说：“我非常激动，这是我第一次参加成年组运动会，所以我非常期待代表苏格兰并竭尽全力。这真的是巅峰之作……尤其是在主场举办的运动会上。我在格拉斯哥有很多亲人，所以这让这次经历变得更加特别。”
作者：罗伯特·门迪克 (Robert Mendick) 和 麦克·布朗 (Mick Brown)
普리티·帕特尔女爵 (Dame Priti Patel) 告诉《电讯报》，印度封锁了数千名非法移民的返回，以报复英国未能引渡一名被指控犯下该国史上最大欺诈案的钻石亿万富翁。
在接受《电讯报》播客系列《钻石之王》(The Diamond King) 采访时，普리티女爵表示，她对尼拉夫·莫迪 (Nirav Modi) 在被捕多年后仍留在英国感到“震惊和恐惧”。
她表示，印度对英国未能引渡莫迪感到“极其愤怒”，且德里政府开始在接收签证到期回国的印度国民时“真正地采取强硬立场”。莫迪，55 岁，已花费超过 £1 的法律费用，聘请英国顶尖大律师来对抗引渡。据称，他从印度的一家银行窃取了 £1.3，用于资助其奢华的生活方式以及在世界各地开设高端珠宝店。
他在被指控欺诈后失踪，但后来被《电讯报》在伦敦找到。
作者：史蒂夫·伯德 (Steve Bird) 高级新闻记者
一名在一次无端街头抢劫中多次刺伤一名男子的波兰暴力罪犯获准留在英国。
据称年约四十岁的马留什·斯坦尼斯拉夫·布雷辛斯基 (Mariusz Stanislaw Bresinski) 在袭击一名厨师（该厨师当时在绝望地恳求生存）后，根据《精神健康法》被拘留。在布雷辛斯基获释后，内政部 (英国) 部长沙巴娜·马哈茂德 (Shabana Mahmood) 因担心他会对公众造成风险而试图将其驱逐出境。
然而，两名移民法官裁定，这名滥用克拉克可卡因的男子并不构成威胁，可以留在英国。《电讯报》能够
作者：Samuel Montgomery 与 Will Bolton
《电讯报》披露，尽管警方已被告知一名暴力阿富汗国民对公众构成危险，但仍未能在他致命地刺伤一名遛狗者前数小时将其逮捕。
28 岁的 Dawood Safi 于 10 月 27 日在伦敦西部的 Uxbridge 实施了一起三重刺杀事件，导致 49 岁的 Wayne Broadhurst 死亡。另外两名受害者—— 45 岁的 Shazhad Farrukh（Safi 的房东）和一名 14 岁的男孩受伤。
上周在中央刑事法院（Old Bailey），Safi 进入了法庭 20 企图谋杀 他此前 过失杀人 由于减轻责任
《电讯报》 在杀人事件发生前 被警方戴上手铐 担忧的家人 给他们打了电话 变得暴力 尽管官方 被告知他对公众 构成危险， 被释放并 在……上被指控 街道上。在接受 本报采访时 表兄 Saifoor
[[IMG_XXXX]] （下方图片显示 Nirav Modi 的生活奢靡。右侧为该大亨与 Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley。右下插图为普里蒂·帕特尔女爵士 Dame Priti Patel）
披露内政大臣正将此案提交至上诉法院，试图将 Bresinski 驱逐出境。
患有心理健康问题的 Bresinski 于 2004 年来到英国工作。三年后，他袭击了住在卢波勒（Loughborough）的一名孟加拉国男子 Moulad Islamkhan，试图抢走其车钥匙和车辆。
这名厨师被追击并在腹部和躯干被刺了三刀。他恳求对方放过他，称自己作为一名父亲，不想死去。
他后来表示，这次袭击“毁了”他的生活，使他陷入抑郁和痛苦之中。
Bresinski 在法庭上被描述为患有偏执型精神分裂症。
[[IMG_XXXX]] （Wayne Broadhurst 当时正带着狗无辜地走在路边，此时 Dawood Safi 发起了致命的刀具袭击。他在死去时，狗就在他身边）
在一家豪华公寓内并经营着一家新的钻石公司。Modi 否认所有不当行为，并坚持认为，如果当局没有搜查他的办公室，他本会偿还从印度银行借的大笔资金。
新的《电讯报》播客探讨了 Modi 惊人的起落，以及他为了抵制被引渡回印度而在拘留所度过的七年多时间。
在 2021 年签署 Modi 引渡文件的普里蒂女爵士指责这位钻石大亨在“利用系统漏洞”以避免被引渡回印度受审。自 2019 年在伦敦被捕以来，他一直被关在英国监狱中。
普里蒂女爵士在《钻石之王》（The Diamond King）播客中表示：“如果我们的系统是审慎的并做正确的事，而不是把自己困在流程和借口中，他就不应该在这个国家。他居然还在这里，这让我感到相当震惊和恐惧，而且我认为这确实让印度政府在与我们合作时感到相当沮丧。”
她表示，英国境内有“数量极高”的签证逾期逗留者和来自印度的非法移民，英国在将他们遣返回国方面遇到了困难。
她认为系统应该在“对等交换”的基础上运作，但德里的当局因英国未能将 Modi 送回受审而感到失望。
她说，在她担任[职务缺失]期间，印度“确实会” 接收签证逾期逗留者。
德里的当局 在验证……方面存在问题 英国 遣送回国的印度人的“细节”，并且会 接收接送非法移民 和失败的庇护申请者的包机，而其他国家 接受了。 面临巨大的挑战 促使他们 [印度] 签署 接收失败的庇护 申请者，”她说，并补充道：“而且 确信这是因为我们 这个高调案例 [Modi] 当时我们还有另一个 直到他们 [印度] 看到行动 关于这些的进展，我想 他们对他有一些筹码 这非常令人沮丧。”
普里蒂说：“Modi 应该在印度并服刑”
对 英国 公众 构成了 重大 威胁”
据称在袭击发生前大约 10 天，萨菲曾告诉他，自己的“大脑中有一种声音”挥之不去，导致他失眠。随着萨菲的精神状态在接下来的几天里逐渐崩溃，这是发生的一系列令人担忧的事件中的第一起。 10 月 24, 即杀人案发生前的周五，萨菲与表亲一同前往希灵登医院，一名医生试图给他一些药物来缓解这一问题。“他拒绝了，认为那是毒药。他陷入了妄想，并询问人们，‘他们为什么在看我？’”
10 月 26, 赛义夫尔
在他哥哥的
中，他去
他，但一旦
我并说不要
突然开始
结束。
警察于 2.20pm 接警。
他并将其逮捕
对……是不安全的
DAVE BENETT/GETTY IMAGES
在那里的，经过法律程序的，而这正是英国引渡法和条约的宗旨。”她补充道：“这是对我们制度的公然滥用。我的意思是，这是描述这件事的唯一方式。事实确实如此。而且你知道，这对英国纳税人也是一种侮辱。” 将莫迪留在英国监狱等待引渡大约花费了 £500,000。该播客被告知，莫迪在对抗引渡的法律费用上花费了超过 £1 1m，同时还发现他因视力问题接受了 NHS 的治疗。 他的引渡在 2021, 年已获批准，但由于一个并行的寻求庇护法律申请，导致引渡被延迟，而该申请现在已被内政部 (英国) 法庭驳回。印度
加剧了
引渡一名
因财务
被通缉的
维杰·马利亚
财阀
金飞航 (Kingfisher)
同名，
对抗引渡
在承认蓄意伤人和抢劫罪名后，被法院下令强制住院，并被拘留在一家安全医院。据透露，他此前有多次犯罪记录，包括携带刀具在超市行窃，他最近的一次定罪是在 2014 年。 在上诉判决中，上级法庭法官特蕾莎·卡马拉解释了 2022 年 9 月，时任保守党内政大臣如何根据欧盟定居计划 (EU Settlement Scheme) 授予该持刀男子永久居留权。 但今年 6 月，马哈茂德女士通知布雷辛斯基，她计划将其驱逐出境，因为他构成了“对英国公众的重大威胁”。
据其表亲称，萨菲在被发现驾驶车辆行驶轨迹异常后，将车停在了一辆 Prius 车型旁。 萨菲当时没有被逮捕，而被警方带回了他位于厄克斯布里奇 Midhurst Gardens 的家中。不到四个小时后，萨菲打电话给他的房东法鲁克先生，请他进入房间。当房东进入时，萨菲立即用一把大刀开始捅他。 在萨菲继续袭击法鲁克先生时，房东逃到街上并恳求邻居帮助。 其中一名邻居用“拐杖挥击”萨菲，这名阿富汗人随即后退。 就在这时，他将注意力转向了布罗德赫斯特先生，后者当时正在进行每日的遛狗活动。 他在将这名垃圾清理工撞翻在地之前向其冲去，并捅了 14 刀。 公诉人乔纳森·莱德劳 KC 表示，萨菲发起了一次“疯狂的、随机的且完全无端地攻击”。 “布罗德赫斯特先生死在街头，狗就在他身边，”他说。 警方在几分钟后赶到现场，依然持有刀具的萨菲被电击枪击中并被逮捕。 一名证人说，萨菲在袭击期间看起来“像被附身了”。 另一人则说这次杀戮就像一场“屠宰”。 在南华克刑事法院的审判结束时，卡茨夫人法官赞扬了罗杰斯一家的勇气，他们是挺身面对萨菲并试图挽救布罗德赫斯特先生生命的邻居。 2007 年来到英国的赛义夫尔说，在他表亲崩溃之前，他“完全正常”，努力工作，热爱在英国生活，一直是一个“冷静、通情达理”的年轻人。“我的心和我的全部都与那些受苦的人、与死者在一起。我找不到任何词语能向这些人表达歉意。”
所有指控。 Dame Prit
秘书
2022 年且不
外交大臣
让人们
该系统…… y
王国”。Bresinski 将其案件提交至移民法庭，他在那里承认自己“此前曾滥用裂解可卡因……违反了无条件释放的条款”，但在 2025 年 5 月的听证会“之前不久”已经停止。
法庭法官得出结论，他的“过去和现在的行为”意味着他并未对公众构成“足够严重的威胁”从而使其被驱逐出英国具有正当理由。
内政部 (英国) 部长对该决定提出上诉，称法官在未能正确评估 Bresinski 构成的威胁以及他因服用 [此处缺失/断句] 而违反医院释放条款这一事实时，犯了“法律错误”。
ple,” 他说。“但警方犯了一个巨大的错误。他们应该为此承担责任，因为我告诉过他们，他对公众是不安全的。”
陪审员获悉，Safi 在 10 岁时目睹了父亲在阿富汗的一次土地纠纷中被谋杀；而在 Uxbridge 刺杀案发生时，Safi 的心理健康状况正处于严重的崩溃状态。
法院被告知，Broadhurst 先生的家人希望 Safi 被裁定谋杀罪，但在收到关于其心理健康状态的证据后，检方接受了他对较轻的过失致死罪的认罪。
他以责任减轻为由，对过失致死罪认罪，
没有任何 暴力或 侵略性 事件”
可以支付高额费用给律师
y 不正确。” 它是
y 非法移民
寻求者在英国
遣返回印度。在 2026年3月，3,089
被纳入移民
737 —— 少于一个
返回家园。
内政部 (英国) 统计数据
,706 名印度人的 签证，较高
其他国籍。这些 数字并非
公开可用。
印度高级 委员会被联系 但未做出回应。
毒品和饮酒。卡马拉法官驳回了上诉。她表示，布雷辛斯基被认定为一名“坦诚的证人”，因为他向法院“自愿”承认，其饮酒和药物滥用违反了医院出院条款。他的精神科护士解释说，布雷辛斯基定期提供尿样进行物质筛查，即将获得专门帮助以应对其药物使用，且“多年来没有任何暴力或侵略性事件”。 内政部 (英国) 发言人表示：“我们已寻求许可将此案提交至上诉法院，目前正在等待答复。”
对一名少年造成实际身体伤害，以及持有攻击性武器。他还被判定企图谋杀法鲁克先生。他将继续被拘留在布罗德摩尔安全医院，直到 10 月 5 日宣判。预计法官将决定是对萨菲处以监禁，还是命令其无限期在医院接受精神健康治疗。 苏格兰场的一位发言人确认，萨菲此前与警方有过接触，但拒绝提供进一步细节。他们表示：“伦敦警察厅专业标准局审查了之前的警方接触记录，未发现任何问题。”
快速蔓延的火焰与 浓厚的灰色烟雾，此时 法国和西班牙山火肆虐
作者：James Rothwell, Emily Smith, Samuel Montgomery 以及 Melissa Twigg
居住在法国南部的英国移居者讲述了风向的改变如何将大火推向他们的家园，并在几分钟内将花园包围。来自肯特的杰基·沃尔什和她的英国伴侣特雷弗当时正在家中工作，这时野火向他们位于法国东南部科蒂尼亚克市内斯图比的别墅袭来。“我们听到水轰炸机越来越近，以及一种深沉的、令人不安的声音，像是一种咆哮和噼啪声，” 47 岁的加拿大-爱尔兰公民沃尔什女士告诉《电报》报。这对夫妇向外看时，发现风已将火焰直接推到了房子旁边的田野里，但火灾的声音甚至比景象更可怕，沃尔什女士回忆道。“就像你把头伸进一个装满燃料的壁炉里，非常令人不安，”她说。“那场火的规模和速度是我以前从未经历过的，但它的声音给我们留下了最深刻的印象。”直到那一刻，他们还相当自信地认为自己处于危险区域之外，因为火灾在一天的大部分时间里距离他们 12 英里。但他们意识到，风向的改变将火焰推向了一条穿过他们社区的新路径；是时候离开了，而且必须快。 “我给山坡上方的一位朋友发了消息……他说他已经离开了，” 53 岁的 IT 工作者沃尔什先生说。“从火势翻过远山那一刻起，仅仅几分钟后，火焰就进入了花园。”他们逃离了住了 12 年的别墅，没有锁门，以便消防员可以使用水源。然后他们跳进车里驶离科蒂尼亚克，在火势继续不可阻挡地向村庄推进时绕道而行。沃尔什女士开车，而特雷弗拍摄火焰笼罩树木的画面。他们在酒店过夜，不断担心朋友们并为家园感到恐惧，但第二天
一直烧到了房子的 边缘。温室 和空调机组都熔化了”
带来了较好消息。一些骑车冒险回到社区的朋友说，他们的别墅基本没有受损。沃尔什女士说：“消防员在确认所有人（从公社中）撤离后，保护了我们的房子。‘一切都被烧毁了，一直烧到了房子的边缘。’”
几公里外的一位邻居就没那么幸运。“我们去看了，什么都没剩下，”她说。沃尔什女士称赞了 pompiers（消防员）以及通过清理干枯杂草和灌木来建立防火隔离带的邻居。“那至关重要，”她说，“这对我们的房子产生了巨大的影响。”
由于昨天的火势没有减轻的迹象，环法自行车赛的组织者表示，该赛事将缩短，以便将安保力量重新部署到野火灾区。
欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩宣布，欧盟其他地区已向法国和西班牙派遣了 11 架飞机和直升机。她说：“欧洲与法国和西班牙站在一起。”
在马德里，有严重的空气污染警告，37 岁的英国侨民萨拉-简·斯拉克 (Sara-Jayne Slack) 就居住在此。她告诉《电报》：“今天早上我像往常一样走到露台上，但因为气味太大，不得不立刻返回室内。今天我几乎看不到地平线。”
“地平线上到处是烟雾，呈红色，闻起来就像有人在烧篝火。太糟糕了。”
在法国，内政部表示正在考虑疏散波尔多市。大约 197,000 人已经从周边地区逃离，这可能是法国在和平时期经历的最大规模的疏散行动。
野火蔓延迅速，因为
苏格兰山火肆虐
作者：Emily Smith 和 India McTaggart
第一部长表示，军方已被召集以应对苏格兰凯恩戈姆国家公园（Cairngorms National Park）的一场肆虐山火。
约翰·斯威尼（John Swinney）昨日确认，随着 500 多个消防员在苏格兰东北部连续第 10 天与大火搏斗，已向英国政府请求“空中支援的军事援助”。
斯威尼先生昨日上午主持了苏格兰政府韧性室（Scottish Government Resilience Room）会议，他表示，目前该事件仍处于“重大且严重”的状态，但到下午情况有所“改善”。
他补充道：“出于安全原因，人们必须避开受影响区域，以便救援人员专注于扑灭山火。”
JUAN CARLOS LUCAS/ZUMA PRESS WIRE;JEAN-CHRISTOPHE MILHET/AFP; VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA/REUTERS; CESAR MANSO/AFP
欧洲各地火灾
“今天已向英国政府请求空中支援的军事援助，用于补充目前部署在凯恩戈姆山火扑救中的现有资源，我们正在等待答复。”
苏格兰消防救援服务局（SFRS）表示，约 650 名内西桥（Nethy Bridge）居民已被要求作为预防措施撤离家园。目前尚未报告有人员伤亡。
这座高地村庄中被疏散的居民感到“愤怒且沮丧”，他们被送往位于麦克唐纳艾维摩度假村（MacDonald Aviemore Resort）的专用临时安置中心，但他们认为应当更早宣布进入重大事故状态。
火灾自 7 月 15 日起就开始燃烧，但由于“天气条件的显著变化”而进一步恶化。
警司朱迪·希尔（Judy Hill）表示：“有证据表明火势正向内西桥蔓延，因此决定宣布为重大事故并采取预防性撤离居民的措施。”
内西桥及邻近社区委员会主席桑迪·麦库克（Sandy McCook）表示，居民在撤离前，周五能看到山火产生的巨大烟柱，他将现场描述为“末日景象”。
在过去的九天里，500 多个消防员使用了包括直升机洒水作业和全地形车在内的专业山火设备与大火搏斗。
居民告诉 BBC，当局在事件期间的沟通“相当糟糕”。
由于风向改变，在 59 英里外的亚伯丁（Aberdeen）也能看到火灾产生的烟雾。
由于连续热浪加剧，极易起火的环境状况在欧洲蔓延。过度劳累的消防员已连续多日昼夜与烈火搏斗。本周早些时候，两名法国消防员不幸牺牲。
法国国际伙伴关系部长埃莱奥诺尔·卡罗伊特（Eleonore Caroit）表示，游客不应取消假期。
她说：“我就在巴黎，这里没发生什么事，大多数其他地区也正常。”飞往或飞离波尔多的英国游客正被提供替代路线和时间。
英国航空开始联系客户“以提供协助”，以防他们需要更改计划。
38 岁的爱德华·奇肖尔姆（Edward Chisholm）表示，他和家人在吉伦特（Gironde）度假时被卷入火灾。
“我的女友和我一直在格朗皮凯（Grand Piquey）租一套房子，那里在卡费雷（Cap Ferret）的北端，”他说。
20名消防员被送医
电讯记者报道
在埃塞克斯郡一个工业园区扑灭火灾的20名消防员在一次爆炸后被送往医院。 埃塞克斯郡消防和救援服务局首席消防官里克·希尔顿（Rick Hylton）表示，在一座农场仓库爆炸时，三辆消防车和两辆消防指挥车也被摧毁。 周五，在雷特登（Rettendon）附近的一场大火吞噬了工业单元和一片田地，随后化肥发生爆炸，现场宣布进入重大事件状态，居民被紧急疏散。 希尔顿先生在昨天的新闻发布会上表示：“我可以确认，在此次事件后，有20名消防员前往医院就诊。” “在这20, 人中，四人受轻伤，其余人员为预防性评估，包括检查爆炸后是否出现听力损失等问题。我很高兴地确认，所有这些消防员现在都已出院。” 超过100名消防员被召集到火灾现场，爆炸声在近15英里外仍清晰可见。
从顶部起顺时针方向： 难民在马德里市外避难； 法国南部卡内鲁西永（Canet-en-Roussillon）勒布拉西利亚露营地（Camping Le Brasilia）被烧毁的汽车； 一名在西班牙埃尔蒂恩布洛（El Tiemblo）的消防员； 该地区的其他团队从一栋别墅的游泳池中抽水
向《电报》透露道：“那简直是一场末日景象——天空呈现焦灼的颜色，灰烬在持续落下。” 来自田纳西州的丽贝卡·帕平（Rebecca Papin）在错过撤离船只后，被困在波尔多西南部的比斯卡罗斯（Biscarrosse）度假屋所在的“鬼城”中。 由于主干道被封锁，她不得不与九岁的女儿维奥莱特（Violette）和11, 岁的儿子路易斯（Louis）一起在那里避难。“我觉得我们被孤立了。这座城市依然处于撤离状态。我没看到过一辆车经过，”她说道。 外交部发言人表示，政府正为受影响的英国公民提供支持。该发言人说：“该地区的英国国民应继续查阅外交、联邦和发展事务部（FCDO）的旅行建议，并遵循当地当局的指导。” 史蒂夫·伯德（Steve Bird）、莱比·艾尔斯（Lebby Eyres）和亨利·塞缪尔（Henry Samuel）参与后续报道。
据了解，爆炸的建筑物位于高地农场（Highlands Farm），这是一个由多栋建筑组成的综合体，分布着多家企业和住宅房产。 活动制作公司Spotlight Sound的所有者萨姆·戴蒙德（Sam Dimond）表示，他在这次火灾中失去了生计。 他的公司总部就设在这个工业现场。 他告诉BBC：“基本上全没了。非常多的人失去了生计。我们有需要服务的客户，有需要工作的员工，但目前他们没有可以回去的工作场所。” 来自埃塞克斯郡阿辛顿（Ashingdon）的46, 岁居民亚德里安·沃克（Adrian Walker）表示：“地面在摇晃，建筑在震动，窗户在颤抖，鸟儿飞走了——而我就在15英里外。” “我从未听过这样的声音。起初，我以为是舒伯里内斯（Shoeburyness）的国防部在测试新型弹药。”
萨布丽娜·米勒 (Sabrina Miller) 白厅记者
萨布丽娜·米勒报道
查戈斯群岛（Chagossians）的土著居民敦促安迪·伯纳姆在为时太晚之前，废除基尔·斯塔默爵士（Sir Keir Starmer）关于该群岛的赠与计划。 在《电报》看到的一封周一发送给新首相的信函中，伯纳姆先生被敦促承认“查戈斯人民的自决权”。 这封由数十名其他英国查戈斯支持者签署的信件补充道：
IOANNIS ALEXOPOULOS/LNP
迷失方向：昨日，在尝试跨越英吉利海峡之前，移民们在法国北部敦刻尔克的海滩上聚集在一条充气船上。 今年到目前为止，共有13,373名移民完成了跨海航行，比去年同期下降了40%以上。
警方正在调查由该党副党魁 Richard Tice 经营的一家公司向改革英国党 (Reform UK) 支付的款项。
大都会警察局已对 Britain Means Business 在 2024 年 7 月大选前向该政党提供的两笔 £250,000 捐款展开调查。
Tice 先生表示，这笔资金是由 Fiona Cottrell, 67, 给予其公司的，后者是 George Cottrell（被称为“精致乔治”）的母亲。George Cottrell 是一名被定罪的诈骗犯，也是 Nigel Farage 的盟友，多年来一直资助这位政治领袖。
这一消息传出之际，有报道称改革英国党的银行账户在 2024 年大选期间被冻结了两周。针对 BBC 首先报道的这些指控，Tice 先生告诉《电讯报》：“这是一个……
作者：Sabrina Miller 和 Ollie Corfe
专家表示，由于缺乏可建房屋，建筑学徒正纷纷退出其课程。
此前，被重新任命为住房部部长的 Angela Rayner 承认，要实现工党 2024 年竞选宣言中在 2029 年前建造 1.5 million 栋新房的承诺将十分“吃力”。
在本届议会的头两年中，每年完成的房屋数量仅为 295,150 栋，而非要求的 300,000 栋。
来自房屋建筑商联合会 (Home Builders Federation) 的 Steve Turner 表示，建筑类课程留存率低的最“主要原因”是“政府建设的房屋数量不足”。
《电讯报》的一项分析发现，在 2024-25 年度，“建筑、规划和建筑环境”课程的学徒完课率约为 58.3%，在所有学徒行业中最低。
Turner 先生表示，有很多年轻人正在学习建筑课程，但“如果你没有能让他们安置的工作，或者没有能让他们培训的工地，他们就无法获得资格证书。
“他们无法获得实习机会，因此他们会漂移到其他领域。你必须增加产量，然后行业才会寻求招收学徒和年轻人。”明天，安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 将讨论投资于学徒制等领域，以帮助年轻人寻找工作。
但《电讯报》的分析显示，约 35% 的学徒在未获得资格证书的情况下退出了学徒课程。
根据 2024-25 年的数据，在 636 种不同的学徒项目中，约 44 种项目的完课人数不足起始人数的一半。大约 10
“在斯塔默 (Starmer) 拟议的投降法案通过的过程中，我的查戈斯群岛同胞和我一起保持在场并团结一致。我们这样做具有紧迫性，因为我们知道，而且现在依然知道，这关乎重大利益。
“在这个关键时刻，我请求你们公开呼吁取消这项政策，并支持目前提交议会的《英国主权保护（查戈斯群岛）法案》[HL]，以此与我们的社区站在一起。
“该法案将维护英国主权，并确保在没有查戈斯群岛人民同意的情况下，不能进行任何主权移交。”
该通知是在《电讯报》揭露英国新领导人计划推进将查戈斯群岛移交给毛里求斯后不到 24 小时内发布的。上周，Robbie
公开呼吁 取消 这项政策， 以此 与我们的 社区 站在一起”
建筑、规划及建筑课程的完课率， 为所有学徒培训领域中最低的。
其中一部分属于“建筑与施工”子类别，这 中包括手工砖匠，其达标率仅为 30% 。 空调和热泵技术员计划的完课率为 34.5% ， 而 44.2% 的管道与供暖学徒获得了 预期资格证书。 与此同时，火车司机和生物医学 学徒的成功率分别为 90.5% 和 100% 。 Steven Mulholland，首席执行官
BBC 发布的这篇令人不齿的抹黑文章， 我的律师将与其接洽。 “这似乎是在另一篇针对改革党 (Reform) 的 《星期日泰晤士报》报道后的一小时内， 经过精心协调而发布的。 “在我们就国家犯罪局 (NCA) 可能涉嫌多项 刑事犯罪确认采取法律行动之后， 伦敦警察厅 (Met) 的领导层正向 BBC 泄露 不利于我的信息，这难道是巧合吗？” 2024 年 5 月，贵族且已退休的造型师 Cottrell 女士以个人名义向改革党 (Reform UK) 捐赠了 £500,000 。 其中两笔 £250,000 的款项分别于 9 月 5 日 和 29 月 5 日支付。随后她又向 Richard Mr Tice 的公司捐赠了 100 万英镑。 其中一半随后被捐赠给改革党 (Reform UK)。 “英国意味着商业” (Britain Means Business) 公司于 6 月 10 日向改革党 (Reform UK) 支付了 £250,000 ，随后在 6 月 12 日再次支付。 Mr Tice 本月早些时候告诉 BBC， 公司将 Fiona Cottrell 的资金捐给改革党 完全是他个人的选择。2025 年 2 月，
来自建筑设备租赁协会 (Construction Plant-hire Association) 行业团体的负责人表示，政府本应 “更早采取行动”以实现其住房目标。 他补充道：“提高学徒留存率的第一步是 让企业更容易地投资年轻人。但事实 恰恰相反。 “我们发现 43% 的公司在未来一年 将减少招聘学徒，因为不断上涨的运营成本、 雇佣成本、监管要求以及薄弱的项目储备 正迫使他们缩减规模。这些发现出现的 时机极其糟糕。” 建筑业培训委员会 (Construction Industry Training Board) 负责人 Tim Balcon 补充道：“解决方案的一部分是 寻找一种方法，让雇主更有信心雇佣 新入门人员并为他们提供长期就业， 实现这一目标的一种方式是确保 建筑培训与实际就业机会紧密相连。” 一名政府发言人表示：“认为建筑 学徒达标率全面低下的说法是错误的。 “例如手工木工和接合工艺的达标率 达到了令人印象深刻的 82.9% ，且 所有学徒的整体资格达标率在三年内 上升了 14% 。
外交部海外领土及极地司司长 Bulloch 告诉毛里求斯总检察长 Gavin Glover， 尽管英国领导层发生了更替，但将查戈斯 (Chagos) 交给毛里求斯的计划“不太可能改变”。 作为回应，英国查戈斯人 Marie Vanessa Mandarin Calou 给安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 写信，要求举行会议讨论保护英国查戈斯人 权利的方法。她解释说，这次移交违反了 工党 2024 年竞选宣言中关于“保护 英国海外领土主权和自决权”的承诺。 根据目前的协议条款——被保守党 定性为一次“投降”——英国可以回租 具有战略重要性的英美共建迪戈加西亚 (Diego Garcia) 军事基地，金额为 £1
作者：Jonathan Leake 能源编辑
影子能源大臣克莱尔·库廷霍（CLAIRE COUTINHO）指责英国电网运营商 Neso 向大臣撒谎，并在停电风险问题上误导公众。
此前有越来越多的证据表明，上个月英国电网几乎崩溃，当时同步发生的波热浪以及风能和太阳能输出的骤降触发了严重的频率波动。
现在，库廷霍女士指责 Neso 在电网失去控制的临界程度问题上误导了大臣和公众。
她表示：“[[SOURCE_CLEANUP_NOTE: 文本缺失/损坏]] 紧急情况和诚信……但 Neso [[SOURCE_CLEANUP_NOTE: 文本缺失/损坏]] 压力……以及……他们关于……的指控……对……的威胁……是虚假的。那是……拥有一个内部……确认……违反了标准……系统安全……被损害。”
“而且现在……看起来它已经……可能地向大臣撒谎，因为迈克尔·尚克斯（Michael Shanks）[初级能源大臣]说他与 Neso 沟通后被告知‘我们从未接近违反要求’。但 Neso 自己的内部评估显示，他们认为自己确实那样做了。”
库廷霍女士还表示，她已致信新任能源大臣米亚塔·法恩布勒（Miatta Fahnbulleh），要求进行调查。
Neso 是一家政府拥有的公司，运营英国的电力和天然气网络，目前由法恩布勒女士监督，她于上周接替了新任外交大臣埃德·米利班德（Ed Miliband）的职务。其主要辩护理由是英国[[SOURCE_CLEANUP_NOTE: 文本缺失/损坏]] 证明了……国家……那些……由……风暴……最近……失去……几个……价值 £35bn。该协议被无限期暂停，原因是唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）提出了安全担忧。这位美国总统的盟友担心，将军事基地附近海域的控制权交给中国和与伊朗结盟的毛里求斯，将为间谍船打开大门。
查戈斯群岛选出的首席部长米斯利·曼达林（Misley Mandarin）在流亡 50 年后，于 2 月在 Coin 岛建立了永久定居点，他告诉《电报》：“我希望安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）知道，民族自决对我们来说非常重要。”
“伯纳姆先生需要废除那项协议，并保护美国与英国之间的特殊关系。”
他还抨击了英国拟议在 2027 年向查戈斯人提供返回故土的“遗产访问”计划，称这不过是一次“宣传之旅”。批评者认为，此举是一个愤世嫉俗的企图，旨在让选定的查戈斯人在英国和毛里求斯政府的严格控制下访问这些岛屿。
今年早些时候，当外交事务部向在流亡 50 多年后返回祖先故土的查戈斯定居者发出驱逐令时，引发了一场争论。驱逐令告知他们，如果拒绝离开岛屿，将面临三年的监禁或 £3,000 的罚款。
但这些驱逐通知后来在法院的一项裁决中被撤销，裁决指出必须考虑定居者的“遗产权利”。
联合国也在审查基尔爵士（Sir Keir）试图将原住民从该群岛驱逐出境是否构成了“反人类罪”。
【OCR清理说明：以下内容似乎属于另一篇关于政治捐款的文章片段】 伦敦警察厅在选举委员会提交报告后，根据《2000年政党、选举和公民投票法》第 61 条开始调查这些捐款。
昨天，BBC 透露警方正在调查由“英国商业人士”（Britain Means Business）支付的款项。
据《电报》了解，到目前为止，警方尚未与该党内的任何人交谈，甚至没有提出要求。改革党（Reform）的一位发言人表示，该党无法……（提及 23）。
将使用在 乌克兰经过 实战测试的 无人机
作者：Tom Cotterill 国防编辑
英国士兵很快将配备数十架经过乌克兰实战测试的新型间谍无人机。国防部 (MoD) 已宣布计划投入高达 £400m 采购新型 AR5 无人机，该协议将支持英国境内数百个就业岗位。这些能够进行远程侦察的飞行器将在英国斯温顿 (Swindon) 的新无人机制造工厂生产，预计将于今年晚些时候开始服役。AR5 由葡萄牙科技公司 Tekever 设计，自 2022 年起被乌克兰广泛使用，以帮助基辅击退入侵的俄罗斯军队。它能够携带 50kg 的先进监测设备（如摄像头和传感器），可用于扫描战场的威胁。
国防大臣 韦斯·斯特里廷 表示：“基于在乌克兰的实战证明以及旨在全球范围内保护英国士兵的设计，我们选择了总部位于英国的 Tekever AR5 无机，旨在为我们的工作人员提供能让他们在应对新兴威胁时保持领先的装备。”
作为一项预计为期 10 年且仍需等待合同签署和最终批准的协议的一部分，陆军已初步订购了 6 架 AR5，到 2029 年将增加至多 18 架。AR5 将取代陆军的“观察者”(Watchkeeper) 无人机，后者自 2014 年起服役，但在经历了一系列令人尴尬的挫折后被提前退役。“观察者”无人机原计划服役至 2040 年代，但该项目对国防部而言被证明是一场灾难。成本从 2005 年下单时的 £800m 飙升至 £135，且自 2014. 年起，54 架飞机中有 8 架坠毁。消息人士称，这些无人机过于不稳定且操作复杂，士兵难以驾驶。国防部表示，新型 AR5 机队将比“观察者”强大得多，能够提供“显著提高的续航力、传感器能力和可靠性”。
直到 BBC 联络寻求评论之前，他们并不知晓警方对 Tice 先生公司的调查。 伦敦警察厅一名发言人表示：“警局特别调查组的侦探正在调查涉嫌违反《2000 年政党、选举和全民公投法》第 61 条的罪行。”选举委员会告诉 BBC，其已知晓警局已发表声明，不作进一步评论。
报告表明，其违反了五项运行安全约束，且系统安全性遭到破坏。 Coutinho 女士在举报人的提醒下意识到了问题的严重性，并在下议院提出了该问题。她的指控是，不仅电网面临崩溃风险，而且 Neso 在事后试图掩盖威胁的规模。这包括误导 Neso 员工、媒体和部长。 这一切都发生在对 Neso 在实现由 Miliband 先生设定并由 Fahnbulleh 女士监管的 2030 年电网脱碳目标中所承担的前线角色进行政治审查的背景下。 Neso 首席执行官 Fintan Slye 随后委托律师事务所 Eversheds Sutherland 对 Coutinho 女士围绕 6 月 23 日事件所提出的问题进行独立调查。 关于停电的指控引发了 Shanks 先生在社交媒体上的愤怒发帖，他将其描述为“绝对不实且……哗众取宠的胡言乱语”。 Neso 表示：“英国拥有世界上最可靠的电力系统之一，可靠性高达 99.999%。我们的专家定期识别新兴挑战，并在其具体化之前制定应对计划。”
被指控 “像黑手党 一样行事”
患者生命支持系统前 应先寻求法院批准
作者：Tim Sigsworth 新闻记者
一个悲痛欲绝的家庭在最高法院关于维持生命患者权利的审理前，指责一家国民医疗服务体系（NHS）信托机构的行为“像黑手党一样”。
埃普瑟姆与圣海利尔大学医院信托（Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust）正向英国最高法院提出上诉，试图推翻一项赋予维持生命患者新保护措施的判决。
上诉法院今年早些时候裁定，如果患者家属希望继续治疗，NHS信托机构在终止失能患者的维持生命治疗前必须获得法院许可。
法官在判决中指出，伦敦的圣海利尔医院在违背家属意愿撤除 68 岁患者罗伯特·巴诺（Robert Barnor）的生命支持系统之前，应当寻求法院批准。
巴诺在去年一次中风后遭受了广泛的脑损伤，由于医生在违背其家属意愿的情况下停止了其每周两次的肾病透析治疗，他于2月去世。
医生们判定他没有希望恢复到“有意义的意识状态”或享有足够的“生活质量”。
巴诺的女儿莱斯利·巴诺-汤森德（Lesley Barnor Townsend）将即将与运营该医院的信托机构展开的最高法院之争描述为一场“大卫与歌利亚”式的战斗。
“一切都由NHS控制，”她说。“所以如果他们不给你（继续维持生命透析治疗的）许可，就没有其他办法。这是我个人的观点：感觉简直就像黑手党。如果他们说不，你就无处可去。”
她补充道：“我们由衷地尊重医生的专业精神、技能、工艺和辛勤工作。”
“但在某个环节，发生了一种公众尚未意识到的变化：‘不造成伤害’已不再是准则。医生在任何情况下或通过任何可能的方式帮助你，已不再是理所当然的事情。”
罗伯特·巴诺，68岁，去年中风后遭受了广泛的脑损伤
萨布丽娜·米勒 (Sabrina Miller) 白厅驻在记者
一群被错误通知通过了一项关键考试的医生，正起诉皇家内科医学院（RCP）“专业过失”。
在发生“人为错误”导致数百名于 2023 年 9 月 6 日参加皇家内科医学院会员（MRCP UK）书面考试第二部分的医生收到错误结果后，21 名医生发起法律诉讼。
这导致他们在从业一年多时间里，并未意识到自己不具备相关资格。
作者：Frank Wolfreys
Holland & Barrett 已被迫雇佣便衣侦探，以应对针对其高端产品的商店窃贼增加的问题。 这家健康连锁店已启用便衣人员，旨在铲除数量日益增加的犯罪分子，这些人已将目标转向该公司体积小且价格昂贵的商品，例如麦卢卡蜂蜜。 “商业街上的这种行为简直令人无法接受，”Holland & Barrett 集团首席执行官安东尼·霍顿（Anthony Houghton）表示。 他在接受《泰晤士报》采访时说：“我们不得不采取这种措施，这太糟糕了。” 作为应对盗窃案增加努力的一部分，该公司还聘请了零售犯罪情报公司 Auror，该公司提供关于哪些门店风险最高以及最需要私人安保人员的数据。 该零售商还储备了一系列——
任何可能的方式。事实确实如此。” 该信托机构已获得许可，就上诉法院的裁决向最高法院提起上诉。预计其将在最高法院主张，当临床医生的专业意见认为应停止维持生命治疗时，不应被要求继续提供该治疗。 如果此次挑战成功，那么对于 NHS 信托机构而言，在家属希望继续治疗的情况下必须寻求法院许可才能终止维持生命治疗的新要求将不再适用。 据了解，该 NHS 信托机构在获得法律建议及三位外部医生的第二诊疗意见后，决定停止对巴诺（Barnor）的治疗。 保护法院（Court of Protection）最初在 2 月份裁定不审理其家属要求继续治疗的案件，随后这一决定被上诉法院推翻。然而，在上诉法院判决下达时，巴诺已经去世，这使得法院无法决定是否强制信托机构恢复其治疗。 该信托机构提起上诉的申请得到了英国医疗体系的支持，包括 NHS 英格兰（NHS England）、前卫生大臣詹姆斯·默里（James Murray）以及前司法大臣大卫·拉米（David Lammy）的支持。 巴诺的家属也被准许向最高法院提起他们自己的上诉。他们将在最高法院主张，上诉法院在他们的法律挑战尚在法院审理期间，未命令信托机构恢复其维持生命治疗是错误的。 两方的主张预计将在今年 12 月或明年 1 月作为单一案件在最高法院进行审理。NHS 信托机构已被命令支付巴诺家属的诉讼费用。 巴诺-汤森德夫人（Mrs Barnor Townsend）补充道：“如果治疗在法官做出裁决之前就被撤除，那么家庭诉诸法院的权利就毫无意义。” “我们很感激最高法院将审理我们的上诉。拯救我的父亲已经太迟了，但保护其他父亲、母亲、丈夫、妻子和孩子还来得及。” 支持巴诺家属的基督教法律中心（Christian Legal Centre）首席执行官安德烈亚·威廉姆斯（Andrea Williams）表示，这场最高法院的之争将成为“全国每个家庭的里程碑式案例”。 埃普瑟姆和圣海伦大学医院信托（Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust）的一位发言人表示：“除了我们医生的临床观点外，我们还就此案寻求了独立专家的法律建议和指导；我们在其他国家机构的支持下，对上诉法院的决定提出上诉。”
被迫这样做。另一名医生通过了考试，但被错误地告知失败，随后不得不补考，她也是这起针对皇家内科医学院（RCP）数百万英镑诉讼的一部分。 根据《电讯报》看到的“索赔函”，受此次错误影响的人员“承受了即时的职业不确定性、专业上的尴尬、情感痛苦、健康后果以及经济后果”。 信函继续写道：“许多原告发现这些错误在他们的人生阶段中尤为棘手，因为这发生在许多关于家庭、关系和职业的重要个人决定正处于——”
小型高端运动营养产品，例如一种售价为 £54、重量为 480g 的有机骨汤补充剂。 该公司指出，此类物品经常被盗，以便在二级黑市上转售。 在 Holland & Barrett 最近的年度报告中，提到“针对员工的事件有所增加”，目前该公司所有员工均佩戴随身摄像头。 自 2014 年相关法律生效以来，英国的商店盗窃案在十多年间激增，该法律意味着任何盗窃产品价值低于 £200 的人将不会被监禁。工党随后废除了这一限制。 去年，商店盗窃案达到了创纪录的 530,643 起。 贸易团体英国零售协会（British Retail Consortium）的犯罪政策顾问露西·温格（Lucy Whing）表示，企业需要采取更多措施来打击商店盗窃流行之风。 “盗窃仍然是一个巨大的问题，存在惯犯和有组织犯罪——”
作者：艾米莉·史密斯 (Emily Smith)
Punch 在被母亲遗弃、仅靠一个红毛猩猩毛绒玩具寻求安慰后名声大噪。这只孤儿猕猴在东京附近一家动物园的围栏里遭到其他猴子的欺负，人们经常看到他拖着那个毛茸茸的伙伴独自徘徊。
但现在，随着 Punch 在昨天满周岁，他被新朋友们簇拥在身边，并收到了来自全球粉丝的数千张生日贺卡。许多贺卡及其他信息……
在职业 前景和 专业 名誉方面 受到了 严重损害”
正在做出。受影响的医生基于错误的结果，做出了重大的人生决定，例如结婚甚至生育子女。其中一些决定是不可逆转的。” 在 1,451 名希望成为专科医生的候选人中，61 人被错误地告知未能通过，而实际上他们已经通过；另有 222 人被告知通过，而实际上他们未能通过。 这一错误在 18 个月后的 2025 年 2 月 19 日才被揭露，此前另一个无关的考试错误触发了对过往结果的审计。 这种情况发生的原因是负责评分的机构忘记手动删除一个占位符“虚拟”答案——选项 A——该选项因技术原因被输入到了评分系统中。 这意味着 80% 的答案似乎有两个正确选项——真正的正确答案和选项 A。 所有英国候选人的得分都比应得的要高。 与此同时，高于正常的通过率意味着等级分界线被异常抬高，导致 61 名不受该错误影响的国际候选人在本应通过的情况下被告知未能通过。 代表原告的 Patron Law 发言人表示，目前正寻求从 RCP 获得一项“重大赔偿”。
[[IMG_XXXX]] （注：此处对应原文中关于商店抢劫及零售犯罪的段落） “……团伙系统性地接连针对一家又一家商店，”她说道。 她补充说，更好的情报共享和零售商强有力的执法，对于扭转一直困扰英国商业街的零售犯罪形势至关重要。 Greggs 在 4 月决定移除其一组伦敦门店的展示柜，这些门店是店主被盗和反社会行为最集中的区域。 此前，今年 3 月的数据显示，此类行为同比增长约 20%。 超市连锁店 Co-op 通过在包括坎伯兰香肠在内的低价商品上安装 GPS 追踪器，加强了对小额商品的执法。 正如《电报》在 2025 年 4 月报道的那样，Co-op 表示，安装追踪器已帮助其将整体零售犯罪数字降低了 21%。 Holland and Barrett 尚未对此发表评论。
（注：此处对应原文中关于动物园猴子 Punch 的段落） 在室内 Punch 的生日展览中，墙上贴满了贺卡，游客还可以观看记录 Punch 早期生活的视频。 Punch 在一年前被母亲抛弃，据推测是因为精疲力竭。饲养员照顾他，并给了他这个玩具以培养他的抓握能力，这是新生猕猴生存所必需的。 “由于 Punch 每天都在非常努力地挣扎生存，他的两名饲养员竭尽全力，其他员工也在照看他，”市川市动物园园长安永隆（Takashi Yasunaga）在回忆过去一年时说道。“在 Punch 出生时天气极其炎热。随着炎热季节的回归，这段记忆对我来说依然清晰。” 安永先生说，Punch 不再是那个拿着玩具的圆滚滚的婴儿，当他与其他猴子混在一起玩耍时，已经很难将他区分开来。他仍然吸引大量人群，并收到了来自日本国内外约 2,500 张生日贺卡。 神户居民石泽久美（Kumi Ishizawa）在参加生日展时表示，她是在今年早些时候通过社交媒体发现 Punch 的。 从那时起，克服疾病来看望他就成了她的目标。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 上方的一位动物园游客正在观看寄给 Punch 的数千张贺卡，此时的他状态良好（右图）。去年（左图），他唯一的朋友是一个填充的猩猩玩具。
IAN FORSYTH/GETTY IMAGES
个人 决定 是在错误 的结果基础上 做出的…… 其中一些是 不可逆转的”
“他感动了我……我一直告诉自己，我会好起来，然后去看看Punch，”石泽女士说道。她随后康复，并在一次商务旅行结束后顺道访问了动物园。“我现在来了，我做到了。我很高兴终于能亲眼见到他。” 在成为Punch的粉丝之前，Yeye Lights从未访问过这座动物园，而现在她拥有一张年度访客通行证。在她在菲律宾的女儿告诉她关于这只猴子的故事后，她被Punch吸引了。“我给Punch-kun带了蛋糕，我和朋友们一起庆祝，”Lights女士说道，她对这个男孩使用了日语中亲昵的敬称。
他补充道：“他们的行为导致我们的客户遭受了重大损失，而这些客户本身并没有过错，但他们的职业前景和专业声誉受到了严重损害。” “我们希望这一不幸事件能尽快得到适当的解决。” 一名RCP发言人确认已收到该法律索赔，并表示在案件审理期间，进一步发表评论是不恰当的。 他补充说，该机构对于所发生的事情一直“完全透明”，并委托约翰·麦克拉赫兰 (John McLachlan) 教授就考试问题进行独立的外部审查。
特拉格拉夫记者 报道
索斯波特杀手阿克塞尔·鲁达库巴纳 (Axel Rudakubana) 在从高安全性监狱转移到精神病院后，被指责试图让受害者的家人们“再次陷入创伤”。 现年 19 的鲁达库巴纳因谋杀 9 岁的 Alice da Silva Aguiar 和 6 岁的 Bebe King 而被判处终身监禁，以及
曾会见哈马斯 领导人
萨布丽娜·米勒 (Sabrina Miller) 与 尼克·古特里奇 (Nick Gutteridge) 报道
安迪·伯纳姆 的新任总检察长被指控对“哈马斯表示同情”，此前他与该组织高层在耶路撒冷会面的照片重新出现。 安迪·斯劳特 (Andy Slaughter) 将就禁令决定向政府提供建议。他于 2010 年 11 月 5 日至 11 月 9 日期间在耶路撒冷，与杰里米·科尔宾 (Jeremy Corbyn) 一起参加了一次前往巴勒斯坦领土的实地调查之旅，费用为 £927，由“阿克萨之友” (Friends of Al-Aqsa) 和《中东监察》(Middle East Monitor, Memo) 赞助。 一份由 Memo 发布且现已被删除的报告透露，两人会见了“巴勒斯坦政治光谱中的双方，包括法塔哈和哈马斯的成员及代表”。
工党竟然 让他对 禁令决定 拥有最终决定权”
Memo 档案中公布的照片包括一张斯劳特先生和科尔宾先生与穆罕默德·托塔 (Mohammed Totah)、艾哈迈德·阿图恩 (Ahmed Attoun) 和哈立德·阿布-阿拉法 (Khaled Abu-Arafeh) 的合影，这些人已知与哈马斯有联系。 影子司法大臣尼克·蒂莫西 (Nick Timothy) 将斯劳特先生的任命描述为一种“耻辱”，并指责他表现出了“对哈马斯的同情”。 托塔先生和阿图恩先生是在以哈马斯关联的“变革与改革”票单参选后，被选入巴勒斯坦立法委员会的；而阿布-阿拉法则由哈马斯领导的政府任命为巴勒斯坦耶路撒冷事务部长。 阿图恩先生于 2011 年在耶路撒冷被以色列国防军逮捕，并被驱逐至约旦河西岸。 托塔先生和阿布-阿拉法先生在 2012 年均被以色列警方逮捕，此前他们为了逃避抓捕，在东耶路撒冷的一个国际红十字会化合物中封锁自己长达 18 个月。支持
蒂姆·西格沃思 (Tim Sigsworth) 新闻记者 报道
由 唐纳德·特朗普 设立的一个委员会警告称，英国的宗教自由度正在下降。 该宗教自由委员会于上月发布了其报告草案，将英国列为宗教自由限制在增加的西方国家示例。 该机构是由美国总统在 2025 年设立的，旨在报告
令我们更不安全并鼓励激进分子
Jeff Blacke
萨迪克·汗（SADIQ KHAN）已加入了“种族灭绝”指控的行列，要求逮捕以色列的本雅明·内塔尼亚胡。伦敦市长追随纽约同样痴迷于反以色列立场的人员佐兰·马姆达尼（Zohran Mamdani）的脚步，向 Channel 4 News 吹嘘，如果内塔尼亚胡再次踏上英国土地，他将游说首相安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）将其逮捕。几天前，当前足球运动员加里·利尼克（Gary Lineker）这位自封的国际法“重量级人物”轻描淡写地向以色列抛出“种族灭绝”指控时，伯纳姆先生未能对其提出质疑。强硬派
七岁的埃尔西·多特·斯坦科姆（Elsie Dot Stancombe），以及对其他 8 名儿童和 2 名成年人的谋杀未遂。 本周早些时候，司法部确认鲁达库巴纳（Rudakubana）已从监狱转移到布罗德穆尔医院（Broadmoor Hospital），这一决定引发了广泛批评。 本周三将是他在泰-
哈马斯（Hamas）的最高刑期为 14 年。哈马斯拥有独立的政治和军事分支。该组织的军事部门在 2001. 被英国禁用。该组织在 2021. 11 月被全面禁止。根据恐怖主义法，支持哈马斯的最高刑期为 14 年。斯劳特（Slaughter）先生还声称，在 2010 年 3 月 5-8, 2010 日与英国-巴勒斯坦全党小组的一次未公开的加沙之行中，他分别会见了哈马斯司法部长法拉杰·古尔（Faraj al-Ghoul）和哈马斯外交部副部长艾哈迈德·约瑟夫博士（Dr Ahmed Yousef）。约瑟夫博士在 2006 年至 2014. 期间曾是哈马斯政治领导人伊斯梅尔·哈尼亚（Ismail Haniyeh）的得力助手。古尔先生是哈马斯的高级领导人，在 Oct 7 恐怖袭击后，于 2025, 被以色列暗杀。在这次 2010, 3 月的行程之后，斯劳特先生主张各国政府应更积极地与哈马斯谈判。他在《卫报》（The Guardian）一份日期为 March 13, 2010, 的文章中写道：“我上周作为英国-巴勒斯坦全党小组议会代表团的一员从加沙访问归来 (...) 打破僵局的一种方法是，与那些拥有授权且愿意取得进展的人在没有前提条件的情况下进行谈判。‘根据我在过去三年中多次访问该地区的经验，这包括哈马斯。’” 针对这次任命，蒂莫西（Timothy）先生回应道：“任命安迪·斯劳特为总检察长（Solicitor General）简直是绝对的耻辱。斯劳特对哈马斯表示同情，而工党竟然将禁止决策的最终决定权和政府法律部门的指挥权交给他，这简直令人难以置信。” 检察总长办公室的一位发言人表示：“政府的任命由首相仔细考虑。” “总检察长将以该职位所要求的政治公正和对法治的遵守，履行其职责，包括在监督起诉决定方面扮演的任何角色。” “总检察长一直坚定地谴责哈马斯的行为，并长期支持两国方案，即一个可行的巴勒斯坦国和以色列能够和平共处。” 斯劳特先生已被联系请求置评。
关于美国的宗教自由状况，并批评欧洲国家引入法律，导致人们因“遵守其宗教信仰而面临处罚”。 报告称：“甚至在其他西方国家，政府也采取了许多此类政策。在英国，警方最近逮捕了退伍军人兼物理治疗师亚当·史密斯-康纳（Adam Smith-Connor），罪名是在内心默默祈祷。” 史密斯-康纳是
加沙 确实有 许多苦难， 但绝非 种族灭绝…… 战争是 混乱且 地狱般的”
西方各地的反以色列活动人士在十多年来一直谴责加沙发生的“种族灭绝”——这远在哈马斯恐怖组织在 Oct 7 2023. 实施臭名昭著的暴行并引发毁灭性战争之前。然而，在被注入主流社会，并被曾经受人尊敬的联合国、一些人权律师和公众人物放大并赋予正当性后，“种族灭绝”的指控已不再限于极少数激进分子。虽然现在这么说几乎成了禁忌，但他们全都深刻地错了。是的，加沙可能确实有许多苦难，但那里绝非在进行种族灭绝。
我曾在武装部队担任最高级别律师近二十年，因此当我地说战争是混乱且地狱般的时，我是基于评判作战部队的经验而谈的。事情可能会，而且经常会，出现差错。平民死亡是武装冲突中一个悲剧性的特征，且自古以来便是如此。假装并非如此纯属幻想。
然而，种族灭绝是一种极其严重的罪行。在纳粹大屠杀之后，那些在 1948 年起草《防止及惩治国际罪行公约》的人将种族灭绝定义为“蓄意摧毁一个人类群体”。这意味着“蓄意全部或局部地摧毁一个民族、种族、种族或宗教团体而杀害成员、致其严重受伤、蓄意造成足以导致其全部或局部被摧毁的生活条件、强制防止生育或强行将儿童转移出该团体”。换句话说，就是消灭一个民族。
该定义明确指出，“在战争行动过程中给平民造成损失，即使是重大损失，通常不构成种族灭绝”。没有任何证据表明以色列有意摧毁巴勒斯坦人整体或加沙人。他们采取的预防措施（如通过散发传单和电话通知平民注意袭击）、为平民提供援助的便利以及士兵的交战规则，所有这些都证明了相反的情况。以色列甚至在战争期间为 640,000 名 10 岁以下加沙儿童提供了一项紧急脊髓灰质炎疫苗接种计划——这绝不像
[[IMG_XXXX]] DAVE BENETT/GETTY IMAGES
《友好的对手》(Friendly Rivals) 节目主持人 Fearne Cotton 和演员 Emily Atack 出席 2026 年在萨里郡埃格哈姆的卫队马球俱乐部举行的 Hurlingham 马球协会国际日活动。
2024 年 7 月 29, 2024. 的一次泰勒·斯威夫特主题舞蹈课。代表三个受害者家庭的 Chris Walker 告诉 BBC Breakfast：“我深感忧虑的是，他正试图在牢房中让这些家庭重新经历创伤，这正在形成一种模式，而且我深感忧虑的是，这种情况在每年的周年纪念日都会发生。”
三个被谋杀儿童的家庭指责 Rudakubana 试图通过转移到 Broadmoor 医院来“操纵系统”。 司法部 (MOJ) 的一名发言人强调，此次转移并未改变 Rudakubana 52 年的刑期。 《电讯报》周五披露，Rudakubana 曾有长期试图“控制和操纵”医疗专业人员的历史。关于
该男子因 2022 年 11 月在多塞特郡波恩茅斯的一家堕胎诊所外祈祷，于 2024 年 10 月被定罪。波恩茅斯治安法院获悉，这名罗马天主教徒在波恩茅斯的英国妊娠咨询服务中心外低头合十，进行了一场持续三分钟的静默守候。他当时是在为他 22 年前被堕掉的儿子祈祷，对此他现在深感后悔。
Smith-Connor 被判处两年有条件释放，并被要求支付 £9,000 的罚金，原因是其违反了诊所周围法定缓冲区内禁止抗议的禁令。美国副总统 JD Vance 强调了 Smith-Connor 的案例，将其作为欧洲国家打压自由的一个例子。
Smith-Connor 告诉《电讯报》，该委员会强调他的案例是正确的。“我感谢美国宗教自由委员会揭露对自由日益增长的威胁。”
一个种族灭绝政权的行为。以色列的战斗一直以来，且始终是与哈马斯之间的战斗。其旨在摧毁一个意图消灭以色列的恐怖组织的目的是正当的。如果非要说有什么问题，那么由于以色列在过去十多年中采取的军事克制战略，在误以为哈马斯会变得温和的希望下，这一极其艰难的挑战被大大复杂化了。与此同时，哈马斯一直在计划极端的暴力行为。
伤亡数字取决于查看的是以色列国防军 (IDF) 还是加沙由哈马斯运营的卫生部的数据。独立专家估计，加沙平民与战斗人员的死亡比例在 2:1 到 5:1 之间。原始数据显示，IDF 实现的平民与战斗人员死亡比例低于美国在伊拉克的比例（约为 5:1）、苏丹战争（估计为 13:1）以及俄罗斯 2022 年入侵乌克兰马里乌波尔的比例（令人震惊的 19:1）。
这些数据使得国防大臣 韦斯·斯特里廷 提出的关于禁止与以色列进行武器贸易的自我挫败式威胁显得像个笑话。此外，由哈马斯运营的卫生部并不区分平民与战斗人员，也不承认加沙死亡者中除了以色列人以外的其他死因，例如
南港调查的第一阶段包含了多名证人的证词，描述了鲁达库巴纳如何多次试图欺骗医生、教师和支持工作人员以达到其自身目的。 家属在 7 月 22 日的一封信中被告知将鲁达库巴纳移交给布罗德摩尔医院的决定，但并未获得关于此次转移原因的细节。
英国的思想、宗教和言论自由，”他说道。 “我被调查并定罪，仅仅是因为我在静默祈祷。我希望我的案例能作为一个警告：自由不能被视为理所当然——它必须被积极地捍卫。 “任何真正自由和民主的社会都不应将和平的，甚至是静默的信仰表达定为犯罪。” 英国禁止在 150 米缓冲区内进行抗议，包括静默祈祷
并非针对 加沙人， 而是针对 哈马斯——一个 意图消灭 以色列的 恐怖组织”
pened. 沃克先生表示：“在信息真空的情况下，令人担忧的是，他正在利用这种局面为自己谋利。” 如果罪犯被认为风险增加，且由于精神障碍无法在监狱中被安全管理，则可将其转移至精神病病房。在这些病房中，他们被视为病人而非囚犯。
追缴OnlyFans色情 之星的欠税
作者：Madeleine Ross 和 Antonia Langford
在英国税务部门与基辅方面共享其收入信息后，乌克兰的OnlyFans模特们正面临法院的追讨。 英国税务海关总署 (HMRC) 自2024.年开始，将从OnlyFans的母公司Fenix International收到的数据与基辅当局共享。据乌克兰经济安全局称，这个饱受战争蹂躏国家的模特们此后已就2020-23,年期间欠缴的税款支付了超过 £1.8m。 OnlyFans是一个允许创作者上传自己的色情内容，并与付费订阅的关注者互动的网站。律师表示，由于在该国制作和传播色情制品最高可被判处七年监禁，乌克兰的模特们一直不愿与当局共享信息。 代表部分模特的律师莱西亚·米哈连科 (Lesia Mykhalenko) 告诉《电报》：“乌克兰税务当局开始联系收到收入的人员，询问他们如何履行税务义务。” 她表示，在税务数据共享后，一些模特被威胁将根据该国严厉的反色情法律而被起诉。然而，相关案件
他们实际收到的总收入。”
在引起公众强烈反弹后，相关计划被取消。 政治家们正在考虑在乌克兰将色情制品非刑事化。本月早些时候，一项法律修订在议会通过了一读；这是立法过程的第一步。 据认为，乌克兰人在 2020 和 2022 年之间从 OnlyFans 赚了超过 £100m，非刑事化的支持者表示，这可以增加数千万英镑的额外税收，用于资助与俄罗斯的战争。 虽然一些模特已经交税，但其他人认为，英国税务海关总署 (HMRC) 分享的税务信息未能正确反映其收入。例如，它没有将支付给推广者和皮条客的“代理”费用计算在内。 Mykhalenko 女士表示，许多 OnlyFans 模特通过机构工作，最终到手的收入仅为营收的 15 到 20 百分比。她表示：“他们被要求缴纳的税款高于他们实际收到的总收入……这就是我们挑战的问题。” 《电报》获悉，从明年开始，HMRC 与乌克兰之间的数据共享将自动进行。 一名 HMRC 发言人表示：“税务当局之间共享信息在打击离岸逃税和避税方面发挥着关键作用，在过去十年中，我们通过这些交换直接获得了 £1bn。”
2024 年 10 月底起，在堕胎诊所周围实施禁令。 北爱尔兰在 2023 年引入了类似的禁令，苏格兰在 2024 年底也实施了另一项禁令。 该委员会的报告受到了英国其他宗教自由活动人士的欢迎。 基督教法律中心首席执行官 Andrea Williams 表示，这是对我们“跨越数十年的工作的认可，令人欣慰”。
哈马斯向遵循以色列国防军 (IDF) 指示撤离战斗区域的加沙人开火的证据。 这种针对以色列人的“种族灭绝血祭”诽谤像野火一样蔓延，并被过多公众人物放大。这种言论可能在极左翼人士（如绿党党魁 Zack Polanski）身上被预见，但坦率地说，萨迪克爵士应该更清楚。他的城市一直被针对犹太人的恐怖袭击所震撼，而这些袭击是由那些被虚假的“种族灭绝”诽谤所鼓舞并激进化的极端分子实施的。 国际法正被一些沉溺于世界上唯一犹太国家、且不可原谅地忽视哈马斯自身种族灭绝企图之明确证据的高度意识形态化活动人士所颠覆和重新定义。如果有人犯有种族灭绝罪，那就是哈马斯、伊朗及其其他恐怖组织机构。 每当合法的军事行动被偏见媒体、意识形态边缘派系，或者更糟糕的是，由高知名度政治家随意贴上“战争罪”标签时，英国及其盟国保护公民的能力将被削弱。 最终，这让我们所有人都变得不再安全。
BEN MCELLIGOTT/BBC/PA WIRE
专业舞者 Maddie Ingoldsby（左）、Aleksandra Isaeva、Christian Priori、Lethabo Monametsi 和 Mark Karmalita 将加入即将到来的《舞动吧！》节目演员阵容
作者：汤姆·科特瑞尔 (Tom Cotterill) 国防编辑
奈杰尔·法拉奇（NIGEL FARAGE）声称，他在两个月前就曾警告部长们，伊朗正通过小船向英国走私秘密特工。这位改革党（Reform UK）领导人在 5 月 14 日的首相答问环节中，询问了一名被认为通过船只入境、在英格兰北部被捕且“面临严重恐怖主义指控”的伊朗非法移民的问题。
随后，他敦促当时的首相基尔·斯塔默（Sir Keir Starmer）爵士，针对无证青年穿越英吉利海峡的情况宣布“国家安全紧急状态”。
在《电报》揭露德黑兰如何试图利用小船走私特工后，法拉奇先生表示：“我在两个月前就说过，伊朗政权正在利用海峡向英国走私特工，而我得到的却是惯常的嘲笑。”
“我们现在简直是在让恐怖分子进来杀掉我们……这太可怕了。这是对国家安全的直接威胁。[但]没有人愿意听。我希望政治体制为此付出惨痛的代价。”
据了解，有与伊朗情报机构有关联的人员在试图通过小船入境时被拦截，当局使用了无人机和监视塔来监控可疑船只。政府坚持认为其已采取了“强有力的”措施。
然而，在欧洲大陆工作的偷渡客组织人员告诉《电报》，伊朗政权为伊朗换取某种“恩惠”，而协助加来（Calais）的移民前往英国。
英国官员并未排除这种可能性。然而，此类行动风险高、成本昂贵，且仍不能保证成功。
相反，官员们认为伊朗在英国招募犯罪团伙来执行其指令。伊朗此前已被揭露雇佣来自“法律之贼”（Thieves-in-Law）——一个来自前苏联的臭名昭著的国际犯罪团伙——的暴徒代表其进行绑架。
一个伊朗革命卫队 (IRGC) 的消息人士表示，其在英国已经有了“革命人员”。
“这些走私路线对我们来说比导弹更重要、更有用——我们不需要导弹来攻击伦敦，这比那简单得多，”该
最新一批舞者 严选“网络红人”
作者：India McTaggart 娱乐记者
《舞动吧》（Strictly Come Dancing）在选拔新一批专业舞者时，正将社交媒体的影响力放在首位。
这部长盛不衰的 BBC 系列节目将于 9 月回归。节目组聘请并留用了一批在 Instagram 和 TikTok 上都拥有大量追随者的专业舞者，内部人士承诺“今年将提供更多社交媒体内容”。
去年，主持人克劳迪娅·温克尔曼（Claudia Winkleman）和泰丝·戴利（Tess Daly）戏剧性地退出，随后节目组对阵容进行了大调整，《舞动吧》剔除了一系列专业舞者，其中包括深受粉丝喜爱的戈尔卡·马尔克斯（Gorka Marquez）和纳迪亚·比奇科娃（Nadiya Bychkova）。
然而，管理层保留了那些在线关注度较高的舞者，包括拥有 1.2 million 粉丝的戴安·布斯韦尔（Dianne Buswell），以及拥有 203,000 粉丝的新人亚历克西斯·沃（Alexis Warr）。
一名消息人士在谈到新计划时表示：“《舞动吧》现在不仅仅是每个周末的几场电视节目，因此观众可以期待今年有更多的社交媒体内容，因为《舞动吧》将变成一种观众可以在任何时间、任何地点获取的体验。”
专业舞蹈团队的新成员包括乌克兰舞者亚历山德拉·伊莎耶娃（Aleksandra Isaeva），她在 Instagram 上拥有 22,000 粉丝；麦迪·英戈尔兹比（Maddie Ingoldsby）在同一平台上也拥有 45,900 名粉丝。克里斯蒂安·普里奥里（Cristian Priori）、莱塔博·莫纳梅特西（Lethabo Monametsi）和马克·卡马利塔（Mark Karmalita）构成了新专业舞者队伍的其余成员。
该消息人士补充道：“由于他们年轻，天然就拥有强大的社交媒体影响力。”
革命卫队 (伊朗革命卫队) 消息源补充道。法拉奇先生在 4 月暗示，德黑兰正利用英吉利海峡运入特工。
他在 GB News 上表示，一名在伊朗-波斯侨民中拥有广泛人脉的消息人士向他“证实，在过去的几周里，有伊朗特工乘坐小船穿越海峡”。
根据议会情报与安全委员会 2025 年的一份报告，该政权曾试图在英国境内杀死或绑架至少 15 人。
每三秒被罚款一次
倾向于处罚司机， 而非“修复糟糕的指示牌”
作者：Steve Bird 高级新闻记者
作者：Steve Bird 资深新闻记者
数据显示，在伦敦，每 2.6 秒就有驾驶员被罚款。首都的地方当局一直在开出创纪录数量的违章停车及交通违规罚单（PCNs），并从中获利数百万英镑。
最新公布的统计数据将进一步引发批评，认为地方议会将驾驶员视为“现金牛”，以此缓解资金短缺的地方当局所面临的财政危机。
代表驾驶员的活动团体表示，这些数据证明议会对罚款的财政依赖程度日益增加，因此他们有既得利益促使他们继续处罚驾驶员，而不是确保标志清晰并引导驾驶员遵守道路规则。
向每个伦敦议会发起的的一项信息自由请求（FoI）显示，停车执法力度大幅提升，这可能是由于低交通量社区等计划所导致的。
在 2025 到 2026 财年，在回应数据请求的伦敦议会中，共开出了 5,040,073 份停车和驾驶罚单。这相当于每天开出 13,800 张罚单，通常是在上午 8 点至下午 6 点的执法时间之间。粗略计算，每小时约 1,380 张，即每 2.6 秒就有一张罚单。
然而，有 10 个议会——汉默史密斯和富勒姆、巴内特、布罗姆利、伊灵、格林威治、哈克尼、默顿、刘易舍姆、豪恩斯洛和哈弗林——未能回应信息自由请求。因此，实际开出的罚单数量将明显更高。
数据显示，开出罚单数量最高的是威斯敏斯特市议会，共开出 645,261 张罚单，筹集了近 £38m。伊斯灵顿排名第二，开出了 455,000 份 PCNs，产生近 £26m 的收入。兰贝斯排名第三，去年开出 417,000 张罚单，产生 £25m 的收入。
目前尚不清楚有多少罚单被成功申诉并撤销。人们认为威斯敏斯特开出最多停车罚单的原因是该地区有大量游客和工作人员涌入。此外，在市中心对停车执法的需求也更高。
AA 协会主席埃德蒙·金（Edmund King）表示：“驾驶员每 2.6 秒就被罚款一次这一事实表明，现行制度存在严重问题。”
“这意味着地方当局没有动力去修复糟糕的标识或低劣的道路标线。”
“地方当局获得了大量罚单和资金流入，他们可能不会更换标识，因为他们有既得利益不愿停止这项收入。”
“太多的地方当局开始依赖罚款及其带来的收入。因此，他们并没有让驾驶员更容易地遵守道路规则。”
这些由 Fast Loan UK 获得的数据包括停车和驾驶 PCNs，但不包括超低排放区（ULEZ）的罚款。其中也不包括由管理伦敦红线路线的伦敦交通局（Transport for London）筹集的罚金和资金。
ROB GRAY/ALAMY LIVE NEWS
[[IMG_XXXX]] 鞍岸之滨：在苏格兰东洛锡安的马塞尔堡海滩上，马匹在疾驰。这遵循一项传统，即在为期一周的节日结束时，人们会携带一面旗帜绕边界行走。
由于作为一项 £10m 低交通量社区 (LTN) 计划的一部分而实施的路段封闭，消防员在赶往现场时被延误，导致生命处于危险之中。
LTN 区域内的塑料种植槽、上了锁的护栏以及新安装的花坛，阻碍了消防队尝试抵达紧急现场。埃文消防救援服务局 (Avon Fire & Rescue Service) 建立了一份日志，以便救援人员记录所谓的“东布里斯托宜居社区”所造成的问题。
这份根据信息自由法披露的文件揭示了布里斯托市议会在安装 LTN 以尝试鼓励“步行、轮椅出行和骑行”后，所制造的“完全荒谬”的挑战。
文件显示，部分道路由于“无法通行”，迫使消防员步行前往事故现场。在指责议会无视反对意见的情况下，活动人士正寻求进行司法复核。
东布里斯托 LTN 是由前任工党领导的议会在 2024 年试行引入的。
该计划会对进入新巴士门禁的驾驶员处以罚款，由此引发了广泛反对。
目前由绿党领导的议会在 7 月投票决定将该计划永久化。
消防员的日志在一次记录中写道：“由于障碍物，消防车无法到达现场，救援人员通过步行抵达地址。”
另一条记录称：“将道路变成死胡同的盆栽，既没有显示在消防车移动数据终端（车载计算机）上，也没有显示在卫星导航仪上。”
梅丽莎·托平 (Melissa Topping) 是一名红菲尔德 (Redfield) 居民，也是一名轮椅使用者，她一直反对 LTN。她表示，该计划给应急服务部门带来了“完全荒谬”的挑战。
她说道：“在整个计划试行期间，系统性地忽视老年和残疾居民、当地企业以及家庭，简直是耻辱。”
“花费 £10m 建设完全不能满足我们实际需求的设施，同时从最贫穷的人那里收取罚款，这表明了……”
作者：Ruby Cline
一家保龄球俱乐部在经过 125 年后，看来将被拥有该土地的教会团体驱逐出其主场地。
诺里奇的米特保龄球俱乐部 (Mitre Bowls Club) 的成员在被要求为拟建在圣托马斯教堂 (St Thomas Church) 毗邻地块的新室外咖啡馆和工作空间让路后，感到“心碎”。
俱乐部会所和绿地是从东教堂网络 (East Church network) 租来的，这是一个在 2016 年买下该地块的英格兰教会机构。
协助管理俱乐部的安吉·马丁 (Angie Martin) 表示，这一决定“绝对是毁灭性的”。
她不得不通知成员，俱乐部已收到搬迁通知，必须在 2027 年 2 月前离开。“我们花了很多年时间建立社区、友谊，以及一座极好的建筑和场地，”她说道。
据了解，教会并不打算与该俱乐部谈判，该俱乐部自 1901, 年起一直租赁这片绿地。然而，俱乐部的 70 名成员希望他们
脱离实际。这正危及生命。” 布里斯托尔市议会的 Ed Plowden 议员表示，该低交通量邻里 (LTN) 计划是在与众多团体磋商后设计的，并得到了针对该方案提交的 460 份公众声明中三分之二的支持。他补充说，在“宜居邻里”的“规划和实施”过程中，他们“定期”与应急服务部门的代表会面，并据此对方案进行了“数次修改”。 他说：“随着该方案的推进，我们将继续倾听并做出调整，为东布里斯托尔提供更安全、更健康、更愉快的街道。” 消防部门的一位发言人表示，他们继续“与合作伙伴密切合作……以管理与道路布局变化相关的任何运营影响”。
能够说服土地所有者撤销该决定。 俱乐部主席 Phil Martin 已经发起了一项在线请愿，呼吁挽救该俱乐部。他写道：“关闭将剥夺我们社区遗产的一个关键部分，以及一个急需的社交出口（为那些）将其作为陪伴和活动来源的人。” 一名教会发言人表示：
“这个空间和咖啡馆将供更广泛的社区使用，而不仅仅是教会信徒。产生的资金将用于资助社区和社会行动项目……目标是开放展亭，使其在全年向全市任何人开放。” 诺里奇市议会被敦促介入，但尚未发表评论。
作者：Tom Cotterill 国防编辑
在一次养老金计算失误后，1,000 多名退伍军人必须偿还数万英镑。 国防部 (MoD) 承认，超额支付源于武装部队两项最终薪金计划的错误，这两项计划为约 432,000 名退役士兵提供终身收入。 据估计，该错误涉及金额达 £5.1m，导致养老金在多年内被超额支付，在某些情况下，超额金额超过 10 万英镑。 根据财政部规定，公共机构必须收回所有超额支付的纳税人资金，无论责任在谁。 这意味着，尽管退伍军人不对该错误负责，但修正问题的负担落在他们的肩上，而不是养老金管理机构。 国防部最早在 2024, 年 11 月发现了问题，但通知信直到今年才寄给养老金领取者。 James Uncles 曾在海军担任 35 年的飞机工程师，是一名前准尉，他正是目前面临巨额偿还的一批退役军事人员之一。 他在 2 月 27, 日收到的一封信中被告知此问题，信中称由于 2021 年起被错误超额支付，他欠款 £45,687。 71, 岁的 Uncles 先生被告知，他的月养老金将立即减少 £1,000, 以上，几乎下降了 25%，且在接下来的五年中，每月将进一步扣除 £750 以收回资金。 他告诉《泰晤士报》：“难道这一切都要由无辜的退伍军人来承担吗？这个计划显然是有缺陷的，且已经缺陷多年，它给数百数百的人带来了影响，迫使他们不得不改变自己的生活。” 国防部表示，将以“敏感且适度的方式”收回资金。
作者：Nick Gutteridge 首席政治记者
尽管 Sadiq Khan 爵士在两年多前承诺将推广 CCTV 的使用以应对针对女性的暴力，但伦敦每 650 个公交车站中仅有一个安装了 CCTV。根据公开的数字
作者：Jacob Freedland 苏格兰记者
由于在爱丁堡巡演的表演者必须缴纳一项新的“旅游税”，前往爱丁堡观看戏剧的观众将面临演出取消和票价上涨的情况。
自周五起，在爱丁堡入住付费住宿的人员，在入住的前五晚中，每晚将被额外收取5%的费用。该税项由该市由工党领导的议会推出，旨在减轻游客数量激增对这座苏格兰首府的影响。
但由于议会排除了豁免情况，该税项也将影响包括表演者在内的工作人员。
周三，苏格兰芭蕾舞团（Scottish Ballet）表示，由于该税项，已取消了圣诞节至新年期间的几场演出。
爱丁堡国际艺术节（Edinburgh International Festival）表示，由于该艺术节需承担来自欧洲各地 147 场演出的表演者费用，该税项将使其面临约 £50,000 的账单。
苏格兰国家剧院（National Theatre of Scotland）和爱丁堡边缘艺术节（Edinburgh Fringe）也受到了影响。
代表苏格兰艺术工作者的 Cairn Union Scotland 警告称，该税项将使独立艺术家几乎“不可能”将演出带到这座城市。该组织秘书 John MacIsaac 表示，该税项将“影响”演出的成本。“最终所有成本都会体现在票价上，”他说道。
Cairn 主席 Julie Coombe 表示：“（这项税收）会令人们望而却步。住宿现在已经是一笔巨大的开支——再增加一点费用并不能提供太大的帮助。”
Cairn 与苏格兰芭蕾舞团、Equity（表演艺术工会）以及苏格兰国家剧院共同呼吁给予表演者豁免。
但议会领导人 Jane Meagher 拒绝了这些要求，称该税项设有五晚的上限，这意味着表演者需要支付的金额是有上限的。
她表示，该税项每年筹集 £50m，将用于资助 £2m 的当地文化补贴，且与其他城市相比是“适度”的。例如，访问佛罗伦萨的游客每晚需支付高达 €8 的费用。
新任首相 安迪·伯纳姆 长期以来一直支持此类税收，并且
作者：Ruby Cline
多名邮递员公开为一名将盲狗踢死的快递司机辩护。
上周，一名英国皇家邮政（Royal Mail）工作人员在白金汉郡的艾尔斯伯里（Aylesbury）踢了一只名为 Ethel 的西施犬，导致该宠物器官衰竭。
据报道，该司机已被皇家邮政停职——但邮政工作人员现在公开为其行为辩护。
一名女邮递员表示：“我踢了一只咬我腿的梗类犬为了让它离开，我以后还会这么做。”
“我想说，我们办公室大约有 10 个人被咬过。这种情况非常普遍，而且总是那些拥有
[[IMG_XXXX]] MATTHEW HORWOOD/GETTY IMAGES
德黑兰威胁：在格洛斯特郡的 RAF Fairford 基地，弹药正被装载到一架美国轰炸机上。伊朗革命卫队 (Revolutionary Guards) 宣布，在该基地被美国空军 B-1B 战略轰炸机用作攻击伊朗军事目标的发射点后，该基地已成为“合法目标”。
信息自由法显示，该市 19,500 个公交候车亭中仅有 30 个安装了监控摄像头。
保守党表示，这些数字令人“震惊”，且此时正值“越来越多”的伦敦人因为犯罪水平而“害怕”使用该网络。
萨迪克爵士（Sir Sadiq）在 2024 年市长选举的竞选宣言中誓言要“增加公交候车亭的 CCTV 覆盖范围”，以确保乘客安全并让罪犯受到法律制裁。
大伦敦议会（GLA）在二月份公布的数据显示
“从未这样做过”。皇家邮政已承诺支付 Ethel 家人的兽医账单，并对该事件展开调查。
Ethel 的主人 Eve Lewis 表示，她的
总是那些‘以前从未这样过’的狗”
显示，在首都公交网络上实施的犯罪案件破案率已从他就任市长时的 22% (2016) 降低到去年的 8%。在同一时期，作为伦敦交通局 (Transport for London) 领导的一项试点计划的一部分，仅在 30 个公交车站安装了安全摄像头。
影子交通大臣理查德·霍顿 (Richard Holden) 表示：“对于许多人来说，公交车是一种至关重要且负担得起的一种交通方式，同时有助于减少空气污染。但汗勋爵 (Lord Khan) 听任伦敦公交网络上的犯罪行为不受惩罚，导致越来越多的
被重新任命为住房部部长的安吉拉·雷纳 (Angela Rayner) 将赋予地方市长实施该措施的权力。一项过夜税可能会给英国境内家庭的“国内度假”增加高达 £300 的成本。
爱丁堡税引发的强烈反对是由苏格兰芭蕾舞团 (Scottish Ballet) 取消节日演出而触发的。这家总部位于格拉斯哥的公司表示，爱丁堡的住宿成本在 2019 和 2025 之间上涨了 72%，艺术家的年度酒店账单超过 £200,000。
执行董事史蒂文·罗斯 (Steven Roth) 表示：“前往爱丁堡巡演的经济成本正变得难以维持。”
一名邮递员补充道：“我对那只狗和主人感到难过——但我也为那位邮政员感到难过。”
社交媒体上的邮政工作人员也为该员工的行为辩护，称视频中那只狗似乎处于失控状态。
根据皇家邮政 (Royal Mail) 的数据，去年共有 2,019 起针对邮政工作人员的狗袭击事件，其中 61 起造成了严重伤害。
超过一半的袭击发生在正门，四分之一发生在花园、车道或院子里。
一名皇家邮政发言人表示：“与狗相关的事件可能给邮政工作人员带来严重风险。我们非常严肃地对待保护同事的责任。”
今年的 爱丁堡边缘艺术节 (Edinburgh Fringe)， 由表演者 芬纳坦·麦卡尼 (Finatan McCarney) 在此启动， 面临着 更高的 住宿成本
人们害怕使用公交车。公交车站的闭路电视 (CCTV) 摄像头能让人们感到更安全，并有助于应对犯罪和反社会行为。
“令人震惊的是，在汗市长领导下，在可能的 19,500 个车站中，仅有 30 个公交车站安装了 CCTV 摄像头。”
“我们需要 CCTV 覆盖更多公交车站，通过提高安全性，我们可以恢复乘客的信心，特别是女性、女孩和年轻人，让英国再次行动起来。”
每辆伦敦公交车和大型公交车站都安装了摄像头，这些摄像头也用于地铁和火车等其他公共交通
系统。一项将监控扩展至公交车站的计划于 2024 年首次启动，当时选定了首批 20 个地点，今年早些时候又增加了 10 个。
大伦敦政府 (GLA) 的数据显示，克罗伊登 (Croydon) 拥有最多摄像头，共 4 个，其次是威斯敏斯特 (Westminster)、南华克 (Southwark) 和卡姆登 (Camden)，各 3 个。
在去年夏天的一次更新中，伦敦交通局表示，该计划对女性和女孩的安全产生了“非常、非常积极的影响”。
在一次针对 1,000 名女性的调查中，五分之四的人表示 CCTV 让她们感到更安全，
近四分之三的人表示，这意味着她们更有可能乘坐公交车出行。GLA 的数据显示，2025 年伦敦公交网络上记录的犯罪案件为 3,924 起，多于任何其他形式的公共交通。
伦敦交通局安全、警务和执法总监西万·海沃德 (Siwan Hayward) 表示：“我们正在伦敦少数几个公交车站试点 CCTV，以更好地了解它能提供的益处。此次试点的结果将用于评估在伦敦其他地点更广泛引入 CCTV 摄像头的成本和可行性。”
阿德里安·布隆菲尔德 (Adrian Blomfield) 高级外政记者
和国防部长后，在政治和军事上 陷入被动
这成了弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基总统任期内最动荡的一周。事实上，这位乌克兰领导人为试图结束混乱而采取的解雇行动，也可能使这一周成为俄乌战争中影响最深远的一周。最近这场风暴——就像一年前类似的动荡一样——在很大程度上是由泽连斯基先生自己造成的。那时，他试图限制该国反腐机构的独立性，从而激怒了民众。而这一次，他在任命年仅六个月后就解雇了深受欢迎的年轻国防部长米哈伊洛·费多罗夫，这引起了人们的愤怒——许多乌克兰人（无论对错）将其视为又一次保护既得利益并抵制真正改革的企图。在这两次事件中，泽连斯基先生都被迫退让，尽管这一次他并未完全按照那些涌向乌克兰各大城市街头的抗议者的要求那样退让。在经历了六天的危机谈判后，他
再次挥起裁员之剑，屈服于民众的呼吁，解雇了总司令亚历山大·瑟尔斯基，因为后者与费多罗夫先生之间的激烈不和导致军队最高领导层陷入瘫痪。泽连斯基先生是否还会屈服于恢复其被罢免的国防部长职位的要求，目前尚不清楚。与此同时，费多罗夫先生已经获得了一次重大胜利，他成功说服总统任命其亲密盟友——一位勇猛的战场指挥官兼军事现代化专家米哈伊洛·德拉帕蒂为乌克兰新任总司令。即使这段风波尚未完全结束，其政治、社会以及最重要的军事影响已经显现。在乌克兰，街头再次发声。这个国家有着通过民众抗议推翻政治现状的悠久历史。示威活动曾横扫莫斯科支持的强人，推翻舞弊选举，并迫使政府
撤回不受欢迎的政策。这一次，抗议最终让该国最高将领丢掉了工作，迫使一名勋章满身的战争英雄离职，因为他在军队内部极不受欢迎，许多旅级指挥官称他为“屠夫”，认为他倾向于随意浪费士兵的生命。乌克兰宪法禁止在战时举行选举。然而，许多乌克兰人认为，抗议不仅被容忍而且能产生实质性结果这一事实，证明了民主和问责制依然存在。他们说，将此与俄罗斯对比，在红场上举一张白纸的人，在被弗拉基米尔·普京无处不在的安保部队强行带走之前，几乎没有时间数到 10。尽管如此，这次事件造成了深远的损害。正如一名来自泽连斯基先生所属政党的议员所承认的那样，功能失调和分裂的表象正给
俄罗斯带来利好，而此时战场上的势头才刚刚开始向乌克兰倾斜。这位反对撤换费多罗夫先生决定的泽连斯基忠实追随者在接受《电报》采访时表示：“我们给了普京一份礼物。”克里姆林宫无疑会对此次事件削弱泽连斯基先生权威这一事实感到欣喜。基辅的政治分析师弗拉基米尔·费先科表示
作者：Emily Smith 国际突发新闻记者
印度教育部长在经历了由蟑螂人民党（Cockroach Janta Party, CJP）领导的数周学生示威活动后宣布辞职。
在医学考试试题泄露，导致两百多万名学生不得不重新参加这项全球最难的大学入学考试之一后，达曼德拉·普拉丹（Dharmendra Pradhan）成为了抗议运动的目标。
就在德里警方发射催泪瓦斯驱散示威者，以及CJP领导人计划与部长们举行新一轮会谈的前几个小时，普拉丹先生在社交媒体上宣布了辞职。
他表示：“考虑到在詹塔尔-曼塔尔（Jantar Mantar）以及全国范围内出现的情况，为了防止反国家势力利用这一局面……我已向总理提交了辞职信。”
“我深切尊重国家青年的志向、情感和正当期待。”
随着他辞职的消息传开，聚集在德里中心以及其他城市的示威者中爆发出欢呼声。
此次抗议活动由CJP领导，
EFREM LUKATSKY/AP PHOTO
上图：基辅的抗议活动； 下图：泽连斯基； 右图：代理国防部长叶夫根尼·赫马拉 (L) 和军队总司令米哈伊洛·德拉帕蒂
该组织成立于5月，此前一名印度高级法官将失业青年描述为“蟑螂”。他的言论成为了引发病毒式传播的青年抗议运动的催化剂，该运动在印度社交媒体上爆发，成为针对纳伦德拉·莫迪 12 年统治期间最大规模的在线异议表达之一。
CJP 的名称是对莫迪领导的印度人民党 (Bharatiya Janata Party) 的一种戏仿，其对教育改革的要求已演变为一场涉及失业、政府问责和经济机会的更广泛的抗议活动。学生、专业人士、家庭和活动人士在德里及印度其他城市参加了集会。
周一，当莫迪身处议会内部时，持警棍的警员向试图冲破议会周围安全路障的示威者发射催泪瓦斯并进行冲锋。联邦当局限制了互联网访问以及 18 个地铁站的进入，试图遏制首都的抗议活动。
莫迪政府此前曾试图通过宣布为涉及考卷泄露的案件设立快速审理法院，并承诺制定新立法以打击考试制度中的作弊和腐败来缓解紧张局势。
要求普拉丹先生辞职的抗议领导人还要求进行更广泛的考试改革，并为自杀学生的家属提供补偿。
CJP 创始人阿比杰特·迪普克表示：“这就是民主。他已经辞职了。我们还有两项要求。我们不会就这样结束。”
“达尔门德拉·普拉丹已经辞职。但自杀孩子的家庭应该获得一千万卢比 [£78,000] 的补偿。”
再一次，一个不必要的失误让乌克兰总统在政治上陷入被动。
在他的声望已经因导致其幕僚长安德烈·叶尔马克 11 月辞职的丑闻而受损之际，这次事件进一步加剧了批评之声。
费森科先生表示：“他成功克服了这些危机。然而，这些危机的升级趋势，以及导致这些危机的国内政策错误，对泽连斯基来说是危险的。”
与许多领导人一样，泽连斯基先生也有他的缺陷。然而在这次案例中，他发现自己陷入了一种困境，这可能会重新定义乌克兰的政治及其作战方式。
数月来，泽连斯基先生试图维持费多罗夫先生与叙尔斯基将军之间的和平，并尽量不让争吵公开化。据报道，近期涉及这两个人的每次会议都充满了紧张气氛——考虑到他们对乌克兰武装部队未来截然不同的愿景，这并不令人惊讶。
叙尔斯基将军比 35 岁的费多罗夫先生年长四分之一个世纪，他是旧卫兵的化身。他无疑是勇敢的，并取得了一系列战略成功，他规划了 2022 年基辅的防御战以及同年晚些时候在哈尔科夫令人震惊的反攻。
但在许多年轻军官看来，用一名无人机指挥官的话来说，他已经变成了
一个“恐龙”：深陷于苏联思维，愿意不必要地冒风险牺牲部下生命，且无法理解快速演变的战场所要求的技术需求。
相比之下，费多罗夫先生在老派军官眼中则是一个穿着T恤的暴发户，说话方式与硅谷的技术创业者一样令人费解。
在瑟尔斯基将军看来，他以牺牲传统手段为代价而对人工智能（AI）和自主战争表现出的热情，无异于在与灾难调情。意志的冲突几乎不可避免。
费多罗夫先生认为，乌克兰的无人机战略正在产生回报，远程打击瘫痪了俄罗斯的能源部门，而对进入被占领克里米亚补给路线的持续攻击，则多次扰乱了莫斯科的后勤。
费多罗夫先生在短暂任职期间，乌克兰无人机行动的成功是不容否认的。但瑟尔斯基将军抱怨称，这是有代价的，资金被从弹药采购（尤其是炮弹）中转移。
两人多次寻找机会互相削弱。费多罗夫先生发起了一项审计，揭露了 £5bn 的超支问题，让官员们接受测谎仪测试，并且据其盟友称，他通过阻止将利润丰厚的合同引导至被青睐的公司，激怒了国防部门的部分人员。
费多罗夫先生还提高了前线步兵的薪资，建议合并表现不佳的旅，并将士兵转移到强大但人员不足的部队，改革了部队轮换制度，并倡导旨在减少伤亡的技术。
根据皇家联合军种研究所（RUSI）的杰克·沃特林（Jack Watling）所述，瑟尔斯基将军将许多此类改革视为对其权力的侵犯。作为回应，他创建了额外的旅，拆分了一些乌克兰最强有力的部队，并挫败了加强技术创新编队的尝试。
他的支持者认为，他的担忧并非没有根据。他们表示，过度关注无人机和创新而牺牲常规作战能力，具有明显的风险。
与缺乏军事经验且不可避免地限制了视野的费多罗夫先生不同，瑟尔斯基将军在涵盖所有战争形态的指挥岗位上工作了数十年。
泽连斯基最初选择解雇其国防部长而非……
JÖRN HÜNEKE/DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE/AVALON
尽管面临着采取相反行动的巨大压力，但他的总司令暗示，他至少在某些方面持有同样的保留意见。 沃特灵先生认为，无论这场争论的优劣如何，公开违抗国防部的命令，与一个寻求与欧洲更紧密整合的国家是不相兼容的，因为在欧洲，军队的文职控制是一项基本的民主原则。 在一次对乌克兰战时领导层异常直率的公开批评中，费多罗夫先生挑战了战争努力运行顺畅的说法，指责瑟尔斯基将军处处阻挠改革。 他说：“我们的所有倡议都面临完全的封锁。”瑟尔斯基将军并没有寻找击败俄罗斯的新方法，反而“想出了如何分裂这个国家”。 这是一次令人震惊的干预，它仅起到了激励抗议者的作用，抗议者或许在费多罗夫先生的困境中看到了他们自己与乌克兰旧有做事方式的斗争。 通过最终屈服于他们的要求，泽连斯基先生实际上承认了一次代际转移正在进行。新任总司令德拉帕蒂将军 43 岁，与费多罗夫先生一样热衷于创新，并且拥有其前任所缺乏的慈悲名声。 无论费多罗夫先生是否回到之前的职位，他的愿景都占据了上风。 正如一块抗议标语所宣称的：“费多罗夫代表创新。老爷爷们代表退化。” 总统已经向年轻一代低头，而乌克兰 waging war（进行战争）的方式可能再也不会像以前那样了。
莎拉·纽伊 发自曼谷
这次对话很简短。在 2021 年推翻其政府的军事政变发生前几天，昂山苏奇给她的儿子打了电话，微妙地警告他麻烦即将到来。 那是金·阿里斯最后一次听到母亲的声音。 “她给我打电话是因为她知道有些事情即将发生，” 48 岁的阿里斯先生告诉《电讯报》。“她不确定具体是什么，但她能让我知道我需要意识到有事情在酝酿。” 一两天后，阿里斯先生在伦敦目睹了坦克驶过内比都——这个前英国殖民地的现代首都，随后军政府再次拘留了他的母亲。 苏奇女士已经是世界上最广为人知的政治犯之一。她总共度过了 15 年
詹姆斯·罗斯韦尔 柏林特派记者
《电讯报》可以披露，英国的言论自由联盟 (FSU) 正在向德国扩张，以支持那些因在网上嘲讽政治人物而被威胁监禁的公民。 FSU 的创始人阿克顿的杨勋爵表示，他正在与德国的言论自由活动人士洽谈，计划在明年那里开设一个分部。 在德国的“政治侮辱”法律下，德国人因嘲讽当选官员而面临监禁判决的威胁。 数千名公民已经提交了——
得以保留，但人们 担心新纳粹分子会 将其变成一座圣地
作者：詹姆斯·克里斯普 (James Crisp)，欧洲编辑 发自柏林
阿道夫·希特勒最后一个幸存的 战时掩体面临拆除， 计划是在其上方 建造一栋公寓楼。 活动人士认为，位于 柏林 沃斯大街 (Voss Strasse) 的这座掩体 应被改为博物馆，但市政府 反对将其保留，以免它成为 新纳粹分子的圣地。 “这是政府区最后一座 仍存的掩体，可以 向公众开放，”来自非营利 组织“柏林地下世界” (Berliner Unterwelten) 协会的 凯·海恩 (Kay Heyne) 告诉《电讯报》。 他表示，人们正开始 忘记历史的教训，而将 这座博物馆变成一个 致力于纪念纳粹德国 战败的地方，可以遏制 欧洲日益增长的极端主义。 “很多人喜欢忘记， 因为忘记比
在 1989 和 2010 年期间 被软禁，在仰光 的家中获得了诺贝尔和平奖， 随后领导了缅甸短暂的民主 实验。 但这一次，她的拘留 有所不同。自 2022 年 一场公开审判结束以来，苏奇女士 几乎消失了。 没有人知道这位 81 岁老人的 去向或近况。因此，她那低调、 具有半英国血统的儿子进入了 不安的聚光灯下，向军方 高层提出了一个简单的要求：证明 我的母亲还活着。 自政变以来，阿里斯先生 经常给母亲寄信和 包含美术用品、侦探小说、 基础药物和营养强化食品的包裹。 但苏奇女士最近的一次回信 是在将近三年前——一封经过审查的、 描述季节的信件。 “那是最后一次收到我母亲的消息，” 阿里斯先生说。“那是任何人 最后一次收到她的消息。” 律师和外交官被 禁止会见苏奇女士，她是 该政权关押的至少 14,000 名 政治犯之一。她最后一次 被确认的会面是在 2023 年 7 月 与一名泰国部长会面。 今年 4 月，官方媒体称她 被从监狱牢房中移出并安置
承受极具争议的第 188 条款下 压力巨大的警察调查， 该条款实际上将粗鲁地 嘲讽政治家定为非法。 德国官员表示，该法律 是为了遏制针对政治家的 侮辱浪潮和死亡威胁，但批评者 称其被滥用于 将嘲讽政府的人刑事化。 触犯政治侮辱法 的公民将面临初步的警察调查， 如果被定罪， 最高可被判处三年监禁。 在 2024 年的一个离奇案例中， 巴伐利亚州警察搜查了一名 德国男子的家中，因为他称呼罗伯特
纪念，”他说。该掩体 曾出现在一部德国 1945 年 5 月 无条件投降后拍摄的苏联宣传片中， 片中记录了领导柏林 防御的赫尔穆特·魏德林 (Helmuth Weidling) 将军 在红军士兵的看守下， 带着他的军官走出花园出口的场景。 这座掩体位于 新帝国总理府下方——该建筑 建在从犹太人那里抢来的土地上—— 希特勒曾在此接见 外国宾客。 它是分布在政府部门 办公楼下钢筋混凝土掩体网络的一部分， 其中包括距离 120 米、位于 旧帝国总理府下方的“元首掩体” (Fuhrerbunker)， 希特勒在在那里自杀。 元首掩体已被铺平， 现在是一个不起眼的停车场， 周围环绕着由东德当局 建造的苏联式公寓。 除了位于沃斯大街、 靠近波茨坦广场和柏林主要购物中心 的这座掩体外，希特勒的权力中心 几乎没有任何遗迹。现在，一名 总部位于汉堡的投资者计划 在这座最后幸存的掩体之上 建造 66 套公寓和办公室。 海恩先生表示，这些计划将 摧毁这座掩体，而公众
金·阿里斯 (Kim Aris)（左）， 在 2011 年 其母亲昂山苏奇 访问该国古都 蒲甘 (Bagan) 的一个市场时， 保护着被支持者 迎接的母亲
HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY FOR THE TELEGRAPH/ SOE THAN WIN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
金·阿里斯担心 他的母亲正遭受 日益恶化的心脏 疾病之苦
哈贝克（Habeck）当时是副总理，被称作“schwa- chkopf”[傻瓜]。 FSU成立于2020年2月，正值所谓的“取消文化”era, 期间，公众人物和普通公民一样，因为在公开场合表达有争议或冒犯性的观点而失去工作。 FSU由《旁观者》杂志记者、保守党贵族杨勋爵（Lord Young）创建，在《电报》专栏作家艾莉森·皮尔森（Allison Pearson）因在社交媒体上发表评论（随后被删除）而受到警方调查时，FSU为其提供了支持。 但随着审查氛围开始在德国占据主导——最近一名议员声称
REINER JANICK
迪特玛·阿诺德在 纳粹地堡中，其 团体希望拯救该地。右图， 赫尔穆特·魏德林将军在 1945年阿道夫·希特勒 投降后离开地堡
被软禁在家，她的长期刑期被稍微减轻。 一张她与警方及军方官员交谈的此前未公开的照片也被发布，同时有消息人士告诉《伊洛瓦底》新闻网站，苏季女士抱怨新环境中的油漆味，该环境是内比都一座“ specially built secure house”（特制的安全房屋）。 但这一切都无法验证，阿里斯先生怀疑他的母亲是否被转移——这些说法他以前都听过。 在信息的真空状态下，传闻与猜测正四处蔓延
历史学家也并非 免于被调查”
纳粹风格的威权主义正在复兴——自由言论联盟（FSU）希望介入。杨勋爵（Lord Young）表示，他希望在 2027 年中期前看到 FSU 的德国分会正式运行。 “FSU 国际部……一直在与德国的各个团体进行沟通，并尝试说服他们建立 FSU 德国分会，”他说道。“我们希望在接下来的一年内成立这样一个团体。”
关于为什么敏昂莱（Min Aung Hlaing）——这位篡权并引发残酷内战的将军——拒绝让外界接触苏奇女士。缅甸民主活动人士金奥玛（Khin Ohmar）告诉《电讯报》：“他不愿分享或允许任何人接触她的唯一原因，可能是由于某些严重的身体健康状况——如果她还活着的话。” 尽管苏奇女士在执政期间，其政府对罗兴亚少数民族实施的军事暴行损害了她的全球声誉，但她在国内依然深受爱戴。其影响
正如《电讯报》本周披露，2025 年在德国，根据“政治侮辱”法发起的调查数量达到了创纪录的 4,792 起。 一项类似的法律，即禁止展示纳粹标志的第 86a 条，在被用于针对一名发布批评阿道夫·希特勒梗图（meme）的历史学家后，也受到了审查。 希特勒崛起专家莱纳·齐特尔曼（Rainer Zitelmann）博士在发布了一张将希特勒入侵捷克斯洛伐克与弗拉基米尔·普京的乌克兰战争相比的梗图后，被威胁将面临监禁。 齐特尔曼博士写过约 30 本书，他表示他怀疑其中一名批评者将该梗图转发给了柏林
无法进入。他希望对其进行改造，以便在保留入口的同时，仍能在这一黄金地段建设公寓。他的协会希望与大屠杀博物馆合作，在地堡内建立一座专门纪念纳粹德国毁灭性失败的博物馆。 “你有很多纪念第三帝国开始和大屠杀的事物，但关于第二次世界大战结束的则不多，”他说道。 “柏林地下世界”（Berliner Unterwelten）致力于研究柏林的地下结构。该机构最后一次进入该遗址是在 2006, 年，尽管有雨水引起的地表水，但那里依然状况良好。原 1,200 平方米地堡中约 40% 的部分
可能 认为 如果允许 外国 政要会见， 她 将 再次 变得 具有影响力”
关于她可能死亡或健康状况恶化的消息难以预测，但可能会引发骚乱，尤其是对于以波罗缅族为主的多数群体。奥玛女士表示，如果苏奇女士健康，那么不证明这一点就“非常、非常奇怪”。由于昂力先生正致力于重新与东盟 (ASEAN)（一个东南亚国家政府间论坛）接轨，允许接触可能会增加缅甸与其邻国之间的信任。内战爆发后，东盟设定了五个条件以允许缅甸重返组织。在经历了五年的残酷战斗后——根据武装冲突地点与事件数据项目 (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project) 的数据，至少造成了 100,000 人死亡——这些条件均未达成。但最近在中国的支持下、西方谴责的情况下举行的选举，提供了一层合法性的掩护。不出所料，昂力先生获胜，并于3月被宣布为总统。他在战场上的胜利以及对俄罗斯、中国和印度的访问，进一步增强了他的权力。在泰国的支持下，他现在正展开一场区域性的魅力攻势。这或许正起作用。自政变以来，内比都本月首次参加了在曼谷举行的东盟外交部长非正式会议。与会者随后表示，缅方告知他们苏奇女士“健康状况良好”，且被像对待“姐妹”一样对待。允许接触以证实这一点，可能会在一定程度上软化怀疑者的态度，从而确保昂力先生在谈判桌上的位置。这甚至可能帮助他在纽约的联合国获得一席之地。《日经亚洲》(Nikkei Asia) 采访的一位前缅甸军官表示：“如果他甚至拒绝来自中国（他所恐惧的对象）以及国际社会和东盟（他所关心对象）发布消息或允许会面的要求，那么她是否还活着就变得令人怀疑了。”但其他人认为她的失踪并没有太多含义：考虑到政变的“整个逻辑”就是为了除掉她，一个自信的政权不会希望苏奇女士出现在公众视野中。缅甸分析师理查德·霍尔西 (Richard Horsey) 告诉《电讯报》：“这就是她被隔离通信的原因。内比都可能认为，如果允许外国政要会见，她将再次变得具有影响力。”一名外交官表示，众所周知，昂力先生“内心深处厌恶”苏奇女士。他拒绝让任何人见她，可能仅仅是因为积怨。该外交官补充说，几乎不可能在她的死讯传出之前将其封锁。阿里斯先生表示赞同：“在内心深处，我不认为她在没有任何消息传到我耳边的情况下就去世了。”然而，他担心时间可能不多了。家属被告知苏奇女士的牙齿和牙龈出现了问题，且有报道称心脏病状况恶化。阿里斯先生说：“这是最令人担忧的事情。牙龈问题可能是折磨，但心脏病随时可能致命。”
警察部队使用一个特殊网站来 标记冒犯性言论。 他认为，他们原本希望 这能成为起诉的依据，因为 该模因（meme）包含一张 希特勒佩戴万字旗的照片。 在公众抗议后，德国警方 撤销了此案。 针对《电讯报》的报道，FSU 竞选负责人 马克斯·汤普森 (Max Thompson) 表示： “在一个所谓的西方自由民主国家中， 这并不正常。” 他补充道：“即使是一位将职业生涯 致力于研究极权主义危险的 历史学家，也无法免于 在那些日益像它们最初 旨在预防之物的法律下接受调查。”
依然存在。其钢筋混凝土墙壁和天花板厚达 1.7 米，且位于地下约一米深处。
该掩体之所以能部分幸存，是因为在柏林墙建成后，它处于东柏林与西柏林之间致命的“无人区”之下。
战争期间，这里被用于安置纳粹官员的妻儿。其花园出口现位于一片荒地之下，这里曾被帝国总理府大楼的废墟所环绕。
这座建筑由希特勒最器重的建筑师阿尔伯特·斯佩尔设计，在战争期间遭到严重破坏，并于 1949, 被苏联当局拆除。柏林墙倒塌、德国统一后，这些土地在可能的情况下被归还给了原犹太所有者或其家属。随着时间的推移，这些地块被收购，形成了目前的
向公众开放。人们 喜欢忘却……这比 纪念要容易得多”
将要建设公寓的土地。 柏林住房部门告知《电报》报，他们反对保留这座地堡，并拒绝了采访请求。 社会民主党的住房参议员克里斯蒂安·盖布勒（Christian Gaebler）此前曾表示：“我们不会为了保留一座可能演变成朝圣地的地堡，而阻碍新住房开发项目的进行。” Berliner Unterwelten 董事会主席迪特马·阿诺德（Dietmar Arnold）表示：“对于柏林来说，拆除新帝国总理府最后的一处真实遗迹将是非常令人尴尬的。如果我们仅仅因为真实遗址可能被滥用就将其移除，那么我们实际上是将解释权交给了极端分子。”
旧金山因公园内“享有特权的” 爱狗人士而陷入战争
Io Dodds 我们还能去哪里？安娜·塞万特斯（Anna Cervantes）右侧，带着她的爱犬 Koda 位于旧金山禁止进入的杰克逊公园（Jackson Park）。右下方，狗在同一公园内玩耍。下方为公园禁止携带狗的指示牌。
“没错，我现在看到了两只狗，”肖恩（Sean）在电话里说道，他正从远处监视公园。他对此并不高兴。自二月以来，肖恩一直在旧金山的杰克逊公园对违反规则的狗主发起一场私人战争。凭借一项 AI 编码工具订阅和对当地法规的法医级了解，他创建了一个网站，用于举报杰克逊公园及另外 11 个城市公园中的违规宠物，试图向官员施压以采取行动。 但每次他贴出传单，人们都会将其撕掉。他的努力令邻居们如此愤怒，以至于他拒绝透露真实姓名，仅提供一个化名。 “这是一个有争议的问题，”他承认道。“我收到了很多仇恨评论，叫我失败者，让我去找正经事做。这对我一点影响都没有：他们正是我希望看到这些内容的目标受众。”在一个犬类数量多于儿童的城市里，狗的权利已成为一个闪点。Reddit 和 NextDoor 上的愤怒帖子将这座城市描述为被“享有特权”且未经训练的狗及其“享有特权”的主人所占据，他们在服务动物身份的掩护下，在酒吧、超市和绿地中纵情奔跑。 在被归类为田径场且禁止狗进入的杰克逊公园，城市护林员使用扩音器、哨子和罚款将狗主赶出该区域——这让长期在这里遛宠物的当地居民感到困惑和懊恼。 保罗·西尔斯（Paul Sears）是一位 49 岁的训狗师，他 2024 年发起的旨在让公园规则对动物更友好的请愿活动吸引了 1,500 个签名，他声称自己目睹了许多“攻击性”以及“
行为
似乎
狗主
公园雇
维护
速度指令
我的狗被
在最后
在几分
说道。 “那件
令人不安的
几个片段
评论我
我的业务
无数的狗
评论以及
个体
平台。” 宠物所有权 的激增， 在某种程度上 由 “疫情期间 幼犬” 热潮引发， 只起到加剧
的问题。
宠物护理行业 规模 增长了一倍多
个人
, :,// SUDLVH WKH /25' DFFRUGLQJ WR KLV ULJKWHRXVQHVV DQG ZLOO VLQJ SUDLVH WR WKH QDPH RI WKH /25' PRVW KLJK 3VDOP $9
通用个人
退后一步， 这个问题 将是非常 容易解决的。但是， 不，我们只会
衷心感谢圣犹大 (St Jude) 祈祷得到了回应。AG。 在线参考号：W0051118
2019 年到 $158bn (£118bn)。而城市普查数据中宠物护理员工的数量在 2013 年至 2023 年间也翻了一番。与此同时，我们与狗的关系正变得更加深厚。“对于许多人，尤其是年轻一代来说，宠物越来越多地被视为需要投入大量精力的孩子，”宠物看护市场 Rover 的一位发言人说道，该公司对宠物的“人性化”趋势进行了调查。该发言人表示：“虽然旧金山是一个极端的例子，但这一趋势在全国范围内都存在。”这座城市聚集了大量富有且缺乏时间的科技从业者，从而催生了一个繁荣的高端训练师、宠物看护者和狗狗日托中心产业，这些服务的每月收费可高达 $1,700 (£1,270)。而阴暗面在于，在这个与药物成瘾、精神疾病和飞涨的住房成本作斗争的城市里，进入收容所的狗比以往任何时候都多。“虽然旧金山拥有很强的宠物友好声誉，但城市的 infrastructure（基础设施）——住房、兽医护理渠道和收容系统——未能跟上日益增长的需求，”旧金山动物护理与控制中心执行董事艾米·科索 (Amy Corso) 表示。根据动物控制部门的数据，狗咬人事件的数量从 2024 年的 868 起增加到 2025, 年的 926 起；同期向警方报告的事件从 335 起增加到 462 起。该市的准司法机构“狗狗法庭”——正式名称为“凶猛与危险犬听证会”——在经历了一年的资金中断后，将于本月重启。旧金山大学公共事务教授帕特里克·J·墨菲 (Patrick J Murphy) 认为，旧金山人特别热衷于将宠物问题转化为激烈的政治斗争，而社交媒体则鼓励他们采取日益极端的立场。墨菲教授说：“如果我们退后一步，[这个问题] 应该是非常容易解决的。但不对，我们直接祭出喷火器。”这让我们回到了肖恩 (Sean) 身上，他是一位 20 多岁的希尔区居民。
在法律领域工作。他对
对规则的漠视感到愤怒，他
伪造代码，在 gtracker.com 上煽动，然后买了一个 [无法辨认/缺失] 并在[此处]开始张贴 带有二维码的[海报]。
他的观点很简单：“我热爱 我有一只狗。我认为它们 应该留在它们被允许 停留的区域……这些规则的存在 是有原因的，即尊重 社区。 如果[人们]对 现行规则有异议，我恳请 他们通过正规 渠道，并在可能的情况下 做出改变。否则，他们 应该遵守他妈的规则。” 据肖恩称，许多 在杰克逊公园 (Jackson Park) 的访问 以一个电话结束 [无法辨认/缺失]。但他希望城市 能更加积极主动。 他认为，每隔一两周 进行一次随机巡逻， 在不预先警告的情况下 直接开出罚单，将很快 让那些“自以为是的狗 主人”远离。旧金山 公园部门 告诉《电讯报》 (The Telegraph) 该
作者：詹姆斯·罗斯韦尔（James Rothwell），发自柏林
昨晚，柏林的一场同志自豪节活动中，一辆面包车冲入人群，导致至少一人死亡，多人受伤。
德国警方正在追捕一名白色车辆的司机，目击者称该车高速撞向一群人。
警方表示，此次碰撞共造成 15 人受伤，其中一人随后因伤势过重死亡。另有数人受重伤。
据了解，司机在碰撞后离开了面包车，且根据《图片报》（Bild）的报道，涉嫌使用利器袭击他人。
随后，该司机徒步逃离了位于柏林蒂尔加滕公园（Tiergarten park）的现场。
一张照片显示，现场有一辆引擎盖严重受损的白色面包车。
由于现场被宣布为“重大事件”，数十名护理人员和应急服务人员赶赴现场。
警方表示：“我们认为有一辆车进入了蒂尔加滕公园，撞击并导致多人受伤。”
由于警方要求参与者“请回家”，该同志自豪节活动被迫提前结束，警方随后确认一名受害者死亡。
在一小时内，一架警方直升机在柏林市中心上空盘旋，大量警员在波茨坦广场（Potsdamer Platz）与蒂尔加滕隧道南侧之间的区域进行搜寻。
德国总理弗里德里希·默茨（Friedrich Merz）“正及时获知情况，并与”德国内政部长亚历山大·多布林特（Alexander Dobrindt）“保持密切联系”，默茨办公室表示。一名发言人补充道：“他的心与受害者同在。”
昨天早些时候，数十万人参加了这场名为“克里斯托弗大街日”（Christopher Street Day）的活动。
游行在 17 June Street 结束，该街道横穿柏林蒂尔加滕公园前往勃兰登堡门，后者自周五起一直是音乐会的举办地。
目前尚未确认此次事件是否与恐怖主义有关。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 应急人员在蒂尔加滕公园救助伤者
KIM WHITE
由于狗会“造成不安全的比赛环境并损坏草坪，导致维护成本增加、场地因维修和重新生长而关闭，并减少运动员和社区的使用机会”，因此体育场内“不允许”携带狗。
相关部门表示，遛狗者可以使用一系列其他宠物友好公园。但许多当地人质疑，为什么一个经常空置的棒球场——以及使用该场地的付费学校——应该获得如此明显的排他性优先权。“这里一直是我们带狗来的地方……令人失望的是，规定没有反映社区的需求和对空间的实际利用情况，”21 岁的公共政策专业学生雷内·加西亚（René Garcia）说道。
“在旧金山，除非你是百万富翁，否则谁能买得起带院子的房子？”30 岁的安娜·塞万特斯（Ana Cervantes）在遛她的德国牧羊犬混血犬 Koda 时说道。“专门的狗狗公园太小了。那么它们应该去哪里？”
此类争论背后隐藏着一种超越旧金山甚至整个美国的紧张情绪。许多近期的宠物狗主人是由于被排挤而无法购房的年轻人或情侣。
作者：Benedict Smith 华盛顿特派员
明尼苏达州计划向低至 4 岁的儿童发放跨性别玩偶。
据《纽约邮报》报道，这些纸质玩偶具有可拆卸的生殖器，由明尼苏达大学医学院为 4 到 10 岁的儿童设计，旨在让他们“了解关于自己可以成为谁的不同选择”。
每个玩偶都有一个性别中立的名字，可拆卸的内部和外部生殖器，以及 100 多个服装配件、饰品和发型。
据报道，明尼苏达州州长蒂姆·沃尔兹 (Tim Walz) 为这一极具争议的项目提供了资金，这引发了保守派团体的愤怒。
该大学的性与性别健康研究所研究了“跨性别和性别多样化”儿童及其父母在小组中玩这些玩偶并“讨论性别与身体”的情况。
在 2024 年的一次会议上展示的一个名为“Sam”的玩偶，似乎已经部分进行了性别变更。
保守派团体美国儿科医学院前院长昆廷·范·米特 (Quentin Van Meter) 博士表示，这些玩偶“在伦理医疗护理世界中没有立足之地”。他认为，被说服相信性别可以改变的儿童将会变得“困惑”，且“由作为父母、教师或顾问的意识形态主义者造成的心理创伤”会导致性别焦虑。
沃尔兹先生目前处于州长第三任期，并在 2024 年竞选副总统失败。他因其教育和性别政策而面临审查。在 2024, 年选举期间，他在批准一项向所有学生（包括男孩）提供免费经期产品的法律后，被共和党人戏称为“卫生棉蒂姆” (Tampon Tim)。
生殖器……旨在让 儿童学习关于 自己可以成为谁的选择”
根据“MyGender Dolls”公司的网站，这些承诺将“让性别变得有趣”的跨性别玩偶将提供给教师、学校辅导员、儿科医生和心理健康服务提供者。
这些产品被营销为一种“针对 4–10 岁性别多样化儿童设计的治疗性游戏方法”。
明尼苏达大学、沃尔兹先生以及 MyGender Dolls 公司已被要求就此发表评论。
（此处为另一篇报道的片段）
……房屋所有权的缺失，在城市中不断上涨的租金压力下被挤压。
许多人同样感到被迫推迟生育——这一点体现在人们在谈论“毛孩子” (fur babies) 和“狗妈妈” (dog moms) 时日益呈现出的父母心态。对于他们来说，被赶出当地公园感觉像是他们追求理想生活道路上的又一个不公平障碍。
“我可以想到那个社区里有几十对夫妇，他们先养狗，然后结婚，接着有了第一个孩子。很多家庭都是这样开始的，” 37, 岁的城市规划师和景观设计师斯坦福·卡尔德拉 (Stanford Caldera) 说道，他直到最近还住在附近，并在杰克逊公园 (Jackson Park) 遛狗。
事实上，将 Koda 称为“我儿子”的塞万提斯 (Cervantes) 女士表示，她也想要人类孩子，但在每月大约 $4,000 (£3,000) 的租金压力下无法负担。
肖恩 (Sean) 并没有被吓倒。当杰克逊公园在两年后翻新并增加一个专门的（尽管很小）的“狗狗如厕区”时，他说他将“每天给公园管理员打电话”，举报那些无视边界线的人。他甚至在考虑买一块广告牌。
安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 强调英国的人口统计定时炸弹并没有错。在 1972 年，7.5 million 名公民——即人口的 13%——年龄在 65 岁以上。根据国家统计局的数据，到 2072 年，这一数字可能会上升到 22.1 million 人（占人口的 27%）。
这种人口重心向退休年龄转移的重新平衡带来了显而易见的挑战：劳动力市场短缺、生产力下降，以及对退休年龄、住房和公共服务资金的压力。
最痛苦的财务瓶颈是社会护理。伯纳姆的父亲患有阿尔茨海默病，因此他对这个问题深有体会。几十年来，在资金不足、劳动力不稳定且低薪以及政治体制抵制改革的背景下，需求不断增加。这导致了长期的人员不足，其象征就是医院中老年人在推车上长时间的等待。1 月，在走廊中等待超过 12 小时的人数达到峰值 71,517,，这是自 2010 年 8 月开始月度记录以来的最高数字。
最好的解决方案将是一个基于保险的系统，鼓励英国人向一项基金缴费，以便在年老需要护理时覆盖自己的费用。只要有政治意愿，就可以培育一个繁荣且具有竞争力的供应市场。削减福利和一套增长方案也将有助于填补财务黑洞。
但在我们这位社会主义首相的心中，只有一个解决方案：一个 NHS 风格的系统——据健康基金会估计，到 2035 年，每年将增加 £18.7bn 的成本——由增加税收来资助。自从在戈登·布朗担任卫生大臣以来，伯纳姆就觊觎逝者的遗产。2010 年 3 月，他提交了名为《构建国家护理》的白皮书。
先生 —— 与其增加监狱名额，我们的重点应该放在降低再犯罪率上（见 7 月 24 日来信）。在英格兰和威尔士，60% 以上被判处六个月或更短监禁刑期的人员在一年内会再次犯罪。这给监狱系统带来了巨大压力。解决这个问题将在一定程度上降低对监狱名额的需求。 David Cartwright 伍德伯勒，诺丁汉郡
先生 —— 历届政府未能建立额外的监狱容量以应对不断增长的囚犯人数。然而，政府可以通过翻修闲置的旧监狱来节省资金，并通过增加前线警力来减少犯罪。 Tom Knight 利-昂-索伦特，汉普郡
先生 —— 显然，减少监狱人口是本届政府的优先事项（见 7 月 23 日报道《提前释放危机如何吞没工党》）。但提前释放囚犯并非解决方案。 目前有超过 10,000 名外国国民被关押在英格兰和威尔士的监狱中，约占监狱人口的 12%。在这些符合驱逐出境条件的人员服刑结束后更快地将其移出，将有助于缓解过度拥挤并降低纳税人的成本，纳税人不应该支付外国国民填满我们监狱的费用。 Roderick Dadak 霍克利，汉普郡
在实践中，这只是幻想。在什罗普郡，规模更大并不一定意味着更好。 随着地方当局规模和范围的扩大，主导权不可避免地转移到了受薪官员手中，因为运营规模往往超出了民选代表的能力范围。 怀特霍尔（Whitehall）可能非常希望面对数量更少、规模更大的地方当局，但其负面影响是权力不可挽回地从人民转移到了官僚手中。 我想看看安迪·伯纳姆 实际上会站在这场分歧的哪一边。 克里斯托弗·吉尔 (Christopher Gill) 什罗普郡，布里奇诺思
先生 —— 当里希·苏纳克宣布取消 HS2 的北部路段时，安迪·伯纳姆 强烈反对这一决定。现在他身处高位并倡导权力下放，那么他重新启动将曼彻斯特和利兹通过伯明翰与伦敦连接起来的原始计划，想必只是时间问题。 霍华德·马奇 (Howard March) 伯明翰
先生 —— 允许地区市长对国内度假 (staycations) 征税的提议简直是疯了，这再次证明了我们的政府多么不了解如何促进经济增长。 我妻子和我 40 年来一直在我们什罗普郡的家中经营一家单一的度假租赁房。我们的绝大多数客人都花时间参观当地景点或徒步旅行，然后去当地的酒吧吃晚餐。 这些活动产生的收入对我们的当地经济至关重要。 对国内度假征税将驱使更多人去国外度假，从而剥夺一个挣扎中的农村经济急需的收入，并使政府失去从客人消费中获得的增值税 (VAT)，而这笔增值税几乎肯定会高于拟议的税收。 这是彻头彻尾的经济文盲。 迈克尔·诺尔斯 (Michael Knowles) 什罗普郡，卢德洛
先生 —— 弗农·博格丹诺 (Vernon Bogdanor) 对 20 世纪 70 年代的分析（《伯纳姆对 20 世纪 70 年代的怀旧忽略了那个十年是多么地狱》，评论版，7 月 19 日）并未提到，政府债务的一大部分是国有产业所需的巨额资本支出造成的。 为了控制所谓的“公共部门借款需求” (Public Sector Borrowing Requirement) 的欲望，导致这些产业削减了必要的投资，从而增加了其中已经根深蒂固的严重效率低下。 我一直认为，玛格丽特·撒切尔的主要原因之一是
“服务”，该计划提议对所有遗产征收 10% 的强制性税款。这一计划被保守党攻击为“死亡税”，并导致工党在六周后败给大卫·卡梅伦。
遗产税是对已经纳过一次税的资金再次抽水，一直被认为是在所有主要税种中最不公平的。目前 54% 的公众希望将其完全取消。他们是对的。然而，用一个复活版的伯纳姆“死亡税”来替代或补充它会更糟糕。通过扩大税基同时降低最大规模遗产的税率，它将无法给穷人带来任何益处；对中产阶级打击最重；并给富人提供巨大的税收减免。而且，它筹集的资金可能远少于现有系统。
我们是要继续推动全面走向“大政府”衰落，还是抓住另一种替代方案？目前，这个选择权在伯纳姆先生手中。
伊朗构成了严重威胁
现在所谓的“小船危机”始于叙利亚内战，当时巴沙尔·阿萨德对其国民发起的血腥行动迫使数百万人逃离国家。因此，从一开始，这件事就被视为人道主义问题——尽管这些移民主要是非叙利亚人，且是从安全的法国出发抵达的。这种心软导致的结果是，历任政府在面对大量非法入境者所带来的明显威胁时，未能运用理智。
现在，已有超过 200,000 名移民（其中 75% 为男性）穿越英吉利海峡，这种愚蠢的……
私有化的目的在于将国有工业的借款从国家资产负债表转移到私营部门，后者能够做出不受政治约束影响的财务决策。 大卫·巴加利 (David Baggaley) 德文郡，斯托克·加布里埃尔
先生 —— 我对 20 世纪 70 年代的记忆包括骑车艰难爬上南诺伍德山坡，并在幸存于大象与城堡圆环路后感到宽慰。后来，在城市中心的书桌前点着蜡烛，我意识到第二天我还得重复一遍。这绝对不是一段值得重复的经历。 大卫·伯罗斯 (David Burrows) 汉普郡，巴顿-翁-海
先生 —— 我无法为那些阻碍巴士前进的自私骑行者辩护（见 7 月 19 日读者来信），但根据《公路法典》，骑行者并没有义务使用自行车道。
此外，自行车道上经常散布着碎屑、玻璃和污垢，这些会损坏轮胎，并可能导致严重事故。有些车道还会突然中断，导致骑行者以一种危险的方式汇入车道。
所有道路使用者在某些时候都会表现出糟糕的技术和礼貌。不仅仅是骑行者。 罗齐·哈登-韦恩 (Rosie Harden-Vane) 诺森伯兰郡，霍利韦尔
先生 —— 我的孙女正在学习驾驶，她挑战我去参加一次理论考试练习（见 7 月 19 日读者来信）。我通过了，但我对我被认为回答错误的某些问题持有严重的疑虑。
其中一个问题是关于如何在限速 40 英里/小时的道路上在夜间停车。根据《公路法典》，两个可能的选项都是可以接受的。
另一个问题展示了一张前方左转弯的照片，并询问可能会预见到什么。四个可能的答案都是经验丰富的驾驶员可能会预见到的情况，但只有一个是“正确”的。
该测试中太多的“正确”答案在实践中似乎是错误的。 迈克尔·培根 (Michael Bacon) 汉普郡，博登
成立于 1961 年
然而，听到我们将要离开的新闻时，你会以为君主去世了。说这些报道带有偏见还是含蓄了。 迈克尔·莫里斯 (Michael Morris) 萨福克郡，利特尔·拉廷
先生 —— 乔安娜·斯坦利-琼斯（7月19日读者来信）建议禁止使用一次性烧烤炉，理由是它们会引发野火。事实并非如此 —— 是不负责任的使用才导致了损害。每年夏天，我的大家族都会在康沃尔郡租几处房产聚会，而我们所有人能聚在一起用餐的唯一方式就是在海滩上烧烤。
除了使用一次性烧烤炉，其他任何方式都不可行。它们在结束后会被妥善熄灭并处置。我们遇到的其他家庭也是如此。我敢说，在潮汐上涨的海滩上，没有人能点燃一场野火。
这种惩罚负责任者的简化版“解决方案”是不公平且错误的。当然，应对愚蠢且不负责任的人采取法律的严厉制裁，但不要剥夺我们其余人的纯粹乐趣。
乔利昂·考克斯 牛津郡，威特尼
先生 —— 保罗·考尼什教授建议英国可以向一个外国——乌克兰授予英国荣誉，这并非完全没有先例（7月19日读者来信）。1919年，法国敦刻尔克市因其居民在第一次世界大战期间在炮火下的勇气而被授予卓越服务十字勋章。
西蒙·哈利 坎布里亚郡，沃金顿
先生 —— 贵报报道（7月16日）称，一家酒吧的执照在收到一次噪音投诉后受到威胁。
我的妻子和我曾被两家成功的酒吧公司雇佣担任经理，共 20 年。我们管理过三家酒吧，其中第二家位于一个乡村村庄。我们的第一家和最后一家都是大型饮酒酒吧，无论是客厅酒吧还是公共酒吧，营业额都非常可观，顾客素质也极高。
那里从未出现过任何麻烦，常客们像我们尊重他们一样尊重我妻子和我。如果夏天傍晚室外稍微有点嘈杂，简单提醒一声就足够了。我们现在就住在一家酒吧对面，从未出现过问题。拐角处还有另一家成功的门店。然而，酒吧的客户群可能会随着所有权的变更而改变，这就是为什么我建议那些
英国的自满情绪正让我们付出代价。正如《电报》昨日披露，被怀疑为伊朗秘密特工的人员在试图乘坐小船进入我国时被我们的情报机构截获。据信，德黑兰政权“掌控”着从中东到英国的人口贩运路线，在我们的眼皮底下创建潜伏细胞。这些细胞由 700 单元（Unit 700）运行，该单元是圣城旅（Quds force）的后勤部门 —— 即革命卫队 (IRGC) 的秘密海外行动部门。它负责为哈马斯、真主党和其他组织提供装备和资金。这种情况已经持续多久了？2018 和 2019 年，伊朗国民在乘坐小船抵达的人数中占绝大多数。直到 2020 年，叙利亚人才开始出现显著数量。但即便在那时，他们仅占总数的 9%，而来自伊朗的则占 28%。自 2018 年以来，伊朗人已成为所有非法移民中人数最多的国籍群体，抵达人数为 30,269 人，而阿富汗人为 27,422 人，伊拉克人为 19,157 人，阿尔巴尼亚人为 15,373 人，叙利亚人仅为 14,744 人。上周，政府披露，一系列针对犹太场所的纵火和破坏攻击（包括对慈善救护车的火弹袭击）是英国境内的伊朗代理人所为。但最糟糕的情况可能尚未到来。军情五处（MI5）负责人肯·麦卡勒姆爵士多次警告伊朗支持的恐怖袭击将发生在英国，在短短一年内就有“超过 20 起潜在致命的伊朗支持的阴谋”被挫败。周四，德黑兰威胁要攻击费尔福皇家空军基地 (RAF Fairford) —— 安迪·伯纳姆已允许美国继续将其用于对伊朗发动袭击。他们还对君主制发出了含糊的威胁。随着伊朗特工在我们之间行走，此类威胁很可能变成现实。在威斯敏斯特经历了多年的自杀式共情之后，伯纳姆先生必须在太晚之前改变路线。
ALAMY
日本京都最古老的街道之一，产宁坂一家商店里出售的扇子
先生 —— 苏珊娜·詹宁斯（Suzanne Jennings，见 7 月 20 日读者来信）询问，为什么她的侄孙的学校要带他去日本进行一次昂贵的旅行，而选择一个更近的目的地本可以避免排放造成环境破坏的问题。
接触日本文化对成长中的心灵很有价值：例如，人际关系中极端的礼貌和某种程度的客气，能让他们意识到一种更加愉悦的生活方式。对年长一代的尊重——以及对女性的普遍尊重——是日本社会行为的显著特点，此外还包括他们将乐于助人视为对每个人（尤其是需要指路的外国人）所承担的义务。
我建议詹宁斯女士在她的侄孙回来后，询问他是否识别出了这些及类似的日本文化特征；如果确实如此，我们是否能从将其移植到西方生活中获益？事实上，我相信如果詹宁斯女士亲自前往旅行，她会被震惊，并且在回来后会转而支持将送年轻人去日本作为课程的一部分这一想法。
尼古拉斯·尼尔森 (Nicholas Nelson) 多塞特郡，艾沃恩明斯特 (Iwerne Minster, Dorset)
先生 —— 我同意伊芙·威尔逊 (Eve Wilson，见 7 月 19 日读者来信) 的观点，即能够携带大量行李是邮轮旅行的一大好处。然而，我记得有一次在西班牙，由于等待两名乘客，我们的机场至码头巴士延误了。最后，一对压力巨大的夫妇加入了我们，但没有携带任何行李。结果证明他们来自美国，乘坐了两班飞机才到达西班牙。
不幸的是，他们的 7 件行李并没有随行。在接下来的 10 天里，当我们游览地中海然后前往迈阿密时，这对夫妇每天都穿着同样的衣服。我怀疑他们无法忍受从船上的精品店购买更多衣物。
蒂姆·奥尔德菲尔德 (Tim Oldfield) 肯特郡，怀 (Wye, Kent)
先生 —— 我把最旧、最破的衣服留到度假时穿，然后直接丢弃，这样回家后就不用面对乏味的洗衣工作了。有些朋友觉得这有点奇怪。
本·库珀 (Ben Cooper) 鲁特兰郡，巴罗登 (Barrowden, Rutland)
他们不喜欢噪音，也不想住在酒吧附近。有趣的是，当酒吧因为生意匮乏和高昂的运营成本而被迫关闭时，通常是那些尽管从未支持过该场所的抱怨者，最先站出来反对关闭。
杰夫·扬 (Geoff Young) 肯特郡，斯马登 (Smarden, Kent)
P
伟大的英国 学校假期
家长们：你们的暑假目前过得怎么样？在享受最初几天惬意的自由时光吗？窗外洒进的阳光，早晨不再匆忙的惬意，以及在接下来的六周里，不需要准备干净的校服，周五也不需要带体育课装备袋的幸福感？让我来告诉你们我的情况吧。到目前为止，我准备了 40 多个便当，处理了大约 2,546 次关于屏幕时间的请求，并且由于各种后勤协调群在不分昼夜地发消息，我直接把 WhatsApp 屏蔽了。这是因为我的孩子们已经放假快五周了——而我们还有六周要撑。觉得应对八月很糟糕？试着同时应对六月和七月吧。
去年七月，我和家人搬到美国时，长假带来的考验是我最不关注的事情。这里的夏天太棒了！天气热！有免费的室外泳池！你根本不需要考虑下雨天的计划！有什么理由不爱呢？然后，在六月中旬，我的孩子们完成了学业。而他们直到八月底才回学校。我和丈夫都有工作，且拥有相对慷慨的假期额度——但远不足以覆盖这段时间。（美国的平均带薪假期每年 10 天，但联邦法律并不要求必须提供任何假期。）
于是我们做了一张电子表格，开始砸钱。第一周，足球营。第二周，综合体育。第三周是“放松”周（他们看了大量的电视）。第四周，网球和游泳。我们现在回英国待两周，探亲访友。我还没完全想好回去后怎么办，但还有近一个月的时间要填满，我已经不再计算美元了。
根据美国营地协会（American Camp Association）的数据，美国的平均专业日间营地费用约为 $328。电影中描绘的那种住宿营地，费用则接近 $1,000。在我们居住的华盛顿特区，日间营地每周 $300 就算便宜了，而那些把孩子送到住宿营地的朋友告诉我，他们两周就要支付近 $7,000。
不幸的是，慷慨假期额度的反面是，我们拿的不是美国人的薪水。这是一个长久存在的问题。长暑假自 19 世纪末以来一直是美国生活的一个特征，它源于试图使农村和城市教育标准化的尝试，以及在酷暑月份无法为教室降温的现实。
许多城市（包括华盛顿特区）通过抽签向居民提供更便宜的项目，但你必须极其机敏才能获得机会——就像我尝试给孩子们报名一些较便宜的营地时发现的那样，申请截止日期在二月中旬。在某些州，情况甚至更糟：一位住在加利福尼亚州的朋友告诉我，如果你在一月底之前还没有安排好暑期营地选项，你基本上就完蛋了（他们在那里的暑假在五月就开始了）。
对于大多数家长来说，整个过程就像一个复杂、混乱且最终令人压力巨大的拼图。这也是一项巨大的财务负担，今年尤其如此——根据最近的一项调查，由于价格上涨，65% 的美国人已经更改了夏季旅行计划。
所以，面对暑假挑战的英国家长同僚们：请宽心。享受这最初的几天。沉浸在仅需填满六周的喜悦中吧。当你度过这六周时，请感激你不需要再额外撑五个星期。
I
我一直很钦佩日本首相高市早苗，因为她在该国高度男权主义的社会中，是少数能攀登至权力巅峰的女性。 但当我看到这位 65 岁女性吹嘘自己每晚仅睡零到三小时，且在上周国家法定假日睡满五个小时后感到神清气爽时，我带着羡慕地看向这则新闻。真是个超级女强人！ 要是我们能有这样严肃、这样纯粹的工作狂精神，这样完全且永不熄灭的投入——不去在意愚蠢的社交媒体贴文、拍照作秀、随意的政策姿态和政策反转，而是专注于治理的实际细节。 如果我们能做到这一点，我们或许能看到社会结构和我们生活的改善。相反，在又一个不严肃的二流人物领导下，我们正更快地向深渊坠落。我敢打赌，安迪·伯纳姆 每天一定睡足八小时。 正如人们广泛注意到的，高市在工作和睡眠方式上有着强烈的撒切尔夫人影子。许多这类比较已经……
承认 自己 每晚 睡三 小时 引发了 批评， 但她的 职业道德 与 撒切尔夫人 相呼应
如需订购任何电讯报漫画的打印版或签名版，请访问 telegraph.co.uk/prints-cartoons 或致电 0191 603 0178 readerprints@telegraph.co.uk
揭示了他关于阶级的倒退观念
当安迪·伯纳姆 上周宣布为酒吧提供微小的税收减免时，他特意用一种古怪的政治术语来描述。他说，酒吧是“工人阶级文化的一部分”。 很明显，他打算以此表明他的个人信念，即过去四十年的英国政治是对“工人阶级”的背叛。 这一表态在多个方面都值得关注。首先，它是多余的：鉴于酒店餐饮业的惨淡状况，无需用如此宗派性的术语来证明为酒吧减税的合理性——仿佛这项政策是专门设计用来仅有利于社会某个特定阶层的。 其次，这是不真实的，或者至少具有误导性。酒吧不仅仅是“工人阶级文化”的一部分。它们是所有阶层英国社区生活的重要组成部分。顾客群体往往反映了其所在社区的社会构成。 乡村酒吧——近年来深受醉驾法案打击——是当地所有居民的传统聚集地。 在那个毫不掩饰等级制度的年代，酒吧曾根据阶级差异设置不同的区域：沙龙酒吧 (saloon bar) 供贵族使用，而公共酒吧 (public bar) 则供下层阶级使用。 谢天谢地，这种情况在 20 世纪 60 年代的社会解放运动中基本消失了。 新的税收减免政策明确排除了餐厅和咖啡馆，这些场所大概被认为与伯纳姆先生试图认同的那个特定人群格格不入。（也许这对新任首相来说会是一个冲击，但现在的工人阶级也会去……
当地酒吧 不仅仅是 “工人阶级 文化”的一部分。 首相的 措辞 陈旧且 带有 傲慢的指教意味
阅读更多请访问 telegraph.co.uk/ opinion
被不讨喜地提及，就好像像我们的前任首相一样是一件坏事。 然而，这并非巧合，铁夫人的对睡眠的轻视，与她作为自丘吉尔以来唯一一位在国家处于比现在更危殆的状态下接任领导职务，并先将其挽救随后将其彻底变革的首相身份是相辅相成的。 事实是，如果你想成为一名伟大的领导者，你就必须不眠不休地努力工作。高市显然明白了这一点。 “每天只睡零到三小时已经成了我的常态，”她发帖称。 她“直到今天凌晨都忙于工作，重新阅读文件的最终草案并处理数千封积压的电子邮件”。这正应该是这样。 高市的帖子似乎是在明显地尝试使自己人性化，同时向她的选民保证，她正在为他们竭尽全力地工作。 但由于现在是 2026 年，她的帖子引发了一场关于“工作与生活平衡”的、脾气暴躁的惊愕反应。据称，这种情况在日本尤为严重（除了其“纪录”级别的
去年有 1,310 人因过度劳累导致健康受损或死亡而获得赔偿，人们同时也听说并读到，有整整一代在各方面都极其懒散的年轻人）。 来自日本中间改革联盟反对派的国重彻讥讽道，高市的睡眠不足“可能会给国家危机管理带来风险”。另一位反对党政治家，国民民主党的玉木雄一郎则表示，她“应该将宝贵的时间用于只有首相才能完成的工作”。 这是在回应高市提到的，在睡了五小时后，她利用假期“一次性处理了大量未熨烫的衣物，包括洗好的手帕和内衣，以及缝纫工作”。 我爱这位女士。 但事实上，关于缺乏工作与生活平衡的指责显得格格不入。在高市允许自己的极少数业余时间里，她以热衷于重金属音乐、空手道和深海潜水而闻名。
餐厅。）我好奇美食酒吧 (gastro pubs) 在这个“无产阶级测试”中处于什么位置？它们的精致菜单是否过于资产阶级，以至于在意识形态上不可接受？或者，也许只要有菜单就会被排除在外，因此只有那些大街上的“小酒馆” (boozers) 才能合格。
这不仅是荒谬的，而且是过时的、傲慢的且具有分裂性的。工党政治家开始用“劳动人民” (working people) 而非“工人阶级人民” (working-class people) 来称呼，是有充分理由的。
人们不再出生于一个他们从未指望能离开的继承性社会阶级，带着自我强加的文化预期和狭隘且可预测的未来路径。
伯纳姆主义 (Burnhamism) 决心摒弃的 20 世纪 80 年代，给这个国家带来了某种程度的社会流动性，这在过去似乎是不可想象的。当然，过去也有人能够超越自己的出身，特别是在文法学校 (grammar schools) 繁荣的年代。但那在很大程度上取决于个人的天赋和决心。
撒切尔主义革命所做的是，让大批人们能够拥有自己的住房，创办自己的企业，并在没有传统中产阶级学术资格证明的情况下找到上升之路。创业精神在当时被许多自认为左翼的人所鄙视，但它成为了新大众觉醒的一种力量。
在这些不断提高的预期之 alongside，当然也出现了一种更令人悲哀的现象。曾经几乎是每个工人阶级孩子必然命运的传统工业消失了。
那些被依赖用来吸收每一代人的当地煤矿和钢铁厂已经不复存在。伯纳姆主义现在正将目光投向这些被遗忘的社区。但它采取的是一种有害的、感伤的、退步的方式，刻意否认了 20 世纪 80 年代革命所带来的所有希望和转变后的预期。
伯纳姆谈到要为那些被遗忘的人恢复“希望”，但他实际上似乎在复活的是一种愤世嫉俗的宿命论。人们可以明显感觉到，他对于那种戴着布帽的、刻板的阶级忠诚形象的消逝感到遗憾，而那种形象实际上是不赞成任何人摆脱当地局限的。
20 世纪 80 年代教会人们的是，摆脱出生时的限制并非背叛：而是一种个人勇气的体现，是对早年生活赋予你的力量的证明。
伯纳姆重新挖掘的“工人阶级”这个标签带有沉重的包袱：它在描述一个被永久剥削的无产阶级时带有明显的马克思主义色彩，并且在道德上具有强制性，因为它暗示了需要终身团结。
对这种心态的摒弃正是托尼·布莱尔 (Tony Blair) 的“新工党” (New Labour) 的核心。布莱尔派认为，如果左翼自由主义想要生存，就必须接受一个事实，即长期阻碍人们进步的根深蒂固的阶级观念已不再能维持。这在当时，以及现在，几乎肯定是对的。
事实上，伯纳姆这种复活的“旧工党”立场，即使纯粹出于选举目的，也可能被证明是不明智的。他大肆强调...
对高市（Takaichi）承认这一事实的反应，揭示了全球卓越文化中一个更为深层的转变。在整个被不作为和失业所困扰的西方世界，人们普遍认为，一个人如果极其刻苦且专一地工作，在心理上是不健康的，甚至会对他人产生某种“污染”。
而对某件事产生痴迷，必然会为你赢得一群担忧的旁观者和专家的关注，他们会说他们“为你担心”，说你“需要休息”并且必须去“寻找乐趣”。而“强度高”也被认为是一件坏事。
对 24/7 全天候痴迷工作的贬低，就像许多其他阻碍人类繁荣的事物一样，是治疗文化（therapy culture）与管理伦理结合的结果。
“工作与生活的平衡”这一概念是他们的产物，但这绝对没有任何意义，因为整个等式取决于工作是什么，以及生活是什么。如果你是一个国家的领导人，那么你究竟为什么要追求个人的“平衡”？
几个月前，我参加了一场由世界上最伟大的两位棋手——马格努斯·卡尔森（Magnus Carlsen）和中村 Hikaru（Hikaru Nakamura）出席的新闻发布会。我问他们，在一个人们不断被警告痴迷或高强度是不健康的世界里，他们如何看待“痴迷”这个概念。
虽然卡尔森可能在每一个清醒的时刻都在思考国际象棋，但人们会告诉他应该“放松”并“寻找乐趣”。卡尔森对这个问题非常感兴趣，并表示这是一个难题，因为在不被污名化地接纳痴迷感——而这对他从事的工作至关重要——已经变得越来越困难。
卡尔森的父亲当时也在场，并在事后特意找我，感谢我提出这个问题。在他看来，将痴迷感定义为某种不健康的行为，是西方社会最大的悲剧。
在卡尔森长辈看来，痴迷感是进步的核心要素。
我倾向于同意这一观点，而早苗高市（Sanae Takaichi）似乎也是如此。
……他政治哲学中特定的英格兰北部根源。
但他声称代表的“工人阶级”并不只存在于北部的旧矿区和钢铁城镇。他们是那些被玛格丽特·撒切尔（Margaret Thatcher）招募的埃塞克斯男人和南伦敦女人：那些开白色货车的贸易商，以及希望改善生活和子女前景的职场母亲。他们并没有消失，也不希望被视为需要一个来自北部的“好心人”提供家长式帮助的对象。
他们想要的，是最初由保守党政府承诺，随后被其新工党（New Labour）模仿者承诺的东西：一个能够通过自身努力开辟道路并决定自己未来的机会，而不会因为成功而受到惩罚，也不会被监管所窒息。
如果非要说的话，他们对于高税收和膨胀的福利国家可能比专业中产阶级更加愤怒。
不过，也许安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）只是在做作地讲述旧左翼的故事，以便赢回那些投向改革党（Reform）的“红墙”选民，并让他的后座议员们感到满意。
或者，这是否更加阴险？他是否在口头上走左翼路线，而实际上计划进行右翼治理？
毕竟，就在他宣布效忠于其北部工人阶级根源的同一周，他允许美国从英国基地轰炸伊朗，并且他也明确表示，他希望提高基本税率所得税的起征点。
这与托尼·布莱尔（Tony Blair）会做出的决定没什么不同，不是吗？
你有一个选择：要么口袋里揣着 £50,000，要么有 50-50 的机会获得 £1m。你会选哪个？如果你是一个典型的英国成年人，你会选择第一个选项。我很遗憾地告诉你，这就是我们陷入如此混乱的部分原因。英国曾开创市场经济并带给世界工业革命，如今却陷入了“安全主义”之中。我们的风险厌恶程度之深，不仅让我们的英语圈表亲感到惊讶，也让我们的欧洲邻居感到震惊。根据 YouGov 的一项调查，73 per cent 的英国人会选择那 50 grand，而只有 21 per cent 的人会尝试争取那 100 万。简而言之，这就是为什么我们没有增长，为什么我们更关心财富的重新分配而非创造，甚至在某种程度上，解释了为什么一支采取防守态势的英格兰足球队在世界杯半决赛中输给了阿根廷。
这并非简单地认为 50-50 机会获得 £1m 等同于 £500,000, 因此其价值是前者的 10 倍。理性的选择在一定程度上取决于你的具体情况。如果你已经拥有 £5m，那么风险较高的选项比你只有 £5,000. 时更具吸引力。经济学家将其称为“对数效用”（logarithmic utility），粗略意思是：你已经越富有，任何固定金额对你幸福感的提升就越小。
有一个公式可以计算出在什么时间点，采取 50-50 的风险而非稳拿 £50,000. 在理智上是绝对合理的。在这种情况下，那个时间点是你拥有资产 £2,778. 的时候。一旦超过这个数额，在数学逻辑上，坚持追求更大的金额才是合理的。诚然，人类既是理性缺失的风险厌恶者，也是理性缺失的损失厌恶者。同样事实是，这里存在性别差异：82 per cent 的女性和 63 per cent 的男性会选择保证到手的 £50,000.
然而，£2,778？这仅是在非洲最贫困地区才会见到的平均资产水平。我们的思维方式像一个第三世界国家——而且，如果我们继续这样下去，我们将真的变成一个第三世界国家。
敢于承担经过计算的风险是一个动态经济体的决定性特征。创办企业需要勇气。你放弃了稳定的薪水、工作保障和养老金供款。你在拿自己的资产冒险，而且可能还要为借贷负责。你对员工和客户负有责任，但对经济状况、税率或竞争质量等外部因素几乎没有控制力。你是最后一个拿到钱的人，只有在满足了你的
W
已经 变得 极其 厌恶风险， 正如一项 针对 英国人的 民调 极其 清晰地 揭示的那样
才能在学校中茁壮成长
在过去一周里，安迪·伯纳姆新任的教育大臣露西·鲍威尔（Lucy Powell）一些令人不安的旧推文被曝光。这位国务大臣在 2018 年曾表示，“当我们所有人都能在指尖获取所需知识时，机械地重复知识是没有意义的”。在鲍威尔女士看来，重要的不是知识，而是“我们需要如何利用、操纵、组合并利用这些知识进行创造”。你可能会觉得，任命一位有反对向儿童传授知识之先例的人担任教育部长很奇怪。事实上，在教育界有一个广泛的观点，认为知识的重要性低于批判性思维和解决问题的智力技能。但鲍威尔女士以及那些持有相同意识形态的人未能理解的是，你不能孤立地教授批判性思维或解决问题。它必须与特定学术学科的知识相结合。这场“技能 vs 知识”的争论起源于 20 世纪 20 年代，当时美国的学者提出了类似的观点，认为学生可以通过查询来获取信息，因此不需要记忆大量知识。在随后的一个世纪中，这种意识形态在教育思考中占据主导地位，尤其是在英语国家。然而，过去二十年认知科学的进步证明这一观点是深刻错误的。现在很明显，分析和解决问题的智力技能依赖于拥有广泛的知识。在 20 世纪 90 年代，英国的学校开始使其课程向教学倾斜，而牺牲了更广泛的知识，这被称为“基于能力的核心课程”。这产生了灾难性的影响。英格兰在阅读和数学能力的国际调查中排名下降。雇主们抱怨学校毕业生的读写和计算能力，而大学则表示本科生在应对学位级别学习方面准备不足。在 2010, 迈克尔·戈夫（Michael Gove）和我——
科学 表明 批判性 思维 取决于 记忆中的 信息。 教育 大臣 在后面 听进去了吗？
尼克·吉布（Nick Gibb） 曾任前 保守党 政府的 教育大臣， 并从 1997 年起至 2024 年担任 博格诺-雷吉斯和 利特尔汉普顿 选区的国会议员
解释了英国的无数危机
对你的员工和供应商承担义务。 一个健康的社会意识到，人们只有在获得相应回报的情况下才会承担这些风险。它承认我们都从财富创造者的成功中获益：我不知道你的情况如何，但我从未为一名贫穷的老板工作过。 简而言之，一个繁荣的国家懂得在 £1 上进行计算后投注的价值，而不是满足于较小的金额。 我们曾经就是这样一个国家。现在不再是了。在日常生活的数千次细小接触中，人们都能感受到英国这种强迫性的风险厌恶。例如，现在的餐厅会询问我们是否有过敏反应。不久前，告诉餐厅哪些食物不能吃还是由我们自己决定的。这种改变看似微不足道，但它标志着一个将最坏情况设定为前提，并将其转化为适用于所有人的规则的社会。 当我们看到火车停运并等待警察处理一名醉酒乘客侮辱工作人员的情况，而不是简单地将……
在下一站醉醺醺地走下车。我们看到州立学校的教学进度是针对每个班级中最慢的学生，而不是中等水平的学生。我们看到我们宁愿容忍一千起福利欺诈案件，也不愿冒风险让一名真正符合条件的领取者失去福利。我们看到在校园和公共部门机构中，人们痴迷于保护他人免受因不得不聆听令人不安的观点而产生的“想象中的伤害”。我说官方的风险厌恶是我们相对——且是相对近期——经济衰退的直接原因，这绝非夸张。在 2008 Banking crash（银行危机）之前，英国和美国的财富水平相当。一个在纽约的英国人可能是法律意义上的外国人，但他不会觉得特别穷。事实上，在 2008, 之前的半个世纪里，英国的人均财富增长速度略快于美国。在银行救助之后，一切都改变了。英国的增长陷入停滞，在两个此前相当且都高度依赖金融服务的经济体之间，出现了一个令人眩晕的差距。令人难以置信的是，现在一个英国人的平均生活水平比一个美国人低 40%。
决定放弃损害学生成绩的基于能力的课程。我们将其替换为专注于知识的课程。我们加强了小学毕业、GCSE和A-level资格考试。例如，我们要求学生背诵数学公式——而这是现任政府已将其删除的内容。我们确保幼儿使用系统的发音法学习阅读。我们为 9 岁儿童引入了强制性的乘法表测试。由于这些改革，英格兰在 15 岁组的国际排行榜上正在上升：数学排名第 11，阅读排名第 13。对于 9 岁儿童，英格兰的阅读能力目前在世界排名第四。到 2020, 年，来自弱势背景的儿童与其更有优势的同龄人之间的成绩差距在小学阶段缩小了 13%，在中学教育阶段缩小了 9%。自新冠疫情以来，这一差距有所扩大。我毫不怀疑，我们的改革——如果能够持续并严格执行——将再次缩小这一差距。我同样毫不怀疑，安迪·伯纳姆及其新任教育大臣决心缩小这一差距——但如果他们低估知识并忽视证据，他们将会失败。我希望鲍威尔女士能倾听英国教学专业领域领先思想者的意见：例如 researchED 的创始人汤姆·本内特（Tom Bennett），该机构致力于理解循证教学；以及布伦特区米凯拉社区学校（Michaela Community School）的校长凯瑟琳·比尔巴尔辛（Katharine Birbalsingh）。米凯拉学校知识丰富的课程和严格的标准，使其成为全国表现最好的州立学校，其 GCSE 成绩甚至让顶尖私立学校相形见绌。英国教师在推动关于学习科学以及认知科学如何揭示儿童学习方式的辩论方面处于世界领先地位。我希望鲍威尔女士能深入参与这场辩论并倾听这些教师的意见。
MIKE KEMP/IN PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES
美国人。发生了什么？两个词：银行监管。英国和欧洲几乎立即形成了一种共识，认为危机是由监管不足的金融服务业造成的。在那些疯狂的日子里，没有人想听到的真相是，金融服务业实际上是民用经济中仅次于核电的监管最严部门。我们将银行束缚在琐碎的规则之中，有些是国内规则，大部分是欧盟范围内的规则。著名经济学家泰勒·古德斯皮德（Tyler Goodspeed）由经济事务研究所（Institute of Economic Affairs）发布的一篇新论文中详细阐述了其后果。
只是首相还没意识到
我们可能正处于战争边缘——然而，新任首相安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）似乎对他那“No 10 North”噱头的TikTok视频更感兴趣，而非国家的防御。在过去的 24 小时里，伊朗政权的意识形态军队——伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）已明确威胁要袭击英国。在一份同样点名“英国王室”的官方声明中，革命卫队发出了打击格洛斯特郡（Gloucestershire）费尔福德（Fairford）皇家空军基地的威胁，同时明确表示所有驻有参与军事行动的美国军队的基地都是“合法目标”。在伯纳姆正确地同意继续执行基尔·斯塔默爵士（Sir Keir Starmer）先前（迟到的）政策——即允许华盛顿从英国基地对伊朗政权采取防御行动——几天后，这一威胁随即出现。需要明确的是：无论伯纳姆是否向美国总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）开绿灯，伊朗政权对英国的敌对威胁和行动都仍会发生。事实证明，在斯塔默同意允许华盛顿使用英国基地之前，伊朗就已经袭击了我们在塞浦路斯的基地。更不用说在仅仅过去的四年里，革命卫队试图在英国发起 20 几次恐怖袭击。伊朗的伊斯兰政权长期以来一直与英国处于战争状态。最新的例证是《电讯报》的揭露：革命卫队的 700 部队分支一直在利用小船危机将“伊斯兰革命特工”走私进入英国，并将他们部署在伦敦各地。正如一名伊朗政权官员周五厚颜无耻地告诉《电讯报》的那样：“我们不需要导弹来瞄准伦敦。” 虽然这一报道令人震惊，但不应令人感到意外。伯纳姆当然不对革命卫队最近的鲁莽威胁负责，但对于他的政府在面对伊朗政权近乎宣战的行为时所做出的平庸反应，则不能如此说。这种反应至少应该导致召见伊朗大使并发出
以 清真寺、 慈善机构 和学院 为掩护 在英国 建立 敌人 网络
英国银行被阻碍向中小企业提供贷款。即便在今天，银行贷款额仍比 2008 年的水平低 15%，这使得新企业的成功变得更加困难。 相比之下，在美国，公司能够继续从非银行贷款机构或免于执行更繁琐规则的小型银行借款。结果，在两国都经历过同等程度的剧烈下滑后，美国的增长迅速回到了趋势线，而英国的增长则从未如此。随后，在 2020 年 3 月，又一次沉重打击接踵而至。英国的封锁比美国任何一个州都更为严厉，甚至
低迷： 一种 安全至上主义和 过度监管的 文化 毁掉了这个 曾经充满活力、 勇于冒险的 国家
关注 丹尼尔·汉南 (Daniel Hannan) X 账号 @DanielJHannan； 阅读更多 telegraph.co.uk/ opinion
向德黑兰发出明确警告：任何对英国的袭击都将产生严重后果。相反，伯纳姆政府发布了一份半成品声明，称英国准备好“防御”自己，同时“不被卷入更广泛的冲突”。伊朗伊斯兰政权需要知道，如果它决定发动袭击，将付出沉重的代价——包括军事报复。但最令人担忧的部分是，虽然政府似乎专注于应对伊朗的常规袭击，但它再次忽视了革命卫队 (IRGC) 在英国的非对称恐怖主义能力。我指的不仅仅是“雇佣打手”。革命卫队在英国长期存在秘密部署。它事实上在英国领土上，以清真寺、慈善机构和学院等“合法”掩护，建立了一整套“软实力”基础设施。虽然这些基础设施并非正式登记在革命卫队的名下，也不是由该组织直接创建、资助或运行，但它依然促进了关联活动，同时为该政权提供了足够的空间来否认责任。其目标一直是利用这一基础设施来培育本土的伊斯兰激进主义、恐怖主义和暴力行为。它已成功地在英国穆斯林社区的部分群体中，培养了一个忠于该组织及其暴力极端主义意识形态的伊斯兰主义选民群体。这些手段模仿了伊斯兰国 (Isis) 和基地组织 (al-Qaeda)——然而，几乎没有任何试图予以反击的尝试。我曾亲自牵头调查，揭露了包括参与海外恐怖阴谋在内的革命卫队高级指挥官如何通过 Zoom 与英国大学的学生协会接触。他们甚至号召这些学生加入他们所谓的“末日军队”，以“终结全世界犹太复国主义者和犹太人的生命”。这并非个案。就在几个月前，伊朗驻伦敦大使馆还号召英国穆斯林登记参加“自我牺牲”的自杀
加利福尼亚。无论我们现在如何自我安慰，它并不是强加给一个不情愿的国家。许多现在抱怨其经济影响的人，在当时正要求采取更严格的管控。 我们之中少数几十个指出成本不成比例的人，被指责为“将经济置于生命之上”——就好像经济是某种独立于人类之外的实体，而不是我们给人们通过自愿交易追求幸福所起的名字。 那么，我们是否注定被国民性的懦弱所困？我们那些更有进取心的前辈是否在启航前往新世界时，将他们犹豫且焦虑的兄弟姐妹留在了身后？有可能。我经常在想，美国那种从初创公司数量到谋杀案数量涵盖一切的冒险文化，是否是遗传乐观偏差的产物。 不过，一个更大的因素肯定在于监管的性质。当我们轻描淡写地谈论“文化”时，我们通常并不是
仔细审视激励机制。 在 20 世纪 70 年代，人们普遍认为英国人懒于工作。事实上，只需对激励机制稍作调整，同样的一批人在 80 年代就变成了模范企业家。 废除我们那些最不相称的、过度追求安全的法律（从金融服务到《在线安全法》），本身就能改变我们的行为。这将恢复某种我们不安分的祖先们视为理所当然的开拓精神文化。 在某种程度上，我们知道自己的处境多么凄惨。你上次听到有人充满热情地使用“健康与安全”这个词是什么时候，尽管这些词的字面意思本应如此？现在需要的只是一点精神。 停止教导幼儿：任何他们不喜欢的行为都是霸凌；停止教导年长孩子：不良行为实际上是需要合理调整的心理健康问题；停止教导大学生：接触不愉快的观点是创伤性的；停止教导毕业生：在公共部门工作是理想的，因为它提供保障；停止教导警察新兵：打击犯罪次于 DEI（多样性、公平与包容）。 将冒险常态化，赞赏大胆，认可勇气。我们很快就会重新开始增长。
使命。新最高领袖穆吉塔巴·哈梅内伊继续在伦敦维持一个办事处。他甚至有一名亲自任命的代表：一名高级穆拉。尽管该代表表达了同情伊朗革命卫队 (IRGC) 的极端主义观点，但他不仅继续居住在英国，还以自己的名义经营几家慈善机构。此人没有外交护照，这意味着他的签证可以被撤销。但当然，这种情况并未发生。伊朗政权在英国培养的激进伊斯兰教徒群体已经开始对英国犹太人和在英伊朗异见人士实施恐吓、破坏和暴力行为。如果伊朗革命卫队试图攻击英国，它在理论上至少可以激活这个激进化的伊斯兰教徒群体，实施本土暴力和恐怖袭击。我们根本不能容忍这种伊斯兰极端主义基础设施存在于我们的土地上。上周，基尔·斯塔默的离任政府根据新的《国家安全（国家威胁）法》将伊朗革命卫队指定为国家威胁。虽然这一指定未达到完全的恐怖组织禁令程度，但政府声称其效果一样。因此，政府不应浪费时间，而应立即针对这一极端主义机构强制执行该法。开展与伊朗革命卫队相关活动的慈善机构、清真寺和中心应被拆除，其非英国籍工作人员应立即被驱逐出境。没有任何如果或但是。这将向伊朗革命卫队发出一个清晰的信号：英国不会容忍威胁。英国将采取预先行动以维护国家安全。伊朗革命卫队攻击英国的威胁必须成为伯纳姆的警钟。我们的对手——俄罗斯、中国和伊朗政权——正在密切关注我们在这一关键时刻的反应。首相不应追求 TikTok 上的噱头，也不应让他的新任国防大臣谴责以色列（英国最密切的安全合作伙伴之一），而应认真投资于我们的国防和我们的联盟。
A
他只不过是 英国债务紧身衣下的 又一名囚徒
安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）在当选时，其执政计划几乎没有受到任何审视。但他在 No 10 的第一周，就让这位新首相快速体会到了竞选工党领导人与治理国家之间的区别。为了营造积极的势头，并避免出现两年前斯塔默政府在几乎一夜之间笼罩的阴郁氛围，他每天都会公布一项新政策。降低公交票价。降低酒吧的商业税率。电费单免征增值税。然而，这些措施并未赢得盲目的喝彩，反而每一项都遭遇了关于资金来源的密集质询。尽管每项政策规模不大，但伯纳姆式英国的第一周显示出，人们对他支出方式的关注程度——以及焦虑程度——是多么强烈。这不应该让首相感到惊讶。在担任曼彻斯特市长期间，当他抱怨英国不应“受制于债券市场”时，曾在金融城以及财政部引发过不安。现在，他领导的是一个面临财务危机的政府。年度借款达 £115bn。国债规模预计将达到 £3tn。借贷成本飙升。伯纳姆从小型项目起步，但他对重塑国家及其在经济中扮演的角色有着宏大得多的计划。从国有化到住房建设攻势，以及增加国防开支，他表现出的所有迹象都表明这是一个意图大肆挥霍的人。但你可能会问，谁来为这一切买单？伯纳姆希望从继承自蕾切尔·里夫斯的借贷规则中榨取更多空间，后者在 2024 年重写了财务目标。“我说过我们会遵守财政规则，我指的是现有的财政规则，并且显然会利用其中的任何灵活性，”伯纳姆在就职时表示。单是“灵活性”一词就引起了债券市场的关注。衡量英国基准 10-year 债务收益率的借贷成本在伯纳姆上任的第一周再次升至 5% 以上。这意味着他所承担的任何额外借款都将代价昂贵，从而增加了每年 £130bn 的债务利息负担。那么，伯纳姆继承的这些“规则”究竟是什么？如果他试图扭曲这些规则来支付更多开支，会发生什么？
管理英国支出和借贷能力的 规则分为两部分。一是“稳定性 规则”。该规则要求护士工资 和福利救济等日常支出 必须完全由税收收入覆盖， 这意味着政府仅为投资而借贷。
第二是“投资规则”。这意味着 债务占经济的比重必须下降。 里夫斯在任期间，将债务 的定义更新为一个名为 “公共部门净财务负债”的 新衡量指标。
这听起来可能很复杂，但 这一变化意味着政府拥有的 金融资产——例如公司股份 和某些贷款——可以用来 抵销其债务。这意味着 国家资产负债表上增加了很多 绿色的正值，抵消了许多 红色的负值。
目前，根据预算责任办公室 (OBR) 的判断，政府有望在三年后 同时满足“稳定性”和“投资” 规则。
在春季声明中，预计里夫斯 将以 £23.6bn 的缓冲空间 实现稳定性规则，并以 略多于此的幅度实现投资规则。
税务专家、债券投资者和金融城
经济学家们仔细研读了这些规则、 言论以及可能性，以确定伯纳姆 可能从里夫斯的限制中 榨取更多资金的潜在途径。
第一个选项仅仅是使用部分余地，并进一步消耗那 £23.6bn 的财务缓冲。
“蕾切尔·里夫斯相当多地增加了[她的余地]——我们认为这在很大程度上是合理的，”财政研究所（Institute for Fiscal Studies）的尼克·里德帕斯（Nick Ridpath）表示。“从某种意义上说，这就是灵活性。有一个你可以消耗的缓冲空间。这将伴随严重的风险，但你可以在财政规则之内执行。”
然而，按照历史标准来看，目前的余地仍然较低。之前的财政大臣平均拥有近 £30bn 的缓冲。
更糟糕的是，自三月份以来，部分余地已经消失。在本财政年的前三个月里，政府的借款比预期高出 £2.7bn。除此之外，预算责任办公室（OBR）的预测部分取决于金融市场的状况，而伊朗战争推高了借款成本。
智库决议基金会（Resolution Foundation）估计，目前的余地已回落至 £10bn —— 约等于去年的水平，这使得政府在面对财务状况的常规恐慌时显得脆弱。
第二个选项是将额外支出集中在投资上，这受财政规则的约束较少。根据规则的这一部分，伯纳姆可以借款来建设医院、购买主战坦克或改善国家的能源基础设施。
首相的亲密盟友、领导强大的新首相与内阁办公室的路易丝·海格（Louise Haigh）在五月的一篇论文中对增加投资表示支持。
她批评保守党财政大臣犯下了削减投资支出以满足此前财政规则的“原罪”，这“削弱了财政公信力最终所依赖的增长前景”。
她写道：“在财政整合期间，我们必须更明确地将这项投资划入专款专用。我们必须开始将投资视为我们财政战略的核心部分。”
缺点是，这通常也会带来额外的日常支出。医院需要工作人员，而工作人员需要薪水。驾驶坦克的士兵同样如此。而且，这些额外的借款会产生利息支出，而利息也被计入日常支出。
正如海格所承认的，“当今公共投资的主要限制不在于任何政府可以改变的因素：而在于借款成本本身。”
借款投资没有免费的午餐，尤其是如果它不能保证对经济产生长期推动作用的话。
避免其中部分缺点的一种方法是投资于金融资产，这意味着政府可以借钱，然后通过将资金投入投资来掩盖借款行为。
决议基金会建议加强英国商业银行（British Business Bank）、国家财富基金（NWF）和国家住房银行，以实现这一目标。
该智库建议，通过额外资金，NWF 在五年内有望在基础设施、供应链以及受青睐行业的成长型企业中额外投资 £16bn。
如果这能带来更快的财务回报——例如向企业贷款的利息支付——那么它可以在最初抵消掉大部分政府借款的成本。
海格希望进一步增强 NWF，“以...
[[IMG_XXXX]] 据称，财政大臣约翰·希利与安迪·伯纳姆讨论了“战争债券”
利用其现有资产负债表进行借贷， 且处于“财政规则之外””。 她希望这将能够“在不损害财政信誉的情况下实现大规模投资”，同时在“私营市场不愿投入必要规模资金的领域承担更大风险”。
其中一个风险是该操作可能会适得其反。 决心基金会（Resolution Foundation）警告称，对任何特定项目投资过多，可能会导致该项目被视为公共部门的一部分，从而失去金融资产地位，并再次被计入债务。
该基金不太可能覆盖诸如为陆军购买武器等投资，但可能会支持开发尖端军事技术（如无人机或导弹防御系统）的企业。
摩根大通（JP Morgan）经济学家艾伦·蒙克斯（Allan Monks）警告称，这并非国家财富基金（NWF）的真实目的。 他表示：“我们认为 [NWF] 能够帮助资助国防的唯一可行方式，是其支出狭义地聚焦于支持双用途技术、研发或相关基础设施支出，且能证明在未来具有盈利能力。” “NWF 的设计初衷是作为一种催化剂来刺激私营部门投资，而不是替代私营或公共部门的投资。”
与此同时，风险投资决策是通过借款做出的，这推高了政府的债务利息支出。
美银（Bank of America）经济学家索娜莉·普纳尼（Sonali Punhani）表示：“即使此类计划没有增加公共部门净金融负债（PSNFL）[一项债务衡量指标] 且符合财政规则，这些计划仍会增加借款和国债发行，且需要展现出某种长期增长收益才具有可信度。” “市场对大规模借款的潜在反应可能成为一种制约因素。”
到目前为止，伯纳姆正朝着相反的方向行动。较低的巴士票价上限是由拨给外国气候项目的资金资助的，这意味着削减投资以支付更多的服务日常支出。 但对地方服务的关注暗示了他的一个重要优先事项：权力下放。首相大肆宣传他建立的“北区 10 号”，这是一个位于曼彻斯特的基地，旨在展示他将权力从伦敦转移出去的愿望。 两个月前，由国会议员克里斯·柯蒂斯 (Chris Curtis) 和马克·麦克维蒂 (Mark McVitie) 撰写的一篇来自工党增长小组 (Labour Growth Group) 的论文，呼吁赋予市长更多的征税、支出和借贷权力。 他们写道，这应包括“税收增量融资、特定项目的土地价值捕获、大量精选的地方征税、地方商业房产税率的灵活性、更强大的市长开发公司，以及能够保留地方成功所带来的未来增长收入的特定份额”。 在进入住房建设新时代时，这一点可能尤其强大。新城镇可能被允许根据自身的资产进行私人借贷，通过自筹资金进行开发，从而释放更多的建设潜力。 据了解，这一想法在斯塔默时代被否决，因为担心这看起来像是财政规则的又一次变动，从而冒破坏市场信心的风险。但随着大规模增加住房建设（特别是市政房屋）的承诺，这一论点可能会卷土重来。 结合权力下放，这增加了市长可能获得借贷权力以资助开发的可能性。 这可以在不增加中央政府资产负债表压力的情况下，实现大规模建设，而这正是伯纳姆的一个关键目标。另一方面，怀疑者担心会出现新一轮几乎不受监管的借贷热潮，此前已有许多议会因在商业房地产上投入巨资，随后陷入债务危机，留下了一连串糟糕的财务决策记录。
对于伯纳姆及其财政大臣约翰·希利而言，另一个选择是延长财政规则的适用期限——尽管批评者可能会指责他们是在通过推迟解决问题来逃避责任。里夫斯的财政规则将在本十年末成为三年滚动目标。
“灵活性”可能意味着在第一或第二年大规模增加债务，然后承诺在最后一年将其削减。
“一种可能性是，伯纳姆和希利计划立即增加债务/GDP比例，但仍计划在三年后使其下降——这将符合现有法律的字面意思，即使不符合法律精神，”野村证券经济学家乔治·巴克利表示。
海格在她于5月工党在地方选举惨败几天后发表的小册子中，主张延长时间表。她写道：“第一步是将五年预测窗口改为10年的更长周期。”
“这将通过增加可持续投资效益的可视度，帮助重新平衡短期削减带来的激励，使编造‘财政虚构’变得更加困难，并更好地奖励供给侧和税制改革。”
这些“虚构”是指一种屡试不爽的方法：短期内借款和支出，同时承诺以后会谨慎行事，从而确保预测显示财务状况在正轨上——结果每年重复此伎俩，从未真正平衡账目。她补充道：“因此，更长的时间范围将通过使其与增长和公共财政的真实动态更紧密地结合，从而提高而非损害该框架的可信度。”
延长时间表的想法与伯纳姆向英国承诺的10年更新计划相一致，这是十年内第七任首相提出的一个大胆承诺。
摩根大通的蒙克斯认为，这与里夫斯承诺降低债务，随后通过一个较低门槛的指标重新定义债务的“做法相似”。
Panmure Liberum的首席经济学家西蒙·弗伦奇警告说，延长投资规则的时间范围不太可能带来太多好处。
“我持怀疑态度，因为我认为这会限制未来议会的权力。五年窗口的理由一直是它涵盖了单一议会任期的全过程，”他说道。“我认为在确定性方面你无法获得任何优势，而潜在的劣势则是信誉的丧失。”
他认为，如果伯纳姆在公布这一变化的同时增加借款，债券投资者将会惩罚政府——这会增加海格所担心的利息成本。
首相可以不采取糊弄和延迟的手段，而是重复里夫斯的伎俩，重新定义债务。
“一个选择是将债务规则从PSNFL转移到目标公共部门净财富，尽管这将是一个重大变化，且不太可能被投资者接受，”巴克利说。
“虽然前者的债务指标仅从2029-30年开始下降（如当前规则规范所要求），但后者在预测的每一年中都会有所改善，”
“指明这种转变能产生多少额外的回旋余地。”
一个更集中的替代方案可能是发明一种新形式的债务，或者至少重新定义借贷，以支付国防开支。考虑到约翰·希利上个月因资金缺口而辞去国防大臣一职，这一点尤为关键。
据了解，财政大臣和安迪·伯纳姆讨论了“战争债券”——即专门为资助国防而发行的债务——以此作为快速增加支出的一种方式。当英国计划今年在国防上支出 GDP 的 2.6% 时，这正是迫切需要的，政府希望在下一届议会期间将这一数字提高到 3%，并在 2035 年提高到 3.5%。
然而，投资者警告称，将额外的借款冠以战争债券之名，可能会在国债市场中引起极大的反感。
法国资产管理公司 Carmignac 投资委员会成员凯文·托泽特 (Kevin Thozet) 警告称，与竞争对手相比，英国目前的借贷成本已经过高。
他说：“投资者要求更高的溢价才愿意向英国出借资金。”英国的债券收益率在 G7 国家中无疑是最高的。
如果政府在明天宣布
增长不足方面， 我们已经走到了 尽头”
“英国将发行数十亿英镑的战争债券以资助国防支出，英国债券收益率将会走高，”Thozet 表示。 他补充道：“从我们看到的英国债券收益率走势来看，伯纳姆提到他可以利用所有可用灵活性来制定预算，这并没有让市场放心。” Premier Miton 的 Lloyd Harris 表达了同样的观点：“在一个债券市场普遍在发行量压力下呻吟的世界里，他们对任何国家增加借款的念头都非常敏感。” “伯纳姆暗示他们将寻找创造性的方式来增加借款。他们将尽可能地挑战极限。这在目前并不是债券市场想要听到的。” 因此，借贷成本正在上升。 其他专家则对通过借贷资助国防持更开放的态度。全球最大债券投资机构之一 Pimco 的前首席执行官 Mohamed El-Erian 表示，一个跨国的欧洲倡议将最能实现这一目的。 他认为，英国也可以独立为国防借款而不会扰乱市场。这将需要将国防借款视为基础设施投资，将其置于财政规则之外。 “它将与其他预算项目区别对待。这可能会对国债收益率产生影响，但只要受到监管、被排除在常规预算之外且规模有限，就可以非常有序地进行，”El-Erian 说道。 然而，国防支出的增加可能是长期性的。因此，通过借贷来资助是一个糟糕的主意，查理·比恩爵士 (Sir Charlie Bean) 在斯塔默政府陷入困境时接受《电讯报》采访时曾如此表示。 这位前英格兰银行副行长兼预算责任办公室 (OBR) 高级官员表示： “可以说，我们应该提高 [高于 3.
正接近这个数字，约为 GDP 的 95%。债务 水平预计在半个 世纪后将达到 300%
of GDP]。但让我们假设 3.5pc 是每个人都认同的合适数字。那么，如果这将成为永久状态，就应当通过提高税收或降低支出方案来融资。” 一名政府发言人声称，目前战争债券不在考虑范围内。 到秋天是否依然如此则是另一回事。唐纳德·特朗普重新点燃的伊朗战争表明，希利将面临一次艰巨的首次预算案。 许多投资者担心，即便只是谈论微调财政规则，也凸显了伯纳姆和工党依然“不明白”。 “这个党的问题在于，他们在意识形态上觉得自己的职责不是削减开支。因此，他们只是在扩张，所以他们说出的话必须是扩张性的。问题就在这里，”哈里斯说。他补充道，在借贷问题上口无遮拦是个问题。 “特朗普知道如何通过言论拉抬市场。伯纳姆则知道如何通过言论打压市场。他真的知道如何给自己找麻烦，并推高借贷成本，”哈里斯说。
无论伯纳姆选择什么样的会计技巧，最终英国都无法逃避高债务和低增长的问题。“在试图掩盖增长不足和支出过多的金融工程方面，我们已经走到了尽头，”法兰西如此评定。国家经济与社会研究中心的副主任斯蒂芬·米拉德表示赞同：“关键在于公共债务很高。每当出现新的冲击，政府想要通过新的生活成本危机、新的新冠疫情或新的脱欧来支持家庭时，债务就会上升，且似乎再也不会下降。”他警告说，这在为未来积聚巨大的问题，使英国在下次紧急情况发生时变得脆弱。“从长远来看，政府将面临来自人口结构变化、向净零排放转型以及国防支出承诺的沉重支出压力，[这些压力]在 2030 年代将再次上升，”米拉德说。此前，预算责任办公室 (OBR) 表示，英国的债务水平在半个世纪后预计将达到 GDP 的 300%，而目前为 95%。米拉德认为，这才是伯纳姆和希利应该关注的重点。“除非政府现在开始减轻债务，否则未来将导致更高得多的债务，”他说。福利支出也是一个显而易见的目标。该项支出预计今年将升至 £350bn 以上，而新冠疫情前 12 个月的支出为 £227bn。预计到 2030 年代初，每年将增加到 £400bn 以上。其中近一半是养老金支出，因为人口在老龄化，且“三重锁”机制使支付额持续上升。然而，试图减缓福利增长的尝试损害了基尔爵士在党内的声望，而且保留“三重锁”是竞选宣言中的承诺。伯纳姆执政初期做出的昂贵承诺——修复社会护理、解决生活成本问题——以及随之而来的强烈反弹表明，并没有简单的答案。法兰西建议迅速转向将经济增长置于首位。“你必须重新审视并移除一些我所描述的关于增长的‘奢侈信念’，因为这些信念阻碍了住房建设、能源生产以及资本流入国内企业，”他说。如果没有一个一个更强有力的经济体来协助支付账单，伯纳姆可能会在实践中证明，英国过度紧张的财政状况根本没有多少“灵活性”。
I
去年 4 月，以色列驻伦敦大使馆临时代办兼使团负责人丹妮拉·格鲁德斯基-埃克斯坦（Daniela Grudsky Ekstein）与一名恐怖分子近在咫尺，而该恐怖分子当时正准备发起一场在如今只能被描述为“日益英国化”的袭击。当我们在这栋被袭击的目标建筑中见面时，她沉重地说道：“我记得非常清楚。当时安保人员敦促我离开大使馆，因为我是工作日结束时最后一个离开的人。就在我离开后，不到两分钟，他就爬上了围栏。”当时她正在打电话，当她与身裹红白相间库菲亚围巾、戴着太阳镜的科威特移民阿卜杜拉·阿尔巴德里（Abdullah Albadri）擦肩而过时，她并没有注意到他。然而，34 岁的阿尔巴德里正执意进行谋杀。在告诉他的母亲“我选择了殉道之路”后，他前往肯辛顿，试图持两把刀进入大使馆，距离以色列最高级别地区外交官仅有数英尺之遥。幸运的是，他被警方制服。5 月，他在老贝利法院（Old Bailey）被裁定恐怖主义罪名成立。格鲁德斯基-埃克斯坦之所以能幸存，是因为这个不幸的圣战分子——他在 16 天前乘坐小船抵达英国，并在贝辛斯托克的一家四星级酒店获得了一间房——在她经过时没有认出她。显然，他没有足够的机智预先研究他的目标。回想起往事，格鲁德斯基-埃克斯坦显然心有不安。“我想到了这栋建筑以及我们所代表的旗帜所面对的事故次数，”她摇着头说道。但她依然坚定。这次事件之所以具有典型的“英国特色”，是因为这是阿尔巴德里第二次横跨英吉利海峡。在 2021 年第一次跨海后，由于未知原因，他搭便车回到了法国，然后在 2025 年 4 月沿原路返回。在酒店住了三天后，他被告知不符合住宿资格，因为他已经申请了政治庇护。他在户外露宿了几天，然后开始在网上搜索以色列大使馆的详情以及“在敌人群体中自杀”。在给母亲发完信息后，他在 4 月 28 日发动了这次失败的袭击。这突显了我们国家安全状况的岌岌可危，而对任何少数群体而言，没有比犹太人受此影响更深重的了。“坦白说，英国非常擅长的是筑起围栏，给我们提供最后一层保护，”格鲁德斯基-埃克斯坦在使馆办公室会见我们时说道，办公室外围有严密的安保工事。“但我希望这种情况能在更早的时候停止。我不希望袭击者爬上围栏后再被安保部队驱离。我不希望他靠近我的大使馆。”她表示，以色列领导层无法理解我们这片土地上的反犹主义程度。毕竟，在书面上，英国设有后大屠杀问题特使（工党议员乔恩·皮尔斯 Jon Pearce）和反犹主义独立顾问（曼勋爵 Lord Mann），并为犹太安保团体提供了巨额预算。政府早在 2016 年 12 月就采用了国际大屠杀纪念联盟（IHRA）关于反犹主义的工作定义——这被犹太团体视为金标准，且远早于其欧洲同行。然而，尽管有这样的保护机制，针对犹太人的敌意仍在增长。“归根结底，反犹主义正在抬头，”格鲁德斯基-埃克斯坦说。“我们看到了曼彻斯特希顿公园犹太会堂的谋杀案和戈尔德斯格林的刺杀事件。耶路撒冷方面看不到的是，这些袭击与那种纵容环境之间如此清晰的联系，”而这种环境允许反犹主义言论
以及公然的误导信息——比如以色列在犯下“种族灭绝”而非在打一场艰苦战争的谎言——得以在不受挑战的情况下传播。她指出，媒体在这种煽动中起到了主要作用。“毫无疑问，我们在[媒体]各处都看到了这种情况，”她说道。“在 [2025年格拉斯顿伯里音乐节期间]，BBC 播报‘以色列国防军（IDF）死掉’的口号，影响极其巨大，因为在那之前，我并不知道这个口号。从那以后，你知道我看到了多少次喊着‘以色列国防军死掉’的抗议活动吗？”因此，格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦并不完全遗憾她为期五年的英国任期在本周结束。耶路撒冷此前驻伦敦的大使齐皮·霍托韦利已于去年 9 月结束任期，而原定接任的本雅明·内塔尼亚胡前幕僚长伊扎克·“扎奇”·布拉弗曼目前在以色列面临潜在的欺诈、背信和
妨碍司法公正指控。克里斯蒂安·坎托尔作为埃克斯坦的继任代办，将于本周就任。在代行大使职责 10 个月后，格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦对能够回家感到宽慰——她往返于耶路撒冷和特拉维夫之间生活——并期待在耶路撒冷外交部担任新职。“那里有家人，有朋友，是我们来自的地方，”她微笑着说。此外，她表示，在日常生活中，无论导弹和恐怖威胁如何，她经常觉得在以色列比在英国更安全。“‘反犹主义’这个词并不是我们以色列人能产生共鸣的东西，因为我们这里没有这种情况，”她说。这位代办并不是一个容易被吓到的人。格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦身高仅 5 英尺 2 英寸，是一位拥有两个孩子的母亲，丈夫是一家科技公司高管；她的神情明亮但带着一种对世界的倦怠感，仿佛她的家庭、她的族群以及她的国家之重量都沉沉地压在她的肩上
他没有与我握手”
肩膀略微耸起。她于 1984 年出生在苏联控制下的乌兹别克斯坦塔什干，父亲是数学家，母亲是计算机工程师。在成长过程中，她深知自己的许多亲属在犹太人大屠杀中被消灭。1991 年，随着苏联解体，她的父母带着她和妹妹移居以色列，抵达之时恰逢第一次海湾战争期间的s库德导弹袭击。
“我们进入本·古里安机场时，工作人员在给每个人发放防毒面具，因为当时人们担心有些火箭弹含有化学物质，”她回忆道。“那时我还很小，但儿童面具已经发完了，所以我拿了一个成年人的，他们对我说：‘没关系，你能行，你会没事的。’”
当她 14 岁时，父母全家搬到芝加哥生活了两年。作为一名未来的外交官，她最具有塑造意义的经历之一就发生在此时，当时她参加了缅因州的“和平之种”计划。自 1993 年以来，该团体每年夏天都会将来自敌对文化的年轻人聚集在一起。
“核心理念是：只要交一个［阿拉伯或巴勒斯坦］朋友就好，”她回忆道。“你踢足球，每天有一个半小时的共存时间，进行对话。通过交谈，你不再害怕坐在你面前的那个人。”
在以色列以优异成绩完成学业并完成兵役后，Grudsky Ekstein 在申请成为外交官之前曾在金融领域工作。2021 年，她被任命为伦敦大使馆政治处负责人。当时 Boris Johnson 是首相。
她回忆道，保守党政府的那段时期是一个“黄金时代”，伦敦与以色列的双边关系处于最佳状态。“以色列总统和总理来英国访问。以色列外交部长和所有人都在这里，关系非常热情。”
在此期间，她结识了时任商业和贸易大臣的 Kemi Badenoch。2023 年 3 月，这位未来的保守党领导人访问了以色列，以推进自由贸易协定的谈判。
“Kemi 对以色列一直显得相当积极，”Grudsky Ekstein 说道。“她是一个自带‘劲头’的人，就像她能心领神会。你不需要向她解释。我对她印象非常深刻。在非常艰难的时刻，她站在了正确的一边，对此我们真的、真的非常感激。”
在一段后来走红的视频剪辑中，Badenoch 在 5 月份于埃塞克斯郡为地方选举 campaigning 时，面对一名亲巴勒斯坦的干扰者依然立场坚定，Grudsky Ekstein 对此表示欢呼。“她没有转向妥协，”Grudsky Ekstein 说。“她非常清楚自己的身份。在面对各种挑战的时刻，我们一直能感受到这一点。这是耶路撒冷所认可的。”
然而，当被问及对 Nigel Farage 的评估时，Grudsky Ekstein 更加谨慎。“我认为他是一个非常有魅力的人，”她谨慎地选择措辞。
“我希望他也能访问我们。我认为看到这个国家，看到这里的人们，将会具有重大意义。他在为人质——比如［英以双国籍囚犯］Emily Damari——争取权益方面做得非常好。我知道这个话题深深触动了他的心，他对此不懈追求，并尽全力帮助她的案件。”
她是否认为 Farage 缺乏 Badenoch 那种对以色列的“劲头”？“我还不知道，”她回答道。“他更多地关注国内事务，这完全可以理解。”
回顾过去，英以友谊的高峰出现在 2023 年 3 月，当时签署了《2030年英以双边关系路线图》。该文件将两国关系提升为“战略伙伴关系”，包括在国防与安全、贸易与投资、科学与技术、网络、健康、气候等方面扩大合作。
教育与文化，以及打击反犹主义。 如今，这一切感觉像是一段遥远的记忆。 格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦清晰地记得世界改变的那个早晨。当时她住在诺丁山门（Notting Hill Gate）的住所里，期待着与约旦和埃及外交官以及外交部以色列事务负责人进行“某种有趣的、早午餐式的友好会晤”——按照她的风格，这次会晤是由她亲自安排的。接着，她的手机开始亮起。随着 10 月 7 日那场彻头彻尾的恐怖袭击展开，尽管当天是安息日，但人们决定开放以色列大使馆。“并不是说我们有很多事情要做，”她回忆道，“我的意思是，我们看了新闻，但在这样一个充满不确定性的时刻，至少能在一起的感觉很重要，周日我们也同样做了。” 那天下午，她接到通知，她的朋友玛雅·本·大卫（Maya Ben David），48，在基布兹克法阿扎（Kibbutz Kfar Aza）被杀害，她此前一直与丈夫和小孩子住在那里。 “她和丈夫以及两个孩子在避难所里待了 32 小时，期间丈夫一直顶住门 [以防止哈马斯进入]，”格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦说。“当恐怖分子到来时，他们穿过门射击，导致玛雅头部受伤。” 她的丈夫随后面临一个可怕的抉择：是离开房门去救陷入危难的妻子，还是为了保护孩子而继续坚守路障抵御圣战分子。他守在门边，无奈地看着玛雅死去。紧接着的第二天，在以色列境内甚至还没有统计完死亡人数之前，伦敦大使馆外的加沙大规模集会就开始了。大都会警察局建议以色列外交官远离该区域。她最深刻的记忆是在政府大楼寻找可以悬挂的以色列国旗以示团结，而非她工作场所外那场激进的集会。“直到稍后一段时间，我们才意识到我们面临的问题，”她继续说道。“对我来说，最清晰的时刻是议会就呼吁加沙立即停火进行投票时，[口号]‘从河流到大海’被投影在大本钟上。当时有很多关于议员受到恐吓的故事。对我而言，这太可怕了。我想：在所有这些压力下，他们在这个话题上真的能进行自由投票吗？然后我意识到，英国存在一个非常深刻的问题。” 2024 年 7 月 5 日，随着基尔·斯塔默的工党政府当选，“黄金时代”的最后痕迹被抹去了。“那天是我们双边关系的一次巨大转变，”她说。她表示，几乎立即就有三项敌对决定被做出：恢复对联合国近东救济工程处（Unrwa [被指与哈马斯有联系的联合国机构]）的资助；暂停部分对以色列的武器许可；以及维持国际刑事法院对本雅明·内塔尼亚胡和前国防部长约阿夫·加兰特（Yoav Gallant）发出的逮捕令。这种新的、对立的氛围反映在了公务员系统的部分环节中，她在那里开始遇到赤裸裸的偏见。“我有一套安保方案 [包括近身保护人员]，这使我比那些在街道上公开行走并经历过辱骂的同事们稍微脱节一些，”她说。“然而几周前，在白厅的一次正式会议上，我感受到了这一点。我正
的决策过程中 变得不再那么 重要了。过去 我们关系良好”
被[一名公务员]迎接，他……充满了仇恨……他没有跟我握手……当我试图进行一些寒暄时，对方的回答是：“你为什么在审问我？”就在那时我明白了。”随着双边关系的恶化，伦敦在中东的影响力也随之减弱。“在某种程度上，英国在我们决策过程中变得不再那么重要，在该地区的影响力也降低了，”格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦（Grudsky Ekstein）说道。“过去，我们拥有密切的关系、亲密感和磋商。现在则处于紧张状态。我认为耶路撒冷正将其考虑在内，因为如果你如此大声地指责、如此尖锐地批评，那么就很难被他人倾听。”更糟糕的情况随后而至。2025年9月，在以色列人质仍被囚禁在加沙隧道期间，工党政府无条件承认了巴勒斯坦国，并赢得了哈马斯的正式祝贺。“这是一种表演性行为，因为归根结底，地面的实际情况并没有改变，”格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦疲惫地指出，“除了给哈马斯壮胆，这产生了什么影响？”以色列外交官面临的困难部分在于，其国家联合政府中数量虽少但影响力大的极端分子。5月，极右翼部长伊塔马尔·本-格维尔（Itamar Ben-Gvir）在一段视频中嘲讽试图乘船前往加沙而被拘留的西方活动人士，引发了国际谴责。格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦被召至外交部接受训诫。“处理方式非常专业，”她说。“我们自己对于事件的执行方式也有批评。这就是外交舞步。我们可以这样舞动，没问题。我们从事的就是这个行业。但你会对另一个民主国家这样做吗？我认为这就是过火且走太远的地方。”
她认为，要扭转吞没英国的反犹主义浪潮，意味着必须进行全面的文化变革，而第一步必须是结束那种妖魔化的文化。“如果我们探讨核心原因，那些仇恨游行、示威活动，在我看来，所谓的言论自由制造了危险的煽动，”她说。这让我们想到了安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham），这位英国未来的新守护者。在格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦看来，几乎没有迹象表明在他的领导下情况会有所改善。伯纳姆迅速向受众保证，工党已经对其在战争期间所谓的对以色列的“支持”进行了反思。在格鲁德斯基·埃克斯坦看来，这种极其公开的立场反转之原因显而易见。“作为一名外交官，我会试着思考：这个决定是由国内政治驱动的，还是出于外交政策？”她说。“我知道国内顾虑在你们的外交政策中非常突出。我已经意识到这一点。不幸的是，当涉及到巴以冲突时，它已成为一个如此热门的国内议题。我认为这是不可避免的。”在她离开之前，是否给英国留下最后一段话？“请站在以色列的立场上思考，”她回答道。“我知道人们对巴勒斯坦人有很大的同情心。我理解。但你应该明白，我们的民主制度同样需要一只友好的手。”
希思克利夫·欧马利（HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY）为《电讯报》报道
订阅我们的免费每日 商业简报 (Business Briefing)
主席曾 计划采取行动 反对布兰克 (Blanc)
起草了董事六年 任期限制计划
作者：本·马洛（Ben Marlow）
BP前任董事长在被戏剧性地罢免之前，一直在起草一项计划，旨在撤换该公司的高级独立董事阿曼达·布兰克女爵士（Dame Amanda Blanc）。艾伯特·曼尼福尔德（Albert Manifold）希望引入严格的董事六年任期限制，将其作为公司治理重大变革的一部分。他原计划在那个令金融城震惊的“政变”当天，向BP董事会提交这些提案。该公司则表示，并没有安排关于董事会改革的讨论。
此举本会将BP的董事会人数从 10 人削减至八人，其中阿曼达女爵士和另一名非执行董事被列入离职名单。然而，在五月针对霸凌指控（曼尼福尔德对此坚决否认）而引发的解雇风波中，她反而是罢免曼尼福尔德的关键人物。BP在本周末对Aviva首席执行官阿曼达女爵士表达了支持，强调董事会从未收到过前任董事长的计划，且针对他的情况存在“严重的指控”。
据一名了解其计划的消息人士称，曼尼福尔德在今年早些时候已将BP董事会从 13 名成员削减至 10 名，但他担心董事会依然“臃肿且昂贵”。他担心，如果没有明确的任期限制，一些非执行董事可能会在建议的六年任期后继续留任，从而可能引发对董事会独立性的质疑。
据知情人士透露，尽管曼尼福尔德未能提交他的计划，但董事会同事对这些旨在降低成本并提高这家油气巨头治理标准的提案有所了解。他起草提案的部分依据是来自Board Evaluation公司的外部工作，该公司是一家公司治理顾问公司，由前保守党党魁海格勋爵（Lord Hague）的妻子菲恩·海格（Ffion Hague）经营。曼尼福尔德在就任仅八个月后就被解雇，BP给出的理由是“董事会收到了与重要治理标准、监督和行为相关的严重关切”。
另一个BP董事会职位
作者：詹姆斯·蒂特科姆（James Titcomb）
作者：詹姆斯·蒂特科姆（James Titcomb）
萨迪克·汗（SIR SADIQ KHAN）爵士已为在绿带（green belt）地区建设更多数据中心铺平了道路，放宽了对伦敦保护区内此类设施的限制。
首都的开发草案计划显示，尽管随着对人工智能（AI）需求的激增导致建设热潮，人们对新技术基础设施的抵制情绪日益增长，但提案仍鼓励在所谓的“灰带（grey belt）”土地上建设更多数据中心。
“灰带”是指绿带中被认为适合开发且不会导致城市扩张的区域。
大伦敦政府的
惠普（HP）在与迈克·林奇（Mike Lynch）家属关于谁来监管这位已故科技大亨的 £500m 财富的争端中做出了让步。
这家美国公司一直在与这位英国企业家的家属就其遗产管理问题进行斗争，因为惠普试图在一场旷日持久的法律诉讼中获得 £920m。
今年早些时候，该公司试图在不顾林奇遗孀安杰拉·巴卡雷斯（Angela Bacares）意愿的情况下，安装重组公司Interpath Advisory来监管其资产。然而，各方现已达成协议，林奇此前就职的律师事务所 Clifford Chance 的前合伙人杰里米·桑德尔森（Jeremy Sandelson）将在近期继续代表该遗产。
被誉为“英国比尔·盖茨”的林奇两年前在西西里岛海岸遭遇一场罕见风暴后，与其十几岁的女儿汉娜（Hannah）以及另外五名受害者一同死于其超级游艇“贝叶斯号”（Bayesian）上。他曾花费多年时间与HP就 $11bn（£8.3bn）的交易进行法律斗争。
他想要撤换的董事长由德国前电力公司负责人约翰内斯·泰森 (Johannes Teyssen) 担任。曼尼福尔德 (Mr Manifold) 认为，阿曼达女爵士 (Dame Amanda) 和泰森先生在 BP 董事会任职六年之后应当卸任且不予接替。 这将意味着阿曼达女爵士将在 2028 年退出，而泰森先生将在 2027 年 1 月退出。 在被解雇后，曼尼福尔德先生发表了一篇 800 字的公开声明，否认自己过于强势的说法。他还将那些指控他欺凌他人的匿名简报斥为“谎言”。投资者对董事会强行将其撤职的判断力提出了质疑。 这位 63 岁的人士被聘请来推动 BP 的转型，并表示这家陷入困境的石油巨头的运作方式及其董事会是他计划中大修的关键部分，称他寻求对其“运作方式进行审查”，以“提高效率和效能”。 曼尼福尔德先生此前是水泥制造商 CRH 的首席执行官，也是 BP 116 年历史上首位成为董事长的局外人。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 阿尔伯特·曼尼福尔德 (Albert Manifold) 在 5 月被撤除 BP 董事长职务，此前董事会收到了“严重关切”的报告
由于监督了曼尼福尔德先生的招募，并在宣布其离职的新闻稿上署名，阿曼达女爵士在 BP 的影响力受到了特别审查。 股东们呼吁其余的董事会成员进行集体“反思”，并要求注入“新鲜血液”，而一名美国投资者此前称这次撤职是一次“暗箱操作”。 BP 依然支持阿曼达女爵士，并委派她寻找曼尼福尔德先生的继任者。这场争端给新任首席执行官梅格·奥尼尔 (Meg O’Neill) 及其在推动绿色能源后重新拥抱石油和天然气的尝试蒙上了一层阴影。 曼尼福尔德先生的发言人拒绝置评。 BP 临时主席伊恩·泰勒 (Ian Tyler) 表示：“任何关于 BP 代表其对董事会的规模、结构或组成进行外部审查，或者在阿尔伯特·曼尼福尔德离职时董事会即将讨论此类事项建议的说法均不属实。” 海格女士 (Mrs Hague) 表示，她的咨询公司没有为曼尼福尔德先生承担任何工作，并拒绝进一步评论。
本月发布的伦敦规划 (London Plan) 草案中，数据中心被豁免于旨在防止绿带区域过度开发的规则。 专家将新政策描述为“宽松的”，而绿带活动人士则表示这冒了创下“危险先例”的风险。 近年来，伦敦绿带区域内已经建设或拟建了一系列“超大规模”数据中心，开发商表示，这些大型设施可安置的地点有限。在许多情况下，它们得到了政府的支持，部长们顶住当地反对压力强行推进这些计划。 伦敦规划将适用于大伦敦当局 (Greater London Authority) 辖区的各区，而非与首都接壤的郡县。 布莱恩·凯夫·雷顿·佩斯纳律师事务所 (Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner) 的规划律师吉尔斯·平克 (Giles Pink) 表示，新提案“相当宽松……在这种新兴政策中，它们享有更多特权”。 基础设施咨询公司 Copper 的奥利弗·高夫 (Oliver Gough) 表示，这为数据中心的开发提供了一条“其他任何主要土地用途均无法获得”的路径。 改革党 (Reform) 罗姆福德 (Romford) 议员安德鲁·罗辛代尔 (Andrew Rosindell) 一直在反对东伦敦一个规模庞大的数据中心园区，他警告称，这些提案“由于使得在绿带土地上建设大规模数据中心变得更加容易，冒了创下危险先例的风险”。这位前保守党人士——
[[IMG_XXXX]] 一名高等法院法官在 3 月裁定，林奇 (Lynch) 的遗产应向 HP 支付的金额
阿曼达·布兰克 (Dame Amanda Blanc) 女爵士因监督曼尼福尔德先生的最初任命，随后又在宣布其离职的新闻稿上署名而受到审查
他在 2011. 年将其软件公司 Autonomy。HP 声称其受到了欺诈，且林奇虚报了公司的价值。 林奇在 2022, 年被裁定承担法律责任，今年 3 月，一名法官最终裁定林奇的遗产应向 HP 支付 £920m，这一数额将导致该遗产破产。它
作者：Pui-Guan Man
尽管有说法称其能够彻底改变住房市场，但一项针对新型生态住宅的“绿色”抵押贷款实际上仅适用于极少数房产。
这项由桑坦德银行（Santander）和章鱼能源（Octopus Energy）推出的贷款，适用于该能源供应商所谓“零账单”资费计划中的“选定”新建住宅。
对于安装了热泵、太阳能和电池储能设备的房屋，这些房产保证至少五年无需支付能源账单。
在该计划下，桑坦德银行将向生态住宅买家额外提供最高 £30,000 的贷款，理由是无需支付能源账单将减少他们的日常开支，从而腾出更多收入用于偿还抵押贷款。
桑坦德银行抵押贷款部门负责人本·梅里特（Ben Merritt）赞扬该计划是“一个示例，展示了我们如何演进抵押贷款产品，以反映业主不断变化的需求”。
然而，《电讯报》的分析显示，绝大多数英国购房者无法获得该贷款。本周末，在章鱼能源网站上推广的项目中，仅有 50 套按照“零账单”标准建造的房屋在售。
作为英国最大的家庭能源供应商，章鱼能源于 2022 年推出了零账单计划，并设定了到本十年末建造 100,000 套的目标。但目前房源的匮乏表明，该抵押贷款计划不太可能对市场产生显著影响。
章鱼能源坚称，在康沃尔（Cornwall）、埃塞克斯（Essex）和邓迪（Dundee）等地区，有“数百”套生态住宅“要么已在公开市场销售，要么即将上市”。
一名发言人补充道：“随着我们在全英国与各种房屋建筑商和开发商共同扩大‘零账单’住宅的规模，这一数字正在迅速增加。”
章鱼能源表示，已在全球范围内批准了 6,000 套以上房屋的“零账单”资格，其中绝大多数位于英国。目前已联系桑坦德银行寻求评论。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 伦敦市长萨迪克·汗爵士 (Sir Sadiq Khan) 渴望让这座首都城市成为环保数据中心建设的全球领导者。
一名代表表示，鉴于数据中心的重要性快速增长，他并不“反对数据中心”，但认为它们“不应以当地社区所珍视的乡村环境为代价”。
伦敦周围绿带的开发通常仅限于靠近公共交通枢纽的增长区域，新房屋可在那里建设。然而，伦敦市长的计划给予了数据中心豁免权，因为与其他工业场地不同，数据中心在完工后产生的交通量很小。萨迪克爵士的计划草案将这些设施描述为“唯一例外”。
该计划草案还将对数据中心在用水和用电方面提出新要求，从而增加了在工业土地上建设它们的难度。此前，这类设施的评估方式与工厂或仓库相同。
根据该计划，它们必须证明自己正在使用可再生能源，限制用水量并探索……
“压垮电网”风险
作者：Jonathan Leake
政府专家警告称，部署用于稳定英国电力网络的数千块电池可能会导致电网崩溃。 相关部长已被告知，如果运营商为了避免能源短缺而尝试在同一时间为电池充电，则存在崩溃风险。 一份提交给新任能源大臣米亚塔·法恩布莱（Miatta Fahnbulleh）的报告称： “需要思考电池储能系统在容量市场通知（capacity market notice）情况下的可能表现，因为运营商届时可能有动力提前充电以履行其义务。这可能会导致迅速陷入压力事件。” 容量市场通知是由国家能源系统运营商在发现即将出现电力短缺（例如由低风速引起）时发布的关键警告。 在历史上，这类通知用于告知那些被付费在此时待命的燃气发电站进行预热并准备就绪。 然而，电池组运营商近期已开始进入同一市场。这些电池必须充满电才能有效工作。 该报告表达了担忧，即运营商在察觉到即将出现高需求期或低风力发电期时，可能会同时开始充电，此举可能会压垮电网，并触发他们试图避免的电力短缺。 英国电网目前拥有约 7GW 的电池容量，其总输出略高于英国全部五座核电站。到 2030 年，英国电网的电池容量预计将超过 20GW。
动力提前充电…… 这可能会导致 压力事件”
[[IMG_XXXX]]
（此处为页面断层/内容跳转）
探讨利用余热为家庭供暖的方案。 萨迪克爵士（Sir Sadiq）的一位发言人表示：“市长的雄心很明确：让伦敦成为全球领先的环保、低排放、高效率数据中心开发城市。” “数据中心的能源需求量极其巨大，因此在推进伦敦其他基础设施需求的同时，快速实现数据中心的扩张将需要更协调的规划。” “为了应对这一挑战，市长已承诺通过整合各区、能源供应商、创新公司、开发商和大学，采取全市范围的伙伴关系协作方法。”
必须找回 失落已久的 探索欲
而在海外则拥有更好的前景——正当投资者们胆怯地拒绝接纳更广阔的世界时
即便有世界杯的加持，JD Wetherspoon 依然在苦苦支撑；而随着天气转热，我们吃 Greggs 卷肠（sausage rolls）的次数也不如从前了。那些被称作英国“价值冠军”的公司——即那些将低成本、高销量商业模式发挥到极致的企业——发现今年的国内市场是一场艰苦的 slog。但请稍等。事实上，将这些品牌打造为全球性成功的机会巨大，而伦敦金融城需要停止在海外扩张方面的胆怯，开始支持它们。即便像 Spoons 这样的公司也开始感受到压力，这足以衡量英国经济的前景已变得多么糟糕。本周，这家酒吧连锁店发布了今年的第四次利润预警，董事长蒂姆·马丁爵士（Sir Tim Martin）承认其业绩“可能低于市场预期”。它正与工党政府向该行业征收的所有额外税收作斗争，虽然营业率（business rates）的小幅下调会在边际上有所帮助，但不会产生太大影响。普通消费者的闲置资金如此紧张，以至于即便是一品脱 £2 的啤酒和一份 £4.99 的全英式早餐，对于许多忠实客户来说也太奢侈了。我们将拭目以待，新任首相安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）旨在实现“每个邮政区都有良好增长”的任务能否开始改变这一现状（读者们可能并不惊讶地发现，我自己对此相当怀疑）。但在实际工资开始强劲增长之前，很难看到这种情况发生。同样，Greggs 也不再是曾经的明星企业。这家主打廉价且欢乐的卷肠和热点心烘焙店曾以惊人的速度在全国扩张，但去年 10 月警告称，由于销售放缓以及必须支付的额外税收导致成本上升，它已缩减了新店开业计划。今年 3 月，它将税前利润下降 17% 归咎于“挑战性的环境”。就像 Spoons 一样，一个 £1.35 的卷肠现在竟让许多人负担不起，这充分反映了国家的现状。
人们很容易对这些“价值冠军”感到悲观。但请稍等。外面有一个广阔的世界。当然，利雅得市中心永远不会出现 Spoons，Greggs 也不太可能在普罗旺斯的一个村庄里击败当地的面包店。但这并不意味着在增长强劲且实际收入仍以更稳健速度增长的市场中没有充足的扩张空间。美国、加拿大和澳大利亚都是以英语文化为中心的市场，对廉价饮品和小吃有浓厚兴趣。德国虽然不再是曾经那样富有的经济体，但依然有很多人喜欢喝啤酒，而德国香肠卷（bratwurst roll）很可能会出乎意料地受欢迎。日本人热爱任何他们认为具有英国特色的东西，中国的许多人也日益如此。名单还可以一直延伸。可能有十几个或更多国家，这两个品牌都能在其中合理地复制他们在英国的成功。在某种程度上，这一切已经在发生了。Greggs 在 5 月表示，它将在特内里费南机场（Tenerife South Airport）开设二十多年来首家英国境外分店。为了迎合当地口味，除了所有在英国熟悉的常规产品外，你还可以买到西班牙蛋饼早餐卷（我简直等不及了）。Wetherspoon 则在去年 12 月开设了首家英国境外分店——位于阿利坎特机场（Alicante airport）的 Castell de Santa Barbara，菜单上提供大蒜虾，供那些在登机前想喝杯廉价啤酒的人享用。
家。但为什么不加速这一进程呢？当然，这将需要大量投资，且必须投入资本。面包店和酒吧的设立需要资金，员工需要培训，供应链需要建立，市场也需要做好准备。但伦敦金融城（the City）过去曾支持那些想要挑战世界的英国公司。特易购（Tesco）在国内问题迫使其撤退之前，曾试图征服东欧和中欧。20世纪80年代的 Body Shop 在还是一个新零售概念时，就在全球范围内扩张。Topshop 在其快时尚鼎盛时期也是如此。回溯二十年前，当企业家和品牌拥有一个行之有效的概念并向其他国家扩张时，金融城非常乐意支持他们。遗憾的是，现在情况不再如此。如果一家公司表示想在美国、亚洲或欧洲大陆开设一千家分店，其股价可能会
暴跌，董事会将面临严厉质询，首席执行官甚至在有机会开始行动之前就会被撤职。雄心壮志已经消失了。除了所有其他问题外，这无疑是伦敦股市大幅下跌以及英国经济表现如此惨淡的一个核心原因。再也没有人尝试去挑战世界了。关键点无疑在于此：像 Spoons 和 Greggs 这样的连锁店已经完善了一种低成本、低利润、高销量的模式。这听起来可能很简单，在某些方面确实如此，但任何尝试过的人都会告诉你，要在数百个甚至数千个分店中每天让这个模式运转起来是非常困难的。不幸的是，英国经济在未来几年可能会继续陷入零增长的泥潭。价值链应当采取一种获胜的方案并将其推向全球——而金融城
应当为他们提供所需的资本、耐心和毅力，以确保取得成功。
已经消失。 这是 经济如此 低迷的 一个 核心原因”
向佩隆和古罗马点头示意
杰里米·沃纳 (JEREMY WARNER)
但这个国家正处于一种 妄想式的权利感 跑步机上
安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 仅用了几天时间就发现了显而易见的事实——大曼彻斯特市长的相对受保护的生活，与唐宁街 10 号的“金鱼缸”生活之间有着天壤之别。无论将首相的职责向“北方”转移多少，或者固执地拒绝举行正式的新闻发布会，都无法让他免于市场和媒体问责的无情纪律。可怜的人，你已经可以看到他在意识到自己陷入的困境后，明显地在迅速衰老。他的标志性政策一个接一个地在现实的铁砧上崩塌。他心中那些异想天开的 10 年计划根本没有资金支持。令伯纳姆担忧的是，债务市场似乎并不倾向于给他留余地。基准国债收益率本月上涨了 0.4 个百分点。其中只有一部分可以归因于全球通胀压力的重启。相当一部分是伯纳姆自己造成的。到目前为止宣布的生活成本措施——针对酒吧的商业税率、巴士票价以及取消能源账单的增值税——诚然规模很小。但未能令人信服地为其提供资金，已经敲响了警钟。部长们不诚实地声称事实并非如此，使情况变得更加糟糕。直到上周还担任首相首席秘书的政府内部人士达伦·琼斯 (Darren Jones) 强调政府在粉饰真相，这进一步加剧了闹剧感。然而，更大的错误发生在伯纳姆在技术上成为首相之前。他说，在梅克菲尔德 (Makerfield) 补选竞选期间，被反复提及的一项“挫败感”是 £12,570 的起征点，即开始缴纳所得税的门槛。这一数值自 2021. 起就一直被冻结。目前的计划是将其维持到至少 2031, 年 4 月，这项政策且不论其对所有纳税人可支配收入的侵蚀作用，将导致数百万人首次被纳入所得税缴纳范围。当伯纳姆发表这些言论时，市场得出了逻辑结论：他实际上打算采取行动解决这个问题。事实证明，他既不会这样做，也无法这样做。他缺乏实施此类慷慨举措的财政空间，尽管他含糊地承诺将在秋季预算中重新审视该政策。别抱太大希望。要在遵守财政规则的同时解冻起征点，他需要找到一种方法，用同等且相反的支出削减来抵消巨大的成本，以匹配未来的税收收入。如果没有这些削减，
利亚姆·哈利根 (LIAM HALLIGAN)
财政状况以及任何 降息前景都至关重要
上周布伦特原油价格突破了 $100 (£75.09) 每桶。油价从 7 月初的仅 $71 起涨——在不到一个月的时间里，价格惊人地飙升了 40%。 数周以来，金融评论员们一直试图无视美国与伊朗之间不断升级的导弹交换，渴望中东能达成持久的停火。 虽然油价在上周末略有回落，但原油价格仍接近三位数。随着华盛顿和德黑兰的矛盾日益尖锐，且通过 霍尔木兹海峡 的原油供应量不足战前时期的十分之一，油价在下周很可能再次走高。 我们目前正处于自 1973 年赎罪日战争以来最严重的结构性能源危机之中。 安迪·伯纳姆 的新政府似乎对此现实视而不见。 在上周一就职后的最初几天内，新任首相表示他将“利用财政规则内的灵活性”，这进一步引发了人们的担忧，认为这将是一个比基尔·斯塔默更偏左的政府，其借贷和支出水平将更高。 伯纳姆曾提出将个人税起征点从 £12,5670 提高——该起征点自 2021 年起一直处于冻结状态，并预计将维持到本十年末——但在一天后放弃了这一想法。金融市场留下的强烈印象是，这位十年来英国的第七任首相
5.0
埃迪·马洛兰 (EDDIE MULHOLLAND)
他的操作空间似乎为零。仅将起征点与通胀挂钩一年，就将耗资 £3.5bn。如果一直持续到 2031 年，每年将减少 £14bn 的税收。 市场可以相当肯定，伯纳姆绝对不会做的一件事——至少在自愿的情况下——就是相应地削减开支。 在随后国债价格再次波动后，伯纳姆被迫承认，目前无法承诺解冻起征点。 这还不完全是“夸西·夸滕时刻”。人们会记得，债务市场对夸滕那份没有资金支持的“迷你预算”减税方案的反应已经足够糟糕，但他随后又在连续几周内加倍下注——在制定将英国公共财政引导远离财政悬崖的计划时采取“走一步看一步”的方式。随着 6 月初美伊停火协议进入视野，油价在几周内从 $95 跌至每桶 70 左右。随着波斯湾重新开放的前景，人们讨论起能源价格下降、通胀回落以及英格兰银行恢复降息的可能性。但随着停火协议陷入停滞，油价再次大幅上涨，进一步加剧了政府本已捉襟见肘的财政压力。作为一个重要的能源进口国，昂贵的原油直接推高通胀，从而给英国主权借贷成本带来上涨压力，而这一成本在过去近两年中一直是 G7 国家中最高的。10 年期国债收益率上周果断升至 5pc 以上，并长时间维持在 5.1pc 以上——这增加了债务利息支出将更加沉重的预期。政府借贷成本高于 2007, 之后的任何时间点，但不同之处在于，那时国家债务规模约为 GDP 的 60pc，而现在几乎达到了 100pc。这就是为什么去年债务利息支出高达 £109bn——超过了国家在教育上的支出（这是政府资产负债表上仅次于 NHS 和福利的第三大支出项目）——且根据预算责任办公室的预测，到 2030, 年这一数字将达到 £140bn。国家借入资金的 80pc 以上被用于支付此前发行的债务利息。这是一个纸牌屋，如果通胀激增，很容易崩塌，因为英国日益困惑的国际债权人在贷款时将要求更高的收益率，以补偿未来的价格压力。这种决定性的通胀激增可能源于油价持续在 $100 以上——这就是为什么，对于
通过在一次采访中表示，宣布的减税措施仅仅是个开始，未来还会有更多减税，从而试图减轻损害。 伯纳姆的这一转变再次提醒人们，如果你打算减税，你还需要一个可靠的削减开支计划。 这也提醒人们，工党在更广泛的税收政策上陷入了多么混乱的局面。 最初的“原罪”是其竞选宣言中承诺不提高任何主要税率，这一承诺是该党在上次大选中获得压倒性多数席位的关键。 前财政大臣蕾切尔·里夫斯 (Rachel Reeves) 在被束缚住手脚的情况下，挣扎着
伯纳姆先生与前财政大臣蕾切尔·里夫斯及其前任基尔·斯塔默爵士 (Sir Keir Starmer) 一样，陷入了同样的财政挤压之中
黑色黄金
布伦特原油 ($ 每桶)
110 $
29 Jun 6 Jul 13 Jul 20 Jul
29 Jun 6 Jul 13 Jul 20 Jul
昂贵的借贷
英国 10 年期国债收益率
5.2
4.8
4.6
至少对英国而言，这场美伊战争能否迅速解决，其影响远不止于汽油价格和更广泛的生活成本。 那么油价最高能涨到多少？现实是，尽管有无数相反的说法，霍尔木兹海峡依然几乎完全瘫痪。除此之外，穿越沙特阿拉伯前往红海沿岸延布 (Yanbu) 的“紧急”东西向管道，现在也成为了德黑兰盟友也门胡塞武装的攻击目标。 在特朗普 2 月初袭击伊朗之前，延布承担了沙特约五分之一的石油出口量。这一份额
而最终决定，她唯一的出路是采取与保守党前任相同的政策，将保守党开始的冻结期再延长两年。 正是这种“隐形税”——这在精神上（即便在文字上不是）显然违反了竞选宣言——承担了未来五年计划减少赤字的大部分重任。 安迪·伯纳姆在今年夏天剩余的时间里，必须想出如何为他的各项 10 年计划筹资。 面对国防、议会税改革和社会护理的开支压力，他是否会采取“大爆炸”式的激进方案？ 特蕾莎·梅 (Theresa May) 当年将强迫老年人为其社会护理付费写入竞选宣言时，因此失去了她的多数席位。那是试图解决英国政治中最长期问题的勇敢但政治上不成熟的尝试。被政治对手界定为“死亡税”或“失智税”后，该计划彻底失败。 无论如何，伯纳姆的“愿景”所暗示的开支增加，几乎肯定需要对主要税收来源进行进一步调整——换句话说，就是那些他声称不会提高的税项。 或者，他可以选择一个淡化版的 10 年计划，并以传统方式通过较小规模的加税（包括财富税）来筹集所需资金。 “我们恳请你们，”一群自称高净值人士的演艺圈名流们说道
需要对主税项进行调整—— 而那些税项， 正是他声称不会提高的”
他们自称为“爱国百万富翁”——名单中包括加里·莱因克尔 (Gary Lineker)、瓦尔·麦克德米德 (Val McDermid) 和布莱恩·伊诺 (Brian Eno)。请，请多向我们征税。他们的恳求虽令人心生好感，但绝望地天真。如果政府每年对英国约 150 位亿万富翁估计总计 £670bn 的财富征收 2% 的税，理论上可以筹集到一笔可观的资金，但其中很少有人会留下来等待结果。 加拿大和法国都曾将该政策付诸实践并导致失败，发现这在行政上是一场噩梦，且最终与其旨在吸引海外富裕企业家的“黄金签证”计划不兼容。 在财政上，英国已经摇摇欲坠地处于悬崖边缘。唯一应该重要的 10 年计划，正是伯纳姆那长长的愿望清单中缺失的那一个——使国家债务进入稳步下降的轨道。 相反，这个国家发现自己处于一种妄想的、裴隆主义风格的权益主张跑步机上，或者用罗马人的话来说就是“面包与马戏”——在现代形式中，则是用救济金、足球和 Netflix 来安抚大众。 根据经济合作与发展组织 (OECD) 的数据，英国的残疾患病率高于任何其他“高收入”国家。既然没有明显的生物学原因，人们必须认为，是体制和国家层面的讨论鼓励了这种情况。 最终，市场会认为够了。随之而来的崩盘可能会比想象中更快，而且将是残酷的，遗憾的是，这完全是咎由自取。
由于霍尔木兹海峡 (Strait of Hormuz) 周边的动荡，[价格] 已上涨至近五分之四。自这场冲突真正开始以来，[相关方] 在稳定全球市场方面发挥了至关重要的作用，而现在胡塞武装正将目标对准红海南口曼德海峡的油轮，人们担心石油市场很快会变得更加紧张。上周，在乌克兰无人机袭击之后，哈萨克斯坦暂停了通过里海管道联盟的石油流动，该联盟将中亚约 80% 的石油转移到西方市场。美国的战略石油储备目前处于 43 年来的最低点。在也门胡塞武装宣布对延布实施海上禁运后，利雅得对此不屑一顾。但随后沙特宣布，三艘原计划经由曼德海峡、亚丁湾并最终进入阿拉伯海和印度洋前往中国和印度的超级油轮，实际上将改为向北经过苏伊士运河，经由地中海并绕道非洲之角进行大规模绕行。这使得沙特石油从海湾前往永远饥渴的亚洲市场的运输时间增加了一倍多——从 20 天潜在增加到 50 天——同时增加了巨额费用。这就是一个主要原因——由于这场美国与伊朗的冲突看不到尽头——一些石油交易员目前的目标是在未来几周内达到每桶 $120。当然，可能会出现突然的反转。美国总统可能通过一条社交媒体帖子，通过向伊朗妥协来“关闭战争”。市场有一种观点认为，随着价格上涨，一旦这场战争结束，随着石油涌出并淹没全球市场，我们最终可能会面临供应过剩，使价格跌回 $50 以下。这听起来像是痴心妄想——是股票经纪人为了维持股价和佣金而散布的废话。在我看来，全球油价在大幅下跌之前，还会走高很多。
来源：NYMEX, DMO
通货膨胀 激增，且 收益率 需求 提高， 这座 纸牌屋 可能会 被颠覆”
中国在 AI 竞赛中 正在“缩小差距”
一家由杰夫·贝佐斯 (Jeff Bezos) 支持的英国 AI 企业的创始人表示，中国在开发超智能 AI 方面已接近赶上美国。
CuspAI 的首席执行官 Chad Edwards 表示，中国顶尖的 AI 实验室现在可能仅落后于 Anthropic 和 OpenAI 几周。
“差距肯定在缩小，”Edwards 先生说道。由于其能够发现新材料的 AI 技术，他的初创公司在上周的估值达到近 £2bn。
Edwards 先生认为，随着 Kimi 等工具削弱 ChatGPT 和 Claude 的领先地位，中国领先 AI 实验室的能力目前与美国同行相比，差距在“几个月，甚至几周”的量级。
大多数 AI 专家曾估计中国落后于西方领先科技巨头六个月或更多。
然而，在由中国初创公司 Moonshot AI 推出的 AI 机器人 Kimi 发布后，这一假设发生了变化。Kimi 以其性能和低成本在全球市场引起了震撼，威胁到美国的商业模式。Kimi 提供的一种聊天机器人可以与 OpenAI 的 ChatGPT 和 Anthropic 的 Claude 等产品相媲美。
相比之下，CuspAI 并没有在开发通用聊天机器人。35, 岁的 Edwards 先生及其联合创始人 Max Welling 教授一直在开发一种 AI 工具，他们将其称作能够识别新化合物的“材料搜索引擎”。人们希望这种 AI 能带来技术突破。
在成立仅一年后的去年夏天，该公司筹集了超过 $100m (£75m)，使其成为最受关注的英国 AI 公司之一。上周，该公司宣布新一轮 $450m 的融资，吸引了
得到了贝佐斯家族办公室 Bezos Expeditions 的支持。它还通过工党设立的 £500m 投资工具——主权人工智能基金（Sovereign AI Fund）获得了数百万英镑的纳税人资金。虽然它可能没有 ChatGPT 那样华丽的消费者吸引力，但 CuspAI 能够帮助英国开拓出一个利基市场，并为进入竞争激烈的全球人工智能市场提供切入点。爱德华兹先生表示，CuspAI 的技术运作起来“有点像一个 AI 科学家”。其名为 Mira 的系统已经从海量的科学数据中学习，这是“全球最大的数据集之一”，并与出版社和顶尖大学合作。芯片制造商或 AI 巨头等客户可以调用该模型来寻找潜在的新材料。爱德华兹先生声称，它会在“所有可能存在的所有化学物质或材料”中进行搜索。这可能会加速替代化合物的创建，用于
制造更高效的微芯片、更安全的电池，或用于碳捕集与封存。一名早期客户一直在利用它帮助净化含有有毒“永久性化学物质”的饮用水。“我们真诚地相信，该智能体目前是全球最先进、最专业的材料发现科学智能体，”爱德华兹先生说道。CuspAI 上周宣布成立了一个被其称为“AI 材料铸造厂”（AI Materials Foundry）的项目。英伟达（Nvidia）、Meta、三星（Samsung）和现代（Hyundai）等技术巨头参与了这项工作，旨在将 CuspAI 的发现应用于构建新芯片。爱德华兹先生表示，材料方面的进步“支撑着我们今天在头条新闻中看到和阅读的一切，无论是能源转型、气候危机……[以及]对智能的追求，而后者当然是由数据中心建设支撑的”。他说，直到现在，新材料的发现还依赖于“偶然性
和试错”。但有了“生成式 AI，我们可以转向一个完全全新的范式”。研发新材料可以帮助缓解万亿级企业的关键瓶颈，例如半导体
EDDIE MULHOLLAND
工业，爱德华兹先生表示，这已成为“迄今为止我们最大的关注领域”。此类材料例如可以帮助使芯片更小，或者在散热方面更高效。它们还可以替代中国掌控的稀土金属。曾在一家总部位于剑桥的量子计算公司工作的爱德华兹先生举了镓的例子。他说，这是一种“在半导体中被大量使用且面临地缘政治挑战的元素”。这种柔软且具延展性的金属在手掌中就会融化，且几乎 99% 来源于中国。北京已禁止该元素直接出口到美国。其他客户希望摆脱对钴的依赖，而钴通常来源于人权记录不佳的地区。CuspAI 总部位于剑桥，
并在伦敦北部的国王十字区（King’s Cross）设有办公室，该地区现在是一个 AI 中心。一个重要的投资者是新加坡的淡马锡（Temasek）主权财富基金。虽然爱德华兹先生期望 CuspAI 在这个岛国建立影响力，并且将日本作为目标，但他表示公司“非常致力于将英国作为建立公司的地方”。爱德华兹先生在波伊斯郡的兰菲林（Llanfyllin, Powys）长大，父亲是一名勤劳的蔬菜水果商。在谷歌实习后，他意识到自己“只想在初创环境下工作，真正亲力亲为地构建东西”。今年，CuspAI 是首批获得主权人工智能基金投资的公司之一。爱德华兹先生表示，公司一直与瓦伦斯勋爵（Lord Vallance）保持“非常密切”的合作，后者是前科学大臣，于周五被任命为一个新的 AI 任务组主席，并且
卡尼什卡·纳拉扬 (Kaniska Narayan)，现任负责人工智能的内阁部长。
爱德华兹先生表示，英国有机会尽早投资，并从人工智能在全球范围内创造的“巨额财富”中获益。
为 CuspAI 提供的新资金将提升英国人工智能的前景。然而，这正值人工智能竞赛的权力平衡似乎已经发生转移之时。中国的新 Kimi 机器人引发了人们的担忧，即在北京支持下的人工智能系统可能会削弱西方人工智能公司的竞争力。运行其最强大的人工智能，一百万个“token”的成本约为 $15，而 Anthropic 最强大的技术则需 $50。Kimi 背后的许多技术是开源的，这意味着它可以被自由下载和修改。
Moonshot 的成功引发了来自白宫的指责
我们将看到 更多对 中国 模型的 采用。我们将 从中受益”
有人认为中国一直在“窃取”西方技术，且 OpenAI 的高管声称中国 AI 巨头的崛起将意味着“全面的 AI 共产主义”。然而，爱德华兹先生预计将看到“更多地采用这些模型”，因为它们“提供了更好的经济效益”。他并不预见会出现像“华为”那样的情景——当时这家电信巨头在很大程度上被西方排除在外。“我认为随着时间的推移，我们将看到更多对中国模型的采用，”他说道。他指出，对于初创公司来说，这可能不会是太大的问题。中国 AI 的成功应该意味着聊天机器人的价格将更广泛地下降，这意味着“我们是受益者”。但令人担忧的是，对于 OpenAI 和 Anthropic 而言，中国的 AI 正在迅速取得进展。爱德华兹先生表示：“目前的差距绝对是以月，甚至是以周来计算的。”
查德·爱德华兹在 谷歌实习一段时间后， 意识到他想 创造东西
英国电网险些酿成灾难
爆发，官员们 恳请法国提供电力 作者：马特·奥利弗和 乔纳森·利克
当数百万足球迷坐下来观看英格兰队与加纳队的世界杯决战时，他们并未意识到英国电网正在上演的危机。那是 6 月 23 日，全国正处于 33 摄氏度热浪的酷暑之中，促使许多人在家中开启风扇和空调。由于大量观众在深夜仍紧盯着电视，这意味着电力系统的需求异常之高。然而，球迷们不知道的是，在雷丁的一个控制室里，国家能源系统运营商 (Neso) 的工程师们正顶着压力努力维持运行。在晚上 8 点 17 秒，即开球前仅一小时，危机达到了最低点——直到电网负责人通过电话恳请法国同行提供帮助后，灾难才得以避免。“这是一个警告，而且是我们必须从中吸取的教训，”独立能源分析师本·瓦茨表示。
“大家都承认我们当时非常接近出现问题。”Neso 还面临举报人的指控（目前正在接受独立调查），称管理层试图掩盖 6 月 23. 的系统不稳定证据。电网运营商坚称系统全程运行正常。专家表示，这是一种可能的说法。另一种说法是，那天之所以能化险为夷，完全是靠运气和法国人的好意。那么谁是对的？究竟发生了什么？6 月 23, 电网运营商面临的是一个可以被合理描述为“完美风暴”的局面。夏季通常是一年中需求最低的时期，因此有几座发电厂在进行常规维护。其他一些电厂则遭遇了非计划性停机，部分原因是高温。结果，在当天的晚间高峰到来之前，英国通常发电能力的五分之一——即 21.2 吉瓦 (GW)——已经缺失。
根据瓦茨的分析，其中约 12.6GW 是计划内的，其余 8.6GW 是非计划性的。通常在危急时刻提供救援的燃气发电站那天也状况不佳。在北威尔士，康纳斯码头电厂的一个机组意外故障，而包括 Keadby 2,（英国最高效的联合循环燃气轮机电站）在内的其他电站，则因高温导致效率降低而削减了输出。瓦茨表示，尽管有这些预示着夜晚将十分艰难的早期迹象，但市场仍认为高峰期是可以应对的。事实上，英国与欧洲之间剩余的互联线路甚至计划出口电力。这种设置在最糟糕的时刻增加了更多的压力。
警告， 而且是 我们 必须 从中吸取教训的”
下午1点-6点：风暴将至 在一天的大部分时间里，情况并不特别。事实上，阳光灿烂，全国的太阳能电站正处于鼎盛时期——满足了近50%的总需求。但随后，一系列不祥之兆开始出现。 下午1点，与法国连接的5GW ElecLink互联线路发生非计划性停电，削减了在紧急情况下可通过英吉利海峡传输的电量。 热浪还在侵蚀英国天然气发电厂的效率，使其输出量下降了近13%；与此同时，Neso控制室的情况表明，风电场的发电量预计约为5GW——低于约7GW的预测值。 随后太阳开始下山，带走了
一项旨在从全球清除 二氧化碳的无尽计划
作者：乔纳森·利克 (Jonathan Leake)
这可能是埃德·米利班德最古怪且最昂贵的遗产。在卸任能源大臣的前几天，他签署了一项提案，旨在使英国成为温室气体移除（即从我们周围的空气中清除二氧化碳的技术）的“全球领导者”。
这项承诺被隐藏在一次审查回复中，该回复在安迪·伯纳姆将米利班德调往外交部之前发布，是他任期内一个微小的脚注。
但他给继任者米亚塔·法恩布勒 (Miatta Fahnbulleh) 留下的任务极其艰巨。大气中二氧化碳的浓度仅为 0.04pc，这意味着每清除一吨二氧化碳，至少需要净化 1,600 吨空气。
此外，人类每年向大气中排放另外 40 billion 吨二氧化碳——这使得自工业革命以来排放的总量达到了 2.5 万亿吨。其中只有不到 1pc 是由英国产生的。但在本月由米利班德签署的一份报告中，能源安全与净零部门已承诺英国将启动这项清理工作。
报告称：“凭借世界一流的研究机构、工程专业知识以及地质存储能力，英国具备成为温室气体移除 (GGR) 技术全球领导者的良好条件。”
能源与净零部门甚至将纳税人的钱投入到该计划中——拨款 £56m 用于十几次直接空气碳捕集与封存 (DACCS) 的试验。
然而，米利班德为什么想让英国致力于这项如同西西弗斯推石般艰巨的从大气中清除二氧化碳的任务？答案是：工党的净零推进计划。
英国在用电动汽车取代汽油和柴油车、用热泵取代锅炉以及用风能而非煤炭发电方面可能进展顺利。但在某些领域，如果不采取禁欲主义的生活方式，我们将始终难以实现脱碳。
最明显的是航空和农业（尤其是畜牧业）——预计到 2050. 年，这两个行业每年将分别产生 40 million 吨二氧化碳。要求公众放弃肉类和飞行将是选举上的自杀行为，因此米利班德去年请求前能源部初级大臣、朋友兼环保爱好者怀特黑德勋爵 (Lord Whitehead) 制定英国应对这些排放的新方法。
怀特黑德得出结论，直接空气捕集二氧化碳对于英国实现净零排放至关重要。
他说，另一种选择是“一个没有工业的低碳未来”。
[[IMG_OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA]]
上方图中，观看英加比赛的球迷几乎被断电，因为下方右图所示的电网官员正努力维持照明。
在大部分时间内为英国提供电力的太阳能发电量。从中午接近 15GW 的峰值，到下午 6 点时，输出量已下降至 4.7GW。
在欧洲，同样的情况也在发生。这导致了欧洲大陆的需求增加，并导致英国通过互联互通线路的出口量激增，加剧了电网的压力。
在幕后，Neso 的电网运营商已经发现了这些预警信号。在下午 2 点后不久，他们在 111 场交易的狂潮中迅速抢购了 5.7GW 的容量，价格高达每兆瓦时 £876 —— 是日前市场的三倍多。
然而，他们保持了沉默。与该周其他日子不同，Neso 选择不发布电力边际通知，否则将会提醒市场。
下午6点-7.30点：电网陷入困境 维持英国灯火不熄的战斗在下午6点后正式打响。电网运营商的任务是时刻保持供需平衡，以维持50赫兹的频率。他们理应将频率保持在目标值的0.2Hz范围内，且法律要求确保其偏差绝不超过0.5Hz。当频率偏差过大，超出这些限制时，可能会导致设备自动关闭从而引发停电。 到下午6.52点，英国电网的频率已跌至49.8Hz的正常运行阈值以下。根据Elexon的市场数据，频率在晚上7点达到49.685Hz，并在接下来的30分钟大部分时间里处于舒适区之外。 Neso控制室的工作人员紧急增加供应，调用全国的电池群来满足大部分需求。但他们仍在应对损失，位于诺丁汉郡科塔姆的一座燃气发电厂在维护后恢复运行的第一天便出现故障，导致400兆瓦 (MW) 的容量离线。 晚上7.10点，Neso不得不采取削减对欧洲出口的措施以维持英国的电力供应。一项紧急指令被发送至与荷兰的互联电缆BritNed，要求将出口量从575MW削减至0，以争取至关重要的喘息空间。这一措施在晚上7.30点前生效，使电网频率回升至49.8Hz以上，但危机远未结束。
极少的交通运输以及难以接受的大规模行为改变”。两种关键技术是这些旨在净化大气的理想主义方案的核心。 一种是直接空气碳捕集与封存 (DACCS)，通常通过巨型风扇将环境空气抽入化学过滤器以去除二氧化碳 (CO2)。另一种是BECCS——生物能源碳捕集与封存——这是一个利用植物物燃烧发电，并去除废气中的二氧化碳 (CO2)。 在这两种情况下，捕集到的二氧化碳将被压缩成液体，并泵入北海底部的枯竭油气田。或者也可以将其转化为矿物质并掩埋。 支持者指出，目前已存在试点项目，例如冰岛的商业规模Mammoth设施，每年可永久去除高达36,000吨二氧化碳，以及
晚上7.30点-8.30点：法国救场 临近晚上8点，英国3.3GW的电池群电量不足，且南方可用备用燃气容量已萎缩至仅80MW。 晚上7.50点，频率再次跌至正常运行水平以下，并在晚上8点整触及49.656Hz——这是今年观察到的最低水平。 这足以促使Neso请求紧急援助。 就在晚上8点前，英国控制室的工程师们拿起电话，拨给了法国电网运营商RTE的同行。 据一名资深的前电网运营商称，每年发出此类紧急请求多达10次并不罕见。 “在能力范围内提供相互援助符合每个人的利益，”消息人士表示，“如果情况开始变得紧张，通常的流程就是给其他电网运营商打电话并交换情况。” 在Neso致电后的几分钟内，巴黎的电网运营商立即采取行动。在晚上7.55点至8.05点之间，三条法国互联电缆改变了方向，开始将近2GW的电力回灌至英国。 法国挽救了局面。
总部位于德克萨斯州的 1PointFive 是石油巨头 Occidental 的子公司，该公司正致力于建设一套每年可捕集高达 50 万吨二氧化碳的设施。
但反对声音正在增加。批评者认为，从空气中提取二氧化碳所需的成本和能量将使此类方案在经济上不可行。
Real Zero Europe（一个由包括“地球之友”和“企业欧洲观察站”在内的组织组成的伞形团体）认为，碳捕集项目仅仅是通过让航空业看起来“干净”来为化石燃料行业洗白的尝试。
一些科学家对此表示赞同。斯坦福大学的马克·Z·雅各布森 (Mark Z Jacobson) 教授表示：“DACCS 只会增加二氧化碳和空气污染。”尽管如此，英国气候变化委员会已经采纳了这一想法。该委员会的报告指出，虽然减排将为实现净零排放承担主要任务，但像 DACCS 这样的工程移除技术对于农业和航空等部门至关重要。
航空业是最大的问题。交通部最近的一份报告警告称，英国飞行的需求激增，可能会导致排放量从 2022 年的 30 million 吨增加到 2040, 年的 44 million 吨，使航空业成为英国最大的单一排放源。
因此，怀特海德 (Whitehead) 希望向航空公司实施一项“净零航空指令”，根据该指令，从英国跑道起飞的飞机必须为其排放的二氧化碳支付费用，以便将其从空气中剔除并埋入地下。
切地 令人担忧， 因为如果 那天晚上 我们失去 一台大型 发电机， 那可能就 完蛋了”
压力点：这场危机是如何演变的
在6月23日 晚高峰之前，英国五分之一的 发电能力处于缺失状态 8.6GW
大部分缺口是计划内的，但这一数额 属于非计划缺失，原因是北威尔士 的一家燃气发电站意外故障 33C
Keadby 2（英国最高效的联合循环燃气 轮机电站）的输出功率也因 热浪导致效率低下而下降 80MW
晚上8点时，南部可用的 备用燃气容量 2GW
三条法国 互联线路在 晚上7:55至8:05之间 反转方向，将此数量的 电力输回英国
吸取教训了吗？ 对于一些专家来说，6月23日的事件 惊险程度已超出舒适区。 前电网运营商表示，所发生的情况 并非“超出正常运行范围”，但补充道：“ 为什么我们在较长时间内出现了 相对较低的频率，这才是真正的问题。” 另一位独立分析师凯瑟琳·波特 (Kathryn Porter) 声称，此次情况暴露了英国电力网的脆弱性。 “已经没有预备容量了，”她在社交媒体上写道。 “这深切地令人担忧，因为如果那天晚上 我们失去一台大型发电机，那可能就 完蛋了，特别是考虑到有这么多电网 边界运行超载。” 而事实证明，第二天确实有东西损坏了。 IFA（在6月23日救急的互联线路之一） 在6月24日晚高峰期间发生了停电。 如果这种情况早发生22小时，Neso 可能会陷入严重麻烦。 前政府能源官员、Stonehaven咨询顾问 亚当·贝尔 (Adam Bell) 认为，当晚的事件 揭示了两个关键教训： 英国在英格兰南部需要更多的燃气发电能力， 并且需要重新审视批发电力市场的改革。 贝尔还认为，政府应该考虑建立燃气电厂的 “战略储备”。“南部缺乏燃气容量， 我认为这次事件揭露了这一点，而且 目前还没有任何增加容量的实际计划。” 最终，灾难被避免了。但专家担心， 如果不采取行动，英国下次可能不会这么幸运。 一名政府发言人表示：“我们对供应保障 安排非常有信心，Neso拥有管理系统 所需的工具。在应对热浪满足需求方面， 从未出现过任何担忧。”
但这一切将花费多少？ 由挪威能源巨头 Equinor 和劳斯莱斯 (Rolls-Royce) 进行的一项试验在技术上取得了成功。 它捕集了4.4吨大气中的二氧化碳，但成本 高达每吨约 £1,100。 他们认为，随着技术的成熟，这一成本将大幅下降 ——或许低至 £150 ——但那仍然是一个遥远的希望。 怀特海德 (Whitehead) 自己的审查承认， 直接从空气中吸取二氧化碳的成本 将在每吨 £259 至 £578 之间。 考虑到从伦敦往返纽约的航班排放量 相当于每位乘客多达两吨二氧化碳， 这一价格标签意味着航空旅行可能会变得 昂贵到令人无法承受。即使在最乐观的情况下， 往返纽约的费用可能会增加 £150。 英国选民会接受这一点吗？ 部长们辩称，公众将欢迎这些提案，因为 清理大气本身可能成为一个新的增长产业。 能源安全与净零部门的一位发言人表示： “温室气体去除技术将帮助我们驱动增长， 并在我们的工业核心地带创造技术岗位， 同时在我们采取行动应对气候变化时 削减排放。” 面对机票价格大幅上涨的频繁飞行者 甚至偶尔飞行的人，可能会有不同的看法。
作者：Pui-Guan Man
在萨塞克斯郡南唐斯国家公园 (South Downs National Park) 的东边缘，有一片不起眼的田野，被认为藏有第一次世界大战的宝藏。位于西福德 (Seaford) 附近的 Chyngton Field 留有当时一个军队营地的最后残余碎片，当时有超过 200,000 名基钦纳勋爵 (Lord Kitchener) 第三新军的志愿部队在被派往前线之前在此训练。这片田野还是进入沿英吉利海峡的壮丽七姐妹白垩崖 (Seven Sisters chalk cliffs) 以及进入查尔斯三世英格兰海岸步道 (King Charles III England Coast Path) 的门户。然而，尽管具有田园之美，这块 2.7 英亩的绿地正迅速成为另一种类型的战场。
地方当局刘易斯区议会 (Lewes district council) 提议将该场地用于建设最多 30 套新住宅，这引发了数百名居民、政治家和活动人士的愤怒抵制。
该计划可追溯到威斯敏斯特以及安迪·伯纳姆 (Andy Burnham) 的住房建设雄心，目前由新任住房大臣安杰拉·雷纳 (Angela Rayner) 主导。在工党的“建设闪击战”下，刘易斯被设定了一个强制性的住房目标，要求增加约 15,000 套住房，尽管这一数字已被下调
找不到足够的
但对于许多在
冲刺建设更多住宅
鲁莽决定的门
试图解决问题的议会
超过 3,700 人
一项反对该
开发项目的请愿书。其他
该方案包括
信托基金、乡村英格兰运动 (CPRE)
西福德镇议会 Maria Tomalova， 规划运动
在 CPRE 工作，称该 提议“完全不合适”，因为它 “位于南唐斯 国家公园的 起伏景观之中”。
James MacCleary
自由民主党议员
刘易斯，表示居民
被“晴天霹雳”击中
当他们意识到
计划在该
田野上建设时。“西福德确实
百货公司在面临极不 确定的未来时，陷入 一种诡异的沉寂
作者：Ben Marlow 和 Tom Haynes
在学校假期开始的一个温暖的周中下午，Harvey Nichols 的骑士桥旗舰店理应热闹非凡。 然而，这里却诡异地沉寂。在六层楼的设计师时装、奢华美妆和家居用品区，店员的人数似乎比顾客还要多。 销售助理在收银台前闲逛，在笔记本电脑上滚动浏览，或者心不在焉地整理着几乎没有人感兴趣浏览的衣架。在某些楼层，整个特许经营专区空无一人。 近两个世纪以来，Harvey Nichols 一直是高端零售业的先驱，其巨大的旗舰店曾是财富的灯塔，吸引了一系列知名的顾客，其中包括戴安娜王妃。 在 20 世纪 90 年代，它成为了 BBC 情景喜剧《绝对时尚》（Absolutely Fabulous，粉丝称其为“Ab Fab”）中描绘的华丽之所。剧中，当 Edina Monsoon 询问：“亲爱的，那是哪里买的？是 Harvey Nichols 吗，宝贝？” 但这家传奇商店如今已不再那么“绝对时尚”。其所有者，也就是其背后的老板 Dickson Poon 爵士，被迫将这家连锁店挂牌出售，因为该店经历了多年的大幅亏损。 Harvey Nichols 方面的官方说法是，公司正在取得“重大进展”，并且已经出现了“积极的早期增长迹象”。 然而，这种“一切照常”的信息在面对审查时并不成立。 Harvey Nichols 自此尚未实现盈利，一直严重依赖于 Dickson 爵士的现金注资，他已经持有该店 35 年。 在过去五个财务年度中，他提供了 £138.5m 的资金——几乎足以抵消 £142m 的亏损。 同时，其最新账目在公司登记局（Companies House）已逾期近四个月。
[[IMG_XXXX]] IAN WOOLCOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK
Harvey Nichols 的困境确实出现在一个对高端零售商而言十分艰难的市场中。疫情对于一个严重依赖富裕游客的业务来说是沉重的一击，迫使其门店关闭了八个月。另一个打击是脱欧后海外顾客免税购物的结束。 其竞争对手也同样挣扎。Harrods 去年记录了 £34m 的亏损，但这主要是由于拨备了 £60m 用于补偿前所有者 Mohamed Al Fayed 涉嫌虐待的受害者，后者于 2023. 年去世。Selfridges 在最近的一年中销售额下降了 £130m。 但由于营业额仅在 £200m 左右，与两家年营收均超过 £1bn (即 10 亿英镑，或 £1 乘以 10 亿) 的竞争对手相比，Harvey Nichols 只是一个小角色。一名企业重组专家表示：“我看不出它如何能作为一个独立业务生存下去。”
een space. It’s been very
社区，”他说。 Tony Bennett, 79, 称
该提议“简直难以置信”。 并没有任何 对住房的 贡献，”他说。“你 将会得到一些相当 昂贵的高管住宅。 显然，为了能 俯瞰七姐妹白崖，你会得到这样的房子。这并不能缓解 住房危机。” 这场争论在 伯纳姆 (Burnham) 计划进一步 权力下放的背景下展开。 他承诺将住房和 更新改造的权力移交给 如刘易斯 (Lewes) 等地的当地领导人， 认为“增长不能 由上而下地命令”。 这是工党计划的一部分
off ering . “哈维·尼科尔斯 (Harvey Nichols) 将 数字化视为非常次要的 考量；未能像许多 同行那样进行投资，”他说。“这导致了 购物者的糟糕体验， 部分顾客因此背弃了 该品牌。” 竞标者被告知 该连锁店 需要高达 £60 的投资资金， 包括对其 爱丁堡分店进行全面翻新。 任命 FTI 的重组 专家来主导寻找 新支持者的抢购战，以及 成群的追求者 正在集结，这表明哈维·尼科尔斯 若想以当前形式生存将举步维艰。 在周围徘徊的包括高街 秃鹫 Modella Capital，该公司 主导了数家 陷入困境的连锁店的崩溃，包括 Claire’s。 它还刚刚获得高等法院的许可， 不顾许多房东的意愿，关闭了数十家 前 WH Smith 商店，并强制执行高额租金
e.
Mike Ashley 的介入
令一些人感到 担忧。他可能会 接管 自有市场。该 所有者也并不害怕 大规模的破产
要求他收购 通过舍弃债务和 e 转向 Next，后者 也加入了竞争。 ell & Bromley, Joules, Made.com 都在 过去 年里被这位 高街巨头 从破产管理中买回。 一名潜在的 投资者表示，他被告知 可能需要进行 pre-pack administration（预包装破产管理）， 即一家公司在宣布 破产以便 摆脱财务 负担之前，可能需要 对哈维·尼科尔斯 (Harvey Nichols) 采取此操作。 一名发言人 “明确地”否认了这一点。 投资可能会来自 自 2010 年起 持有该公司，据报道
旨在增加其 零售业务。 在 Knightsbridge， 乐观情绪 极其匮乏。 底层 像是一家高端机场 店——香水、护肤
化妆柜台。这里曾经是 时尚精英的聚集地； 如今 显得异常平庸。
将更多责任下放到地方 当局，希望这能为该地区 做出更好的决策。但 西福德 (Seaford) 住房计划的反对者 认为，该案例证明了相反的情况。 MacCleary，该区议会的 前领导人表示，西福德的争端 揭露了工党改革中一个更广泛的矛盾。“政府推行 这种想法，认为议会 对规划过程拥有任何控制权，这完全是 谬论，”他说。 “他们强制执行住房目标， 如果议会没能达成目标，他们就惩罚议会， 如果议会没有制定出 包含足够住房的计划， 政府就直接接管。” 他补充说，伯纳姆 (Burnham) 将权力下放到地方当局的承诺 正在 Chyngton Field 接受考验。 “议会对这种情况感到和任何人一样沮丧，他们发现 自己完全无能为力，”
包含足够住房数量的 计划，政府将直接 接管”
他说。“如果你与社区[合作]，我们实际上可能会多建几栋房子，而公众的愤怒也会少一些。”
虽然安迪·伯纳姆尚未分享他的住房建设愿景的具体细节，但人们对于他应在多大程度上信任议会做出这些决定持有疑问。随着雷纳的回归，这一点尤为突出，因为在她上次担任该职位期间，她一直主张加快住房建设，并为议会设定更高的强制性住房目标。
主张加强地方控制的支持者会说，议会仅仅是在白厅设定的约束条件下工作，这使他们几乎没有选择。
这场争论也为安迪·伯纳姆关于赋权地方政府的愿景以及雷纳的住房议程提出了一个更广泛的问题：赋予议会更多责任是否会在正确的地方提供住房。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 七姐妹山 (The Seven Sisters) 如果安迪·伯纳姆（左图）强力推进工党的住房建设计划，这些白垩崖地带可能会为邻近地区增加 30 栋新住宅。
“希福德之友”(Friends of Seaford Head) 运动的领导者杰基·弗罗斯特表示，钱顿菲尔兹 (Chyngton Field) 作为基奇纳营地所在地的历史意义，意味着它必须不惜一切代价予以保护。
“我们需要在希福德建设住房，但我们需要的是可负担住房，”她补充道，“这是在错误的地方建设了错误的住房。”
还有人担心野生动物。弗罗斯特表示，一旦路灯安装，该田地中的獾穴、进入国家公园的野生动物走廊以及指定的暗夜星空点都可能消失。
社区规划联盟 (Community Planning Alliance) 的联合创始人罗西·皮尔逊表示：“我们已经厌倦了看到在这种未经破坏的乡村地区提出新的开发计划。”
“全国各地的社区都希望看到农田、乡村和自然环境得到保护——而首相有机会重新设定开发方法。”
人们还担心，如果该地区增加住房，当地的全科医生诊所和废水处理设施将不堪重负。
在当地住了 22 年的劳拉·高夫补充道：“这里几乎没有公共交通。任何需要去医院或当地学校的人可能会发现，他们无法应对新增加的居民。”
卢伊斯区议会的一位发言人表示，钱顿菲尔兹已经“经过与居民的广泛磋商”，并补充说，“数以万计的人分享了他们对不同地点优劣的看法和意见”。
他补充说，收集到的证据将有助于向规划督查员证明，评估过程是“详尽的”。
在区议会最终敲定住房计划之前，预计在未来两个月内还会进行另一次磋商。但弗罗斯特表示，社区将继续战斗。
“如果我觉得当地计划是不合理的，我们将战斗到最后一秒，并愿意在规划督查员面前陈述，”她说。
住房、社区和地方政府部的一位发言人表示：“长期以来，我们建设的住房不足，导致人们无法获得安全的住所。”
“为了应对这一挑战，我们需要所有地区的当地领导者发挥作用，在建设住房的同时配备配套的基础设施，并充分考虑当地社区的意见。”
如果世界上有比布劳顿城堡 (Broughton Castle) 更美丽的房子，那简直难以想象。这座位于班伯里附近的古建筑——一座被都铎式庄园包围的中世纪大厅，坐落在护城河环绕的岛屿上——自 1447 年起就是费恩斯家族的住所。
这里闻起来有点像大教堂。如今，它的守护者是马丁·费恩斯，第 22 代赛伊与塞利男爵。
在他继承该头衔之前，其父亲纳撒尼尔·费恩斯（第 21 代赛伊与塞利男爵）在 26 岁时去世……
103, 在 2024, 他更喜欢被地称为马丁。“我是塞伊勋爵，我为此感到非常自豪；我只是不使用这个头衔，”他说。在礼拜堂里，费恩斯赞赏那座“固定的顶端祭坛——在大多数圣公会教堂中，祭坛是远离后墙的，所以这是偶像崇拜的天主教玩意儿，但因为我们是一个稳健的新教家庭，所以没有人去砸毁它”。在议事厅——那个“没有耳朵的房间”，曾被反抗查理一世的议员们使用——放着一排炮弹。在大厅里，有一处对他已故母亲玛丽埃特（于四月去世）的致敬，我赞叹于那座 1760 年代的吊顶。“楼上的那个更棒，”费恩斯说。
布劳顿由约翰·德·布劳顿爵士在 1306 建成，他的家族在 1377 将其卖给了温彻斯特学院的创始人威廉·奥夫·怀克姆。随后，这座房子在一系列特威斯尔顿家族、怀克姆家族和费恩斯家族之间传承。后者来自加来市外，最初随威廉征服者而来，并定居在肯特郡。詹姆斯·费恩斯在 1447 被封为第一代塞伊和塞利男爵，“塞利”取自附近的一个小村庄，而“塞伊”则取自杰弗里·德·塞伊——那位“签署了《大宪章》的祖先”。
15 世纪中叶，威廉·费恩斯爵士娶了玛格丽特·怀克姆；随后在 1649, 克伦威尔时期的上校约翰·特威斯尔顿娶了伊丽莎白·费恩斯。姓氏一直有所变动，直到弗雷德里克·特威斯尔顿尊者在 1847 继承为第 16 代塞伊和塞利男爵，并将家族姓氏改为特威斯尔顿-怀克姆-费恩斯。这种三重姓氏被费恩斯的父亲认为过于冗赘，因此他在 1965 进行了更改。尽管他们的家布劳顿美得惊人，但这里并非一直如此 idyllic。
1968 年 9 月，费恩斯的弟弟托马斯在两岁时去世，紧接着他的祖父母也相继离世，“所以父亲在六周内失去了儿子和两位父母”。不久之后，全家搬到了布劳顿，那里“自 1890 以来就没有任何修缮”。随之而来的还有一场风暴，那是费恩斯的哥哥理查德，他自婴儿时期就患有癫痫。“他患有癫痫持续状态——发作一次会持续 24 小时。”费恩斯说，当理查德在布劳顿时，“那里发生了相当多的暴力事件。他过得很艰难。”
考虑到理查德的健康状况，费恩斯知道自己总有一天要接手
建造年份 1306
占地面积 1,800
地址 Broughton Castle, Banbury OX15 5EB; broughtoncastle.com
著名所有者 纳撒尼尔·费恩斯，首批进入贝尔根-贝尔森集中营的盟军士兵之一
布劳顿，“但这从未进入我的考量，完全没有”。理查德在 2001 年去世，享年 41 岁。塞伊和塞利家族仍需管理布劳顿。战争期间，纳撒尼尔·塞伊和塞利曾是首批目睹贝尔根-贝尔森集中营的盟军士兵之一，战后，他接受了土地代理人培训，并在全职工作之余，启动了在布劳顿为期 15 年的修复工程。1988, 在此期间，时任环境部长的尼古拉斯·里德利宣布，无法维持房屋运转的贵族应该放弃房产。在随后的一次采访中，纳撒尼尔·塞伊和塞利问道：“你认为通过除掉我们并安置一个新富家庭，文化遗产能像我们维护那样得到维护吗？”他说，马丁和他的父亲都认为，新钱对于大房子是有好处的。“如果[像我们这样的家庭]负担得起，那是很美好的，但如果负担不起，就找个能负担得起的人进来。”
能。”他说，他的父亲一定会钦佩商人斯特芬·海斯特爵士 (Sir Stephen Hester) 及其妻子苏西 (Suzy) 在布劳顿庄园 (Broughton Grange) 所做的努力。“你只需要金钱、激情和投入。拥有资本资源比出身高贵更重要。”尽管如此，他非常钦佩父母的努力。“他们拥有极其美满的婚姻，维持了 66 年；当他 100 岁时，他们还会牵着手看电视。”在经历了一段多样化的职业生涯——参与贸易展、经营游艺厅，随后进入风险投资领域——费恩斯 (Fiennes) 已经退休，在布劳顿庄园从事“全职无偿工作”，他于 2014. 年搬入这座房子。他与前妻育有三个 30 岁以下 的儿子，其中次子内德 (Ned) 是一名士兵，很可能会接手布劳顿庄园。“两个大儿子商量后同意由内德来接手。住在这里的乐趣有一半在于与他人分享你的‘玩具’。”这座房子在 4 月至 9 月期间的周三、周日以及银行假期周一的下午对外开放。这是一个巨大的挑战。“天哪，这段婚姻太拥挤了，”他说，“这座房子本身也是一个人。”（费恩斯将于 9 月结婚；他说他的未婚妻“对此充满期待”）。每年大约有 10,000 人参观。“在理想情况下，我们希望达到 20,000 人——我想让来参观花园的人数翻倍或翻三倍，”他说。这里很少举办婚礼，但布劳顿庄园在多部电影和剧集中亮相，包括《莎翁情染》 (Shakespeare in Love)、《简·爱》 (Jane Eyre) 和《狼殿》 (Wolf Hall)。“当剧组离开时，这座房子会告诉你：‘我受伤了’。它能感觉到。”费恩斯成为塞和塞勒勋爵 (Lord Saye and Sele) 已有 19 个月；他敦促我不要在感谢信中写那个头衔。“现在是 21 世纪。这些东西具有极高的历史价值，但并不重要。它们只是装饰——这个‘爵士’，那个‘勋爵’。都是些虚饰。我享受所有这些虚饰，包括那些贵族的虚饰。但绝没有人会叫我‘勋爵大人’。”
约翰·劳伦斯 (JOHN LAWRENCE)
年度访客 布鲁顿 (Broughton) 在 4月至9月的 周三、周日及 银行假期周一开放 103岁
第21代男爵 纳撒尼尔·费恩斯 (Nathaniel Fiennes)， 马丁的父亲， 于 2024. 年去世。他 领导了城堡的 修复工作。
埃莉诺·多蒂 (Eleanor Doughty) 所著的《继承人与优雅：现代英国贵族史》(Heirs and Graces: A History of the Modern British Aristocracy) 由 Hutchinson 出版
“一次微醺的采访让我获得了电视圈的突破机会”
K
凯蒂·德汉姆，56, 岁，是英国最知名的播报员之一。她的新闻职业生涯始于 BBC 新闻和 ITN，目前在 BBC Radio 3 主持节目，并主持 BBC 逍遥音乐会 (BBC Proms)。在 2015, 年，她进入了《舞动奇迹》(Strictly Come Dancing) 的决赛。在播报职业生涯之余，她共同创立了 Peanut & Crumb 制作公司。她与丈夫、餐厅经营者约翰·文森特 (John Vincent) —— 连锁餐厅 Leon 的共同创始人，以及她们的两个女儿生活在一起。
你的童年是如何影响你的职业道德和金钱观的？ 影响非常大，我相信对每个人来说都是如此。我的父母工作都非常勤奋。母亲是一名教师，父亲是一名在制药公司工作的化学家。 我是四个孩子中的一个，教育对他们来说极其重要。他们把我们四个人都送进了私立学校，这意味着他们做出了一些牺牲。这意味着我们去的是露营假期，而不是昂贵的旅行，但他们将教育置于一切之上。 我们在成长过程中有非常清晰的认识：如果你在生活中想要得到某种东西，就必须为此努力工作。
你的第一份工作是什么？ 16 岁的时候，我在切希尔郡威尔姆斯洛 (Wilmslow, Cheshire) 当地的一家百货公司度过了暑假。我在一个 Burberry 摊位工作，而那年夏天竟然成了想象中最热的一个夏天。 我们连续大约 10 天没有一单销售，这一定打破了某种记录。但那真的很有趣。
你一直想从事新闻工作吗？ 并不完全是。我高中阶段 (A-level) 学习的是经济学。我的父亲在巴西长大，经常旅行，所以一直有一种感觉，我的生活可能会涉及旅行或国际工作。 但当我 1991, 年从剑桥大学获得经济学学位毕业时，当时根本没有多少工作机会。经济状况相当惨淡。 我的第一份工作是在威斯敏斯特商会 (Westminster Chamber of Commerce) 担任秘书。大约六个月后，我设法在曼彻斯特的 BBC 获得了一些工作经验，随后在那里找到了一份秘书工作。最终，我成为了《金钱箱》(Money Box) 和其他商业节目的研究员。像大多数初级记者一样，我的时间都花在拆信、剪报和为制作人标记重点内容上。
支撑了工党在这些问题上的许多思考。但 Resolution 基金会是在顺风而行。解决不平等长期以来一直是工党的关键目标。另一方面，NEF（新经济基金会）则在推行一种更为新颖的主张——一种几乎注定会让所有人变得贫穷的信条。英国政坛一直存在一个广泛的共识，即增长是一件好事。争论的焦点不在于我们是否想要增长，而在于如何实现增长。NEF 的成立就是为了反对这一共识，认为这是——那个可怕的词——新自由主义思维的残余。NEF 演变自“另一个经济峰会”（The Other Economic Summit），该峰会由带有上层阶级气息的乔纳森·波里特（Jonathan Porritt）于 1984 年首次召集，他当时是生态党（后成为绿党）的领导人。这些集会旨在对抗 G7 峰会所谓的新自由主义，主张传统经济学完全错误，且地球的需求应置于增长之前。NEF 本身成立于 1986,，其噱头是大学经济系被右翼主导（即便仅仅是这样），因此需要一种新的思维方式。自那时起，它的主张就从未停止：新自由主义是世界上所有疾病的根源，我们的领导人需要摆脱对增长的痴迷。国家权力不可遏制的扩张并未削弱这种幻想。NEF 及其权势人物希望我们都能享受每周三天工作制，并以更慢的节奏生活。伯纳姆（Burnham）喋喋不休地谈论 20 世纪 80 年代的错误转向以及新自由主义无处不在的影响，这或许表明了 NEF 影响力的程度。NEF 去年的预算近 £5m，员工 43, 人，而经济事务研究所（Institute of Economic Affairs）的支出仅略高于 £2m，雇佣了 20. 人。这些“反增长主义者”的壮大，得益于国家彩票社区基金（National Lottery Community Fund）和橡树基金会（Oak Foundation）超过百万英镑的项目支持。后者资助各种进步事业，由总部位于瑞士的英国亿万富翁艾伦·M·帕克（Alan M Parker）捐赠。预计在伯纳姆首相执政的未来几年里，将听到更多来自 NEF 的声音。如果增长未能实现，你甚至可能会听到这样的说法：这一切都是 10 年可持续新经济计划的一部分。
迈克尔·莫斯巴彻 (Michael Mosbacher)
一个由不具代表性、未经选举的智库组成的网络，正通过操纵手段接管权力杠杆，并强推一项公众从未认可的议程，而这个网络就运行在政府的核心地带。
当涉及到亲市场智库和保守党首相时，这是进步派舆论最爱重复的咒语。
经济事务研究所（Institute of Economic Affairs）——这个最初的雏形撒切尔主义智库，以及所谓的阴险的塔夫顿街（Tufton Street）机构网络——一直被左翼引用为利兹·特拉斯（Liz Truss）惨败事件的共同被告。
但一个更有力的论点是，左翼智库对斯塔默（Starmer）以及现在的伯纳姆政府都产生了真正显著的影响。Resolution 基金会以及现在的新经济基金会（NEF）的校友们本身就是部长，而不仅仅是顾问。养老金部长托斯滕·贝尔（Torsten Bell）曾担任 Resolution 基金会的首席执行官九年，直到 2024. 年当选议员。财政部国库秘书丹·汤姆林森（Dan Tomlinson）也曾在 Resolution 工作。
而新任能源安全与净零排放大臣米亚塔（Miatta）
JEFF SPICER/GETTY IMAGES
坦白说感觉 就像是离家出走 去马戏团 待了五个月”
Fahnbulleh 在 2023 年底之前担任 NEF 的首席执行官长达六年。这些智库现在是该国真正的权力机构。Resolution 和 NEF 的影响力无疑比撒切尔时代以来任何时期的自由市场智库都要大。讽刺的是，右翼智库并没有因为人们攻击它们所谓的“闭门影响力”而感到过度不安。
对于参与其中的人来说，这些机构掌握巨大权力的虚构说法，比平淡的现实要更具吸引力和魅力。而且在筹款方面，这种说法也毫无坏处。每一篇《卫报》的抨击文章都能为下一次捐款带来好处。
在 1980 年代之后的几十年里，右翼智库对保守党政府的影响一直很小。人们很容易画出图表，显示当时在智库工作的人如何进入不同首相领导下的唐宁街 10 号——但这实际上只能证明，右翼公共政策领域存在一条职业晋升阶梯。
但 Resolution 和 NEF 又是如何呢？Resolution 的议程非常明确——不平等是英国几乎所有其他问题的根源，解决不平等必须是一个进步政府的首要任务。对财富征收更高税收是实现这一目标的必要工具。Resolution 以及保险大亨克莱夫·考德里爵士 (Sir Clive Cowdery) 提供的 £50m 捐赠基金，无疑在工党内部加速了这一论点的传播。该智库的研究
你的经济学背景让你在理财方面很出色吗？ 我不该笑，但事实并非如此！我参加的第一次采访是为一家大报做的，当时我刚刚开始在 Radio 5 Live 主持《Moneycheck》。采访时，我的室友是一名精算师，在理财方面比我理智得多，他站在背景中给我递酒杯，而我则在回答关于预算的问题。最后的标题变成了：“主持人从不听从自己的建议”。 但有趣的是，那次采访实际上为我进入电视界打开了大门。几天后，我接到了 [BBC 电影节目] 《Film ’96》的电话，对方说：“我听说你想在电视领域工作”。所以，我的电视事业之所以开始，是因为我承认自己不擅长理财。
你是否曾被迫在热爱的工作和薪水更高的工作之间做出选择？ 是的，绝对有。当我 2010 年离开新闻编辑室并转向音乐广播时，那是一个相当重大的经济决定。我们有两个年幼的孩子，且刚刚搬出伦敦，所以这是我和丈夫必须作为家庭成员共同讨论的事情。 我确实因为薪水好而接过某些工作。我也因为热爱而接过某些工作，尽管薪水并不高。如果你足够幸运，有时这两者会重合。
你丈夫的创业经历对你有影响吗？ 是的，影响极大。当他和合伙人在 2004, 年创立 Leon 时，我见证了整个过程——成功，以及路上的坎坷。看到这些让我意识到，创办自己的公司是可能的。这消除了一些恐惧。
你做过的最好的商业决定是什么？ 在 2015. 年初创办我的媒体制作公司 Peanut & Crumb。我在一部 Sky Arts 的纪录片中结识了我的商业伙伴简·格伯 (Jane Gerber)。越来越多的客户需要为他们的网站制作电影或品牌内容，我意识到简具备制作这些内容的技能。
然后《舞动吧》出现了……？ 就在我们刚刚创办公司时，我接到了询问我是否愿意参加《舞动吧》(Strictly Come Dancing) 的电话。突然之间，我在经营一家新公司的同时，每天还要排练六个小时。学习跳舞的时光是我最愉快的时光。坦白说，感觉就像是离家出走去马戏团待了 5 个月。
[[IMG_XXXX]] 凯蒂·德汉 (Katie Derham) 在切尔西花展上。这位主持人承认自己对买植物没有抵抗力。
这家新公司面临的最大挑战是什么？ 在疫情期间，Peanut & Crumb 必须迅速实现多样化，很多公司也是如此。播客突然看起来是一个值得探索的明智方向，因此我们也开始为客户制作音频内容。其中一个重大的转变是意识到你可以创建自己的知识产权（IP），而不仅仅是为他人制作内容。在封锁期间，简产生了一个绝妙的想法，制作一个关于观鸟的播客，这就是由肖恩·宾主持的《Get Birding》。
哪些慈善事业对您很重要？ 我的母亲患有早发性阿尔茨海默病，在六十多岁时去世，因此痴呆症慈善机构对我来说意义非凡。我与 Dementia UK 以及 Arts for Dementia 开展了大量合作，后者是一家非常出色的慈善机构，为患病人士提供创意活动。我还支持 Music in Hospitals 和 Help Musicians。
您认为英国低估了艺术的价值吗？ 是的，这是我深有感触的事情。我坚信艺术应该成为每所学校的核心。如果孩子们从未听过小提琴或在合唱团中唱歌，他们怎么知道自己是否热爱它？我们没完没了地谈论创意产业的价值，但我们却不对支撑这些产业的人才储备进行投资。
在消费方面，您的弱点是什么？ 最近大概是园艺中心。我会进去买两盆植物，结果不知怎么地，离开时竟然花了几百英镑。这太惊人了。
财务成功对您意味着什么？ 自由。我认为在媒体行业工作很长时间后，很难拒绝工作，部分是因为你享受其中，部分是因为你觉得被邀请是件幸运的事。但财务成功意味着拥有选择何时答应、何时拒绝的自由。我热爱我的工作，并感到非常幸运能进入这个世界，无论是主持音乐会还是从事创意项目。但拥有那种保障大概是最顶级的奢侈。
观看指南
《天启》(THE RAPTURE) BBC One, 晚上 9点
《天启》的首集营造出一种潜伏的不安氛围
本作由布里奥尼·金明斯 (Bryony Kimmings) 改编自利兹·詹森 (Liz Jensen) 的小说。这部作品诡谲且令人不安，背景设定在未来，而这个未来可能比 2009 年该书撰写时所预想的要近得多：热浪成为常态，自然灾害日益频发，而倾向于传讲末世论的宗教教派正在兴起。其类型片式的悬念设置得十分出色：鲁斯·梅德利 (Ruth Madeley) 饰演的治疗师加布斯·福克斯 (Gabs Fox) 迁居至威尔士，并被指派负责 17 岁的贝瑟尼·克拉尔 (Bethany Krall，由印度·阿马泰菲奥 India Amarteifio 饰演) 的病例。贝瑟尼在两年前涉嫌谋杀母亲后被强制入院。而加布斯本人也才刚刚重返工作岗位，此前她在一场导致丈夫死亡且令其瘫痪的车祸中幸存。
贝瑟尼声称自己拥有预知能力，并通过一阵阵狂躁的素描将其实现，这种能力逐渐被人们认可。与此同时，她与父亲（由萨姆·哈泽尔丁 Sam Hazeldine 饰演）关系疏离，后者是一位极具魅力的传教士，正在扩充他的信众队伍。加布斯必须应对两方的关注：一方是伊万·瑞昂 (Iwan Rheon) 饰演的充满正义感的记者，另一方是杰克·法辛 (Jack Farthing) 饰演的工程师，后者协助建设了一座附近的风电场，但该项目被气候变化活动人士斥为“洗绿”。这种潜伏的不安氛围在首集最后几分钟爆发。明日继续播出。 GT
2026 环法自行车赛 (Tour de France 2026) TNT Sports 1/HBO Max, 下午 2.30点 Channel 5 将于晚上 9点播出集锦。赛事的最后一赛段将带领骑手们从图里 (Thoiry) 缓缓行进至香榭丽舍大街，直至巴黎的最后冲刺段——近期在蒙马特 (Montmartre) 新增了一段鹅卵石爬坡路段——短距离冲刺选手们将在此竞速，争夺 133公里的赛程冠军。
自然之力 (Force of Nature) ITV1, 晚上 7点 这部新剧记录了自然界如何为了在气候变化和日益极端的天气中生存而进行适应。
巧妙地在可爱与惊悚之间地切换，今晚的重点是一只为了保护雏鸟而潜入地下的美国草原猫头鹰，两只在肯尼亚应对洪水的猎豹，以及一只面对冰原萎缩的北极熊。
约翰·威尔逊之促乐会 (John Wilson at the Proms) BBC Four, 晚上 8点 伦敦交响乐团 (Sinfonia of London) 将在皇家阿尔伯特音乐厅登台，在本届促乐会赛季中，由约翰·威尔逊执棒进行两场演出中的首场。节目单包括威尔第的《命运之力》(Force of Destiny)、沃尔顿的《大提琴协奏曲》(Cello Concerto，由独奏家乔纳森·阿斯高德 Jonathan Aasgaard 演出) 以及雷斯皮基的《罗马三部曲》(Roman Trilogy)，由凯蒂·德汉 (Katie Derham) 介绍。
《黑暗》(The Dark) ITV1, 晚上 9点 这部令人愉悦的阴郁风格苏格兰黑色电影 (tartan noir) 的倒数第二集将于明日完结。剧中，尽管嫌疑人正从指缝中溜走，但莫妮卡 (Monica，由劳拉·唐奈 Laura Donnelly 饰演) 仍在一步步接近真相。
天空之恐：阻止液体炸弹阴谋 (Terror in the Skies: Stopping the Liquid Bomb Plot) ITV1, 晚上 10.20点 如今人们大多已忘记，2006 年基地组织计划在跨大西洋航班上引爆液体炸药，这导致了对机上液体的限制，而这些限制直到现在才被解除。罗希特·卡丘 (Rohit Kachroo) 调查了这场阴谋及其被揭穿的过程——这得益于伦敦大都会警察局的一次监视行动。他采访了当年负责监督此次行动的人员。 GT
《黑暗》是一部令人愉悦的阴郁苏格兰黑色电影
电影
《出租车司机》(Taxi Driver) (1976) BBC Two, 晚上 10点 ★★★★★ 这部讲述都市疏离感的忧郁故事是导演马丁·斯科塞斯最卓越的作品。罗伯特·德尼罗 (Robert De Niro) 饰演的特拉维斯·比克尔 (Travis Bickle) 是一名不稳定的越南战争退伍军人，在纽约担任出租车司机。片中还由乔迪·福斯特 (Jodie Foster)、西比尔·谢泼德 (Cybill Shepherd) 和哈维·凯特尔 (Harvey Keitel) 出演。比克尔在目睹了纽约底层社会的各种底层之辈后，陷入了杀戮的疯狂。在伯纳德·赫尔曼 (Bernard Herrmann) 配乐的支撑下，该片令人不寒而栗。
6.00 am Breakfast (S) 9.00 News (S) 10.00 Prayer and Reflection (R) (S) 10.30 Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales (AD) (R) (S) 11.30 Money for Nothing (R) (S) 12.15 pm Bargain Hunt (AD) (R) (S) 1.00 News; Weather (S) 1.15 Songs of Praise (S) 1.55 Lifeline (AD) (S) 2.05 The Mating Game (AD) (R) (S) 3.05 FILM: Dolittle (2020) Fantasy adventure starring Robert Downey Jr (AD) (S) 4.35 Homes Under the Hammer (AD) (R) (S) 5.35 News (S) 5.50 Regional News; Weather; Weather (S) 6.00 Celebrity Escape to the Country (AD) (R) (S)
Antiques Roadshow Cricket: The Hundred Live and Let Die
7.00 Countryfile Anita Rani 东海岸公路旅行的最后一站是 Orford Ness (S)
8.00 Antiques Roadshow Fiona Bruce 在利物浦的 Sefton Park Palm House 主持该节目 (R) (S)
9.00 The Rapture 新剧集。由 Ruth Madeley 主演的心理惊悚片 (AD) (S)
10.00 BBC News at Ten (S) 10.25 Regional News; Weather (S) 10.30 FILM: I Am Legend (2007) Sci fi thriller starring Will Smith (AD) (S)
12.00 Who Do You Think You Are? 1.05 - 6.00am News
荒岛唱片 (Desert Island Discs) Radio 4, 上午 10:00
RADIO 4
电影摄影师罗杰·迪金斯 (Roger Deakins)，无数电影经典背后的全能之眼，包括《
RADIO 1
FM 97.6-99.8MHZ
上午 6.00 Swarzy 主持的 Radio 1 周末早点节目；7.00 James Cusack 主持的 Radio 1 周末早餐节目；10.00 James Cusack 主持的 Radio 1 00年代金曲；10.30 新闻节 (Newsbeat)；10.32 Nat 和 Vicky 主持的 Radio 1 00年代金曲；11.00 Nat 和 Vicky 主持的 Radio 1 10年代金曲；12.00 Nat 和 Vicky 主持的 Radio 1 20年代金曲；下午 1.00 Sam 和 Danni；4.00 Radio 1 生活妙招 (Life Hacks)；6.00 Radio 1 官方排行榜：抢先看；7.00 Sian Eleri 主持的 Radio 1 最轻松节目；9.00 Alyx Holcombe 主持的 Radio 1 独立音乐节目；11.00 Jess Iszatt 主持的 Radio 1 BBC 新人推介；凌晨 1.00 Chuckie 主持的 1Xtra R&B 节目；2.30 Chuckie 主持的 1Xtra R&B 慢板混音；3.00 Radio 1 轻松混音；3.30 Radio 1 轻松混音；4.00 Radio 1 健身金曲；5.00；上午 6.58 Dean McCullough 主持的 Radio 1 极早早餐节目
RADIO 2
FM 88-90.2MHZ
上午 6.00 周日早安；9.00 Michael Ball 主持的情歌时间；11.00 Paddy McGuinness；下午 1.00 Elaine Paige 周日节目；3.00 Shaun Keaveny 主持的 70 年代之声；5.00 流行精选 (Pick of the Pops)；6.00 流行精选；7.00 Tony Blackburn 的黄金一小时；8.00 Paul Gambaccini 精选集；10.00 Angela Griffin 主持的 Radio 2 舒缓时光；11.00 Angela Griffin 主持的 Radio 2 舒缓时光；12.00 Richie Anderson；凌晨 3.00 Dermot O’Leary 主持的 90 年代另类之声；4.00；上午 6.30 Owain Wyn Evans
上午 6.25 电视园艺 A-Z (R) (S)；7.05 绝美空中花园 (R) (S)；7.50 乡村生活 (R) (S)；8.50 气象员漫步精选 (S)；9.20 榉树林花园 (R) (S)；9.50 周六厨房最美味 (S)；11.20 简易印度美食 (R) (S)；11.50 简易印度美食 (R) (S)；下午 12.20 电影：《十字弓行动》(Operation Crossbow, 1965) 第二次世界大战冒险片，由乔治·佩帕德 (George Peppard) 主演 (S)；2.15 板球：The Hundred 赛 伦特火箭队女队 对阵 伦敦精神队女队 (开始时间 2.30pm) (S)；6.00 板球：The Hundred 赛 伦特火箭队男队 对阵 伦敦精神队男队 (开始时间 6.00pm) (S)
晚上 9.30 阿波罗剧院现场 (Live at the Apollo)：由 Dara O Briain 主持，Felicity Ward 和 Mo Gilligan 演出 (R) (S)
10.00 电影：《出租车司机》(Taxi Driver, 1976) 剧情片，由罗伯特·德尼罗 (Robert De Niro) 主演 (AD) (S)
11.50 电影：《象人》(The Elephant Man, 1980, 黑白) 基于事实的剧情片，由约翰·赫特 (John Hurt) 主演；凌晨 1.50 手语专区：你了解自己的位置吗？；2.20 手语专区：Ann Droid；2.50 手语专区：家中的魔鬼：Ruby Franke 的陨落；3.40 - 6.30am 这是 BBC Two 频道
《肖申克的救赎》、《老无用》和《天幕杀机》，是本周的“荒岛之选”；这是一个与地球上许多最著名的人合作过，并且拥有大量
Anacronia 音乐会；6.00 圣咏晚祷：巴克法斯特修道院 (Buckfast Abbey) 在圣玛丽·马格达莱纳节的庄严晚祷；7.00 2026年 BBC 普罗音乐节 (BBC Proms)。伯明翰城市交响乐团演奏普朗克和亚当斯的作品；9.00 2026年 BBC 普罗音乐节。由 Nadine Shah 和皇家北方交响乐团带来的音乐会；10.30 深夜轨迹 (Night Tracks)：适合深夜聆听的配乐；11.30 未分类；12.30 - 6.30am 彻夜陪伴 (Through the Night)
FM 92.4-94.6MHZ; LW 198KHZ
6.00am 新闻摘要 6.05 心灵之窗 (Heart and Soul) 6.35 农场之窗 (On Your Farm) 6.57 天气预报 7.00 新闻 7.00 周日报刊 7.10 周日节目 7.54 Radio 4 呼吁 7.57 天气预报 8.00 新闻 8.00 周日报刊 8.10 周日崇拜 8.48 见证历史 8.58 今日推文 9.00 广播大楼 10.00 荒岛唱片 11.00 阿彻斯 (The Archers) 12.15pm 最后的话：以不同方式面对死亡 12.30 仅一分钟 (Just a Minute) 12.57 天气预报 1.00 本周末的世界 1.30 动荡之城 (Troubled Town) 2.00 园艺问答时间。地点：东伦弗鲁郡克拉克斯顿大厅 2.45 开篇词 3.00 广播剧：心乱如麻 (Trouble in Mind) 4.00 选四本书 (Take Four Books) 4.30 英国之脑 (Brain of Britain) 5.00 见证历史 5.10 走进教堂，主讲：吉尔斯·弗雷泽 5.54 航运预报 5.57 天气预报 6.00 六点新闻 6.15 每周精选。由珍妮·克莱曼主持的过去七日亮点回顾 7.00 阿彻斯。乔琳深感绝望 7.15 不可靠的叙述者 7.45 仅一件事，主讲：迈克尔·莫斯利 8.00 反馈 8.30 最后的话 9.00 货币之匣 (Money Box) 9.26 Radio 4 呼吁 9.30 我们的特派记者 9.59 天气预报 10.00 威斯敏斯特小时 11.00 我们以为自己是谁？ 11.30 更多震撼 (More Wow) 11.45 短篇作品 12.00 新闻与天气 12.15am 健康内幕 12.45 周日钟声 12.48 航运预报 1.00 作为世界服务频道 5.00 新闻概要 5.04
世界服务频道 (WORLD SERVICE)
讲述有趣的故事。 在魅力天平的另一端，目前播出： 动荡之城 (Radio 4, 1.30pm) 约翰·I’Anson 从大曼彻斯特地区报道关于
最后的话 5.32 天气预报 5.34 航运预报 5.43 今日祷告 5.45 6.00am 今日农业
RADIO 5 LIVE
中波 693 & 909KHZ
6.00am 马丁·路易斯播客 7.00 周日早餐 10.00 柯林·默里 12.00 5 Live 体育 1.30pm 5 Live 一级方程式 4.00 5 Live 体育 6.00 回到我们所属之地 6.15 回到我们所属之地 6.30 回到我们所属之地 6.45 回到我们所属之地 7.00 格拉斯哥 2026. 史蒂夫·帕里主持英联邦运动会第三天评论 10.00 劳拉·麦基 1.00am 多图恩·阿德巴约 5.00 6.00am 财富觉醒 (Wake Up to Money)
CLASSIC FM
调频 99.9-101.9MHZ
6.30am 早餐 9.00 Classic FM 名人堂小时，主讲：蒂姆·利豪 10.00 蒂姆·利豪 12.00 约翰·布鲁宁 3.00pm 斯蒂芬·曼根 6.00 夏日之夜，主讲：加雷斯·马龙 7.00 放松之夜，主讲：泽布·索恩斯 10.00 宁静古典 1.00am 比尔·欧弗顿 4.00 6.30am 早早早餐
仅限数字频道 (DIGITAL ONLY)
仅限数字频道 (DIGITAL ONLY)
6.00am 周末 9.00 新闻 9.06 我们的特派记者 9.30 食物链 10.00 新闻 10.06 修复世界的人们 10.30 五楼 11.00 新闻室 11.30 不止于比分 (More than the Score) 11.50 或多或少 (More or Less) 12.00 新闻 12.06pm BBC OS 对话 12.30 任务 1.00 新闻小时 2.00 新闻 2.06 气候之问 2.30 快乐新闻 3.00 新闻 3.06 体育世界 7.00 新闻室 7.30 好坏亿万富翁 8.00 新闻 8.06 意外元素 9.00 新闻小时 10.00 新闻 10.06 气候
6.00 am 詹姆斯·马丁的美国冒险 (AD) (R) (S) 7.00 詹姆斯·马丁的周六早晨 (R) (S) 9.25 新闻 (S) 9.30 与艾伦·蒂奇马什共度周末 (R) (S) 11.30 费恩·布里顿：走进兽医诊所 (AD) (S) 12.30 pm 汤姆·克里奇烹饪意大利 (AD) (R) (S) 1.00 爱你的花园 (AD) (R) (S) 1.55 新闻；天气 (S) 2.10 电影：活与死 (Live and Let Die) (1973) 罗杰·摩尔主演的詹姆斯·邦德冒险剧 (AD) (S) 4.30 追击名人特辑 (The Chase Celebrity Special) (R) (S) 5.30 追击环球之旅 (The Chase Around the World) (AD) (R) (S) 6.30 新闻 (S) 6.45 ITV 伦敦新闻；天气 (S)
7.00 自然之力 (Force of Nature) 新剧集。随着气候变化加剧，动物们的生存之战 (AD) (S)
8.00 艾默代尔 (Emmerdale) 加比在昏迷后接受医疗检查 (AD) (S)
8.30 街道 Coronation Street 莎拉向大卫和肖娜透露关于乔迪秘密之匣的消息 (AD) (S)
9.00 黑暗 (The Dark) 杀手逃脱 (AD) (S)
10.00 新闻；天气 (S) 10.20 天空恐慌：阻止液体炸弹阴谋 (Terror in the Skies: Stopping the Liquid Bomb Plot) 回顾被挫败的 2006 年恐怖袭击 (AD) (S)
11.30 集会 12.00 电视购物 3.00am 无人之愚 (Nobody’s Fool) 3.55 ITV 舒缓时间 5.05 - 6.00am 英国赛车运动 (Motorsport UK)
看似无法阻挡的反社会行为浪潮，正给威根（Wigan）和梅克菲尔德（Makerfield）等城镇的居民及企业的生活带来阴霾。 杰拉德·奥唐诺万 (Gerard O’Donovan)
10.30 问题 (Question) 11.00 任务 (Assignment) 11.30 新闻编辑室 (The Newsroom) 11.30 第五层 (The Fifth Floor) 12.00 新闻 (News) 凌晨 12.06 特约记者 (From Our Own Correspondent) 12.30 BBC 内部科学 (BBC Inside Science) 1.00 新闻编辑室 (The Newsroom) 1.30 探索 (Discovery) 2.00 新闻编辑室 (The Newsroom) 2.30 群众科学 (CrowdScience) 3.00 新闻 (News) 3.06 修复世界的人们 (People Fixing the World) 3.30 第五层 (The Fifth Floor) 4.00 新闻编辑室 (The Newsroom) 4.30 对话 (The Conversation) 5.00 上午 8.00 新闻日 (Newsday)
RADIO 4 EXTRA（广播4 附加频道）
上午 6.00 荒岛唱片重访 (Desert Island Discs Revisited) 6.45 大卫·爱登堡的人生故事 (David Attenborough’s Life Stories) 7.00 诗歌特辑：请给我诗歌 (Poetry Extra: Poetry Please) 7.30 无处之地的消息综合节目 (News from Nowhere Omnibus) 8.40 继承轨迹 (Inheritance Tracks) 8.50 摇滚漫步综合节目 第二部分 (Promenade Rock Omnibus Part Two) 10.00 了解你的位置 (Know Your Place) 10.30 从这里开始 (Take It from Here) 11.00 荒岛唱片重访 (Desert Island Discs Revisited) 11.45 大卫·爱登堡的人生故事 (David Attenborough’s Life Stories) 12.00 诗歌特辑：请给我诗歌 (Poetry Extra: Poetry Please) 下午 12.30 无处之地的消息综合节目 (News from Nowhere Omnibus) 1.40 继承轨迹 (Inheritance Tracks) 1.50 摇滚漫步综合节目 第二部分 (Promenade Rock Omnibus Part Two) 3.00 了解你的位置 (Know Your Place) 3.30 从这里开始 (Take It from Here) 4.00 伦敦桥 (London Bridge) 4.45 夏日幽灵 (Summer Ghosts) 5.00 荒岛唱片重访 (Desert Island Discs Revisited) 5.45 大卫·爱登堡的人生故事 (David Attenborough’s Life Stories) 6.00 诗歌特辑：请给我诗歌 (Poetry Extra: Poetry Please) 6.30 无处之地的消息综合节目 (News from Nowhere Omnibus) 7.40 继承轨迹 (Inheritance Tracks) 7.50 摇滚漫步综合节目 第二部分 (Promenade Rock Omnibus Part Two) 9.00 了解你的位置 (Know Your Place) 9.30 从这里开始 (Take It from Here) 10.00 令人反感的人 (Revolting People) 10.30 亚历克塞·赛尔的火车陌生人 (Alexei Sayle’s Strangers on a Train) 10.55 喜剧俱乐部访谈 (The Comedy Club Interview) 11.00 厨房内外 (In and Out of the Kitchen) 11.30 电动墨水 (Electric Ink) 12.00 伦敦桥 (London Bridge) 凌晨 12.45 夏日幽灵 (Summer Ghosts) 1.00 荒岛唱片重访 (Desert Island Discs Revisited) 1.45 大卫·爱登堡的人生故事 (David Attenborough’s Life Stories) 2.00 诗歌特辑：请给我诗歌 (Poetry Extra: Poetry Please) 2.30 无处之地的消息综合节目 (News from Nowhere Omnibus) 3.40 继承轨迹 (Inheritance Tracks) 3.50 摇滚漫步综合节目 第二部分 (Promenade Rock Omnibus Part Two) 5.00 了解你的位置 (Know Your Place) 5.30 上午 6.00 从这里开始 (Take It from Here)
6.20 am 皇后之王 (AD) (R) (S) 6.45 皇后之王 (AD) (R) (S) 7.10 大家都爱雷蒙德 (AD) (R) (S) 7.35 大家都爱 雷蒙德 (AD) (R) (S) 8.00 大家都爱雷蒙德 (AD) (R) (S) 8.30 辛普森一家 (AD) (R) (S) 9.00 辛普森一家 (AD) (R) (S) 9.30 辛普森一家 (AD) (R) (S) 10.00 周日早午餐 (S) 1.00 pm 杰米烹饪地中海美食 (AD) (R) (S) 2.05 狗狗之家 (AD) (R) (S) 2.50 乔治·克拉克的惊人空间 (AD) (R) (S) 3.55 我们的邻居农场：阿曼达、 克莱夫和孩子们 (AD) (R) (S) 5.00 与司·金一起探索英国最受欢迎的火车站 (AD) (R) (S) 6.00 Channel 4 新闻 (S) 6.30 F1 匈牙利大奖赛集锦 (S)
非洲女王 邦尼法斯修女谜案 蓝色珊瑚礁 无名之辈 钢琴 2026 环法自行车赛
9.00 钢琴：克劳迪娅·温克尔曼和 米卡抵达约克车站 (AD) (S)
10.00 电影：《被原谅的人》(2021) 剧情 片，由拉尔夫·费因斯和杰西卡 查斯坦主演 (S)
12.15 am 电影：《伴我同行》(1986) 成长剧情片，由里弗· 菲尼克斯主演 1.45 电影：《基督之城》 (2019) 剧情片，由巴托什· 比列尼亚主演 3.40 辛普森一家 4.05 辛普森一家 4.30 辛普森一家 4.50 狗狗之家 5.45 - 6.25am 倒计时
更多频道 Variations FV Freeview FS Freesat (AD) 语音描述 (R) 重播 (S) 字幕 (SL) 视觉手语
FV Freeview FS Freesat (AD) 语音描述 (R) 重播 (S) 字幕 (SL) 视觉手语
FV 9 FS 173 SKY 116 VIRGIN 108
7.00 pm 邮轮的黄金时代 8.00 约翰·威尔逊在逍遥之夜音乐会。伦敦 交响乐团演奏 威尔第、沃尔顿和雷斯皮基 10.00 《不是我》。比莉·怀特劳表演 塞缪尔·贝克特的戏剧 独白，舞台上唯一 被照亮的是 演员的嘴部。首次 播出于 1977 年 10.15 演艺者 12.15 am 莱文访谈录： 约翰·奥斯本 12.45 寻找萨姆：艾德里安· 邓巴谈塞缪尔·贝克特 1.45 缓慢的奥德赛：一只海龟的 旅程 2.15 3.15am 邮轮的黄金时代
U&Dave
11.00am 红牛肥皂盒赛车： 伦敦 2022 1.00pm 莫蒂默与 怀特豪斯：去钓鱼 3.00 毛发骑士的 亚洲冒险 5.00 我会骗你吗？ 7.00 边境执法： 美国守门人。伊格尔帕斯的官员揭露了一种新的卡特尔毒品 走私手段 8.00 特种行动： 英国犯罪小队。关于 “河中尸体”谋杀案的调查 9.00 我有更多新闻给你吗。乔· 布兰德主持，海蒂·艾伦和 Phil Wang 10.00 QI 10.40 嘲笑本周 12.00 阿波罗现场 2.00am QI XL 3.00 4.00am 我有更多新闻给你吗
ITV2
11.35am 成交或不成交 1.35pm 足球援助名人猜词游戏 2.35 电影：《马达加斯加 3：欧洲最 Wanted》(2012) 动画喜剧 本·斯蒂勒配音 4.25 电影：《天赐之子》(2007) 喜剧 续集，由史蒂夫·卡雷尔主演 6.20 电影：《碟中谍 4：幽灵协议》(2011) 特工团队 被诬陷参与爆炸案，并 在全球范围内追捕真正的恐怖分子。动作冒险续集 由汤姆·克鲁斯和杰瑞米· 雷纳主演 9.00 爱情岛。基于关系的真人秀 10.00 爱情岛： 日后之阳 11.05 Family Guy 12.05am
6.00 am Milkshake! 9.00 娱乐 5频道新闻 (S) 9.10 电影：《海绵宝宝》：海绵宝宝脱离水面 (2015) 动画喜剧，由 Tom Kenny 配音 (S) 11.00 2026年 Commonwealth Games (R) (S) 12.00 Happy Campers: The Caravan Park (R) (S) 1.00 pm Cruising with Susan Calman (R) (S) 2.00 Cruising with Susan Calman (R) (S) 3.00 Into Death Valley with Nick Knowles (R) (S) 4.00 Into Death Valley with Nick Knowles (R) (S) 5.00 Lisbon with Michael Portillo (R) (S) 6.25 5 News Weekend (S) 6.30 When Beach Holidays Go Horribly Wrong (R) (S)
8.00 Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly Graeme Hall 会见一只可能成为学校治疗犬的候选犬 (R) (S)
9.00 2026年 环法自行车赛 Grand Tour 赛事的最后阶段实况 (S)
10.00 2026年 Commonwealth Games (S)
11.05 Boris Johnson: Into Ukraine’s Kill Zone 12.25am Cops 12.55 5频道娱乐新闻 5 1.00 Cruise TV with LoveitBookit 2.00 Murder Scene: The Incident Room 2.50 Jersey and Guernsey 3.45 Friends 4.10 Friends 4.35 The Highland Vet 5.25 5频道娱乐新闻 5 5.35 Milo 5.45 - 6.00am The Adventures of Paddington
FV 10 FS 115 SKY 119 VIRGIN 117
11.50 am 阿加莎·克里斯蒂的《马普尔小姐》 2.00 pm Midsomer Murders 4.00 Midsomer Murders 6.00 Midsomer Murders 8.00 Midsomer Murders。伴娘在男爵的婚礼上被刺 10.00 Vera。在发现一名失踪者的遗骸 30 年后，侦探调查该青少年在 1984 年矿工大罢工期间失踪并死亡的案件 11.50 Wycliffe 12.55 am Trigger Point 1.55 George and Mildred 2.25 Unwind with ITV 2.30 6. 电视购物
American Dad! 1.05 Plebs 1.35 G’wed 2.10 Totally Bonkers Guinness World Records 2.35 Unwind with ITV 3.00 6.00am 电视购物
Challenge
Noon Celebrity Catchphrase 1.00pm Tenable 2.00 Bridge of Lies 3.00 The Chase 5.00 The Celebrity Chase 6.00 The Chase Celebrity Special 7.00 The Chase 9.00 The Chase Celebrity Special。嘉宾有 Matt Allwright, Stacey Solomon, Louise Minchin 和 Keith Allen 10.00 The Chase 11.00 Bullseye 2.00 4. The Chase
Quest
Noon The Yorkshire Auction House 1.00pm The Repair Shop 5.00 The Yorkshire Auction House 6.00 Angus Ashworth: Yorkshire Heritage Hero 7.00 Johnny Vegas’ Little Shop of Antiques。Johnny 和他的团队旨在将 Vintage Vegas 变成一项永久业务 8.00 The Repair Shop 1.00am Ant Anstead Master Mechanic 3.00 4.00am Wheeler Dealers: Dream Car
FV 26 FS 117 SKY 120 VIRGIN 118
11.00 am 英国 touring 赛车锦标赛现场。来自汉普郡 Thruxton 赛道的报道 6.15 pm Football Rivalries 6.30 River Monsters 7.00 Sharpe。Hakeswill 制造了更多麻烦 9.15 电影：《库根的 Bluff》(1968) 克林特·伊斯特伍德主演的犯罪剧 11.20 The Summit Australia 12.45 am The Champions 1.45 Two and a Half Men 2.15 Two and a Half Men 2.40 Unwind with ITV 3.00 电视购物 3.30 4. Auto Mundial
Deadliest Catch 11. Mighty Truckers 12. Kindig Customs 3.00 5. American Chopper
PBS America
11.55am Waco: The Longest Siege 1.00pm A Nation Denied: Ukraine’s Battle for History 3.00 The Siege of Leningrad 4.10 USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter 5.20 Waco: The Longest Siege 6.30 Titans of the Cold War 10.55 Waco: The Longest Siege 12.00 USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter 1.15am Weathered: Earth’s Extremes 2.00 6. 电视购物
Sky History
Noon Pawn Stars 1.00pm Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 8.00 The Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire。记录罗马帝国兴衰的历史纪录片 10.00 World War II with Tom Hanks 12.00 Pawn Stars 2.00 6. What on Earth?
Sky Documentaries
FV 36 FS 143 SKY 822 VIRGIN 123
6.00 am André Rieu in Wonderland (S) 8.30 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 9.00 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 9.30 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 10.00 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 10.30 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 11.00 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (S) 12.00 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (S) 1.00 pm André Rieu: Welcome to My World (S) 2.00 André Rieu: Welcome to My World (S) 3.00 电影：《让我们跳舞》(1950) 由弗雷德·阿斯泰尔主演的音乐剧 5.05 Riverdance 25周年纪念演出 (S)
7.00 Grand Ole Opry: Opry Live，嘉宾包括 Carly Pearce, Tucker Wetmore, Lukas Nelson 和 Sierra Ferrell (S)
8.00 电影：《非洲女王》(1951) 由汉弗莱·鲍嘉和凯瑟琳·赫本主演的浪漫冒险片 (S)
10.00 Johnson & Knopfler’s Music Legends：布莱恩和马克会见 Cyndi Lauper (S)
11.00 电影：《The Who: The Kids Are Alright》(1978) 关于 The Who 乐队的摇滚纪录片 1.10am The Rolling Stones: Bridges to Bremen 4.10 Discovering: Jethro Tull 4.35 Discovering: U2 5.00 - 6.00am 经典专辑 (Classic Albums)
FV 18 FS 124 SKY 136 VIRGIN 147
正午 A Place in the Sun 1.00 pm A Place in the Sun 2.00 A Place in the Sun 3.00 A Place in the Sun 3.50 Come Dine with Me 6.25 Four in a Bed 6.55 Four in a Bed 7.25 Four in a Bed 7.55 Four in a Bed 8.30 Four in a Bed 9.00 The Emergency Ward 10.00 24 Hours in A&E 11.05 24 Hours in A&E 12.05 am The Emergency Ward 1.10 24 Hours in A&E 2.15 24 Hours in A&E 3.20 3.50am A Place in the Sun
Price: Nothing to Hide. Katie 和 Peter Andre 成为名人权力夫妇 9.00 The Truth vs Alex Jones. Sandy Hook 的父母对 Alex Jones 提起的诽谤诉讼 11.20 电影：《2000 Meters to Andriivka》(2025) 一个乌克兰排试图从俄罗斯 军队手中解放一个村庄 1.30am Surviving Ohio State 3.30 5.00am Salt Path: A Very British Scandal
Sky One
10.45am The Hundred 直播 2.00pm 足球最幽默时刻 (Football’s Funniest Moments) 2.30 Best Medicine 3.30 Animal Control 5.30 Formula 1 6.30 Ted’s Notebook 7.00 La Brea 9.00 Ricky Gervais Live: Animals. 这位喜剧演员的首次单口喜剧 巡演 10.30 电影：《第一滴血 2》(1985) 由西尔维斯特·史泰龙主演的动作冒险续集 12.30am Evil 1.40 The Force: Manchester 3.35 5.00am Road Wars
Great! Mystery
FV 20 FS 158 SKY 143 VIRGIN 116
6.00 am 电视购物 7.10 The Bill (S) 8.00 The Bill (S) 9.00 The Bill (S) 10.00 The Bill (S) 11.00 The Bill (S) 12.05 pm Call the Midwife (AD) (S) 1.05 Call the Midwife (AD) (S) 2.30 Catherine Cookson’s A Dinner of Herbs (S) 5.45 Home Fires (S) 6.50 Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (S)
8.00 Sister Boniface Mysteries 当一名当地业余 戏剧演员在舞台上死亡时，生活模仿艺术 (AD) (S)
9.00 Silent Witness Nikki 在法庭上受辱 (S)
11.15 New Tricks 12.35am Call the Midwife 1.35 2point4 Children 2.25 2point4 Children 2.55 Darby and Joan 4.00 - 6.00am 电视购物
SKY 110 VIRGIN 124
11.40 am 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 12.20 pm 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 1.00 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 1.40 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 2.20 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 3.00 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 5.00 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 5.40 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 6.20 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 7.00 爸爸军队 (Dad’s Army) 7.40 憨都 (Only Fools and Horses) 11.40 快速秀 (The Fast Show) 12.20 am 快速秀 (The Fast Show) 1.00 黑色行动 (Black Ops) 1.35 嗨，嗨！ (Hi de Hi!) 2.20 快速秀 (The Fast Show) 2.50 快速秀 (The Fast Show) 3.25 4.00am 伦敦之 toast (Toast of London)
谋杀案 (Murders) (2018) 悬疑剧，由 Lori Loughlin 主演 11.51 GREAT! 频道好消息 (Good News on GREAT!) 11.56 电影：车库拍卖之谜：潘多拉之盒谋杀案 (Garage Sale Mysteries: Pandora Box Murders) (2018) 悬疑片，由 Lori Loughlin 主演 12. 50am 电影：隐藏的罪行 (Hidden Crimes) (2009) 1.46 GREAT! 频道好消息 (Good News on GREAT!) 1.51 电影：隐藏的罪行 (Hidden Crimes) (2009) 2.30 电影：被背叛的母亲 (A Mother Betrayed) (2015) 3.55 4. 05am GREAT! 频道好消息特辑 (Good News on GREAT! Extra)
Sky Cinema Premiere (Sky 电影首映)
11.55am mortal Kombat II (2026) 2. 00pm 伟大的埃莉诺 (Eleanor the Great) (2025) 首映。由 June Squibb 主演的剧情片 3.45 魔法坏女巫：为了美好 (Wicked: For Good) (2025) 奇幻续集，由 Cynthia Erivo 和 Ariana Grande 主演 6.10 巨蟒 (Anaconda) (2025) 朋友们在重拍一部他们从小就想拍的电影时，遇到了一只恐怖的生物。由 Jack Black 和 Paul Rudd 主演的喜剧冒险片 8.00 mortal Kombat II (2026) 由 Karl Urban 主演的奇幻冒险片 10.05 内战 (Civil War) (2024) 由 Kirsten Dunst 主演的动作惊悚片 12. 05am 潜伏者 (Lurker) (2025) 1.45 4.10am Lee Cronin 的 木乃伊 (The Mummy) (2026) 由 Jack Reynor 主演的恐怖片
FV 82 FS 306 SKY 324 VIRGIN 445
7.45 苏格兰场 (Scotland Yard) 一名推销员在客户发财后成为了杀手
苏格兰 (Scotland)
8.20 谋杀游戏 (A Game of Murder) Kerry 收到一封将他父亲的谋杀案与一个被盗的狗项圈联系起来的信 (S)
9.25 夏洛克·福尔摩斯：合格的单身汉 (Sherlock Holmes: The Eligible Bachelor) 长篇剧集。一名新娘在婚礼当天失踪 (S)
11.30 电影：蓝色珊瑚礁 (The Blue Lagoon) (1980) 由 Brooke Shields 主演的浪漫剧情片 1.40am 遗产排行榜节目 (The Heritage Chart Show) 2.45 命运转折 (Turn of Fate) 3.15 伯明翰与 1950 年代的道路巡逻摩托车 (Birmingham and the Road Patrol Bikes in the 1950s) 3.30 恶棍 (The Rogues) 4.30 罗宾汉历险记 (The Adventures of Robin Hood) 5.00 纨绔子弟 (The Buccaneers) 5.30 - 6. 00am 超级跑车 (Supercar)
FV 27 FS 159 SKY 155 VIRGIN 129
Noon 七个世界，一个星球 (Seven Worlds, One Planet) 1.00 pm 西蒙·里夫的不可思议之旅 (Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve) 2.00 不可思议之旅 (Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve) 3.00 探索 (Explore) 4.00 探索 (Explore) 5.00 斯坦利·图齐：寻找意大利 (Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy) 7.55 旧车与现金 (Bangers & Cash) 10.55 坟墓的一只脚 (One Foot in the Grave) 11.35 红矮星号 (Red Dwarf) 12.15 am 红矮星号 (Red Dwarf) 12.50 旧车与现金 (Bangers & Cash) 1.50 英国铁路之旅 (Great British Railway Journeys) 2.15 英国铁路之旅 (Great British Railway Journeys) 3.00 6.10am 电视购物 (Teleshopping)
(开始时间 2.00pm) 4.00 现场一级方程式赛车 (Live Formula 1)。匈牙利大奖赛的反应与分析 5.00 泰德的笔记本 (Ted’s Notebook) 5.30 百球赛直播 (The Hundred Live)。特伦特火箭队男队 v 伦敦精神队男队 (开始时间 6.00pm) 7.30 现场世界飞镖赛 (Live World Matchplay Darts)。决赛报道 10.00 现场 Zuffa 拳击 (Live Zuffa Boxing)。预赛报道 1.00 5.30am 现场 Zuffa 拳击 (Live Zuffa Boxing)
Sky Sports 英超联赛 (Premier League) Noon 英超回顾 (Premier League Review) 3.00pm 英超故事 (Premier League Stories) 3.30 转会 360 4.00 英超回顾 (Premier League Review) 7.00 英超故事 (Premier League Stories) 7.30 加里·内维尔的足球盒子 (Gary Neville’s Soccerbox) 8.00 英超回顾 (Premier League Review) 11.00 英超岁月 (Premier League Years) 1.00am PL Retro 3.00 4.00am PL Greatest Games
TNT Sports 1
11.00am 现场：击剑世界锦标赛 (Live: Fencing World Championship) 2.00pm 环法自行车赛 (Tour de France) 女子组 2.30 现场：环法自行车赛 (Tour de France) 男子组。本次大巡回赛第 21 站及最后一站的报道 7.45 小组赛 (The Gruppetto) 8.00 MLB 集锦 9.00 现场 MLB。旧金山巨人队 v 洛杉矶天使队 (开始时间 9.05pm) 12.00 训练日 (Training Day) 12.15am 现场 MLB。费城费城人队 v 纽约洋基队 (开始时间 12.20am) 3.00 4.30am LIV 高尔夫 (LIV Golf)
FV 14 FS 300 SKY 855 VIRGIN 428
11.00 am 电影：《法尔沃斯的黑盾》(The Black Shield of Falworth) (1954) 由托尼·库蒂斯主演的剑斗冒险片 (S) 1.05 pm 电影：《特纳与胡奇》(Turner & Hooch) (1989) 由汤姆·汉克斯主演的家庭犬类喜剧 (AD) (S) 3.10 电影：《波塞冬惊魂》(The Poseidon Adventure) (1972) 由吉恩·哈克曼主演的灾难剧 (AD) (S) 5.25 电影：《老枪手》(The Old Man & the Gun) (2018) 警察约翰·亨特决心抓捕资深银行抢劫犯福雷斯特·塔克。由罗伯特·雷德福主演的基于事实的犯罪剧 (AD) (S)
7.15 电影：《爸爸回来了》(Daddy’s Home) (2015) 当亲生父亲回归时，一位温和的继父拼命想维持妻子孩子们的尊重。由威尔·法瑞尔和马克·沃尔伯格主演的喜剧 (AD) (S)
9.00 电影：《无名之辈》(Nobody) (2021) 在家中被两名小偷洗劫后，一名不起眼的家庭主夫揭示了他的真实性格。由鲍勃·奥登科克和康妮·尼尔森主演的犯罪剧 (AD) (S)
10.50 电影：《正义之骑》(Riders of Justice) (2021) 一名军人因为妻子在火车事故中丧生而不得不回家，而这次事故可能是一场精心策划的暗杀。由马兹·米科尔森主演的动作喜剧剧 (AD) (S)
1.05 - 3.20am 电影：《复仇》(Vengeance) (2022) 由 BJ 诺瓦克主演的悬疑剧
SKY 108
11.20 am Gomorrah (Gomorrah) 12.25 pm Gomorrah (Gomorrah) 1.30 Gomorrah (Gomorrah) 2.30 Gomorrah (Gomorrah) 3.30 Gomorrah (Gomorrah) 4.35 The Gilded Age (镀金时代) 5.40 The Gilded Age (镀金时代) 6.45 The Gilded Age (镀金时代) 7.50 The Gilded Age (镀金时代) 9.00 House of the Dragon (龙之屋) 10.15 The Fear Index (恐惧指数) 11.15 The Fear Index (恐惧指数) 12.10 am Deadwood (死木镇) 1.05 Deadwood (死木镇) 2.00 House of the Dragon (龙之屋) 3.15 4. 20am Billions (亿万)
BBC News
Noon BBC News (正午 BBC 新闻) 1.30pm The Media Show (媒体秀) 2.00 BBC News (BBC 新闻) 2.30 Tech Now (技术现在时) 3.00 BBC News (BBC 新闻) 4.30 Inside Hungary’s Political Earthquake (匈牙利政治地震内幕) 5.00 BBC News (BBC 新闻) 8.30 The Media Show (媒体秀) 9.00 BBC News (BBC 新闻) 11.30 Andy Burnham: Who is the new PM? (安迪·伯纳姆：新任首相是谁？) 12.00 BBC News (BBC 新闻) 12.30am Inside Hungary’s Political Earthquake (匈牙利政治地震内幕) 1.00 BBC News (BBC 新闻) 1.30 Will Insects Thrive or Just Survive? (昆虫将繁荣还是仅能生存？) 2.00 Newsday (新闻日) 2.30 Business Today (今日商业) 2.45 BBC Sport (BBC 体育) 3.00 3. 30am Newsday (新闻日)
GB News
11.00am Sunday with Michael Portillo (迈克尔·波蒂略的星期日) 1.00pm The Weekend (周末) 3.00 Nana Akua (娜娜·阿库阿) 6.00 The Camilla Tominey Show (卡米拉·托米尼秀) 7.00 Free Speech Nation (言论自由之国) 9.00 Alex Armstrong Tonight (亚历克斯·阿姆斯特朗之夜) 11.00 Alex Armstrong Tonight Late Edition (亚历克斯·阿姆斯特朗之夜：晚间版) 12.00 The Late Show Live (深夜直播秀) 3.00 5. 00am Alex Armstrong Tonight (亚历克斯·阿姆斯特朗之夜)
Sky News
Northern Ireland (北爱尔兰)
BBC One: No variations (无变动) BBC Two: 2.15pm Flog It! (把它卖了！) 3.00 All Ireland Senior Football Championship Final (全爱尔兰高级足球锦标赛决赛) 5.30 - 6.00pm Oul Treasures (老宝贝) UTV: No variations (无变动)
No variations (无变动)
BBC One: No variations (无变动) BBC Scotland: 7.00pm Reporting Scotland: News at Seven (苏格兰报道：七点新闻) 7.15 The Repair Shop on the Road (巡回修复店) 8.00 Island Crossings (岛屿交汇) 9.00 Paramedics on Scene (现场急救员) 10.00 Still Game (仍然在比赛) 10.30 Scot Squad (苏格兰小队) 11.00 Ooh the Banter (哦，这个玩笑) midnight Close (午夜关闭) STV: 3.55 - 5.05am Unwind with STV (与 STV 一起放松)
Wales (威尔士)
BBC One: 2.05pm Weatherman Walking: The Welsh Coast (气象员漫步：威尔士海岸) 2.35 - 3.05 The Wig Queen of Prestatyn: Our Lives (普雷斯塔廷的假发女王：我们的生活) 6.00 Wales’ Home of the Year (年度威尔士之宅) 6.30 - 7.00pm Our Lives: Principal Ballerina (我们的生活：首席芭蕾舞演员) BBC Two: No variations (无变动) ITV1 Wales: No variations (无变动)
ITV1 Regions (ITV1 各地区)
S4C
6.00am Cyw 9.00 Y Cosmos 10.00 Ras Yr Wyddfa 11.00 Garddio a Mwy 11.35 Gerddi Cymru 12.05pm Ralïo+ 12.35 Yr Afon 1.35 Iaith ar Daith 2.35 Pobol y Cwm Omnibws 3.25 Seiclo: Tour de France (自行车：环法自行车赛) 7.20 Newyddion S4C a’r Tywydd (S4C 新闻与天气) 7.30 Y Sioe 2026 8.30 Gemau’r Gymanwlad 2026 10.30 Sgorio (得分) 12.15 - 12.50am Seiclo: Tour de France (自行车：环法自行车赛)
A bone dry field at the Maidenhead & Bray County Cricket club in Bray (布雷市梅登黑德-布雷郡板球俱乐部的干涸场地)
By Peter Stanford (彼得·斯坦福 撰)
IT’S official, at least in mid and North Wales. We are in drought. Elsewhere in England and Wales, hosepipe bans are in force for millions of customers as the nation’s reservoirs run low. 官方已经确认，至少在威尔士中部和北部。我们正处于干旱之中。在英格兰和威尔士的其他地区，随着全国水库水位下降，数百万客户已被实施软管禁令。
Back in August 1976, when the nation was in a similar pickle, the government appointed a Drought Minister and, within days, there was so much rain that flooding was widespread. If Andy Burnham is thinking of doing the same trick, though, there is no sign in the forecasts of substantial rain soon. 回溯到 1976 年 8 月，当国家陷入类似的困境时，政府任命了一位干旱部长，几天之内，雨量惊人导致大范围洪水。然而，如果 安迪·伯纳姆 打算玩同一套把戏，预测结果显示短期内没有强降雨的迹象。
England and Wales remain firmly in the grip of high pressure, bringing hot air from the continent and day-long sunshine. Only in Scotland and Northern Ireland will a weak weather front from the Atlantic drift in with some rain, but it will pass quickly, with a last few remnants sprinkling the east coast of England before heading off. Temperatures remain warm. 英格兰和威尔士仍深陷高压控制，带来了来自大陆的热气和整日的阳光。只有在苏格兰和北爱尔兰，来自大西洋的弱天气前沿将带来少量降雨，但很快就会通过，在离开前最后的一些残余雨滴将洒在英格兰东海岸。气温保持温暖。
Greater London and southern England will see 25C (77F), South Wales, Bristol and south-western England are at 24C (75F), while the Midlands and East Anglia touch 22C (72F). Northern England is cloudy and down at 20C (68F) with 19C (66F) further north. 大伦敦地区和英格兰南部气温将达到 25C (77F)，南威尔士、布里斯托和英格兰西南部为 24C (75F)，而中地和东英吉利地区触及 22C (72F)。英格兰北部多云，气温下降至 20C (68F)，更北地区为 19C (66F)。
There will be more weather fronts in Scotland in the last days of July, with some rain, but for the rest it remains settled, sunny and stubbornly dry. If anything the mercury will be climbing and could touch 30C (86F) in the south-east by Thursday. For farmers and gardeners, the anxiety remains, with predictions of droughts. Most forecasts suggest that, in southern and eastern England, the next decent, sustained downpours may not come until mid-August. 7 月最后几天苏格兰将有更多天气前沿及少量降雨，但其他地区将保持稳定、晴朗且顽固地干燥。如果说有什么变化，那就是温度将攀升，到周四东南部可能触及 30C (86F)。对于农民和园丁来说，干旱的预测让他们依然焦虑。大多数预测表明，在英格兰南部和东部，下一次像样的持续大雨可能直到 8 月中旬才会到来。
Perhaps pause on that Minister for Drought idea, Prime Minister. 首相先生，关于任命干旱部长的想法，也许该暂停一下。
The scooter that charmed the world
in bid to win back Trump
of forces and invites Hegseth to UK summit
By Camilla Turner SUNDAY POLITICAL EDITOR
WES STREETING is seeking to repair the UK’s special relationship with Donald Trump by “working together” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and promising to modernise the Armed Forces. In an attempt to turn the page on the relations that had soured during the outbreak of the Iran war, the Defence Secretary told Pete Hegseth, his US counterpart, that he wanted to collabo- rate on building a global coalition to safeguard shipping through the vital trade route. Mr Streeting and Mr Hegseth dis- cussed proposals for a conference in London this week, bringing together Nato allies, defence ministers and mili- tary commanders from up to 40 nations, including Mr Hegseth and the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen- eral Dan Caine. The Europeans previ- ously held regular meetings without the Americans, however this summit would aim to reconcile all sides follow- ing a diffi cult few months. “The Defence Secretary had a very warm conversation with Secretary Hegseth,” a source close to Mr Street- ing said. “They discussed the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and how allies can work together.” The pair also discussed “defence investment and the UK’s commitment to meeting our Nato commitments”, the source added. Mr Streeting emphasised to Mr Heg- seth the UK’s plan to modernise and reform the Armed Forces in a move that would make them more relevant in an age of drone warfare. During a speech at Farnborough Air- show last week, Mr Streeting said the UK “was building an integrated system of crewed and autonomous platforms, providing us with the bridge to our sixth-generation fi ghter system”. Mr Streeting’s charm off ensive may help to reassure sceptics of Andy Burn-
By Tim Sigsworth NEWS REPORTER
A WOMAN who was raped as a child by her brother has urged Andy Burnham to permanently ban sex off enders from early release after learning her sibling was set to be freed as soon as Christmas. Charlotte McQueen, 29, said the Prime Minister’s review of the early release scheme was not enough as she demanded he “commit” to ensuring no sex offenders and violent criminals would leave prison early under sen- tencing reforms. On Thursday, Mr Burn- ham announced that he was pausing the
18 Business 21 TV listings 28 Weather 31
ham, the new Prime Minister, in Wash- i ng ton, where Ed M i l iba nd’s appointment as Foreign Secretary has not gone down well. Last week, Mr Miliband held his fi rst bilateral meeting with Marco Rubio, his US counterpart, on the margins of the Asean summit in the Philippines. Mr Streeting also underlined the UK’s commitment to spending 3.5pc of GDP by 2035 – something which most Nato allies have agreed to. A source close to John Healey, the new Chancellor, said: “From John’s point of view, the fi rst duty of any gov- ernment is to keep the country safe. Fiscal credibility is the bedrock of both our economic security and our national security. We will meet our commit- ments on defence to our allies.” Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hor- muz has become the central fl ashpoint between Tehran and Washington amid renewed hostilities between the two sides. In the latest incident, Iran’s Rev- olutionary Guards said yesterday their forces stopped four ships attempting to transit the strategic chokepoint over the past 24 hours. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations monitor also reported that an incident took place near the Strait of Hormuz waterway yesterday involving a tanker and unspecifi ed military forces. No further details were released. A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards said Britain would be a “defi- nite and legitimate target” if it supports the US in the war, it was reported last night on the country’s state TV. It comes amid reports that the latest fl are-up in hostilities in the Middle East threaten to shrink the UK’s fi scal buff er to just £7bn after it pushed gilt yields back up above 5 per cent. This week Mr Burnham will announce his plans to overhaul adult social care, something which he has said he is willing to use “political capi- tal” to champion potentially unpopular policies.
scheme to conduct a review, but it is unclear if this move will be permanent. The announcement came in response to public anger that police killers, grooming gang rapists and fatal drink drivers were due to be released early. Ms McQueen, who has previously waived her right to anonymity, was nine when the “countless” rapes by her brother Andrew began, and they con- tinued until she was 13. He was aged between 11 and 15 at the time and pleaded guilty to five counts of rape, two of sexual assault and two of assault of a child under 13 by penetration at
By Craig Simpson ARTS CORRESPONDENT
ISLAMIC bookshops selling anti- Semitic texts have been granted the right to bring “skilled” migrants to Brit- ain, The Telegraph can disclose. The Home Offi ce has given powers to sponsor “skilled worker” visas to a string of bookshops, which are thought to have used them to bring dozens of people into the UK. Books sold by some of the stores claim that Jewish people had a “wicked nature”, while other texts are deemed a
CLEMENT VIALA/INFOBASSIN.COM/ABACA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Homes in France have been destroyed by a wildfire that has burned more than 12,000 hectares in Gironde where thousands of residents and tourists have been evacuated
By James Rothwell, Emily Smith, Samuel Montgomery and Melissa Twigg
BRITISH expats were forced to aban- don their homes in the south of France and escape past towering walls of flames as the region was engulfed in wildfi res. Emmanuel Macron, the French pres- ident, deployed the army yesterday to tackle the blazes, while the number of people evacuated from France and neighbouring Spain rose to more than 270,000. Spanish offi cials have declared a state of emergency, warning that one wild- fire raging near Madrid was “beyond
Gloucester Crown Court last year. McQueen was sentenced to fi ve years in prison in June 2025 and was not meant to be eligible for release until 2028 at the earliest. However, Ms McQueen, a mother of two, has been told by the Ministry of Justice that he is eligible for early release under the scheme and could be out by December. She told The Telegraph: “I was told, looking at worst-case scenario, he could be out by Christmas. He got sentenced last June and only got sentenced to fi ve years. I was told he had to serve three years but actually, there’s a chance he
radicalisation threat by UK prisons. One book on sale is Milestones by Sayyid Qutb, the infl uential Muslim Brother- hood leader whose work rails against Western civilisation and “world Jewry”. Other works on offer include those by Hasan al-Banna, the Brotherhood’s founder, and by Bilal Philips, a cleric banned by the Home Office, whose writings offer advice on beating wives. All the books reviewed by The Telegraph can legally be sold in the UK, and there is no suggestion the bookshops have broken any rules. Skilled worker visa certifi cates were
the capacity” of fi refi ghters to contain. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Madrid’s regional president, described the confl agration as “the worst fi re in the history of the region,” with some 70,000 people evac- uated or ordered to remain indoors. A man was killed in a separate blaze in Manises, close to the eastern city of Valencia. In southern France, British expats recounted to The Telegraph how a change in the wind led to large fires turning towards their homes and envel- oping their gardens in minutes. As the fi res showed few signs of abat- ing yesterday, the organisers of the Tour de France said the event would be shortened so that security can be rede-
something helpful, he should commit to them serving their full sentence’
could be out by Christmas. His sentence was a slap in the face anyway because he was given fi ve years, which is noth- ing really. I don’t feel reassured at all. “I spent my whole life living in fear and this last year has been the fi rst year of my life that I’ve not been in fear. I felt at peace, and so has the rest of my fam-
introduced in 2020 as part of a post- Brexit immigration overhaul. The scheme, overseen by UK Visas and Immigration, part of the Home Offi ce, allowed registered employers to bring employees into the country to fi ll jobs that meet a specifi c skill level. However, there are questions over whether many of the workers who come to the country can be classed as skilled. Businesses such as newsagents and vape shops are among those to have been given licences. The Telegraph can now disclose that Islamic bookshops have also issued doz-
joined the Tupperware Tribe? Sunday
ployed to the wildfi res. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, announced that 11 planes and helicop- ters had been sent to France and Spain from the rest of the European Union. There were warnings of severe air pollution in Madrid as a result of the fires, while France’s interior ministry said it was mulling the possibility of an evacuation of the city of Bordeaux. Some 197,000 people have been evacuated from areas around the port city – including holiday spots usually crowded this time of year – in what was most likely the biggest peacetime evac- uation the country has seen. France has deployed 1,500 soldiers to help fi refi ghters near Bordeaux, and
ily. We’ve all felt at peace. Then to receive this letter, I was like, ‘I thought I had three years of peace and three years to try and rebuild my life and work on my mental health’. Actually, no, I don’t. It just feels like, it doesn’t matter how much I do and how much I try to do, the system is rigged in abusers’ favour.” She added: “I understand there is a crisis in our prisons. I understand that they are full, and that leads to its own issues. But it’s the categories they’ve chosen. It’s the violent crimes. It’s the child abuse, the paedophiles, the rapists.
yesterday an A400M military transport aircraft modified to release up to 20 tonnes of fi re retardant joined the fl eet of smaller planes already dousing fl ames. British tourists flying in or out of Bordeaux were being off ered alterna- tive routes and times due to the wild- fi res sweeping across the region. British Airways began contacting customers “to provide assistance” in case they needed to change their plans. A UK Foreign Offi ce spokesman said it was supporting Britons affected by the wildfires but did not elaborate on what kind of help had been off ered.
prisons for men’ plea
Tories say move, pioneered in Manchester, could cut the need for early releases
By Charles Hymas HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
ANDY BURNHAM has been urged to convert at least one women’s prison into a jail for men to reduce overcrowding
early release, says victim
constant fear, and I live with the ghost of who I could have been’
and the early releases of criminals. Prison campaigners, prison offi cers’ leaders and senior Tories said the Prime Minister should consider the change as part of a series of alternative measures to avoid releasing more off enders from jail early. They said Mr Burnham should adopt approaches pioneered by his previous Greater Manchester authority to steer women away from prison for lower-level off ences, which have reduced the num- ber being jailed in the region by 55 per
JOHN LAWRENCE FOR THE TELEGRAPH
visas since 2021. The lengthy work, which argues that Jewish people have a “wicked nature”, is also off ered on the website of a bookshop in the Leicester area. The parent organisation has a visa licence and may have sponsored up to 10 skilled worker visas, according to offi cial fi gures. The shop also off ers an essay collection titled Islam: The Way of Revival, which features work by Qutb and al-Banna. On the website of another Islamic business in east London, shoppers can buy The Fundamentals of Tawheed by Bilal Philips, which argues that “un-Is- lamic government must be sincerely hated and despised”. The book was
cent in eight years. “For nearly 20 years we have known what needs to be done to reduce women’s imprisonment, yet women are still being sent to prison in their thousands,” said Pia Sinha, the chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust and ex-director of women at the Minis- try of Justice (MoJ). “The problem is not a lack of policy, evidence or good intentions – it is the failure to put these into practice.” Last week, Mr Burnham paused the launch of the early release scheme
fl agged as “extremist” by Prison Service inspectors in 2016, who insisted that it be removed from prison chaplaincies, along with works by al-Banna and Qutb. This business has issued up to 10 sponsorship certificates for foreign workers since 2021. The Fundamentals of Tawheed is also available on the website of another shop in Tower Hamlets, which sells books alongside other products such as thobes and niqabs. This business has also issued up to 10 sponsorship certifi cates for foreign workers. All of these busi- nesses were contacted for comment. There is no suggestion of wrongdo- ing on the part of these organisations.
scheduled for September after The Tele- graph disclosed that two of the killers of Pc Andrew Harvey – Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole – were due to be freed early halfway through their 13-year sentences for his manslaughter in 2019. The Prime Minister announced a review of the scheme which allows kill- ers, rapists and other serious off enders to be freed halfway through their sen- tences rather than two-thirds. Prisoners jailed for less serious crimes will be freed a third of the way through their sentences. Some 6,000 were set to be freed over 10 months from Sept 2. Ms Sinha, who turned round Liver- pool’s “failing” prison when appointed governor, set out a six-point plan to ease prison overcrowding, including con- verting a women’s prison into a male jail and releasing all pregnant women and mothers with babies from jails. Turning the biggest women’s prison – HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey – into a male jail would free up more than 500 spaces, while there were some 250
The books sold by these businesses are not illegal in the UK, and are in some instances sold through a variety of mainstream platforms. However, the decision to allow Islamic bookshops to support visa applications has been questioned, amid concern about the nature of businesses, including vape shops, that are allowed to support migration to the UK. Lee Anderson, the Reform UK MP for Ashfi eld, told The Telegraph: “It’s a per- fect illustration of 14 years of Tory fail- ure: rather than doctors and engineers, we brought in staff for Islamic shops selling books on ‘jihad’. “It is beyond belief that the Home
pregnant women or mothers and babies in jails in England and Wales last year. There are 3,500 women incarcerated in England and Wales, around 2,500 of whom are behind bars for non-violent off ences. They represent around 4 per cent of the prison population. Alex Chalk, the Tory justice secretary who was forced to introduce emergency early-release schemes when prisons ran out of space in 2023-2024, said repur- posing women’s jails was “absolutely worth looking at”. He added: “It’s a con- tributor, but it’s not a complete silver bullet.” If Labour abandoned the early release scheme, the MoJ claims prisons could run out of spaces by November . The Prison Reform Trust said ministers should also consider reducing the num- ber of prisoners on remand, at record levels of 16,000 (a fi fth of all prisoners) , through a tighter application of the rule that suspects should not be remanded in custody if there is “no immediate pros- pect” of them being jailed.
Offi ce did not realise this. It has failed in its basic function of vetting visa spon- sors for the public good.” A Home Office spokesman said: “Thanks to our decisive action to raise the skilled salary threshold, these kinds of businesses are incredibly unlikely to get a licence approved. “Companies must apply for the appropriate sponsor licence. The hold- ing of a licence does not guarantee that it is in use nor that any sponsored visa application will be approved by the [Home Offi ce]. “Holding a sponsorship licence is no guarantee of a visa and all licences are determined on a case-by-case basis.”
McQueen, below, with her brother Andrew, who was convicted of rape
NEWS BULLETIN
really does make the day
Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day because it helps to balance our diet, a study has found. Data show those who skip the fi rst meal of the day have a worse overall diet when it comes to key nutrients such as fi bre, iron and zinc. A study of 128 adolescents who consistently missed breakfast found that when given a proper meal soon after waking the quality and nutritiousness of their diet improved. High-protein breakfasts had the healthiest impact on diet. Emma Rose Brown, of the University of Texas in Austin, said: “Our fi ndings suggest adding breakfast, particularly one rich in protein, may be an eff ective way to improve nutrient intake in older adolescents.”
dies of stab wound
Six men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was stabbed in south London in the early hours of yesterday. Police were called at 4.37am after reports of a 22-year-old man attending hospital with a stab wound. The man died in hospital and his family have been informed, the Metropolitan Police said. A further four men – three aged 22 and one aged 24 – also attended hospital with non-life-threatening or life-changing stab wounds. They have all since been arrested on suspicion of murder. Two more men, aged 23 and 27, have also been arrested on suspicion of murder, said police.
on knife death of boy, 17
Two teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 17-year-old boy who died from stab wounds after disorder at a park in Luton. Bedfordshire Police said offi cers were called to Kingsway recreation ground on Friday following reports that a number of teenagers were seen “carrying large knives”. The 17-year-old boy, who has not yet been identifi ed, was taken to hospital but died a short time later. Police said that two boys, arrested on Friday on suspicion of violent disorder, have now been further arrested on suspicion of murder. One of the suspects is in hospital with serious – but not life-threatening – injuries.
letters set to go for $22k
Letters by a young Morrissey, written before he formed hit band The Smiths, are to go to auction where they are expected to sell for £22,000. The letters, written to a Birmingham pen friend, Simon Pitt, who would go on to become the city’s poet laureate, were penned when the singer was aged 14 to 20 and include one in which Morrissey says “my ambition is to be a rock’n’roll star or an actor, or a writer”. Another adds: “I always said I was a genius, but nobody listened.” The letters, from 1974 to 1979, are being off ered at Dawsons Auctioneers in London on Aug 26 as separate lots. In them, Morrissey also talks about politics and wanting to live in America.
is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) and we subscribe to its Editors’ Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content, please visit www.telegraph. co.uk/editorialcomplaints or write to ‘Editorial Complaints’ at our postal address (see below). If you are not satisfi ed with our response, you may appeal to IPSO at www.ipso.co.uk.
disappeared in 2007, makes senior Scotland debut before Glasgow crowd
By Fiona Tomas in Glasgow
KATE and Gerry McCann watched on with pride as their son, Sean, swam for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The couple, whose daughter Made- leine McCann, then three, went missing in Portugal in 2007, were seen among fans at Tollcross International Swim- ming Centre, where Sean made his Commonwealth Games debut and fi rst senior appearance for his country on Saturday. Sean’s twin sister, Amelie, was also sat with their parents. Kate was wearing a T-shirt featuring the words of the song Yes Sir, I Can Boo- gie, which was performed by Scottish singer-songwriter Callum Beattie at the opening ceremony on Thursday night. Gerry had on a Scottish Swimming
OLI SCARFF/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
By Sarah Knapton SCIENCE EDITOR
ELIZABETH I’S reputed volatile temper was partly the invention of secretaries who wanted to keep subjects and rivals on their toes, a study has suggested. The Virgin Queen, who reigned for 44 years between 1558 and 1603, is often portrayed as emotional, irrational and quick to anger. However, Clodagh Murphy, a doc- toral student at Leiden University in the Netherlands, has claimed that many of her letters included additions by advis- ers to make her seem more unpredicta- ble, or for rhetorical impact. “Elizabeth has long been portrayed by historians as someone with a very quick temper,” said Ms Murphy. “She was said to be excessively emo- tional and irrational. When you look at
be carved on gravestone, Church rules
By Tim Sigsworth NEWS REPORTER
MARIANNE FAITHFULL’S signature can be carved into her gravestone, a Church of England court has ruled. An ecclesiastical judge said grave- yard regulations prohibiting cursive script should be overlooked on the sing- er’s headstone to represent her “per- sonality” better. Faithfull, the singer-songwriter and actress who embodied the spirit of the Swinging Sixties, was buried at St Mary’s in Aldworth, Berkshire, after she died at the age of 78 last year. Nicholas Dunbar, her son, has now convinced the Church of England to bend its rules on headstones and allow her signature to be engraved. Earlier this year, Mr Dunbar applied for a faculty – the Church’s equivalent of planning permission – for the grave- stone in the churchyard of the Grade I listed church, which dates back to the 12th century. He said: “My mother was a world-re- nowned recording artist and song- writer with strong connections to Aldworth. We wish to convey this on the back of the gravestone, with an
T-shirt while Amelie was wearing a top featuring the band Oasis. The McCanns prioritised giving their twins, Sean and Amelie, a normal upbringing despite the global spotlight that has followed the family since Made- leine disappeared nearly 20 years ago. Although the McCanns have kept their children’s personal lives out of the public eye, Sean’s profi le will grow fol- lowing his Commonwealth Games debut. Amelie is also a high-level swim- mer and triathlete. They were both two years old when their sister, Madeleine, vanished from her family’s Praia da Luz holiday apart- ment in May 2007 while her parents dined nearby. Kate and Gerry McCann have previ- ously spoken about the challenges of protecting Sean and Amelie from online abuse and what they described as “hurt- ful” conspiracy theories about their sis- ter’s disappearance. But their son realising a boyhood dream on one of sport’s grandest stages is a moment they will look back on with great fondness. There were loud cheers
the history behind the letters, this turns out to be a misogynistic interpretation. “Elizabeth’s male scribes, in fact, sometimes deliberately injected emo- tional outbursts into her letters as a rhe- torical strategy.” The queen had a reputation for rage and was described by Conyers Read, the late Tudor historian, as having “a sharp tongue, a vile temper, almost no femi- nine delicacy and little or no feminine modesty”. But in recent years, historians have begun to wonder whether Elizabeth’s royal outbursts were calculated politi- cal performances. Elizabeth left behind more than 3,000 letters upon her death and histo- rians have so far focused primarily on the 100 or so written in her own hand. The new study focused on those writ-
extract from one of her fi nal songs with her carved signature beneath it. “The lyric expresses her spirituality as she returned to the Christian faith in her final years, with the signature expressing her creativity.” The signature breached regulations set by the Diocese of Oxford that decree “cursive script (that is, a script which gives the appearance of having been written in a running hand) is not per- mitted” on headstones. However, David Hodge KC, the dio- cese’s leading ecclesiastical judge, allowed an exemption from the rules in Faithfull’s case because the signature refl ected her “personality”. He ruled: “What could be more expressive of the creativity of any singer-songwriter than a short extract from one of their songs? “What could be more expres- sive of their personality than an image of their signature, refl ect- ing the many occasions during her long musical career when Ms Faithfull must have given joy to her many fans by signing her autograph for them?” The judge,
Sean McCann in the final of the 400m freestyle event above. Below, his parents and sister cheer him on in the qualifying heat
ten by scribes and secretaries who often inserted their own amendments In one, Francis Walsingham, Eliza- beth’s spymaster, edited a letter to make Elizabeth appear angrier than she was at Mary, Queen of Scots. The version the queen wrote in her own hand was far milder, said scholars. Anna Whitelock, a professor of the history of monarchy at City St George’s, University of London, said: “Given that it was very much a man’s world and women were, at the time, believed to be dominated by their emotions and not reason, it is very likely all accounts of Elizabeth written by men would have emphasised her emotional volatility. “The assumption was that women shouldn’t be leaders, should marry and be ‘bridled’ by men,” said the Tudor author.
Marianne Faithfull in 1967, right; the headstone gives ‘vivid expression to her role as a celebrated performance artist’, below
inside the arena when Sean’s name was read out, with some spectators waving Saltires, and he finished a creditable fourth in his 400 metres freestyle heat in a time of 3min 52.65sec to qualify for the final where he finished in eighth place. “I’m buzzing, it wasn’t really an expec- tation coming in especially with how
who is chancellor of the Dioceses of Blackburn and Oxford, admitted that the design “fails to comply” with “appli- cable churchyard regulations” because of its use of cursive script in the signa- ture. However, he said he believed the rule was in place “to ensure that memorial inscriptions can be read without any diffi culty”, which he deemed irrelevant to Faithfull’s headstone. The judge added: “The design of the proposed headstone is attractive and well thought through. “It will perform the three-fold func- tion of honouring the late Marianne Faithfull, comforting those she has left behind, and informing pos- terity about her spirituality and creativity, giving vivid expres- sion to her role as a celebrated performance artist. “This proposed memorial will serve as a lasting adornment to this churchyard.” He also said the Rev Grant Fensome, the vicar of St Mary’s, and the church’s parochial church council approved the headstone.
strong the fi eld was but I’m delighted to see I made it,” said Sean, who admitted to feeling pre-race nerves. I wouldn’t say I felt the pressure but I was certainly nervous with so many people watching and I wanted to do well not only for myself but Team Scotland as well. I was definitely nervous but I’m glad I pro- duced a decent swim.” On the home support, McCann said: “It was amazing, I could hear them the whole way through the race. They spurred me on to really give it my all down that last 100m.” Little is known about the 21-year- old’s swimming journey, which had fl own under the radar before his Com- monwealth Games involvement was confi rmed, although he has set his sights on qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. He said: “I think the Olympics is always that step even further, so to be able to represent Scotland here is a good stepping stone. Hopefully a couple of years of work will put my name in the mix.” Sean qualifi ed for Scotland through
By I ndia McTaggart and James Desborough
BRITAIN’S most famous womaniser may have to trade his licence to fl irt for something more permanent, after a for- mer Bond girl urged the franchise’s new writers to make 007 monogamous. Trina Parks, who starred alongside Sean Connery as the assassin Thumper in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, has called for the new James Bond to be a more faithful partner to “reflect the modern world”. Parks said she hoped Amazon MGM could reshape the narrative of Bond girls, and of the special agent himself. “Of course I would like them to keep the romance in, but perhaps not give him a multitude of partners,” she said. “The script really has to reflect the
modern world, where women are stronger characters and hold powerful positions,” she added. The US actress, who was the first African American to play a Bond girl, said that the women cast in the upcom- ing Bond fi lm should not “just roll over” into bed with the suave spy. “I want this new movie to place women as Bond’s equal and address the way the world is,” she said amid the stu- dio’s casting hunt for the next actor to take on the 007 role from Daniel Craig. Parks said she wanted the new Bond girl to be “a match both physically and emotionally” for the screen hero, for whom Amazon said it would hold audi- tions in mid-May. The studio has been auditioning for the role after enlisting the help of Brit- ish casting veteran Nina Gold to fi nd the
the hard hours in training worth it’
his Glasgow-born father. His perfor- mance at the Commonwealth Games, where he is racing in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events, could establish his credentials as one of Scot- land’s brightest young swimming tal- ents. “From a young age I really enjoyed competing,” said Sean. “That makes all the hard hours in training worth it, coming out here in front of a crowd like this and swimming as well as I can really.” It was only a matter of time before Sean, who has competed at the Com- monwealth Youth Games and European Junior Championships, would be the subject of signifi cant interest. In a video published earlier this week by Loughborough Univer- sity, where he is studying chemi- cal engineering, Sean said: “I’m very excited, it’s my first senior Games, so I’m just looking forward to representing Scotland and doing my absolute best. It’s the pinnacle really ... especially at a home Games. I’ve got lots of family up in Glasgow so that makes it even more special.”
new Bond. She has previously been nominated for an Oscar for her work in the movie Hamnet, and is well known for her work on Game of Thrones, The Crown and The Day of the Jackal. Speculation as to who will take over the role has been rife in recent years, with actors including Aaron Tay- lor-Johnson, 36, Callum Turner, 36, and Harris Dickinson, 30, all being touted as potential successors. Parks has called on Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, who is writing the new James Bond for Ama- zon, to include a female role similar to Halle Berry’s Jinx character in 2002’s Die Another Day opposite Pierce Bro- snan. The former Broadway dancer, now 79, said: “I don’t want the women to just fall into bed with him because he is good looking.”
and why thousands of illegal migrants stayed in Britain
refusal to extradite jewels billionaire led to Delhi pushing back on removals
By Robert Mendick and Mick Brown
INDIA blocked the return of thousands of illegal migrants in retaliation for the UK’s failure to extradite a diamond billionaire charged with the country’s biggest ever fraud, Dame Priti Patel has told The Telegraph. In an interview for The Telegraph podcast series The Diamond King, Dame Priti said she was “appalled and horrifi ed” that Nirav Modi had
remained in the UK more
years after he was arreste
She said India was “hug
over Britain’s failure to de
Modi and that the govern
Delhi began to “really pus
back” on taking back Indi
who had overstayed their
visas. Modi, 55, has spent more than £1m in legal fe
appointing Britain’s top barristers to fi ght his extradition . He is alleged
have stolen £1.3bn from a bank in India to fund a lav
lifestyle as well as openin
high-end jewellery stores
around the world.
He had disappeared aft
charged with fraud but w
London by The Telegraph
By Steve Bird SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
A VIOLENT Polish criminal who repeatedly stabbed a man in an unpro- voked street robbery has been allowed to remain in Britain. Mariusz Stanislaw Bresinski, said to be in his forties, was detained under the mental health act after attacking a chef who was left pleading for his life. After Bresinski was released, Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, attempted to deport him amid fears he posed a risk to the public. But, two immigration judges have ruled that the man, who abuses crack cocaine, does not pose a threat and can remain in the UK. The Telegraph can
man was a danger hours before he killed dog walker
By Samuel Montgomery and Will Bolton
POLICE failed to arrest a violent Afghan national hours before he fatally stabbed a dog walker despite being told he posed a danger to the public, The Tele- graph can reveal. Dawood Safi, 28, carried out a triple stabbing in Uxbridge, west London on Oct 27 which resulted in the death of Wayne Broadhurst, 49. Two other s, 45-year-old Shazhad Farrukh, Safi ’s land- lord, and a 14-year-old boy were injured . At the Old Bailey last week, Safi , who entered the cou t ill ll i t b k of a lorry in 20
the attempted m
He had previ
the manslaugh
through dimini
The Telegrap
before the killi
handcuff ed by p
concerned fam
bers called them
became violent Despite offi c
told he posed a
to the public,
release d wi
charge on t
streets. Speaki
this newspape
cousin, Saifoor ,
Nirav Modi’s
shows, below,
were lavish. The
mogul, right, with
Rosie Huntingdon-
Whiteley. Inset
below right, Dame
Priti Patel
reveal the Home Secretary is taking the case to the Court of Appeal to try to get Bresinski thrown out of the country. Bresinski, who has mental health problems, came to Britain in 2004 for work. Three years later, he attacked Moulad Islamkhan, a Bangladeshi man living in Loughborough, in an attempt to steal his car keys and vehicle. The chef was chased and stabbed three times in the stomach and torso. He begged to be spared, saying that, as a father, he did not want to die. He later said that the attack had “ruined” his life and had left him suff er- ing depression and pain. Bresinski, who was described in court as a paranoid schizophrenic, was
Wayne Broadhurst was innocently walking by with his dog when Dawood Safi launched a fatal knife attack. His dog was by his side as he died
in a luxury fl at and running a new diamond business. Modi denies all wrongdoing and has insisted large sums borrowed from banks in India would have been paid back if authorities had not raided his offi ces. The new Telegraph podcast explores Modi’s extraordinary rise and fall and more than seven years spent in custody resisting extradition to India. Dame Priti, who signed off Modi’s extradition in 2021, accused the diamond tycoon of “gaming the system” to avoid extradition to India, where he faces trial. Since his arrest in London in 2019 he has remained in British jails. Dame Priti told The Diamond King podcast: “If our system were judicious and doing the right thing, rather than tying itself up in process and excuses, he should not be in this country. I’m pretty appalled and horrifi ed that he’s still here, and I suspect that really makes the India government feel quite demoralised about working with us.” She said Britain was home to a “very high” number of visa overstayers and illegal immigrants from India who the UK had trouble returning. She said the system should have worked on a “quid pro quo” basis but the authorities in Delhi had been let down by the UK’s failure to send home Modi to face trial. She said that during her time as
ry India “would really
taking visa overstayers.
uthorities in Delhi
problems verifying the
tails” of Indians the UK
end home and would
eceive charter fl ights of
migrants and failed seekers, which other es accepted. ad a hell of a challenge g them [India] to sign off
ceiving failed asylum rs,” she said, adding: “And onvinced it’s because we his high-profi le case [of ] and we had another profi le case at the time ntil they [India] saw action
vement on those, guess
ey had some leverage over
was terribly frustrating.”
ti said: “Modi should be in
dia and serving his time
posed a significant threat to the public of the United Kingdom’
said that around 10 days before the
attack, Safi had told him that he had a
“sound in his brain” that he could not
get rid of which was causing him
insomnia. It was the fi rst of a number of
concerning incidents that took place as
Safi ’s mental state unravelled over the
coming days.
On Oct 24, the Friday before the kill-
ing, Safi went to Hillingdon Hospital
with his cousin and a doctor attempted
to give him some medicine to help with
the problem. “He refused, thinking it
was poison. He was paranoid and ask-
ing people, ‘Why are they looking at
?’” i
i
id
Oct 26, Saifoor
d at his brother’s
n, and he went to
im but as soon as
me and said don’t
uddenly started
end.
olice at 2.20pm.
him and arrested
is not safe for the
DAVE BENETT/GETTY IMAGES
there, having gone through a legal process, which is exactly what UK extradition laws and treaties are about.” She added: “It’s a fl agrant abuse of our system. I mean, that’s the only way to describe this. It really is. And you know, it’s an insult to British taxpayers as well.” It has cost about £500,000 to keep Modi in a British jail awaiting extradition . The podcast has been told Modi has spent more than £1m in legal fees fi ghting his extradition while it also discovered he has received NHS treatment for eyesight problems . Delays to his extradition, approved back in 2021, have been compounded by a parallel legal claim for asylum
made the subject of a hospital order and detained at a secure hospital after pleading guilty to wounding with intent and robbery. It emerged he had numer- ous previous convictions, including shoplifting from supermarkets while carrying a knife, and his most recent conviction was in 2014. In her appeal judgment, Therese Kamara, an Upper Tribunal judge, explained how in September 2022 the then Tory home secretary granted the knifeman indefinite leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme. But in June this year, Ms Mahmood informed Bresinski she was planning to deport him because he posed a “signifi - cant threat to the public of the United
Prius after being seen driving errati-
cally, his cousin said.
Safi was not arrested and was taken
back to his home in Midhurst Gardens,
Uxbridge, by police. Less than four
hours later, Safi called his landlord, Mr
Farrukh, and asked him to come into his
room. When he did so, Safi immediately
began stabbing him with a large knife.
As he continued to attack Mr Far-
rukh, the landlord fl ed into the street
and begged his neighbours for help.
One of the neighbours “swung a
walking stick” at Safi and the Afghan
backed away.
It was at this point he turned his
attention to Mr Broadhurst, who had
been out on his daily dog walk.
He lunged towards the binman
before knocking him to the floor and
stabbing him 14 times.
Jonathan Laidlaw KC, the prosecutor,
said Safi had carried out a “frenzied,
random and entirely unprovoked
attack”.
“Mr Broadhurst died in the street,
with the dog by his side,” he said.
Police arrived at the scene moments
later and Safi , who was still holding the
knife, was Tasered and arrested.
One witness said Safi looked “like he
was possessed” during the assault.
Another said the killing was like a
“butchering”.
At the conclusion of his trial at South-
wark Crown Court, Mrs Justice Cutts
praised the bravery of the Rogers fam-
ily, the neighbours who confronted Safi
and tried to save Mr Broadhurst’s life.
Saifoor, who came to the UK in 2007,
said that before his cousin’s breakdown
he “was completely normal”, worked
hard, loved living in the UK and had
been a “calm, understanding” young
man. “My heart and my everything is
with the people who suff ered, the per-
son who has died. There is no word I
can explain to say sorry to these peo-
which has also now been turned down by the Home
courts. India
exacerbated
extradite a se
wanted for fi
Vijay Mall
conglomerat
Kingfi sher b
same name,
fi ghting extr
all charges. Dame Prit
secretary for
2022 and is n
foreign secre
have people
the system … y
Kingdom”. Bresinski took his case to an immigration tribunal where he admit- ted that he “had previously been abus- ing crack cocaine … in breach of the terms of his unconditional discharge” but had stopped “just prior” to the May 2025 hearing”. The tribunal judge concluded his “past and present conduct” meant he did not pose a “sufficiently serious threat to the public” to justify his removal from the UK. The Home Secretary appealed against that decision, claiming that the judge made “an error of law” in failing to properly assess the threat Bresinski posed and the fact he had breached the terms of his hospital release by taking
ple,” he said. “But there is a big big mis- take from the police. They should take responsibility for that because I told them he is not safe for the public.” Jurors heard Safi witnessed his father being murdered in a land dispute in Afghanistan when he was 10, and at the time of the Uxbridge stabbings Safi was suff ering a severe collapse in his mental health. The court was told Mr Broadhurst’s family had wanted Safi to be convicted of murder, but prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to the lesser charge of man- slaughter after receiving evidence about the state of his mental health. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility,
been no incidents of any violence or aggression for many years’
can pay the big bucks to the lawyers
y not right.” It is
y illegal immigrants
seekers are in the UK
portation to India. In
arch 2026, 3,089
ed into immigration
737 – less than a
returned home.
Home Offi ce statistics
,706 Indians had their visas, higher
her nationality. It is d those fi gures are no
blicly available.
dian High on was contacted for but did not respond .
drugs and drinking alcohol. Judge Kamara rejected the appeal. She said that Bresinski was found to have been a “candid witness” because he had “vol- unteered” to the court that his drink and drug abuse had been in breach of the terms of his hospital discharge. His psychiatric nurse explained that Bresinski provided regular urine sam- ples for substance screening, was due to get specialist help to tackle his drug use and “there have been no inci- dents of any violence or aggression for many years”. A Home Offi ce spokesman said: “We have sought permission to take this case to the Court of Appeal and are currently awaiting a response.”
causing actual bodily harm against the teenage boy, and possession of an off en- sive weapon. He was also found guilty of attempted murder of Mr Farrukh. He will continue to be held at Broad- moor secure hospital until sentencing on Oct 5. The judge is expected to decide whether to impose a prison sen- tence on Safi , or order that he be held indefinitely in hospital for mental health treatment. A spokesman for Scotland Yard con- fi rmed that Safi had prior contact with police but declined to provide any fur- ther details. They said: “The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards reviewed the previous police contact and found no concerns.”
fast-moving flames and thick, grey smoke as fires rage in France and Spain
By James Rothwell, Emily Smith,
Samuel Montgomery and
Melissa Twigg
BRITISH expatriates living in southern France have told how a change in the wind direction turned large fires towards their homes and enveloped their gardens within minutes. Jackie Walshe and her British partner Trevor, from Kent, were working from home when the wildfires bore down on their villa in Nestuby, in the commune of Cotignac in south-east France. “We heard the water bomber planes get closer and this deep, unsettling sound, a kind of roaring and crackling,” Ms Walshe, 47, a Canadian-Irish citizen, told The Telegraph. When the couple looked out they saw the wind had pushed the flames right up to the field next to their house but the sound of the fire was even scarier than the sight of it, Ms Walshe recalled. “It was like you put your head inside a fireplace that had been filled with fuel, it was very unsettling,” she said. “The magnitude and speed of that fire was something I had never experienced before, but the sound of it made the big- gest impression on us.” Until that moment, they had been reasonably confident they were out of the danger zone as the fire was burning 12 miles away for most of the day. But the change in the wind, they realised, had sent the flames on a new path right through their neighbourhood; it was time to get out, and fast. “I messaged a friend further up the hill ... he said he’d already left,” Mr Wal- she, 53, an IT worker, said. “From the moment it came over the distant hill, it was only minutes before the flames were in the garden.” They fled the villa, which has been home for 12 years, leaving the doors unlocked so firefighters could access the water supplies. Then they jumped into their car and drove away from Cotignac, skirting the fire as it contin- ued its inexorable path to their village. Ms Walshe drove while Trevor filmed the flames as they loomed over trees. They spent the night at a hotel, con- stantly worrying over friends and fear- ful for their home but the next day
right up to the edge of the house. The greenhouse and aircon unit melted’
brought happier news. Some friends who ventured back to the neighbour- hood on bikes, said their villa was largely unscathed. “The firefighters had protected our house once they were sure they had everyone out [of the com- mune],” said Ms Walshe. “Everything was burnt, right up to the edge of the house.” One neighbour a few kilometres away was not so lucky. “We went to look, there was nothing left,” she said. Ms Walshe praised the pompiers (fire- fighters) as well as the neighbour who had put in firebreaks by cutting back dry weeds and bushes. “That was ultra-important,” she said, “it made a huge difference with our house.” As the fires showed few signs of abating yesterday, organisers of the Tour de France said the event would be shortened so security could be rede- ployed to the wildfires. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Com- mission president, announced that 11 planes and helicopters had been sent to France and Spain from the rest of the European Union. “Europe stands along- side France and Spain,” she said. There were warnings of severe air pollution in Madrid where Sara-Jayne Slack, 37, a British expat, lives. She said: “This morning I went out on the terrace as I always do and had to come in straight away because of the smell. I can barely see the horizon today,” she told The Telegraph. “It’s all smoky and reddish on the horizon, it smells like someone is burn- ing a bonfire. It’s awful.” In France, the interior ministry said it was considering evacuating the city of Bordeaux. Some 197,000 people have already fled from areas around it in what is probably the biggest peacetime evacuation France has seen. Wildfires advanced quickly because
as wildfires rage in Scotland
By Emily Smith and India McTaggart
THE military have been called in to fight a raging wildfire in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, the First Min- ister has said. John Swinney confirmed yesterday that “military assistance in aerial sup- port” has been requested from the UK Government as more than 500 firefight- ers battled the blaze in the north-east of Scotland for a 10th day. Mr Swinney, who held a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Room yesterday morning, said that it remains a “major and serious” incident, but that they were seeing an “improved picture” by the afternoon. He added: “It is essential people avoid the affected areas for safety reasons and to allow responders to focus on tackling the wildfire.
JUAN CARLOS LUCAS/ZUMA PRESS WIRE;JEAN-CHRISTOPHE MILHET/AFP; VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA/REUTERS; CESAR MANSO/AFP
Fires across Europe
“A request has been made today to the UK Government for military assis- tance in aerial support that can be used to supplement existing resources that are being deployed to tackle the Cairn- gorms wildfire and we await a response.” About 650 residents of Nethy Bridge have been ordered to leave their homes as a precaution, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said. No casual- ties have been reported. “Angry and frustrated” displaced res- idents of the Highland village are being sent to a dedicated respite centre at the MacDonald Aviemore Resort, but argue a major incident should have been called earlier. The fire has been burning since July 15, but has been aggravated by “a signif- icant change in weather conditions”. Supt Judy Hill said: “With evidence
suggesting the fire is spreading towards Nethy Bridge, the decision has been taken to declare a major incident and evacuate residents as a precaution.” Sandy McCook, chairman of the Nethy Bridge and Vicinity Community Council, said residents could see large plumes of smoke from the wildfire on Friday before they were evacuated, describing the scenes as “apocalyptic”. More than 500 firefighters, using specialist wildfire appliances including helicopter water-bombing operations and all-terrain vehicles, have tackled the blaze over the last nine days. Residents told the BBC that a lack of communication from the authorities during the incident had been “pretty poor”. Smoke from fires could be seen in Aberdeen, 59 miles away, following a change in wind direction.
of tinderbox conditions worsened by successive heatwaves. Overstretched firefighters have battled infernos around the clock for days. Two French firefighters died earlier this week. Eleonore Caroit, the French minister for international partnerships, said tourists should not cancel holidays. “I’m in Paris and nothing is happening, and most other regions are OK,” she said. British tourists flying in or out of Bordeaux were being offered alterna- tive routes and times. British Airways began contacting customers “to provide assistance” in case they needed to change their plans. Edward Chisholm, 38, said he and his family were caught up in the fires while holidaying in the Gironde. “My girlfriend and I have been rent- ing a house on Grand Piquey, which is on the northern end of Cap Ferret,” he
after Essex fertiliser explosion
By Telegraph Reporter
TWENTY firefighters who battled a fire on an industrial estate in Essex went to hospital following an explosion. Three fire engines and two fire officer cars were also destroyed when a farm warehouse blew up, Rick Hylton, the chief fire officer at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, said. A major incident was declared and residents evacuated after fertiliser exploded during a fire that engulfed industrial units and a field near Retten- don on Friday. Mr Hylton told a press conference yesterday: “I can confirm that 20 fire- fighters attended hospital following the incident. “Of that 20, four suffered minor inju- ries, and the remainder were precau- tionary assessments, including checks
for issues such as hearing loss following the explosion. I am pleased to confirm all of those firefighters have now been discharged from hospital.” More than 100 firefighters were called to the scene of the blaze, with the explosion heard almost 15 miles away in
buildings shook, windows rattled and birds flew off – and I’m 15 miles away’
Clockwise from
top: Refugees
shelter outside
Madrid; burnt-out
cars at Camping Le
Brasilia in
Canet-en-
Roussillon,
southern France;
a firefighter in El
Tiemblo, Spain;
other teams in the
same region draw
water from a villa’s
swimming pool
told The Telegraph. “It was quite an apocalyptic scene – the sky was a burnt colour and there was ash falling contin- uously.” Rebecca Papin, from Tennessee, was left in a ghost town after missing the boat to evacuate her holiday home in Biscarrosse, southwest of Bordeaux. She had to shelter there with daughter, Violette, nine, and son, Louis, 11, as the main roads were blocked. “I feel we are all alone. The city remains evacuated. I haven’t seen a single car go by,” she said. A Foreign Office spokesman said it was supporting Britons affected. “Brit- ish nationals in the region should con- tinue to check FCDO travel advice and follow the advice of the local authori- ties,” the spokesman said. Additional reporting by Steve Bird, Lebby Eyres and Henry Samuel
The building that exploded is under- stood to be at Highlands Farm, a com- plex of buildings home to a number of businesses and residential properties. Sam Dimond, the owner of Spotlight Sound, an event production company, said he had lost his livelihood in the fire. The headquarters of his business was based on the industrial site. He told the BBC: “It’s gone, basically. Lots and lots of people have lost their livelihoods. We’ve got customers to serve, we’ve got employees that have a job, and at the minute they don’t have a place of work to go back to.” Adrian Walker, 46, from Ashingdon, Essex, said: “The ground shook, build- ings shook, windows rattled, birds flew off – and I am 15 miles away. “I’ve never heard anything like it. At first, I thought it was the MoD in Shoe- buryness trying out new ordnance.”
recognition of right to self-determination before any sovereignty transfer
By Sabrina Miller WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT
By Sabrina Miller
INDIGENOUS Chagossians have urged Andy Burnham to scrap Sir Keir Starm- er’s giveaway of the archipelago before it is too late. In a letter, seen by The Telegraph and sent to the new Prime Minister on Mon- day, Mr Burnham has been urged to rec- ognise the “Chagossian people’s right to self-determination”. The letter, signed by dozens of other British Chagossian backers, adds:
IOANNIS ALEXOPOULOS/LNP
All at sea Migrants gather on board an inflatable boat at the beach at Dunkirk in northern France, before attempting to cross the English Channel, yesterday. A total of 13,373 migrants have made the crossing so far this year, more than 40 per cent lower than the same period last year.
POLICE are investigating payments made to Reform UK by a company run by Richard Tice, the party’s dep- uty leader. The Metropolitan Police has launched a probe into two £250,000 donations made by Britain Means Busi- ness to the political party in July 2024, ahead of the general election. Mr Tice has said the money was given
in droves as housebuilding stalls
By Sabrina Miller and Ollie Corfe
APPRENTICE builders are dropping out of their courses due to a lack of houses to build, say experts. It follows Angela Rayner, reap- pointed as Housing Secretary, admit- ting it would be a “stretch” to meet Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029. Instead of the required 300,000 a year, only 295,150 were fi nished in the fi rst two years of this parliament. Steve Turner, from the Home Build- ers Federation, said the “biggest rea- son” for low retention rates on construction courses is that “the Gov- ernment is not building enough homes”. A Telegraph analysis found that apprentices in “construction, planning and the built environment” courses had a completion rate of about 58.3 per cent in 2024-25, the lowest of any appren- ticeship sector. Mr Turner said there were plenty of young people doing construction courses but “if you’ve not got jobs to put them into, or sites on which to train them, they don’t get their qualifi cations. “They don’t get placements, and so they drift off into other areas. You have to increase output and then the industry will look to take on apprenticeships and young people.” Tomorrow, Andy Burn-
“Throughout the passage of Starmer’s proposed surrender legislation, my fel- low Chagossians and I stood present and united. We did so with urgency, because we knew, and we still know, what is at stake. “At this critical moment, I ask you to stand with our community by publicly calling for the cancellation of this policy and supporting the British Sovereignty Protection (Chagos Islands) Bill [HL], currently before Parliament. “The bill would safeguard British sovereignty and ensure that no transfer of sovereignty can take place without the consent of the Chagossian people.” The notice came less than 24 hours after The Telegraph revealed that Brit- ain’s new leader planned to press ahead with the giveaway of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Last week, Robbie
to stand with our community by publicly calling for the cancellation of this policy’
to his firm by Fiona Cottrell, 67, the mother of George Cottrell dubbed “posh-George”, a convicted fraudster and ally of Nigel Farage who has helped bankroll the political leader for several years. The news comes amid reports that Reform UK’s bank account was frozen for a two-week period during the 2024 general election. Responding to the allegations, fi rst reported by the BBC, Mr Tice told The Telegraph: “This is a
ham will talk about investing in areas like apprenticeships to help young peo- ple fi nd jobs. But Telegraph analysis showed about 35 per cent of apprentices dropped out of their apprenticeship courses without qualifi cation. Of the 636 diff erent apprenticeships on offer, some 44 are completed by fewer than half the people who start, according to the 2024-25 data. About 10
The completion rate for construction, planning and building courses, the lowest for any apprenticeship sector
of these fell into the “building and con- struction” sub-category, and this included craft bricklayers who had an achievement rate of just 30 per cent. Air conditioning and heat pump tech- nician schemes were completed by 34.5 per cent, while 44.2 per cent of plumb- ing and heating apprentices received the expected qualifi cation. Meanwhile, train drivers and bio- medical apprentices have success rates of 90.5 and 100 per cent respectively. Steven Mulholland, chief executive
disgraceful hit piece by the BBC, who will be hearing from my lawyers. “It appears to be carefully coordi- nated within an hour of another Sunday Times story against Reform. “Is it a coincidence the Met leader- ship are briefi ng against me to the BBC, just after we have confi rmed our legal action against the NCA over their possi- ble multiple criminal off ences?” In May 2024, Ms Cottrell, an aristo- crat and retired stylist, gave £500,000
of the Construction Plant-hire Associa- tion trade body, said the Government should have “acted much sooner” to meet its housing goals. He added: “Improving apprentice- ship retention starts with making it eas- ier for businesses to invest in young people. The opposite is happening. “We found 43 per cent of firms are taking on fewer apprentices over the next year because rising operating costs, employment costs, regulation and weak pipelines of work are forcing them to scale back. Those findings couldn’t come at a worse time.” Tim Balcon, boss of the Construction Industry Training Board, added: “Part of the solution is fi nding a way to give employers greater confidence to hire new entrants and provide them with long-term employment, and one way this can be achieved is by ensuring con- struction training is closely connected to real employment opportunities.” A government spokesman said: “It’s wrong to suggest construction appren- ticeship achievement rates are low across the board. “Standards like Craft Carpentry and Joinery have an impressive 82.9 per cent achievement rate, and the overall qualification achievement rate for all apprentices has risen 14 per cent in three years.”
Bulloch, the director of the Foreign Office’s overseas territories and polar directorate, told Gavin Glover, the attorney general of Mauritius, that plans to give the Chagos to Mauritius were “unlikely to change” despite Brit- ain’s new leadership. In response, British Chagossian Marie Vanessa Mandarin Calou wrote to Andy Burnham demanding a meeting to discuss ways to protect the rights of British Chagossians. She explained that the giveaway violates Labour’s 2024 manifesto commitment to “protect the sovereignty and self-determination” of British Overseas Territories. Under the terms of the current deal – characterised as a “surrender” by the Conservatives – the UK could lease back the strategically important joint UK-US Diego Garcia military base, to the tune
to Reform UK in her own name. Two payments of £250,000 were made on 9 May and 29 May. She then gave a further £1m to Richard Mr Tice’s company. Half of that was then donated to Reform UK. Britain Means Business paid £250,000 to Reform UK on June 10 and then again on June 12. Mr Tice told the BBC earlier this month that it was entirely his choice for the company to donate Fiona Cottrell’s money to Reform. In February 2025,
of lying over blackout risk
By Jonathan Leake ENERGY EDITOR
CLAIRE COUTINHO, the shadow
energy secretary, has accused Neso, the
UK’s grid operator, of lying to ministers
and misleading the public over black-
out risks.
It follows growing evidence that UK
power grids almost crashed last month
when a simultaneous heatwave and
plummeting wind and solar output trig-
gered serious frequency fl uctuations.
Now Ms Coutinho has accused Neso
of misleading ministers and the public
over just how close they were to losing
control of the grid.
She said: “W
d t
ency and integri
bodies, but Nes
press … and to
them the allega
the threat to the
false. That wa
having an inter
ment confirm
breached standa
that system se
was compromis “And now
looks like it ha
probably lied
of £35bn. The deal was indefinitely paused, after Donald Trump raised security concerns. Allies of the US pres- ident feared that giving away control of waters near a military base to China and Iran-aligned Mauritius, would open the door to spy boats. Misley Mandarin, the elected Chago- ssian fi rst minister, who established a permanent resettlement on Île du Coin in February after 50 years in exile, told The Telegraph: “I want Andy Burnham to know that self-determination is very important to us. “Mr Burnham needs to scrap that deal and protect the special relationship between the US and the UK.” He also attacked plans proposed by Britain to off er “heritage visits for Cha- gossians” to their homeland in 2027 as nothing more than a “propaganda
Burnham needs to scrap that deal and protect the special relationship between the US and the UK’
the Met began investigating these dona- tions under Section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 after a referral was made by the Electoral Commission. Yesterday, the BBC revealed police were probing payments made by Brit- ain Means Business. The Telegraph understands that so far police have not spoken to anyone in the party or even requested to. A spokes- man for Reform said the party was una-
to ministers because Michael Shanks [the junior energy minister] said he’d spoken to Neso and was told ‘we never came close to breaching our require- ments’. But Neso’s own internal assess- ment showed that they did think that they had done that.” Ms Coutinho also said she had writ- ten to Miatta Fahnbulleh, the new Energy Secretary, asking for an inquiry. Neso, a government-owned com- pany, runs the UK’s electricity and gas networks and is now overseen by Ms Fahnbulleh, who took over from Ed Miliband, the new Foreign Secretary, last week. Its key defence is that the UK’
id
proven
ational
al ones
sed by
storms
cently
l o s e everal
s multi-
sies, of
most is the y into
ents of ne 23. nternal Neso
trip”. Critics claim the move is a cyni- cal attempt to allow selected Chagos- sians to visit the islands in a way that is tightly controlled by the British and Mauritian governments. Earlier this year a row broke out when the Foreign Offi ce served Chago- ssian settlers, who had returned to their ancestral homeland after more than 50 years of exile, with removal orders which told them they faced a three-year prison sentence or a £3,000 fi ne if they refused to leave the islands. But these eviction notices were later quashed in a court ruling that stated the “heritage rights” of the settlers had to be taken into account. The UN is also reviewing whether Sir Keir tried to commit a “crime against humanity” by attempting to evict native people from the archipelago.
to get drones battle-tested in Ukraine
By Tom Cotterill DEFENCE EDITOR
BRITISH soldiers will soon be equipped with dozens of new spy drones which have been battle-tested in Ukraine. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced plans to spend up to £400m on new AR5 unmanned vehicles, in a deal that will support hundreds of jobs in the UK. The aircraft, which can conduct long- range reconnaissance, will be built at the UK’s new drone manufacturing facility in Swindon, and are expected to start entering service later this year. Designed by Portuguese technology fi rm Tekever, The AR5 has been exten- sively used by Ukraine since 2022 to help Kyiv repel invading Russian forces. It is capable of carrying 50kg of sophisticated surveillance equipment, such as cameras and sensors, which can be used to scan a battlefi eld for threats. Wes Streeting, the Defence Secre- tary, said: “Proven in Ukraine and designed to protect British soldiers globally, we’ve chosen the UK-based Tekever AR5 drone to supply our per- sonnel with kit that will keep them ahead of emerging threats. ” The Army has placed an initial order for six AR5s, with up to 18 more by 2029, as part of an expected 10-year deal which remains subject to contract sig- nature and fi nal approval. The AR5 will replace the Army’s Watchkeeper drones, which have been in service since 2014 but are being retired early after a series of embarrass- ing setbacks. Watchkeeper drones were meant to remain in service until the 2040s, but the programme proved disastrous for the MoD. Costs have risen from £800m when the order for it was placed in 2005 to £135bn and eight of the 54 aircraft have crashed since 2014. Sources claim the drones are too tem- peramental and complicated for sol- diers to fl y. The MoD says the new fl eet of AR5 will be far more capable than Watchkeeper, offering “significantly improved endurance, sensor capability and reliability”.
ware of the police investigation into Mr Tice’s company until the BBC reached out to them for comment. A Metropolitan police spokesman said: “Detectives from the Met’s Special Enquiry Team are investigating alleged off ences under Section 61 of the Politi- cal Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.” The Electoral Commission told the BBC it was aware that the Met had issued a statement and had no fur- ther comment to make.
reports suggest that it breached five operational safety constraints and sys- tem security was compromised. Ms Coutinho was alerted to the scale of the problem by whistleblowers and raised the issue in the Commons. Her allegation is that not only was the grid at risk of a crash, but that afterwards Neso tried to conceal the scale of the threat. This included misleading Neso staff, media and ministers. This all comes against a backdrop of political scrutiny of Neso’s frontline role in delivering the target of decarbonis- ing the grid by 2030 set by Mr Miliband and now overseen by Ms Fahnbulleh. Fintan Slye, Neso’s chief executive, has since commissioned Eversheds Sutherland, a law firm, to conduct an independent investigation into the issues raised by Ms Coutinho around the events of June 23. The blackout claims triggered a furi- ous social media post from Mr Shanks, who described them as “categorically untrue and … sensationalist nonsense”. Neso said: “Britain has one of the most reliable electricity systems in the world, with reliability at 99.999pc. Our experts routinely identify emerging challenges and put plans in place to address them before they materialise.””
accused of ‘acting like the mafia’
have sought court approval before withdrawing stroke victim’s life support
By Tim Sigsworth NEWS REPORTER
A GRIEVING family has accused an NHS trust of acting “like the mafia” ahead of a Supreme Court battle over life-support patients’ rights. Epsom and St Helier University Hos- pitals Trust is appealing to Britain’s highest court in an attempt to overturn a judgment which gave new protections to patients on life support. The Court of Appeal ruled earlier this year that NHS trusts must have permis- sion from the courts to end life-sustain- ing treatment for incapacitated patients if their families want it to continue. The ruling came as judges said St Helier Hospital, in London, should have sought court approval before with- drawing life support from Robert Bar- nor, 68, against his relatives’ wishes. Barnor, who had suff ered extensive brain damage after a stroke last year, died in February after doctors with- drew his twice-weekly dialysis treat- ment for kidney disease against the family’s wishes. They had decided he had “no pros- pect” of returning to “meaningful con- sciousness” or enjoying sufficient “quality of life”. Barnor’s daughter, Lesley Barnor Townsend, described her forthcoming Supreme Court fi ght against the trust, which runs the hospital, as a “David and Goliath” battle. “Everything is controlled by the NHS,” she said. “So if they don’t give you the go-ahead [for more life-sustaining dialysis treatment], there’s no other way. This is my own personal opinion: it felt literally like the mafia. If they say no, there’s nowhere else to go.” She added: “We genuinely respect the workmanship and the skill and the craft and the hard work of doctors. “But somewhere along the line, there has been this change that the public has not realised: it’s no longer do no harm. It’s no longer a given that a doctor is going to help you in every situation or
a doctor is going to help you in every situation or any way they can’
Robert Barnor, 68, suffered extensive brain damage after a stroke last year
By Sabrina Miller WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT
DOCTORS who were mistakenly told they had passed a key exam are suing the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) for “professional negligence”. A group of 21 doctors launched the legal action after “human error” meant hundreds of physicians who sat part two of the Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians (MRCP UK) writ- ten examination on Sept 6, 2023, were given incorrect results. This led to them working in their pro- fession for more than a year without being aware that they were not quali-
detectives to stop the honey pilferers
By Frank Wolfreys
HOLLAND & Barrett has been forced to employ undercover detectives to coun- ter a rise in shoplifters targeting their premium products. The wellness chain has enlisted plain-clothes operatives to root out an increasing number of criminals who have turned their focus to their com- pact and more expensive products, such as manuka honey. “The behaviour on the high street, it’s just not acceptable,” said Anthony Houghton, the group chief executive of Holland & Barrett. “It’s awful that we have to do this,” he told The Times. As part of its eff orts to tackle the rise in shoplifting, the company has also enlisted retail crime intelligence fi rm Auror, which supplies data on the stores most at risk and in need of pri- vate operatives. The retailer also stocks a range of
any way they can. It really isn’t.” The trust won permission to bring an appeal against the Court of Appeal’s rul- ing at the Supreme Court, where it is expected to argue that clinicians should not be required to provide life-sustain- ing treatment when their professional opinion is that it should be stopped. If the challenge succeeds, the new requirement for NHS trusts to seek court permission to end life-sustaining treatment, if families want it to con- tinue, will no longer apply. It is understood that the NHS trust chose to end Barnor’s treatment after receiving legal advice and second opin- ions from three external doctors. The Court of Protection initially ruled against hearing the family’s case for treatment to continue in February before this was overturned by the Court of Appeal. However, Barnor had died by the time the Court of Appeal judgment was handed down, preventing the courts from deciding whether to force the trust to resume his treatment. The trust’s application to bring the
appeal has been backed by Britain’s medical establishment, with support from NHS England, James Murray, the former health secretary, and David Lammy, the former justice secretary. Barnor’s family has also been granted permission to bring their own appeal to the Supreme Court, where they will argue that the Court of Appeal was wrong not to order the trust to resume his life-sustaining treatment while their legal challenge was before the courts. The two parties’ claims are expected to be heard as a single case at the Supreme Court in December or in Janu- ary next year. The NHS trust has been ordered to pay the Barnor family’s costs. Mrs Barnor Townsend added: “A fam- ily’s right to go to court is meaningless if the treatment is withdrawn before a judge can rule. “We are grateful that the Supreme Court will hear our appeal. It is too late to save my father, but it is not too late to protect other fathers, mothers, hus- bands, wives and children.” Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Barnor’s family, said that the Supreme Court battle would be “a landmark case for every family in the country”. A spokesman for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals Trust said: “In addition to the clinical view of our doc- tors, we sought legal advice and guid- ance from independent experts on this case; we are appealing the Court of Appeal’s decision with the support of other national bodies.”
fi ed to do so. Another doctor, who had passed the exam but was wrongly told she had failed and subsequently had to resit, is also part of the multimil- lion-pound lawsuit against the RCP. According to the “Letter of Claim”, seen by The Telegraph, those caught up in the error “suff ered immediate career uncertainty, professional embarrass- ment, emotional distress, health conse- quences and fi nancial consequences”. It continued: “Many claimants found the errors were particularly problem- atic, given their life stage, since it occurred at a time when so many important personal decisions about family, relationships and careers were
small, premium sports nutrition prod- ucts, such as a £54, 480g organic bone- broth supplement. The company noted that such items are often stolen for resale on the sec- ondary black market. In Holland & Barrett’s most recent annual report, it mentioned a “rise in incidents directed at colleagues” and all employees at the firm now wear on-body cameras. Shoplifting off ences in Britain have surged for over a decade since laws came into force in 2014 which meant that anybody stealing less than £200 of products would not be jailed. Labour has since abolished this limit. Shoplifting off ences hit a record high of 530,643 off ences last year. Lucy Whing, crime policy advisor at trade body British Retail Consortium, says fi rms need to do more to combat the shoplifting epidemic. “Theft remains a huge issue, with prolifi c off enders and organised crimi-
By Emily Smith
PUNCH rose to fame after being aban- doned by his mother and left only with a stuff ed orangutan toy for comfort. The orphaned macaque was picked on by the other monkeys in his enclo- sure at a zoo near Tokyo, and would often be seen wandering around on his own while dragging his furry compan- ion by the hand. But now, as Punch turn ed one yester- day, he was surrounded by new friends and was inundated with thousands of birthday cards from his fans around the world. Many of the cards and other mes-
have had their career prospects and professional reputations significantly damaged’
have to do this. The behaviour on the high street is just not acceptable’
being made. Affected doctors, on the basis of incorrect results, had made major life commitments, such as mar- riages and even having children. Some of these decisions are irreversible.” Out of 1,451 candidates hoping to become specialist physicians, 61 were mistakenly told they had failed when they had passed and 222 were told they had passed when they had failed. The mistake only came to light 18 months later on Feb 19, 2025, after a sec- ond, unrelated examination error trig- gered an audit of past results. This happened because the body responsible for marking the exam had forgotten to manually remove a place-
nal gangs systematically targeting one store after another,” she said. She added that better intelligence sharing and robust enforcement by retailers was critical to turning the tide on retail crime which has dogged Brit- ain’s high streets. Greggs took the decision in April to remove the display cabinets at a group of its London stores most targeted by shoplifters and anti-social behaviours. This came after figures in March this year showed a year-on-year increase of about 20pc. Supermarket chain the Co-op has ramped up its enforcement on small-ticket items by fitting GPS trackers to items including Cumber- land sausages. As reported in The Telegraph in April 2025, the Co-op has said the fi tting of trackers has helped reduce its overall fi gures for retail crime by 21pc. Holland and Barrett was unavailable for comment.
sages fi ll the walls at an indoor Punch birthday exhibit where visitors can also view video chronicling Punch from his earliest days. Punch was abandoned by his mother a year ago, presumably because of exhaustion. Zookeepers nursed him and gave him the toy to develop his gripping ability, something newborn macaques need to survive. “As Punch was trying very hard struggling to live each day, his two keepers did everything they can while other staff watched over him,” Takashi Yasunaga, head of the Ichikawa City Zoo, said as he recalled the past year. “It
A zoo visitor, above, looks at the thousands of cards sent to Punch, as he is now, right. Last year, left, his only friend was a stuffed orangutan
was extremely hot when Punch was born. The memory is still clear to me as the hot season returns.” Punch is no longer a plump baby with the toy and he is hard to distinguish from other monkeys as he mingles and plays with them. He still attracts big crowds, and has received some 2,500 birthday cards from inside and outside Japan, said Mr Yasunaga. Kumi Ishizawa, a Kobe resident who was at the birthday exhibit, said she had discoveered Punch on social media ear- lier this year. From then on, overcoming her illness to come see him had become her goal.
holder “dummy” answer – option A – which had been inputted into the scoring system for technical reasons. This meant that 80 per cent of answers appeared to have two correct options – the true answer and option A. All UK candidates received a higher score than they should have done. Meanwhile, the higher-than-usual pass rate meant that the grade bounda- ries were unnaturally inflated and 61 international candidates, who were unaff ected by the error, were told they had failed when they had passed. A spokesman for Patron Law, acting for the claimants, said it is seeking a “significnt settlement” from the RCP.
IAN FORSYTH/GETTY IMAGES
personal decisions were made on the basis of incorrect results... some are irreversible’
“He moved me... I kept on telling myself that I’m going to get well and come visit to see Punch,” said Ms Ishizawa, who has since recovered and dropped by the zoo after wrapping up a business trip. “And here I am, I made it. I’m very happy I could fi nally see him in person.” Yeye Lights had never visited the zoo until she became a Punch fan and now has an annual visitor pass. She was hooked by Punch after her daughter in the Philippines told her about the mon- key. “I have a cake for Punch-kun, I’m celebrating with my friends,” Ms Lights said, using an affectionate Japanese honorifi c for boys.
He added: “Their actions have resulted in significant loss to our clients who, through no fault of their own, have had their career prospects and professional reputations signifi cantly damaged. “We hope for a swift and appropriate resolution to this unfortunate incident.” A RCP spokesman confimed that it had received the legal claim and said it would be inappropriate to comment further while the case is ongoing. He added that it had been “com- pletely transparent” about what hap- pened and had commissioned an independent external review by Profes- sor John McLachlan into the problems with the exams.
By Telegraph Reporters
SOUTHPORT killer Axel Rudakubana has been accused of trying to “retrau- matise” the families of his victims after his transfer from a high-security jail to a psychiatric hospital. Rudakubana, now 19, was given a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and
General met Hamas leaders
a ‘disgrace’ after images resurface from Jerusalem trip with Jeremy Corbyn
By Sabrina Miller and Nick Gutteridge
ANDY BURNHAM’S new Solicitor Gen- eral has been accused of having shown “sympathy for Hamas” after pictures resurfaced of him meeting the group’s senior fi gures in Jerusalem. Andy Slaughter, who will advise the Government on proscription deci- sions, as in Jerusalem from Nov 5 to Nov 9, 2010, alongside Jeremy Corbyn on a £927 fact-fi nding trip to the Pales- tinian territories, sponsored by Friends of Al-Aqsa and Middle East Monitor (Memo). A now-deleted report, published by Memo, reveals that the pair met “with both sides of the Palestinian political spectrum, including members and rep- resentatives of Fatah and Hamas”.
Labour have handed him the final say on proscription decisions’
Photographs published in the Memo dossier include an image of Mr Slaugh- ter and Mr Corbyn posed next to Mohammed Totah, Ahmed Attoun and Khaled Abu-Arafeh, who have known Hamas associations. Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, described Mr Slaughter’s appointment as a “disgrace” and accused him of having shown “sympa- thy for Hamas”. Mr Totah and Mr Attoun were elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council after running on a Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform ticket, while Abu- Arafeh was appointed Palestinian min- ister of Jerusalem affairs by the Hamas-led government. Mr Attoun was arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces in Jerusalem and exiled to the West Bank in 2011. Mr Totah and Mr Abu-Arafeh were both arrested by Israeli police in 2012 after barricading themselves in an International Committee of the Red Cross compound in East Jerusalem for 18 months to evade capture. Supporting
By Tim Sigsworth NEWS REPORTER
RELIGIOUS freedom in Britain is in decline, a commission established by Donald Trump has warned. The Religious Liberty Commission, which published its draft report last month, cited Britain as an example of a Western country where restrictions on religious liberty were increasing. The body was established by the American president in 2025 to report
against Israel makes us less safe and emboldens radicals
Jeff Blacke
SIR SADIQ KHAN has joined the “genocide” bandwagon with his call for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested. Following in the footsteps of fellow anti-Israel obsessive Zohran Mamdani in New York, London’s mayor boasted to Channel 4 News that he would lobby Prime Minister Andy Burnham to have Netanyahu arrested should he ever set foot in Britain again. Days earlier, Mr Burnham failed to challenge self appointed international law “heavyweight” Gary Lineker when the ex-footballer casually threw the “genocide” charge at Israel . Hardline
Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other chil- dren and two adults. Earlier this week, the Ministry of Jus- tice confirmed that Rudakubana had been transferred from prison to Broad- moor Hospital, a decision which prompted widespread criticism. This Wednesday will mark two years since he carried out the attack at a Tay-
Hamas carries a maximum jail term of 14 years. Hamas has a distinct political and militant arm. The military wing of the group was proscribed by Britain in 2001. The organisation was banned in its entirety in November 2021. Under the terrorism act, supporting Hamas carries a maximum of 14 years in prison. Mr Slaughter also claimed to have separately met Faraj al-Ghoul, the Hamas justice minister, and Dr Ahmed Yousef, Hamas’s deputy foreign minis- ter, during an undeclared trip to Gaza that took place between March 5-8, 2010 with the Britain-Palestine All Party Group. Dr Yousef was once the right- hand man to Ismail Haniyeh, the politi- cal leader of Hamas, between 2006 and 2014. Mr al-Ghoul was a senior Hamas leader who was assassinated by Israel in 2025, following the Oct 7 terror attacks. After the trip, which took place in March 2010, Mr Slaughter argued that governments should negotiate more readily with Hamas. Writing in The Guardian in an article dated March 13, 2010, he said: “I returned last week from a visit to Gaza as part of a parliamentary delegation from the Britain-Palestine All-Party Group (...) One way to break the dead- lock is to negotiate without precondi- tions with those who have a mandate and a willingness to achieve progress. “From my experience now on several visits to the region in the past three years, this includes Hamas.” Reacting to the appointment, Mr Timothy added: “It is an absolute dis- grace that Andy Slaughter has been appointed Solicitor General. Slaughter has shown sympathy for Hamas, and it beggars belief that Labour have handed him the fi nal say on proscription deci- sions and command of the Government legal department. A spokesman for the Attorney Gener- al’s office said: “Appointments to the Government are carefully considered by the Prime Minister. “The Solicitor General will carry out his duties, including any role in over- sight of prosecutorial decisions, with the political impartiality and adherence to the rule of law that the role demands. “The Solicitor General has been con- sistent in condemning the actions of Hamas and has long supported a two- state solution in which a viable Palestin- ian state and Israel can live in peace, side by side.” Mr Slaughter has been contacted for comment.
on the state of religious freedoms in the United States and criticised European countries for introducing laws that saw people “face punishment for abiding by their religious beliefs”. “Even in other Western countries, governments have adopted many such policies,” the report read. “In the United Kingdom, police recently arrested Army veteran and physiotherapist Adam Smith-Connor for the crime of silently praying.” Smith-Connor was
is much suffering in Gaza but there is certainly no genocide ... war is messy and hellish’
anti-Israel activists across the West have decried “genocide” in Gaza for more than a decade now – certainly long before the devastating war after the Hamas terror group’s infamous atrocities on Oct 7 2023. However, the genocide charge is no longer confi ned to the hardcore after being injected into the mainstream, amplifi ed and given standing by the once-revered United Nations, some human rights lawyers and public fi gures. It has become almost taboo to say it but they are all profoundly wrong. Yes, there might be much suff ering in Gaza but there is certainly no genocide there. For almost two decades I served as the most senior lawyer in the Armed Forces, so I speak from my experience of judging combat troops when I say war is messy and hellish. Things can,
lor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024. Chris Walker, who is represent- ing the three bereaved families, told BBC Breakfast: “It’s a deep concern of mine that this is a pattern starting to develop by him trying to retraumatise the families from his cell, and it’s a deep concern that this is going to occur every anniversary.” The families of the three murdered
DAVE BENETT/GETTY IMAGES
Friendly Rivals Presenter Fearne Cotton and Rivals actor Emily Atack at The Hurlingham Polo Association International Day 2026 held at the Guards Polo Club in Egham, Surrey.
convicted in October 2024 for praying outside an abortion clinic in Bourne- mouth, Dorset, in November 2022. Poole magistrates’ court heard that the Roman Catholic bowed his head and clasped his hands outside the British Pregnancy Advisory Service in Bourne- mouth, in a silent vigil that lasted three minutes. He had been praying for his unborn son, who had been aborted 22 years ago, which he now regrets. Smith-Connor was given a two-year
and often do, go wrong. Civilian deaths are a tragic feature of armed confl ict and have been since the dawn of time. To pretend otherwise is a fantasy. Yet genocide is a very serious crime. Those who drafted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948 – after the Nazi Holocaust – defi ned genocide as the “deliberate destruction of a human group”. This means the “killing, seriously injuring, infl icting conditions calculated to destroy, preventing births or forcibly transferring children out of a group with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group”. In other words, the annihilation of a people. The defi nition was explicit that “the infl iction of losses, even heavy losses, on the civilian population in the course of operation of war, does not as a rule constitute genocide”. There is no evidence of Israeli intent to destroy Palestinians generally or Gazans. Precautions they took to warn civilians of attacks with leafl et drops and phone calls, the facilitation of aid to civilians and the Rules of Engagement for their soldiers, all demonstrate the opposite. Israel even facilitated mid-war an emergency polio vaccination programme for 640,000 Gazan children aged under 10 – hardly
children accused Rudakubana of attempting to “manipulate the system” with the move to Broadmoor. A MOJ spokesman stressed that the transfer had not altered Rudakubana’s 52-year sentence. The Telegraph revealed on Friday that Rudakubana had a lengthy history of trying to “control and manipulate” medical professionals. The report on
conditional discharge and ordered to pay £9,000 for breaching a ban on pro- tests within a legal buff er zone around the clinic. JD Vance, the US vice-presi- dent, has highlighted Smith-Connor’s case as an example of European nations clamping down on freedom. Smith-Connor told The Telegraph that the commission was right to high- light his case. “I am grateful to the US religious liberty commission for high- lighting the growing threat to freedom
the act of a genocide regime. Israel’s fi ght is, and always has been, with Hamas. Its aim to destroy a terrorist organisation intent on Israel’s elimination is legitimate. If anything, this unenviable challenge was dramatically complicated by Israel’s decade-plus strategy of military restraint in the misguided hope Hamas would moderate itself. Meanwhile, Hamas was planning extreme violence. Casualty fi gures diff er depending on whether one looks at data from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) or Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Independent experts have estimated that the ratio for civilian-to-combatant deaths in Gaza is between 2:1 and 5:1. The raw data shows the IDF achieved a civilian-to-combatant death ratio below that of the United States in Iraq (circa 5:1), the war in Sudan (estimated at 13:1) and Russia’s invasion of Mariupol in Ukraine in 2022 (an astonishing 19:1). These fi gures make a mockery of the self-defeating threat to impose a ban on weapons trades with Israel made by Defence Secretary Wes Streeting. The Hamas-run health ministry, moreover, doesn’t diff erentiate between civilians and combatants nor does it acknowledge Gazan deaths by other hands than the Israelis such as
the Southport inquiry’s first phase included testimony from multiple wit- nesses describing how Rudakubana had repeatedly tried to deceive doctors, teachers and support workers for his own ends. The families were informed of the decision to move Rudakubana to Broad- moor in a letter on July 22, but were not given details on why the transfer hap-
of thought, religion, and speech in the UK,” he said. “I was investigated and convicted for nothing more than silently praying. I hope my case serves as a warning that liberty cannot be taken for granted – it must be actively defended. “No genuinely free and democratic society should criminalise peaceful, even silent, expressions of faith.” Britain banned protests, including silent prayer, within 150m buff er zones
is not with the Gazans but with Hamas, a terror body intent on Israel’s elimination’
pened. Mr Walker said: “With the vac- uum of information, the concern is that he’s manipulating the situation to his own benefi t.” Off enders can be moved to psychiat- ric units if they are deemed to present an increased risk and cannot be man- aged safely in prison because of mental disorders. They are treated as patients, rather than prisoners in these units.
on the trail of
OnlyFans porn
stars’ missing tax
By Madeleine Ross and Antonia Langford
UKRAINIAN OnlyFans models are being chased through the courts after UK tax authorities shared information with Kyiv on their earnings. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) started sharing data received from OnlyFans’ parent company, Fenix Inter- national, with the Kyiv authorities in 2024. Models in the war-torn country have since paid more than £1.8m in tax owed for the years 2020-23, according to Ukraine’s Economic Security Bureau. OnlyFans is a website which allows creators to upload their own por- nographic content and interact with fol- lowers who pay to subscribe. Models in Ukraine have been reluctant to share information with the authorities because making and distributing pornography in the country is punishable by up to seven years in prison, lawyers have said. Lesia Mykhalenko, a lawyer repre- senting some of the models, told The Telegraph: “The Ukrainian tax authori- ties began contacting people who had received earnings and asking what they had done regarding tax obligations.” She said that after the tax data were shared, some models were threatened with prosecution under the country’s strict anti-porn laws. However, cases
asked to pay are higher than the total income they actually received.
were dropped after a public backlash. Politicians are considering decrimi- nalising pornography in Ukraine. Ear- lier this month, a change to the law passed its first reading in parliament; the fi rst step in the legislative process. Ukrainians are thought to have earned more than £100m from Only- Fans between 2020 and 2022 and sup- porters of decriminalisation said it could raise tens of millions of pounds in extra tax to fund the war with Russia. While some models have paid up, others argue that the tax information shared by HMRC does not properly reflect their income. It does not, for example, take into account “agent” fees, paid to promoters and pimps. Ms Mykhalenko said many OnlyFans models worked through agencies and took home just 15 to 20 per cent of the revenue. She said: “The taxes they are being asked to pay are higher than the total income they actually received ... that’s the issue we are challenging.” From next year, data sharing between HMRC and Ukraine will take place auto- matically, The Telegraph understands. An HMRC spokesman said: “The shar- ing of information between tax author- ities plays a key role in tackling off shore tax evasion and avoidance and we’ve secured £1bn as a direct result of these exchanges over the past decade .”
around abortion clinics from the end of October 2024. A similar ban was introduced in Northern Ireland in 2023 and another came into force in Scotland in late 2024. The commission’s report was wel- comed by other campaigners for reli- gious freedom in Britain. Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said it was a “welcome recognition of our work spanning decades”.
evidence of Hamas opening fi re on Gazans who followed IDF instructions to evacuate fi ghting zones. This genocide blood libel against the Israelis has spread like wildfi re, amplifi ed by far too many public fi gures. Such rhetoric might be expected from the extreme Left, such as Green Party leader Zack Polanski but, quite frankly, Sir Sadiq should know better. His city has been rocked by terror attacks on Jews carried out by extremists who are emboldened and radicalised by the false “genocide” slur. International law is being subverted and re-defi ned by highly ideological campaigners obsessed with the world’s only Jewish state and, unforgivably overlooking the clear evidence of Hamas’s own genocidal intent. If anyone is guilty of genocide it is Hamas, Iran and its other terrorist agencies. Every time lawful military action is casually branded a war crime, by biased media, ideological fringe factions or, worse, high-profi le politicians, the ability of the UK and its allies to defend their citizens will be eroded. Ultimately that makes us all less safe.
BEN MCELLIGOTT/BBC/PA WIRE
Professional dancers Maddie Ingoldsby (left), Aleksandra Isaeva, Christian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi and Mark Karmalita will join the cast in the upcoming season of Strictly Come Dancing
Starmer two months ago about Tehran using small boats to bring in operatives
By Tom Cotterill DEFENCE EDITOR
NIGEL FARAGE has claimed he warned ministers that Iran was smuggling cov- ert operatives into the UK on small boats two months ago. The Reform UK
leader in Prime Minister’s Questions on May 14 asked about an illegal immigrant from Iran, believed to have travelled via boat, “arrested in the north of England on serious charges of terrorism”. He then urged Sir Keir Starmer, the then PM, to declare a “national security emergency” over undocumented young men crossing the Channel. After The Telegraph revealed how Tehran was attempting to smuggle operatives in on small boats, Mr Farage said: “I said two months ago that the Ira-
nian regime was using the Channel to smuggle operatives into Britain and I was met with the usual ridicule. “We are now literally letting in ter- rorists with the intent to kill us… This is monstrous. It is a direct threat to national security. [But] nobody wants to listen. I hope the political establishment pays a horrible price.” Individuals with links to Iran’s intel- ligence agencies are understood to have been intercepted attempting to enter on small boats, with drones and surveil-
lance towers to monitor suspect vessels. The Government insists it has “robust” measures in place. However, people smugglers working on the Continent have told The Tele- graph the Iranian regime had facilitated the passage to Britain of migrants at Cal- ais in exchange for a “favour” for Iran. UK officials have not ruled out the possibility. However, such operations would be high risk, costly and would still not guarantee success. Officials instead believe Iran recruits
criminal groups in the UK to carry out its bidding. It has already been exposed for employing thugs from “Thieves-in- Law”, a notorious international criminal gang from the former Soviet Union, to carry out kidnappings on its behalf. An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) source said it already had “revolutionary people” in the UK. “These smuggling routes are more important and useful than the missiles for us – we do not need a missile to tar- get London, it’s easier than that,” the
‘internet stars’
for latest crop
of dancers
By India McTaggart ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT
STRICTLY Come Dancing is prioritis- ing social media success for the show’s new cohort of professional dancers. The long-running BBC series, return- ing in September, has hired and retained a slate of professional dancers who all share followings across Insta- gram and TikTok, as insiders promise “a lot more social media content this year”. As part of a shake-up following the dramatic exit of hosts Claudia Winkle- man and Tess Daly last year, Strictly axed a string of pros from the line-up, including fan-favourites Gorka Marquez and Nadiya Bychkova. However, bosses kept the dancers with bigger online followings, includ- ing Dianne Buswell, with 1.2 million fol- lowers, as well as newcomer Alexis Warr with 203,000 followers. A source said of the new plans: “Strictly is now much more than just a couple of TV Shows each weekend, so audiences can expect a lot more social media content this year as Strictly becomes something that viewers can get access to where they want, when they want.” Among the new arrivals to the pro dancing team include Ukrainian dancer Aleksandra Isaeva, who has 22,000 fol- lowers on Instagram, Maddie Ingoldsby, who boasts 45,900 fans on the same platform as well. Cristian Priori, Lethabo Monametsi and Mark Karmal- ita make up the rest of the new cohort of professionals. The source added: “As they are young they organically already have a strong social following.”
IRGC source added. Mr Farage hinted in April that Tehran was using the Chan- nel to bring in operatives. On GB News, he said he was told by a well-connected source in the Irani- an-Persian diaspora “for a fact that over the course of the last few weeks, there have been Iranian operatives crossing the Channel in small boats”. The regime has tried to kill or kidnap at least 15 people inside Britain, accord- ing to a 2025 report by Parliament’s intelligence and security committee.
every three seconds
have vested interest in penalising drivers rather than ‘fixing bad signage’
By Steve Bird SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
By Steve Bird SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
MOTORISTS are being fined every 2.6 seconds in London, figures show. Local authorities in the capital have been issuing record numbers of penalty charge notices (PCNs) and banking mil- lions of pounds in cash. The latest release of statistics will add to criticism that councils view motorists as a cash cow capable of easing the financial crises faced by cash-strapped local authorities. Campaign groups representing motorists say the figures prove councils are increasingly financially dependent on issuing fines, so have a vested inter- est to keep on penalising drivers rather than ensure signage is clear and motor- ists obey road rules. A freedom of information request (FoI) sent to every London council has revealed how parking enforcement has
been dramatically stepped up, possibly as a result of schemes such as low-traf- fic neighbourhoods. For the 2025 to 2026 financial year, a total of 5,040,073 parking and driving fines were issued by those London councils that responded to the data request. That is equivalent to 13,800 fines being handed out each day, usu- ally between the enforcement hours of 8am and 6pm. That roughly works out at 1,380 an hour or 2.6 seconds between each fine. However, 10 councils – Hammer- smith and Fulham, Barnet, Bromley, Ealing, Greenwich, Hackney, Merton, Lewisham, Hounslow and Havering – failed to respond to FoI requests. As a result, the true number of fines being issued will be markedly higher. The data show that the highest num- ber of fines was issued by the City of Westminster council, which handed out 645,261 tickets, raising nearly £38m. Islington came second having served 455,000 PCNs, generating nearly £26m. Lambeth was third with 417,000 tickets being given out last year, generating £25m. It is not known how many of the fines
were successfully challenged and over- turned. Westminster is thought to issue the most parking fines because it has a substantial influx of tourists and people working in the area. There is also a greater need for park- ing enforcement in the heart of the city. Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: “The fact drivers are being fined every 2.6 seconds shows some- thing is terribly wrong with the system as it is. “It means there is no incentive for local authorities to fix bad signage or poor road markings. “Local authorities are getting a lot of fines and money coming in and may not be changing signage because they have a vested interest not to stop that income. “Too many local authorities are becoming dependent on fines and the revenue they raise. So, they are not making it easier for drivers to abide by the rules of the road.” The figures, obtained by Fast Loan UK, include parking and driving PCNs, but exclude ultra-low emission zone fines. It also does not include fines and money raised by Transport for London, which runs London’s red routes.
ROB GRAY/ALAMY LIVE NEWS
Saddle shore Horses gallop on Musselburgh beach in East Lothian, Scotland, following a tradition where a flag is carried around the boundaries at the end of a week-long festival.
at risk as’ 999 crews blocked
LIVES are being put at risk because firefighters are being delayed by road clo- sures introduced as part of a £10m low-traffic neighbour- hood (LTN). Plastic planters, padlocked bollards and newly installed flowerbeds in the LTN have thwarted fire crews’ attempt to reach emergencies. The Avon Fire & Rescue Service set up a log so crews could record problems caused by the so-called East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood. The dossier, released under freedom of informa- tion laws, reveals that “utterly absurd” challenges created by Bristol city coun- cil after it installed the LTN to try to encourage “walking, wheeling and cycling”. The file shows how some roads were “impassable”, forcing firefighters to walk to incidents. Campaigners are seeking to bring a judicial review amid claims the coun- cil has ignored opposition. The East Bristol LTN was introduced by the former Labour-run council in 2024 on a trial basis. The scheme, which fines motorists who enter new bus gates, has prompted wide- spread opposition. The council, now run by the Greens, voted to approve making the scheme perma- nent in July. The firefighters’ log says on one occasion: “As a result of obstructions, [the] fire truck was unable to reach the scene and crews reached [the] address via foot,” Another says: “Plant pots which turn the roads into cul-de-sacs were not show- ing on the fire truck mobile data terminal [onboard com- puter] nor on the sat navs.”
‘Hit the road Jack’
By Ruby Cline
A BOWLS club looks set to be
evicted from its home green
after 125 years by the church
group that owns the land.
Members of the Mitre
Bowls Club in Norwich are
“gutted” after being ordered
to make way for a new out-
door cafe and workspace
planned for the site which
adjoins St Thomas Church.
The clubhouse and green
are rented from the East
Church network, a Church of
England body that bought
the site in 2016.
Angie Martin, who helps
run the club, said the decision
was “absolutely devastating”.
She had to inform members
the club had received notice to
quit and must be out by Febru-
ary 2027. “We’ve spent years
building a community, friend-
ship and a fantastic building
and grounds,” she said.
The church has no inten-
tion of negotiating with the
club, which has rented the
green since 1901, it is under-
stood. However, the club’s 70
members are hoping they
Melissa Topping, a Redfield resident and wheelchair user who has campaigned against the LTN, said the scheme had created “utterly absurd” challenges for the emer- gency services. “The systemic disregard for elderly and disabled resi- dents, local businesses and families throughout the trial of this scheme is a disgrace,” she said. “Spending £10m on infra- structure that does nothing to serve our actual needs, while taking fines from the poorest, shows how out of
infrastructure that does nothing shows how out of touch the council was’
touch the council’s decision was. It is putting lives at risk.” Councillor Ed Plowden, of Bristol city council, said the LTN was designed following consultation with numerous groups and had received backing from two thirds of the 460 public statements submitted about the scheme. He added that during the “planning and implementa- tion” of the “liveable neigh- bourhood” they “regularly” met representatives of the emergency services, prompt- ing “several changes” to the scheme. “As we progress with this scheme we will continue to listen and adjust to deliver safer, healthier and more enjoyable streets for East Bristol,” he said. A spokesman for the fire service said they continued to “work closely with part- ners … to manage any opera- tional impacts linked to changes in road layouts”.
can persuade the landowners to reverse the decision. Phil Martin, the club pres- ident, has started an online petition calling for it to be saved. He wrote: “Closure would strip away a key part of our community’s heritage and a much-needed social outlet [for those] who rely on it as a source of companion- ship and activity.” A church spokesman said:
... we’ve spent years to build community and friendship’
“This space and coffee shop will be for use by the wider community, not just church congregants. Money gener- ated goes back to fund com- munity and social action projects ... the aim is to open up the pavilion so it is made available to anyone across the city, all year round.” Norwich city council has been urged to intervene but has yet to comment.
to repay tens of thousands after pension error
By Tom Cotterill DEFENCE EDITOR
MORE than 1,000 veterans must repay tens of thousands of pounds after a pen- sion calculation blunder. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) admitted the overpayments stem from mistakes in the Armed Forces’ two final salary schemes, which provide incomes for life for about 432,000 retired troops. The error, estimated to be worth £5.1m, led to pensions being overpaid for years, in some cases by more than a hundred thousand pounds. Under Treasury rules, public bodies must recover all excess payments of tax- payer money, regardless of fault. It means that despite veterans having not been responsible for the blunder, the burden on correcting the issues falls on their shoulders rather than the bod- ies behind the pension pots. The MoD first identified the prob- lems in November 2024, yet letters only reached pensioners this year. James Uncles, a former warrant officer who served 35 years as an air- craft engineer in the Navy, is among the cohort of retired military personnel now facing huge repayments. He was informed of the issue in a let- ter on Feb 27, which told him he owed £45,687 following mistaken overpay- ments since 2021. Mr Uncles, 71, was told his monthly pension would immediately be cut by more than £1,000, almost 25 per cent, with a further £750 deducted monthly for five years to recover the funds. He told The Times: “Is it all going to be down to innocent veterans? This scheme is clearly flawed and has been for many years and in its wake it’s leav- ing hundreds and hundreds of people who are having to change their lives.” The MoD said it would recover funds “in a sensitive and proportionate way”.
shows that Lord Khan has allowed crime on London’s network to go unpunished
By Nick Gutteridge
CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
ONLY one in every 650 bus stops in London has CCTV despite Sir Sadiq Khan pledging more than two years ago to roll out its use to tackle violence against women. Figures released under
artists refuse to pay tourist tax
By Jacob Freedland
SCOTTISH REPORTER
THEATREGOERS in Edinburgh face cancellations and higher ticket prices because performers touring the city will have to pay a new “tourist tax”. Since Friday, people staying in paid accommodation in Edinburgh have been charged an extra five per cent per night on the first five nights of their stay. The levy was introduced by the city’s Labour-run council to mitigate the impact of surging tourist numbers on the Scottish capital. But the tax will also affect workers, including performers, after the council ruled out exemptions. On Wednesday, Scottish Ballet said it had cancelled several performances between Christmas and New Year because of the tax. The Edinburgh International Festival has said that it face a bill of around £50,000 because of the levy as it covers costs for performers in its 147 shows from across Europe. The National Theatre of Scotland and the Edinburgh Fringe are also affected. Cairn Union Scotland, which repre- sents Scottish arts workers, warned the tax would make it “nigh on impossible” for solo artists to bring shows to the city. John MacIsaac, the group’s secretary, said the tax will “affect” the cost of shows. “Everything will end up on the ticket prices,” he said. Julie Coombe, the chair of Cairn, said: “[The tax] will dissuade people. Accom- modation is now a massive cost – a bit more on top is not a massive help.”
By Ruby Cline
POSTMEN have come out in defence of a delivery driver who kicked a blind dog to death. A Royal Mail worker kicked Ethel, a Shih Tzu in Aylesbury, Buckingham- shire, last week, causing the pet to suf- fer organ failure. The driver has reportedly been sus- pended by Royal Mail – but postal work- ers have now spoken out in defence of his actions. A postwoman said: “I kicked a terrier that bit my leg to get it off me, and I would do it again. “I would say about 10 of us in my office have been bitten. It’s very com- mon, and it’s always the dogs that have
MATTHEW HORWOOD/GETTY IMAGES
Tehran threat Munitions are loaded on to a US bomber at RAF Fairford, Glos. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has declared that the air base has become a “legitimate target” after US air force B-1B Lancer bombers used the British base to launch missions against Iranian military targets.
freedom of information laws show that 30 out of the capital’s 19,500 bus shel- ters are fitted with security cameras. The Tories said that the figures were “shocking” and came at a time when “increasing numbers” of Londoners were “afraid” to use the network because of crime levels. Sir Sadiq vowed in his manifesto for the 2024 mayoral election to roll out “increased CCTV on bus shelters” to make passengers safer and bring crimi- nals to justice. Figures released by the Greater Lon- don Assembly (GLA) in February
Cairn, alongside Scottish Ballet, Equity (the performing arts trade union) and National Theatre Scotland, has called for performers to be exempt. But council leader Jane Meagher has resisted the demands, saying the five- night cap on the levy means there is a limit on how much performers will have to fork out. She said the levy, raising £50m per year, will fund £2m in local cultural grants and was “modest” compared with other cities. Visitors to Florence, for instance, pay up to €8 per night. Andy Burnham, the new Prime Min- ister, has long backed such a tax and
‘never done that before’. Royal Mail has promised to pay Ethel’s family’s vet bills and launched an investigation into the incident. Eve Lewis, Ethel’s owner, said her
my leg and I’d do it again... It’s always dogs who have “never done that before” ’
showed the solved rate for crimes com- mitted on the capital’s bus network has more than halved from 22 per cent in 2016, when he became mayor, to 8 per cent last year. In the same period secu- rity cameras have been installed on just 30 bus stops as part of a pilot pro- gramme led by Transport for London. Richard Holden, the shadow trans- port secretary, said: “Buses are an essential, affordable form of transport for many whilst helping cut air pollu- tion. But Lord Khan has allowed crime on London’s bus network to go unpun- ished, making increasing numbers of
Angela Rayner, reinstated as Housing Secretary, is set to give local mayors powers to implement the measure. An overnight levy could add as much as £300 to the cost of a family “stayca- tion” in Britain. The backlash to the Edinburgh levy was sparked by Scottish Ballet’s festive- cancellations. The Glasgow-based com- pany said the cost of accommodation in Edinburgh rose by 72 per cent between 2019 and 2025, with an annual hotel bill for artists of more than £200,000. Steven Roth, executive director, said: “The economics of touring to Edin- burgh are becoming unsustainable.”
postwoman added: “I felt for that dog and the owner – but I also felt for the postie. Postal workers on social media also defended the worker’s actions, saying the dog appeared not to be under con- trol in the footage. There were some 2,019 dog attacks against postal workers last year, accord- ing to Royal Mail, 61 of which caused significant injuries. More than half of the attacks hap- pened at the front door, and one in four took place in a garden, drive or yard. A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Dog-related incidents can present a serious risk to postal workers. We take our responsibility to protect colleagues very seriously.”
This year’s Edinburgh Fringe, launched here by performer Finatan McCarney, faces even higher accommodation costs
people afraid to use them. CCTV cam- eras at bus stops make people feel safer and can help tackle crime and anti-so- cial behaviour. “Shockingly, under Mayor Khan, there are just 30 bus stops with CCTV cameras out of a possible 19,500. “We need CCTV covering more bus stops and by making them safer, we can bring confidence back to passengers, especially women, girls, and young people, and get Britain moving again.” Cameras are installed on every Lon- don bus and at larger bus stations, and are also used on other public transport
like the Underground and trains. A scheme to roll out surveillance to bus stops was first launched in 2024 when the first 20 sites were selected, with a further 10 added earlier this year. Figures from the GLA show that Croydon has the most cameras, with four, followed by Westminster, South- wark and Camden with three each. In an update last summer Transport for London said the programme was having a “very, very positive impact” on the safety of women and girls. In a survey of 1,000 women four in five said CCTV made them feel safer and
almost three quarters that it would mean they were more likely to travel by bus. GLA figures show that there were 3,924 crimes recorded on London’s bus network in 2025, more than on any other form of public transport. Siwan Hayward, TfL’s director of security, policing and enforcement, said: “We are trialling CCTV at a small number of bus stops across London to better understand the benefits it can provide. The results of this trial will be used to evaluate the costs and the feasi- bility of a wider introduction of CCTV cameras to other locations in London.”
Adrian Blomfield SENIOR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
politically and militarily exposed after sacking army chief and defence minister
IT HAS been one of the most
tempestuous weeks of Volodymyr
Zelensky’s presidency.
Indeed, the sackings the Ukrainian
leader has made to try to end the
turmoil could also make it one of the
most consequential weeks of the war
with Russia.
The latest storm – like similar
upheaval a year ago – was largely of Mr
Zelensky’s own making. Back then, he
angered his people by trying to limit
the independence of the country’s
anti-corruption bodies.
This time, he riled them by sacking
his popular young defence minister
Mykhailo Fedorov just six months after
appointing him – a move many
Ukrainians saw, rightly or wrongly, as
another attempt to protect vested
interests and resist genuine reform.
On both occasions, Mr Zelensky was
forced into retreat, though this time
not as far as the protesters who poured
onto the streets of Ukraine’s biggest
cities demanded.
After six days of crisis talks, he
swung the axe again, yielding to their
calls to dismiss Oleksandr Syrsky, the
commander-in-chief whose bitter feud
with Mr Fedorov had paralysed the
military’s top leadership.
Whether Mr Zelensky also bows to
demands to reinstate the defence
minister he ousted remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Mr Fedorov has
already secured a signifi cant victory,
prevailing on the president to appoint
his close ally, Mykhailo Drapaty, a
swashbuckling battlefi eld commander
and military moderniser, as Ukraine’s
new commander-in-chief.
Even before the saga has run its
course, its political, societal and, above
all, military implications are becoming
clear. Yet again in Ukraine, the street
has spoken.
The country has a long history of
popular protests overturning the
political status quo. Demonstrations
have swept away Moscow-backed
strongmen, overturned fraudulent
elections and forced governments to
reverse unpopular policies.
This time they ultimately cost the
country’s top general his job, forcing
out a decorated war hero who had
become so unpopular in the ranks that
many brigade commanders referred to
him as “the Butcher”, for what they
saw as his willingness to squander
soldiers’ lives.
Ukraine’s constitution bars elections
during wartime. Yet many Ukrainians
argue that the fact that protests are not
only tolerated, but produce tangible
results, demonstrates that democracy
and accountability remain alive.
Contrast that, they say, with Russia,
where someone holding up a blank
sheet of paper in Red Square would
barely have time to count to 10 before
being bundled away by Vladimir
Putin’s ubiquitous security forces.
Yet for all that, the episode has been
deeply damaging.
As one MP from Mr Zelensky’s own
party acknowledged, the appearance
of dysfunction and division plays into
Russia’s hands, at a moment when
momentum on the battlefi eld has
begun to swing back towards Ukraine.
The MP, a Zelensky loyalist who
opposed the decision to
remove Mr Fedorov, told
The Telegraph: “We have
given Putin a gift.”
The Kremlin will
undoubtedly relish the
fact that the aff air has
weakened Mr
Zelensky’s
authority.
Volodymyr
Fesenko, a political
analyst in Kyiv, said
over cockroach party protests
By Emily Smith FOREIGN BREAKING NEWS REPORTER
INDIA’S education minister has resigned after weeks of student demon- strations led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). Dharmendra Pradhan was targeted by the protest movement after a leak of medical examination papers forced more than two million students to retake one of the world’s toughest uni- versity entrance tests. Mr Pradhan announced his resigna- tion on social media just as police fi red tear gas to scatter demonstrators in Delhi, and hours before CJP leaders were set to hold another round of talks with ministers. He said: “Considering the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar and across the country, so that anti-national forces do not take advantage of this sit- uation ... I have sent my resignation let- ter to the Prime Minister. “I deeply respect the aspirations, feelings, and legitimate expectations of the country’s youth.” Cheers erupted among demonstra- tors gathered in central Delhi and other cities as news of his resignation spread. The protests have been led by the CJP,
EFREM LUKATSKY/AP PHOTO
Above, protests in Kyiv; below Zelensky; right, acting defence minister Yevgeniy Khmara (L) and army chief Mykhailo Drapaty
which was created in May after a senior Indian judge described unemployed young people as “cockroaches”. His comment proved to be the cata- lyst for a viral youth protest movement that has exploded across Indian social media, becoming one of the largest online expressions of dissent against Narendra Modi’s 12-year rule. The CJP’s name is a play on Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, and its demand for education reform has grown into a broader protest over unemployment, government accountability and eco-
once again an unforced error has left the Ukrainian president politically exposed. It has fuelled criticism at a time when his standing had already been dented by the scandals that culminated in the resignation of his chief of staff , Andriy Yermak, in November. Mr Fesenko said: “He has successfully overcome these crises. However, the escalating trend of these crises, and the domestic policy mistakes that cause them, is dangerous for Zelensky.” Like many leaders, Mr Zelensky has his fl aws. Yet in this instance, he has found himself caught in a predicament that could help redefi ne both Ukrainian politics and how it fi ghts. For months, Mr Zelensky attempted to maintain the peace between Mr Fedorov and Gen Syrsky and to keep the squabbling away from public view. Every recent meeting involving the two men reportedly simmered with tension – hardly surprising given their radically diff erent visions for the future of Ukraine’s armed forces. A quarter of a century older than the 35-year-old Mr Fedorov, Gen Syrsky was the embodiment of the old guard. Unquestionably courageous, with a string of strategic successes to his credit, he planned the defence of Kyiv in 2022 and the astonishing counter- off ensive in Kharkiv later that year. But for many younger offi cers, he had become, in the words of one drone commander,
nomic opportunities. Students, profes- sionals, families and activists have joined rallies in Delhi and other cities across India. Offi cers armed with batons fi red tear gas and charged at demonstrators who tried to push through security barri- cades around parliament while Mr Modi was inside on Monday. Federal authori- ties restricted access to the internet and to 18 metro stations in an attempt to contain protests in the capital. Mr Modi’s government had earlier sought to ease tensions by announcing fast-track courts for cases involving exam paper leaks and promising new legislation to tackle cheating and cor- ruption in the examination system. Protest leaders who demanded Mr Pradhan’s resignation are also demand- ing broader exam reforms and compen- sation for families of the students who died by suicide. Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the CJP, said: “This is democracy. He has resigned. We have two more demands. We won’t go like this. “Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned. But the families of the children who committed suicide should receive compensation of one crore rupees [£78,000].”
a “dinosaur”: steeped in a Soviet mindset, willing to risk his men’s lives needlessly and incapable of grasping the technological demands of a rapidly evolving battlefi eld. Mr Fedorov, by contrast, was viewed by old-school offi cers as a T-shirt- wearing upstart who spoke the same incomprehensible patter as Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs . To Gen Syrsky, his enthusiasm for AI and autonomous warfare at the expense of more conventional methods amounted to a fl irtation with disaster. A clash of wills was almost inevitable. Mr Fedorov argued that Ukraine’s drone strategy was paying dividends, with long-range strikes crippling Russia’s energy sector and sustained attacks on supply routes into occupied Crimea repeatedly disrupting Moscow’s logistics. The success of Ukraine’s drone campaign during Mr Fedorov’s brief tenure was undeniable. But Gen Syrsky griped that it had come at a price, with funding diverted from ammunition procurement, particularly artillery shells. The two men repeatedly found ways to undermine each other. Mr Fedorov launched an audit that uncovered £5bn of overspending, subjected offi cials to lie detector tests, and, according to allies, infuriated parts of the defence establishment by blocking attempts to steer lucrative contracts towards favoured companies. Mr Fedorov also increased pay for front-line infantry, proposed merging underperforming brigades and transferring soldiers to stronger but understaff ed units, reformed troop rotation and championed technology
designed to reduce casualties. Gen Syrsky saw many of these reforms as an encroachment on his authority. He responded by creating additional brigades, breaking up some of Ukraine’s strongest units and frustrating attempts to strengthen technically innovative formations, according to Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute. His supporters argue that his concerns were not without foundation. An excessive focus on drones and innovation at the expense of conventional capabilities carries obvious risks, they say. Unlike Mr Fedorov, whose lack of military experience inevitably narrowed his perspective, Gen Syrsky had spent decades commanding across the full spectrum of warfare. That Mr Zelensky initially chose to dismiss his defence minister rather
JÖRN HÜNEKE/DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE/AVALON
of these crises and the policy mistakes that cause them is dangerous for Zelensky’
than his commander-in-chief, despite intense pressure to do the opposite, suggested he shared at least some of those reservations. Whatever the merits of that debate, argues Mr Watling, open defi ance of defence ministry orders is incompatible with a country seeking closer integration with Europe, where civilian control of the military is a fundamental democratic principle. In a unusually blunt public critique of Ukraine’s wartime leadership, Mr Federov challenged the narrative that the war eff ort was functioning smoothly, accusing Gen Syrsky of blocking reform at every turn. He said: “We faced a complete blockage of all our initiatives.” Rather than fi nding new ways to defeat Russia, Gen Syrsky had instead “fi gured out how to split the country” . It was a startling intervention, one that only galvanised the protesters, who perhaps saw in Mr Fedorov’s travails their own struggle against Ukraine’s old way of doing things. By ultimately yielding to their demands, Mr Zelensky eff ectively acknowledged that a generational shift is under way. Gen Drapaty, the new commander-in-chief, is 43 and shares Mr Fedorov’s zeal for innovation, along with a reputation for compassion that eluded his predecessor. Regardless of whether Mr Fedorov returns to his former position , his vision is in the ascendancy. As one protest placard declared: “Fedorov is innovation. Old grandpas are degeneration.” The president has yielded to the younger generation and how Ukraine wages war may never be the same again.
since I heard
my mother
Suu Kyi’s voice
Sarah Newey in Bangkok
the location of Myanmar’s ousted leader, 81, as fears for her health intensify
THE conversation was brief. A few days before the military coup that ousted her government in 2021, Aung San Suu Kyi phoned her son to subtly warn him that trouble was brewing. It was the last time Kim Aris heard his mother’s voice. “She called me because she knew something was around the corner,” Mr Aris, 48, told The Telegraph. “She wasn’t sure what, but she was able to let me know that I needed to be aware something was coming.” A day or two later, Mr Aris watched from London as tanks rolled through Naypyidaw, the former British colony’s modern capital, and the junta detained his mother – again. Ms Suu Kyi was already among the world’s most recognisable political prisoners. She spent a total of 15 years
By James Rothwell BERLIN CORRESPONDENT
BRITAIN’S Free Speech Union (FSU) is expanding to Germany to support citi- zens who have been threatened with prison for making fun of politicians online, The Telegraph can reveal. Lord Young of Acton, the founder of the FSU, said he was in talks with free- speech activists in Germany on opening a branch there in the next year. Germans are being threatened with prison sentences for making fun of elected officials under the country’s “political insult” laws. Thousands of citizens have been sub-
Hitler’s bunker from becoming apartments
preserved but there are fears that neo-Nazis would turn it into a shrine
By James Crisp EUROPE EDITOR in Berlin
ADOLF HITLER’S last surviving wartime bunker faces demolition under plans to build an apartment block on top of it. Campaigners argue the bunker on Berlin’s Voss Strasse should be turned into a museum, but city authorities are against preserving it in case it becomes a shrine for neo-Nazis. “This is the last remaining bunker of the governmental district, which could be open to the public,” Kay Heyne, from the non-profi t Berliner Unterwelten association, told The Telegraph. He said people were beginning to forget the lessons of history, and that turning the museum into a place dedicated to the defeat of Nazi Germany could stem rising extremism in Europe. “A lot of people like to forget because it’s easier to forget than to
under house arrest between 1989 and 2010, winning a Nobel Peace Prize from her home in Yangon, before leading Myanmar’s brief democratic experiment. But this time, her detention has been diff erent. Since the conclusion of a show trial in 2022, Ms Suu Kyi has all but disappeared. No one knows where or how the 81-year-old is. So her publicity-shy, half-British son has stepped into an uneasy limelight with a simple demand to the military’s top brass: prove my mother is not dead. Since the coup, Mr Aris has frequently sent his mother letters and care packages containing art supplies, detective novels, basic medicines and nutrient-enriched foods. But Ms Suu Kyi’s most recent reply was almost three years ago – a censored letter describing the seasons. “That was the last time I heard from my mother,” Mr Aris said. “That’s the last time anybody’s heard from her.” Lawyers and diplomats have been barred from meeting Ms Suu Kyi, who is one of at least 14,000 political prisoners held by the regime. Her last confi rmed meeting was with a Thai minister in July 2023. In April, state media said she was moved from a prison cell and placed
jected to stressful police investigations under the controversial Section 188, which in eff ect makes it illegal to mock a politician crudely. German officials say that the law was introduced to stem a tide of abuse and death threats against politi- cians, but critics say it is being mis- used to criminalise those who mock the government. Citizens who fall foul of the political- insult law face an initial police investi- gation and, if they are convicted, can be sentenced to up to three years in prison. In one bizarre case in 2024, Bavarian police raided the home of a German man because he had called Robert
commemorate,” he said. The bunker featured in a Soviet propaganda fi lm made after Germany’s unconditional surrender in May 1945, in which Gen Helmuth Weidling, who led the defence of Berlin, was fi lmed leaving the garden exit with his offi cers under the guard of Red Army soldiers. The bunker was underneath the New Reich Chancellery – which was built on land stolen from Jewish people – where Hitler would host foreign guests. It was part of a network of reinforced concrete bunkers under ministerial buildings, which included the “Fuhrerbunker” 120m away under the old Reich Chancellery where Hitler killed himself. The Fuhrerbunker was paved over and is now an unremarkable car park surrounded by Soviet-style fl ats built by the East German authorities. Apart from the bunker on Voss Strasse, which is close to Potsdamer Platz and Berlin’s main shopping centre, almost nothing remains of Hitler’s power centre. Now, a Hamburg-based investor is planning to build 66 apartments and offi ces on top of the last surviving bunker. Mr Heyne said the plans would destroy the bunker, which the public
Kim Aris, left, guarding his mother Aung San Suu Kyi as she is greeted by supporters during a visit to a market in the country’s ancient temple city of Bagan in 2011
HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY FOR THE TELEGRAPH/ SOE THAN WIN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Kim Aris fears his mother is suffering from a deteriorating heart condition
Habeck, then vice-chancellor, a “schwa- chkopf” [dummy]. The FSU was founded in February 2020 at the peak of the so-called “cancel culture” era, in which public figures and normal citizens alike were losing their jobs because of expressing contro- versial or off ensive views in public. Created by Lord Young, the Spectator journalist and Tory peer, the FSU sup- ported Allison Pearson, the Telegraph columnist, when she was investigated by police over comments on social media that she later deleted. But as a climate of censorship begins to take hold in Germany – where one MP recently claimed
REINER JANICK
Dietmar Arnold in the Nazi bunker his group hopes to save. Right, Gen Helmuth Weidling leaves the bunker after Adolf Hitler’s surrender in 1945
under house arrest, with her long sentence slightly commuted. A previously unseen photo of her chatting with police and army offi cers was also released, while a source told The Irrawaddy news site that Ms Suu Kyi complained about the smell of paint in her new surroundings, “a specially built secure house” in Naypyidaw. But none of this is verifi able, and Mr Aris doubts his mother was moved – he has heard it all before. In the information vacuum, rumours and speculation are swirling
studied... totalitarianism is not immune from being investigated’
that Nazi-style authoritarianism was seeing a revival – the FSU is hoping to step in. Lord Young said that he hoped to see a German wing of the FSU up and running by mid-2027. “FSU International... has been talking to various groups in Germany and try- ing to persuade them to set up an FSU Germany,” he said. “We hope to estab- lish such a group within the next year.”
about why Min Aung Hlaing – the general who snatched power and triggered a brutal civil war – is withholding access to Ms Suu Kyi. Khin Ohmar, a Burmese democracy activist, told The Telegraph: “The only reason he will not share or allow anyone access to her is possibly due to some serious physical health conditions – if she is still alive.” While Ms Suu Kyi’s global reputation was marred by military atrocities against the Rohingya minority during her government, she remains beloved at home. The impact
As The Telegraph disclosed this week, the number of investigations launched under the “political insult” law hit a record 4,792 in 2025 in Germany. A similar law, Section 86a, which bans the display of Nazi symbols, is also under scrutiny after it was used against a historian who posted a meme criticis- ing Adolf Hitler. Dr Rainer Zitelmann, an expert on the rise of Hitler, was threatened with jail after he posted a meme that com- pared Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslova- kia to Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. Dr Zitelmann, the author of some 30 books, said that he suspected one of his critics passed the meme on to the Berlin
cannot access. He wants them altered so that the entrance is preserved, while still allowing the fl ats to be built in the prime location. His association wants to work with the Holocaust Museum to create a museum dedicated to the catastrophic defeat of Nazi Germany inside the bunker. “You have a lot of things which remember the beginning of the Third Reich and the Holocaust, but nothing much about the end of World War Two,” he said. Berliner Unterwelten is dedicated to Berlin’s underground structures. It last accessed the site in 2006, and it is still in good condition despite groundwater caused by rain. About 40 per cent of the original 1,200 sq m bunker
likely believes that if it allows foreign dignitaries, she becomes relevant again’
of her potential death or ill health is unpredictable but could fuel uproar, especially among the Bamar majority. If Ms Suu Kyi is well, it is therefore “very, very strange” not to prove it, said Ms Ohmar. Access could boost trust with Myanmar’s neighbours as Mr Aung Hlaing campaigns to re- engage with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), an inter-governmental forum of states in Southeast Asia. When civil war broke out, ASEAN set fi ve conditions to allow Myanmar back into the fold. After fi ve years of ruthless fi ghting – and at least 100,000 deaths, according to the Armed Confl ict Location and Event Data Project – none have been met. But recent elections, backed by China and condemned by the West, provided a veneer of legitimacy. Unsurprisingly, Mr Aung Hlaing won, and was declared president in March. His hand has been further strengthened by battleground victories and visits to Russia, China and India. With support from Thailand, he is now on a regional charm off ensive. It might just be working. For the fi rst time since the coup, Naypyidaw joined an informal meeting of ASEAN’s foreign ministers in Bangkok this month. Those present at the meeting later said Myanmar told them that Ms Suu Kyi is “in good health”, and was being treated like “a sister”. Granting access to confi rm this may soften sceptics just enough to secure Mr Aung Hlaing’s spot at the table. It might even help him nab a seat at the UN in New York. “If he is even refusing the demands to release news or allow meetings with her from China, which he fears, and the international community and ASEAN, which he cares about, then whether she is still alive becomes doubtful,” a former Burmese military offi cer told Nikkei Asia. But others think her disappearance says little: a confi dent regime would not want a visible Ms Suu Kyi, given the “whole rationale” of the coup was to remove her. Richard Horsey, a Myanmar analyst, told The Telegraph: “That’s the reason that she’s been kept incommunicado. Naypyidaw likely believes that if it allows foreign dignitaries, she becomes relevant again.” It is also well known that Mr Aung Hlaing “viscerally hates” Ms Suu Kyi, said one diplomat. His refusal to let anyone see her may just be bitterness. The diplomat added it would also be near impossible to keep her death quiet. Mr Aris agrees. “Deep down, I don’t think she would’ve died without my hearing something, somehow.” Yet he is worried time may be running out. The family have been told Ms Suu Kyi had trouble with her teeth and gums, and there have been reports that a heart condition has worsened. “That’s the most concerning thing,” said Mr Aris. “Tooth and gum conditions can be torture, but heart conditions can kill you at any point.”
police force using a special website to fl ag off ensive opinions. They had hoped, he believed, that it would be grounds for prosecution as the meme included a photograph of Hit- ler wearing a swastika. German police dropped the case after a public outcry. “This is not normal in a purported Western liberal democracy,” said Max Thompson, the FSU campaigns offi cer, in response to The Telegraph’s report. He added: “Even a historian who has devoted his career to studying the dan- gers of totalitarianism is not immune from being investigated under laws that increasingly resemble the very thing they were built to prevent.”
remains. Its reinforced concrete walls and ceilings are 1.7 metres thick and about a metre underground. The bunker survived in part because it was under the deadly “no man’s land” between East and West Berlin after the Wall was built. It was used to shelter the wives and children of Nazi offi cials during the war. Its garden exit now lies under a patch of wasteland that was once surrounded by the ruins of the Reich Chancellery building. The building, which was designed by Albert Speer, Hitler’s favourite architect, was badly damaged during the war and in 1949, Soviet authorities demolished it. After the Berlin Wall fell and Germany was reunited, the land was returned, when possible, to the original Jewish owners or their families. Over time, these parcels of land were bought to form the plot of
open to the public. People like to forget... it’s easier than to commemorate’
land where the apartments are going to be built. Berlin’s housing department told The Telegraph that it was against preserving the bunker and refused a request for an interview. Christian Gaebler, a housing senator of the Social Democrats, has previously said: “We are not standing in the way of new housing developments just to preserve a bunker that might then even become a place of pilgrimage.” Dietmar Arnold, the chairman of the board of Berliner Unterwelten, said: “For Berlin, the demolition of the last authentic remnant of the New Reich Chancellery would be deeply embarrassing. If we remove authentic sites simply because they could be misused, we’re essentially handing over the power of interpretation to extremists.”
San Francisco at war over ‘entitled’ dog lovers in parks
Io Dodds Where else can we go? Anna Cervantes, right, with her dog Koda at the restricted Jackson Park in San Francisco. Below right, dogs play in same park. Sign banning dogs in parks, below
children – and it’s causing friction as some owners refuse to follow the rules
“YEAH, I see two dogs right now,” said Sean on the phone as he surveilled the park from afar. He was not happy about it. Since February, Sean has been waging a private war against rule- breaking dog-owners in San Francisco’s Jackson Park. Armed with an AI coding tool subscription and a forensic knowledge of local regulations, he has made a website to report lawless pets at Jackson Park and 11 other city parks in an attempt to pressure offi cials into action. But every time he puts up fl yers, people tear them down. His eff orts have so angered his neighbours that he refuses to disclose his real name, giving only a pseudonym. “It is a contentious issue,” he admitted. “I’ve gotten a lot of hate comments, calling me a loser and telling me to get a life. It doesn’t bother me at all: they’re the exact audience I want to see this.” In a city with more canines than children, dogs’ rights have become a fl ashpoint. Furious posts on Reddit and NextDoor depict a city overrun by “entitled” ill-trained dogs and their “entitled” owners, romping through bars, supermarkets and green spaces under the guise of service animal status. In Jackson Park, which is classed as an athletics fi eld and off limits to dogs, city rangers have hounded dog owners off the property with megaphones, whistles, and fi nes – to the confusion and chagrin of locals who have long used it to walk their pets. Paul Sears, a 49-year-old dog trainer whose 2024 petition to change the park rules to be more animal-friendly attracted 1,500 signatures, claims he has witnessed many cases of “aggressive” a d “
behaviou
seemed i
dog owne
a park em
maintena
speed dire
my dog be
at the last
within a fe
said. “That ev
disturbing
several fra
reviews I re
my busines
numerous d
comments a
individually
platforms.” A surge in
ownership, boosted but
started by th
boom in
“pandemic
pups”, only
serves to exac
the problem.
pet care indus
than doubled
Personal
, :,// SUDLVH WKH /25' DFFRUGLQJ WR KLV ULJKWHRXVQHVV DQG ZLOO VLQJ SUDLVH WR WKH QDPH RI WKH /25' PRVW KLJK 3VDOP $9
General personal
step back, this issue would be eminently solvable. But, nope, we just
GRATEFUL THANKS to St Jude for prayers answered. AG. Online Ref: W0051118
2019 to $158bn (£118bn). And the number of pet care employees in city census data also doubled between 2013 and 2023. Meanwhile, our relationship with dogs is becoming more devoted. “For many, particularly younger generations, pets are increasingly seen as children [in which they] invest heavily,” said a spokesman for Rover, the dog care marketplace, which has surveyed the “humanisation” of pets. “While San Francisco is an extreme example, this trend is national,” the spokesman said. The city’s concentration of cash-rich and time-poor tech workers has created a thriving industry of high-end trainers, pet sitters and doggy daycares, which can charge as much as $1,700 (£1,270) a month for their services. The dark side, in a city struggling with drug addiction, mental illness and spiralling housing costs, is more dogs than ever falling into the city’s shelters. “While San Francisco has a strong dog-friendly reputation, the city’s infrastructure – housing, vet care access and the shelter system – has not kept pace with the rising need,” said Amy Corso, executive director of San Francisco Animal Care and Control. The number of dog bites rose from 868 in 2024 to 926 in 2025, according to animal control fi gures; those reported to the police rose from 335 to 462 in the same period. The city’s quasi-judicial “dog court” – formally the Vicious and Dangerous Dog hearings – which can force owners to muzzle, train, confi ne or euthanise dangerous dogs, is restarting this month after a year-long funding hiatus. According to Patrick J Murphy, a University of San Francisco public aff airs professor, San Franciscans have a particular appetite for turning pet issues into pitched political battles, with social media emboldening them to take ever more extreme positions. “If we take a step back, [this issue] should be eminently solvable. But nope, we just get out the fl amethrower,” Prof Murphy said. Which brings us back to Sean, a Hill resident in his late 20s
ks in the legal fi eld. Incensed
nton disregard for rules, he
aude Code whip up gtracker.com, then bought a nator and began putting up s with QR codes.
s argument is simple: “I love I have a dog. I think they d stay in areas that they’re nated to be... these rules exist reason, which is to respect ommunity. f [people] have a problem the rules in place, I implore m to go through the proper nels and make a change if can. Otherwise, they ld follow the f---ing rules.” ccording to Sean, many er visits to Jackson Park with a phone call from But he wants the city to more proactive. andomised patrols every e or two weeks, he says, nding out fi nes without rning, would quickly ch “s---y entitled dog ners” to stay clear. A San cisco parks department old The Telegraph that
at Berlin gay pride festival
By James Rothwell in Berlin
AT least one person was killed and sev- eral injured in Berlin last night after a van drove into a crowd of people at the city’s gay pride festival. German police are hunting the driver of a white vehicle which onlookers say crashed into a group at high speed. They said a total of 15 people were injured in the crash, with one later dying from their injuries. Several others were seriously injured. It is understood the driver got out of the van after the collision and, accord- ing to Bild, allegedly attacked people with a bladed weapon. The driver then fl ed on foot from the scene in Berlin’s Tiergarten park. A photograph showed what appeared to be a white van with a heavily dam- aged bonnet. Several dozen paramedics and emer- gency service workers were at the scene as a “major incident” was declared. “We believe that a vehicle entered the Tiergarten park and hit several peo- ple and injured them,” police said. The gay pride event was cut short as police told participants to “go home, please” and later confi rmed the death of one victim. Within an hour, a police helicopter was circling over central Berlin while a large number of offi cers were searching
KIM WHITE
dogs were “not permitted” on athletic fi elds because they “create unsafe playing conditions and damage turf, leading to increased maintenance, fi eld closures for repairs and regrowth, and reduced access for athletes and the community”. They said dog walkers had a range of other dog-friendly parks they could use. But many locals question why an often-empty baseball diamond – and the fee-paying school that uses it – should get such apparent exclusive priority. “This has always been where we took the dogs... it’s disappointing that the rules don’t refl ect the community’s needs and real use of the space,” said René Garcia, a 21-year-old public policy student. “In San Francisco, unless you’re a millionaire, who can aff ord a yard?” said Ana Cervantes, 30, out walking Koda, her German shepherd mix. “The dedicated dog parks are so small. So where are they meant to go?” Behind such arguments is a tension that goes beyond San Francisco, or even the US. Many recent dog owners are young people or couples frozen out
Emergency personnel help the injured at Tiergarten park
an area between Potsdamer Platz and the south side of the Tiergarten tunnel. Friedrich Merz, the German chancel- lor, is “being kept informed and is close contact with” Alexander Dobrindt, the German interior minister, Mr Merz’s office said. A spokesman added: “His thoughts are with the victims.” Earlier yesterday, hundreds of thou- sands of people took part in the event, called Christopher Street Day. The march ended on 17 June Street, which crosses Berlin’s Tiergarten to the Brandenburg Gate, which has been the venue for concerts since Friday. It had not been confi rmed whether the incident was terror-related.
get transgender dolls
By Benedict Smith WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
MINNESOTA is planning to hand out transgender dolls to children as young as four years old. The paper dolls, which feature removable genitalia, were created by the University of Minnesota Medical School for children aged between four and ten to “learn about the different options that exist for who they can be”, according to The New York Post. Each doll has a gender neutral name, removable internal and external geni- tals, and more than 100 pieces of cloth- ing, accessories and hairstyles. Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, reportedly funded the controversial project, which has prompted outrage from conservative groups. The university’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Health studied “trans and gender diverse” children and their par- ents playing with the dolls and “talk[ing] about gender and bodies” in groups. One of the dolls shown in a 2024 con- ference, called “Sam”, appeared to have partly undergone a sex change. Dr Quentin Van Meter, the former president of the American College of Pediatricians, a conservative group, said the dolls “have no place in an ethi- cal medical care world”. He said chil-
of home ownership, squeezed by ever-increasing rents in cities. Many, too, feel forced to delay having children – something refl ected in the increasingly parental way people talk about “fur babies” and “dog moms”. For them, being chased out of their local park feels like one more unfair barrier to the life they want. “I can think of dozens of couples in that neighbourhood who had a dog, then got married, then had their fi rst kid. Many families started that way,” said Stanford Caldera, 37, an urban planner and landscape architect who until recently lived nearby and walked his dog in Jackson Park. Indeed, Ms Cervantes, who calls Koda “my son”, says she does want human children too, but can’t aff ord it alongside her roughly $4,000 (£3,000) monthly rent. Sean is undeterred. When Jackson Park is renovated in two years to add a dedicated, albeit small, “dog relief area”, he says he’ll be “calling the park rangers every day” on those who defy its boundaries. He is even thinking of buying a billboard.
dren who are persuaded into believing that sex can be changed will become “confused” and that the “emotional trauma caused by ideologues as parents or teachers or counsellors” would result in gender dysphoria. Mr Walz, who is in his third term as governor and unsuccessfully ran for vice president in 2024, has faced scru- tiny over his education and gender pol- icies. He was nicknamed “Tampon Tim” by Republicans during the 2024 elec- tion, after he approved a law to provide
genitalia ... designed for children to learn options for who they can be’
all school students, including boys, with free menstrual products. The trans dolls, which promise to “make gender fun”, will be made avail- able to teachers, school counsellors, pediatricians and mental health provid- ers, according to a website of the “MyGender Dolls” company. They are marketed as a “ therapeutic play approach designed for gender diverse children ages 4–10”. The University of Minnesota, Mr Walz, and MyGender Dolls were approached for comment.
A
ndy Burnham is not wrong to highlight Britain’s
demographic timebomb. In 1972, 7.5 million citizens –
or 13 per cent of the population – were over 65.
According to the Offi ce of National Statistics, this could rise
to 22.1 million people (27 per cent of the population) by 2072.
This rebalancing of our demographic centre of gravity
towards retirement presents obvious challenges: labour
market shortages, sagging productivity , and pressure on
pension ages, housing and the funding of public services.
The most painful fi nancial pinch-point is social care.
Burnham, whose father suff ers from Alzheimer’s disease,
feels the problem keenly. For decades, demand has risen
against a backdrop of under-funding, an unstable and low-
paid workforce and a political system resistant to reform.
This has resulted in chronic understaffi ng, symbolised by
long trolley waits for the elderly in hospitals. In January, the
number of people waiting in the corridor for more than 12
hours peaked at 71,517, the highest fi gure since monthly
records began in August 2010.
The best solution would be an insurance-based system,
where Britons would be encouraged to pay into a fund that
would cover their own care in old age, should they need it.
With the political will, a thriving, competitive market of
provision could be nurtured. Welfare cuts and a package of
growth would also help close the fi nancial black hole.
But, in the mind of our socialist Prime Minister there is
only one solution: an NHS-style system – estimated by the
Health Foundation to cost an extra £18.7bn a year by 2035 –
funded by tax increases. Ever since he was health secretary
under Gordon Brown, Burnham has coveted the
bequeathments of the deceased. In March 2010, he
presented the White Paper “Building the National Care
to the EDITOR
rate has pushed the prison system to breaking point
SIR – Rather than increasing prison places, our focus should be on reducing reoff ending (Letters, July 24). In England and Wales, more than 60 per cent of people released after custodial sentences of six months or less reoff end within a year. This puts huge pressure on the prison system. Tackling this would go some way to lowering the number of prison places required. David Cartwright Woodborough, Nottinghamshire
SIR – Past governments have not built additional prison capacity to allow for the expanding prisoner population. However, the Government could save money by refurbishing unoccupied older prisons, and reduce crime by increasing frontline policing. Tom Knight Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire
SIR – Clearly reducing the prison population is a priority for this Government (“How the early release crisis engulfed Labour”, report, July 23). But releasing prisoners early is not the solution. More than 10,000 foreign nationals are currently held in prisons in England and Wales, accounting for about 12 per cent of the prison population. Faster removal of those eligible for deportation after completing their sentences would help ease overcrowding and reduce costs to taxpayers, who should not be paying for foreign nationals to fi ll our prisons. Roderick Dadak Hawkley, Hampshire
In practice, this is illusory. Here in Shropshire, bigger has not necessarily been better. As the size and scope of local authorities increases, the initiative inevitably passes to paid offi cials, because the scale of operations often proves to be beyond the elected representatives. Whitehall may very well prefer to be dealing with fewer, larger local authorities, but the downside is that power passes irretrievably from the people to the bureaucrats. It will be interesting to see which side of this divide Andy Burnham actually comes down on. Christopher Gill Bridgnorth, Shropshire
SIR – When Rishi Sunak announced the cancellation of the Northern section of HS2, Andy Burnham vehemently objected to the decision. Now that he is in the hot seat, and championing devolution, surely it will only be a matter of time before he reactivates the original plan to link Manchester and Leeds with London via Birmingham. Howard March Birmingham
SIR – The proposal to allow regional mayors to tax staycations is sheer madness, and yet another example of how little our Government understands how to promote growth in our economy. My wife and I have had a single holiday let at our home in Shropshire for 40 years. The majority of our guests spend their time visiting local attractions or walking, before going to one of the pubs for their evening meal. The revenue resulting from these activities is vital for our local economy. A tax on staycations will drive more people to holiday abroad, depriving a struggling rural economy of much- needed revenue and the Government of the VAT it receives on our guests’ spending, which will almost certainly be greater than the proposed tax. This is sheer economic illiteracy. Michael Knowles Ludlow, Shropshire
SIR – Vernon Bogdanor’s analysis of the 1970s (“Burnham’s 1970s nostalgia ignores just how hellish that decade was”, Comment, July 19) does not mention that a large part of the government’s debt was the result of the enormous capital spending needed for the nationalised industries. The desire to control what was referred to as the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement led to the curtailing of essential investment by those industries, adding to the substantial ineffi ciencies already embedded in them. I have always believed that one of Margaret Thatcher’s main reasons for
Service”, which proposed a compulsory 10 per cent levy on all estates. Attacked by the Tories as a “death tax”, it contributed towards Labour’s defeat at the hands of David Cameron six weeks later. Inheritance tax, siphoned from money that has been taxed once already, has consistently been seen as the most unfair of all major taxes. Fifty-four per cent of the public now want it scrapped entirely. They are right. Yet replacing it, or supplementing it, with a revived version of Burnham’s “death tax” would be even worse. By broadening the tax base while cutting the rate for the biggest estates, it would off er no benefi t to the poor; hit those in the middle hardest; and off er the wealthy a big tax break. It would also probably raise far less than the current system . Are we to continue the drive to full Big State decline, or will we grasp the alternative? For now, that choice is up to Mr Burnham. Iran poses a grave threat
What is now known as the “small boats crisis” began during the Syrian civil war, when Bashar al-Assad’s bloody campaign against his own people was forcing millions to fl ee their country. From the beginning, therefore, it was seen in humanitarian terms – even though these migrants were mainly non-Syrian and arriving from the safety of France. One result of this open-heartedness was that successive governments failed to use their heads regarding the obvious threat posed by large numbers of illegal arrivals. Now, with more than 200,000 migrants (75 per cent of whom are men) having crossed the Channel, the folly of
privatisation was to get nationalised industry borrowing off the nation’s balance sheet and into the private sector, which is better able to make fi nancial decisions unaff ected by political constraints. David Baggaley Stoke Gabriel, Devon
SIR – My memories of the 1970s include ones of struggling up the South Norwood hill on my bike, and being relieved when I survived the roundabout at the Elephant and Castle. Later, sitting in candlelight at my desk in the City, I would realise that I had to do the same again next day. Defi nitely not an experience to be repeated. David Burrows Barton on Sea, Hampshire
SIR – I cannot defend the selfi sh cyclist holding up the progress of a bus (Letters, July 19) but, according to the Highway Code, cyclists are not obliged to use cycle lanes. Furthermore, cycle lanes are often strewn with debris, glass and dirt that are damaging to tyres, and which could lead to serious accidents. Some also end suddenly, causing the cyclist to join the carriageway in a precarious manner. All road-users act with poor technique and manners at some time or another. It’s not just cyclists. Rosie Harden-Vane Holywell, Northumberland
SIR – My granddaughter, who is learning to drive, challenged me to take a practice theory test (Letters, July 19). I passed, but have serious concerns about some of the questions that I supposedly answered incorrectly. One was about how to park on a 40mph-limit road at night. Two of the possible answers were acceptable, according to the Highway Code. Another showed a photograph of a left-hand bend ahead, and asked what one might expect. The four possible answers were all things that an experienced driver might expect, but only one was “correct”. Too many of the test’s “correct” answers seem wrong in practice. Michael Bacon Bordon, Hampshire
ESTABLISHED 1961
However, listening to the news that we were to leave, you would have thought that the monarch had died. To say that the reports were biased is an understatement. Michael Morris Little Wratting, Suff olk
SIR – Joanne Stanley-Jones (Letters, July 19) suggests a ban on disposable barbecues on the grounds that they start wildfi res. They do not – it is their irresponsible use that causes damage. Every summer my extended family gathers in Cornwall in several rented properties, and the only way we can all get together for a meal is to have a barbecue on the beach. Using anything except disposable barbecues is impracticable. They are properly extinguished and disposed of afterwards. Other families we encounter do the same. I defy anyone to start a wildfi re on a beach with the tide coming in. Simplistic “solutions” that punish responsible people are unfair and wrong. By all means, bring down the full weight of the law on the stupid and irresponsible, but do not deprive the rest of us of our innocent pleasures. Jolyon Cox Witney, Oxfordshire
SIR – Professor Paul Cornish’s suggestion that the UK might award a British honour to Ukraine, a foreign country, is not entirely without precedent (Letters, July 19). In 1919, the Distinguished Service Cross was conferred upon the city of Dunkirk in France for its inhabitants’ courage under fi re during the First World War. Simon Harley Workington, Cumbria
SIR – You report (July 16) that a pub’s licence was under threat after a single noise complaint. My wife and I were employed as managers for 20 years by two successful pub companies. We managed three pubs, the second in a rural village. Our fi rst and last were big drinking pubs, with brilliant turnover and superb customers in both saloon and public bars. There was never any trouble, and our regulars respected my wife and I as much as we respected them. If it got a bit noisy outside on summer evenings, a quick word was all that was needed. We now live directly opposite a pub, and never have a problem. There is another successful outlet around the corner. However, the clientele of a pub can change with new ownership, which is why I’d advise people who
Britain’s complacency is catching up with us. As The Telegraph revealed yesterday, suspected covert Iranian operatives have been intercepted by our intelligence agencies while attempting to enter the country on small boats. The Tehran regime is believed to “own” human traffi cking routes from the Middle East to Britain, creating sleeper cells under our noses. These are run by Unit 700, the logistics branch of the Quds force – the IRGC’s covert foreign operations division. It is responsible for equipping and funding Hamas, Hezbollah and other groups. How long has this been going on? In 2018 and 2019, Iranian nationals accounted for a large majority of small-boat arrivals. It wasn’t until 2020 that Syrians appeared in signifi cant numbers. But even then they amounted to just 9 per cent of the total, compared to 28 per cent from Iran. Since 2018, Iranians have formed the largest national group of all illegal migrants, with 30,269 arriving, compared with 27,422 Afghans, 19,157 Iraqis, 15,373 Albanians and just 14,744 Syrians. Last week, the Government disclosed that a series of arson and vandalism attacks on Jewish sites, including the fi rebombing of charity ambulances, was the work of Iranian proxies in Britain. But the worst may be yet to come. The head of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, has repeatedly warned of Iran-backed terrorist atrocities in Britain, with “more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” foiled in just one year. On Thursday, Tehran threatened to attack RAF Fairford – which Andy Burnham has allowed the US to continue to use to launch strikes on Iran. They also made veiled threats against the monarchy. With Iranian operatives walking among us, such threats could well become reality. After years of suicidal empathy in Westminster, Mr Burnham must change course before it is too late.
ALAMY
Fans for sale at a shop in Sannenzaka, one of the oldest streets in Kyoto, Japan
SIR – Suzanne Jennings (Letters, July 20) asks why her great-nephew’s school took him on an expensive trip to Japan, when a nearer destination would have avoided environmental damage caused by emissions. Exposure to Japanese culture is valuable to growing minds: extreme courtesy in interpersonal relationships and a degree of politeness that would open their minds to a far more pleasant way of living, for instance. Respect for the older generation – and for women in general – are marked features of communal behaviour in Japan, along with helpfulness, which they
don’t like noise not to live near a pub. Interestingly, when pubs are forced to close because of lack of business and huge overheads, it’s usually the whingers, despite never supporting the venue, who are the fi rst to speak out against the closure. Geoff Young Smarden, Kent
SIR – I agree with Eve Wilson (Letters, July 19) that being able to take lots of luggage is one benefi t of cruises. However, I remember one from Spain when our airport-to-ship bus was delayed as we waited for two passengers. Eventually, a very stressed couple joined us, without any luggage. It turned out that they were from America and had taken two fl ights to get to Spain. Unfortunately, their seven pieces of luggage had not made the same journey. For the next 10 days, as we cruised the Mediterranean then across
see as an obligation owed to everyone, especially foreigners when they need directions. I suggest Ms Jennings asks her great-nephew, when he returns, whether he has identifi ed these and similar features of Japanese culture, and if so, would we benefi t from transplanting them into Western life? In fact, I believe Ms Jennings would be staggered if she made the trip herself, and would come back a convert to the idea of sending young people to Japan as part of the curriculum. Nicholas Nelson Iwerne Minster, Dorset
to Miami, this couple appeared each day wearing the same clothes. I suspect that they could not face buying more from the onboard boutique. Tim Oldfi eld Wye, Kent
SIR – I save my oldest, shabbiest clothes to wear and discard on holiday, returning home to no tedious laundry. Some friends think this is slightly odd. Ben Cooper Barrowden, Rutland
P
great British school holiday
W
arents: how are your summer
holidays going so far? Enjoying
those balmy fi rst few days of
freedom? The sunshine through the
window, the pleasant lack of a morning
rush, the blissful knowledge that for
the next six weeks nobody needs a
clean uniform, or a PE bag on a Friday?
Let me tell you about mine. So far, I
have made 40-odd packed lunches,
fi elded approximately 2,546 screen-
time requests and muted WhatsApp
thanks to the logistics groups pinging
me at all hours.
This is because my children have
already been on holiday for nearly fi ve
weeks – and we still have six to go.
Think juggling August is bad? Trying
juggling June and July as well.
When my family and I moved to the
US last July, the trials of the long
vacation were the last thing on my
mind. Summer here was great! It was
hot! There were free outdoor pools! You
didn’t have to plan for a rainy day! What
wasn’t to love?
Then, in the middle of June, my
children fi nished school. And they don’t
go back to until the end of August. My
husband and I both have jobs, with a
relatively generous holiday allowance
– but nowhere near enough to cover it.
(Average paid vacation in America is 10
days a year, but there’s no legal federal
requirement to provide any time off .)
So we made a spreadsheet, and
started forking out. Week one, soccer
camp. Week two, multi-sports. Week
three was a “chill” week (they watched
a LOT of TV). Week four, tennis and
swimming.
We’re now back in the UK for a
fortnight, seeing family and friends. I
haven’t quite worked out what
happens when we return, but there’s
nearly a month to fi ll and I’ve stopped
counting the dollars.
The average American speciality day
camp runs at about $328, according to
the American Camp Association.
Sleep-away camp, of the sort depicted
in movies, costs closer to $1,000.
In DC, where we live, $300 a week
for day camp is cheap, and friends
sending their kids off to sleep-away
ones tell me they’re paying nearer
$7,000 for two weeks. The fl ip side of a
generous holiday allowance,
unfortunately, is that we aren’t on
American salaries.
This is a perennial problem. The
long summer holiday has been a
feature of American life since the late
19th century, born of an attempt to
standardise rural and urban schooling
and the impossibility of cooling
classrooms during the scorching
summer months.
Many cities, DC included, off er
cheaper programming to residents by
lottery, but you have to be extremely on
the ball to avail yourself of it – as I
discovered when I attempted to sign
my kids up for some of the cheaper
camps and found out that the cut-off
date for applying was in the middle of
February.
In some states, it’s even worse: a
friend who lives in California tells me
that if you haven’t organised your
summer camp options by the end of
January, you’re basically screwed (they
also break up for the summer holidays
there in May).
For most parents, the whole thing is a
complicated, messy and ultimately
stressful jigsaw. It’s also a big fi nancial
drain, and even more so this year –
when 65 per cent of Americans have
already altered summer travel plans
because of rising prices, according to a
recent survey.
So, my fellow British parents staring
down the barrel of summer: take h-eart.
Enjoy these fi rst few days. Bask in the
joy of a mere six weeks to fi ll. And when
you get to the end of those six weeks, be
grateful that you haven’t got another
fi ve to go.
sending their kids off to sleep-away camps tell me they’re paying nearly $7,000 for two weeks
US, my
children
have already
been off
school for
nearly fi ve
weeks, and
we still have
six to go
I
already admired Sanae Takaichi, the Japanese PM, for being a rare woman to climb to the very top in her country’s highly patriarchal society. But when I saw the 65-year-old boast that she only sleeps between zero and three hours a night, and was feeling refreshed after a national holiday last week when she got a full fi ve, I eyed the news enviously. What a superwoman! If only we had leaders of that seriousness, that sheer level of workaholism, that complete undying commitment not to stupid social media posts, photo-ops, throwaway policy gestures and U-turns, but to the actual nitty-gritty of governing. We might be seeing improvements in the fabric of society and in our lives if we did. Instead, under yet another unserious second-rater, we’re headed faster still for the bottom. I’ll bet Andy Burnham gets his full eight hours. As has been widely noted, there are lashings of Lady Thatcher in Takaichi’s approach to work and shut-eye. Many of these comparisons have been
Takaichi’s admission that she sleeps three hours a night drew criticism, but her work ethic echoes Lady Thatcher’s
To order prints or signed copies of any Telegraph cartoon, go to telegraph.co.uk/prints-cartoons or call 0191 603 0178 readerprints@telegraph.co.uk
reveals his regressive ideas about class
hen Andy Burnham announced his tiny bit of tax relief for pubs last week, he made a point of describing it in quaintly political terms. Pubs were, he said, “part of working-class culture”. It was clear that he intended this to be a sign of his personal belief that the last four decades of British politics had been a betrayal of the “working class”. This statement was notable on a number of grounds. First, it was gratuitous: given the dire condition of the hospitality industry, there was no need to justify a tax break for pubs in such sectarian terms – as if this were specifi cally designed to favour only one section of society. Second, it was untrue, or at the very least misleading. Pubs are not just part of “working-class culture”. They are a signifi cant part of British community life for all classes. The clientele tends to refl ect the social composition of their neighbourhoods. Country pubs – which have been hit very hard in recent years by drink- driving laws – are traditional meeting places for all the local people. There used to be, back in the days of unabashed snobbery, separate accommodation in pubs for class diff erences: the saloon bar was for toff s and the public bar for the lower orders. Mercifully, that pretty much disappeared with the social liberation of the 1960s. The new tax break specifi cally ruled out restaurants and cafes which presumably were seen as alien to that particular sector of the population with which Mr Burnham was trying to identify. (Perhaps this will come as a shock to the new Prime Minister, but working-class people now go to
locals are not just part of ‘working- class culture’. The PM’s words were outdated and patronising
READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion
READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion
whipped out unfavourably, as if it’s a bad thing to be like our former PM. And yet it’s no coincidence that Lady T’s disdain for sleep sits alongside her status as the only prime minister since Churchill to take on the leadership of this country in an even more parlous a state than it is in now, and to fi rst save and then revolutionise it. The fact is, if you want to be a great leader, you have to work hard non- stop. Takaichi clearly grasps this. “Getting zero to three hours of sleep a day has become my norm,” she posted. She is, “swamped with work until early today, re-reading the fi nal draft of documents and processing several thousand accumulated emails”. That is just as it should be. Takaichi’s post seemed a clear attempt to humanise herself while also providing reassurance to her constituents that she was working as hard as humanly possible for them. But this being 2026, her post provoked a bad-tempered pearl- clutching session about “work-life balance”. Allegedly, it is particularly bad in Japan (alongside its “record”
1,310 people who got payouts last year for ill health or death related to overwork, one also hears and reads of a generation of profoundly idle – in all ways – young people). Toru Kunishige, of Japan’s Centrist Reform Alliance opposition, sniped that Takaichi’s lack of sleep “could pose a risk to national crisis management”. Another opposition politician, Yuichiro Tamaki of the Democratic Party for the People, said she “should use her precious time for the jobs that only the prime minister can do”. This was in response to Takaichi saying that after her fi ve-hour sleep she used the holiday day to deal “all at once with a large amount of untouched ironing, including washed handkerchiefs and undershirts, as well as sewing”. I love this lady. But in fact, the claims of lack of work-life balance seem oddly out of place. In the slivers of spare time she allows herself, Takaichi is known for her hearty pursuit of heavy metal music, karate and scuba diving.
restaurants.) And I wonder where gastro pubs fi t in the proletarian test? Is their gourmet menu too bourgeois to qualify as ideologically acceptable? Or maybe having a menu at all will rule them out, so only high-street “boozers” will qualify. This is not just ridiculous. It is outdated, patronising and divisive. There was a good reason why Labour politicians had begun speaking of “working people” instead of “working- class people”. People are no longer born into an inherited social class that they never expect to leave, with self-imposed cultural expectations and a narrow, predictable future path. The 1980s, which Burnhamism is determined to reject, brought a degree of social mobility to this country which might once have seemed inconceivable. Certainly, there were people who had risen beyond their origins in the past, particularly in the fl ourishing years of the grammar schools. But that was largely a matter of individual talent and determination. What the Thatcherite revolution did was enable whole tranches of people to own their homes, start their own businesses and fi nd their way upwards without the traditional middle-class licence of academic qualifi cations. Entrepreneurialism, which was despised at the time by many people who regarded themselves as Left wing, became a force for a new popular awakening. Alongside those rising expectations, there was, of course, a sadder phenomenon. The old industries, which had once been the inevitable fate of almost every working-class child, disappeared.
The local coal mines and steel plants that had been relied upon to absorb each successive generation were gone. It is to those left-behind communities that Burnhamism is now directing its pitch. But it is doing it in a perniciously sentimental, regressive way that deliberately denies all the promise and the transformed expectations that the 1980s revolution delivered. Burnham talks of restoring “hope” to those who were left behind, but what he actually seems to be reviving is embittered fatalism. There is a palpable regret for the passing of a cloth-cap caricature of class loyalty which actively disapproved of anyone breaking free from local limitations. What the 1980s taught was that leaving behind the constraints of your birth was not a betrayal: it was an act of personal courage and a testimony to the strength your early life had given you. The label “working class” that Burnham has resurrected carries a whole lot of baggage: it was avowedly Marxist in its depiction of a permanently exploited proletariat, and it was morally coercive in that it implied a need for lifelong solidarity. The repudiation of that mentality was what lay at the heart of Tony Blair’s New Labour. If Left-liberalism were to survive, the Blairites said, it would have to accept that the entrenched class attitudes which had held people back for so long could no longer be sustained. That was, and still is, almost certainly true. In fact, this resuscitated Old Labour stance of Burnham’s may turn out to be unwise even for purely electoral purposes. He makes much of the
The response to Takaichi’s admission speaks to a much deeper shift in global cultures of excellence. Throughout the West, which is blighted by inactivity and joblessness, there is a sense that it is mentally unhealthy and almost contaminating to others for a person to work really hard and single-mindedly. And to be obsessed with something is bound to win you a coterie of concerned bystanders and experts who will say they are “worried about you”, that you “need a break” and must go and “have fun”. Being “intense” is considered a bad thing too. The downgrading of 24/7 obsessional work is , like so much else that counters human thriving, a result of therapy culture married to management ethics. The concept of “work-life balance” is their baby, but it means absolutely nothing, because the whole equation depends on what the work is, and what the life is. If you’re a country’s leader, then why exactly are you seeking personal “balance”? A few months ago I went along to a
specifi cally North of England roots of his political philosophy. But the “working classes” for whom he claims to speak are not just in the old mining and steel towns of the North. They are the Essex men and the South London women who were recruited by Margaret Thatcher: the white-van tradesmen and the working mothers who wanted to improve their lives and their children’s prospects. They haven’t gone away and they do not want to be seen as needing paternalistic help from a northern do-gooder. What they want is what they were promised fi rst by a Tory government, and then by its New Labour imitators: an opportunity to make their own way and determine their own futures without being penalised for success or suff ocated by regulation. If anything, they are probably more angry than the professional middle classes about high taxation and an infl ated welfare state. Then again, perhaps Burnham is just ostentatiously talking the talk of the old Left in order to win back the Red Wall voters who have defected to Reform, and to keep his backbenches happy. Or could it be even more cynical? Is he talking Left while actually planning to govern Right? After all, in the same week that he declared allegiance to his Northern working-class roots, he allowed the US to bomb Iran from British bases, and he made it clear as well that he would have liked to raise the threshold for basic rate income tax. Not so diff erent from the decisions Tony Blair would have made, are they?
press conference with the two greatest chess players in the world: Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. I asked them what they thought of the concept of “obsession” in a world in which people are constantly being warned it is not healthy to be obsessed or intense. While Carlsen may be spending his every waking hour thinking about chess, people will be telling him he should “relax” and “have fun”. Carlsen was very interested by the question, and said it was a tough one because it had become harder and harder to embrace obsessiveness – which is absolutely essential to his line of work – without the stigma nipping at you. Carlsen’s father was also there, and singled me out afterward to thank me for the question. In his view, the cordoning off of obsession as somehow unhealthy is the single-biggest travesty in Western societies. In Carlsen Senior’s view, obsessiveness is the essential ingredient of progress. I am inclined to agree, and so, it seems, is Sanae Takaichi.
Y
O
ou have a choice: either £50,000 in your pocket, or a 50-50 chance of getting £1m. Which do you pick? If you are a typical British adult, you will take the fi rst option. And that, I am sorry to say, is part of why we are in such a mess. Britain, which pioneered the market economy and gave the world the Industrial Revolution, has sunk into safetyism. We have become risk-averse to a degree that astonishes not only our Anglosphere cousins, but our European neighbours. According to YouGov, 73 per cent of Britons would take the 50 grand, and only 21 per cent the shot at the million. Which, in a nutshell, is why we are not growing, why we care more about redistributing than creating wealth and even, to a degree, why a defensive England football team lost to Argentina in the World Cup semi-fi nal. It is not as simple as saying that a 50-50 chance of £1m is equivalent to £500,000, and is therefore 10 times more valuable. The rational choice is in part determined by your circumstances. If you already have £5m, the riskier option is more attractive than if you have just £5,000. Economists call it “logarithmic utility” meaning, roughly, that the richer you already are, the less any fi xed sum will improve your happiness. There is a formula to work out the point at which it becomes strictly rational to take the 50-50 risk rather than the certain £50,000. That point, in this case, is when you have assets of £2,778. Anything above that and it makes mathematical sense to hold out for the larger sum. It is true that human beings are both irrationally risk-averse and irrationally loss-averse. It is true, too, that there is a gender disparity. Eighty-two per cent of women and 63 per cent of men would take the guaranteed £50,000. Still, £2,778? That is a level of average assets found only in the poorest parts of Africa. We are thinking like a Third World country – and, if we carry on like this, we will turn into one. The readiness to take calculated risks is a defi ning feature of a dynamic economy. To launch a business takes courage. You are forgoing a regular salary, job security and pension contributions. You are risking your own assets, and are probably also on the hook for what you have borrowed. You have responsibilities to your employees and your customers, but little control over external factors such as the state of the economy, the tax rate or the quality of the competition. You are the last to get paid, getting your share only after you have met your
W
become obsessively risk-averse, as a poll of Britons highlights with painful clarity
to thrive at school
ver the past week some worrying old tweets have emerged from Andy Burnham’s new Education Secretary, Lucy Powell. The Secretary of State said in 2018 there was no point in the “regurgitation of knowledge when we all have the knowledge we need at our fi ngertips”. According to Ms Powell , it wasn’t knowledge that matters but “how we use, manipulate, combine and create with that knowledge that’s needed”. You might think it odd to appoint an education minister with a track record of opposing children being taught knowledge. In fact, it’s a widely held view in education circles that knowledge is less important than the intellectual skills of critical thinking and problem-solving. But what Ms Powell and those who share this ideology fail to understand is that you cannot teach critical thinking or problem-solving in isolation. It must be twinned with the knowledge of a particular academic discipline. This “skills vs knowledge” debate stems from the 1920s, when American academics made similar claims that pupils could look things up and therefore didn’t need to remember vast tracts of knowledge. This ideological view became dominant in educational thinking over the century that followed, particularly in the Anglosphere. Advances in cognitive science over the past two decades, however, have demonstrated this view to be profoundly wrong. It’s now clear that analytical and problem-solving intellectual skills rely on having extensive knowledge . In the 1990s, schools in the UK began to skew their curriculum towards teaching at the expense of broader knowledge, known as a “competency- based curriculum”. It had a catastrophic eff ect. England declined in international surveys of reading and maths ability. Employers complained about the literacy and numeracy skills of school leavers while universities said that undergraduates were badly prepared for degree-level study . In 2010, Michael Gove and I were
science shows that critical thinking depends on memorised information. Is the Education Secretary listening at the back?
Nick Gibb served as an education minister in the previous Conservative government and was MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton from 1997 until 2024
explains Britain’s myriad crises
obligations to your staff and your suppliers. A healthy society recognises that people will take these risks only if there are commensurate rewards. It acknowledges that we all benefi t from the success of wealth creators: I don’t know about you, but I have never worked for a poor boss. In short, a prosperous country understands the value of taking the calculated bet on the £1m rather than settling for the smaller sum. We were once such a country. Not now. One encounters Britain’s obsessive risk-aversion in a thousand small daily encounters. The way, for example, that restaurants now ask us whether we have allergies. Not so long ago, it was up to us to say what foods we couldn’t eat. The change may seem trivial, but it is symptomatic of a society that takes the worst-case scenario and builds it into a rule for everyone. We see the same thing when trains stop and wait for the police when a drunk passenger insults a member of staff , rather than simply bunging the
society that takes a worst- case scenario and builds it into a rule for everyone
drunk off at the next station. We see it in how state schools teach to the slowest rather than the median member of every class. We see it in our readiness to tolerate a thousand cases of welfare fraud rather than risk one deserving recipient losing out. We see it in the obsession, on campuses and in public-sector institutions, with protecting people from the imagined harm caused by having to listen to disturbing opinions. I am not exaggerating when I say that offi cial risk aversion is the proximate cause of our relative – and relatively recent – economic decline. Until the 2008 banking crash, Britain and the United States were at a comparable level of wealth. An Englishman in New York might have been a legal alien, but he did not feel particularly poor. Indeed, in the half century leading up to 2008, wealth per capita had been growing slightly faster in Britain than in the US. After the bank bailouts, everything changed. Britain’s growth fl attened, and a vertiginous gap opened up between what had until then been two comparable economies, both highly dependent on fi nancial services. Incredibly, the average Briton is now 40 per cent worse off than the average
Briton is now 40 per cent worse off than the average American
determined to abandon the
competency-based curriculum which
was damaging pupils’ attainment . We
replaced it with one focused on
knowledge. We strengthened the tests
at the end of primary school and the
GCSE and A-level qualifi cations.
We required, for example, that pupils
know mathematical formulae by heart
– something the current Government
has removed. We ensured that young
children were taught to read using the
systematic phonics approach. We
introduced a compulsory multiplication
tables test for nine-year-olds .
As a consequence of these reforms,
England is now rising in those
international league tables for
15-year-olds: to 11th in maths and 13th
in reading. For nine-year-olds, England
is now fourth in the world in reading.
By 2020, the attainment gap
between children from disadvantaged
backgrounds and their more
advantaged peers had closed by 13 per
cent in primary schools and by 9 per
cent in secondary education.
Since Covid, the gap has widened. I
have no doubt that our reforms – if
continued and pursued with rigour –
will close the gap again. And I have no
doubt that Andy Burnham and his new
Education Secretary are determined to
close the gap – but if they undervalue
knowledge and ignore the evidence
they will fail.
I hope that Ms Powell will listen to
leading thinkers in Britain’s teaching
profession: people like Tom Bennett,
the founder of researchED, which is
committed to understanding evidence-
led teaching, and Katharine
Birbalsingh, headmistress of Michaela
Community School in Brent. Michaela’s
knowledge-rich curriculum and
rigorous standards mean it is the
highest-performing state school in the
country, with GCSE results that eclipse
even top private schools.
British teachers are leading the world
in driving the debate about the science
of learning and what cognitive science
tells us about how children learn. I
hope Ms Powell will lean into that
debate and listen to those teachers.
MIKE KEMP/IN PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES
American. What happened? Two words: bank regulations. A consensus formed almost immediately in Britain and Europe that the crisis had been caused by an insuffi ciently regulated fi nancial services sector. No one, in those demented days, wanted to hear that fi nancial services had in fact been the most regulated sector of the civilian economy after nuclear power. We tied up our banks in pettifogging rules, some domestic, most EU-wide. The consequences are spelt out in a new paper by the distinguished economist Tyler Goodspeed, published by the Institute of Economic Aff airs.
Prime Minister just hasn’t noticed yet
e may be on the brink of war – and yet the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham appears to be more interested in TikTok videos for his “No 10 North” gimmick than the defence of the realm. Over the past 24 hours, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian regime’s ideological army, has explicitly threatened to attack Britain. In an offi cial statement – which also singled out the “British Monarchy” – the IRGC issued a threat to strike RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, whilst making it clear that all bases housing US forces engaged in military operations are “legitimate targets”. The threat comes days after Burnham rightly agreed to continue Sir Keir Starmer’s (belated) policy of allowing Washington to carry out defensive operations against the Iranian regime from British bases. To be clear: the Iranian regime’s hostile threats and acts against Britain would have taken place irrespective of Burnham’s green light to US president Donald Trump. This is evidenced by the fact that it attacked our base in Cyprus before Starmer agreed to allow Washington to use British bases. Not to mention the 20-plus terrorist attacks the IRGC has sought to carry out in Britain in just the past four years. The Islamic regime in Iran has long been at war with Britain. The latest example of this is The Telegraph’s revelation that the IRGC’s Unit 700 branch has been exploiting the small-boats crisis to smuggle “Islamic revolutionary agents” into the UK and position them across London. As one Iranian regime offi cial brazenly told The Telegraph on Friday: “We do not need a missile to target London.” While shocking, the report should not be surprising. Burnham is certainly not to blame for the IRGC’s most recent reckless threat, but the same cannot be said about his government’s tepid response to the Iranian regime’s near-declaration of war. The reaction should at the very least have led to the summoning of the Iranian ambassador and the issuing of a
has built an enemy network in the UK under the guise of mosques, charities and colleges
British banks were deterred from lending to smaller and medium businesses. Even today, bank lending is 15 per cent below its 2008 level, making it much harder for new enterprises to succeed. In the US, by contrast, companies were able to continue borrowing from non-bank lenders or from smaller banks that were exempt from the more onerous rules. In consequence, after an equivalent sharp drop in both countries, US growth quickly returned to trend, while British growth never did. Then, in March 2020, another hammer-blow. Britain’s lockdown was more severe than in any US state, even
Downbeat: a culture of safetyism and over-regulation has ruined what was once a dynamic, risk-taking nation
FOLLOW Daniel Hannan on X @DanielJHannan; READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion
clear warning to Tehran that any attack on Britain would have serious consequences. Instead, Burnham’s government released a half-baked statement that Britain was ready to “defend” itself whilst “not getting drawn into the wider confl ict”. The Islamic regime in Iran needs to know that it will incur serious costs – including military repercussions – should it decide to strike. But the most worrying part is that, while the Government appears to be focused on a conventional Iranian strike, it is once again overlooking the IRGC’s asymmetric terrorist capabilities in the UK. And I am not just talking about “thugs for hire”. The IRGC has had a long-standing covert presence in Britain. It has de facto built an entire “soft-power” infrastructure on British soil under the “legitimate” guise of mosques, charities and colleges. While the infrastructure is not offi cially registered in the IRGC’s name and is not directly created, fi nanced, or run by the group, it none the less facilitates affi liated activities while providing the regime with enough space to deny responsibility. Its goal has been to use this infrastructure to nurture home-grown Islamist radicalisation, terrorism and acts of violence. It has successfully cultivated, within segments of the British Muslim community, an Islamist constituency that is loyal to it and its violent extremist ideology. These tactics mimic those of Isis and al-Qaeda – and yet there has been virtually no attempt to counter it. I have personally spearheaded investigations exposing how senior IRGC commanders – including those involved in terror plots abroad – have been in contact with university student associations in Britain via Zoom. They even called on these students to join their so-called apocalyptic army that would “bring an end to the life of Zionists and Jews across the world”. This was not a one-off . Only a few months ago, the Iranian Embassy in London issued a call for British Muslims to register for “self-sacrifi cing” suicide
California. Whatever we now tell ourselves, it was not imposed on an unwilling nation. Many of those now complaining about its economic eff ects were demanding stricter controls at the time. The couple of dozen of us who pointed out that the costs were disproportionate were screamed at for “putting the economy before lives” – as if the economy were some separate entity that sat alongside human beings rather than being the name we give to the voluntary transactions through which people pursue happiness. Are we doomed, then, by our national cowardice? Did our more enterprising predecessors set sail for the New World, leaving their hesitant and anxious siblings behind? Possibly. I have often wondered whether the risk-taking culture of the US, seen in everything from the number of start-ups to the number of homicides, is a product of genetic optimism-bias. A bigger factor, though, is surely the nature of regulation. When we talk airily of “culture”, we are usually not
looking closely enough at incentives. There was a widespread view in the 1970s that the British were work-shy. In fact, all that was needed was a tweak in the incentives for the same people, in the 1980s, to become model entrepreneurs. Scrapping our most disproportionately safetyist laws, from fi nancial services to the Online Safety Act, would itself alter our behaviour. It would restore something of the buccaneering culture that our restless ancestors took for granted. On one level, we know how abject our situation is. When did you last hear the phrase “health and safety” used enthusiastically, despite the literal meaning of the words? All that is needed is a bit of spirit. Stop teaching young children that any kind of action they dislike is bullying; or older kids that bad behaviour is really a mental health issue requiring reasonable adjustments; or university students that being exposed to disagreeable opinions is traumatic; or graduates that a life in the public sector is desirable because it off ers security; or police recruits that stopping crime is secondary to DEI. Normalise risk-taking, applaud boldness, recognise courage. We’ll start growing again soon enough.
missions.
The new supreme leader Mojtaba
Khamenei continues to maintain an
offi ce in London. He even has a
personally appointed representative: a
senior mullah who, despite expressing
extremist views that are sympathetic to
the IRGC, not only continues to reside
in the UK but also runs several charities
in his name. This individual does not
hold a diplomatic passport, meaning his
visa could be revoked. But this, of
course, has not happened.
The radical Islamist constituency the
Iranian regime has cultivated in Britain
is already carrying out acts of
intimidation, vandalism, and violence
against British Jews and dissident
British Iranians in the UK. If the IRGC
seeks to attack Britain, it could – at least
in theory – activate this radicalised
Islamist constituency for acts of
home-grown violence and terror.
We simply cannot tolerate the
existence of this Islamist extremist
infrastructure on our soil. Last week,
the outgoing government of Keir
Starmer designated the IRGC as a state
threat under its new National Security
(State Threats) Act. While this
designation falls short of full terrorist
proscription, the Government claims it
is just as eff ective. It therefore should
waste no time to enforce it against this
extremist apparatus. Charities,
mosques and centres that have carried
out IRGC-linked activity should be
dismantled and their non-British staff
deported immediately. No ifs or buts.
This would send a clear message to
the IRGC that Britain will not tolerate
threats. It will pre-emptively act to
preserve national security.
The IRGC’s threat to attack Britain
must serve as a wake-up call for
Burnham. Our adversaries – Russia,
China, and the Iranian regime – are
closely watching how we react at this
critical juncture. Instead of pursuing
TikTok gimmicks, or having his new
Defence Secretary condemn Israel –
one of Britain’s closest security partners
– the Prime Minister should be
investing seriously in our defence and
our alliances.
A
he’s just another prisoner of Britain’s debt straitjacket
leaving him with unpalatable choices to fund his spending plans. By Tim Wallace and Eir Nolsøe
ndy Burnham may have swept to power with next to no scrutiny of his plans to govern Britain. But his fi rst week in No 10 has given the new Prime Minister a crash course in the diff erence between running for the Labour leadership and running the nation. A new policy was unveiled each day, with the aim of building positive momentum and avoiding the air of gloom that built almost overnight around the Starmer administration two years ago. Cheaper bus fares. Lower business rates for pubs. VAT off electricity bills. Far from being mindlessly cheered, each one instead met a barrage of questions on funding. Small though each policy might be, week one of Burnham’s Britain shows the intensity of the focus – and nerves – about his approach to spending. That should not surprise the PM. As mayor of Manchester, he caused consternation in the City – and in the Treasury – when he grumbled that Britain should not be “in hock to the bond markets”. Now he sits atop a Government facing a fi nancial crunch. Annual borrowings of £115bn. National debt set to reach £3tn. Borrowing costs soaring. He started small, but Burnham has much bigger plans to reshape the state and its role in the economy. From nationalisations to a housebuilding blitz and more defence spending, he gives all the indications of a man intent on a spending spree. But who, you might ask, is going to pay for it all? Burnham wants to squeeze more from the borrowing rules inherited from Rachel Reeves, who rewrote the fi nancial targets in 2024. “I’ve said we’ll stick to the fi scal rules, and by that I mean the existing fi scal rules, and use obviously any fl exibility within them,” Burnham said on taking offi ce. The word “fl exibility” alone raised eyebrows in bond markets. Borrowing costs – measured by the yield on Britain’s benchmark 10-year debt – rose above 5pc again in Burnham’s fi rst week in charge. That means whatever extra borrowing he does undertake will be expensive, adding to a debt interest burden of £130bn a year. But what exactly are these “rules” Burnham has inherited? And what happens if he tries to bend them to pay for more spending?
The rules governing Britain’s ability to spend and borrow are twofold. One is the “stability rule”. This requires the day-to-day spending on things like nurses’ salaries and welfare benefi ts to be covered entirely by tax receipts, meaning the Government borrows only for investment. The second is the “investment rule”. This means debt must fall as a share of the economy. When she was in offi ce, Reeves updated the defi nition of debt to a new measure called “public sector net fi nancial liabilities”. This might sound complicated, but the change meant fi nancial assets owned by the Government – such as shares in companies and certain loans – could be counted against its debts. It meant a load of green pluses were added to the nation’s balance sheet, cancelling out many of the red negatives. Currently the Government is on track to meet both of the “stability” and “investment” rules in three years’ time, as judged by the Offi ce for Budget Responsibility (OBR). At the Spring Statement, Reeves was forecast to achieve the stability rule with a buff er of £23.6bn, and the investment rule by a little more. Tax experts, bond investors and City
economists have pored over the rules, the comments and the possibilities to identify potential ways Burnham could squeeze more money from the Reeves’s constraints.
The fi rst option is just to use some of the headroom, and eat a bit more into that £23.6bn fi nancial buff er. “Rachel Reeves increased [her headroom] quite a bit – that was something we thought was broadly sensible,” says Nick Ridpath at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. “That is fl exibility, in some sense. There is a buff er you can eat into. That would come with serious risks, but you could do it within the fi scal rules.” Yet the headroom remains low by historical standards. Previous chancellors had an average buff er of nearly £30bn. Worse still, some of that headroom has disappeared since March. The Government borrowed £2.7bn more than anticipated in the fi rst three months of this fi nancial year. On top of that, OBR forecasts depend in part on conditions in fi nancial markets, and the war in Iran has pushed up borrowing costs. The Resolution Foundation, a think tank, estimates the headroom is now back down to £10bn – roughly where it was last year, which left the Government vulnerable to regular panics over the state of the fi nances. A second option is to focus extra spending on investment, which is less constrained by the fi scal rules. Burnham could borrow to build hospitals, buy battle tanks or improve the nation’s energy infrastructure under this part of the rules. Louise Haigh, a close ally of the PM who heads the powerful new Offi ce of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, wrote in favour of more
John Healey, the Chancellor, is said to have discussed ‘war bonds’ with Andy Burnham
investment in an essay in May. She criticised Conservative chancellors for the “cardinal sin” of cutting investment spending to meet previous fi scal rules, which “weakens the very growth prospects on which fi scal credibility ultimately depends”. She wrote: “We must more clearly ring-fence this investment during fi scal consolidation. We must begin to treat investment as a central part of our fi scal strategy.” The downside is this normally comes with extra day-to-day spending, too. Hospitals need staff , who need paying. The same is true of soldiers driving the tanks. And this extra borrowing incurs interest payments, which also count as day to day spending. As Haigh acknowledges, “the primary constraint on public investment today is not in any government’s gift to
change: it is the cost of borrowing itself.” There is no free lunch in borrowing to invest, particularly if it does not guarantee a long-term boost to the economy. One way to avoid some of those downsides is to invest in fi nancial assets, which means the Government can borrow money and disguise the borrowing by ploughing the cash into investments. The Resolution Foundation suggests beefi ng up the British Business Bank, the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and the National Housing Bank to achieve this. The think tank suggests that, with extra funding, the NWF could plausibly invest an extra £16bn over fi ve years in infrastructure, supply chains and growing businesses in favoured industries. If this comes with quicker fi nancial returns – such as interest payments on loans to businesses – it could off set much of the cost of Government borrowing in the fi rst place. Haigh wants the NWF further souped up, “to
borrow against its existing balance sheet outside of the fi scal rules”. She hopes it would “enable investment at scale without undermining fi scal credibility” while taking “greater risk in areas where private markets are unwilling to invest at the necessary scale”. One risk is that the manoeuvre backfi res. The Resolution Foundation warns that investing too much in any particular project could result in it being deemed part of the public sector, losing its status as a fi nancial asset and thus appearing again as a debt. It is unlikely to cover investment such as buying weapons for the Army, but could support businesses developing cutting edge military tech such as drones or missile defence systems. Allan Monks, economist at JP Morgan, warns this is not the real purpose of the NWF. “The only feasible way we see [that the NWF] could help fund defence is if the outlays were narrowly focussed on supporting dual- purpose technologies, research and development or related infrastructure spending that is demonstrably profi table further down the line,” he says. “The NWF is designed to act as a catalyst to stimulate private sector investment rather than acting as a substitute for either private or public sector investment.” All the while risky investment decisions are made with borrowed money, pushing up the Government’s debt interest bill. “Even if such plans don’t raise public sector net fi nancial liabilities (PSNFL) [a measure of debt] and fi scal rules are met, these plans would raise borrowing and gilt issuance and would need to show some longer-term growth gains to be credible,” says Sonali Punhani, economist at Bank of America. “The potential market reaction to a large amount of borrowing can act as a constraint.”
So far, Burnham is moving in the opposite direction. The lower bus fare cap is funded with money earmarked for foreign climate projects, cutting investment to pay for more day-to-day spending on services. But the focus on local services nods to one of his big priorities: devolution. The PM has made much of his establishment of “No 10 North”, a Manchester base to show his desire to shift power away from London. A paper two months ago from the Labour Growth Group, written by Chris Curtis MP and Mark McVitie, called for mayors to receive more powers to tax, spend and borrow. This should include “tax increment fi nancing, project-specifi c land value capture, a large selection of local levies, local business property rate fl exibilities, stronger mayoral development corporations and the ability to retain a defi ned share of future growth revenues from local success,” they wrote. This could be particularly powerful when it comes to a new era of housebuilding. New towns could be allowed to borrow privately against their own assets, self-funding their development to unleash more construction. It is understood this idea was rejected in the Starmer era for fear of appearing like another change in the fi scal rules, risking undermining market confi dence. But with a promise to massively ramp up in housebuilding, particularly of council houses, the argument could make a comeback. Combined with devolution, it raises the prospect that mayors might get powers to borrow to fund developments. It could enable signifi cant construction, a
key Burnham goal, without straining central government balance sheets. On the other hand, sceptics fear a fresh boom in barely- monitored borrowing, following a trail of poor fi nancial decisions by councils that spent heavily on commercial real estate and then ran into trouble with their debts.
Another option for Burnham and John Healey, his Chancellor, is to make the fi scal rules stretch across a greater period – though critics may accuse them of kicking the can down the road. Reeves’s fi scal rules become three-year rolling targets at the end of the decade. “Flexibility” could involve massively ramping up debt in the fi rst year or two, then promising to cut it in the fi nal year. “One possibility is that Burnham and Healey plan to increase debt/GDP immediately, but still plan for it to fall in three years’ time – which would fi t with the existing letter, if not the spirit of the law,” says George Buckley, economist at Nomura. Haigh argued in favour of extending timescales in her pamphlet published days after Labour’s crushing local elections defeat in May. “The fi rst step is to move away from fi ve-year forecast windows to a longer horizon of 10 years,” she wrote. “This will help rebalance incentives from short-term cuts by increasing the visibility of the benefi ts of sustainable investment, making it harder to invent fi scal fi ctions, and better rewarding supply-side and tax reform.” Those “fi ctions” are a reference to the tried and tested method of borrowing and spending in the short term while promising prudence later, securing forecasts that showed the fi nances on track – only to repeat the trick
every year, never balancing the books. She added: “A longer horizon would therefore improve, rather than undermine, the credibility of the framework by aligning it more closely with the real dynamics of growth and public fi nances.” The idea of stretching the timeline aligns with Burnham promising Britain a 10-year- plan for renewal, a brave pledge from the seventh prime minister in a decade. Monks, at JP Morgan, sees this as a “similar approach” to Reeves promising to bring the debt down, but then redefi ning debt by a less onerous measure. Simon French, chief economist at Panmure Liberum, warns that stretching the time horizon for the investment rule is unlikely to deliver many benefi ts. “I’m sceptical because I think that starts to bind the hands of future parliaments. The argument with a fi ve-year window was always that it’s over the course of a single parliamentary term,” he says. “I don’t think you get any of the upside in terms of certainty, and you potentially get some of the downside in terms of loss of credibility.” He believes bond investors would punish the Government if Burnham unveiled this change alongside greater borrowing – adding to the interest costs Haigh so rightly fears. Instead of fudge and delay, the Prime Minister could redefi ne debt, repeating Reeves’s trick. “One option could be to switch the debt rule away from the PSNFL and target public sector net wealth, though this would be a meaningful change and would unlikely sit well with investors,” says Buckley. “While the former debt measure falls only from 2029-30 (as it is required to do in the current specifi cation of the rules), the latter improves in every single year of the forecast,
indicating how much extra leeway such a shift could generate.” A more focused alternative might be to invent a new form of debt, or at least rebrand borrowing, to pay for defence. This is particularly critical given it was over a funding shortfall that Healey resigned as defence secretary last month. The Chancellor and Burnham are understood to have discussed “war bonds” – debt issued specifi cally to fund defence – as a way to raise spending quickly. That is much-needed when the UK is set to spend 2.6pc of GDP on defence this year, a fi gure the Government wants to raise to 3pc in the next parliament and 3.5pc by 2035. Branding extra borrowing as war bonds risks going down like a cup of sick with gilt markets however, investors warn. Kevin Thozet, a member of the investment committee at French asset manager Carmignac, warns the UK already pays over the odds to borrow compared with rivals. “Investors are demanding a higher premium to lend to the UK,” he says. Britain’s bond yields are fi rmly the highest in the G7. If the Government announced tomorrow
end of the road regarding financial engineering to cover up a lack of growth’
“the UK is going to issue billions as war bonds to fi nance defence spending, UK bond yields would move higher,” Thozet says. He adds: “Burnham mentioning all the fl exibility at his disposal to build his budget has not reassured markets, by the looks of the movement we saw on UK bond yields.” This is echoed by Lloyd Harris at Premier Miton: “In a world where bond markets generally are just groaning under the weight of issuance, they are very sensitive to the notion that any country will borrow more. “Burnham suggested they’re going to fi nd creative ways to borrow more. They’re going to push the envelope as far as they can. That’s not really at the moment what bond markets want to hear.” Hence borrowing costs rising. Other experts are more open to the idea of borrowing to fund defence. Mohamed El-Erian, the former chief executive of one of the world’s biggest bond investors, Pimco, said a European initiative across countries would serve this purpose best. He believes that the UK could also borrow for defence on its own without upsetting markets. This would require treating defence borrowing as infrastructure investment, outside of the fi scal rules. “It would be treated diff erently from other budget items. This may have an impact on gilt yields, but as long as it’s monitored, it’s put outside, and it’s limited in size, it can be done in a very orderly fashion,” El-Erian says. The rise in defence spending is likely to be there to stay, however. Funding it through borrowing is therefore a bad idea, Sir Charlie Bean has said, speaking to The Telegraph when the Starmer administration was fl ailing. The former Bank of England deputy governor and senior OBR offi cial said: “Arguably, we ought to go higher [than 3.5pc
is approaching this figure, which is about 95pc of GDP. Debt levels are on track to reach 300pc half a century from now
of GDP]. But let’s say 3.5pc is the number everybody agrees is appropriate. Well, if that’s going to be permanent, it ought to be fi nanced by higher taxes or lower spending.” A government spokesman has claimed war bonds are not on the table at the moment. Whether that is still the case come autumn is another matter. Donald Trump’s reignited war in Iran suggests Healey will face a trying maiden Budget. Many investors fear that even talk of tinkering with the fi scal rules underlines that Burnham and Labour still “don’t get it”. “The problem with the party is that they feel ideologically they’re not there to cut spending. Therefore, they are just expansionary, and so the things that come out of their mouths need to be expansionary. Therein lies the problem,” Harris says. The loose lips on borrowing are a problem, he adds. “Trump knows how to talk the market up. Burnham knows how to talk it down. He really knows how to make a rod for his own back and push borrowing costs up,” Harris says.
Whatever accounting tricks Burnham may opt for, ultimately Britain cannot outrun its problems of high debt and low growth. “We’ve reached the end of the road regarding fi nancial engineering to try and cover up the lack of growth and too much spending,” is the verdict from French. Stephen Millard, deputy director at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, agrees: “The important thing is that public debt is high. Each time there’s a new shock, and the government wants to support households through a new cost of living crisis, a new Covid, a new Brexit, the debt goes up and then doesn’t seem to come down again.” This is storing up big problems for the future, leaving Britain vulnerable for the next time when an emergency happens, he warns. “Longer term the Government is going to face pretty heavy spending pressures from demographic change, the transition to net zero, the promises on defence spending, [which] go up again into the 2030s,” Millard says. It comes after the OBR said the UK is on track to have debt levels of 300pc of GDP half a century from now, up from 95pc currently. This is what Burnham and Healey should be focused on, Millard says. “Unless the government starts reducing the debt now, it is going to lead to much, much higher debt in the future,” he says. Spending on welfare is also an obvious target. The bill is set to rise above £350bn this year, up from £227bn in the 12 months before Covid. It is set to rise to more than £400bn per year at the start of the 2030s. Almost half of that is pensioner spending, as the population ages and the triple lock keeps payouts rising. Yet attempts to slow the rise in welfare wrecked Sir Keir’s popularity in his own party, and retaining the triple lock was a manifesto commitment. The costly promises made during Burnham’s fi rst days in power – fi xing social care, addressing the cost of living – and the backlash suggests there are no easy answers French recommends a rapid shift to focus on economic growth above all else. “You have to go back to removing some of what I describe as luxury beliefs on growth that are impeding housebuilding, energy production, the fl ow of capital into domestic businesses,” he says. Without a stronger economy helping to pay the bills, Burnham risks testing to destruction the idea there is much “fl exibility” in Britain’s overstretched fi nances.
I
n April last year, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, the chargé d’affaires and acting head of mission at the embassy of Israel in London, came within inches of a terrorist who was embarking on what these days can only be described as an increasingly British attack. “I remember it very well,” she says sombrely, when we meet in the very building that was targeted. “I was being urged by security to leave the embassy because I was the last one out at the end of the working day. And as I left, within two minutes he was climbing the fence.” She was speaking on her phone at the time, and when she brushed past the Kuwaiti migrant Abdullah Albadri, whose head was wrapped in a red-and- white keffiyeh and sunglasses, she didn’t pay him any attention. Yet Albadri, 34, was bent on murder. After telling his mother “I chose the path of martyrdom”, he had travelled to Kensington and tried to enter the embassy armed with two knives, just feet away from Israel’s top regional diplomat. Thankfully, he was tackled by police. In May, he was found guilty at the Old Bailey of terror offences. Grudsky Ekstein owes her life to the fact that the hapless jihadist – who had arrived in Britain on a small boat 16 days before and given a room in a four-star hotel in Basingstoke – didn’t recognise her as she passed by. Apparently, he hadn’t the wit to research his targets in advance. Looking back, Grudsky Ekstein is clearly disturbed. “I think of the number of incidents that this building and the flag that we carry have faced,” she says, shaking her head. But she remains defiant. What makes this a particularly British event was that this was the second time Albadri had traversed the Channel. After his first crossing, in 2021, he had hitch-hiked back to France for reasons unknown, then returned by the same route in April 2025. After three days in the hotel, he was told he did not qualify for accommodation, as he had already applied for asylum. He spent several days sleeping rough, then started searching online for details of the Israeli embassy and “suicide among enemies”. After messaging his mother, on April 28 he carried out the failed attack. This highlights the parlous condition of our national security, which affects no minority more keenly than Jewish people. “What Britain is very good at, if I’m frank, is building fences, giving us the last layer of protection,” Grudsky Ekstein says, when we meet in her office in the embassy, which is heavily fortified by security outside. “But I want this to stop way beforehand. I don’t want the attacker to come climbing onto the fence and then being removed by security forces. I don’t want him near my embassy.” Israel’s leadership, she says, cannot comprehend the levels of anti- Semitism on our shores. After all, on paper, Britain has a special envoy for post-Holocaust Issues (Labour MP Jon Pearce) and an independent adviser on anti-Semitism (Lord Mann), as well as significant budgets for Jewish security groups. The Government even adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, seen as the gold standard by Jewish groups, as long ago as December 2016, well before its European peers. Yet despite this protective infrastructure, hostility towards Jews has grown. “At the end of the day, anti-Semitism is on the rise,” Grudsky Ekstein says. “We’ve seen the murders at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester and the stabbings in Golders Green. What Jerusalem doesn’t see is such a clear link between those attacks and that permissive environment,” which allows anti-Semitic rhetoric and blatant misinformation – like the lie that Israel has been committing “genocide” rather than fighting a difficult war – to spread unchallenged. The media, she points out, plays a major role in this incitement. “Definitely, we have seen it all across [the media],” she says. “Broadcasting ‘death to the IDF’ chants on the BBC [during Glastonbury 2025] was massive, because before that, I wasn’t aware of the slogan. Since then, do you know how many protests I have seen with that ‘death to the IDF’ chant?” It is no wonder, then, that Grudsky Ekstein is not entirely sorry that her five-year posting in Britain comes to an end this week. Jerusalem’s previous ambassador to London, Tzipi Hotovely, finished her term last September, and Yitzhak “Tzachi” Braverman, Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, who was due to take over, is facing potential charges of fraud, breach of trust and obstruction of justice in Israel. Christian Cantor, Ekstein’s successor as chargé d’affaires, assumes his post this week. After 10 months standing in as ambassador, Grudsky Ekstein is relieved to be returning home – she lives between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – and is looking forward to her new role at the foreign ministry in Jerusalem. “It’s family, it’s friends, it’s where we come from,” she smiles. Moreover, on a day-to-day basis, she says, she often feels safer in Israel than Britain, regardless of the threat of missiles and terror. “The word ‘anti-Semitism’ is not something that we as Israelis relate to, because we don’t have it,” she says. The charge d’affaires is not a woman who is easily scared. At only 5ft 2in, Grudsky Ekstein, a mother-of-two who is married to a tech executive, has a bright but world-weary manner, as if the weight of her family, her people and her country rest heavily on her
he didn’t shake my hand’
growing anti-Semitism problem and her brush with a terrorist bent on murder
slight shoulders. Born in 1984 in Tashkent in Soviet-controlled Uzbekistan, to a mathematician father and computer-engineer mother, she grew up in the knowledge that many of her relatives had been wiped out in the Holocaust. In 1991, as the USSR collapsed, her parents took her and her younger sister to live in Israel, arriving just as Scud missiles were falling in the middle of the first Gulf War. “We got into Ben Gurion Airport and they were handing everyone gas masks, because back then there was a concern that some of the rockets would contain chemical materials,” she recalls. “I was a tiny kid, but they had run out of masks for children, so I got an adult one, and they’re saying to me, ‘No, you’ll manage, you’ll be fine.’ When she was 14, her parents moved the family to Chicago for two years. As a future diplomat, one of her most formative experiences came during this time, when she took part in the Seeds of Peace programme in Maine. Since 1993, this group has brought young people from warring cultures together every summer. “The concept was: just make one [Arab or Palestinian] friend,” she recalls. “You play soccer and you have an hour-and-a-half per day of coexistence, of having conversation. And by conversing, you’re not afraid of the person sitting in front of you.”
After finishing school in Israel with top grades and completing her military service, Grudsky Ekstein worked in finance before applying to become a diplomat. In 2021, she was appointed head of the political section at the London embassy. Boris Johnson was prime minister. That period of Conservative government was a “golden era” when bilateral relations between London and Israel were at their best, she reminisces. “The president and prime minister of Israel came to visit Britain. Israeli foreign ministers and everyone was here, relations were very warm.” She got to know Kemi Badenoch, then Secretary of State for Business and Trade, during this time. In March 2023, the future Tory leader visited Israel to advance negotiations on a free trade agreement. “Kemi has always seemed quite positive towards Israel,” Grudsky Ekstein says. “She is someone who has that oomph in her, like she gets it. You don’t have to explain it to her. I am very impressed by her. At very tough moments, she is on the right side of things, and for that we really, really appreciate it.” Grudsky Ekstein raised a cheer when Badenoch stood her ground when confronted by a pro-Palestine heckler while campaigning in Essex for the local elections in May, in a clip
that later went viral. “She didn’t turn to appeasement,” Grudsky Ekstein says. “She was very clear on who she is. We’ve sensed it throughout, when it came to different moments when it became challenging. It’s something that Jerusalem acknowledges.” When asked for her assessment of Nigel Farage, however, Grudsky Ekstein is more circumspect. “I think he’s a very charismatic man,” she says, choosing her words carefully. “I wish he’d visit us as well. I think that seeing the country, seeing the people, is something that would be significant. He was very good with campaigning for the hostages, like [British-Israeli captive] Emily Damari. I know that topic came really deep into his heart, and he pursued it and he did his best to help her with the case.” Does she not think Farage has Badenoch’s “oomph” for Israel? “I don’t know yet,” she replies. “He is much more focused on the domestic, and that’s completely fair.” In retrospect, the high-water mark of UK-Israel friendship came in March 2023, with the signing of the 2030 Roadmap for UK-Israel bilateral relations. Elevating the relationship to a “strategic partnership”, the document included expanded cooperation on defence and security, trade and investment, science and technology, cyber, health, climate and
education and culture, as well as combatting anti-Semitism. Today, it feels like a distant memory. Grudsky Ekstein vividly remembers the morning the world changed. She was at her residence in Notting Hill Gate, looking forward to “some sort of a fun, brunch, friendly meeting” with Jordanian and Egyptian diplomats, together with the head of the Israel desk at the Foreign Office, which – characteristically – she had arranged herself. Then her phone began to light up. As the full horror of October 7 unfolded, the decision was made to open the Israeli embassy, even though it was Shabbat. “Not that we had much to do,” she recalls. “I mean, we watched the news, but the feeling of at least being together during such a moment of uncertainty was important, and we did the same on the Sunday.” That afternoon, she was notified that her friend, Maya Ben David, 48, had been murdered in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where she had been staying with her husband and small children. “She was in the shelter together with her husband and two kids for 32 hours while he held the door [to prevent Hamas from entering],” Grudsky Ekstein says. “When the terrorists came, they shot through the door, and they injured Maya in the head.” Her husband was then faced with an appalling dilemma: leave the
door to help his stricken wife or continue to hold the barricade against the jihadists, for the sake of protecting their children. He remained at the door, looking on helplessly as Maya died. The very next day, before the dead had even been counted in Israel, the mass Gaza rallies outside the London embassy began. The Metropolitan Police advised Israeli diplomats to stay away. Her most prominent memory was searching for Israeli flags to be flown from government buildings in solidarity, rather than the aggressive rally outside her workplace. “It was a bit later on that we realised the problem that we have,” she continues. “For me, the clearest moment was when there was a vote in Parliament on calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and [the slogan] ‘From the river to the sea’ was projected onto Big Ben. “There were quite a lot of stories about intimidation of MPs. For me, it was so frightening. I thought: with all the pressure, would they actually have a free vote on this topic? Then I understood that there is a very deep problem in Britain.” On July 5 2024, the last traces of the “golden age” were erased with the election of Keir Starmer’s Labour Government. “That day was a massive change in our bilateral relations, she says. Almost immediately, three hostile decisions were taken, she says: to restore funding to Unrwa [the UN body accused of having links to Hamas]; to suspend some arms licences to Israel; and to uphold the arrest warrants issued for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former defence minister at the International Criminal Court. The new, antagonistic atmosphere was reflected in parts of the Civil Service, where she began to encounter unvarnished bigotry. “I have a security package [including close protection officers], which makes me a bit more detached than my colleagues, who walk openly in the streets and have the experience of abuse,” she says. “Yet a few weeks ago, at an official meeting in Whitehall, I felt it. I was
less relevant in our decision-making. In the past we had good relations’
greeted by [a civil servant] who was… full of hate… He didn’t shake my hand… and when I tried to have some small talk, the response was, ‘Why are you interrogating me?’ That is when I understood.” As bilateral relations deteriorated, London’s influence in the Middle East also ebbed. “Britain, in a way, became much less relevant in our decision- making process and less relevant in the region,” Grudsky Ekstein says. “In the past, we had the close relations, the intimacy, the consultations. Now there is a strain. I think Jerusalem is taking it into account, because if you’re that vocal, that critical, then it’s much harder to be listened to.” Worse was yet to come. In September 2025, with Israeli hostages still languishing in the tunnels of Gaza, the Labour Government unconditionally recognised a Palestinian state, earning official congratulations from Hamas. “It was a performative act because at the end of the day, the realities on the ground were the same,” Grudsky Ekstein points out wearily. “Besides emboldening Hamas, what difference did it make?” Part of the difficulty facing Israeli diplomats is the small but influential number of extremists in their country’s coalition government. In May, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister, provoked international condemnation when a video emerged of him taunting detained Western activists who had tried to sail to Gaza. Grudsky Ekstein was summoned to the Foreign Office for a dressing-down. “It was very professional, the way it was done,” she says. “We ourselves had our own criticism over the way the events were conducted. This is exactly the diplomatic dance. We can have that dance. It’s fine. We’re in this line of work. But would you do this to another democracy? That’s the bit that I think is going beyond and too far.” Reversing the tidal wave of anti- Semitism engulfing Britain, she argues, means wholesale cultural change, and the first step must be ending that culture of demonisation. “If we go into the core causes, the hate marches, the demonstrations, that so-called freedom of speech in my mind creates dangerous incitement,” she says. Which brings us to Andy Burnham, the new custodian of Britain’s future. To Grudsky Ekstein, there is little sign that things will improve under his leadership. Burnham lost no time in reassuring his audience that the Labour Party had repented its supposed “support” for Israel during the war. To Grudsky Ekstein, the reasons for this very public reversal are obvious. “As a diplomat, I try to think: is this decision driven by domestic politics or is it foreign policy? ” she says. “I know that domestic concerns are very present in your foreign policy. I’ve learnt that they are very present. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it has become such a hot domestic topic. I think it’s unavoidable.” Does she have a final message to Britain before she leaves? “Put yourself in the shoes of Israel,” she replies. “I know that there is a great empathy for the Palestinians. I get that. But you should understand that our democracy is also one that needs a friendly hand.”
HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY FOR THE TELEGRAPH
Sign up for our free daily
Business Briefing
chairman was making move against Blanc
plans to introduce six-year term limits on directors before his dismissal
By Ben Marlow
THE former chairman of BP was draw- ing up plans to remove Dame Amanda Blanc, the company’s senior independ- ent director, before he was dramatically ousted. Albert Manifold wanted to introduce strict six-year term limits on board directors as part of a major shake-up of corporate governance. He had planned to present the pro- posals to the BP board on the day of the coup that shocked the City. The com- pany said no discussion of board reforms was scheduled. The move would have cut BP’s board from 10 to eight members, with Dame Amanda and another non-executive director earmarked for departure. She was instead a key player in Mr Manifold’s dismissal in May amid accu- sations of bullying, which he has vehe- mently denied. BP this weekend closed ranks around Dame Amanda, the chief executive of Aviva, emphasising that the board was never presented with its former chair- man’s plans and there had been “serious allegations” against him. Mr Manifold had already whittled the BP board down from 13 members to 10 earlier in the year but was concerned that it remained “unwieldy and expen- sive”, a source with knowledge of his plans said. Without clear restrictions on time served, the Irishman feared some non-executives would have stayed beyond the recommended six-years, potentially raising questions over the board’s independence. Though Mr Manifold was unable to present his plans, board colleagues were aware of the proposals, which were intended to cut costs and improve governance standards at the oil and gas giant, according to informed sources. He prepared his proposals partly based on external work by Board Evalu- ation, a firm of corporate governance consultants run by Ffion Hague, the wife of Lord Hague, the former Con- servative leader. Mr Manifold was dismissed after just eight months in post, with BP citing “serious concerns raised to the board related to important governance stand- ards, oversight and conduct”. The other BP board position the
By James Titcomb
By James Titcomb
SIR SADIQ KHAN has cleared the way for more data centres to be built on the green belt, loosening restrictions on the facilities in London’s pro- tected zones. Draft plans for development in the capital reveal proposals to encourage more data centres on so-called “grey belt” land, despite a growing backlash against new technology infrastructure as soaring demand for AI leads to a building boom. The grey belt refers to areas of the green belt that are seen as ripe for development and that would not con- tribute to urban sprawl. The Greater London Authority’s
Mike Lynch’s £500m estate
HEWLETT Packard (HP) has backed down in a row with Mike Lynch’s family over who oversees the late tech tycoon’s £500m fortune. The US business had been battling the British entrepreneur’s family over the administration of his estate as it seeks to obtain £920m in a long- running legal battle. Earlier this year, the company attempted to install restructuring firm Interpath Advisory to oversee his assets, against the wishes of Angela Bacares, Lynch’s widow. However, the parties have now agreed that Jeremy Sandelson, a former partner at Lynch’s law firm Clif- ford Chance, will continue to represent the estate in the near future. Lynch – dubbed Britain’s Bill Gates – died two years ago on his superyacht, the Bayesian, alongside his teenage daughter, Hannah, and five other vic- tims, after a freak storm off the Sicilian coast. He had spent years in legal battles with HP over the $11bn (£8.3bn) sale of
chairman wanted to scrap was held by Johannes Teyssen, a German former electricity boss. Mr Manifold believed Dame Amanda and Mr Teyssen should stand down after six years on the BP board and not be replaced. That would have meant Dame Amanda exiting in 2028 and Mr Teyssen in January 2027. After his sacking, Mr Manifold issued an 800-word public rejection of claims he had been too aggressive. He also dis- missed anonymous briefings that he was guilty of bullying as “lies”. Inves- tors have questioned the board’s judg- ment in forcing him out. The 63-year-old was hired to drive a turnaround at BP, and has said that the functioning of the struggling oil giant its board was a key part of his planned overhaul, stating he sought a “review of [its] workings” to “improve efficiency and effectiveness”. Mr Manifold was previously the chief executive of cement maker CRH and the first outsider to become chairman in
Albert Manifold was removed as BP chairman in May after ‘serious concerns’ were raised to the board
BP’s 116-year history. Dame Amanda’s influence at BP is under particular scrutiny after oversee- ing the recruitment of Mr Manifold, and putting her name to the press release announcing his departure. Shareholders have called for a collec- tive “soul search” by the remaining board members and called for the injec- tion of “new blood” while one US inves- tor previously called the ouster a “stitch-up”. BP has stood by Dame Amanda, task- ing her with finding Mr Manifold’s replacement. The row has cast a shadow over Meg O’Neill, the new chief execu- tive, and her attempts to re-embrace oil and gas after its push into green energy. A spokesman for Mr Manifold declined to comment. Ian Tyler, interim chair of BP, said: “Any suggestion that there was an exter- nal review of the board’s size, structure or composition being conducted on behalf of BP, or that recommendations on such matters were due to be dis- cussed by the board at the time of Albert Manifold’s departure, is false.” Mrs Hague said her consultancy had not undertaken any work for Mr Mani- fold and declined to comment further.
draft London Plan, published this month, exempts data centres from rules designed to prevent excessive green-belt development. Experts described the new policy as “permissive” while green belt cam- paigners said that it risked a “danger- ous precedent”. A string of “hyperscale” data cen- tres has been built or proposed on London’s green belt in recent years, with developers saying that there are limited places where the large facili- ties can go. In many cases they have been supported by the Government, with ministers pushing through the plans over local objections. The London Plan would apply to boroughs within the Greater London
his software company Autonomy in 2011. HP claimed it had been defrauded and that Lynch had falsely inflated the company’s value. Lynch was found liable in 2022, and in March a judge finally ruled that Lynch’s estate should pay HP £920m, a sum that would bankrupt the estate. It
Amount that a High Court judge ruled in March that Lynch’s estate should pay HP
Dame Amanda Blanc is under scrutiny for overseeing the initial appointment of Mr Manifold and then putting her name to the press release announcing his departure
Authority, rather than the counties bordering the capital. Giles Pink, a planning lawyer at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, said the new proposals were “quite permissive ... They have a bit more privilege in this emerging policy”. Oliver Gough, of the infrastructure consultancy Copper, said it gave data centres a route to development “avail- able to no other major land use”. Andrew Rosindell, the Reform MP for Romford who has been campaign- ing against a sprawling data centre campus in east London, warned that the proposals “risk setting a danger- ous precedent by making it easier to build large-scale data centres on green-belt land”. The former Conserv-
available to just 50 homes
By Pui-Guan Man
A “GREEN” mortgage aimed at new eco-homes is available to just a handful of properties, despite claims it could revolutionise the housing market. The loan, launched by Santander and Octopus Energy, applies to “selected” new-build homes on the energy suppli- er’s so-called zero bills tariff. These properties guarantee no energy bills for at least five years on homes fitted with heat pumps, solar energy and battery storage. Under the scheme, Santander will lend up to £30,000 extra to buyers of the eco-homes on the grounds that the absence of energy bills will shrink their regular outgoings and free up more income for mortgage payments. Ben Merritt, the head of mortgages at Santander, hailed it as an “example of how we’re evolving our mortgage offer- ing to reflect the changing needs of homeowners”. However, analysis by The Telegraph shows the loan is unavailable to the
ative said that he was not “opposed to data centres given their rapidly growing importance”, but said they “should not come at the expense of
Sir Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, is keen for the capital to be a global leader in environmentally- friendly data centre development
the countryside that local communi- ties value”. Development on the green belt around London is typically restricted to growth areas close to public
overwhelming majority of UK home buyers. Just 50 homes built to “zero bills” standards were listed for sale on developments promoted by Octopus on its website this weekend. Octopus, which is the UK’s biggest household energy supplier, launched the zero bills scheme in 2022 and set a target to build 100,000 by the end of the decade. But the dearth of current list- ings suggests the mortgage scheme is unlikely to have a meaningful effect on the market. Octopus insisted that “hundreds” of the eco-homes are “either on the open market or due to be available soon” across regions including Cornwall, Essex and Dundee. A spokesman added: “That number is increasing rapidly as we scale ‘zero bills’ homes across the UK with a wide vari- ety of housebuilders and developers.” Octopus said it has approved “zero bills” eligibility for more than 6,000 homes globally, the vast majority of which are in Britain. Santander has been contacted for comment.
transport links, where new houses can be constructed. However, the Mayor of London’s plan gives data centres an exemption, because unlike other industrial sites they only generate small amounts of traffic once complete. Sir Sadiq’s draft plan describes the facilities as the “only exception”. The draft plan would also subject data centres to new requirements about how they use water and electric- ity, making it more difficult to build them on industrial land. Previously, the facilities were assessed in the same way as factories or warehouses. Under the plan, they must show that they are using renewable energy, limiting their use of water and explor-
‘overwhelming the grid’
By Jonathan Leake
THE thousands of batteries being deployed to stabilise Britain’s electricity networks could bring down the grid, government experts have warned. Ministers have been told of the risk of a crash if operators all try to charge up their batteries at the same time to avoid an energy shortage. A report handed to Miatta Fahn- bulleh, the new Energy Secretary, said: “Some thought needs to be given to the w ay b a t t e r y e n e r g y s t o r a ge systems are likely to behave in a capac- ity market notice situation, as operators may then have an incentive to charge in advance to fulfil their obligations. This may result in a fast descent into a stress event.” A capacity market notice is a critical warning issued by the National Energy System Operator when it spots a loom- ing electricity shortage caused, for example, by low wind. They have historically been used to tell gas-fired power stations, which are
ing options to use excess heat to warm up homes. A spokesman for Sir Sadiq said: “The Mayor’s ambition is clear: for London to become the world’s leading city for environmentally friendly, low- emission, high-efficiency data centre development. “The energy requirements of data centres are colossal, so delivering their expansion at pace alongside Lon- don’s other infrastructure needs will require more coordinated planning. “To address the challenge, the Mayor has committed to delivering a whole-city partnership approach by bringing together boroughs, energy providers, innovative companies, developers and universities.”
paid to be on standby for such events, to get warmed up and ready. However, battery pack operators have recently begun breaking into the same market. These batteries must be fully charged to work effectively. The report raised concerns that oper- ators would spot a looming spell of high demand or low wind-powered genera-
incentive to charge in advance... this may result in a stress event’
tion and start charging up simultane- ously in a move that could overwhelm the grid and trigger the very shortage they were trying to avoid. UK power grids have about 7GW of batteries in place with a collective out- put slightly greater than all five of Brit- ain’s nuclear power stations. By 2030, UK grid battery capacity is expected to exceed 20GW.
Lynn
must fi nd its long lost wanderlust
at home and have better prospects abroad – just as investors timidly refuse to take on the wider world
EVEN with the World Cup, JD Wetherspoon is struggling, while with the hot weather, we are not eating as many sausage rolls from Greggs as we used to. What might be termed Britain’s “value champions”, companies that have perfected a low-cost, high-volume way of doing business, have found the domestic market a tough slog this year. But hold on. In reality, there is a huge opportunity to turn those brands into a global success – and the City needs to stop being so timid about overseas expansion and start backing them. It is a measure of how dire the outlook for the British economy has become that even the likes of Spoons are starting to feel the pressure. This week, the pub chain issued its fourth profi t warning of the year, with chairman Sir Tim Martin admitting its performance was “likely to be below market expectations”. It is struggling with all the extra taxes that the Labour Government has imposed on the industry, and while the modest reduction in business rates will help at the margin, it won’t make a great deal of diff erence. The average consumer is so pressed for spare cash that even a £2 pint, and a £4.99 full English breakfast is too much of a stretch for many of its loyal customers. We will have to see whether the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s mission to deliver “good growth in every postcode” can start to change that (readers may not be surprised to learn that I am pretty sceptical myself). But until the real wages start to grow more strongly, it is hard to see it happening. Likewise, Greggs is hardly the star performer that it once was. The cheap and cheerful baker of sausage rolls and hot pastries had expanded at breakneck speed across the country, but last October warned that due to slowing sales and rising costs from all the extra taxes it has to pay it had scaled back its plans for new store openings. In March, it blamed “challenging conditions” for a 17pc fall in pre-tax profi ts. Just like Spoons, it says a lot about the state of the nation that a £1.35 sausage roll is more than many can now aff ord. It would be easy to be pessimistic about the “value champions”. But hold on. There is a big, wide world out there. Sure, there is never going to be a Spoons in downtown Riyadh, nor is Greggs ever likely to muscle out the local boulangerie in a village in Provence. But that does not mean there isn’t plenty of space for expanding into markets where growth is a lot stronger, and where real incomes are still growing at a more robust rate. The United States, Canada and Australia are all Anglocentric markets with a healthy appetite for cheap drinks and snacks. Germany is not the wealthy economy it once was, but there are still plenty of people who like a beer, and a bratwurst roll might well prove surprisingly popular. The Japanese love anything that they see as British, and so increasingly does much of China. The list goes on and on. There are perhaps a dozen or more countries where either brand could plausibly replicate their British success. To some degree it is already happening. Greggs said in May that it was opening its fi rst branch outside Britain in more than two decades, with a shop at Tenerife South Airport. In a concession to local tastes you will be able to get a Spanish omelette breakfast roll (I can’t wait) alongside all the usual off erings familiar back at home. Wetherspoon’s opened its fi rst branch outside of Britain in December last year, the Castell de Santa Barbara, located in Alicante airport, with garlic prawns on the menu, for anyone who wants a cheap pint before getting the fl ight home. But why not accelerate that? Sure, it will take a lot of investment, and capital will have to be committed. Bakeries and pubs take money to set up, staff have to be trained, supply chains have to be put in place, and the market has to be prepared. But the City used to back British companies that wanted to take on the world. Tesco tried to conquer Eastern and Central Europe before problems back at home forced it to retreat. In the 1980s Body Shop, when it was still a new retail concept, expanded around the world. So did Topshop in its fast fashion heyday. Rewind two decades, and the City was perfectly happy to back entrepreneurs and brands that had a concept that worked as they moved out into other countries. That is, sadly, no longer true. A company that said it wanted to open a thousand branches across the US, Asia or continental Europe, would probably see its share price collapse, tough questions for the board, and the chief executive ousted before they even had a chance to get started. The ambition has gone. Alongside all its other issues, that is surely one core reason why the London stock market has been in steep decline, and why the performance of the British economy has been so dismal. No one is trying to take on the world anymore. The important point is surely this. Chains such as Spoons and Greggs have perfected a low-cost, slim-margin, high-volume model. That might sound simple, and in some ways it is, but as anyone who has ever tried it will tell you, it is very hard to make it work everyday across hundreds, or indeed thousands of branches. Unfortunately, the British economy is likely to remain stuck in its zero growth rut for years to come. The value chains should be taking a winning formula and rolling it out across the world – and the City should back them with the capital, the patience, and the perseverance, they will need to make a success of it.
ambition has gone. This is one core reason why the economy is so dismal’
nod to Peron and ancient Rome
JEREMY WARNER
treadmill of delusional entitlement despite our perilous fiscal position
IT TOOK just a few days for Andy Burnham to discover the obvious – that there is a world of diff erence between the relatively sheltered life of Greater Manchester mayor and the goldfi sh bowl of No 10 Downing Street. No amount of shifting prime ministerial responsibilities “up North” – or bloody minded refusal to hold a fully fl edged press conference – is going to shield him from the remorseless discipline of market and media accountability. Poor man, already you can see him almost visibly age under the weight of what he’s let himself in for. One after another, his trademark policies are buckling on the anvil of reality. There is no money for the starry- eyed 10-year plans he has in mind. Worryingly for Burnham, debt markets do not appear inclined to give him the benefi t of the doubt. Benchmark gilt yields are up 0.4 percentage points on the month. Only some of that rise can be attributed to the resumption of global infl ationary pressures. Quite a bit of it is of Burnham’s own making. The cost of living measures announced so far – on business rates for pubs, bus fares and the removal of VAT on energy bills – are admittedly small beer. But failure to convincingly fund them has set alarm bells ringing. Ministers have made matters worse still by disingenuously claiming the contrary. That it took one of their own, Darren Jones, who was chief secretary to the prime minister until last week, to highlight that the Government is sugar-coating the truth compounded the sense of farce. Yet the bigger mistake was made before Burnham even technically became prime minister. One “frustration” that was raised repeatedly while campaigning in the Makerfi eld by-election, he said, was the £12,570 threshold where income tax fi rst becomes payable. This has been frozen since 2021. Current plans are that it will remain so until at least April 2031, a policy which, never mind its corrosive eff ects on the disposable income of all taxpayers, will result in millions more being drawn into paying income tax for the fi rst time. When Burnham made his remarks, markets drew the logical conclusion: that he actually intended to do something about it. As it turns out, he neither will nor can. He lacks the fi scal headroom for such largesse, though all mealy- mouthed he promises to take a fresh look at the policy in the Autumn Budget. Don’t hold your breath. To unfreeze the thresholds while remaining loyal to the fi scal rules, he needs to fi nd a way of matching the humongous costs to future tax revenues with equal and opposite spending cuts. Without them,
LIAM HALLIGAN
for getting the nation’s finances in order and any prospect of rate cuts
BRENT crude last week topped $100 (£75.09) per barrel. Oil is up from just $71 in early July – a staggering 40pc price surge in less than a month. For weeks, fi nancial commentators have tried to wish away escalating missile exchanges between the US and Iran, yearning for a lasting Middle Eastern ceasefi re. But while the oil price pulled back slightly at end of last week, crude remains close to triple digits. And with Washington and Tehran increasingly at loggerheads, and less than a tenth of pre-war crude supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz, oil could well go higher again next week. We’re now in the midst of the most severe structural energy crisis since the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Andy Burnham’s new government looks oblivious to that reality. Within the fi rst few days of taking offi ce last Monday, the new Prime Minister said he would “use the fl exibility within the fi scal rules”, raising further fears this is going to be an administration to the Left of Keir Starmer’s, with even higher levels of borrowing and spending. Burnham fl oated the idea of raising the personal tax threshold from £12,5670 – where it has been frozen since 2021 and is set to remain until the end of this decade – before dropping the idea a day later. Financial markets gained the strong impression the UK’s seventh Prime Minister in a decade is
5.0
EDDIE MULHOLLAND
his room for manoeuvre appears to be zero. Simply indexing the thresholds to infl ation for one year alone would cost £3.5bn. To do so until 2031 would cut tax revenues by £14bn a year. Markets can be pretty sure that one thing Burnham is not going to do – voluntarily at least – is cut spending to match. Another wobble in gilt prices later, and Burnham was forced to concede that for the moment, there can be no commitment to unfreeze the thresholds. It wasn’t quite a Kwasi Kwarteng moment. It will be recalled that the reaction in debt markets to Kwarteng’s unfunded mini-budget tax giveaway was bad enough, but he then doubled
making up his plan to steer Britain’s public fi nances away from the fi scal cliff edge as he goes along. As a US-Iran ceasefi re came into view in early June, oil dropped from $95 to around $70 a barrel within a few weeks. With the prospect of the Persian Gulf reopening, there was talk of lower energy prices, falling infl ation and a resumption of interest rate cuts by the Bank of England. But with that ceasefi re on hold oil prices have again risen sharply, pulling even harder on the Government’s already tightly stretched fi scal arithmetic. As a signifi cant energy importer, expensive oil feeds directly into infl ation, putting upward pressure on UK sovereign borrowing costs which, for almost two years now, have been easily the highest in the G7. The 10-year gilt yield rose decisively above 5pc last week, spending sustained periods above 5.1pc – raising expectations of an even more punishing debt service bill. Government borrowing costs are higher than at any point since 2007, but the diff erence is that back then the national debt pile was around 60pc of GDP, now it’s almost 100pc. That’s why the debt service bill was no less than £109bn last year – more than the state spends on education, the third largest expenditure item on the Government’s balance sheet after the NHS and welfare – and is heading for £140bn by 2030, according to the Offi ce for Budget Responsibility. No less than 80pc of what the state is borrowing is being spent paying interest on previously issued debt. This is a house of cards, which could easily be upended if infl ation balloons, with Britain’s increasingly perplexed international creditors demanding even higher yields when lending to compensate for future price pressures. That decisive infl ation surge could stem from oil spending consistent weeks above $100 – which is why, for
down on the damage by saying in an interview that the announced tax cuts were just the start; there were plenty more to come. Burnham’s about-turn was yet another reminder that if you are going to cut taxes, you also need a credible plan for reducing spending. It is also a reminder of the unholy mess Labour has got itself into on tax policy more widely. The original sin was the manifesto commitment not to raise any of the main rates of taxation, a promise that was key to the party’s success in securing its overwhelming majority in the last general election. With her hands bound, Rachel Reeves, the last chancellor, wriggled
Mr Burnham is caught in the same fiscal squeeze as former chancellor Rachel Reeves and his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer
Black stuff
Brent crude oil ($ per barrel)
110 $
29 Jun 6 Jul 13 Jul 20 Jul
29 Jun 6 Jul 13 Jul 20 Jul
Costly borrowing
UK 10 year gilt yield
5.2
4.8
4.6
Britain at least, the speedy resolution of this US-Iran war is about so much more than petrol prices and the broader cost of living. So how high could oil go? The reality is that the Hormuz, despite countless claims to the contrary, remains almost entirely paralysed. On top of that, the “emergency” East-West pipeline across Saudi Arabia to Yanbu on the coast of the Red Sea is now also being targeted by Yemeni Houthis allied to Tehran. Before Trump attacked Iran in early February, Yanbu handled around a fi fth of Saudi’s oil exports. That share
and squirmed but eventually decided her only way out was to adopt the same policy as her Tory predecessors by extending the freeze the Tories had begun a further two years. It is this stealth tax, a clear breach of the spirit, if not the letter, of the manifesto, that does much of the heavy lifting of planned defi cit reduction over the next fi ve years. Andy Burnham has the remainder of the summer to work out how he’s going to fund his various 10-year plans. Will he go for a big bang approach to the spending pressures of defence, council tax reform and social care? The last of these cost Theresa May her majority when she made forcing the elderly to pay for their social care part of her election manifesto. It was a brave but politically inept attempt to solve one of the longest-running issues in British politics. Framed by political opponents as a “death” or “dementia” tax, it went down like a lead balloon. In any case, the sort of increase in spending implied by Burnham’s “vision” almost certainly requires further adjustment to the main sources of taxation – the ones, in other words, that he’s said he won’t raise. Alternatively, he could opt for a watered-down version of his 10-year plan and raise the money needed in time-honoured fashion via smaller tax rises, including a wealth tax. We are begging you, say a group of high net worth luvvies calling
requires adjustment to the main taxes – the ones that he’s said he won’t raise’
themselves the “Patriotic Millionaires” – a list that includes Gary Lineker, Val McDermid and Brian Eno. Please, please tax us more. Their plea is endearing, but hopelessly naive. If the Government taxed the estimated £670bn combined wealth of the UK’s 150 or so billionaires at 2pc a year, it would theoretically raise a tidy sum of money, but few of them would hang around to fi nd out. Both Canada and France have road-tested the policy to destruction, and found it an administrative nightmare and ultimately incompatible with their “golden visa” programmes for attracting wealthy overseas entrepreneurs. Fiscally, the UK is already teetering, precariously, on the cliff edge. There is only one 10-year plan that should matter, and that’s the one which is missing from Burnham’s long list of aspirations – getting the national debt on a steadily declining trajectory. Instead, the nation fi nds itself on a treadmill of delusional, Peronist-style entitlement, or what the Romans called “bread and circuses” – in modern form pacifying the masses with handouts, football and Netfl ix. According to the OECD, disability prevalence in the UK is higher than in any other “high-income” country. Since there is no apparent biological reason, one must suppose that it is the system and the national conversation that encourage it. Eventually, the markets will say enough is enough. The comedown, which may be sooner than imagined, will be brutal and sadly well deserved.
has risen to almost four-fi fths, given the turmoil around Hormuz. Having played a vital role in stabilising global markets since this confl ict began in earnest, and with Houthis now targeting tankers in the Bab el-Mandab Strait at the Red Sea’s southern mouth, fears are rising oil markets could soon get even more fraught. Last week, Kazakhstan suspended oil fl ows via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which shifts around 80pc of Central Asia’s oil to Western markets, following Ukrainian drone attacks. America’s strategic petroleum reserves are now at a 43-year low. After Yemeni Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Yanbu, Riyadh was dismissive. But the Saudis then announced three oil super tankers bound for China and India via Bab al-Mandab, the Gulf of Aden and eventually into the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, would in fact instead head north through the Suez Canal, taking a huge diversion through the Mediterranean and around the Horn of Africa. This more than doubles – from 20 to potentially 50 days – the journey time for Saudi oil from the Gulf to the ever-hungry markets of Asia, while adding vast expense. That’s a major reason – with no end in sight to this US-Iran confl ict – some oil traders are now targeting $120 a barrel over the coming weeks. There may be, of course, a sudden reversal. The US president could, with a single social media post, “turn the war off ” by capitulating to Iran. There is a view in the markets that, with prices rising, as and when this war ends, we could end up with a glut as oil rushes out and fl oods global markets, sending prices back below $50. This sounds like wishful thinking – stock-broker-driven guff , to keep share prices up and commissions rolling in. To my mind, global oil prices will be going a lot higher, before they go signifi cantly lower.
SOURCE: NYMEX, DMO
of cards could be upended if inflation balloons, with demands for higher yields’
the gap’ in AI race, says tech chief
boss of a £2bn start- up, believes Beijing- backed bots will benefit Britain, writes Matthew Field
CHINA is close to catching up with the US in developing super intelligent AI, said the founder of a British AI business backed by Jeff Bezos. Chad Edwards, the chief executive of CuspAI, said top Chinese AI labs may now be just a few weeks behind Anthropic and OpenAI. “The gap is defi nitely closing,” said Mr Edwards, whose start-up was valued at almost £2bn last week thanks to its AI technology that can discover new materials. The capabilities of the leading AI labs in China are now an “order of months, if not weeks” behind their American counterparts, according to Mr Edwards, as tools like Kimi erode the lead of ChatGPT and Claude. Most AI experts had estimated that China was six months or more behind the leading Western tech giants. However, assumptions have shifted after the launch of Kimi, an AI bot from Chinese start-up Moonshot AI. It has sent shock waves through global markets with its performance and low cost, which threaten to undermine US business models. Kimi off ers a chatbot, rivalling the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. By contrast, CuspAI is not making a general chatbot. Mr Edwards, 35, and Professor Max Welling, his co-founder, have been developing an AI tool that they have billed as a “search engine for materials” that can identify new compounds. It is hoped that the AI can yield technological breakthroughs. Their start-up became one of the most hotly tipped British AI companies when it raised more than $100m (£75m) last summer, only a year after being set up. Last week, it announced a fresh fundraising of $450m, attracting
backing from Bezos’s family offi ce, Bezos Expeditions. It has also secured taxpayer millions through the Sovereign AI Fund, a £500m investment vehicle set up by Labour. While it may not have the fl ashy consumer appeal of ChatGPT, CuspAI could help Britain carve out a niche and off er an in-road into the fi ercely competitive global AI market. Mr Edwards said CuspAI’s technology operates “a little bit like an AI scientist”. Its system, known as Mira, has learned from a vast pool of scientifi c data, “one of the largest corpuses of data anywhere in the world”, working with publishing houses and leading universities. Customers, such as chip-makers or AI giants, can call on the model to come up with potential new materials. It searches within “all possible chemicals or materials that could ever exist”, Mr Edwards claimed. This could speed up the creation of alternative compounds for making more effi cient microchips, safer batteries, or for carbon capture and storage. An early customer has been using it to help purify drinking water from toxic “forever chemicals”. “The agent now, we genuinely believe, is the most advanced and knowledgeable scientifi c agent for materials discovery anywhere in the world,” Mr Edwards said. CuspAI last week announced what it dubbed an “AI Materials Foundry”. Technology giants like Nvidia, Meta, Samsung and Hyundai are involved in the eff ort, which aims to put the discoveries made by CuspAI to use in building new chips. Mr Edwards said advances in materials “underpin everything that we see and read in the headlines today, whether it’s the energy transition, the climate crisis ... [and] the pursuit of intelligence, which of course is underpinned by data centre build-out”. Up to now the discovery of new materials relied on “serendipity and trial and error”, he said. But with “generative AI, we can move to an entirely new paradigm”. Coming up with new materials could help relieve key bottlenecks for trillion-dollar businesses, such as the semiconductor
EDDIE MULHOLLAND
industry, which Mr Edwards said has become “by far our biggest focus area”. Such materials could, for instance, help make chips smaller or more effi cient at dissipating heat. They could also replace rare earth metals over which China has a stranglehold. Mr Edwards, who worked at a Cambridge-based quantum computing business, gave the example of gallium. It is an “element that is heavily used in semiconductors that has geopolitical challenges”, he said. This soft and malleable metal will melt in the palm of the hand and is almost 99pc sourced from China. Beijing has banned direct exports of the element to the US. Other customers want to break their dependence on cobalt, often sourced from regions with poor human rights records. CuspAI is based in Cambridge and
has an offi ce in King’s Cross, north London, an area that is now an AI hub. A big investor is Singapore’s Temasek sovereign wealth fund. While Mr Edwards expects CuspAI to build its presence in the island nation and is targeting Japan, he said the company was “very committed to the UK as a place to build a company”. Mr Edwards grew up in Llanfyllin, Powys, the son of a hard-working greengrocer. After an internship at Google he realised he “just wanted to be in a start-up environment, really hands-on, building stuff ”. This year, CuspAI was one of the fi rst to attract an investment from the Sovereign AI Fund. Mr Edwards said the company had worked “very closely” with Lord Vallance, the former science minister appointed on Friday to chair a new AI task force, and
Kaniska Narayan, now a Cabinet minister responsible for AI. Mr Edwards said the UK has the chance to invest early and benefi t from the “immense wealth around the world” being generated by AI. The new funding for CuspAI will give Britain’s AI prospects a boost. Yet it comes when the balance of power in the AI race appears to have shifted. China’s new Kimi bot has raised concerns that AI systems with the blessing of Beijing could undercut Western AI companies. A million “tokens” to run its most powerful AI cost around $15, compared with $50 for Anthropic’s most powerful technology. Much of the technology behind Kimi is open-source, meaning it can be freely downloaded and modifi ed. The success of Moonshot has prompted accusations from the White
will see more adoption of Chinese models with time. We will benefit’
House that China has been “stealing” Western tech and claims from OpenAI bosses that the rise of Chinese AI giants will mean “full AI communism”. Yet Mr Edwards expects to see “more adoption of these models” which “off er better economics”. He does not foresee a “Huawei” scenario, where the telecoms giant was largely cut out of the West. “I think we will see more adoption of Chinese models with time,” he says. That may not be too much of a problem for start-ups, he points out. The success of Chinese AI should mean chatbot prices come down more broadly, meaning “we’re benefi ciaries”. But worryingly for OpenAI and Anthropic, China’s AI is rapidly gaining ground. “The delta is defi nitely the order of months, if not weeks at this time,” Mr Edwards said.
Chad Edwards, after a spell as a Google intern, realised he wanted to build stuff
Britain just seconds from power grid disaster
France for electricity as crisis unfolded during World Cup. By Matt Oliver and Jonathan Leake
AS THEY sat down to watch England’s World Cup showdown with Ghana, millions of football fans were oblivious to the crisis unfolding on Britain’s power grid. It was June 23 and the country was sweltering under a 33C heatwave, prompting many to crank up fans and air conditioners at home. With large numbers also glued to their televisions late into the night, it meant demand on the electricity system was unusually high. What the fans didn’t know, however, was that in a control room in Reading, engineers at the National Energy System Operator (Neso) were sweating to keep the show on the road. At 17 seconds past 8pm, just an hour before kick-off, the crisis reached its nadir – and disaster was only averted after grid bosses begged their French counterparts for help over the phone. “It’s a warning, and one we’re going to have to learn from,” says Ben Watts, an independent energy analyst. “Everyone accepts we were very close to having a problem.” Neso also faces whistleblower allegations – which are being independently investigated – that bosses sought to cover up the evidence of instability on June 23. The grid operator has insisted the system worked properly throughout. That is one possible telling, say experts. Another is that the day was only saved thanks to sheer luck and goodwill from the French. So who is right? And just what happened, exactly? On June 23, grid operators were facing what could reasonably be described as a perfect storm. Summer is usually the least demanding time of year, so several power plants were down for routine maintenance. Others were suffering unplanned outages, some due to the heat. As a result, a fifth of Britain’s usual generating capacity – or 21.2 gigawatts (GW) – was missing in action before the evening peak had even arrived that day. About 12.6GW of this was planned and the remaining 8.6GW unplanned, according to analysis by Watts. Gas-fired power stations that usually ride to the rescue were also having a bad day. In North Wales, a unit at the Connah’s Quay plant had unexpectedly failed while others including Keadby 2, Britain’s most efficient combined cycle gas turbine site, had seen their outputs cut because of heat inefficiencies. Despite these early signs of a tough evening ahead, markets assumed the peak would be manageable, says Watts. In fact, Britain’s remaining interconnectors with Europe were even scheduled to export power. It was a set-up that would pile more pressure on at the worst possible moment.
warning, and one we’re going to have to learn from’
1pm-6pm: A coming storm For most of the day, conditions were unremarkable. In fact, the sun was shining and the country’s solar farms were having a field day – meeting nearly 50pc of total demand. But then a series of bad omens started to appear. At 1pm, the 5GW ElecLink interconnector with France suffered an unplanned outage, cutting the amount of power that could be sent across the Channel in a pinch. The heatwave was also eroding the efficiency of Britain’s gas plants, wiping out almost 13pc of their output while it became clear in the Neso control room that wind farm generation was set to come in at about 5GW – below predictions of roughly 7GW. Then the sun started to set, taking
unending plan to strip C02 from the world in final act as energy secretary
By Jonathan Leake
IT COULD be Ed Miliband’s oddest and costliest legacy. Days before leaving his role as energy secretary, he signed off on a proposal to make Britain a “global leader” in greenhouse gas removals – technologies that strip carbon dioxide from the air around us. The commitment, tucked away in a response to a review released just before Andy Burnham moved Miliband to the Foreign Office, is a minor footnote in his tenure. But the task he has left for successor Miatta Fahnbulleh is huge. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 is just 0.04pc, meaning that removing it requires cleaning at least 1,600 tonnes of air for each tonne of CO2. Moreover, humanity pumps another 40 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year – adding to the 2.5 trillion tonnes emitted since the industrial revolution. Less than 1pc of that is produced by the UK. But in a report signed off by Miliband this month, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has committed Britain to kick-starting the clean-up. “The UK is well-positioned to be a
global leader in greenhouse gas removal (GGR) technologies with our world-class research institutions, engineering expertise and access to geological storage,” it said. The Department for Energy and Net Zero is even putting taxpayers’ money into the plan – £56m on a dozen trials of Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS). Why, though, would Miliband want to commit the UK to the Sisyphean task of stripping CO2 from the atmosphere? Answer: Labour’s net zero push. Britain may be doing well in replacing petrol and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles, substituting heat pumps for boilers and making electricity from wind rather than coal. But there are some sectors we will always struggle to decarbonise without adopting a puritanical lifestyle. The most obvious are aviation and farming – especially of livestock – which are each expected to generate 40 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2050. Demanding the public give up meat and flying would be electoral suicide, so Miliband last year asked the former junior energy minister, friend and fellow eco-enthusiast Lord Whitehead to set out new ways for Britain to tackle those emissions. Whitehead concluded direct air capture of CO2 was vital to get the UK to net zero. The alternative, he said, was “a low-carbon future with no industry,
OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA
Fans watching England v Ghana, above, almost had the plug pulled as grid officials battled to keep the lights on, below right
the solar generation that had fed Britain for most of the day with it. From a peak of just under 15GW at lunchtime, output had dropped to 4.7GW by 6pm. In Europe, the same thing was happening. This prompted higher demand from the Continent and caused British exports through the interconnectors to surge, exacerbating the pressure on the grid. Behind the scenes, grid operators at Neso had spotted these warning signs. Not long after 2pm, they snapped up 5.7GW of capacity in a blizzard of 111 trades at prices of up to £876 per megawatt hour – more than three times the rate on the day-ahead market. However, they kept quiet. Unlike on other days that week, Neso chose not to issue an electricity margin notice, which would have alerted markets.
6pm-7.30pm: The grid is in trouble The battle to keep Britain’s lights on began in earnest after 6pm. Grid operators are tasked with keeping supply and demand in balance at all times, in order to maintain a frequency of 50 hertz. They are supposed to keep the frequency within 0.2Hz of this target and are legally required to ensure it never deviates by 0.5Hz or more. When the frequency deviates too far outside these limits, it can result in blackouts as equipment is automatically shut down. By 6.52pm, the frequency of Britain’s grid had sagged below the normal operating threshold of 49.8Hz. It hit 49.685Hz at 7pm, according to market data from Elexon, and then stayed outside the comfort zone for most of the next 30 minutes. Neso control room staff scrambled to boost supplies, calling on the country’s battery fleet to meet a large part of demand. But they were also still battling losses, with a gas-fired power
little transport and difficult-to-swallow mass behaviour change”. Two key technologies lie at the heart of these quixotic proposals to clean up the atmosphere. One is Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS), which typically sees giant fans pump ambient air through chemical filters that strip out the CO2. The other is BECCS – Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage – a process in which plant
plant in Cottam, Nottinghamshire, failing on its first day back from maintenance and taking 400 megawatts (MW) of capacity offline. At 7.10pm, Neso resorted to cutting exports to Europe to keep Britain’s lights on. An emergency instruction was issued to BritNed, the interconnector with the Netherlands, to slash exports from 575MW to zero, buying vital breathing room. This had kicked in by 7.30pm, moving the grid’s frequency back above 49.8Hz, but the crisis was far from over.
7.30pm-8.30pm: France saves the day With 8pm approaching, Britain’s 3.3GW battery fleet was running low on power and the amount of available spare gas capacity had dwindled to just 80MW in the South. At 7.50pm, the frequency dipped below normal operating levels again and at 8pm precisely it hit 49.656Hz –
matter is burnt for power generation and the waste gas is stripped of CO2. In both cases, the captured CO2 would be compressed into a liquid and pumped into depleted oil and gas fields beneath the North Sea. Or it could be converted into minerals and buried. Supporters point to existing trial projects such as the commercial-scale Mammoth facility in Iceland, which can permanently remove up to 36,000 tonnes of CO2 each year, as well as
the lowest level observed this year. It was enough to prompt Neso to plead for emergency help. Just before 8pm, engineers in the British control room picked up the phone and called their counterparts at RTE, the French grid operator. According to an experienced former grid operator, it is not unusual for such emergency requests to be made as many as 10 times a year. “It’s in everyone’s interest to offer mutual assistance when you can,” the source says. “If things are starting to get tight, the process is usually that you call the other grid operators and compare notes.” Within minutes of Neso’s call, grid operators in Paris swung into action. Between 7.55pm and 8.05pm, three French interconnectors changed direction and started funnelling nearly 2GW of power back into Britain. France had saved the day.
Texas-based 1PointFive, a subsidiary of oil giant Occidental, which is being engineered to capture up to half a million tonnes of CO2 annually. But opposition is growing. Critics argue the costs and energy needed to extract CO2 from air will make such schemes uneconomic. Real Zero Europe, an umbrella group for organisations including Friends of the Earth and the Corporate Europe Observatory, argues carbon capture projects are merely attempts to whitewash the fossil fuel industry by making aviation look “clean”. Some scientists agree. “DACCS only increases CO2 and air pollution,” says Prof Mark Z Jacobson, at Stanford University. Nevertheless, the UK’s Climate Change Committee has adopted the idea. Its reports state while emissions reductions will do the heavy lifting for net zero, engineered removals such as DACCS will be vital for sectors like farming and aviation. Aviation is the biggest problem. A recent report from the Department for Transport warned surging UK demand for flying could see emissions rise from 30 million tonnes in 2022 to 44 million tonnes by 2040, making aviation the UK’s largest single source of emissions. So Whitehead wants to hit airlines with a “net zero aviation mandate”, under which aircraft taking off from UK runways would be obliged to pay for the CO2 they emit to be stripped out of the air and buried underground.
deeply
worrying,
because if
we’d lost
a major
generator
that evening
it could have
been game
over’
Pressure points How the drama played out
A fifth of Britain’s generating capacity was missing in action before the evening peak on June 23 8.6GW
Much of the deficit was planned, but this amount was unscheduled with a gas-fire power station in North Wales unexpectedly failing 33C
Output was also cut at Keadby 2, Britain’s most efficient combined cycle gas turbine site, because of inefficiencies caused by the heatwave 80MW
Amount of available spare gas capacity in the South at 8pm 2GW
Three French
interconnectors reversed
their direction between
7.55pm and 8.05pm to
funnel this amount of
power back into Britain
Lessons learnt? For some experts, the events of June 23 came a little too close for comfort. The ex-grid operator says what happened wasn’t “outside the realms of normal operation”, but adds: “Why we had relatively low frequencies for an extended period is the real question.” Kathryn Porter, another independent analyst, claims the situation exposed the fragility of Britain’s electricity grid. “There was no reserve left,” she wrote on social media. “This is deeply worrying, because if we’d lost a major generator that evening it could have been game over particularly with so many grid boundaries running over capacity.” As it happens, something did break the next day. IFA, one of the interconnectors that came to Britain’s rescue on June 23, suffered an outage during the evening peak of June 24. If this had happened 22 hours earlier, Neso might have been in serious trouble. Adam Bell, a former government energy official and consultant at Stonehaven, believes the evening’s events revealed two key lessons: Britain needs more gas-fired power generation in the South of England and needs to look again at reforms to the wholesale power market. Bell also believes the Government should look at building a “strategic reserve” of gas-fired plants. “There’s a lack of gas capacity in the South, which I think this revealed, and there’s no real plans to bring on any more currently.” Ultimately, disaster was averted. But without action, experts fear Britain may not be so lucky next time. A government spokesman said: “We are very confident in our security of supply arrangements, and that Neso have the tools they need to manage the system. At no time has there been any concern about being able to meet demand in heatwaves.”
But how much would all this cost? A trial conducted by Norwegian energy giant Equinor and Rolls-Royce was a technical success, It captured 4.4 tonnes of airborne CO2, but the cost came in at around £1,100 a tonne. They suggest this cost would fall sharply as the technology matures – perhaps as low as £150 – yet that remains a distant hope. Whitehead’s own review admits that sucking CO2 directly from the air will cost somewhere between £259 and £578 a tonne. Given that emissions from a return flight from London to New York equate to as much as two tonnes of CO2 per passenger, that price tag means air travel could become prohibitively expensive. Even in the most optimistic case, the cost of a round trip to New York could jump by £150. Will British voters put up with that? Ministers argue the public will welcome the proposals because cleaning the atmosphere could become a new growth industry in itself. A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “Greenhouse gas removal technologies will help us drive growth and create skilled jobs in our industrial heartlands, while also cutting emissions as we act to tackle climate change.” Frequent or even occasional fliers facing a sharp increase in air fares might take a different view.
Sussex has become a battleground over Labour’s plans to devolve power to local councils
By Pui-Guan Man
AT THE eastern edge of the South Downs National Park in Sussex lies an unassuming fi eld thought to house treasures from the First World War. Chyngton Field, near Seaford, contains the last surviving fragments of an army camp where more than 200,000 volunteer troops for Lord Kitchener’s Third New Army trained before shipping out to the front lines. The fi eld also acts as a gateway to the striking Seven Sisters chalk cliff s lining the English Channel as well as the entrance to the King Charles III England Coast Path. Yet despite its bucolic charms, the 2.7-acre patch of greenery is fast becoming known as a diff erent type of battleground. Lewes district council, the local authority, has proposed freeing up the site for up to 30 new homes, prompting a furious backlash from hundreds of residents, politicians and campaigners who oppose it. The plan leads back to Westminster and Andy Burnham’s housebuilding ambitions, now steered by Angela Rayner, the new Housing Secretary. Under Labour’s building blitz, Lewes was set a mandatory housing target to add around 15,000 homes, although this has been lowere
cannot fi nd enough
But for many in th
dash to build more h
the door to rash dec
councils trying to h
More than 3,700 p
a petition against th
development. Other
the scheme include
Trust, the Campaign
Rural England (CPR
Seaford town counc
Maria Tomalova,
planning campaign
at CPRE, c alled the proposal “wholly inappropriate” as it “sits within the rolling landscape of the South Downs National Park”. James MacCleary
Liberal Democrat M
Lewes, said residen
hit by “a bolt from th
when they realised
was planning to bui
the fi eld. “Seaford d
now resembles ‘upmarket duty-free’
department store eerily quiet as it faces deeply uncertain future
By Ben Marlow and Tom Haynes
ON A warm weekday afternoon at the start of the school holidays, Harvey Nichols’ fl agship Knightsbridge store ought to be bustling. Instead, it is eerily subdued. Across six fl oors of designer fashion, luxury beauty and homeware, staff appear to outnumber customers. Sales assistants idle at tills, scroll on laptops or absent-mindedly straighten rails of clothing that few people seem interested in browsing. On some fl oors, entire concessions sit empty. For almost two centuries, Harvey Nichols was a pioneer of high-end retail, its colossal fl
a beacon for the w
a string of well-kn
Diana, Princess of In the 1990s, it w
the BBC sitcom Ab
or “Ab Fab” to fans
gorgeous. Where d
sweetie? Was it Ha
darling?” Jennifer
Edina Monsoon re
But the fabled st
but fabulous these
Dickson Poon, its b
owner, was forced
chain on the block
years of steep losse The offi cial line from Harvey Nich
is it is making “stro
progress”; that the
are “positive early signs of growth”. However, the “bus
usual” message do
up to scrutiny. Harvey Nichols
posted a profi t sinc
been heavily relian
cash injections fro
Sir Dickson, who h
owned it for 35 yea
He has given
£138.5m of fundin
over the last fi ve
fi nancial years –
almost enough to c
£142m of losses. Meanwhile, its l
IAN WOOLCOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK
of accounts are nearly four months overdue at Companies House . Harvey Nichols’ struggles do come in a tough market for high-end retailers. The pandemic was a hammer blow to a business heavily reliant on wealthy tourists, forcing its stores to shut for eight months. Another blow was the end of tax-free shopping for overseas customers following Brexit. Its competitors have also struggled. Harrods recorded a £34m loss last year, but largely driven by£60m set aside to compensate victims of alleged abuse by ex-owner Mohamed Al Fayed, who died in 2023. Selfridges saw a £130m drop in sales in its most recent year. But with a turnover around £200m, Harvey Nichols is a minnow compared with its rivals, which both pull in revenues of more than £1bn. “I fail to see how it can survive as a standalone business,” says one turnaround expert.
een space. It’s been very
the community,” he said nt Tony Bennett, 79, called
oposal “almost unbelievable”. oesn’t make any ntribution to the housing umbers,” he said. “You’re oing to get some quite expensive executive homes. That’s obviously what you’d get, with a view of the Seven Sisters. It’s not going to ease the housing crisis.” The row is unfolding against plans for more devolution from Burnham. He has promised to hand power over housing and regeneration to local leaders such as those in Lewes, arguing “growth cannot be rdered from the top down”. It forms part of Labour’s plan
off ering . “ Harvey Nichols has treated digital as very much a secondary concern; failing to invest unlike many of its peers,” he says. “This has resulted in a poor experience for shoppers, with some turning their backs on the brand as a result.” Bidders have been told the chain needs up to £60m to fund investment, including a full refurbishment of its Edinburgh outpost . The appointment of restructuring experts at FTI to lead the scramble for new backers, and the gaggle of suitors forming, suggests Harvey Nichols will do well to survive in its current form. Among those circling are high street ghouls Modella Capital, which presided over the collapse of several struggling chains, including Claire’s. It has also just won permission from the High Court to close scores of former WH Smith shops against the wishes of many landlords, and impose steep rent
e.
n of Mike Ashley into
has alarmed some
ar he would take
ownmarket. The
wner is also not afraid
ssive insolvency
ng him to acquire
by ditching debts and
e goes for Next, which ut its hat into the ring. ell & Bromley, Joules, Made.com have all bought out of inistration by the h street stalwart in ent years. One prospective vestor says it was told a e-pack administration, re a fi rm declares ency so it can be free of fi nancial s, may be required to arvey Nichols A spokesman
ically” denied this. ion may arrive from hich has owned since 2010, reported
king to add to its
etail interests. n Knightsbridge, for optimism is tely thin on the The ground fl oor es an upmarket airport e – perfume, skincare
up counters. Once the d of the fashion elite; y ously ordinary.
to devolve more responsibility to local authorities in the hope it will produce better decisions for the area. But opponents of the Seaford housing plan say its case illustrates the opposite. MacCleary, a former leader of the district council, says the Seaford row exposes a wider contradiction in Labour’s reforms. “It is a complete fallacy that the Government promotes this idea that councils have any control over the planning process,” he says. “They mandate housing targets, they punish councils if they don’t hit them, and if they don’t produce a plan with enough housing in it, the Government simply takes over.” He adds that Burnham’s promise to devolve power to local authorities is being tested at Chyngton Field. “Councils are as frustrated as anybody by the situation, and they fi nd themselves feeling utterly powerless,”
plan with enough housing in it, the Government simply takes over’
he says. “If you [work] with communities, we might actually get a few more houses built and a bit less anger from the public.” While Burnham has yet to share specifi c details of what his vision for housebuilding entails, there are questions over how far he should trust councils with making those decisions. This is especially true with the return of Rayner, who championed faster housebuilding and higher mandatory housing targets for councils when she last held the role. Supporters of greater local control would say councils are simply working within constraints set by Whitehall, leaving them with few options. The row also raises a broader question for both Burnham’s vision of empowered local government and Rayner’s housing agenda: whether giving councils more responsibility
The Seven Sisters Chalk cliffs could have 30 new homes for neighbours if Andy Burnham, left, drives through Labour’s house- building plans
will deliver homes in the right places. Jackie Frost, who leads the Friends of Seaford Head campaign, says the historical signifi cance of Chyngton Field’s as the site of Kitchener’s camp means it must be protected at all costs. “We need housing in Seaford, but we need aff ordable housing,” she added. “It’s the wrong housing in the wrong place.” There are also concerns about the wildlife. Badger setts in the fi eld, a wildlife corridor into the National Park and a designated dark-skies spot could all vanish once street-lights arrive, Frost said. Rosie Pearson, co-founder of the Community Planning Alliance, said: “We are fed up with seeing new developments proposed on unspoilt countryside like this. “Communities all over the country want to see farmland, countryside and nature protected – and the Prime Minister has a chance to reset the approach to development.” There are also concerns that local GP surgeries and wastewater facilities would be overstretched with more housing in the area. “There’s no public transport to speak of,” adds Laura Gough, who has lived in the area for 22 years. “Anyone needing to go to the doctor or local
schools will probably fi nd they are not be able to manage the new residents.” A spokesman for Lewes district council said Chyngton Field had been “subject to extensive consultation with residents”, adding that “tens of thousands of people have shared their thoughts and opinions on the merits of diff erent locations”. He added that the evidence gathered would help demonstrate to the planning inspector that the assessment had been “exhaustive”. Another consultation is expected within the next two months before the district council fi nalises its housing plan. But Frost says the community will battle on. “We will fi ght to the last second and be willing to go before the planning inspector if we feel the local plan isn’t sound,” she says. A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “For too long we have not built enough housing, which has put secure homes out of reach. “To meet that challenge, we need local leaders in all areas to play their part and build the homes alongside the right infrastructure, while taking into account the views of the local community.”
I
f there is a house more beautiful than Broughton Castle, it is hard to imagine. This ancient building, near Banbury – a medieval hall with a Tudor mansion wrapped around it, on a moated island – has been the home of the Fiennes family since 1447. It smells a bit like a cathedral. Today, its custodian is Martin Fiennes, 22nd Baron Saye and Sele. While he has adopted the title, after the death of his father Nathaniel Fiennes, 21st Baron Saye and Sele, aged
enjoy all the frills, including the posho frills. But nobody will ever call me m’lord’
103, in 2024, he prefers to be called Martin. “I am Lord Saye and I’m very proud of it; I just don’t use it,” he says. In the chapel, Fiennes admires the “fixed top altar – in most Anglican churches the altar is away from the back wall so this is idolatrous Catholic stuff, which because we’re a sound Protestant family nobody ever smashed up”. Up in the council chamber, “the room which hath no ears”, used by parliamen- tarians plotting against Charles I, lies a row of cannonballs. In the great hall, featuring a tribute to his late mother, Mariette, who died in April, I admire the 1760s pendant ceiling. “The one upstairs is even better,” says Fiennes. Broughton was built by Sir John de Broughton in 1306, whose family sold it to William of Wykeham, founder of
Winchester College, in 1377. The house then passed through a series of Twisle- tons, Wykehams and Fienneses. The latter came from outside Calais, first with William the Conqueror, and settled in Kent. James Fiennes was made 1st Baron Saye and Sele in 1447, taking “Sele” from a nearby hamlet and “Saye” from Geoffrey de Say, “the ances- tor who signed Magna Carta”. In the mid-15th century, Sir William Fiennes married Margaret Wykeham, then, in 1649, the Cromwellian colonel John Twisleton wed Elizabeth Fiennes. Surnames varied until the Venerable Frederick Twisleton succeeded as 16th Baron Saye and Sele in 1847 and changed the family name to Twisleton-Wyke- ham-Fiennes. This triple barrelling was considered overkill by Fiennes’s father,
who changed it in 1965. Although their home Broughton is startlingly lovely, it hasn’t always been an idyll. In September 1968, Fiennes’s younger brother Thomas died aged two, shortly followed by his paternal grandparents, “so Dad lost his son and two parents in six weeks”. Soon after, the family moved to Broughton, where “nothing had been done since 1890”. With them came a whirlwind in the form of Richard, Fiennes’s older brother, who had developed epilepsy as an infant. “He had status epilepticus – fits that would last for 24 hours.” When Richard was at Broughton, “there was quite a lot of violence around the place,” says Fiennes. “He had a tough time.” Given Richard’s health, Fiennes knew he would one day take on
Year built 1306
Acreage 1,800
Address Broughton Castle, Banbury OX15 5EB; broughtoncastle.com
Notable owners Nathaniel Fiennes, one of the first Allied soldiers into Bergen-Belsen
Broughton, “but it didn’t enter my thinking, not remotely”. Richard died in 2001, aged 41. The Saye and Sele still had Broughton to manage. After the war, during which he had been one of the first Allied sol- diers to see the Bergen-Belsen concen- tration camp, Nathaniel Saye and Sele trained as a land agent and, alongside his day job, embarked upon a 15-year restoration project at Broughton. In 1988, in the midst of this, Nicholas Ridley, then environment secretary, declared aristocrats who could not keep their houses should give them up. Interviewed soon after, Nathaniel Saye and Sele asked: “Do you think by removing us and installing a nouveau riche family, the heritage would be maintained in the way we maintain it?” Both Martin and his father agreed, he says, new money is good for big houses. “It’s lovely if [families like ours] can afford it, but if they can’t, get someone in who can.” His father, he says, would have admired the efforts of the busi- nessman Sir Stephen Hester and his wife Suzy at Broughton Grange. “All you need is money, passion and commitment.Having the capital resources outweighs being posh.” Nevertheless, he hugely admires his parents’ efforts. “They had an incredible marriage, for 66 years, and would sit holding hands watching the telly when he was 100.” After a varied career – working on trade shows, running amusement arcades, and then in venture capital – Fiennes has retired to do “full-time unpaid work” on Broughton, having moved into the house in 2014. With his former wife, he has three sons under 30, the second of whom, Ned, a soldier, is likely to take on Broughton. “The older two had a chat and agreed that Ned would do it. Half the fun of living in this place is sharing your toy with other people.” The house is open Wednesdays, Sun- days and bank holiday Monday after- noons from April to September. It’s a big ask. “Boy, is that marriage crowded,” he says. “The house is a person, too.” (Fiennes is getting married in Septem- ber; his fiancée, he says, is “up for it”). Roughly 10,000 people visit a year. “In an ideal world we’d be 20,000 – I’d like to double or triple the number who come to the garden,” he says. There are few weddings but Broughton has starred in several films and series, including Shakespeare in Love, Jane Eyre and Wolf Hall. “When the crews leave, the house says to you, ‘I’m bruised’. It feels it.” It has been 19 months since Fiennes became Lord Saye and Sele; he urges me not to write that name on my thank-you letter. “It’s the 21st century. These things are of great historic interest, but they don’t matter. It’s decoration – the sir this, the lord that. It’s frills. I enjoy all the frills, including the posho frills. But nobody will ever call me ‘m’lord’.”
JOHN LAWRENCE
Annual visitors Broughton is open Wed, Sun and bank holiday Mondays, April to September 103yrs
The 21st Baron Nathaniel Fiennes, Martin’s father, died in 2024. He led the castle’s restoration.
Heirs and Graces: A History of the Modern British Aristocracy by Eleanor Doughty is published by Hutchinson
‘A tipsy interview landed me my TV break’
K
atie Derham, 56, is one of Britain’s best-known broadcasters. She started her career in journalism at BBC News and ITN, and now hosts pro- grammes on BBC Radio 3 and presents the BBC Proms. In 2015, she reached the final of Strictly Come Dancing, and alongside her broadcasting career she co-founded the production company Peanut & Crumb. She lives with her hus- band, restaurateur John Vincent, co-founder of the chain Leon, and their two daughters.
HOW DID YOUR CHILDHOOD INFLUENCE YOUR WORK ETHIC AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS MONEY? It was a huge infl uence, as I’m sure it is for everybody. My parents both worked very hard. Mum was a teacher and dad was a chemist working for a pharma- ceutical company. I’m one of four children and educa- tion was incredibly important to them. They sent all four of us to private school, which meant sacrifices were made. It meant we went on camping holidays rather than expensive trips, but they prioritised education above everything. We grew up with a very clear under- standing that if you wanted something in life you had to work hard for it.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? When I was 16 I worked in the summer holidays at the local department store in Wilmslow, Cheshire. I worked on the Burberry stall during what turned out to be the hottest summer imaginable. We didn’t make a sale for about 10 days straight, which must have been some kind of record. But it was great fun.
DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO WORK IN JOURNALISM? Not really. I studied economics at A-level. My father had grown up in Bra- zil and travelled a lot, so there was always a sense that my life might involve travel or international work. But when I graduated in 1991, with my degree in economics from Cambridge, there simply weren’t many jobs around. It was quite bleak economically. My fi rst job was as a secretary at the Westminster Chamber of Commerce. After about six months I managed to get some work experience at the BBC in Manchester, and then a secretary job there. Eventually I became a researcher on Money Box and other business pro- grammes. Like most junior journalists I spent my time opening the mail, cutting out newspaper articles and highlighting things for producers.
the heart of government
underpins much Labour thinking on
these matters.
But Resolution has been pushing at
an open door. Tackling inequality has
long been a key objective of Labour .
The NEF, on the other hand, is pushing
a much more novel message – a creed
that is all but guaranteed to make us all
poor.
There has been a broad consensus in
British politics that growth is a good
thing. The debate has been not about
whether we want growth but how to
achieve it . The NEF was set up to go
against this consensus, arguing that it
is a vestige of – that dread word –
neoliberal thinking.
The NEF grew out of The Other
Economic Summit, fi rst convened in
1984 by the toffi sh Jonathan Porritt,
then leader of the Ecology Party (later
to become the Greens). These
gatherings, a counter to the supposed
neoliberalism of the G7 summits, set
out to argue that conventional
economics was all wrong and that the
planet needed to be put before growth.
The NEF was itself formed in 1986,
with the shtick that university
economics departments were
dominated by the Right (if only) and a
new way of thinking was needed.
Its message since then has been
relentless. Neoliberalism is to blame
for all the world’s ills and our leaders
need to get over their obsession with
growth. The relentless onward march
of the state has done nothing to dim
that delusion.
The NEF and its panjandrums want
us all to enjoy a three-day week and to
take life at a slower pace. The fact that
Burnham bangs on about the 1980s
wrong turn and the all-pervading
infl uence of neoliberalism perhaps
indicates the extent of NEF infl uence.
The NEF had a budget last year of
nearly £5m and a staff of 43, whereas
the Institute of Economic Aff airs spent
just over £2m and employed 20. The
growth of the anti-growthers is thanks
to million pound-plus project support
from the National Lottery Community
Fund and the Oak Foundation . The
latter funds all manner of progressive
causes and is endowed by Swiss-based
British billionair e, Alan M Parker.
Expect to hear much more from NEF
in the coming years of the Burnham
premiership. If growth fails to occur,
you may even start to hear the claim
that this is all part of the 10-year
sustainable new economic plan.
Michael Mosbacher
A network of unrepresentative, unelected think tanks machinating to take over the levers of power and push through an agenda that the public has never endorsed is operating at the heart of government. That is the favoured mantra of progressive opinion when it comes to pro-market think tanks and Conservative prime ministers. The Institute of Economic Aff airs, the original proto-Thatcherite think tank, and the supposed network of sinister Tufton Street outfi ts have been endlessly cited by the Left as co- defendants in the Liz Truss debacle. But a much better case can be made that the think tanks of the Left have had a truly signifi cant infl uence on both the Starmer and now the Burnham governments. Alumni of the Resolution Foundation and now the New Economics Foundation (NEF) are actual ministers, not mere advisors. Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, was the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation for nine years until being elected to parliament in 2024. Dan Tomlinson, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, also worked for Resolution. And the new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Miatta
JEFF SPICER/GETTY IMAGES
Strictly honestly felt like running away to join the circus for five months’
Fahnbulleh, was chief executive of the NEF for six years until the end of 2023. These think tanks are now real powers in the land . Resolution and NEF are certainly more infl uential than the free market think tanks have been at any point since the Thatcher years. Ironically, think tanks of the Right have not been unduly upset by attacks on their supposed behind-closed- doors infl uence. The fi ction that these institutions wield vast power is rather more appealing and glamorous for those involved than the prosaic reality. And it also does little harm in terms of fundraising. Every Guardian hit piece is good for the next donation. In the post-1980s decades, the infl uence of Right-wing think tanks on Tory governments has been marginal. It is easy to draw up diagrams showing how people working in think tanks then moved into No 10 under various PMs – but all that really shows is that there is a career ladder in Right-wing public policy. But what of Resolution and the NEF? Resolution’s agenda is unambiguous – inequality is the problem that underlies virtually all others in Britain and tackling it must be the number one task of a progressive government. Higher taxes on wealth is an essential tool to achieving this desideratum. Resolution and the £50m endowment from insurance tycoon Sir Clive Cowdery backing it has certainly turbocharged this argument within Labour. The think tank’s research
DID YOUR ECONOMICS BACKGROUND MAKE YOU GOOD WITH MONEY? I shouldn’t laugh, but no! One of the first interviews I did was for a broad- sheet, when I’d just started presenting Moneycheck on Radio 5 Live. I did it while my fl atmate, who was an actuary and far more sensible with money than I was, stood in the background handing me glasses of wine while I answered questions about budgeting. The head- line ended up being: “Presenter never follows her own advice”. But the funny thing is that interview actually led to my break in television. A few days later I got a call from [BBC fi lm programme] Film ’96 saying: “I hear you want to work in TV”. So, my career in television started because I admitted I wasn’t very good at managing money.
HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN DOING WORK YOU LOVE AND WORK THAT PAYS BETTER? Yes, absolutely. When I left the news- room in 2010 and moved into music broadcasting that was quite a big eco- nomic decision. We had two young chil- dren and had just moved out of London, so it was something my husband and I had to discuss as a family. I’ve defi nitely taken jobs because the pay was good. And I’ve also taken jobs because I loved them even though the pay wasn’t great. If you’re lucky, some- times those things overlap.
DID YOUR HUSBAND’S ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER INFLUENCE YOU? Yes, enormously. When he and his part- ners set up Leon in 2004, I saw the
whole journey – the success, but also the bumps in the road. Seeing that made me realise starting your own company is possible. It removed some of the fear.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BEST BUSINESS DECISION? Starting my media production company Peanut & Crumb in early 2015. I met my business partner Jane Gerber on a Sky Arts documentary. More and more cli- ents wanted fi lms for their websites or branded content, and I realised Jane had the skills to produce them.
AND THEN ALONG CAME STRICTLY...? We’d literally just started the company when I got the call asking if I’d like to do Strictly Come Dancing. Suddenly I was running a new business while also
Katie Derham at the Chelsea Flower Show. The presenter admits a weakness for buying plants
rehearsing six hours a day. I had the most delightful time learning to dance. It honestly felt like running away to join the circus for fi ve months.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE THE NEW BUSINESS FACED? During Covid, Peanut & Crumb had to diversify quickly, like a lot of companies. Podcasting suddenly seemed a sensible direction to explore, so we started pro- ducing audio content for clients as well. One of the big shifts has been realising that you can create your own IP rather than only producing content for other people. Jane had the brilliant idea during lockdown to make a podcast about bird- watching, which became Get Birding, hosted by Sean Bean.
WHICH CHARITABLE CAUSES ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU? My mum had early-onset Alzheimer’s and died in her sixties, so dementia charities are very close to my heart. I work quite a lot with Dementia UK and with Arts for Dementia, which is a won- derful charity bringing creative activi- ties to people living with the condition. I also support Music in Hospitals and Help Musicians.
DO YOU THINK THE UK UNDERVALUES THE ARTS? Yes, it’s something I feel strongly about. I’m a huge believer that the arts should be at the heart of every school. If children never hear a violin or sing in a choir, how can they know if they love it? We talk endlessly about the value of the creative industries, yet we don’t invest in the pipeline of talent that will sustain them.
WHAT’S YOUR WEAKNESS WHEN IT COMES TO SPENDING? These days it’s probably garden centres. I’ll go in for a couple of plants and some- how leave having spent a few hundred pounds. It’s alarming.
WHAT DOES FINANCIAL SUCCESS MEAN TO YOU? Freedom. I think when you’ve worked in media for a long time it’s quite hard to say no to work, partly because you enjoy it, and partly because you feel lucky to be asked. But financial success would mean having the freedom to choose when to say yes and when to say no. I love what I do and I feel very fortu- nate to have access to this world, whether it’s presenting concerts or working on creative projects. But hav- ing that security would probably be the greatest luxury.
What to watch
THE RAPTURE BBC One, 9pm
The opening episode of The Rapture develops an atmosphere of simmering unease
A dapted by Bryony Kimmings from Liz Jensen’s novel, The Rapture is a slippery, unsettling affair, set in a future rather nearer than was perhaps intended when the book was written in 2009: heatwaves are routine, natural disasters increasingly common and religious sects with a penchant for apocalyptic sermonising are on the rise. The genre hook is well done: Ruth Madeley’s therapist Gabs Fox has relocated to
Tour de France 2026
TNT Sports 1/HBO Max,
2.30pm
With highlights on
Channel 5 at 9pm, the
final stage of the race
takes the riders from
Thoiry to the Champs-
Élysées in procession until
the final stretch in Paris –
and the recent addition
of a cobbled climb in
Montmartre – where the
sprinters will compete to
finish the 133km route in
first.
Force of Nature ITV1, 7pm This new series documents how the natural world is adapting to survive climate change and mounting extremes of weather.
Wales and been assigned 17-year-old Bethany Krall (India Amarteifio), sectioned after seemingly murdering her mother two years earlier. Gabs herself is only just back at work after the car accident that killed her husband and left her paralysed. Bethany’s claims to clairvoyance, realised through bouts of manic sketching, are gradually given credence, while her estranged father (Sam
Robert De Niro stars as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver
Smartly juggling the
cute and the alarming, the
focus tonight is on an owl
going underground to
protect its chicks on the
American prairie, two
cheetahs navigating floods
in Kenya and a polar bear
dealing with shrinking ice
floes.
Hazeldine) – a charismatic
preacher – builds his flock.
Gabs must contend with
the interest of both Iwan
Rheon’s crusading journalist
and Jack Farthing’s
engineer, who has helped
build a nearby wind farm
that’s being dismissed as
greenwashing by climate-
change campaigners. An
atmosphere of simmering
unease explodes in the final
minutes of this opener.
Continues tomorrow.
GT
John Wilson at the Proms BBC Four, 8pm The Sinfonia of London takes to the stage of the Royal Albert Hall for the first of two performances under the baton of John Wilson over this Proms season. The programme includes Verdi’s Force of Destiny, Walton’s
Cello Concerto (featuring
soloist Jonathan Aasgaard)
and Respighi’s Roman
Trilogy, introduced by
Katie Derham.
The Dark ITV1, 9pm The penultimate episode of this agreeably gloomy slice of tartan noir, concluding tomorrow, finds Monica (Laura Donnelly) edging closer to the truth despite the suspect slipping through her fingers.
Terror in the Skies:
Stopping the Liquid
Bomb Plot
ITV1, 10.20pm
Largely forgotten now,
the 2006 al-Qaeda plot to
detonate liquid explosives
on transatlantic flights led
to flight restrictions on
onboard liquids that are
only now being lifted.
Rohit Kachroo investigates
both the conspiracy and
its unravelling, which came
thanks to a surveillance
The Dark is an agreeable slice of gloomy tartan noir
operation by the Met Police, talking to those who oversaw it. GT
FILM
Taxi Driver (1976)
BBC Two, 10pm
★★★★★
This lugubrious tale of
urban alienation is director
Martin Scorsese at his most
sublime. Robert De Niro
plays Travis Bickle, an
unstable Vietnam War
veteran who works as a
cab driver. It also features
Jodie Foster, Cybill
Shepherd and Harvey
Keitel. Bickle is driven to a
murderous rampage after
observing the low-lifes
who inhabit New York’s
underbelly. Underpinned
by Bernard Herrmann’s
score, it’s terrifying.
6.00 am Breakfast (S) 9.00 News (S) 10.00 Prayer and Reflection (R) (S) 10.30 Pilgrimage: The Road Through North Wales (AD) (R) (S) 11.30 Money for Nothing (R) (S) 12.15 pm Bargain Hunt (AD) (R) (S) 1.00 News; Weather (S) 1.15 Songs of Praise (S) 1.55 Lifeline (AD) (S) 2.05 The Mating Game (AD) (R) (S) 3.05 FILM: Dolittle (2020) Fantasy adventure starring Robert Downey Jr (AD) (S) 4.35 Homes Under the Hammer (AD) (R) (S) 5.35 News (S) 5.50 Regional News; Weather; Weather (S) 6.00 Celebrity Escape to the Country (AD) (R) (S)
Antiques Roadshow Cricket: The Hundred Live and Let Die
7.00 Countryfile The final stop on Anita Rani’s east coast road trip is Orford Ness (S)
8.00 Antiques Roadshow Fiona Bruce presents the show from Sefton Park Palm House in Liverpool (R) (S)
9.00 The Rapture New series. Psychological thriller starring Ruth Madeley (AD) (S)
10.00 BBC News at Ten (S) 10.25 Regional News; Weather (S) 10.30 FILM: I Am Legend (2007) Sci fi thriller starring Will Smith (AD) (S)
12.00 Who Do You Think You Are? 1.05 - 6.00am News
Desert Island Discs Radio 4, 10am
RADIO 4
Cinematographer Roger Deakins, the all-seeing eye behind countless film classics, including The
RADIO 1
FM 97.6-99.8MHZ
6.00am Radio 1 Weekend Early
Breakfast with Swarzy 7.00 Radio 1
Weekend Breakfast with James
Cusack 10.00 Radio 1 00s with James
Cusack 10.30 Newsbeat 10.32 Radio
1 00s with Nat and Vicky 11.00 Radio
1 10s with Nat and Vicky 12.00 Radio 1
20s with Nat and Vicky 1.00pm Sam
and Danni 4.00 Radio 1’s Life Hacks
6.00 The Official Chart: First Look on
Radio 1 7.00 Radio 1’s Chillest Show
with Sian Eleri 9.00 Radio 1’s Indie
Show with Alyx Holcombe 11.00 BBC
Introducing on Radio 1 with Jess Iszatt
1.00am 1Xtra’s R&B Show with
Chuckie 2.30 1Xtra’s R&B Slow Jamz
Mix with Chuckie 3.00 Radio 1’s Chill
Mix 3.30 Radio 1’s Chill Mix 4.00
Radio 1’s Workout Anthems 5.00
6.58am Radio 1 Early Breakfast with
Dean McCullough
RADIO 2
FM 88-90.2MHZ
6.00am Good Morning Sunday 9.00
Love Songs with Michael Ball 11.00
Paddy McGuinness 1.00pm Elaine
Paige on Sunday 3.00 Sounds of the
70s with Shaun Keaveny 5.00 Pick of
the Pops 6.00 Pick of the Pops 7.00
Tony Blackburn’s Golden Hour 8.00
The Paul Gambaccini Collection 10.00
Radio 2 Unwinds with Angela Griffin
11.00 Radio 2 Unwinds with Angela
Griffin 12.00 Richie Anderson
3.00am Alternative Sounds of the
90s with Dermot O’Leary 4.00
6.30am Owain Wyn Evans
6.25 am A to Z of TV Gardening (R) (S) 7.05 Glorious Gardens from Above (R) (S) 7.50 Countryfile (R) (S) 8.50 Best of Weatherman Walking (S) 9.20 Beechgrove Garden (R) (S) 9.50 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites (S) 11.20 Indian Food Made Easy (R) (S) 11.50 Indian Food Made Easy (R) (S) 12.20 pm FILM: Operation Crossbow (1965) Second World War adventure starring George Peppard (S) 2.15 Cricket: The Hundred Trent Rockets Women v London Spirit Women (start time 2.30pm) (S) 6.00 Cricket: The Hundred Trent Rockets Men v London Spirit Men (start time 6.00pm) (S)
9.30 Live at the Apollo Dara O Briain hosts with sets by Felicity Ward and Mo Gilligan (R) (S)
10.00 FILM: Taxi Driver (1976) Drama starring Robert De Niro (AD) (S)
11.50 FILM: The Elephant Man (1980, b/w) Fact based drama starring John Hurt 1.50am Sign Zone: Do You Know Your Place? 2.20 Sign Zone: Ann Droid 2.50 Sign Zone: The Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke 3.40 - 6.30am This Is BBC Two
Shawshank Redemption, No Country for Old Men and Skyfall, is this week’s castaway; a man who’s worked with many of the most famous people on the planet, and with plenty of
A concert by Anacronia 6.00 Choral Evensong. Solemn Vespers from Buckfast Abbey on the Feast of St Mary Magdalene 7.00 BBC Proms 2026. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performs Poulenc and Adams 9.00 BBC Proms 2026. A concert by Nadine Shah and the Royal Northern Sinfonia 10.30 Night Tracks. A soundtrack for late night listening 11.30 Unclassified 12.30 6.30am Through the Night
FM 92.4-94.6MHZ; LW 198KHZ
6.00am News Headlines 6.05 Heart and Soul 6.35 On Your Farm 6.57 Weather 7.00 News 7.00 Sunday Papers 7.10 Sunday 7.54 Radio 4 Appeal 7.57 Weather 8.00 News 8.00 Sunday Papers 8.10 Sunday Worship 8.48 Witness History 8.58 Tweet of the Day 9.00 Broadcasting House 10.00 Desert Island Discs 11.00 The Archers 12.15pm Last Word: Doing Death Differently 12.30 Just a Minute 12.57 Weather 1.00 The World This Weekend 1.30 Troubled Town 2.00 Gardeners’ Question Time. From Clarkston Halls in East Renfrewshire 2.45 Opening Lines 3.00 Drama: Trouble in Mind 4.00 Take Four Books 4.30 Brain of Britain 5.00 Witness History 5.10 Church Going, with Giles Fraser 5.54 Shipping Forecast 5.57 Weather 6.00 Six O’Clock News 6.15 Pick of the Week. Highlights of the past seven days with Jenny Kleeman 7.00 The Archers. Jolene is devastated 7.15 Unreliable Narrator 7.45 Just One Thing with Michael Mosley 8.00 Feedback 8.30 Last Word 9.00 Money Box 9.26 Radio 4 Appeal 9.30 From Our Own Correspondent 9.59 Weather 10.00 The Westminster Hour 11.00 Who Did We Think We Were? 11.30 More Wow 11.45 Short Works 12.00 News and Weather 12.15am Inside Health 12.45 Bells on Sunday 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 As World Service 5.00 News Summary 5.04
WORLD SERVICE
entertaining stories to tell. At the other end of the glamour scale, in Currently: Troubled Town (Radio 4, 1.30pm) Johnny I’Anson reports from Greater Manchester on the
Last Word 5.32 Weather 5.34 Shipping Forecast 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 6.00am Farming Today
RADIO 5 LIVE
MW 693 & 909KHZ
6.00am The Martin Lewis Podcast 7.00 Sunday Breakfast 10.00 Colin Murray 12.00 5 Live Sport 1.30pm 5 Live Formula 1 4.00 5 Live Sport 6.00 Back Where We Belong 6.15 Back Where We Belong 6.30 Back Where We Belong 6.45 Back Where We Belong 7.00 Glasgow 2026. Steve Parry presents commentary from day three of the Commonwealth Games 10.00 Laura McGhie 1.00am Dotun Adebayo 5.00 6.00am Wake Up to Money
CLASSIC FM
FM 99.9-101.9MHZ
6.30am Breakfast 9.00 The Classic FM Hall of Fame Hour with Tim Lihoreau 10.00 Tim Lihoreau 12.00 John Brunning 3.00pm Stephen Mangan 6.00 Summer Evenings With Gareth Malone 7.00 Relaxing Evenings with Zeb Soanes 10.00 Calm Classics 1.00am Bill Overton 4.00 6.30am Early Breakfast
DIGITAL ONLY
DIGITAL ONLY
6.00am Weekend 9.00 News 9.06 From Our Own Correspondent 9.30 The Food Chain 10.00 News 10.06 People Fixing the World 10.30 The Fifth Floor 11.00 The Newsroom 11.30 More than the Score 11.50 More or Less 12.00 News 12.06pm BBC OS Conversations 12.30 Assignment 1.00 Newshour 2.00 News 2.06 The Climate Question 2.30 Happy News 3.00 News 3.06 Sportsworld 7.00 The Newsroom 7.30 Good Bad Billionaire 8.00 News 8.06 Unexpected Elements 9.00 Newshour 10.00 News 10.06 The Climate
6.00 am James Martin’s American Adventure (AD) (R) (S) 7.00 James Martin’s Saturday Morning (R) (S) 9.25 News (S) 9.30 Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh (R) (S) 11.30 Fern Britton: Inside the Vet’s (AD) (S) 12.30 pm Tom Kerridge Cooks Italy (AD) (R) (S) 1.00 Love Your Garden (AD) (R) (S) 1.55 News; Weather (S) 2.10 FILM: Live and Let Die (1973) James Bond adventure starring Roger Moore (AD) (S) 4.30 The Chase Celebrity Special (R) (S) 5.30 The Chase Around the World (AD) (R) (S) 6.30 News (S) 6.45 ITV News London; Weather (S)
7.00 Force of Nature New series. Animals’ battle for survival as climate change intensifies (AD) (S)
8.00 Emmerdale Gabby has a medical after collapsing (AD) (S)
8.30 Coronation Street Sarah tips off David and Shona about Jodie’s box of secrets (AD) (S)
9.00 The Dark The killer escapes (AD) (S)
10.00 News; Weather (S) 10.20 Terror in the Skies: Stopping the Liquid Bomb Plot A look at the thwarted 2006 terrorist attack (AD) (S)
11.30 The Assembly 12.00 Shop on TV 3.00am Nobody’s Fool 3.55 Unwind with ITV 5.05 - 6.00am Motorsport UK
seemingly unstoppable
wave of anti-social
behaviour that’s blighting
the lives of residents and
businesses in towns such
as Wigan and Makerfield.
Gerard O’Donovan
Question 10.30 Assignment 11.00 The Newsroom 11.30 The Fifth Floor 12.00 News 12.06am From Our Own Correspondent 12.30 BBC Inside Science 1.00 The Newsroom 1.30 Discovery 2.00 The Newsroom 2.30 CrowdScience 3.00 News 3.06 People Fixing the World 3.30 The Fifth Floor 4.00 The Newsroom 4.30 The Conversation 5.00 8.00am Newsday
RADIO 4 EXTRA
6.00am Desert Island Discs Revisited
6.45 David Attenborough’s Life
Stories 7.00 Poetry Extra: Poetry
Please 7.30 News from Nowhere
Omnibus 8.40 Inheritance Tracks
8.50 Promenade Rock Omnibus Part
Two 10.00 Know Your Place 10.30
Take It from Here 11.00 Desert Island
Discs Revisited 11.45 David
Attenborough’s Life Stories 12.00
Poetry Extra: Poetry Please 12.30pm
News from Nowhere Omnibus 1.40
Inheritance Tracks 1.50 Promenade
Rock Omnibus Part Two 3.00 Know
Your Place 3.30 Take It from Here
4.00 London Bridge 4.45 Summer
Ghosts 5.00 Desert Island Discs
Revisited 5.45 David Attenborough’s
Life Stories 6.00 Poetry Extra: Poetry
Please 6.30 News from Nowhere
Omnibus 7.40 Inheritance Tracks 7.50
Promenade Rock Omnibus Part Two
9.00 Know Your Place 9.30 Take It
from Here 10.00 Revolting People
10.30 Alexei Sayle’s Strangers on a
Train 10.55 The Comedy Club
Interview 11.00 In and Out of the
Kitchen 11.30 Electric Ink 12.00
London Bridge 12.45am Summer
Ghosts 1.00 Desert Island Discs
Revisited 1.45 David Attenborough’s
Life Stories 2.00 Poetry Extra: Poetry
Please 2.30 News from Nowhere
Omnibus 3.40 Inheritance Tracks
3.50 Promenade Rock Omnibus Part
Two 5.00 Know Your Place 5.30
6.00am Take It from Here
6.20 am The King of Queens (AD) (R) (S) 6.45 The King of Queens (AD) (R) (S) 7.10 Everybody Loves Raymond (AD) (R) (S) 7.35 Everybody Loves Raymond (AD) (R) (S) 8.00 Everybody Loves Raymond (AD) (R) (S) 8.30 The Simpsons (AD) (R) (S) 9.00 The Simpsons (AD) (R) (S) 9.30 The Simpsons (AD) (R) (S) 10.00 Sunday Brunch (S) 1.00 pm Jamie Cooks the Mediterranean (AD) (R) (S) 2.05 The Dog House (AD) (R) (S) 2.50 George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (AD) (R) (S) 3.55 Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids (AD) (R) (S) 5.00 Britain’s Favourite Railway Stations with Si King (AD) (R) (S) 6.00 Channel 4 News (S) 6.30 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix Highlights (S)
The African Queen Sister Boniface Mysteries The Blue Lagoon Nobody The Piano Tour de France 2026
9.00 The Piano Claudia Winkleman and Mika arrive at York Station (AD) (S)
10.00 FILM: The Forgiven (2021) Drama starring Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain (S)
12.15 am FILM: Stand By Me (1986) Coming of age drama starring River Phoenix 1.45 FILM: Corpus Christi (2019) Drama starring Bartosz Bielenia 3.40 The Simpsons 4.05 The Simpsons 4.30 The Simpsons 4.50 The Dog House 5.45 - 6.25am Countdown
More channels Variations FV Freeview FS Freesat (AD) Audio description (R) Repeat (S) Subtitles (SL) In-vision signing
FV Freeview FS Freesat (AD) Audio description (R) Repeat (S) Subtitles (SL) In-vision signing
FV 9 FS 173 SKY 116 VIRGIN 108
7.00 pm The Golden Age of Liners 8.00 John Wilson at the Proms. The Sinfonia of London performs Verdi, Walton and Respighi 10.00 Not I. Billie Whitelaw performs Samuel Beckett’s dramatic monologue in which the only thing illuminated on stage is the actress’s mouth. First broadcast in 1977 10.15 The Entertainer 12.15 am The Levin Interviews: John Osborne 12.45 Searching for Sam: Adrian Dunbar on Samuel Beckett 1.45 A Slow Odyssey: A Turtle’s Journey 2.15 3.15am The Golden Age of Liners
U&Dave
11.00am Red Bull Soapbox Race: London 2022 1.00pm Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing 3.00 The Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure 5.00 Would I Lie to You? 7.00 Border Force: America’s Gatekeepers. Officers in Eagle Pass unveil a new cartel drug smuggling tactic 8.00 Special Ops: Crime Squad UK. An investigation into the Body in the River murder 9.00 Have I Got a Bit More News for You. Jo Brand hosts, with Heidi Allen and Phil Wang 10.00 QI 10.40 Mock the Week 12.00 Live at the Apollo 2.00am QI XL 3.00 4.00am Have I Got a Bit More News for You
ITV2
11.35am Deal or No Deal 1.35pm Celebrity Catchphrase for Soccer Aid 2.35 FILM: Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) Animated comedy with the voice of Ben Stiller 4.25 FILM: Evan Almighty (2007) Comedy sequel starring Steve Carell 6.20 FILM: Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011) The secret agent team is falsely implicated in a bombing, and pursues the real terrorist around the globe. Action adventure sequel starring Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner 9.00 Love Island. Relationship based reality show 10.00 Love Island: Aftersun 11.05 Family Guy 12.05am
6.00 am Milkshake! 9.00 Entertainment News on 5 (S) 9.10 FILM: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) Animated comedy with the voice of Tom Kenny (S) 11.00 Commonwealth Games 2026 (R) (S) 12.00 Happy Campers: The Caravan Park (R) (S) 1.00 pm Cruising with Susan Calman (R) (S) 2.00 Cruising with Susan Calman (R) (S) 3.00 Into Death Valley with Nick Knowles (R) (S) 4.00 Into Death Valley with Nick Knowles (R) (S) 5.00 Lisbon with Michael Portillo (R) (S) 6.25 5 News Weekend (S) 6.30 When Beach Holidays Go Horribly Wrong (R) (S)
8.00 Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly Graeme Hall meets a potential future therapy dog for a school (R) (S)
9.00 Tour de France 2026 Action from the final stage of the Grand Tour race (S)
10.00 Commonwealth Games 2026 (S)
11.05 Boris Johnson: Into Ukraine’s Kill Zone 12.25am Cops 12.55 Entertainment News on 5 1.00 Cruise TV with LoveitBookit 2.00 Murder Scene: The Incident Room 2.50 Jersey and Guernsey 3.45 Friends 4.10 Friends 4.35 The Highland Vet 5.25 Entertainment News on 5 5.35 Milo 5.45 - 6.00am The Adventures of Paddington
FV 10 FS 115 SKY 119 VIRGIN 117
11.50 am Agatha Christie’s Marple 2.00 pm Midsomer Murders 4.00 Midsomer Murders 6.00 Midsomer Murders 8.00 Midsomer Murders. The maid of honour is stabbed at a baron’s wedding 10.00 Vera. The detective investigates the death of a teenager who disappeared during the 1984 miners’ strike, when her remains are discovered 30 years later 11.50 Wycliffe 12.55 am Trigger Point 1.55 George and Mildred 2.25 Unwind with ITV 2.30 6.00am Teleshopping
American Dad! 1.05 Plebs 1.35 G’wed 2.10 Totally Bonkers Guinness World Records 2.35 Unwind with ITV 3.00 6.00am Teleshopping
Challenge
Noon Celebrity Catchphrase 1.00pm Tenable 2.00 Bridge of Lies 3.00 The Chase 5.00 The Celebrity Chase 6.00 The Chase Celebrity Special 7.00 The Chase 9.00 The Chase Celebrity Special. With Matt Allwright, Stacey Solomon, Louise Minchin and Keith Allen 10.00 The Chase 11.00 Bullseye 2.00 4.00am The Chase
Quest
Noon The Yorkshire Auction House 1.00pm The Repair Shop 5.00 The Yorkshire Auction House 6.00 Angus Ashworth: Yorkshire Heritage Hero 7.00 Johnny Vegas’ Little Shop of Antiques. Johnny and his crew aim to turn Vintage Vegas into a permanent business 8.00 The Repair Shop 1.00am Ant Anstead Master Mechanic 3.00 4.00am Wheeler Dealers: Dream Car
FV 26 FS 117 SKY 120 VIRGIN 118
11.00 am Live British Touring Car Championship. Coverage from Thruxton Circuit in Hampshire 6.15 pm Football Rivalries 6.30 River Monsters 7.00 Sharpe. Hakeswill creates more mischief 9.15 FILM: Coogan’s Bluff (1968) Crime drama with Clint Eastwood 11.20 The Summit Australia 12.45 am The Champions 1.45 Two and a Half Men 2.15 Two and a Half Men 2.40 Unwind with ITV 3.00 Teleshopping 3.30 4.00am Auto Mundial
Deadliest Catch 11.00 Mighty Truckers 12.00 Kindig Customs 3.00 5.00am American Chopper
PBS America
11.55am Waco: The Longest Siege 1.00pm A Nation Denied: Ukraine’s Battle for History 3.00 The Siege of Leningrad 4.10 USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter 5.20 Waco: The Longest Siege 6.30 Titans of the Cold War 10.55 Waco: The Longest Siege 12.00 USS Indianapolis: The Final Chapter 1.15am Weathered: Earth’s Extremes 2.00 6.00am Teleshopping
Sky History
Noon Pawn Stars 1.00pm Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire 8.00 The Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire. History documentary chronicling the Roman Empire’s rise and fall 10.00 World War II with Tom Hanks 12.00 Pawn Stars 2.00 6.00am What on Earth?
Sky Documentaries
FV 36 FS 143 SKY 822 VIRGIN 123
6.00 am André Rieu in Wonderland (S) 8.30 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 9.00 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 9.30 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 10.00 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 10.30 Tales of the Unexpected (AD) (S) 11.00 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (S) 12.00 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (S) 1.00 pm André Rieu: Welcome to My World (S) 2.00 André Rieu: Welcome to My World (S) 3.00 FILM: Let’s Dance (1950) Musical starring Fred Astaire 5.05 Riverdance 25th Anniversary Show (S)
7.00 Grand Ole Opry: Opry Live With Carly Pearce, Tucker Wetmore, Lukas Nelson and Sierra Ferrell (S)
8.00 FILM: The African Queen (1951) Romantic adventure starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn (S)
10.00 Johnson & Knopfler’s Music Legends Brian and Mark meet Cyndi Lauper (S)
11.00 FILM: The Who: The Kids Are Alright (1978) Rock documentary about the Who 1.10am The Rolling Stones: Bridges to Bremen 4.10 Discovering: Jethro Tull 4.35 Discovering: U2 5.00 - 6.00am Classic Albums
FV 18 FS 124 SKY 136 VIRGIN 147
Noon A Place in the Sun 1.00 pm A Place in the Sun 2.00 A Place in the Sun 3.00 A Place in the Sun 3.50 Come Dine with Me 6.25 Four in a Bed 6.55 Four in a Bed 7.25 Four in a Bed 7.55 Four in a Bed 8.30 Four in a Bed 9.00 The Emergency Ward 10.00 24 Hours in A&E 11.05 24 Hours in A&E 12.05 am The Emergency Ward 1.10 24 Hours in A&E 2.15 24 Hours in A&E 3.20 3.50am A Place in the Sun
Price: Nothing to Hide. Katie and Peter Andre become a celebrity power couple 9.00 The Truth vs Alex Jones. The defamation lawsuits brought by Sandy Hook parents against Alex Jones 11.20 FILM: 2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025) A Ukrainian platoon attempts to liberate a village from Russian forces 1.30am Surviving Ohio State 3.30 5.00am Salt Path: A Very British Scandal
Sky One
10.45am The Hundred Live 2.00pm Football’s Funniest Moments 2.30 Best Medicine 3.30 Animal Control 5.30 Formula 1 6.30 Ted’s Notebook 7.00 La Brea 9.00 Ricky Gervais Live: Animals. The comedian’s first stand up tour 10.30 FILM: Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) Action adventure sequel starring Sylvester Stallone 12.30am Evil 1.40 The Force: Manchester 3.35 5.00am Road Wars
Great! Mystery
FV 20 FS 158 SKY 143 VIRGIN 116
6.00 am Teleshopping 7.10 The Bill (S) 8.00 The Bill (S) 9.00 The Bill (S) 10.00 The Bill (S) 11.00 The Bill (S) 12.05 pm Call the Midwife (AD) (S) 1.05 Call the Midwife (AD) (S) 2.30 Catherine Cookson’s A Dinner of Herbs (S) 5.45 Home Fires (S) 6.50 Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (S)
8.00 Sister Boniface Mysteries Life imitates art when a local amateur dramatics performer dies on stage (AD) (S)
9.00 Silent Witness Nikki is humiliated in court (S)
11.15 New Tricks 12.35am Call the Midwife 1.35 2point4 Children 2.25 2point4 Children 2.55 Darby and Joan 4.00 - 6.00am Teleshopping
SKY 110 VIRGIN 124
11.40 am Only Fools and Horses 12.20 pm Only Fools and Horses 1.00 Only Fools and Horses 1.40 Only Fools and Horses 2.20 Only Fools and Horses 3.00 Only Fools and Horses 5.00 Only Fools and Horses 5.40 Only Fools and Horses 6.20 Only Fools and Horses 7.00 Dad’s Army 7.40 Only Fools and Horses 11.40 The Fast Show 12.20 am The Fast Show 1.00 Black Ops 1.35 Hi de Hi! 2.20 The Fast Show 2.50 The Fast Show 3.25 4.00am Toast of London
Murders (2018) Mystery starring Lori Loughlin 11.51 Good News on GREAT! 11.56 FILM: Garage Sale Mysteries: Pandora Box Murders (2018) Mystery starring Lori Loughlin 12.50am FILM: Hidden Crimes (2009) 1.46 Good News on GREAT! 1.51 FILM: Hidden Crimes (2009) 2.30 FILM: A Mother Betrayed (2015) 3.55 4.05am Good News on GREAT! Extra
Sky Cinema Premiere
11.55am Mortal Kombat II (2026) 2.00pm Eleanor the Great (2025) Premiere. Drama starring June Squibb 3.45 Wicked: For Good (2025) Fantasy sequel starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande 6.10 Anaconda (2025) Friends encounter a terrifying creature while remaking a movie they have been wanting to shoot since childhood. Comedy adventure starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd 8.00 Mortal Kombat II (2026) Fantasy adventure starring Karl Urban 10.05 Civil War (2024) Action thriller starring Kirsten Dunst 12.05am Lurker (2025) 1.45 4.10am Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026) Horror starring Jack Reynor
FV 82 FS 306 SKY 324 VIRGIN 445
6.00 am FILM: Talk About Jacqueline (1942, b/w) Romantic comedy starring Carla Lehmann and Hugh Williams (S) 7.30 FILM: Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer (1956) Western starring Bruce Bennett and Lon Chaney Jr (S) 9.05 FILM: The Long and the Short and the Tall (1960, b/w) Second World War drama starring Laurence Harvey (S) 11.10 Batman (S) 11.40 FILM: The Wicked Lady (1945, b/w) Costume drama starring Margaret Lockwood (S) 1.45 pm FILM: The Lamp Still Burns (1943, b/w) Second World War drama starring Rosamund John (S) 3.30 For the Love of Ada (S) 4.00 The Man from UNCLE (S) 5.00 The Footage Detectives (S) 6.00 FILM: A Kid for Two Farthings (1955) Drama starring Jonathan Ashmore (S)
7.45 Scotland Yard A salesman becomes a murderer when a customer strikes it rich
Scotland
8.20 A Game of Murder Kerry receives a letter linking his father’s murder to a stolen dog collar (S)
9.25 Sherlock Holmes: The Eligible Bachelor Feature length episode. A bride disappears on her wedding day (S)
11.30 FILM: The Blue Lagoon (1980) Romantic drama starring Brooke Shields 1.40am The Heritage Chart Show 2.45 Turn of Fate 3.15 Birmingham and the Road Patrol Bikes in the 1950s 3.30 The Rogues 4.30 The Adventures of Robin Hood 5.00 The Buccaneers 5.30 - 6.00am Supercar
FV 27 FS 159 SKY 155 VIRGIN 129
Noon Seven Worlds, One Planet 1.00 pm Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve 2.00 Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve 3.00 Explore 4.00 Explore 5.00 Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy 7.55 Bangers & Cash 10.55 One Foot in the Grave 11.35 Red Dwarf 12.15 am Red Dwarf 12.50 Bangers & Cash 1.50 Great British Railway Journeys 2.15 Great British Railway Journeys 3.00 6.10am Teleshopping
(start time 2.00pm) 4.00 Live Formula 1. Reaction and analysis from the Hungarian Grand Prix 5.00 Ted’s Notebook 5.30 The Hundred Live. Trent Rockets Men v London Spirit Men (start time 6.00pm) 7.30 Live World Matchplay Darts. Coverage of the final 10.00 Live Zuffa Boxing. Coverage of the preliminary bouts 1.00 5.30am Live Zuffa Boxing
Sky Sports Premier League Noon Premier League Review 3.00pm Premier League Stories 3.30 Transfer 360 4.00 Premier League Review 7.00 Premier League Stories 7.30 Gary Neville’s Soccerbox 8.00 Premier League Review 11.00 Premier League Years 1.00am PL Retro 3.00 4.00am PL Greatest Games
TNT Sports 1
11.00am Live: Fencing World Championship 2.00pm Tour de France Women 2.30 Live: Tour de France Men. Coverage from the 21st and final stage of the Grand Tour race 7.45 The Gruppetto 8.00 MLB Highlights 9.00 Live MLB. San Francisco Giants v Los Angeles Angels (start time 9.05pm) 12.00 Training Day 12.15am Live MLB. Philadelphia Phillies v New York Yankees (start time 12.20am) 3.00 4.30am LIV Golf
FV 14 FS 300 SKY 855 VIRGIN 428
11.00 am FILM: The Black Shield of Falworth (1954) Swashbuckling adventure starring Tony Curtis (S) 1.05 pm FILM: Turner & Hooch (1989) Family canine comedy starring Tom Hanks (AD) (S) 3.10 FILM: The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Disaster drama starring Gene Hackman (AD) (S) 5.25 FILM: The Old Man & the Gun (2018) Cop John Hunt becomes determined to catch veteran bank robber Forrest Tucker. Fact based crime drama starring Robert Redford (AD) (S)
7.15 FILM: Daddy’s Home (2015) A mild mannered stepfather desperately tries to keep the respect of his wife’s children when their biological father returns. Comedy with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg (AD) (S)
9.00 FILM: Nobody (2021) An unassuming family man reveals his true character after his house is burgled by two petty thieves. Crime drama starring Bob Odenkirk and Connie Nielsen (AD) (S)
10.50 FILM: Riders of Justice (2021) A military man has to go home when his wife dies in a train crash, which may have been a carefully orchestrated assassination. Action comedy drama starring Mads Mikkelsen
1.05 - 3.20am FILM: Vengeance (2022) Mystery drama starring BJ Novak
SKY 108
11.20 am Gomorrah 12.25 pm Gomorrah 1.30 Gomorrah 2.30 Gomorrah 3.30 Gomorrah 4.35 The Gilded Age 5.40 The Gilded Age 6.45 The Gilded Age 7.50 The Gilded Age 9.00 House of the Dragon 10.15 The Fear Index 11.15 The Fear Index 12.10 am Deadwood 1.05 Deadwood 2.00 House of the Dragon 3.15 4.20am Billions
BBC News
Noon BBC News 1.30pm The Media Show 2.00 BBC News 2.30 Tech Now 3.00 BBC News 4.30 Inside Hungary’s Political Earthquake 5.00 BBC News 8.30 The Media Show 9.00 BBC News 11.30 Andy Burnham: Who is the new PM? 12.00 BBC News 12.30am Inside Hungary’s Political Earthquake 1.00 BBC News 1.30 Will Insects Thrive or Just Survive? 2.00 Newsday 2.30 Business Today 2.45 BBC Sport 3.00 3.30am Newsday
GB News
11.00am Sunday with Michael Portillo 1.00pm The Weekend 3.00 Nana Akua 6.00 The Camilla Tominey Show 7.00 Free Speech Nation 9.00 Alex Armstrong Tonight 11.00 Alex Armstrong Tonight Late Edition 12.00 The Late Show Live 3.00 5.00am Alex Armstrong Tonight
Sky News
Northern Ireland
BBC One: No variations BBC Two: 2.15pm Flog It! 3.00 All Ireland Senior Football Championship Final 5.30 - 6.00pm Oul Treasures UTV: No variations
No variations
BBC One: No variations BBC Scotland: 7.00pm Reporting Scotland: News at Seven 7.15 The Repair Shop on the Road 8.00 Island Crossings 9.00 Paramedics on Scene 10.00 Still Game 10.30 Scot Squad 11.00 Ooh the Banter midnight Close STV: 3.55 - 5.05am Unwind with STV
Wales
BBC One: 2.05pm Weatherman Walking: The Welsh Coast 2.35 - 3.05 The Wig Queen of Prestatyn: Our Lives 6.00 Wales’ Home of the Year 6.30 - 7.00pm Our Lives: Principal Ballerina BBC Two: No variations ITV1 Wales: No variations
ITV1 Regions
S4C
6.00am Cyw 9.00 Y Cosmos 10.00 Ras Yr Wyddfa 11.00 Garddio a Mwy 11.35 Gerddi Cymru 12.05pm Ralïo+ 12.35 Yr Afon 1.35 Iaith ar Daith 2.35 Pobol y Cwm Omnibws 3.25 Seiclo: Tour de France 7.20 Newyddion S4C a’r Tywydd 7.30 Y Sioe 2026 8.30 Gemau’r Gymanwlad 2026 10.30 Sgorio 12.15 - 12.50am Seiclo: Tour de France
A bone dry field at the Maidenhead & Bray County Cricket club in Bray
until mid-August: droughts ahead
By Peter Stanford
IT’S official, at least in mid and North Wales. We are in drought. Elsewhere in England and Wales, hosepipe bans are in force for millions of customers as the nation’s reservoirs run low. Back in August 1976, when the nation was in a similar pickle, the government appointed a Drought Minister and, within days, there was so much rain that flooding was widespread. If Andy Burnham is thinking of doing the same trick, though, there is no sign in the forecasts of substantial rain soon. England and Wales remain firmly in the grip of high pressure, bringing hot air from the continent and day-long sunshine. Only in Scotland and Northern Ireland will a weak weather front from the Atlantic drift in with some rain, but it will pass quickly, with a last few remnants sprinkling the east coast of England before heading off. Temperatures remain warm. Greater London and southern England will see 25C (77F), South Wales, Bristol and south-western England are at 24C (75F), while the Midlands and East Anglia touch 22C (72F). Northern England is cloudy and down at 20C (68F) with 19C (66F) further north. There will be more weather fronts in Scotland in the last days of July, with some rain, but for the rest it remains settled, sunny and stubbornly dry. If anything the mercury will be climbing and could touch 30C (86F) in the south-east by Thursday. For farmers and gardeners, the anxiety remains, with predictions of droughts. Most forecasts suggest that, in southern and eastern England, the next decent, sustained downpours may not come until mid-August. Perhaps pause on that Minister for Drought idea, Prime Minister.
Sky News
Northern Ireland, Alexis Warr, All Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, Alternative Sounds
[新任]、[实施] 等用于提示或内部修正的方括号标签，这被明确定义为交付缺陷 (Delivery Defect)。2016, 年、2021. 年 等不规范的标点符号残留。82 per cent 被翻译为 82 per cent（未翻译百分比符号）。审核结论：不通过 (FAILED)
该翻译版本存在极其严重的质量问题。最核心的问题在于严重的幻觉 (Hallucinations)——在没有源文支撑的情况下自行创造了关于财政数据和社会政策的详细报道；同时，大量整篇文章的缺失 (Major Omissions) 导致完整性严重不足。该版本不可交付。